A Boy and his Watch
By TheAlienBrony22

Friendship is Galactic,
Part 8

[The castle of the two sisters, ruins]

"Did you really have to brute force the enchanted door, Ben?" Twilight remarked as the ponies walked through the entrance, stepping onto the door. "Really, it didn't even seem necessary."

Fourest Fighter stepped inside with the ponies as he tapped the Omnitrix and returned to normal. "What can I say, I like to make my presence known to criminals and scumbags. Used to do it all the time back in Canterlot, but after that shoggoth zombie theatre incident, there hasn't actually been anything else to do, especially since the royal guard have cracked down on tightening and reinforcing security, so they kinda no longer needed me, plus I'd rather not show off my powers... but who would willingly flaunt their strength when it isn't needed?" Ben explained.

"Sweet Marlene," Applejack uttered looking up at the massive hall of the castle. Even with the ravages of time and the wilds against it , the castle was still an imposing place. The roof in this area had long since blown off in a storm leaving the night sky in full view above them, a chilling reminder of what awaited forever if they failed. The large windows of the room were destroyed and plants creeped into the building hugging the walls and pillars.

"Okay, so this was only an out building, a back door into the castle that the public was not likely supposed to ever see. Every castle must have one of these, just in case it was ever right to run from a destructive invading force." Twilight remarked.

"If that's the case, it's kinda odd that there's a big ol' statue in the middle of the room." Pinkie said, pointing towards said statue.

Twilight blinked as she looked up at the statue curiously. Plant life covered it and it seemed to be a large planet with rotating arms that circled with seven smaller moons around it. The arms were fixed and the large planet featureless, though the seven moons... Six Moons? She could have sworn there were seven when they walked in, but there's only six elements, and only five of them were known. Twilight felt her head spinning, but she decided to just get on with this. The six orbs had a gem shaped design on each of them. She had seen this device before back in the library. She knew exactly what it was.

"Something doesn't feel right..." Twilight uttered out.

"Huh?" Ben questioned. "Is there a problem, Twi?"

"This statue was in a drawing in the book about the Elements of Harmony, but there's gotta be some kind of mistake..." Twilight explained, not comprehending what exactly was up. "There aren't seven elements of Harmony... are there?"

"So these are the Elements, huh?" Applejack questioned, examining one of the moons. "Oddly convenient, thought it'd be tougher."

"There aren't supposed to be seven, right Twilight? The book did say there were six, and only five of them were known... and yet, that sixth moon is really throwing you for a loop," Dash asked, feeling skeptical. "If I were a betting mare, I'd say this screams trap to me. Nightmare Moon probably planted a fake, and the moment it interacts with the elements, it might stop them from working altogether."

"I dunno, Dash, I feel like Nightmare Moon wouldn't be strong enough to make a fake element, need I remind you of the parlor tricks she's used on us on the way here?" Ben countered, examining the sixth moon closely. "It doesn't feel fake, certainly doesn't look fake either, looks exactly the same as the other five, but then again, I wouldn't know the difference between one pebble you could find on a farm, and a pebble you could find in an ocean trench."

"Well, the sediment on each stone is fairly different, but it's all the same stone type. Plus, if you wanted my opinion on the statue that these things were on, it's too new," Pinkie moved towards the base and poked it with her hoof. "The rock around the base looks like some kind of cement was used as a type of adhesive to keep it down, and that's recent, like, several hours ago recent."

Twilight looked at the pink pony curiously, but noticed everyone else, including Ben, just seemed to accept that as normal, till Ben crouched down and whispered into Twilight's ear.

"She was born on a Rock farm, and worked on that rock farm. We were surprised, too, but it does kinda make sense. She can explain it to you later." Ben whispered.

"Here's the thing, Pinkie, it's just not that new, though. See those strange velvet-soft pieces of white on it, that's what kind of web-like silk the star spiders spin. Star spiders basically are attracted to anything old and use said old thing or old place to build their nests, like most insects and bugs." Fluttershy pointed out. "Look, if you check the corner of one of the statue's arms, there's an old dirt dauber nest, showing that this statue really has been here awhile, most likely since spring."

"So it's not a trap, but I'm not convinced that it isn't." Dash asked, easily lifting one of the moons and carefully getting it onto the ground.

One by one, the six moons were now together, and the only thing now, was to somehow make them activate.

"Dash, I'm just as skeptical as you. The book said that when the five are present a spark will cause the sixth to appear, but there's already six. I'm at a loss, but we don't have much time left. I need to run through a few spells and I don't know what will happen if there's some sort of defense.” Twilight stated as she lay down before the orbs. “You might want to give me some space, just in case. I don't want you caught in one of the spells and you accidentally get hurt, or worse."

"Alright. Come on ya'll let's let Twilight figure this out, and once she does, we save the world." Applejack stated. Ben stayed back for a moment, looking at his sister working hard to reactivate the elements, but something just made him feel like he had to stay with her, but he didn't want to break her focus, so he left with the other ponies.

Twilight watched as they left before turning her full attention to the orbs. Her horn glowed lightly as she ran a number of scanning spells over them looking for any hints that they were anything other than balls of rock.

Back outside, the ponies waited patiently for Twilight to figure something out, but Ben was already cycling through his transformations, even seeing a new one he didn't recognize before, some kind of robust eyeless creature with a bunch of eyes on its body.

"You're all eye and have plenty of ear to spare, but you'd probably be useful... I think I'll call you, All Sight." Ben stated quietly. Ben tried to think back on the obstacles, as well as the names of the elements, but he tried to recollect on when he first learned about the elements. There had to be something he was missing from all of this, but for some reason he couldn't focus on it.

[8 YEARS AGO...]
[Ponyville, Antique Emporium]

As a young Ben sits in one of the chairs, completely bored, Nightlight seems fixated on some kind of old painting. It showed a white alicorn facing off against a black alicorn draped in dark violet armor. Below the fight, it showed seven individuals, six of them looking like ponies, and the other individual didn't seem all that clear, but it showed them blasting some kind of off-color rainbow at the black alicorn. Ben's interest was piqued, as well as his curiosity.

"Hey dad, what is this painting talking about?" Ben asked, walking over to stand by his side as they both looked at the painting.

"You sure you wanna know, Ben? It's a bit of a lengthy tale, but I can shorten it down to what you would've learned about when you got to high school, if that's alright." Nightlight said, looking at the human boy.

"Yeah, I'm actually pretty curious, and the bottom part of it piqued my interest too." Ben responded, gesturing to the odd piece on the tapestry, almost seeming like it was burned a little.

"Well then, I'm glad you asked, Ben, this is ancient Equestrian history, but it seems like from the looks of the bottom portion of it, someone up and scribbled on it and tried to make it look official, Let me explain." Nightlight stated, watching his son get himself comfortable.

"Nearly a thousand years ago, say like, nine hundred and ninety-two years to be accurate, there used to be two princesses that ruled Equestria together. One raised the sun, and the other raised the moon. It was foretold that this other princess, whoever she was, had grown jealous of the princess of the day because ponies reveled in the sun's light, but showered no praise for when she made the night look beautiful. This princess let anger and jealousy dictate her every move from there on out, until she finally tried to seize control over the sun and moon for herself, and the princess transformed into a wicked mare of darkness, simply known now, as Nightmare Moon. The princess of the day couldn't face Nightmare Moon alone, but there were six magical individuals that could, and when they united, they defeated Nightmare Moon, and banished her inside the moon, hence why her likeness is visible for all of pony kind to see every night. These six individuals, were known as the Elements of Harmony." Nightlight explained.

"That sounds so awesome, how does the story end, dad?" Ben asked, looking mesmerized by the story.

"Well, I'm glad you asked, Ben, though I'm not sure what punk decided to deface history and add a seventh element, but there were six elements." Nightlight cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "Anyways, Legends have prophesized that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aide in her escape, and she'll return to reclaim the throne once again."

"Woah... so, do you think that, in a few years time, I might be able to stop her, in case she does come back?" Ben asked.

"Heheh, probably. You're unique, son, you're nothing like ponies, but you have a calling in life, and I know you'll find out what that calling is, but why don't you worry about just being a kid, instead of worrying about some old pony's tale... think about the future, son, imagine if this information is useful to you." Nightlight stated.

Ben just sat there and took it all in, closing his eyes as everything seemed to change.

[8 YEARS LATER, 4 Days till the Summer Sun Celebration...]
[Sparkle Residence]

Ben seemed to be having a rough night sleeping. He flailed and turned in his bed, trying to withstand this odd feeling. He could hear something. He heard mentions of the moon, the stars, aiding her escape, a nightmare from the moon, a moon that housed a nightmare, a single name that suddenly felt so clear...

Within Ben's mind, Ben was on the ground, beaten and battered, and up above him, were six unfamiliar individuals blasting some kind of rainbow laser at this alicorn-shaped entity, but nothing seemed clear. Ben tried to reach out to something, an odd black gem that almost seemed to be within his reach, only to suddenly hear glass breaking above him, and someone screaming.

"LUNA!! MY DEAR SISTER!!" The voice cried out, seeming recognizable, almost like it belonged to... Celestia? Ben tried to scream, but everything seemed to come to a sudden end before he could do anything.

Ben snapped awake, sitting up in his bed, wiping the sweat from his brow as he took a few deep breaths and looked around his surroundings.

"L-Luna... That has to be important.. What was Twilight always telling me about that one book... a tale of two princesses... Were they... did Celestia have... a sister?" Ben asked himself.

[End of Flashback]

[The Castle of the Two Sisters, Present Day]

"Ben, are you there, buddy?" Rainbow asked, waving her hoof in front of the spaced out human, only to snap out of it, and come to an odd realization. "Ben, you look kinda pale, well, paler than usual, you okay?"

"Partner, you feelin' alright?" Applejack asked.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, Applejack." Ben said aloud. The other ponies looked at him, he seemed... off, to say the least. "I'm going back in there, something in me feels like we just gave Nightmare Moon exactly what she wanted."

"What're you getting at, you think Twilight might be working with Nightmare Moon?" Dash asked.

"No, I mean, the elements are all in one place, and Twilight's on her own. Dash, what did we just go through a couple minutes ago, regarding the bridge!?" Ben stated in a panic. "My sister's in there, on her own, and with the elements of harmony... Am I the only one thinking this might go wrong?! It's not that I don't have faith in my sister, I really do, she wouldn't be Celestia's most faithful student if she hadn't proved herself to be worthy, but Celestia's not around and the Elements are altogether, with only Twilight trying to activate them."

"And once she does, everything'll be fine--"

"She can't wield them all on her own! Celestia was only able to because she's an Alicorn, I finally understand now! We have to go back in there, now! Twilight needs us, she knows she needs us, there's no ifs, ands, or butts about it!" Ben countered.

"Darling, are you alright? You seem like you just came to some grand realization--"

"That's because I did, I figured out who Nightmare Moon is, what her connection to Celestia is, why she hasn't taken us out immediately yet! She's the second princess in the story of the Tale of two princesses! One had control over the sun, the other had control over the moon. Celestia knows exactly who Nightmare Moon is and it's why she's not here to banish Nightmare Moon for another thousand years!" Ben stated.

"Well, don't leave us in suspense, Ben, who is she?" Dash asked.

"It's so obvious, I'm surprised I didn't put the pieces together sooner! Nightmare Moon and Celestia are sisters!! They ruled Equestria together in harmony, but when ponies started favoring Celestia for bringing in the day, and sleeping during her beautiful night, she felt her hatred, jealousy, and envy towards her sister overwhelm her, to turn her into Nightmare Moon in the first place!" Ben stated, taking a deep breath. "To think I learned about this when my dad brought me to Ponyville for the first time, and eight years after that when I had a dream about Nightmare Moon's return!"

Everypony went quiet, the shock and confusion on their faces said it all, but Ben said one more thing that seemed to be the missing piece he was missing. "Her name is Luna, she's Celestia's younger sister! Her hate, jealousy and envy made her into Nightmare Moon, and with the elements of Harmony, she had to do the hardest thing she had to... banish her sister. No wonder she's not around to do it again, she doesn't have the strength, or the will, let alone the heart to banish her own sister again!"

"D-Does Twilight know about all this?" Fluttershy asked, breaking the silence.

"No. I was gonna run all of this by her in case I turned out to be wrong, but now that I think about it, think about why Nightmare Moon didn't kill us immediately, every time she had the opportunity, she never took it, but her malice, and aggression towards Celestia must've somehow manifested into its own separate entity, and is just piloting the princess and using her to enact a one thousand year plan for vengeance." Ben stated.

"Ok, if that's true, what about the elements, you said she can't use them alone?" Applejack asked.

"I know, but Celestia had to have used them on her own to banish Luna, but imagine if the sisters both had ties to the elements. The two princesses embody 3 of the 6 elements of harmony, and once one of them lost that connection, it left the other one open to use all six of the elements' power to the fullest, but I think Celestia could've done it because she was an Alicorn, and that's basically like having some kind of pony god as a princess. Call me crazy, but I think something changed in the elements after a thousand years, and we gotta help Twilight use them to set things right." Ben theorized.

"Then what are we standing around for, let's go kick some flank!" Pinkie exclaimed enthusiastically.

"GAAAAAAH!!!" Twilight screamed out. Everyone turned towards the castle, and suddenly felt the wind pick up.

"Nightmare Moon's about to make her final move, let's go!!" Ben ran towards the door as the other ponies followed right behind him.

"Hang on, Darling, we're on our way!!" Rarity called out.

As they got inside, they saw Twilight, and a dark blue vortex of magic that had swept up the stones, spinning them around in the air. With the scanning spell still going, she felt the first parts of a teleportation spell and panicked, rising up to her hooves she leapt into the vortex so as not to lose the stones.

"Oh no, AJ got anymore rope?" Ben asked, feeling the vortex trying to pull him in.

"Nope! I only had the one bunch, but it was for emergencies only!" Applejack stated, stamping her hooves onto the solid ground and trying to keep herself from getting pulled in by the vortex.

"Pinkie, do something!" Ben called out. Before he could even wonder what Pinkie could even do, Pinkie grabbed a red pole and extended it towards Twilight, to which she managed to grab with her hindlegs. "That... oddly enough, works too, now pull her in!"

"I can't! It's starting to pull me in!! Twilight, I'm sorry in advance!!" Pinkie exclaimed, letting the strange pole go as Twilight and the Elements of Harmony disappeared, and the Vortex dissipated.

"Twilight!?" Ben called out, frantically looking around. "No, no no no, NO!!! For the love of Faust, no!! Oh, I'm so dead... What am I gonna tell Shining, What do I tell Spike, What about Mom and Dad!?"

"Where did she go!?!?" Pinkie cried out, hopping around in a panic.

"Over there! Look!" Rarity called out, looking out a window to the main area of the castle, the windows there flickering with light. "She must be over there!"

"Then there's no more time to lose, come on! Let's give that wayward princess a proper pummeling!" Rainbow Dash shouted and rushed towards the doors at the back of the room, the group charging deeper into the castle.

"Hang on, Twilight, big bro's coming!!" Ben called out, slamming on the Omnitrix as he enveloped himself in another green light.

Twilight winced, coughing as the dust gathered by the whirlwind cleared. Looking around she noticed she was in what seemed like some sort of throne room. It was surprisingly similar to the one in Canterlot, though the tattered banners and statues in this room showed both the sun and moon in their designs, unlike Canterlot's which were solely sun designs.

"Wha... Where am I? Ben? Applejack? Rarity? Anypony?" Twilight weakly called out, trying to get her footing back. An evil laugh brought her out of her slight daze, and her gaze was drawn to the tall black furred figure on the dais where the throne should be. The armored mare cackled looking down at her with her green cat like eyes and a fanged grin crossing her face. Twilight winced as lightning crackled around the mare. At her hooves were the six Elements of Harmony.

"Oh no..." Twilight weakly muttered. In one last effort to show she could still stand some kind of chance against the twisted princess, her eyes narrowed as she rose up, stamping her hoof to charge, her horn leveled at Nightmare Moon in an ancient, but recognizable unicorn dueling stance she had studied about when helping Shining study for the royal guard admittance exam. If Nightmare Moon was as old as she claimed, this might work, or it may not, but Twilight was already taking risks... so what's one more to the list?

"You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Nightmare Moon scoffed and sneered. The expression fading from her muzzle as Twilight charged. "Brave little unicorn, so bold and young... a pity you choose death, rather than run."

Without another word Nightmare Moon moved off the dais with a stamp of her hoof to accept the duel, rushing forward toward the smaller mare. If this one wished to die honorable, she could grant that.

Just before the galloping pair met, Twilight's horn flared and she teleported across the room landing between the Elements her horn lighting up again.

"Come on come on," Twilight pleaded. "Just one spark, please!"

Nightmare Moon began to make her way back to the elements, until something blast the wicked mare in the back, causing her to stumble.

"Augh!! Who dares strike me?!" Nightmare Moon called out.

A sudden fast hoof to the face knocked the alicorn back further, revealing Rainbow Dash and the others, with Ben now transformed into the new alien he called All-Sight, a yellowish tan alien with no eyes on his face, but eyes everywhere else on his body, and big bat ears. The Omnitrix was on the alien's belt, along with wearing some black pants with white bands on them.

"I say, we dare to!!" All-Sight stated proudly.

"Optical, you'd betray me, just like that you spineless coward!?" Nightmare Moon screeched.

"Don't know who in Tartarus you're talkin' about, but you're goin' down!" The huge eye on All-Sight's chest glowed a light blue, firing some kind of beam at the alicorn, freezing her in place.

Nightmare Moon snarled and shifted to a shadow form, launching herself through the ice as she made her way back to the dais, reforming just as Twilight screamed out, and was flung back across the room from a spark made by the stones.

The five rocks lifted in the air around Nightmare Moon, the black alicorn starting to panic as the stones glowed. The effect didn't last long however and after only a few seconds the stones dropped back down to the ground with a clack.

The pair of them looked at the dull lifeless stones curiously a moment before Nightmare Moon began to laugh again, the dark alicorn reared up as she cackled, bringing down her hooves and shattering the five orbs to shards.

Twilight's expression fell as she took in the sight of the destroyed Elements.

"I... I don't understand, why didn't it work?" Twilight wondered as Rarity helped her back up.

"You little foal! Did you really think you could defeat me!?" Nightmare Moon gloated. "Now you will never see your Princess or your sun again. The night shall last... forever!"

Twilight was about to just give in, until she finally noticed that her brother, and her friends were right by her side. Suddenly, she felt a spark. A smile slowly appeared on her face, as the many jumbled thoughts in her head became clear. Everything suddenly made sense, in a way.

Twilight turned to the laughing Nightmare Moon with a newfound confidence. “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?” she snided. Nightmare Moon stopped laughing and looked at Twilight quizzically. She wondered if she was bluffing.

“Well you're wrong... because the Elements of Harmony are right…”

“HERE!” The mares and her brother stood in place next to Twilight, ready to combat the evil dictator.

The shattered remains of the elements began to levitate and glow. Nightmare Moon looked down in alarm. "What?!"

Twilight smiled and reminisced her journey to the ancient castle. The struggles each of them went through and overcame together came rushing back into her mind.

"I guess if there's one thing I can thank you for, it's for making me realize that these five ponies embody a specific element, and you had numerous opportunities to stop us for good, but you got cocky!" Twilight smirked, looking back at her friends, and her brother, who stuck by her through this whole thing. "She thought she could destroy the elements, but the spirits of the elements of harmony are still here!"

"Applejack, you were willing to give out any kind of helpful info to help us get this far, you also didn't shy away from earning my sister's trust with your dedication. You represent the spirit of... HONESTY!"

A few of the shards near the dais began to circle around Applejack.

"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, her understanding, and for wanting to solve a problem without anyone, or anything getting hurt. You represent the spirit of... KINDNESS!"

Fluttershy meeped flying back into the air as the shards approached her and started floating around her form.

"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling at it and has done her best to keep everyone's spirits up on this trek represents the spirit of... LAUGHTER!"

The pink pony smiled wide and hopped up and down as the shards circled around her, "Oohh! Tingly!"

"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, even if it meant sacrificing her own beauty, or a part of her, represents the spirit of... GENEROSITY!"

Rarity blinked looking at the glowing shards floating around her.

"Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desires, represents the spirit of... LOYALTY!"

Rainbow Dash blinked as the shards started circling around her.

"And finally, oddly enough, Ben..." Twilight faced her brother, as several shards surrounded him, taking him a bit off guard as he returned to his normal form. "I can't say for certain what your element would be, but if there's six of these elements present, I can humbly say, with how you've constantly wanted to prove yourself, time and time again, pushing yourself to be better, facing greater challenges, never giving up, and always just making yourself feel strong for the sake of others... to carry those in your arms to safety, I'd have to say throughout this trip, you would be the spirit of... HUMILITY!"

The last remaining shards circled more and more around Ben, all while Nightmare Moon looked like she was about to panic.

"The spirits of these five ponies, and this one human got us through every challenge you threw at us. The cliffside avalanche, the thorn in the manticore, the serpent in the river, the faces on the trees, and the temptation of abandoning those who stuck with you till the end." Twilight stated, putting her hoof down.

"Yet, you still don't have the one element to beat me! You'll never take the Seventh Element! The spark never came," Nightmare Moon snapped, The dark alicorn's horn glowed brightly as she charged a massive spell to unleash at the mares, to end this once and for all. "And it NEVER will!"

Before the spell could even be casted, a flash of light appeared, revealing a seventh moon floating in the air, with the same gemstone marking on it, slowly coming down in front of Twilight.

"It did, the spark ignited inside me when I heard their voices again... I realized that you all are my friends!" Twilight finished. She turned from the other six to glare back at Nightmare Moon, causing her to flinch.

"The final Element is Magic. The spark was brought about because of the friends I made, and if there's one thing I learned tonight, evil won't ever prevail," Everything began to get brighter, "because Friendship is Magic!"

"Well, that sounded a bit cliché, but hey, still works! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Ben remarked.

The broken shards swirled around the mares, forming together around their necks to create ornate pendants and chains, large gems shaped like their cutie marks dominated the center of the jewelry. In Ben's case, the shards formed together around his chest, creating some kind of golden harness, with a big black gemstone, shaped like the Omnitrix's hourglass emblem taking center stage with green circular gems dotting the harness's four main straps. The glowing orb of light settled down atop of Twilight's head as she was lifted into the air, a crown with her cutie mark forming as all of the floating mares, and the human began to glow.

The black alicorn's horn flared as she turned to face the ponies only for twin beams of rainbow colored light to erupt from the glowing ponies and rush towards the screaming Nightmare Moon. The light swirled around her, enveloping the screaming mare in a whirlwind of brightly colored lights.

As her screaming grew fainter, the light that all seven of them was getting brighter. So bright, that the brilliant white light began to bathe everything in its luster, until the whole world seemed to go white.

Twilight woke with a groan with something shaking her lightly. Opening one eye she looked up to see Ben, trying to wake her up.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Ben asked quietly.

"I feel like I've been up for months, but I'm okay. What about the others, are they okay?" Twilight yawned.

"I'm alive, but I feel like I just got through apple buck season twice." Applejack grunted, cracking her back.

"Everything hurts, like you wouldn't believe. I think I'm gonna take a couple days for myself to just relax my muscles." Rainbow Dash winced.

"I feel like I had a sugar crash..." Pinkie stated in a monotoned voice. "Let's do it again!"

"Under no lousy circumstances are we to do that again anytime soon... not unless we have no other choice or if the world's in danger," Rarity stated. "Either way, I'm ready for a nice, soothing bubble bath. Something to ease the pain."

"Well, if you want, I can also cut your tail again, if you wanna keep going for the short tail season." Ben offered, pointing to Rarity's tail, now regrown.

"Oh my goodness!" Rarity gasped. "I'll never part with it again!"

"So, on a more inquisitive note, if Rarity's tail is suddenly back, what exactly happened to Nightmare Moon?" Ben asked.

There was an immediate silence, albeit the sound of someone groaning, and trying to move caught everyone's attention. In place of the wicked pitch black alicorn, was a purplish gray mare with a silver blue mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a purple patch of night with a crescent moon in the center. The most striking features of the mare however were the lack of wings and no sign of a horn.

"Huh... She's an Earth Pony? Call it a hunch, but maybe because we all stuck together, to pick each other up when we get knocked down, we embodied the elements of harmony, and through the power of friendship, we not only healed ourselves, but maybe purged the existential hate, jealousy, envy and malice from Princess Luna, too? But now I have to wonder if that malice took that alicorn magic with it." Ben wondered.

"It seems like a plausible possibility, but we don't exactly know how these things work yet, aside just going off of myths and legends." Twilight remarked, only to then be confused. "Wait, what did you call that pony over there?"

"Princess Luna, Celestia's younger sister?" Ben answered cautiously.

"How in the name of Faust did you figure that out!?" Twilight screeched, looking her brother in the eyes.

"Well, I was gonna tell you this, but it's a bit of a long, complicated story, but TL:DR, ask dad about a refresher on the legend... also, tell him that those punk scribblings on that old tapestry, was in fact useful, because it saved our lives!" Ben simply answered.

"Indeed it has." stated a serene sounding voice.

Looking for the source of the voice, the group could see the first rays of sunlight rising above the forest as it shone on the old castle. The sun quickly rose into the sky casting a beam through the broken window. Out of the pillar of light stepped a large white alicorn decorated with golden accessories. She had a flowing mane and tail, colored like a lush and vibrant sunrise, and large wings folded over her back, a tall spiraled horn rose up from before her crown.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight and Ben shouted as the others bowed before the appearance of the Princess. Twilight ran up and hugged the princess, whereas Ben just watched and smiled.

"Twilight, my faithful student. I knew you could do it."

Twilight's eye twitched as she stepped back and looked at Celestia. "Wait, you knew? You told me that it was an old pony's tale!"

"I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more."

"Technically, she did already have friends, like Lyra, Moon Dancer, Colgate, and some of the other students at your school." Ben interjected.

"Yet, she didn't have the right friends for this. Had they been the ones who would become the Bearers they would have been drawn here.” Celestia explained.

"Ok, so explain this, then." Ben said, pointing to the element he was bearing.

"I wasn't even drawn here, I was sent here by you to look over the final preparations for the summer sun celebration!" Twilight responded. "Heck, Lyra moved to Ponyville!"

"And I moved here to Ponyville literal days before she was sent here by you, and before Nightmare Moon even escaped." Ben interjected again.

"While that may be true, Lyra did not willingly follow you into the Everfree forest at night, nor did she aid you in any way on this journey." Princess Celestia continued with the same calmness. "I gave those books to all my students and you were the ones who made the connection, you were the first to bring it to my attention and thus I sent you here where I knew the other future Element bearers would be gathered."

"Hey, AJ, remember how I theorized that Celestia didn't have the heart to banish her sister for a second time, hence why we're here?" The farm pony nodded silently, "Scratch that, I have no clue why she didn't take care of this on her own."

"To be honest, Benjamin, I expected to return months or years from now, freed only after one of my many contingencies finally bore fruit," Celestia walked over to him, looking him in the eyes. "But you, you showed great promise with your deductive reasoning, putting the pieces together and coming up with very plausible, if not slightly flawed theories about my lack of involvement this day. I think if being a hero doesn't work out, you'd make an excellent detective."

"That's to say that might never happen, considering you're overlooking the obvious eyesore that's on my chest. Explain this, please," Ben asked, gesturing to his element.

"That... I cannot simply answer. The elements are a strange and very mystical set of magical jewels, imbued with the power of harmony and friendship, but there are even other aspects to friendship that one must embody to even have a spot as an element bearer. I'm quite impressed that you'd be one of the newest bearers, what element do you bear, if I may pry?" Celestia questioned.

"Well, I have no clue, but since Twilight decided to go out on a limb and take a random guess, I guess I'm the element of Humility. I don't get it, but I know that power isn't earned if you just keep craving more, or just have power for the sake of obtaining more power. I guess in order to embody Humility, I'd have to be humbled and to realize I need to be humbled." Ben remarked.

Before Celestia could ask another question, she approached looking down at the mare as she stirred.

"You could not release the magic unless you allowed true friendship into your heart, Twilight." Celestia offered. "Now let us hope that another will as well. Isn't that right Princess Luna?"

"Well, I got that right, that's a win in my books." Ben accepted.

"It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this," Celestia knelt down next to Luna, a gentle look of pleading and hurt behind a calm expression. "Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister... will you accept my friendship, and once again join me by my side, ruling Equestria together?"

The situation suddenly turned tense. Each of the Elements of Harmony looked worriedly at the two Princesses, hoping for the best.

Princess Luna looked down for a moment. Multiple emotions could be seen on her face. Sorrow. Guilt. Sadness. Regret. She closed her eyes and grimaced...

She threw herself at Celestia with tears in her eyes, wrapping her forelegs around her. "I'm sorry!" She bawled. "I missed you so much! It felt like I couldn't tell you anything, for so long..."

Celestia smiled and silently embraced Luna, letting the princesses reconcile in peace. Ben got up and motioned the mares to follow him, and so they did, leaving the princesses to their own devices, as the dawn of a new day shined down on the reunited rulers, and our band of seven heroes.

[Ponyville]

As our heroes venture out of the Everfree Forest, they see that everything seems to be back in order, with the exception that a couple of the royal guards were wearing some kind of body suit, a grayish body suit underneath their golden armor.

"Did we miss something, or am I seeing things due to a lack of sleep?" Ben asked.

"I think it'll be best if we all just rested a bit. We can meet up and have a celebratory party later, I'm kinda pooped after saving the world." Pinkie stated, rubbing her eyes as she yawned.

"Welcome to my world, it's exhausting for the first few times. It helps if you get coffee." Ben remarked, slumping down against a fence as he immediately passed out, lightly snoring as the other ponies chuckled, sitting down with him as they started to fall asleep too.

Author's Note

I can already feel the dislikes rolling in.

Epilogue chapter coming... eventually.