The Bluestar Element

Chapter 9: Perseverance

"Hi girls! Come in, come in!" Skate beamed cheerfully. She had spent the entire day after the discussion in the library tidying up her home. Skate felt much better after she talked with them. However, she still felt a sort of emptiness inside. She hoped that whatever questions the Elements had to ask, her getting the answers off her chest would help. She had a mostly peaceful night, aside from her dreams slipping to that of her mother at one point in the night. But whenever Skate had a nightmare about her mother and woke up, when she fell back asleep her dreams always turned back to Silver's words when she was thirteen and Silver was eleven.

"I like rainstorms. You know why? At the end of every storm, there's a beam of hope. Its beautiful, colorful, and inspiring. Its a Rainbow, Skate. But not just a rainbow. Its Violet Wind. Always remember that."

Violet Wind...

Somehow, Silver always knew when Skate dreamed about her mother, so she would give Skate that same dream.

"Thank you Skate." Twilight said as her and the other Elements trotted into the house.

"Wow, nice place you got here kid." Rainbow Dash said as she looked around at the various furniture and appliances.

"Why thank you. Silver bought everything in here for me. I just bought the house." Skate thanked Rainbow.

"So Skate, have you ever had a slumber party before?" Twilight asked the blue-maned pegasus. Twilight ached to get the night over with. To see if Skate was the Element of Perseverance. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen tonight.

"Of course! When I was fifteen, Scootaloo, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Silver and I all had a big slumber party in the palace. We had so much fun. We stayed up all night and at about three o clock in the morning, apparently our laughter had awoken Celestia. So while we were in a laughing fit, Celestia just about broke the door down. Her eyes were all red, and-" Skate paused, trying not to break out in a laughing fit. "And her mane was messy and tangled, but still flowing. She looked right at us and yelled in the loudest Canterlot Voice I have ever heard, 'GO TO SLEEP!' But this just made us laugh even harder." Skate finished with a loud, heavy laughing fit. The Elements started to chuckle at the thought of Celestia using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Skate finally managed to contain her laughter long enough to ask the ponies if they wanted something to drink. They all asked for water, except for Rainbow Dash who asked for cider, and Skate trotted off to the kitchen to get her friend's drinks. When Skate closed the door to the other room, the Elements all faced each other with the same thought.

"Well girls, its tonight or never." Twilight stated with a anxious sigh. The other ponies nodded with their own anxious sighs. A few moments later, Skate came back out from the kitchen with a tray in her hooves that had five glasses of water, a glass of cider, and a glass of strange, fizzy liquid.

"What is that drink you have for yourself dear?" Rarity asked Skate, equally curious as her other fellow friends.

"Its a drink called Equestria Dry ginger ale. Its pretty popular back in Canterlot, and its like a soda." Skate explained.

"Ooooo! OOo! OOoooo! Can I try some?!" Pinkie energetically asked. Skate chuckled and let her have a sip of her ginger ale.

Pinkie whirled the liquid around in her mouth, examining every bit of flavor it could possibly have. She finally swallowed it and simply stated,"Not bad."

"So," Skate began as she took a sip of her drink, "what kind of games do you girls like to play?"

The Elements looked at each other then back at Skate, and shrugged. Pinkie said something about pin the tail on the pony and quickly darted out of the house. Skate looked at the door in utter disbelief.

"Wha....H-how? I don't even...What?" Skate stuttered.

"Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie." The remaining Elements all said at once. Skate simply shook her head, and asked the five mares, "Uh anyways, how about truth or dare?"

Applejack frowned. "Don't y'all think we're a little too old ta be playin' that game?"

Skate grinned playfully. "Maybe for you old timers."

"Oh its on." Applejack responded, her pride guiding her.

"Come now Applejack, su-" Rarity began, but Applejack interrupted her.

"She just called us old. That includes you."

"Oh fine." Rarity said, not even bothering in arguing with her friend.

"Right. So Skate, you go first." Twilight stated.

"Mkay." Skate began as she went into thought. "Uhhh....Rarity, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Skate's went into thought for a short moment again and asked her question. "Have you ever hit a filly?"

Rarity's mouth opened wide and she gasped in horror. "I would never do such a barbaric thing!"

"Good, cause if you did I would have to kick your ass." Skate replied with a playful wink, and everypony laughed softly.

"Funny, now my turn." Rarity replied. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth." Skate stated.

"Have you ever kissed a mare?"

Skate's eyes went wide as her heart started to pound furiously. Did she just ask that? Skate thought to herself. Sweat started to form on Skate's forehead, and she took a deep breath.Come on Skate! You'll tell them about your father but not this? She scolded herself in her head.

Just as Skate was about to speak, Pinkie walked back in the door.

"Okay so I got pin the tail on the pony so we can play it!" She excitedly beamed. Skate let out a huge sigh of relief. That was close.

"So, should we play it now?" Skate asked, attempting to end the game and change the subject.

"You didn't answer my question." Rarity stated. Skate gulped, she had hoped Rarity forgot. Skate took a deep breath, and got prepared to speak, knowing what she had to do.

"Yes." Skate stated in a barely audible, shameful whisper. "I-...I'm a..." Skate trailed off. She just was having trouble bringing herself to say it. She took another deep breath and finally spit it out. "I'm a fillyfooler." She shamefully said while looking at the ground. Her heart was racing, and she was sweating. Skate dreaded the possible reactions she would get. However, the one she got thoroughly shocked her.

"Why don't you have a marefriend?" Rarity asked.

Skate's mouth was open, and her eyes were wide with shock. "Y-you...you're not...WHAT?"

"Skate there's nothing wrong with that. You can love whoever the hay you want to love. Why would you think we cared? But I gotta agree with Rarity, I'm kinda surprised you don't have somepony." Rainbow Dash casually stated as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Skate was completely flabbergasted. "Wow girls, I didn't expect you to be so accepting. Um, I haven't really met too many ponies here in Ponyville yet. I had somepony in Canterlot, but we broke up a year ago. Though there are some cute mares here." Skate said with a huge sigh of relief.

The Element Bearers eyes went wide open, and they gasped in pure shock. There, around Skate, formed these large, bright magical sparkles.

"The final secret..." Twilight whispered out loud.

"Whoa, whats happening?!" Skate yelled as the sparkles started to form rings around her. She started to levitate into the air, and the rings started to spin violently and rapidly.

"WHOAWHATTHEBUCKINGHAYISGOINGONWHATTHEBUCK!" Skate yelled. She didn't know what was happening, but it was frightening. Skate was now high in the air, just a foot or two from the ceiling. Her eyes became fully white as the rings continued to engulf her and spin faster. The violent rings were causing powerful winds to be shot through the house, and they just kept spinning faster and faster. The rings finally completely covered Skate, and then it happened.

BOOM!

The rings suddenly stopped and imploded on themselves, and a grand flash of white light whipped out with a large boom. However, the white light quickly gained all the colors of the spectrum; a sonic rainboom just occurred in Skate's house. But this was different. The rainboom shot out in a circle and went through the house's walls and roof as if there was nothing there. A huge, magnificent rainbow shot out from Skate's body and through the roof, going through it as if there was nothing there as well.

Finally, the show ended. There was a lot of smoke in the house, and this caused the Elements to cough. When the smoke finally cleared, they saw her. Skate was standing in front of them, and a huge, magnificent crown boasting her cutie mark sat on her head. All of the other Element's gems had their own color making up the rainbow, however, Skate's gem was a rainbow.

"Ughhh, what...what happened?" Skate wearily asked. The Elements did not answer however, but instead formed a circle and held hooves. Something told Skate to join them, but she didn't know what. It was like a natural impulse. Remembering what Twilight told them what they had to do, they began.

"Let our friendship be forever tied together through our-" Twilight began.

"Loyalty." The Element of Loyalty stated.

"Honesty." The Element of Honesty said.

"Kindness." The Element of Kindness said.

"Generosity." The Element of Generosity said.

"Laughter." The Element of Laughter stated.

Something in Skate told her exactly what to say. She just somehow knew, as if she had known her whole life. "Let Perseverance break through all of our troubles."

Twilight then continued. "And may the Magic that is friendship bond us together. Forever, and always."

Then, the seven Elements of Harmony all said together, "So that Harmony shall always be with us." They finished the Vows of Harmony and the other Elements of Harmony suddenly teleported to the ponies, and each, including Skate's, started to glow brightly, and their eyes did the same. They levitated out of the house and into the middle of the street. Powerful winds were blowing out from the Elements like a helicopter's rudder blades. Everpony in town gathered to watch this grand spectacle. They continued to rise in the air until they were completely off the ground. A magical, rainbow colored aura encased them as it started to beat like a heart.

~~~~

"Dearest sister, do you have to blast your music so loud? You know I sleep during the day time." Luna complained to her older sister.

"Yes. I do. Don't I Silver?" Celestia replied with a wink to Silver.

"I believe you do Auntie. And besides mother, the moon needs to be raised soon." Silver answered with a wink back.

"Trolls..." Luna muttered under her breath as she began to trot back out of the throne room. However, she remembered she needed to ask Silver about something, and opened her mouth to speak. "Silver do you-"

BOOM!

Luna stopped instantly, and the two Alicorns and Silver looked out of the window wearing expressions of shock. Out in the distance, they could see the huge waves of a sonic rainboom spreading across the land, originating from Ponyville. A large flash of light came out from one of the houses, and a grand rainbow shot out into the sky. After a few minutes of staring in disbelief, a Royal Guard came busting through the throne room's door.

"Princesses! The Elements of Harmony are missing!"

Celestia turned to Luna. "Sister, do you remember that book on The Forgotten Element our father wrote?"

"Yes." Luna said, knowing where Celestia was going with this.

"I think it just happened." With that, the three Princesses unfurled their wings and ran out to the balcony, then took to the sky toward Ponyville.

~~~~

The aura around the Elements of Harmony continued to beat slowly. It was as if it was waiting for something, or somepony. Everpony in Ponyville was now staring in awe. After a few moments of nothing different happening, the ponies of Ponyville saw three ponies flying in from the direction of Canterlot. They saw two Alicorns, and a normal pegasus.

"The Princesses!" Somepony yelled out from the crowd. The three Royal ponies landed, and everypony bowed.

"Our father was correct Luna....Silver. Skate is the Element of Perseverance." Celestia gasped as she saw Skate in the middle of the Elements, boasting her own crown with her cutie mark. All of a sudden, a deep, booming voice shot through thin air.

"Thy Elements of Harmony hath been brought together."

Celestia's and Luna's jaw dropped.

"Father..." They said at the same time.

"Celestia, my daughter of the Sun, Luna, my daughter of the Moon, thy must commence thy Ceremony of Harmony immediately for true Harmony to be established. You learned it long ago, dig deep into thou minds and all shall be remembered. Congratulations thy Elements of Harmony. " The deep voice rang out again. It was indeed the voice of Solar Shift.

The Elements started to slowly descend back to the ground, and their eyes returned to their normal colors. They still wore their Elements however.

"Ugh, Princess, why are you here? And what happened?" Twilight wearily asked Princess Celestia as she noticed her and her friends were wearing their Elements.

"We must get to Canterlot immediately." Princess Celestia urgently said.