My Little Pony: Nine Elements

Book 4

Written by Brandon Nell, Rachael Ravens, and Blake Hawkins

Chapter 2: The Three New Elements - Part 2

Twilight Sparkle was struggling to wrap her head around what happened over the past day. First, she and her friends from Ponyville were having a session where she learns to fly (and crashes regularly). Then, her Ponyville friends had to return to Ponyville to help prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration. Soon after that, Sunset Shimmer (a fellow protege of Celestia) came to her asking for help. After that, strange vines began invading following Celestia and Luna’s disappearance. Twilight thought Discord was responsible, but, seeing him struggle in vain to undo the vines, she saw evidence to the contrary. Now, she was using a potion from Zecora to see what was causing the problems, only to get more than she bargained for.

“Princess Luna,” Twilight asked in a desperate manner. “Why are you like this?”

Luna gave no answer beyond screams of agony as she forcefully turned into the first villain Twilight and the Guardians defeated, Nightmare Moon.

“Free!” she said. “Free at last!”

Twilight stepped well back.

“Releaseth our sist'r, thee fiend!” a familiar voice ordered. Twilight turned around and saw the stern glance of Princess Celestia. “She is to base'r the moon f'r t'is h'r responsibility!”

“You cannot tell me what to do,” Nightmare Moon said defiantly. “In a way, you are as responsible for my birth as your petty sister!”

“Silence!” Princess Celestia snapped. “If 't be true thee shall not releaseth h'r, we shall has't to releaseth thee from h'r ourself!”

Nightmare Moon cackled. “You arrogant fool!” she said. “You cannot release her from me any more than you can actually be a competent ruler! You could have stopped me from forming long ago. But, you did nothing!”

“Yond changes anon!” Princess Celestia said as she charged at the nightmarish mare, her horn aglow.

Nightmare Moon turned into a blue mist, causing Celestia to pass harmlessly through. All Twilight could do was watch as the two sisters battled each other.

Nightmare Moon cackled as she reformed. “You cannot win,” she said in a patronizing tone. “You think you’re so noble and pure, but, the truth is that you too possess a demon such as me in your heart!”

“Yond is not true!” Princess Celestia snapped.

“Oh, but, it is,” Nightmare Moon said. “I see the inner demons of others and you possess one as powerful as me. Say hello to Daybreaker!” She then fired a beam of magic at Celestia’s chest, causing an astral projection of this to emerge from it: a white alicorn with a mane and tail of fire, deep orange eyes, and intimidating armor modeled after the sun. The astral projection cackled wickedly. Twilight looked at the projection and gasped with shock.

“I’m in your heart, you coward!” the fiery demonic alicorn taunted.

Twilight remembered Luna mentioning Daybreaker over a year ago, but, never dreamed she’d actually see her. Now that she was, it was terrifying. Princess Celestia looked in horror.

“No…” Celestia said, trembling with fear.

“All it takes is for you to succumb to negative emotions,” the projection said. “And you would belong to me!”

“No…” Celestia said. “We won’t becometh thee. We won’t!”

Through sheer force of will, Celestia lit up her horn and fired a blast of magical energy that shattered the projection of Daybreaker and drove Nightmare Moon back, where she found herself surrounded by Celestia’s guards. The guards charged at Nightmare, only to get beaten by her brutally despite their valor. Twilight was horrified by how many guards were slaughtered in under a minute. Celestia and Nightmare Moon then faced off against each other, even facing off mid-flight.

“Shame you don’t have competent guards,” Nightmare said. “They never stood a chance!”

“Oh, lief sist'r,” Celestia said. “We art s'rry, but, thou has't given us nay choice but to useth these.” She lit her horn and a rumbling and shaking could be heard. From beneath the palace floor, a large structure with stone orbs emerged. There were six in total. From the orbs, Celestia summoned six colored gemstones. Twilight recognized them as the Elements of Harmony as illustrated in the Legend of the Two Sisters.

“I should have realized,” she said to herself. “The manner of speech, the different looks of the Elements of Harmony. This is the past. The night Celestia banished Luna.”

Celestia levitated the gems while focusing intently as they swirled around her faster and faster. She then levitated up to Nightmare Moon. Both mares charged up their horns and a magical beam struggle occurred. In the end, Celestia won.

“NOOO!!!” cried Nightmare Moon as a rainbow beam engulfed her and sent her to the moon, where spots forming the silhouette of a unicorn mare appeared.

Celestia lowered herself to the ground before looking up towards the moon. Her expression changed from exhausted to horrified as the reality of what she’d done finally took hold.

“What has't we done?” she gasped. “What has't we done!? Sterling’s prediction wast true!”

Princess Sterling, maintaining her stoic expression, appeared before her.

“Anon, thee knoweth the teen of those whose did love ones thee did banish,” Sterling said.

Frantic, Celestia tried to justify that she meant for a different outcome. So frantic was she that she dropped speaking in the royal tongue. “Please, Sterling, I didn’t know that was going to happen! I meant to just banish the inner demon! I wasn’t trying to send Luna away!”

“Their fates w're int'rtwin'd,” Sterling said. “Thy negligence madeth t so.”

“But, I didn’t know!” Celestia panicked.

“Thou can forswear to yourself and thy subjects,” Sterling scolded. “Thou can claimeth thee haven't a qualm. But, thou ne’er can runneth from n'r hideth what thou hath done from the earth.” Sterling gestured around to indicate trees with markings on their trunks resembling the scowling face of Gold Lily looking at Celestia. “The v'ry earth which we doth tread.”*

Celestia looked around with utter shame on her face. “Will my sister return?” she tearfully asked Sterling.

Sterling’s irises began shimmering like the stars in the night sky. “Yes,” she said. “But soft, th're wilt beest a bawbling concession on thy parteth.”

Celestia sniffled sadly. “When Luna returns, I will be a much better sister to her. In the meantime, I have responsibilities to uphold… and my own self to rebuild. I have done wrong and I will not let my arrogance cause another pony’s downfall.” She looked pleadingly. “What must I do?”

“Thou might not but f'rsake thy connection to the Elements of Harmony so yond we may endeav'r to alloweth the stars to aide in h'r escapeth in 1,000 years,” Sterling said.

“Forsake my connection to the elements?!” Celestia said. “But, who will wield them if not me?”

“Thou might not but traineth an inhorn pony,” Sterling said. “Until the day yond inhorn pony finds the elements, thou might not but raiseth the travelling lamp bef're all of thy subjects on the summ'r solstice ev'ry year as a remindeth'r of what thou hast done.”

Princess Celestia bowed her head lowly, complying. Tears dripped from her eyes with shame.

Back in the present day, Twilight’s eyes stopped glowing and tears flowed from her eyes. She looked and saw the others looking at her strangely.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked.

“We were just concerned is all,” Rarity said. “You were muttering to yourself.”

“And sobbing,” Fluttershy said. “Are you alright?”

“I was…” Twilight began. “Looking into the past.”

“The past?” Applejack asked. “Did it say anythin’ ‘bout where Celestia n’ Luna are?”

“No,” Twilight admitted. “But, I saw the very night that Luna became Nightmare Moon at her and Celestia’s old castle and was banished.”

“Wait,” Rainbow said. “That doesn’t make sense. How could you see what happened over there 1,000 years ago without actually going to that location?”**

“Probably the same logic behind that time travel spell,” Spike said.***

“Perhaps farther back still has the answers you seek,” Zecora said. “Another sip of the potion will give you a peek.”

“Uh, can I ask something?” Spike asked. Zecora turned her attention to Spike. “You knew what the potion could do, so, why did you look as surprised as the rest of us?”

“I knew the effects of the potion, that much is true,” Zecora admitted. “But, even so, there were still things out of the blue.”

“That’s fair,” Spike shrugged.

Twilight levitated the bottle to her mouth again. She took another sip, slightly disgusted by the bitter dandelion milk taste. Her eyes flashed white again.

Further back in the past, Twilight gazed at her surroundings; they were, in a word, chaotic. She saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing firmly next to each other, gazing up at an intimidating foe. That foe happened to be Discord.

“Well, well,” Discord said. “Look who has come to visit from on high.” He then pulled out a rather familiar tail. “Up for a game of pin the tail on the pony, Sunbutt?”

Princess Celestia gasped and noticed that her tail was removed via Chaos magic. Sternly, she faced him. “Playtime is over, Discord!”

Discord was unphased. “Oh, I doubt that,” he said, eating strange black seeds out of a sack. “Hungry?” They didn’t answer. They just stared angrily. “Suit yourself.” He shoveled some into his mouth. He then noticed the princesses pulling the Elements of Harmony out of their saddlebags. “Ooh, what have you got there? New toys, perhaps?”

“These art the Elements of Harmony,” Luna said righteously.

“With these stones, thy fate is seal'd,” Celestia added.

Discord looked unamused. “Oh, that’s really cute, Sunbutt,” he snarked. “If your own magic couldn’t work on me, what makes you think those little baubles will make a difference?” The princesses didn’t respond. The Elements encircled the two alicorns and the magic within caused a prismatic beam of rainbows to emerge towards the draconequus. Discord took that moment to talk condescendingly to them. “Face it, you two are pathetic princesses who don’t even deserve all of the love and admiration!” When the beam struck him, he was turned to stone in the very position he was in before the first time he was freed. After Twilight witnessed this memory, she was sent to a shorter time back. She then saw the Princesses walking up to the Tree of Harmony. Twilight, having neither seen nor heard of it, didn’t recognize it.

“What is that?” she asked herself. She looked over the tree and noticed something familiar on the central branch. “My Cutie Mark…”

“The Tree of Harmony,” Luna said.

“Tree of Harmony?” Twilight repeated softly.

Celestia flew up to the central branch and fired a magical beam at it. The Elements of Harmony then emerged from the branches. The blue, pink, and magenta ones went to Celestia while the red, orange, and purple ones went to Luna.

“Art thou certain?” Luna asked.

“We hath managed to discov'r the only means by which we can defeat Discord and free the citizens of Equestria,” Celestia explained. “Coequal without the elements, the tree shall possesseth pow'rful charm. As longeth as the charm remains, 'twill enwheel and controleth all yond grows in this f'restt.”

Twilight returned to present day.

“What did you find?” Spike asked.

“Well, first, I saw Discord’s initial defeat,” Twilight said. “He had a bag full of strange seeds he was eating and throwing around before he turned to stone, but, I’m not sure how they’re related.”

“Okay,” Discord said. “The turning to stone thing I remember, but, the seeds aren’t ringing any bells for me.”

“Something else I saw is something called the Tree of Harmony,” Twilight continued.

“The Tree of what now?” Rainbow asked.

“Tree of Harmony,” Rarity explained. “Certainly you must know what harmony is by now.”

“I know what harmony is,” Rainbow said. “But, we’ve been the Guardians of Harmony for almost three years now and we’ve literally never heard of such a tree before today.”****

“Neither have I,” Twilight said. “But, it’s where the Elements of Harmony came from. The visions have explained that the magic contained in it keeps the Everfree Forest at bay. So, if the Everfree Forest is invading, then, that must mean that the Tree of Harmony is in danger!”

“Hold it!” Rainbow said. “You’re telling us that the Elements of Harmony, a bunch of magical gemstones, came from a tree?”

“I know a lot about rocks and gems,” Pinkie said. “And I know they usually form underground. But, magical gemstones could grow from a magical tree that came from underground.”

“From what I saw,” Twilight explained. “The tree itself looked like it was made of gemstone, but, it seemed to be alive. Kind of like the Crystal Ponies. They’re partially crystal, too, but, they’re as alive as the rest of us.”*****

Rainbow considered this. “Okay, you got me there.”

“I think Sunset’s seen it herself,” Twilight theorized. “That might be where she got the Element Shards.”

“Do you think if we asked her,” Fluttershy ventured. “She would lead us to the Tree?”

“I’d say it’s a safe bet,” Twilight admitted. “Last I heard from her, she’s still living in the Everfree Forest.”

“Safe travels to you, your son, and your friends,” Zecora said sagely. “Find the answers so that this disaster ends.”

As the group ventured into the forest while following the maps Sunset gave them, a thought occurred to Applejack.

“Twi? Spike?” she asked. “Both o’ y’all saw Sunset last, right?”

“Yes, we did,” Twilight answered. “She said she was looking for help on behalf of Wallflower and the dryads.”

“What’s a dryad?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “She didn’t say.”

“Though, knowing that Sunset and Wallflower are acquainted with them,” Spike said. “It’s likely we’ll meet at least one sooner or later.”

As they ventured, they saw a most unusual creature. It appeared to resemble a pony with two bull-like horns protruding from the sides of its head, a dark brown coat, golden eyes, clawed hooves, and a mane and tail that flowed like a roaring flame. This creature was releasing fire from one of its clawed forehooves to burn up some of the black, thorny vines. This creature was most frightening to the group.

“What in the hay is this?!” Applejack exclaimed.

“I don’t know what it is,” Rainbow said. “But, I can see what it’s doing! Trying to start a forest fire! I’ll put a stop to that!” Rainbow began flying straight towards the creature to tackle it. But, to her utter confusion, instead of making contact with it, she passed harmlessly through. “Huh?!” she exclaimed before she collided face-first with a tree.

“Rainbow, are you alright?” Fluttershy as she rushed to help her friend.

“And what was that about?” Rarity asked.

“You’re either really bold or really foolish,” the creature said in a deep, masculine voice******. “To have the audacity to try and assault an ifrit like me. Not that it would’ve worked anyway.”

“An ifrit?” Twilight asked. “Is that what you are?”

“Yes,” the creature said as he turned around slowly to face Rainbow with a wicked grin on his face. “And I consider it rude for a fleshy like you to just go right through me without so much as an introduction.” He slowly made his way to Rainbow. “Fortunately for you, you happened upon me in a good mood.” He conjured a fireball above his head as he continued getting closer. “So, I think I’ll let you experience one of my warm welcomes firsthoof!” His voice became increasingly demonic as he got closer.

Rainbow and the others were utterly terrified to the point they couldn’t move. They might’ve stayed that way were it not for a familiar voice calling out, “Aiden, stop it!”

At the voice’s request, the ifrit turned his attention to the owner and backed off. The owner was Sunset Shimmer, who had a disapproving scowl on her face.

“What have I told you about attacking ponies?” she scolded.

“Not to,” the ifrit, whose name was Aiden, said sulkily.

“And why?” Sunset pressed on.

“Because it could start a war with other ponies,” Aiden answered.

“And what’s my policy on starting wars to cure your boredom?” Sunset added.

“It’s not justified,” Aiden replied.

“That’s right,” Sunset said. “I sent you to keep these vines under control. That’s it. Now, what do you say to my friend?”

“She flew right through me!” Aiden protested. “You know how I feel about that!”

“Rainbow?” Sunset asked. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” Rainbow said. “It’s because I thought he was going to start a forest fire.”

“And what have we learned from this?” Sunset asked.

“Don’t make assumptions because of some creatures’ powers,” Rainbow answered.

“To be fair,” Pinkie said. “He was doing things that were open for interpretation.”

Sunset glanced at Pinkie. Then, to Rainbow and Aiden, she asked, “Now, what do you two have to say to each other?”

“Sorry I flew through you,” Rainbow said.

“And I’m sorry I almost attacked you,” Aiden said.

“Thank you,” Sunset nodded. “Now, Aiden, continue with your task and I’ll summon Cascade to put out the fires before things get crazy. Understood?”

“Yes, Sunset,” Aiden nodded. With that, he continued his task.

The Guardians could hardly believe their eyes.

“That was incredible, Sunset!” Rarity exclaimed. “How did you do it?”

“Oh, he’s one of my contracted elemental spirits,” Sunset explained.

“Amazing,” Rarity managed to say, still wildly impressed.

“As a spirit,” Sunset said. “He has no physical presence, so, physical attacks are useless against him. If you think that means he can’t hurt you, think again.”

“I was about to find that out,” Rainbow said. “Thanks for saving my hide back there, Sunset.”

“I see that all of you opened your packages,” Sunset said as she noticed their maps out.

“They sort of opened for us,” Fluttershy said.

Suddenly, a vine with a blue aura emerged from the ground. Sunset reached into her saddlebag and threw five Laughter Shards at it. The shards swirled around the vine before both they and the vine itself vanished without a trace.

“Wow!” the Guardians gasped.

“What just happened?!” Spike asked.

“While waiting for you guys,” Sunset said. “I found out that two to five of these Element Shards can make vines with colored auras disappear.”

“Uh–” Rainbow started before Sunset interrupted.

“It doesn’t work on vines without colored auras, no, you can’t use any color, and no, the shards can’t be used multiple times,” Sunset said in rapid succession.*******

“Whoa,” Rainbow said. “She’s good.”

“I’ll lead you to the shelter Wallflower, Phoebe, and myself are using here,” Sunset said.

“Thank you, Sunset,” Twilight said. “Afterwards, would you mind leading us to the Tree of Harmony?”

“Ah,” Sunset said. “Saw it through Zecora’s potion?”

“I did, yes,” Twilight admitted.

“Well, a little head’s up,” Sunset said. “It may not exactly be the way you saw it in the past.”

“I understand,” Twilight nodded.

As Sunset led them through the trees, Rainbow decided to voice her doubts.

“Why are we following a unicorn who was hyped up so much, only to barely be able to use magic when we meet her?” she complained.

“She’s been living here long enough to know her way around better than any of us,” Twilight said in a matter-of-factly tone.

“That’s… uh…” Rainbow started before admitting. “That’s actually a solid reason.”

“Indeed,” Twilight said. “So less doubting, more cooperating.”

Sunset led the group to a small brick house in a clearing. “Here it is,” she said.

“A brick house?” Rainbow said in surprise. “In this part of the forest?”

“How can this be?” Applejack asked.

“The bricks are made of mud and palm fibers,” Sunset explained.

“How ingenious,” Rarity gasped.

“But, what’re the palm fibers for?” Rainbow asked.

“They keep the mud from cracking as it dries,” Sunset answered.

“That’s really clever,” Fluttershy smiled.

“Since palm trees don’t naturally grow here,” Sunset continued. “Wallflower provided the palm fronds.”

“Thanks, Wallflower,” Pinkie said.

Sunset stepped into the brick house and used her magic to levitate a golden hooflet with a push button on it and a smooth, round crystal protruding from the top onto her right forehoof. The Guardians outside could see her do so.

“Ooh~” they said as they looked on.

Sunset then reached into a set of four totems and pulled out several Element Shards. She stored the shards in her saddle bag.

“Is that where the Element Shards originally came from?” Fluttershy asked.

“No,” Sunset answered. “They originally came from the Tree of Harmony. But, thanks to Zecora, Wallflower and I have found alternative ways to produce them: these totems.”

“Ah, I see,” Fluttershy nodded.

“These ones are specifically Greater Totems of Friendship,” Sunset explained. “They produce one to three of all six different shards every twelve hours.”

“Sounds like a process,” Applejack noted.

“Unfortunately,” Sunset continued. “The totems can only produce shards four times.”

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy said, concerned. “What happens after that?”

“The totems become inert and useless for producing shards,” Sunset answered. “These ones can only produce shards one more time after the cooldown.”

“I see what you mean,” Spike said.

“We better hurry to lend aid to Wallflower and the dryads,” Sunset said.

“Lead the way, Sunset,” Twilight said.

Sunset led them to a river that she studied with caution. “Hmm,” she pondered. “This’ll be tricky for the ones who can’t fly.” Twilight, in a rare state of impatience, decided to just step forward and use what looked like stepping stones. This alerted Sunset. “Twilight, be careful! That’s a-” However, what emerged from the river was a large crocodile-like beast made of living stone. Twilight exclaimed with fright as the beast snapped his jaws at her. “-cragadile.” Sunset saw the other Guardians get ready to attack. “No, don’t! Fighting a cragadile directly just makes it angrier!”

“What can we do?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. “Twilight needs our help!”

“You just leave that to me!” Sunset said before she cleared her throat and began singing.

“Where is the moment we needed the most~
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost~
They tell me your blue skies fade to gray~
They tell me your passion’s gone away~
And I don’t need no carryin’ on~

Cuz’ you had a bad day, you’re taking one down~
You sing a sad song just to turn it around~
They said you don’t know, just tell me, don’t lie~”

The cragadile’s hostility subsided and it started to sway to the music.

“You work up a smile and you go for a ride~
You had a bad day, the camera don’t lie~
You’re coming back down and you really don’t mind~
You had a bad day…. You had a bad day~”

As Sunset sang, Twilight worked her way back to her friends. She quietly thanked Sunset. After the song, Sunset gently spoke to the cragadile.

“You can go back to your rest,” she said. “You won’t be disturbed again.”

The cragadile went back to his riverbank bed calmly.

“How’d you do that?!” Rainbow asked.

“I’ve learned that cragadiles can be soothed with gentle music,” Sunset answered.

“That was a very beautiful song,” Fluttershy commented. “Hector looked like he really appreciated it.”

“Hector?” Rainbow asked.

“I heard him hiss his name,” Fluttershy explained. “He said, ‘Do not disturb the sleep or back of Hector.’”

“To prevent this from happening again,” Sunset said. “I’m going to use my gnome contract.” She closed her eyes and focused. “Forrest!” In response to her call, what looked like a short, fat earth pony stallion with a red cone hat, a large white beard and tail, yellow eyes, and a muddy brown coat appeared.

“How do you do, Sunset,” he said in a friendly manner despite a rather gruff tone********.

“Forrest,” Sunset asked. “Could you possibly make a bridge of earth for us to walk on so we don’t disturb the cragadile sleeping here?”

“Can do,” Forrest smiled and got to work at once. He placed his forehooves on the riverbank and from it emerged a cluster of dirt and rock that morphed into a simple stepping bridge seen throughout Ponyville. “One bridge of earth, exactly as requested.”

“Thank you,” Sunset said as she stepped across it. “Come on.”

The others followed Sunset. The bridge was much sturdier than its composition would suggest. Once they all crossed, Forrest made the bridge return to the earth it came from.

“Anything else?” Forrest asked.

“That’ll be all for the moment,” Sunset said. “But, thanks again.”

With that, Forrest vanished.

“What was that?” Rainbow asked.

“Forrest,” Sunset answered. “He’s a gnome.”

“He was certainly helpful,” Rarity said.

“Yeah,” Sunset nodded. “From my experience, gnomes are usually very stubborn.”

Applejack, after seeing what had happened with the cragadile, cleared her throat. “Hey, that cragadile was a little too close. Ya alright, Twi?”

“I’m fine thanks to Sunset,” she answered.

“Cuz, ah’ve been thinkin’,” Applejack continued. “N’ y’all may r’ may not agree with this idear.”

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

“Well,” Applejack said. “Yer a princess.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Twilight demanded.

“Fer starters,” Applejack continued. “Ya nearly got eaten by a cragadile!”

“But, thanks to Sunset,” Twilight argued. “I wasn’t.”

“That ain’t the point,” Applejack said. “The point is, ah don’t think Equestria could afford ta lose another princess. Ah think it’s best that ya head back ta Ponyville.”

“Oh, sure,” Sunset said, sarcasm dripping from every word. “Let’s send the princess that’s barely mastered the use of her wings yet to go waltzing around alone in the forest full of vines that not even the princesses of the sun and the moon, who are older than all of us put together, could defend against. Nothing says ‘I care about this princess’ safety,’ like putting her into a situation where she could end up in danger anyway.”*********

Applejack listened to Sunset’s words. She then held her head lowly with shame. “Sunset, yer right,” she said. She then turned to Twilight. “Twilight, ah am so sorry ah had that thought. Equestria may need its princess, but, we need our friend.”

“Hold up!” Rainbow said before confronting Sunset. “What makes you so sure the princesses couldn’t take care of these plants if they hadn’t disappeared?”

Sunset remained stoic in her reply. “The fact that they went missing at all shortly after these vines started appearing and the fact that all of you are here right now trying to solve the problem. If two veteran alicorn princesses couldn’t stop them, what makes you think that a rookie princess like Twilight has a chance against them?”

Rainbow took this in and sighed. “Okay, you’ve got a point.”

“Honestly,” Sunset said. “I expect those wielding the Elements of Harmony to have more common sense than that.”

“Okay…” Rainbow said. “I’m sorry. I’ll try and do better.”

“Do you still feel willing to take us to the Tree of Harmony, Sunset?” Fluttershy asked.

“For the sake of my friend and the rest of Equestria?” Sunset asked rhetorically. “You can bet your bottom dollar on it.”

“Whoo-hoo!” Pinkie cheered. “Let’s go save Equestria! And on the way, you can explain what a dollar is because I have no idea.”

“Basically,” Sunset said. “It’s a strip of special paper used as money in the human world country I lived in.”

“Oh, so like if bits were made of paper?” Fluttershy asked.

“Similar,” Sunset said. “Though, they have coin denominations that are worth a subunit of currency called cents.”

“Intriguing,” Rarity noted.

Soon, they reached the general location of the Tree of Harmony. Though, to the Guardians, it looked like the castle of the two sisters.

“Why’d you lead us here?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t see any tree.”

“That can be remedied if you simply look down,” Sunset said while pointing into the chasm.

They looked down and saw the magnificent light coming from a cave at the bottom. Unfortunately, there were some of the vines coming out as well.

“It’s been there the whole time?!” Rainbow asked. “How did we not see it?!”

“Perhaps because we were too focused on looking for the Elements of Harmony at the time,” Twilight ventured to guess.

“The chasm was also rather foggy as I recall,” Rarity said.

“Yeah,” Spike said. “We couldn’t see anything down there.”

“There’s a staircase leading down,” Sunset said.

The friends cautiously went down to see the tree covered in the black vines. Phoebe was turning herself into fire to cut a few vines while Wallflower and the dryads stuggled to hold them off.

Fluttershy gasped, “I think the tree is dying. What can we do?”

“You’ll need to figure that out!” Juniper said. “We can’t hold them back much longer!”

Sunset, with a determined look on her face, began spinning her horn like a drill bit.

“I’ll buy some time!” she said before thrusting her spinning horn at a cluster of vines, which stuck to it like cotton candy before being uprooted from the ground. With the vines wadded up on her horn, she made a great effort and the wad of vines burst into flames.

Rainbow was flabbergasted by the sight. “Well,” she said. “Can’t say I didn’t deserve this.” She then stuck her hoof in her mouth.

Twilight looked at the vines engulfing the Tree of Harmony. She then looked at her own Element of Harmony. Then, she remembered what Princess Celestia said to Princess Luna from the vision she saw.

“Coequal without the elements, the tree shall possesseth pow'rful charm. As longeth as the charm remains, 'twill enwheel and controleth all yond grows in this f'restt.”

“I think I know what we have to do,” Twilight said to the others. “We have to give the tree our elements.”

Rainbow removed her hoof from her mouth in surprise. “What?!” she gasped. “If we give the tree our elements, how are we supposed to save the day?!”

“We didn’t need the Elements to beat Chrysalis or Sombra,” Twilight said.

“But, we didn’t beat them at all, though!” Rainbow said. “Those were Shining Armor and Cadance and Spike, respectively!”

“And on top of that,” Rarity added. “The elements are what brought us together. Applejack said so herself.”

“Yes, it was the elements that brought us together,” Twilight said. “But, it wasn’t because of the elements that we stayed together. It was our friendship. My new role as princess of friendship may mean I’ll have to make really hard decisions and our friendships may be tested, but, they will never be broken.”

“Hate to break up this touching moment,” Sunset said. “But, we are in a situation here!”

The Guardians of Harmony nodded. Twilight then levitated the elements out of the ponies’ jewelry and levitated it to the tree. However, a vine erupted from the ground, breaking Twilight’s concentration and making a beeline for Sunset, wrapping around her rear half.

“Sunset!” Twilight exclaimed.

Sunset, however, stayed calm. She held her right forehoof up and pressed the button on the hooflet before saying, “Stance up!” At that moment, her body was engulfed in a blinding light. The Guardians of Harmony and Spike shielded their eyes from the light. When it died down, they looked to see that Sunset had changed. She was standing on her hind legs and still had her unicorn head and tail, but, her front hooves had changed into human arms and her torso resembled what Spike and Twilight recognized as a humanoid shape.**********

“Sunset…” Applejack gasped. “What’d ya turn inta?”

Sunset looked herself over carefully. “Hands and arms, check. Humanoid torso, check. Hooved legs, check.” She felt her tail. “Tail, check.” She felt her head. “Pony head, check.” She looked at her hips. “Oh, hey, I have a Cutie Mark on both sides this time! Looks like I finally got it right.”

“Got what right?” Rarity asked. “What is this?”

“Not the time to explain!” Sunset said before setting her hands on fire. She proceeded to cut the vines with flaming karate chops and she absorbed the flames through her hands before a forest fire could start.

Twilight took a deep breath and she began to levitate the elements towards the tree again. She placed each gem in the spots she memorized. The tree began shining brighter.

“It’s working!” Pinkie said.

“But, it’s not enough,” Twilight said. She then remembered. “Sunset, do you still have the elements that you made?”

“I haven’t been able to make any yet,” Sunset admitted. “But, I think some of the Element Shards each of you have can compensate. They have the same energy as the Elements themselves, but, aren’t as powerful unless they’re used by the Guardian of the Element they represent.”

The ponies nodded. They carefully piled up their Element Shards and Twilight gathered them with her magic. Shards floated towards the Elements they represented, making them stronger. Sunset contributed by throwing some of the shards she collected at the tree. The tree grew brighter still. Vines started defiantly constricting tighter.

Sunset closed her eyes and focused. “Brisa!” In response to her call, a small creature resembling a pony with butterfly-like wings, a greenish coat, blue eyes, and a poofy silver mane and tail appeared.

“Yes, Sunset?” the creature said politely, though, with a cutesy, goofy tone.

“Use blades of wind to cut some of the vines down to size!” Sunset said.

“Understood!” she said and got started. She made blades of pure wind that cut the vines, giving the tree another chance.

“Thanks, Brisa!” Sunset called.

Brisa then got close to Rainbow and sniffed her. “You smell like dental floss covered in peanuts!” she said.

“Uh, thanks?” Rainbow replied, confused.

“Don’t worry about Brisa,” Sunset said. “She says insane stuff like this all the time.”

“Live polka music makes aliens’ heads explode!” Brisa chirped.

“See what I mean?” Sunset said.***********

“What can we do now?” Rarity asked.

As if to answer her question, the vines started dissolving. Wallflower and the dryads let out a sigh of relief.

“Look!” Applejack said.

“Thank you,” Wallflower said gratefully. Phoebe chirped triumphantly.

In Ponyville, Discord was wrestling a vine himself. He was about to land a punch at one, when it disintegrated, leaving him to belly flop onto the ground.

“Oof!” he grunted. He looked around and saw that the vines were gone. “Looks like they succeeded.”

Back at the tree, two walls of vines dissolved, revealing Celestia and Luna, both unharmed. Twilight gasped happily.

“You’re alright!” Twilight said as she and Spike hugged the two princesses.

“For the most part,” Luna admitted. Then, she noticed Sunset in her new form. “Sunset? Is that you?”

“Yes,” Sunset said, rubbing the back of her head. “This new form is thanks to an invention I’ve been working on. It took a few tries to get it right.”

“Your innovation is astounding, Sunset,” Princess Celestia smiled. “And Twilight, I understand that it wasn’t an easy decision to give up the elements, but, it took great courage to relinquish them.”

“And we got to help Sunset save her friend at the same time,” Twilight said. “Though, I’m a bit curious about what experiment she was conducting.”

“Well,” Sunset said. “Do you remember in the human world when I transformed along with my human friends?”

“Yes, I do,” Twilight said.

“Well, that’s when I realized where I went wrong,” Sunset said. She aimed her index finger at a stone wall before a magical beam fired from the finger to the wall, making it move on its own to reveal a room with six pedestals lined up in a circle. “I needed energy from the original six elements.”

“Wow~!” Spike and the guardians said in awe.

“Originally, I was hoping to use the original elements to do this experiment,” Sunset said. The guardians looked downhearted. “Luckily, I figured something like this would happen, so, I stockpiled plenty of Element Shards to compensate.”

“Thank goodness,” Flutteshy said.

Sunset distributed the remaining shards she had to the guardians of the elements they represented. Afterwards, she made trails of a silvery liquid connecting the pedestals with a big puddle of the liquid smack dab in the middle of all the pedestals.

“What’s all this?” Applejack asked.

“This liquid is quicksilver,” Sunset explained. “It’ll act as a conductor for the energy of the shards.”

“Isn’t quicksilver another name for mercury?” Rarity asked cautiously.

“Don’t worry,” Sunset said. “I’ve used my alchemy skills to prevent the poisons from spreading.”

“Ah, thank goodness,” Rarity sighed, relieved.

“Now,” Sunset said. “At each pedestal, you’ll find indentations for the shards to fit in. One in the center and six around it.”

“Good to know,” Twilight said.

“Each of you go to a pedestal and place your respective shards into the indentations,” Sunset instructed. “Don’t worry about the order the shards are put in. It doesn’t matter as long as they’re inserted.” So, each of the guardians stood at a podium. They placed their Element Shards on their podiums. “Good,” Sunset encouraged. She then levitated a gem shaped like her Cutie Mark to the tip of her horn and held a clear gem in each hand before standing in the puddle in the middle. “When I say now, place a forehoof on the central shard on your respective podiums and focus your energy into it.” The Guardians nodded understandingly, waiting for her word. “Okay… now!”

They each placed a forehoof on their respective central shard and focused their energy into it. The podiums sent rainbow-colored energy into the mercury, which traveled through Sunset’s body and into the gems she held. Those gems began to shine brighter and Sunset started making labored breaths. Spike, Wallflower, Phoebe, the dryads, and the princesses watched on with a mix of intrigue and worry.

“I don’t think it’s working,” Spike said. “We better call it off.”

“No!” Sunset said while straining. “I can do this!”

“Sunset, you’re exhausting yourself!” Luna warned.

“Trust me!” Sunset strained. “I can tough it out!”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Wallflower said to herself, worried for her friend.

Suddenly, the two gems in Sunset’s hands changed colors. One turned cyan and the other turned teal. They and the one on Sunset’s horn began to grow brightly before an astral projection of Gold Lily appeared before Sunset. Sunset opened her eyes. “Okay,” Sunset said. “I think that’s good!”

The guardians let go and stopped focusing. They saw Gold Lily’s projection standing before Sunset.

“Young Sunset Shimmer,” the projection said. “You’ve accomplished something that has not been done in over two thousand years. You have created three new Elements of Harmony.”

Sunset was visibly confused. “Three?” she asked before the gem on her horn and the ones in her hands started floating.

“Yes,” Gold Lily’s projection said as the gems started orbiting Sunset in this order: the one shaped like Sunset’s Cutie Mark, the teal gem, and the cyan gem. Gold Lily’s projection stated the name of each element as they orbited Sunset. “Empathy, Redemption, and Humility.”

“Whoa~” Sunset said. “We… We actually did it…”

“No, Sunset,” Twilight said. “You did it.”

“Empathy is yours to keep,” Gold Lily’s projection said. “For Redemption and Humility, you will act as a stand-in until they choose Guardians of their own.”

“Empathy sounds just right for Sunset,” Wallflower smiled.

“Prove yourself a worthy Guardian and Princess and fear not,” Gold Lily’s projection said while a flabbergasted Sunset saw a phoenix of pure light materialize above the alicorn projection. “The Phoenix of Light shall aid you in ways you could not imagine.” Gold Lily’s projection vanished and the gems orbiting Sunset spun faster and faster, lifting her above the ground and reverting her to her regular pony form. Once she was off the ground, she was engulfed by the Phoenix of Light, creating a blinding radiance. Everyone around her shielded their eyes from the brilliant light. When the light became more tolerable, Sunset’s Cutie Mark could be seen descending.

“Whoa,” Pinkie noted. “Deja vu.”

Sunset then appeared in the center of the podiums with the gem shaped like her Cutie Mark fastened to a tiara like Twilight’s, the other two gems on golden bands on her upper forehooves, a slightly taller body, and, to the surprise of all, beauteous wings like that of a phoenix. They gasped with amazement.

“Sunset,” Twilight gasped in awe.” You’re a… Phoenix alicorn!”

Sunset looked at her new wings, her expression showing that she was surprised herself.

“I…” she gasped. “I can’t believe it!”

“Looks like I’ll have to organize a coronation for you, Sunset,” Celestia said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second there,” Sunset interjected. “I think it’s best to wait a bit before we go advertising that I’m a princess now.”

“Why?” Rainbow asked.

“It would possibly draw attention to Moonrise Dazzle,” Sunset said. “If she finds out about this, she would try to attack others just to get to me. I think we all know how dangerous she is. With her charisma, she might’ve built quite a following in the last few months. Some of her followers might be able to walk around in the sunlight while she can’t.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Rainbow nodded.

“That’s wise thinking, Sunset,” Twilight said. “Hopefully I also have a wise idea when I say that I think you should be the leader of the Guardians of Harmony.”

“Me?!” Sunset exclaimed as if she couldn’t believe what she heard. “Leader?! Oh, no, I-I couldn't. You all have been Guardians of Harmony longer than I have and-”

“Sunset,” Rainbow interrupted. “I need to level with you. When I first met you and saw you struggling to use magic, I thought you were way overhyped and I had my doubts when I heard you relearned all the magic you forgot in just three months. But, you’ve proven me wrong. The magic you used proved you lived up to the hype and then some. But, not only that, while most of Equestria was flipping out and your closest friend was in trouble, you kept your cool despite everything.”

Sunset took a moment to digest Rainbow’s convincing words. She had overheard Rainbow vocally doubting her during the trek. Hearing her most vocal doubter humbly admit she was wrong spoke volumes about the situation.

“Well,” Sunset said after a moment. “If that’s what you all think, then… okay. But, I can’t guarantee that I’ll have all of the solutions. So, I’ll be expecting each of you to pitch in from time to time.”

“We will, Sunset,” Fluttershy nodded.

“For now, though,” Sunset declared. “Wallflower, Phoebe, and I will have to go back to Canterlot to get our affairs in order. In my absence, I’ll need Twilight to be in charge.”

“I’ll do my best for you, Sunset,” Twilight said.

I don’t have the heart to tell them I’m making Twilight lead because I really don’t want to, Sunset said internally. I feel a bit guilty dumping it on her, but, unless I can find a way to live in Ponyville, I can’t lead them effectively from a distance.

At that moment, something strange happened. The tree suddenly produced on a flower a glowing, crystal-like chest that had six key holes on its sides and a seventh on top. Twilight trotted over and inspected this mysterious chest. "What's inside it?" she asked the older princesses. "How am I supposed to open it?"

"That is a mystery even to us, I'm afraid," Princess Luna confessed. "Though the seven locks hardly seem like a coincidence. There must be seven keys needed to unlock the chest and its contents."

Princess Celestia nodded in approval of what her sister had said and then added, "I have no clue as to where those keys might be, but, I can safely say that this mystery is one you will not be solving alone, Twilight." Then, she changed the subject. "But, for now, we must get out of this forest. The Everfree Forest will need time to readjust to having the Tree of Harmony's magic fully active again. And there is still a Summer Sun Celebration to be held as well as Sunset’s birthday."

“Yeah,” Pinkie said. “She’ll be turning 21.”

“Uh, actually,” Sunset said. “I already had my 21st birthday in the human world. Time moves at a different speed there. So, I’ll be turning 22.”

“22, huh?” Applejack said. “That makes ya older ‘n me by a year.”

So, the friends made it out of the forest. Discord met up with them.

“I was so worried about all of you!” Discord said. “But, I’m glad you're all alright.”

Sunset looked at Discord and nearly jumped in surprise at the butcher’s knife still in his eye.

“Whoa!” Sunset yelped. “You want to take that knife out of your eye? Sorry, but, it’s a little distracting… and disturbing.”

Discord finally realized he still had the knife in his eye. “Oh, right, I must have been so focused on the disaster that I grew used to it.” He snapped his claws and the butcher knife disappeared. He then had a look of realization on his face. “OH! Now I remember!”

“Remember what?” Twilight asked.

“You said you saw me eating and spreading strange black seeds in the past, correct?” Discord asked.

“Yes,” Twilight replied.

“Turns out those seeds were my plunderseeds, which became the vines that caused all of you trouble,” Discord said.

“WHAT?!” exclaimed the Guardians.

“If they were your doing,” Rainbow snapped. “Why couldn’t you stop them before?!”

“That puzzles me, too,” Discord admitted. “I put only enough of my magic into them to survive a year after I was turned to stone. Long enough to capture the princesses and the Tree of Harmony before using its power to free me in short order.”

“Ah can tell that yer bein’ honest,” Applejack said. “But, why didn’t ya remember this ‘till now?”

“The knife must’ve prevented me from fully remembering,” Discord surmised. “It was in pretty deep.”

“Something mysterious is going on here,” Twilight said. “We’ll need to figure out why exactly this happened now.”

“There’s still one especially puzzling thing,” Discord said. “Without my magic to sustain them, the plunderseeds should’ve died out after that year was up. Since they didn’t respond to me, something else must’ve been nourishing them in my absence. A creature more powerful than me.”

“Who could that be?” Fluttershy asked.

“I hate to think that it might be…” Sunset said, worry ever present in her voice.

“What creature could possibly be more powerful than Discord?” Rainbow asked, remembering exactly how powerful Discord is.

“I think it might be the one who created Discord,” Sunset said worriedly.

“That’s a possibility,” Discord admitted. “But, because of reasons, we have no way to prove it.”

“True,” Sunset admitted. “What matters is that the disaster is over and there is a Summer Sun Celebration to attend.”

“And a mess to clean up,” Fluttershy added.

“I’ll help with the cleaning,” Discord said. “But, I don’t do windows. By the way, what happened to your little trinkets?”

"We had to return them to the tree," Fluttershy explained. "But, Sunset created three new Elements of Harmony."

"So, you sacrificed six to get three back?" Discord asked. "I know this is rich coming from me, but, that hardly seems like a fair trade."

"It's better than nothing," Pinkie said. "Who knows? Maybe they have their own special powers."

"I highly doubt that," Twilight said.

Before the sunrise of the big day, preparations were made in Canterlot. A fanfare played. Princess Celstia, Princess Luna, and Twilight walked onto the podium.

“Citizens of Equestria,” Princess Celestia announced. “It is no longer with a heavy heart that I hail Nightmare Moon’s defeat. Rather, it is with great joy that I announce the healing of Princess Luna. This festival originally started as a punishment for my arrogance and negligence. Now, it is a celebration of family staying together, even with mistakes made. For the past three years, I've been slowly recovering from that as Luna has been going through her own recovery. However, I still felt guilty about that factoid, but, I had a talk with my fellow Princesses, and we came to an understanding. This will be the last Summer Sun Celebration.” The crowd gasped and whispered to each other in surprise. “And the first Festival of the Two Sisters. From now on, this festival will celebrate my sister just as much as it does me.” The crowd cheered. “But, this is not the only thing being celebrated. For today is also the birthday of a dear student of mine, Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset was called to the stage (wearing a fireproof cloak to hide her wings) and presented to the entire gathering. Sunset had a modest blush from the attention she was receiving from the crowd.************

After a moment of cheering, Princess Celestia nodded to Princess Luna. The lunar princess then used her magic to lower the moon. Celestia then used her magic to raise the sun. Twilight then played her part by flying upwards in between the moonlight and the sunlight, creating a large magenta light in the shape of her Cutie Mark. All were in awe of the sight.

Once all three princesses landed, Celestia made another announcement. “In celebration of this occasion,” she said. “Sunset Shimmer has consented to entertain all of you with a song entitled, ‘It’s not just make believe.’”

Sunset took a deep breath and walked onto the podium. She then began singing.

“I thought that I was too old to believe in fairytales~
But, there's a letter for me waitin' when I check my mail~

I start a shakin' like a seven on the Richter scale~

When you say you love me~

I look in the mirror and I'm not who I used to be at all~

It's comin' clearer...

I'm Cinderella at the ball~

I'm Alice growin' ten feet tall~

It's not just make believe...

Here comes the prince's kiss~

I'm positive the slipper fits~

It's not just make believe...

It started out like just another ordinary day~

Then suddenly my life is different in every way~

The sun is brighter and my happiness is here to say~

It's like I'm dreamin'~

Thank you for showin' me that true love doesn't hurt when you fall~

You got me glowin'...

I'm Cinderella at the ball~

I'm Alice growin' ten feet tall~

It's not just make believe...

Here comes the prince's kiss~

I'm positive the slipper fits~

It's not just make believe...

Whenever, wherever, forever~

I'll be with you~

We haven't, its not just oh ooh~

I look in the mirror and I'm not who I used to be at all~

It's comin' clearer...

I'm Cinderella at the ball~

I'm Alice growin' ten feet tall~

It's not just make believe...

It's really happening~

I feel so good I gotta sing~

It's not just make believe...

I'm Ariel above the sea~

I'm Beauty dancing with the Beast~

It's not just make believe...

Here comes the prince's kiss~

I'm positive the slipper fits~

It's not just make believe~

Oh, it's not just make believe (not just make believe)~
Oh ooh,
It's not just make believe~”

After Sunset finished her song, the audience applauded for her. They didn’t understand many of the terms she used in the song, but, they enjoyed it nonetheless. This was the beginning of Sunset Shimmer’s role as a Guardian of Harmony. While she didn’t know what the future held, she knew she would have new friends by her side.

End of chapter.

Author's Note

Here's part 2 of the season four opener.

*Try to guess the reference.

**A good question.

***A logical answer.

****Lampshade hanging.

*****An excellent point.

******Provided by Brian Drummond.

*******Yes, that's a Red One reference. Sue me.

********Provided by Scott McNeil.

*********Sunset showing common sense FTW!

**********The reason for the anthro tag.

***********Hazbin Hotel reference FTW!

************Dialogue modified from an idea by Comickook.

If you liked this chapter, feel free to contact me via private messages if you'd like to help make future chapters.