The Elements of...

Celestia looked across the six mares, before turning her gaze to Applejack. "Can you explain Honesty to me?"

The farmer pony rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, being truthful I guess, but normally I like some good old hard labor; honest earth pony work."

"Rarity? Explain Generosity."

"Giving something to benefit another." The fashionista shook her mane out of her eyes. "Whether that is a dress, money, or, like something I gave Sweetie recently, a beautiful wardrobe fit for a musician."

"Rainbow?"

"Loyalty, huh? Always being beside somepony and never leaving them hanging. Like I told Twilight that first night." The fastest flyer of the four winged ponies glanced at said unicorn, who smiled back.

Before Celestia could ask Pinkie, the cupcake connoisseur hopped up onto her cannon, her friends shaking their heads since it hadn't been there before, and smiled. "Laughter's happiness! Simple as that!"

The animal caretaker muttered out, "Kindness is being nice to every thing you see, whether it's a little flower or a baby bunny or a bear."

Celestia smiled slightly before turning to her student. "Twilight?" The mage glanced around at her friends before starting to explain the different branches and kinds of magic, however Celestia stopped her quickly. "That's quite enough. I hate to be the one to explain it to you, but none of you seem to fully grasp what Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, or even true Magic." The mares all were stunned. They spend three years representing something they didn't know? "That is why I called you all here."

Fluttershy glanced around the group before, surprisingly, speaking up. "That isn't all, is it?" She kooked away from everypony before mumbling, "Y-you wouldn't just call us here to t-tell us that."

Rarity nodded. "If you had simply wanted to tell us about our elements, you would most likely have included that in the letter, would you not?" Celestia nodded.

"That's correct." Celestia smiled. "This however needs to be told by somepony with first hand experience though." The train slowed to a stop and the mares looked out the window. All they saw was pitch black darkness before a voice boomed.

"Welcome Bearers of Harmony!" The alicorn of night appeared outside the train and the ponies were lead out by Celestia. "We have been expecting you."

"Back to the Royal We, Sister?" Celestia walked close and wrapped a wing around the smaller mare.

"We... feel more comfortable speaking about such a harsh time that way." The starlit maned alicorn looked between the 6 mortal ponies and took a deep breath. Her horn glowed not with it's usual midnight hue but with a total absence of color as the room around them burst into light. The room was not unlike the grand hall the mares were used to seeing, but what stood out was how... old and run down it was. It was as though the hall hadn't been touched in ages.

"Is this... How are we in the old castle!?" Twilight darted around, staring out the windows in shock. "W-we were in Canterlot, and now we're in the Everfree Forest!? This is impossible, even with teleportation magic! I would've noticed if Celestia teleported us all!"

Pinkie patted Twilight's head and said, "Maybe the reason we were in the castle and then Celestia came in was to accompany her?" She tilted her head. Her friends all stared at Pinkie, not used to her being the voice of logic. Or reason for that matter.

Celestia and Luna looked at the pink pony before laughing a little. "Well she isn't wrong."

"Yet she is not fully correct." Luna glanced around, shuddering a little before saying, "We must inform you of... Corruption."

Twilight paused, "Corruption... That sounds familiar."

Applejack was the one to say, "Isn't that sorta like what Discord did to us?" Her and her friends all shuddered at the memory and moved closer to one another, some of them putting a leg around another..

"Yes, and that is precisely why we need to speak with you mares."

"You see, long ago before Discord, and Nightmare Moon, and even King Sombra, there existed a being of pure shadows and darkness." The two crossed horns, creating an illusion of writhing and sinister shadows so real, the mares all yelled in shock and tried to defend themselves. "Fear not, for this is simply a memory."

"The being was simply known as Corruption. She traveled through my sister's night and crept into the minds of pony, planting seeds of Envy, of Wrath, and of Hatred." The shadow creature, Corruption, wrapped some tendrils around a stallion, the black of his eyes turning to slits as glared harshly at two ponies flirting on the other side of the room. "Corruption, like Discord, loved to watch her work and to play with mortals, however her idea of playing..."

A flash of darkness, and the couple were on the ground, the stallion overhead with a knife in his hooves. The girls screamed and shielded their eyes. Fluttershy started crying and moved from the others, rushing over and trying to tend to the two ponies wounds. Her hooves simply went through the two illusionary equines and her tears fell faster.

"Unlike with Sombra, Discord, and Nightmare Moon, We could not defeat her. Instead, we became another of her pawns." An image of Luna raising the moon, looking out sorrowfully over the countryside before Corruption grasped her and her eyes turned cold and dark like her night. The Alicorns both looked away from the sight as the battle between the two long ago replayed in front of them.

"Corruption was much more wicked than Discord. Where he tainted for his own amusement, Corruption simply tainted to cause strife." The mares all looked away as their own fight with the Draconequs played out in front.

Applejack covered her face once her memory had fallen for Discord's twisted 'truth' that she simply allowed to happen.

Pinkie didn't even laugh as her own memory was taunted by the balloons with her friend's faces.

Rarity glared as the memory tore through rock just for another rock, allowing an idea to taint her,

Fluttershy just covered her eyes as Discord touched her head, warping the memory.

Rainbow cringed at the feeling of two things she held close were threatened, old wounds opening anew.

Twilight let a single tear fall as her friends memories left her behind.

"Corruption chose six ponies to aid her." Six silhouettes appeared in the illusion. "Dispelled of all morality, and chosen throughout time."

That last part startled everypony, The image of the silhouettes appeared in various situations, some involving Nightmare moon, others involving different creatures across Equestria and with various levels of technology, some of it even not existing at that moment. Nopony could tell what race each of the ponies were, or even if the pony was a stallion or a mare.

"Time Travel!? But even the spell from Starswirl the Bearded-"

"Corruption is not one to follow the laws of Magic." Luna sighed.. "But that is also why your task is needed."

Everypony blinked and six lights appeared in front of the mares. "Corruption's taint may be strong, but the light inside you mares are stronger."

"Your friendship, and your own magic, might be able to fix the ponies Corruption uses for her deeds." Celestia said, floating the Element necklaces and diadem onto their owners.

"But... How in Equestria would that do anything?" Rarity said, adjusting her necklace. "If that dastardly creature can simply use time magic to, for example, keep us from doing whatever it is you wish. She could possibly act an hour sooner for example."

"That's where your magic comes in. All six of you have some magic of your own." Applejack was the only one hard-pressed to believe that. "And with your own magic, you will be able to keep the ponies from ever being tainted by Corruption again, which will in turn weaken her for when we, all of us..." Celestia looked across the ponies. "Will go to Corruptions origin and defeat her there."

"Now wait just an apple-bucking minute." Pinkie giggled at that for some reason but the apple bucker ignored it. "Maybe Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have magic if you consider their pegasus weather making things magic." She recalled Fluttershy making a small raincloud once for a duck bath, even though the eldest of their group doing that was rare. "And Pinkie being Pinkie probably counts, but I sure as hay don't have any fancy magic of my own."

Pinkie giggled in disbelief and moved to her forelegs, bucking at thin air. "Applebucking."

"That ain't magic-"

Pinkie stared at her. "Are you suuuuuure?" the earth pony put a hoof into her face, "Because I've definitely tried applebucking myself before, but I couldn't get any more than a single apple out of the tree, but you and Big Mac can knock whole trees, and even Applebloom can buck out half the tree in one kick even if she's still a little filly and it isn't her cutie mark talent!"

"I said that ain't magic." Applejack insisted. "It's just the family way of getting the apples. We've been doing it since the first Apple family Apple."

Celestia and Luna looked between each other. "That is not exactly what we meant."

"What my sister and I meant by magic, was things residing in your element that you will be able to harness in time, once you know the full extent of them. And not simply your element, but things you've been able to do since you were children, but never fully grasped the abilities of."

Pinkie raised a hoof. "Do I get healing powers, or the ability to make things happen with suspension of disbelief just so long as somepony doesn't actually tell me it's impossible?"

"No." The two alicorns said flatly.

"Okay then." Pinkie started humming and looked at the orb in front of her. The others just shook their heads at their friend being herself.

The two Alicorns ignored Pinkie's antic and took deep breaths. "There is one issue though. As you know, there are six ponies."

Fluttershy was the first one to grasp what that meant, backing away and looking at the two. "Y-you mean we have to find them alone?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, what?" Rainbow looked at her friends. "You mean we can't do this together this time?"

Celestia shook her head. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, but even though time doesn't mean anything to Corruption, it is of the essence. The time you six take protecting Corruptions seconds in command will come to pass now, and we only have a short time before Corruption tries to take hold."

"Hold of who?" The Alicorn of day looked down sorrowfully, and the Alicorn of night just looked away.

"Y-you Celestia?" The princess nodded. "But--"

"Twilight, I apologize but you and your friends must go guard her soon to be former seconds from her original corruption." Celestia cast a small spell and the lights in front of the mares turned into doorways, all with a symbol of their element. "Corruption can only sow her seeds when the pony already has darkness in their heart. Not only must you find her seconds, but you must keep that darkness from taking hold. While you do that, learn your element and try to learn your own magic." All of the doors opened and the Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy shared a brief group hug.

Luna looked across the mares and said, "Good luck Mares of Harmony. We wish you the best with your endeavors."

The mares walked into the doorways, their elements shining as they were whisked away through time and space.