Everypony in the town hall, Sophia included, looked at the terrifying figure in shock as the black and red alicorn stared at them with an expression full of malice and savagery. Sophia couldn’t detect a conscious mind within the nightmarish figure which told her that the alicorn was in a berserk state.

Further proving this fact, Luna let out an otherworldly roar that sounded a bit distorted before a sinister red glow was seen on her horn. Realizing what was about to happen, Sophia’s eyes widened in horror and knew that this was not the time for subtlety anymore.

Of course, she had planned on Luna being aggressive, even if not to this level. Sophia decided to put that plan into action as she looked at the crow that was perched next to her. “Umbra, protect the ponies!”

Just as Luna fired a powerful beam of corrupted magic at the innocent ponies, the beam was met with a magical barrier from Twilight and Starlight. However, the sheer power commanded by the corrupted alicorn slowly overpowered the two and the barrier began to crack.

Suddenly, six black feathers appeared in a hexagonal pattern around the unicorns’ shield to reinforce the barrier. Try as she might, Luna’ beam was now being completely absorbed by the shield.

Once she was no longer able to channel the beam, another black quill was launched and stuck onto Luna’s flank. The alicorn roared in pain as electricity coursed through her body for a few moments before the magic imbued into the quill ran out.

Luna had no idea where the assailant was coming from and was acting on pure instinct. Since she had no idea who she was fighting her mind switched from fight to flight as she turned into a crimson vapor and flew out a nearby window, shattering it.

It took a few moments for the ponies to calm down before Sophia took control of the situation. She first had Umbra go after Luna. The crow flew out the window after the mad alicorn. Sophia then jumped to the railing of the stage over the ponies who were discussing what happened among themselves.

“Your attention, please!” Sophia shouted loudly. Thankfully that got everypony’s attention since she really didn’t want to scare them to attention with an Ultralisk roar. “All citizens please return to your homes until we have sorted this situation out.”

“A talking rabbit?” one of the ponies questioned.

“This is not the time to be discussing my ability to talk,” Sophia shot back. “There is a mad creature on the loose and your loved ones could be in danger right now so everypony calmly get back to your homes and wait for the situation to be resolved.”

The ponies knew she had a point. Most of them had foals who could be in danger right now so they needed to get back home as soon as possible. Of course, Sophia also noticed that Twilight, Spike and Starlight were the first to rush out the door who were followed by Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

Thankfully, the mayor started taking charge and ushering the ponies out of the town hall so they could return to their homes. This left Sophia to follow the ponies of interest to the town library. She peered into the window and saw Rainbow making accusations to the two unicorns that they led the creature into town but was lassoed into submission by Applejack so they could receive a rational explanation.

“I learned this from a copy of Predictions and Prophecies about a mare who was banished to the moon by six ponies wielding the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight explained. “It was said that the stars would aid in her escape and she would seek vengeance upon the ponies who wronged her. I think that mare might be Princess Celestia’s sister.”

“The Princess has a sister?” Applejack questioned. “Why had she never told us about her?”

“Because Celestia feared that ponies would try to eliminate her this time.”

The ponies turned to the window to see Sophia standing on the windowsill. “Sophia? Other ponies understand you too?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sorry for the deception, but I didn’t want the secret to get out until the time was right. Anyway, that mare was Princess Luna, though I didn’t expect her to be contaminated by Void Corruption.”

“What’s that?” Starlight asked.

“Void energies from the realm beyond the universe. They usually aren’t dangerous unless a host with a lot of malice is found and then the energies enter their body to exponentially amplify those feelings to the point that the bindings of reason are undone, driving the host into a berserk state. The black and scarlet form is a symptom of Void Corruption. Of course, these energies don’t just enter this universe whenever it wants. I suspect that Luna may have opened a small rift into the Void and received an amount of the energy for her efforts.”

“Is there a way to eliminate the corruption?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not sure you can, it looked like the corruption had completely taken over. If she isn’t dealt with, he could cause untold havoc across Equestria.”

“Maybe the Elements of Harmony could help,” Pinkie offered.

“Pinkie, I don’t even know what the Elements are or where to find them. I don’t even know what they do.” The pink mare tossed a book in Twilight’s direction which Starlight caught in her magic since the lavender mare wasn’t ready for that toss. Twilight took the book and looked at it, “‘Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’? Where did you find this?”

“It was under ‘E’!”

Not having time to question the mare’s antics, Twilight opened the book and quickly looked through the contents like the speed reader she was. “It says here that there are five known Elements: Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty and Laughter. A sixth remains in complete mystery. However, in the most obscure of legends, it is said that a seventh exists but that one would only manifest when the world needs it the most. The last known location of five of these Elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters located in…the Everfree Forest…”

With Luna on the loose Twilight and Starlight only gathered a minimal amount of supplies before they ventured toward the forest with the other mares in tow. Starlight made sure her friend understood that they needed all the help they could get so Twilight didn’t protest the others accompanying them. Spike ended up falling asleep during the explanation so Twilight tucked him into bed before setting out.

While the girls were entering the Everfree Forest, they were unaware of the battle taking place above their heads as the void-tainted alicorn engaged in battle against a tall crow-like creature that could stand upright like a minotaur. Luna fired beam after beam of void energy that was blocked by Umbra’s magical shields. The battle persisted for a while.

However, the battle had also caused some collateral damage in the forest. One of Luna’s beams was deflected and struck a cliffside causing the trail to crumble and send Twilight and the others falling toward the forest below. Rainbow and Fluttershy managed to rescue Rarity and Pinkie while Starlight used her self-levitation to take to the air with the pegasi. Twilight, who was desperately clinging to Applejack’s hoof for dear life, ended up having to trust the farm mare’s words that everything would be alright if she let go. Twilight was glad that Rainbow was there to catch her when she fell. Starlight levitated Applejack to the rest of the group at the bottom of the cliff.

The next incident occurred when a stray beam left a lone manticore badly wounded. The creature began to thrash around and by the time the group saw him, they thought it was an attack. As the girls were preparing for a fight, Fluttershy stopped them and moved toward the manticore while avoiding his attacks. Using her skills with animals, she was able to get the creature to calm down. The kind mare was glad she returned to her house briefly to collect her first aid kit before the journey started. Using the medical supplies, she was able to provide some relief to the creature but wouldn’t be able to provide a better treatment until later. She didn’t like leaving a wounded creature to wander on their own but she had no choice. She pointed the manticore in the direction of her house and instructed him to stay there until she could properly treat him later.

Another stray shot infected the woods around the girls with void energy. However, since the forest carried no malice it only turned the trees into terrifying visages, visages that didn’t scare Pinkie at all even though the others were terrified of the evil-looking faces. Pinkie’s optimism and a singing number helped assure the girls that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Once the mares reached a river that was raging, they saw that the source was a sad sea serpent with half of a long moustache. It was quickly discovered through Rarity’s conversation with the creature that he had a very flamboyant personality, Apparently a beam of red magic had burned off half of his moustache. Thankfully Rarity had an invention she wanted to try out where she took a pair of scissors and cut off a significant part of her mane while requesting one of the serpent’s loose follicles before placing them into her new invention. Like magic, the machine soon converted the materials into what was needed to fix the serpent’s moustache where she had him bend down and let the machine do the work. Within seconds the machine had recreated the missing half of his facial hair.

“Oh, what an absolutely darling little device you have!” the serpent praised. “How ever am I going to repay you for this?”

“None of that, sir!” Rarity admonished. “Just the fact that you were a willing tester for my new Mane Restorer is enough for me.”

“In that case, may I ask why you are all here? Oh, How dreadful of me! I have not introduced myself! My name is Steven Magnet.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Steven Magnet. We were actually planning on crossing the river actually…” Though as she said that she noticed the broken bridge that seemed to be the only one around.

Steven looked in her direction and gasped. “Oh, please forgive my atrocious behavior earlier, I simply must make it up to you. Here, use my back to get across.” With that, Steven extended his body to both shores so that the ponies could cross.

As they walked away from the river, Twilight had a question for Rarity, “How did that device grow hair? Also, are you going to be alright with your mane cut short?”

“My Mane Restorer? It uses a device that Sophia helped me create called an Alchemical Converter that transforms organic material into other forms of organic material. Using a base, such as the hair, the Converter could turn any organic matter into the base material. I have one installed in Sweetie Belle to convert the food she eats into nutrients for her brain.

“As for my mane, there’s no need to worry about that darling, it’ll grow back. Besides, I won’t have to tie it back for a while when I work.”

Before Twilight could go into nerd mode and ask Rarity for more information, Starlight placed a hoof over her mouth to stem the coming tide of questions. “You can ask your questions at her leisure when we aren’t trying to save Equestria.”

Twilight begrudgingly accepted those conditions and the group continued toward the castle ruins.

The ponies were nearly at the castle, though the way forward was across a huge chasm and the rope bridge was down. Rainbow volunteered to fix the bridge, carrying one end to the other side where she began to tie it up. However, a crimson beam struck the ground nearby and a rift opened, releasing a trio of shadowy constructs before the rift closed. The shadows took the forms of ponies wearing a dark version of the Wonderbolts uniform.

The shadows made Rainbow a tempting offer of becoming part of an organization that would make the Wonderbolts look like a joke. Rainbow was tempted but wanted to get the bridge fixed first. The shadows made her choose between her friends or them. Rainbow chose her friends.

Angered, the shadows tried to lash out at her but a trio of black quills stuck the three in the flanks. The shadows vanished, cast back to the Void they came from.

Once the ponies were across, they entered the castle and began to explore. It wasn’t long before they found the pedestal holding five stone spheres. “Are these them?” Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded, “I think so, they seem to be the Elements.”

“One, two, three, four…there’s only five!” Pinkie counted.

“The book says that a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed when the other five are together.”

“What the hay is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow questioned.

“I’m not sure. I know that the last ones who handled the Elements was a group of ponies who used them to banish Princess Luna to the moon. Though the strange thing is that these ponies were never particularly mentioned in the history books.”

“What about the seventh?” Fluttershy asked.

“I know even less about that one, the book only said that it would appear in a time when it was needed the most. For now, let’s try figuring out how to activate the ones we have.”

While Twilight and the others were trying to solve the mystery of the Elements, a tall bipedal avian creature appeared in the room with them. The girls turned to look at her with shock. “What the hay is that?!” Applejack asked.

“I have no idea!” Rainbow replied.

“I think I’ve read about them in a book,” Twilight said. “At least, I think she is what I think she is. I know that the harpies don’t leave their lands usually.”

Umbra wasn’t sure what Twilight was talking about but since she was under Sophia’s orders to avoid giving away information of their origins, she decided to go along with it. “Uhh, yes, I am a harpy. Just a very rare one who can use magic. I was banished from my homeland because crow type harpies are considered a bad omen over there.” It was a lie but it appeared that the ponies didn’t have much information on their kind to begin with. She noticed Applejack giving her a look that told her that she saw through the lie but she ignored her. “Anyway, Luna is coming and I need to set up a trap for her fast.”

Umbra spun around and launched eight quills on the floor to form a circle around herself before hopping out of the circle and channeling magic into it. “For this to work I need Luna in the circle to set it off but I need one of you to be the bait.”

Her request was met by a lot of protests. Rainbow and Applejack were the most vocal about their distrust of the avian stranger. Fluttershy shied away while Pinkie looked uncertain. Rarity shamefully lowered her head, unwilling to go along with the plan. “How can you ask this of us? How can we be sure that they would not get attacked by Luna? How do we know that this isn’t a trap made for us?” Twilight asked.

“Would you rather face a void-addled alicorn with enough power to obliterate this castle and a chunk of the forest in one blast?” Umbra replied.

While most of the ponies looked at each other wondering who would make that sacrifice, one of them spoke up, “I’ll do it.”

“Starlight, no! We don’t even know if this will work!” Twilight pleaded.

“You girls figure out how to get the elements working, we will buy you time,” Starlight added. Umbra then directed the unicorn to the center of the magic circle and was instructed to stay there no matter what.

Moments after Starlight was in position, the alicorn barged into the room through one of the windows, roaring like a feral beast. Her gaze locked onto Twilight’s group and fired a blast from her horn. Twilight had to use a lot of her magical reserves for one teleport to get herself and the girls out of the line of fire. However, she didn’t have enough magic to move the stones as well and they were shattered.

“No!” Twilight cried out.

As Luna prepared to fire another blast at where the group ended up but was struck in the flank by a beam from behind her, coming from Starlight. “That’s right, come and get me!” she taunted.

Roaring at the challenger, Luna prepared to fire a beam at her. However, Starlight had been paying attention in her magical combat lessons and used a shield made to deflect beam attacks which she used to send it through the roof and beyond the atmosphere.

Undeterred, Luna prepared to charge at Starlight with her horn pointed at her. Starlight was growing nervous because she wasn’t sure she could repel a charge like that while standing still. However, she trusted that the harpy knew what she was doing.

It was when Luna’s horn was a foot away from Starlight’s face that she felt herself spatially displaced, as if she had been teleported. To Starlight’s surprise, she found herself outside Umbra’s magic circle. Turning back, she saw Luna standing in the circle that glowed furiously as the alicorn’s body was bound in powerful magical chains. “Uh, girls, if you plan on doing something now, this would be the best time,” Starlight called out.

“How? The Elements were destroyed in the first attack.” Rainbow replied.

“Wait, I think I understand,” Twilight realized. “The Elements aren’t just a bunch of artifacts, it’s the spirits that the Elements that matter.”

“What are you talkin’ about, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“Applejack, you reassured me when I was in doubt so you must represent Honesty.” Twilight then turned her head to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, your compassion toward the manticore shows me that you represent Kindness.” Next was Pinkie, “Pinkie, you banished fear by giggling in the face of danger so you represent Laughter.” Then came Rarity’s turn, “Rarity, you calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift so you represent Generosity.” Finally it was Rainbow’s turn. “Rainbow, who could not abandon her friends for her heart’s desire, represents Loyalty.”

The shards of the Elements gathered around the five mares and transformed into golden necklaces, each with a gem embedded in them.

“But what about the other two?” Fluttershy asked.

“It took me some time to realize that I really could not get this far without all of you. The elation and relief that each of you gave me made me realize that you were all my friends. The Elements are ignited by the spark that exists in us all and that creates the sixth Element…Magic.”

The sixth Element manifested in the form of a golden tiara with a magenta gem in the shape of Twilight’s cutie mark which planted itself atop the mare’s head.

The six ponies, minus Starlight who was staring at the whole thing, rose into the air and began glowing with a strong light. A rainbow of light erupted from the ponies and struck the rabid mare. However, to the six’s surprise, Luna was resisting the power with the energies of the void. The power was so strong that the void began pushing back the power of the Elements.

“It’s…not working!” Rainbow cried out.

As the battle continued, Starlight wondered what she could do. She ran a number of scenarios in her mind but came up with nothing. She then thought back to the story of Luna’s banishment and the reason why the ponies involved were never mentioned in detail. She then remembered the meeting and then it all clicked together.

Starlight gasped, “The six ponies who banished Luna were assailants! They were fearful of Luna’s ideas and tried to use the Elements to eliminate her. Fear and distrust runs rampant in our society today and those same feelings are coursing through Luna because of it. Trust is missing from society and Trust in the future of Equinity is needed now, more than ever!”

Upon that revelation, a seventh Element manifested as a tiara atop Starlight’s head with an aqua-colored four-pointed star embedded in it.

Thinking quickly, Starlight added her power to the others while putting her strong beliefs in the future to the forefront of her thoughts. With this boost, the Elements overpowered Luna’s attack and overwhelmed her defenses.

“Is this the place?”

“I believe so, sir. Do you believe that this world’s resources might give us an edge against the Starcraft Federation?”

Alan Schezar was silent for a few moments. The sensors on his ship picked up on the energy signature from ten years ago. However, at the time he couldn’t pursue it while the Federation was investigating each world with surgical precision and forced him to relocate his forces many times over the years. His pirate forces had suffered many defeats and claimed a few victories. He knew that the Federation would pick off his forces little by little and had to replenish his forces from places of ill repute when he had the chance. He held on to hope that wherever the energy came from, it would lead him to something that would turn the tide against his enemies.

Ten years of dogged pursuit of his ambitions, ten years of being hunted relentlessly, would all come to an end now that he had found a world where his ambitions would be made manifest.

A beam of void energy had nearly taken them out then and there but some quick thinking only resulted in the loss of one engine.

After assessing the damage, Schezar left the damages to the engineering crew while he returned his focus toward the planet. “Take us into high orbit and let us examine what this world has in store for us,” Alan ordered.

Author's Note

My decision on Starlight's Element was based on a few factors. One of them being that Empathy is more of a Sunset Shimmer Element. Another is the fact that I made this story take place in an Equestria based on fear and distrust in change. The reason for that will be revealed eventually. Another is that the idea is based on the story "A Witch in Broad Daylight" where Starlight bore the Element of Faith. Of course, the way it was represented in that story felt too religious so I renamed it into something that felt like a real friendship factor, something that was sometimes lacking in the canon series that led to a number of issues (Such as Lesson Zero and A Canterlot Wedding). Therefore I chose to have Starlight become the Element of Trust. If you missed it, her test was when she placed all of her trust into Umbra's plan.