Blazing Spark - The end of days

Celestia lead us into an empty guardhouse on the edge of the arena, the room was large and racks of various weaponry stood in brackets on the wall. On the far end of the room was a large paining depicting Celestia and luna circling six gems each of a different colour. “I lied” the Princess said without preamble “umm.. I’m sorry?” Twilight asked, “When I said nothing had escaped from Tartarus, I lied” All three of us stared in stunned silence. “I didn’t want everypony else to panic. When I went through the gates I checked the prisons for all of the evil creatures,” the Princess said, “I saw no sign of escape as I fought my way though the precincts of the jail, except for the last one”.
“What was being held there?” Shining Armour asked, Celestia looked away, a look of disgust and hatred washed over her face, “the most foul, dark, hateful, evil creature there is, Cipher”. She looked up, here face now shining with anger “he is the dark that the light does not reach. He is the engulfing shadow waiting for the last flicker of the candle before the darkness swallows you and plunges you into nothingness.”
I glanced at the two ponies either side of me, both of them had their ears flat and their heads down. “What does this, Cipher want?” I asked “I mean, nopony does something without a goal”
“Cipher embodies the dark” Celestia said “he is the personification of nothingness and is oblivion incarnate. He desires nothing more than for everything to be like himself, empty”.
I turned away and paced around the room. I heard Twilight say “he was defeated before right? Well then we can do it again, I’ll get the elements of harmony, Shining Armour, you amass the-“
“that wont the defeat him” the Princess interrupted “though the elements of harmony are a formidable weapon against all evil creatures it is not enough to defeat the power that is Cipher”
“then what is?” twilight asked
“there is a force greater than the elements of harmony, here, let me show you”. The princess walked over to a painting on the wall, she pointed to the elements of harmony insignia, “you see there, in the middle is magic and surrounding it are honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity and loyalty.” Twilight nodded “and behind them is the light that binds them, that light is an element by its self, it is the ruling power over the other elements and is what holds them together”.
“Why am I just hearing about this now?” Twilight asked her voice a little irate. Celestia sighed wearily “The truth is the binding force, the light, is old and ancient lore, the last account of its use was the first time Cipher attacked the world and that was before even my time.”
“I have a question” Shining Armour said “why has this creature not attacked yet, if this creature is so powerful why not begin his attack now?”
“He will wait for night fall, then in the shadows he will gather his strength, slowly at first but given enough time he will build enough power to flood Equestria in darkness.” The princess stood up straight, I stopped my pacing, “Twilight, I want you to gather the elements of harmony, Shining Armour, put all the guards on high alert, get them to look for any strange phenomenon”. Shining Armour saluted, Celestia turned to me and said “and Blazing Spark, what I ask of you is to investigate the gates of Tartarus, look around for clues, see in you can find anything that may indicate to where Cipher may have gone”. I nodded “as for me I shall return to the castle and rally the help of my sister”.
We departed, each going to their own duties. Stepping out of the guard house I looked around at the large arena, ponies were still tending to Cerberus, guards still stood guard at all entrance points and some military looking types talked amongst themselves. I trotted over to the ponies who were flittering about the large dog.