Nothing ever goes to plan, Twilight. I planned on writing this letter to you, but each time I crumpled up the parchment and started anew and crumpled up the parchment and started anew and

And I forgot to address your name at the top. I'll just start the letter over and formulate how I want to write this out.

Actually...

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

Nothing ever goes to plan. I'm sure you know that by now, but as time swiftly passes on, I forget the small elements of a plan that end up changing the course of events completely. Of course, the elements that changed my plan were a bit more important.

They were The Elements.

When I first found the red shard on the ground, I knew right away. That didn't stop me from denying it, but when the second element appeared before me there was no way to get around that fact.

And that hurt me the most.

You see, when The Elements first appear, it means they have chosen somepony as their rightful owner. Depending on the situation, an element can switch and find a new bearer at any time. With this thought in mind The Elements become less of an object of power and more of an entity unknown.

An entity that only appears when it knows it will be used.

The Elements of Harmony will stay around until they are no longer needed. That was why their appearance brought out denial and pain in me.

What would I need to use The Elements for?

"I need to study this, Princess Celestia!" Glowing Sera exclaimed. She grasped the shard and examined it closer. "I haven't seen an Element of Harmony before! How many more do you have?"

I clasped the shard in my own magic and floated it into my saddle bag. "We don't have time to study these right now. You can look at them later."

She frowned. "They're here for a reason."

The workers appeared at the top of the staircase with supplies. They split into for groups; one for each leg. None of them showed any sign of witnessing my fall, and started to build the monument with the same materials that I built the faulty staircase with.

"You're awfully quick to stop berating me when something interesting appears," I commented.

"I'll care more when your life is actually on the line. You're dodging my question."

I trotted over to the edge of the mountain and gazed at the castle down below. Although a mere speck from so far a distance, its ostentatious design stood out from the green shadow of forest. Glowing trotted to my side.

"I don't know what The Elements are here for." I admitted.

"Really? I have a few ideas."

I turned my head to face her. "Like what?"

"You know—send her to Tartarus, exile her from Equestria, deal the final blow—"

"Don't say another word," I ordered, "Or I'll consider it treason."

"You're still in denial."

"I am not in denial!" I shouted. "You have decided to slander my name and Equestrian Royalty by suggesting such acts! Luna will not face any harm because Luna is not the one inside that castle holding you hostage! It's something else that's—"

"She removed the blades from our throats."

"What?" I asked.

"We're not tied up. It isn't exactly subtle to leave one's body, and she's noticed I've been projecting outside, but hasn't decided to kill me. In fact, I don't think she wants to. She wants to arrest me. And the guard, and you, and anypony who defies her."

"Why does she want to arrest me?" I was confused.

"She's been rambling to herself the whole time we've been in the castle. One word that kept coming up was what you just tried to use on me. Treason."

I sat down on the ground. "Oh no."

"What is it?" Glowing asked.

"She's the one in the wrong. She has to be. Because," I pulled out the two shards in my bag. "I've got the Element of Loyalty."

I showed Glowing the red shard in my bag and she examined it. "That's the Element of Loyalty, as far as I can see. If you're in the right, then why does she think you're in the wrong?"

"She's not aggressive to you two at all in there?" I questioned.

"No."

"Then I have no idea."

I glanced up at the builders; they were making fast progress. The wood I had previously used was starting to shape a frame of four legs and the bottom half of a horse's body. Glowing watched them work as well.

I now had a second wrench in my plan. First The Elements, and now I had Glowing's information.

"You don't actually think Luna will view this junk pile as passable, right?" Glowing wasn't wrong in calling the "monument" junk. The frame was full of crooked edges, the planks were balancing on top of one another so dangerously that a large gust of wind would destroy the whole operation. One pegasus was frantically dashing between the four legs with cloud adhesive to prevent the wood from completely tumbling down.

"We're only building the frame."

"And why is that?" She asked.

"I—I need your help, Glowing Sera."

She grinned and turned away from me, mocking hurt. "Oh, I see how it is. Try to arrest me for treason until I'm needed, and then I'm free to go."

"You're right, this is rude of me." I admitted. "We've gotten off on the wrong hoof tonight. I want to extend an invitation to you to help aid the nation of Equestria." I extended a hoof.

She turned back to me and reached out her own. "I can't really say no, can I?"

We shook.

"What do you need?"

"I want you to teach every unicorn we have an illusion spell. We'll use the illusions to cover up the open space between the frame and make it look like a beautiful monument of Equestria's own Princess Luna."

She put her hoof to her chin and pondered the request. "How much time do I have?" She asked.

"The faster you get everypony to cast the spell, the faster your real body is out of the castle and your 'hostage' situation is resolved."

She grinned. "If you get them all up here, I can teach the spell you want in thirty minutes."

"Okay."

She stood up and trotted over to the statue. "We're going to need anypony that's capable, Princess. Including you."

I opened my wings and got ready to fly. "Of course."

I took off into the open air and soared across the clouds. I flew above the castle and peered into the throne room through a window.

Inside was Luna, pacing back and forth. I couldn't tell what she was muttering, but given what Glowing Sera told me, I had a few ideas.

Glowing Sera was in the room as well. Her eyes were closed and her horn was faintly glowing. She was right, I thought. ~~The Affliction~~ ~~Luna~~ whoever was in there wasn't doing anything to stop Glowing from casting her spell, if it even knew what the spell did.

I realized I had been staring too long as my eyelids started to drift shut again. I kicked back up and brought myself to the campsite.

I couldn't call every unicorn and tell them why they were needed. Luna would hear and our plan would be given away. I needed to trust everypony to trust me.

"All unicorns!" I shouted. "Come to the base of the Northern Mountain immediately! Climb the staircase up to the monument for Princess Luna!"

That wouldn't raise suspicion from Luna/The Affliction. I took to the air and made my way back to the top of the mountain.

As I touched ground I saw Glowing Sera scribbling notes down into a book. I cantered over to her.

"Almost ready?" I asked. "They'll be here any moment."

She looked up and smiled. "I've got it."

The frame of the monument was nearly done. It looked like I wanted it to, although a hobbled-together mess. You could clearly see that it was an outline of a pony's legs and part of their body.

After waiting for a few more minutes, unicorns started appearing at the top of the staircase. After a large enough crowd appeared Glowing Sera stepped up and began to explain what we would be doing.

The illusion spell was a simple one, at least. It was the first illusion spell I learned, and was what I would teach all of my students in the future. That includes you, Twilight. It was muscle memory to learn it; envision what you wanted to exist, point, and cast. We were each tasked with adding an azure-coated layer in the open areas of the monument frame.

The illusion spell was simple for me, at least. As I watched everypony around me I found most were struggling with casting a large amount. By the end of the magic casting session, we had a lot of tired unicorns and three quarters of the frame covered.

Glowing Sera moved over to me with a strained look. "We don't have enough," she sighed, "And I can't cast any more spells or this body I'm in will collapse. We're going to need you to finish the final part for us."

I looked at the only uncovered area; it was the upper half of the left foreleg, along with part of the body and breast.

It wasn't until later in my life that I started to focus on magic, and I was at the time poor at casting a large amount of spells. There was a chance that I would pass out and be completely useless for the rest of the night.

"I'll do it."

I had more ego than energy in my head back then.

I managed too, though. My golden aura finished off the monument. It shared the color of Luna's coat, and the bottoms of the legs were a darker color for her hooves.

There was one problem, though.

I had no sleep, and the sun wasn't out. I had little energy at my disposal, and a lot of nighttime left that needed me at the top of my game. I could feel my eyelids once again drifting shut, and rest sounded more appealing the more I thought about it.

The monument was completed and my job was done. I could lie down, take a nap, and wake up to find that everything was okay.

"Well," Glowing Sera said, "You followed through with your part of the deal. Go into the castle, negotiate, and get us out of there!"

"Yeah!" Everypony's cheers rang out and startled me awake once more.

There were so many wrenches thrown into my plan, but the one I least expected was coming to play. It wasn't The Elements, or Glowing Sera, or if I was going against Princess Luna or The Affiction.

I was still tired.

-Princess Celestia

Author's Note

Surprise! I didn't think I could do it this week, but I did. I hope you enjoyed!