Haywire

by Skai Shine

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Main 6, Drama, Original Character, Starlight Glimmer
Length: 6957

Starlight Glimmer and her friends, both new and old, work together to save Equestria, spread light and hope, and as always: Make friends and share the Magic of Friendship

Starlight Glimmer works hard day and night to move past her dark history, and with her newfound friends it's all possible!... And yeah the Elements of Harmony are probably useful too. Taking place some time after Twilight's second coronation, Starlight and her friends Skai, Rosegarden, Crimson, Ash and Onyx, anything is possible. With only the occasional enemy or two, Starlight and company usually find themselves in lighthearted situations, growing closer and strengthening bonds, as well as discovering who they truly are within.

Haywire is a serially released series. Keep up with the chapter dates on twitter at @SkaiShine <3

This story also has Safe for Work M/M and F/F representation. If you don't approve of child-friendly gay ponies, sorry but some points in the story aren't for you.

Published 2021-06-26 14:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-07-04 18:03:11 UTC

Arc 1, Chapter 1 - Darkness Reigns, Part 1

Author's Note

The Harmony Arc begins, with Onyx having an adverse reaction to all the dark magic she absorbed. Part 2 comes out tomorrow! :heart:

Arc 1, Chapter 1 - Darkness Reigns, Part 1

NOTE: Recommended to read Haywire: Origins for context. Enjoy!

RECAP!

Starlight, left in charge of the Festival of the Two Sisters in Ponyville, has a lot on her plate. But with a couple old friends and several new ones, Starlight was sure she could handle it all. However, when a Unicorn empowered with dark magic, Onyx Moonshade, turns the Princess, her friends, and even Discord himself to stone, they all have to flee. With nowhere else to turn, they retreat to the safest place Starlight can think of: The Treehouse of Harmony. There, a mysterious being calls out to them, revealing itself to be the Spirit of Harmony... Or rather some incarnation of it. After giving Starlight and her friends several mysterious grey pearls and a cryptic message, it's gone. No one is sure how to move forward, but to get a good idea of what to do, they cast a spell that allows Starlight to walk in Onyx's mind. There she discovers that when she went back in time to get revenge on Twilight had more repercussions than she expected... Accidentally leading to the separation and subsequent loss of Onyx's parents. When Starlight is forced out by Onyx herself, Starlight has a seemingly random idea... One that requires the trust of all her new friends. Her plan isn't to condemn Onyx... But to save her. She pulls Onyx back into her own mind, revealing her inner light, her truth, that doesn't want anything to do with all this evil but instead just wants to finally be done with the loss of her parents. After some convincing, she gives in, and the Elements begin to light up around Starlight and her friends... and Onyx. Once the darkness is cleansed from her, the Spirit of Harmony returns and congratulates them. It tells them to discover their inner elements and what their Element is, to which Starlight realizes her own: Empathy. She never could've saved Onyx without the empathy of having been a villain before, and what to say to help convince her to accept the light inside, like Starlight did....

[Starlight]

“...And you're positive we can’t reach them?” I ask as I trot behind Twilight down the castle stairs.

She giggles, patting my head lightly with her wing, “Don’t worry, Starlight. Celestia sent a scroll right back, and they’ll be back to Silver Shoals soon. Luckily, the Elements of Harmony should still have plenty of power to move the Sun and the Moon in the meantime without the Pendant they gave me, and should keep the stars in the sky lit up. I wouldn't worry, Starlight.”

I exhale deeply, “Okay, if you’re calm, then I am too. I guess ever since we got these Elements I’ve been a bit… Jumpy. Not to mention keeping an eye on what all my friends' Elements might be.” I say, continuing to trot in place as I tap my hoof to my chin.

I hear Twilight giggle again, and I turn around in confusion, “I’m sorry, don’t mind me,” She says, “I just think it’s a bit cute how preemptive you are about all this. It reminds me a lot of myself back when me and my friends first got the Elements. Er- Our Elements.” She gives me a hug with her wing, “And coming from many years and all sorts of challenges of experience, I can say that you just need to let things happen as they come.”

I sigh, remembering everything that happened with Onyx. “Yeah… You have a point. Don’t worry Twilight, it’s taken me a lot of time, but I think I finally have a handle on this whole friendship stuff.” I trot back over to the stairs, looking back up at the group portrait of Twilight’s friends, Spike and I. I take a moment to think of all the years with Twilight and her friends, and how much has changed since I first came here.

I take a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “I think you’re right, Twilight. I should take things easier… Everything is gonna be okay.”

“I’m not okay!” We hear Onyx scream from above.

We stare at each other for a moment before we turn back around to the stairs, watching as Onyx is slowly half-walking and half-tumbling. She’s gasping heavily, before finally losing her bearings and falling down the stairs, tumbling to the floor in front of us as we help her up. She looks into my eyes with tired fear, the whites of her eyes filled with an empty black darkness.

“O-Onyx! What happened?” I yelp out, as she coughs hoarsely.

“I’m… Not really sure…” She says coughing again, falling right into a coughing fit. I look up to Twilight, the fear in her eyes no doubt as strong as mine.

What in Equestria is happening…?

[Skai]

Rosegarden and I push past the groups of ponies, apologizing as we run past. Down the streets from cobble to dirt to stone paths, all throughout Ponyville as we continue heading our way down to Ponyville Castle. I feel bad not giving enough apology to them all, but we have to keep running. Don’t worry about it, you can just apologize better later! I think to myself, huffing as I slowly catch up with Rosegarden. A blur of red and black zooms past us, but then slows back down revealing Ash stopping as he waits for us, flying alongside us as we finally catch up.

“Do either of y’all know what’s going on?” He asks, seeing as he took Starlight’s note to heart, having replaced his usual necklace with his Element of Harmony necklace, the red pearl dancing around his neck as he flies. I look down at my own Element sewn into my neckerchief, still unsure how we’re supposed to use them.

“No… All Starlight said was to bring the Elements and get to the castle as soon as possible.” Rosegarden says, her usual bow replaced by the one with her Element embedded into the center. I think, wondering what in Equestria could be so important for Starlight to need us to bring the Elements this soon after the whole Onyx situation.

As we finally get close to Ponyville Castle, Ash groans, “Why is the Castle so far from town? It’s gotta be at least a couple miles!”

Rosegarden sighs and rolls her eyes, “Calm down, drama queen.”

I groan, “Can the both of you just get quiet? We’re finally here.” I say as we start to run up the stairs. Ash groans and zooms past us, bursting the massive front door open. We run in, seeing Crimson hop up in surprise as we all come in.

“Oh! Hey guys!” She says, rubbing her front leg with her left hoof. I look down seeing her Element tied around her hoof. Huh. So all of us were told to bring our Elements…

“So… What exactly are we all doing here? You were here before us, do you know Crimson?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

“I don’t… I haven’t actually seen anypony in here yet so I’m just waiting for someone to come out.” She says and the rest of us get a moment to catch our breath.

I huff, tapping my hoof on the floor in impatience, “I don’t want to say Starlight called us for no reason, but I really hope she hurries up. I have a lot of orders to take care of before the Hearts and Hooves day rush. Ponies order tons of plushies and repairs around this time of year.”

And after about a minute of silence, Rosegarden gasps heavily. We all look over confused and she slaps her face with her hooves, “Please tell me one of us checked to make sure it was Ponyville Castle and not Canterlot Castle or maybe even the Crystal Castle all the way in the Crystal Empire.”

Everyone remains silent as a collective panic attack spreads throughout the room. I was about to reply until we started hearing a worried conversation from Twilight and Starlight as they walk down the stairs. Twilight looks over to us and sighs happily, “Thank you all for coming.” She says, as we all bow to her for a moment.

I clear my throat, “So Princess Twilight, Starlight, why exactly did you call us all here? You said it was some kind of emergency?” I ask as I rub my neck with my hoof.

Twilight sighs as her and Starlight trot down the stairs, “It’s Onyx. She’s okay for now, but Starlight and I had to watch something… Awful.” Twilight lights up her horn, a mystical glowing shape of Onyx appears, as a black energy swirls around her chest. “It looks like when you all used the Elements to free her from the darkness, it didn’t exactly pull every bit of the darkness out. The darkest, most evil part of the magic that tainted her remains, and it’s starting to eat away at her.” Twilight says as the glowing Onyx vision starts having the darkness spread across her, and then just fizzling away. Twilight sighs sadly as her horn stops glowing.

We all gasp, and Crimson yelps, “Chrysalis be cursed, that’s terrifying! But what can we do if the Elements didn’t work the first time?”

Ash holds up his Element with his hoof, “Wait, wait, wait… Aren’t these Elements s’posed to be super powerful, or somethin’? How did they not work?”

Starlight taps her Element on her neck, “I think it’s because we used them for so many different things at once, and they didn’t have the strength to pull every last drop of darkness out of her.” She sighs, looking up the stairs sadly, “She isn’t doing well, but hopefully it’s just the darkness' effects on her, and not any permanent damage.”

Twilight nods as she summons a book with magic, flipping through it, “According to this spell we found, she should recover fast as long as don’t waste any time. Everypony brought their Elements, right?” We all nod and agree, holding up our Elements individually.

Ash clears his throat, “But uh… How exactly is it gonna go any different from last time? Also aren’t these kinda being used to move the Sun and the Moon right now?”

Starlight chuckles nervously, “They are. But we aren’t going to be using the magic inside the Elements, we’re just going to use them as conduits. Twilight is going to help me power the spell, you all are going to conduct the magic to me, and I’m going to cast the spell. If we’re lucky, it won’t interfere with the spell moving the Sun and the Moon.” She says with a nervous chuckle as she bites her lip.

Rosegarden takes a deep breath, adjusting her Element bow in her curls with her magic, “Well, we don’t have any better ideas, so I say let’s do it.” Starlight turns over to Twilight and nods, who teleports away in a flash of violet.

With yet another flash, Twilight is back with a wobbly Onyx, who’s definitely looking worse for wear. Starlight nods with a furrowed brow, “Which is why we should get started now.” Twilight lights up her horn, as we all stand in a circle with Onyx in the center. Twilight flies up, blasting Crimson’s Element, which spreads to Ash’s Element, and Rosegarden’s and all of us each adding our own color to a rainbow, including Onyx who’s Element surges violently at Starlight’s. She lights up her horn, the rainbow swirling out of her Element and twirling around her horn, the tip glowing a bright vibrant white.

She takes a deep breath before zapping Onyx, who lifts up into the air, coughing as the darkness seeps out of her. Starlight groans as she lights her horn up again, blasting the cloud of darkness, as the rainbow joins her and zaps away at it. It makes a hissing sound, almost as if it’s whining in pain. Suddenly, a rainbow shockwave bursts outward. We all rub our eyes and look up in horror at three different shadow clouds.

They all swirl together before they bust out, two heading out the front door and another heading deeper into the castle. Without anyone saying a word, Twilight and Starlight run after the one heading into the castle as everyone else runs out. I look down at Onyx who’s groaning and rubbing her eyes, looking much better than before as she starts standing up. I run over and help her up.

“Sk...Skai? What happened?” She asks as she stands up.

I brush the back of my neck with my hoof again, “Well… That’s a bit of a long story. Follow me, I’ll tell you on the way!” I say as she nods as we run out the castle as fast as she can.

[Rosegarden]

We watch in horror as the darkness splits apart, and bursts outward. Most of us chase past them out of the castle, Ash and Crimson flying as I run along the path. The darkness I’m chasing veers to the right while the other one heads towards Ponyville. “You two follow it and try to stop it from doing any harm!” I yell out as Crimson looks over and nods to me, flying faster to catch up with very speedy Ash.

I continue chasing my shadow as it continues turning until I gasp and stop, watching as it enters the Everfree forest. A few years ago, it wouldn’t be too dangerous to enter the woods. But after that whole King Sombra situation, the forest has become even more dangerous, and it already was the most dangerous place within central Equestria. We may have been in there once, but it was a short time before we got teleported to the safest place inside it.

I take a final deep breath, and prepare to head in until I hear a “Wait up!” Behind me. I turn around to see Skai, who for a moment turns around and waves at Onyx who’s chasing behind Ash and Crimson. He trots up to me, “I’m not sure where Twilight and Starlight went, but I heard them yell something about a mirror as Onyx and I were heading out of the castle.

Skai looks past me and his eyes grow narrow with fear, “Oh no… Please don’t tell me we’re going to go back in there…? That place is crazy dangerous!” He says nervously trotting in place as he bites his lip.

I roll my eyes, leaning over and pulling Skai into a half hug as I wave my hoof out, “Don’t worry about it, just watch: With my magic and you’re keen eyes, we’ll no doubt be perfectly fine in there.” I hop towards the forest, turning around with a grin, “Right?” He just frowns at me.

I groan, grabbing him with magic and trotting in as he yelps and cries out, “Hey wait! Don’t just- Hey! Let me go!” He then just whimpers as we enter the Everfree.

[Ash]

We burst out of the castle, and I zoom past Rosegarden and Crimson, zooming onward closing up on the shadow. In the corner of my eye Rosegarden and the other shadow splits off and I narrow my eyes back onto this shadow. On one hoof, being an Element of Harmony and doing all this hero stuff like AJ is pretty epic. On the other hoof, having to crash into all the ponies and buildings chasing past unspeakable evil isn’t exactly my favorite kind of Thursday.

I keep flying, dodging buildings and trees and ponies, straining myself to go even faster. I kept going, zooming faster and faster until, out of nowhere, the shadow zoomed upward. I look forward and realize far too late that I’m flying right into a bridge.

When I finally groan and slowly open my eyes, I see Onyx and Crimson standing over me, the bright and clear blue Equestrian sky above. I gasp, hopping and shaking the water off of myself, groaning as I rub my head. Crimson clears her throat, “I’m guessing you, er, lost the shadow?” I huff, “Maybe… Didn’t expect the darn thing to be so clever.” Onyx whimpers as she digs at the ground slightly, “Well.. It is dark energy born from combining unknown power with an already powerful magic-amplifying soul-sucking amulet that turned me into a mare of pure evil who almost took over Equestria, so…”

I roll my eyes and groan, “You can’t still be worried about that? You’re fine. You couldn’t control yourself! Besides, we’ve got more important problems: Like how the shadow is gone, and I have no idea how to find the dang thing. Besides, even when we find it we gotta figure somethin’ out. I wasn’t fast enough to catch it before I slammed my head into a bridge.” I say looking around, seeing no trail except the ponies angrily glaring at me, who were all probably ones I pushed out of the way chasing the shadow.

Onyx hums in thought for a moment, tapping her chin with her hoof, “Well… Now that I think about it, while I was wearing the Empowered Alicorn Amulet, the darkness inside me did want something: More power. Is there maybe some kind of unspoken well of magic-imbued artifacts in Ponyville?” She says as she holds up her hoof.

After all of us thinking for a moment, Crimson gasps, “Oh no. The School of Friendship! Being the only two Changelings living outside the Hive, Ocellus and I talk often. She told me that Princess Twilight sent some ancient artifacts from the Pillars Protection Era to the school, which means….”

Onyx gasps and her silver eyes wide with fear, “Oh no…”

I tug on my face with my hooves with a groan, “Well what’re we all waiting for? Let’s go!” I say as I zoom back towards the Castle, veering slightly to the right, towards the School of Friendship.

It takes a few minutes, but I finally see the waterfalls glistening against the light violet walls. I land down on the stone bridge, running up to the main doors, bursting inside and running headfirst into a pony. I rub my head, Sweet Celestia, am I gonna keep hitting my head? I look up at the pony I ran into, seeing an orange stallion with white coat markings very similar to mine. His messy orange mane and matching beard, along with the spectacles and navy blue cloak patterned with cyan stars, all seem familiar. Some pony Starlight is great friends with, but I really can’t remember the name.

I clear my throat, “Are you uh….” I think for a moment, cursing myself, my memory, and my possible concussion, “Sun…” I study him for a moment, trying to guess the last half, “...Shine?”

His spectacles slide down his muzzle as he narrows his eyes at me. He adjusts the spectacles back into place with magic, “Uh. Close? I’m Sunburst. Can I, er, help you?” I was about to reply when the doors burst open behind us, and I turn around to see Crimson and Onyx running inside. Sunburst scratches his chin with his hoof, “Wait… Those unique jewelry… I can’t help but ask, are you all Starlight’s new friends?”

Crimson nods, “Uh… Yes?” She says cautiously.

Sunburst squeals slightly, summoning a magnifying glass and holding it up with magic as he tugs on my necklace, examining my Element, “I truly hope you’ll let me get a good peek at these. Newly crafted powerful artifacts like these are a once in a lifetime thing, and-”

I clear my throat, tugging my Element away as he whimpers slightly, “We’re actually here for something a bit more serious. Have you seen-” In the distance a sudden crash grabs everyone's attention.

Sunburst groans, “Let me guess. Magical emergency or dangerous villain?”

Crimson shoves past him, “Both!” She cries out as we all follow suit. We continue running, until finally we open the door to some sort of large storage suite, boxes knocked over as the shadow cloud holds up several relics I couldn’t begin to recognize. One points right at us, blasting some sort of magic energy that Crimson and Sunburst block with some kind of mix of Changeling magic and Unicorn magic creating a glowing white barrier.

I groan as I duck behind the doorway, “I guess we should’ve asked Starlight what to do before it got a hold of magic.”

[To Be Continued…]

[End of Chapter 1]

Chapter 2 - Darkness Reigns, Part 2

[Skai]

We enter the Everfree as I grumble, still being literally dragged in with Rosegarden’s magic. After quite a ways in, her magic dissipates, and I land hard against the forest floor. I groan, rubbing my head and brushing the dirt off of me, “Ow… Did you have to drop me so hard?” I cry out with a pout.

Rosegarden trots past me while rolling her eyes with a smirk, “Quit huffing, you’re fine. Besides, did you really think I was gonna carry you the entire time? Besides…” She slows down as I catch up and she bumps my side, “You’re my brother, you can handle it.”

I groan, rolling my eyes as we continue walking. The deeper in we go, we have to light up our horns as the leaves overhead start blocking more and more of the sunlight. In the corner of my eye I see glowing yellow eyes stare at us as I start to grow nervous.

I clear my throat, “Uhrm, are you sure it’s safe to go through this forest? I think it’s only gotten more dangerous since last time…” I say shakily, sticking close to her as we continue heading in deeper.

Rosegarden chuckles, bumping me again, “Don’t worry, Skai. I can protect you just find. Like back in school, remember?” She says with a smirk, as I frown, stopping and looking down at my hooves. She notices I stopped, turning around with a sigh, “Skai, please don’t say you’re still upset about what the other fillies and colts said back then, can you?”

I huff, shoving past her, “It’s fine. Just because I can’t do magic and my twin sister is a magical prodigy is fiiiiine.” I angrily snarl out as I stomp ahead.

We continue trotting silently, as I see more and more eyes surround us, as the treetops cover the forest roof more and more, causing deeper and deeper darkness. I was about to consider turning back until I see a light in the distance. I narrow my eyes, holding my hoof over my head to block my horn light from my eyes. “Hey… What’s that?” I ask, as Rosegarden catches up to me.

She strains her eyes, “Huh… It looks like some kind of forest hut.”

I gulp, “Who would be crazy enough to live out here in the middle of the most dangerous part of central Equestria?” We continue trotting towards it, preparing to knock until we hear a twig snap behind us. We turn in surprise as the yellow eyes begin circling us and closing in.

Rosegarden pushes my back, her horn glowing bright, “Stand back, I-” Behind us the door to the tree cottage opens, as a mare steps out. A zebra mare, with a mohawk as well as a tower of gold bands around her neck and a matching setting around her front left hoof. The creatures make whimpers, running away.

We turn, as the mare raises an eyebrow, “What is this, out here, I see? A couple of ponies out here in the Everfree?”

[Rosegarden]

[A Few Minutes Later]

I sip a bit more of the tea, “Mmm… So, Zecora, you said you saw the Shadow heading away from the Castle of the Two Sisters?” I ask, sipping a little more tea.

Skai rubs his chin, “I thought that thing was going after power, but it just ignored the most powerful part of the Everfree forest… Both the Castle of the Two Sisters and that Treehouse of Harmony are both filled to the brim with ancient magic.

Zecora nods, grabbing a piece of paper and flattening it onto the table. She dips the tip of her hoof into ink, drawing a map. “Indeed this creature strayed from your guess, leaving behind it a very large mess. Even the most dangerous denizens of the forest stay away, likely due to the power it has on display.”

She then draws a mountain, “Not much lies around where it heads… Merely just a mountain, with caverns with no ends.”

As she finishes, I lift the map with magic, studying it, “Hm… Caverns… Strange, I doubt there’s anything in there more than a couple gemstones…”

Skai finishes his tea with a sigh, “Zecora, you seem to be a clever mare. Do you have any ideas?”

Zecora thinks to herself for a moment, “I did see a pony recently come out this way, but I have not seen them since that day.”

I gasp, “Wait… Maybe it was Onyx…? Before the Festival of the Two Sisters… Which means-”

Skai gasps too, “Maybe it’s the Alicorn Amulet! Or maybe even the Pendant of the Sun and Moon!” I nod, downing my tea as I hop out of my chair.

Zecora puts her hoof on my chest, shaking her head. She trot over to her cauldron, stirring the green fluid as she mixes in a bunch of ingredients I can’t even begin to recognize, “I may or may not have an idea or two, to cure this darkness, it is true.” With a sprinkle of one last ingredient, the cauldron begins to glow white as the liquid turns a matching ivory. She scoops up some more into a bottle, sealing it up and holding it up to me.

“This is the essence of light, true and pure. Throw this on that shadow, and it’ll be destroyed I’m sure.”

“Wow! That’s a big help, actually.” I say, levitating the bottle and teleporting it away for safekeeping. “Thanks so much, again, Zecora!” I say as we trot out the cottage, Zecora laughing lightly and giving us a wave as I wave back.

I study the map for a moment, before I roll it up and teleport it away with the bottle of Light Essence. I use my magic, straining for a moment as I levitate myself up, looking around for Mount Everfree, seeing it in the distance, falling down quick and rough as I crash to the forest floor. Skai helps me up as I brush myself off, pointing towards the mountain.

Skai takes a deep breath as he trots ahead, “I really hope this works out.”

I sigh, looking behind us at the yellow eyes as they return. “Yeah… Me too.”

[Ash]

The Shadow thing keeps on blasting us from within the storage room, causing the barrier Crimson and Sunburst holding up to crack a little. I look over to see Onyx walking in circles, tapping her chin with her hoof, “Oh we could- No that wouldn’t work… Maybe if- No, not that either…” She says, arguing with herself.

I groan, walking up to her and holding her in place, “Hey! Listen to me! You gotta calm down and think of a way to fix this!” I say, as Onyx sighs and pushes me off.

“Look, I-” She sighs, “I’ll try. But I don’t exactly think it’s gonna work.” She says as she trots over to Sunburst and Crimson and I trot behind her. She stands close behind Sunburst and Crimson, seemingly studying the Shadow and what it’s doing.

I trot up to them as Sunburst groans, “Any progress…?! Please?!” He cries out as I clear my throat, and tap Onyx’s side.

“So uh yeah, Onyx, have any progress yet…? I think Crimson and Sunburst are struggling a bit.” I say as the barrier cracks slightly more.

I look up at the artifact Onyx looks like she’s studying, a bronze medallion with a purple gemstone in the center, with sharp golden blades on the sides, coming together to look like the sun.

Onyx gasps, “Wait, I think I recognize that amulet! And if I’m right, then I think I have a pretty good idea…” She says as she summons a book, flipping through it and beginning to read something.

I wait a moment as the Shadow blasts a few more times. The barrier begins to crack a bit more, and I clear my throat, “Mind telling us what it is…?”

[Crimson]

[A Few Minutes Later]

I groan as I struggle, feeling my magic beginning to fade as the barrier starts to crack more and more. I hear Ash call to us from behind, “Are y’all ready over there?”

Sunburst just groans in reply as I struggle to answer, “H-hurry up! Or the barrier is gonna be broken any second!”

I hear Onyx levitate something behind us as she yells out, “Now!”

Sunburst and I leap out of the way, right as a blast from the amulet shoots outward, and I turn in time to watch it bounce off of a mirror. It bounces back, hitting the shadow as it hisses in pain, dropping the artifacts and the sun-shaped one it was blasting us with. Sunburst squeals in high-pitched terror, grabbing most of them with his magic as he struggles with his already weakened power.

Onyx grabs the sun-shaped amulet with her magic, levitating over to her and twisting the gemstone in it with her hoof, as it glows bright red and begins to shake. Onyx yelps, “Everypony get down!” She cries out as we all duck and cover. I peek out and watch as an incredibly strong white blast shoots into the storage room.

Although I can’t see what’s happening, I hear a loud screeching hiss. And then, very suddenly, a plume of smoke pours out of the storage room. I wave my hoof as I cough, looking inside and seeing nothing but the clutter of boxes and variously scattered artifacts.

I cough more as I walk up to Onyx, watching as she drops the steaming artifact and pulling her hoof away from it. “Wow, Onyx! That was incredible! How did you know what to do?”

Onyx gives a shy blush, clearing her throat, “Well, I wouldn’t have gotten myself out of my own head if it weren’t for Ash. But when I finally did, I saw that amulet and recognized it from my studies of magic from- Er, well you know… Before.” She says as her blush grows stronger and she rubs her neck.

Onyx sighs as she lifts the amulet with magic, “It’s one of the first artifacts Celestia made for Starswirl the Bearded during her magical education. It blasts a beam of pure, unfiltered light, and I figured it would’ve worked against a shadow made of pure darkness and evil.”

She then levitates over to Sunburst as he carefully places it into a box and begins restacking the boxes.

Ash bumps her side, “You can say it was ‘cus I helped you get over your issues, but I just knew you’d have an idea what to do. You just gotta trust yourself, sometimes.” He says, causing Onyx to blush in embarrassment as she clears her throat.

“Now, with all that taken care of, I still feel like we’re forgetting something…” She says, tapping her chin with her hoof as my eyes widen with a gasp.

“Skai and Rosegarden! They were headed towards the Everfree!” I cry out.

Onyx gasps, “That place is filled with unheard of dangers! Rosegarden could probably handle it herself, but we should still try and help them!”

Ash nods as he narrows his eyes, “You two follow me, I can track ‘em down.” He says as he zooms past us as we run behind him.

I take a deep breath, “Hopefully they’re okay…”

[Skai]

We continue our trot through the woods. After making our way past a couple of rivers and close calls with Everfree monsters. Everytime they get close, Rosegarden has to charge up her horn and they eventually scamper off. After Celestia knows how long, I groan and snatch the map from her with my magic, lighting up my horn and looking down at it, “I feel like we’re supposed to be there by now… “

Rosegarden snatches the map back, teleporting it away as she teleports up on a tree branch, climbing up to the top and groan as she suddenly teleports next to me, causing me to yelp and stumble back. I groan, “Can you not do that?” After a second to catch my breath, “What did you see up there?”

She sighs, looking up, “I’m pretty sure we’re there. There’s some kind of protecting illusion spell keeping us going in circles.” She says brushing her curls out of her eyes with her hoof.

“Spell? What do you mean?” I ask as I trot up to her, looking around and not seeing anything strange around us, although it is strange how it wasn’t supposed to be far but it’s taking this long.

Rosegarden huffs, “Don’t worry, with nopony protecting the spell it should be pretty easy to break. I just have to…” She takes a deep breath, lighting up her horn and blasting a shield around us, which then surges outward. Out of nowhere, we’re suddenly standing in front of a cave entrance, the forest several yards behind us.

We start to step close, and then very suddenly torches begin to glow a bright purple flame, lighting up in a path down into the cave, which curves on a staircase to the right and downwards. We both unlight our horns and begin trotting in. We look around, seeing various murals of Princess Twilight and her friends as well as Starlight, all of them blasted or burned or scratched. I clear my throat, “Yeah let’s um… Maybe not tell Onyx every little detail about our journey, yeah?” Rosegarden nods nervously as we keep making our way to the end, and then heading down the staircase.

We continue making our way down the staircase, and it finally ends as it seems pretty far down into the ground. We find ourselves in a larger opening, in front of a massive iron door. Together, Rosegarden and I use our magic to force it open. It takes so much effort my magic starts to crackle and pop slightly, but luckily it gives way before any adverse effects of my abnormal horn kick in. The door slowly opens, revealing a stone room, with a small cot in the corner, some mannequin that must’ve held what was Queen Onyx’s armor, and lastly many different pictures and portraits hung up on the walls, ranging from the return of Princess Luna, to the birth of Princess Flurryheart, even what looks like the defeat of Tirek, Cozy Glow and Queen Chrysalis. Although that last portrait looks… Damaged? Like it’s been crumbled before. So many events of the past, all surrounding a small picture of Starlight and Twilight, all connected with strings and pins.

Rosegarden sighs, “Yeah lets… Really not bring this up to Onyx. I don’t think she’d take it well… Although I am confused… None of this seems especially magical or powerful. What would the Shadow want from here?” She asks and I shrug, looking around. We both yelp as a sudden crash from behind us rings out. We turn and beside the iron door stands a smaller wooden door, hanging slightly cracked open. We rush inside, gasping as we watch the Shadow float in the air, coiled around an orange metal and gem device that looks… Strangely familiar.

I gasp, “Uh… Rose. Isn’t that the Pendant? Like.. The one Princess Twilight was looking for?”

She nods nervously with a gulp, “Uh, the one she uses to move the Sun and Moon? Uh… Yeah. That’s the one.”

The Shadow hisses repeatedly, sounding strangely like a laugh. It coils more tightly around the Pendant, as it crackles and chips with a surge of gold and blue energy.

Rosegarden sighs and looks over to me, “Skai. I have an idea. And I know given what happened earlier you might not be in the best place for this but… I need you to trust me.”

I groan, “Look, Rose, you don’t have to worry about that. I know I get in ruts sometimes… And thinking about those times doesn’t help. But you have literally been around since I was born. You were the first twin, and I get we’re the same age but I’ve always looked up to you so… I trust you, sis.” She smiles and it causes me to smile back happily.

She sighs, stepping forward as the Shadow hisses and shifts back, coiling tighter around the Pendant as it cracks and chips more. She sighs, kneeling down and teleporting the Light potion Zecora made in. She holds it up with her hoof, “You seem a bit conscious. I’m guessing you can understand me which means you also can probably guess this is all we have to stop you. Sounds like a good deal for that Pendant we need yeah?” She sets it down on the floor and nervously steps back.

After a moment she looks back at me worried, “I’m not sure it can even really speak Ponish or not.” She says softly. The Shadow slowly floats to the floor, setting down the Pendant and scooping up the Bottle, floating up into the corner and hissing happily as it slams the bottle on the floor, breaking it and spilling the potion all over the floor as it glows white with a rainbow glint as it fades away. Rosegarden holds up the Pendant and yells out, “Skai get down!” As I drop to the floor covering my head with my hooves and watching in sudden fear.

She blasts the Pendant as the gem in the center glows white, as it shakes, crackles and hisses. The Shadow attempts to leave but is blocked by a bright red barrier, Rosegarden smirking at the Shadow as the Pendant glows brighter and brighter. Rosegarden tosses the Pendant as it glows brighter and brighter as she huddles close to me.

And then, in a flash of white, gold and blue, an explosion of magic surges outward.

[Ash]

As we finally get to the edge of the Everfree, a quake surges outward. I fly up into the air and see a big cloud of smoke flowing out from the bottom of a mountain deep in the Everfree Forest. “Uh Onyx do you mind getting us there a bit faster? Things look bad!” I yell out as I scoop her up and show her the smoke cloud. She nods as Crimson flies up and with a flash of light pink magic, we’re suddenly standing at the base of a mountain. A couple of purple flame torches begin to flicker, and scattered all around are orbs of white, gold and blue, all swirling around in the smoke. I gasp as I see Skai and Rosegarden slowly walk out of the smoke, and for a moment it looks like some of the light is swirling around their horns and eyes, but I think it’s just a trick of the light.

I blinked and suddenly the light I thought I saw around them was gone, so I just quickly fly up and tug them both into a hug. Everyone else runs up and joins too as the two of them groan in the squeezing hug.

Eventually we finally made our way back to the castle, as I had to carry Skai on my back and Rosegarden got help walking from Onyx and Crimson. As I lower Skai to his feet I fumble down onto the foyer floor with a groan, watching ahead of me as Twilight and Starlight do the same. I snort, “Do I even wanna ask?” I tiredly ask.

Starlight shakes her head and huffs, “Do I…?” I chuckle and shake my head.

[A LOT of Resting Later…]

I groan as I lay my head on the crystal table. “Where is Starlight and Twilight? Didn’t they say they’d be here by now?” I say as I lean back in the crystal chair with Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark on it.

Crimson flitters down from the tree in the ceiling and sighs as she lands in another chair, “Well they did seem pretty tired. Maybe-”

Suddenly Starlight bursts into the room, “Sorry! Sorry. I’m still a bit frazzled and Twilight is pretty tired. Where we went is, uh- A bit hard to explain but let me just say it was weird. And tiring, very tiring. Anywho, you were saying something about the Pendant of the Sun and Moon?”

Rosegarden blushes as she clears her throat, “Uh…. Yeah SKAI was gonna tell you about that one! Heh…” She waves her hoof over to Skai as he groans.

“Yeah, so Rosegarden kinda blew it up to stop the Shadow. So… Sorry…?” He says nervously, tapping his hooves together.

Starlight just sighs as she steps towards the table, “It’s fine, Twilight already has a plan in place for that. We’re going to visit the Princ- I mean, Celestia and Luna at Silver Shoals. Twilight and I are gonna be heading there in a few weeks so it’d be good for you all to rest up and get your things taken care of in the meantime.” She says with a tired wave as she trots off.

[End of Chapter 2]

Chapter 3 - Sweet Apple Aches

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