The group soon came across a river where a bridge was suppsed to connect to the other side, but currently the bridge was out of commission.

"Must be the work of Shining Flare." Celestia said.

"I got this, don't worry." Spitfire said and flew over to the other side.

"Spitfire..." A voice called out.

"...Shining Flare, you'll have to do better then try and not get me to help my friends across." Spitfire said, fixing the bridge without a second thought. "I may want to be an ace stunt flier like Captain Rainbow Dash, but I would never leave my friends hanging." Spitfire said and rejoined her friends.

"Let's get across, not much father now." Celestia said.

Further down the path, there was a few cliffs that provided a short cut to the old castle.

"Wait!" Buttercup said. "Don't take any of these cliffs!" She said.

"Huh? Why not?" Celestia asked. As if to answer Celestia, Buttercup procceeded to stomp down HARD on each cliff area which showed that they had been lossened.

"We earth ponies may not be able to fly like Pegasi do, or cast magic like unicorns can, but that don't mean we don't have some special magic of our own. Ours just happens to be related to the land and everything that makes that possible." Buttercup said. "And before ya go askin', I am telling you the honest truth as the farm lifestyle teaches you how to be honest not just with yer friends and family, but with yer work too." Buttercup said.

"Hey guys, I found a part of the ground that's more like a slide." Spitfire called out not too far from their position.

"Talk about good timing." Celestia said.

The group had almost made it to the castle, but the door was shut tight.

"Hmm...there seems to be an inscription here: 'if one wants inside these walls, then you must give up something in return.' ...What's with the sudden riddle?" Celestia asked.

"Stand back, I got this." Cookie Crumbles said before she suddenly cut her tail and placed it nearby the door which caused it to open.

"Cookie, yer poor tail..." Buttercup said.

"It's fine. It'll grow back. More importantly however, we are able to get inside now." Cookie Crumbles said. The group headed inside the ruins without a second thought.

"There they are. I think." Celestia said looking up at the five stone orbs that Celeste helped Spitfire, Luna, and Cookie Crumbles get down.

"Only five of these things are here." Luna noted.

"Luna, don't you remember what Celestia read from that book?" Spitfire asked.

"She's right; she read that a spark that units the five elements will cause the sixth one to appear. No doubt Princess Twilight herself must have had that trigger be the thing just in case Shining Flare would find these before anyone else." Cookie Crumbles said.

"But what are we supposed to do with a bunch of stone orbs?" Chiffon Swirls asked.

"I don't think this is their true form." Celestia noted.

"What do ya mean when ya say this ain't the true form of the elements?" Buttercup asked.

"I think what my sister means is that the elements are hibernating. You know, like how some animals hibernate in the winter time." Luna said.

"So in other words, your saying the elements are currently inactive?" Spitfire asked.

"That is what I'm saying yes." Luna said.

"So then how do we get them to be active again? After all, one thousand years ago, Princess Twilight used them on Shining Flare." Celestia said.

"I think it has to do with the spark that makes the sixth element appear. That one could act as the activator for the others. After all, the other elements would be useless without all six being together." Cookie Crumbles said.

"Good point." Celestia said. "Though I wonder...if it was a simple magic spell that caused them to resonate, then Shining Flare could've easily used them too." She added.

"And then we'd be in a LOT of trouble." Spitfire noted. As if on cue, Shining Flare appeared.

"Ah there they are. I wonder where Twilight put those stupid things. If you know what's good for you, you'll hand those over right here, right now!" Shining Flare said.

"Not going to happen." Spitfire said.

"Yeah, I'd like to see you try and take them." Luna said.

"You may be an evil alicorn, but there's six of us and only one of you." Cookie Crumbles said.

"And it won't matter how much damage ya try to dish out to us." Buttercup said.

"The six of us have a unique bond of friendship that you could never topple." Chiffon Swirls said.

! That's it! Celestia said. "I hate to be the bringer of bad news, Shining Flare, but even if we wanted to, we couldn't hand over the elements. Because the ponies who represent those elements are right here!" Celestia said as the stones began to glow. "My own sister Luna showed compassion towards the Timber Wolves of the forest and thus represents the element of Kindness. Chiffon Swirls who helped us laugh away our fears represents the element of Laughter. Spitfire who not only helped out my sister when they were younger, but chose us over whatever it was you could ever offer to her represents the element of Loyalty. Buttercup who revealed to me her truths and helped us get past the unstable cliffs represents the element of Honesty. And finally, Cookie Crumbles who was so selfless, that she was willing to sacrifice her tail to help us get in here represents the element of Generosity." Celestia explained as the stones broke a bit and then pieces began to swirl amongst the others.

"But you don't have the sixth element. Whatever your planning didn't work." Shining Flare said.

"The sixth element only shows up when a spark units the other five. And I realize now what that spark was about: Friendship. These ponies helped me fit in, and the time we spent waiting for the Sun Celebration event organized by Twilight to be here in Ponyville helped me realize that they are real friends!" Celestia said. Suddenly a new orb showed up out of nowhere. "When the elements are united by the spark of Friendship, it creates the final element: THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC!" Celestia said before the final orb transformed into a crown on her head where as the other elements became necklaces before a giant rainbow laser hit Shining Flare.

Everyone got up after a brief rest. Cookie Crumble's tail had been restored.

"Ah my tail is back. Seems the elements must have grown it back." Cookie Crumbles said.

"Look, your necklace matches your cutie mark." Luna pointed out.

"Really? How about that. So does yours." Cookie Crumbles said.

"Look at mine!" Chiffon Swirls said.

"THIS. IS. AWESOME!" Spitfire said. Celestia looked up at hers.

"Seems ya were onto something after all Celestia; we do represent the elements." Buttercup said.

"Indeed you do." A female voice called out. Suddenly out of nowhere, Princess Twilight appeared.

"Princess Twilight!" Celestia said, going over to her teacher.

"Good job Celestia. You did exactly what I had hoped you'd do." Princess Twilight said.

"You wanted me to defeat Shining Flare?" Celestia asked.

"I had hoped you'd do so yes. But I knew you could not do so by yourself. Thanks to your new friends and your own sister, you have done just what you have said: Defeated Shining Flare." Princess Twilight said. "That is why I told you to make friends in Ponyville after all." She added.

"The High Council actually signed off on this?" Celestia mumbled to herself as her teacher went to the downed form of Shining Flare who had been reduced to a young Alicorn not much younger then Princess Twilight.

"Now if only a certain somepony would accept my friendship and love once more. It's been a long time since I last saw you like this, Sunset Shimmer." Princess Twilight said. "There had to be other ways to get others to notice you then what you did. Banishing you to the moon was the hardest thing I ever had to do. It hurt me a lot more then you were ever hurt, my love." She said.

"Did...did she just call that alicorn her lover?" Spitfire asked. The orange alicorn started to sob.

"I'm so, so sorry Twilight..." The orange alicorn said before hugging Twilight. "I'm so sorry. I'll try to do better from now on. Just please don't leave me." She added.

"I won't Sunset Shimmer. Not again." Twilight said.

"So...is she a princess too? Then why..." Luna said.

"It's a story I'd rather not talk about please." Princess Sunset said. "I made my mistakes. So now I must deal with them." She added.

"We can go back to ruling together. And this time, I will make sure you are paid enough attention to. I won't let what happened a thousand years ago happen again." Princess Twilight said.

"Th-thank you...it's this kind of stuff that made me fall in love with you to begin with." Princess Sunset said.

"Hey um...Princess Twilight Sparkle...I was wondering something..." Celestia said.

"What is it, my faithful student?" Princess Twilight asked.

"Can I stay here in Ponyville? I'd hate to leave my new friends just like that. I'll try and come up to canterlot every now and then though." Celestia said. Princess Twilight smiled.

"I think that's a great idea. I shall have it made a royal decree as soon as me and my lover return to the castle." Princess Twilight said. "Just make sure you give me a report on your progress towards the magic of friendship, and only when you actually make that progress." She added.

Author's Note

I'll admit it, I stretched a bit with Generosity in order to make the remixed order work. And yes, Magic is still the last element here. Kind of hard to place that one somewhere different in the order when it's supposed to be the mystery element. I did try my best to have other characters besides just Celestia react to the trials that occur. This was for no other reason then to sell that this version of the Main Six had a lot more of a close friendship bond then the original from the get-go to sell the fact that outside of Celestia, these mares have been through a lot together.
Also, in case anyone was wondering where Sunset Shimmer was this whole time, well now you know. Thought it was pretty obvious though.