Redemption of the Sun

by -Polaris-

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Romance, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Discord
Length: 16524

Celestia must find her place in a scarred world, a world she nearly ended twenty-one years prior. Meanwhile, dark forces gather in the southern wasteland, and there are no Elements of Harmony to fight them.

Story Description:
One day, Celestia snapped. She destroyed all who would not love her, and in battle with her sister, covered the world in fire. In one final stand, Celestia faced off against the Elements of Harmony. When Luna was defeated, and the Elements were all that stood against her, they failed. The Elements were never made to be used against a former bearer, and they backfired; their undirected power causing the deaths of their bearers. Now, twenty-one years later, an emotionally unstable and magically drained Celestia walks the countyside in solitude, in self-imposed exile for her crimes. Perhaps one day, she will return to her ponies. Perhaps that day is coming sooner than she thinks.

Credits:
Cover Art: Me. Note about the art is included in here.

Other Stories:
Moonlit Skies: The airship Australis and her captain, a pegasus scientist named Verdant Aurora, take off on a quest across Equestria. Along the way, they pick up a bat-pony mare, and fight their way through pirates and bounty hunters.
Darkest Days, Brightest Nights: Celestia's degrading sanity causes a civil war to break out, and a human-turned-unicorn is a primary cause. Celestia seems to recognize this human, but no one knows where from. His story spans a period of over 80 years, in Equestria and beyond.
[DEADLINE PARADOX]: Not all wars present you with a clear opposition. Sometimes, there are no heroes and no villains. Sometimes, we are all just soldiers. The same is true of the Gods themselves, and when they go to war, things are not always black and white...
Emberdawn: When dealing with balance on a universal scale, third party intervention frequently consists of ripping something from one universe, and dumping it in another. When the intended result is to create chaos, that thing is usually a human.

Author's Note:
This was originally just a quick little thing to judge reception of the storyline. Reception was good, so I'm continuing.

Published 2012-12-25 23:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-17 22:37:01 UTC

Prologue

Redemption

of

The Sun

Prologue

October, 20th Year of the 8th Age.

Twenty-one years had passed since the day when the Sun Princess had succumbed to the same force that had created Nightmare Moon over one thousand years prior.

By her own will, not by the power of the elements, Celestia was drained of the majority of her power. Though the choice was hers, the elements were still the catalyst of her decision. When the bearers attempted to use them, something strange happened.

When the Elements of Harmony were first made by whatever beings of power forged them, part of their function was to protect their bearers. Celestia being a former bearer of all six elements, their power had no idea what to do with her. Thus, when the elements were used against her, the results were... less than exemplary.

~Twenty-one Years Earlier~

"Go ahead, my faithful student! The Elements can't stop me!"

"I'm sorry, Princess. This is for your own good."

The six bearers rose into the air as they faced their fiery Goddess in the darkened throne room of Canterlot Castle. Dust swirled around them like eddies in a river. When their eyes opened, they flared white with power. A twisting beam of rainbow light burst forth...

Then something went wrong.

The power of the Elements seemed almost confused as it warped and imploded in on itself. The bearers fell to the ground once more. Nothing had happened.

The orange mare with three apples on her flank stumbled and fell sideways. "Twi...? I ain't feelin' too good..."

The pink one likewise fell. "Wow. It's really hot..."

When all but the lavender unicorn were unconscious, that one fell too. Before hitting the ground, she managed to catch herself with her knees. A single tear hit the stone beneath her. "Princess...? Make the burning stop..."

The flaming alicorn before her faltered, and took a single step forwards. A step not of malice, but of concern. The flames that wreathed her features died to embers. "Twilight? Are you alright?"

"It hurts Princess! Make it stop!" With a scream of anguish, she finally gave in to the energies searing her from within, her horn clattering as her head impacted the floor.

Celestia ran to her, and crouched by her side. "Twilight!?” The mare had stopped breathing. “I'm sorry Twilight. I didn't know that this would happen. I didn't... I... What have I done?" She left the fallen corpse of her former student, and turned to look out at the flaming skies through one of the broken stained glass windows. The majority of the world had been marred by the power of the sun in Celestia's final battle with her sister a few moments before the Elements had arrived. Only a few thousand remained alive.

Luna meanwhile, had slowly limped her way into the room from where she had been defeated earlier. She stopped in shock when she saw the bodies of the six mares on the floor. Celestia turned at the sound of her sister's muffled gasp, and began to make her way to her sibling, head lowered in submission. The Princess of the Moon watched as her sister blinked the tears from her eyes and whispered, "It wasn't me. I swear I would never hurt them. I would never hurt her. It was the elements, sister. They did something to them."

Luna shook her head. "You were willing to murder all those others to further your own power, why not her too!?"

"She was like a daughter to me! She was the only one who loved me for who I was, not for my position as Princess. I wanted the others to love me..."

"What in Equestria could have possibly caused you to think that this would do so!?"

"I don't know! I just thought... I don't know what I thought. Now I'm more alone than ever before... Sister, if you will still let me call you that, I can't fix this..."

"What is left to fix!? The world is in flames!"

"There are still some, and they will need our guidance- No. They will need your guidance. Sister, I offer you all of my power to save my little ponies. I beg of you, make things right again."

"I will do my best... Sister. What of you?"

"Since the Elements failed to exile me, I shall do so myself. I will hide my identity, and live amongst the people. I'll help them where I can."

"That's a wise decision. I don't think that they would take kindly to your presence otherwise."

"I know. I don't expect anypony to forgive me, but perhaps one day I will be able to find redemption."

~Present Day~

A unicorn in a dark cloak walked through the market in the pine woods outside of what had once been Vanhoover. The morning mist swirled around the mare, who's white fur and pink mane were only just visible under the cloak.

Despite the early hour, the market was already bustling. In the time since the end of the last age, most ponies had elected to live alone amongst the trees in the few parts of the world that were still green. Markets such as these had sprung up as places where ponies could catch up with old friends, and share news.

The mare, who was trying not to be noticed in the crowd, paused as she caught the tail end of a conversation between two stallions some thirty hooves away. "-is cruel thinking. Princess Celestia will return one day as a beacon in the dark, and when she does, she deserves our forgiveness."

"How can you say that? You were there, you saw when the sky opened up and rained fire down upon us. Monsters don't deserve second chances."

"Everypony deserves a second chance."

As the second stallion left, shaking his head, the mare approached the first, a sky blue unicorn with a near-white light yellow mane. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. Did you say that you think Celestia deserves forgiveness? After the horror of watching our families burn?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, I meant no offence. I'm simply a believer in second chances and... Wherever she is, I don't like the idea of her being alone. That's what started all of this in the first place, and everypony should have friends."

"That's okay. I don't really have an opinion on the matter, but I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've ever heard somepony willing to forgive her."

"There's actually more of us than you'd think, but there's still a few like that guy who think that she was just pure evil. Most ponies know that wasn't the case."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you on that day?"

"I was with my parents in Canterlot when it happened, just a foal at the time. It's mostly a blur, but I remember the screams, and I remember watching as a beam of solid sunlight came flying from down the street. It missed me, but both of my parents were just... gone. Celestia landed in front of me- I don't know where Princess Luna was- and she looked at me. For some reason my first emotion wasn't fear, it was sadness. Sadness for her when I thought of what could have driven her to that point. I could see the pain of what she had done in her eyes."

"That's when you decided that she deserved another chance? At the same moment that she had killed your parents?"

"Yeah. It's a bit strange, but I could tell that she was hurting. I know that she still bears that pain now."

"Yes... You're probably right."

"You know, after that day, I bet I could recognize those eyes anywhere."

The mare quickly averted her gaze, and answered with sudden urgency, "Is that so? Well, I've got things to do, bye."

Before she could go, the stallion placed a hoof under her chin and forced her to look at him. "Those eyes. So beautiful, but so filled with pain..."

The mare blushed and cleared her throat. "Yes, well, I really should be going."

"Very well, but if you ever need a friend, just ask around for me. The name's Daylight."

As she turned to leave, the mare answered, "Thank you, but I do fine on my own."

"I'm sure you do. But I'm also sure that you need somepony to talk to. I truly hope that you change your mind."

The mare looked back over her shoulder, violet eyes beginning to fill with tears. "I really want to believe you, but I can't. Goodbye. I don't think you'll be seeing me again." She paused, seemingly unwilling to move on. "I'm sorry about your parents. I'm sure Celestia feels horrible about it."

"Celestia shouldn't feel that way. I forgave her long ago. If you're really going to leave, just remember, I'll be here."

Wordlessly, the mare wiped her eyes with one hoof, then continued away, disappearing into the misty crowd.

Chapter 1: Magic

Redemption

of

The Sun

Chapter 1: Magic

January, 21st Year of The 8th Age.

Daylight was forced to abandon his attempts to scrounge up enough money to buy food for another week when he heard an urgent knocking at his door. On his way to answer, he considered how his current situation came about. The reason was simple: the tax collectors had gone into overdrive. Everypony knew that there had been no contact with the capital for quite a while, yet the tax collectors kept going, even increasing the rates. Nopony could do anything about it because the collectors used the extra bits to bribe the guards. Hopefully, it wasn’t them at the door.

He opened the door to the icy blizzard outside, and was immediately frozen not by the cold, but from the shock of what he saw there. Standing in his doorway, almost completely covered in ice, was the mare he had met three months prior. As she saw the door open, she looked almost surprised that he had bothered to answer.

He stepped aside to allow her entrance. "You comin' in?"

"Right. Sorry."

She she stepped through the door, shaking the snow off of herself before she got too far inside. Daylight closed the door, and found himself staring at the sight before him when he turned around again. The unicorn mare had wings. "Celestia... It really is you..."

"You didn't think it was?"

"Well I was fairly certain, but... Actually seeing the wings..."

"You didn't call the guards because you weren't sure if it was really me... Now that you know it is, you're going to call them!"

"No, I-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Celestia ran off to try and find another way out. "I'm sorry!"

"No, Tia come back! I'm not calling the guards!"

Celestia's head peeked around the corner of the room she had run to. "Did you just call me 'Tia'?"

"*That's* what you got from that sentence?"

Celestia completely broke down in tears. "My sister used to call me that..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Once again cutting him off, Celestia galloped back into the room and nearly picked Daylight off the floor with her hug. "Oookay..."

Nearly falling over in the process, Celestia quickly let go and scrambled backwards in an attempt to rectify the awkward situation. "It's okay. I just... really miss her sometimes. I think... You should be allowed to call me that."

"Really? I just kind of used it to get the whole thing out faster. Shouldn't I be addressing you as 'Princess'?"

"No. Do not call me Princess. The entire point of this is to get away from all that."

"Right. I forgot about that. I'm just kind of in a constant state of confusion lately. I'm gonna lose the house soon if the taxes keep going up..."

"What!? What does Luna say is the reason?"

"Ha! Oh sorry. You really don't know."

"Know what?"

"Basically, the government is completely corrupt and nopony has heard from Princess Luna for years."

"What?"

"Haven't you been in contact with her? I mean, she's your sister."

“‘Sister’?” She asked skeptically, “When last we spoke, she hesitated to call me such. I’ve been avoiding speaking with her.”

"Tia...?"

"Yes?"

"Who have you spoken with over the last twenty-two years?"

"Uh... you."

"Celestia... that's not healthy."

"It is supposed to be a punishment."

"You don't need punishment, you need rehabilitation. You feel you owe a debt to the world, correct?"

"Yes..."

"Well then let's head to the capital. You can talk to your sister, and we can help the rest of the ponies by fixing the tax problem at the same time."

"Yes... Why didn't think of that?"

"I'm pretty sure there's a lot of things you'd normally be able to think of that you won't be able to right now. No offence, but... I’m pretty sure you’re a bit messed up in the head."

Celestia started crying again.

"Aaand you took offense... Listen, I'm sorry." He reached a hoof to her...

She screamed and curled into a ball, hyperventilating.

"What the...? Tia, calm down." Deciding to risk a potential attack, Daylight lunged forward and wrapped his forelegs around the alicorn mare. It was half an attempt to comfort her, and half an attempt to stop her from hurting herself.

After a few seconds, her struggling ceased, and she quietly murmured, "I guess I should have warned you about the panic attacks..."

"You have panic attacks? Celestia, what happened to you out there?"

"I don't want to talk about it..."

"I understand. But you need to remember that I'm a friend. You need to trust me."

Celestia was about to answer, but stopped with her mouth hanging open. She blinked twice. "Are you holding me?"

"Uh..."

"Thank you."

Daylight furrowed his brow at a sudden thought. "How many ponies have you had physical contact with?"

"... You. And there were almost none before my exile either."

"I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did before losing it- Gah! Sorry!"

"No, you're right. I kept myself distant from my subjects, then got angry when they were too formal with me. Everything was my fault."

"That's not what I meant, but even if that's the case, you can always try again."

"Second chances and all that?"

"Exactly. So, when do you want to go?"

"Maybe in a while."

"You want me to let go?"

"... No."

"Why don't you tell me about something that makes you happy. We need to get you out of this mood."

"I'm not in a mood!"

"You're curled up in a ball, crying. You're in a mood."

"Alright, so I am."

"What's the happiest thing you can think of?"

"You know, there actually used to be a Royal Psychologist..."

“That’s nice, but I’d prefer to not have to play psychologist for too long.”

“Too bad. You’re good at it. If I may ask, what is your special talent?” She asked, gesturing to the Enochian ‘A’ on Daylight’s flank.

“Magic.”

Celestia jerked very slightly. “Is that so?”

“Yes... Is something wrong?”

“My... Former... Student. Her talent was magic as well.”

“You were close?”

Celestia gave a whimsical sigh. “She was like my daughter...”

“Why don’t you tell me about her?”

Celestia got a far off look in her eyes as she remembered Twilight’s antics. “When I first sent her to live in Ponyville-”

“Where’s that?”

“It used to be where the wasteland is now.”

“Sorry...”

“It’s fine. Anyways, when I first sent her there, I tasked her with making some friends. I asked her to send me reports on her studies of the magic of friendship. For some reason she got it into her head that these ‘friendship reports’ had to be sent once every week. One week, she forgot to write one, and started to worry that I would punish her for it. She got all worked up about it, and ended up trying to create problems for her to solve and use as lessons on friendship.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Oh, yes. Definitely ‘uh-oh’. Her assistant managed to get a message to me, but by the time I arrived, she had enchanted her childhood toy with a want-it-need-it spell, and had the entire town trying to beat the hay out of one another in an attempt to get it.”

“That must have been embarrassing...”

Celestia giggled, surprising Daylight with the first show of happiness that he had seen from her. “Embarrassing for myself as well. She was my student after all. I disenchanted the toy, then informed Twilight that she was only supposed to send a report when she actually learned something to report. I tried to act disappointed with her, but really I was nearly laughing at how silly the entire situation was.”

“Celestia?”

She looked up at daylight, still grinning at her memory. “Yes?”

“You’re smiling.”

“So I am. You really are a good psychologist.”

Daylight shook his head in defeat. “Alright. Maybe I am.”

Celestia’s eyes drifted to the window. “The weather’s calmed down a bit. It’s been really nasty now that the pegasi can’t control it...”

“Yeah. I’ve noticed. Things are getting pretty chaotic these days.”

Celestia stiffened, then jumped out of Daylight’s grasp. “We need to go. Now.”

Daylight watched in confusion as Celestia quickly put her cloak back on. “Why? What’s the matter?”

“Has anypony made it far enough into the wasteland to reach Canterlot?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Come on. Is the market open today?”

“Yes, why- Celestia you’re acting all Princess-ey again. What’s going on?”

“It’s probably nothing... Probably... Follow me.”

Daylight rushed to get all of his winter gear on as Celestia walked out the door, and started in the direction of the market at a brisk pace. He caught up to her halfway there, and glanced at her steely expression with worry. “Celestia.”

Her only acknowledgement of the fact that he had spoken was a neutral, “What?”

“...Tia”

This time she looked at him. “Yes?”

“I’m your friend, not your subject.”

Her gaze softened, but she still looked a bit unwilling to let her mask drop. “I’m sorry Daylight. This is just... Something I’m used to dealing with by myself.”

“Just remember that you’re not by yourself.”

Celestia responded with a curt nod, then looked at the ground as she walked, then smiled. “I’m not, am I?”

When the duo reached the market, Celestia moved through the crowd with a purpose. She clearly knew where she was going, and their destination turned out to be a stand which was selling dragon eggs of all things. Celestia began tapping her horn to each one in turn, causing the earth pony shopkeeper to narrow his eyes in suspicion. Daylight came up behind the cloaked alicorn, and nodded to the shopkeeper. “We’re buying a dragon egg?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Celestia turned around with a mischievous grin. “For your entrance exam of course.” She went back to whatever she was doing, mumbling “No, no. Too aggressive...” as she tapped her horn to a bright crimson egg. Suddenly, something caught her eye. “My, what’s this?”

The shopkeeper intercepted her before she could reach the bluish-white egg sitting by itself on a separate section of the stand. “Sorry miss, but I highly doubt you can afford that one. I heard that ‘entrance exam’ comment, and I’m not about to sell something so valuable to one of you ‘Gifted Unicorn’ wannabe’s at anything less than full price.”

“How much?”

“Just give up, mare.”

“How. Much.”

“One thousand bits.”

Daylight’s jaw dropped. “By the time somepony could afford that, you’ll be old enough to retire!”

Celestia was still grinning. “Or maybe I could buy it, and he could retire early.” She pulled a massive bag of bits out of her pocket-dimension, and placed it on the stand. The shopkeeper picked up the bag, then stepped out of Celestia’s way. She levitated the egg over to her, and headed for the nearest exit from the market.

Daylight finished staring at the bag of money, and ran after her. “What the hay was that!? The entire royal treasury!?”

“Keep your voice down!” After making sure nopony had heard Daylight’s outburst, she leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I only got half of the treasury.”

“Well that was a lot of bits. How much do you have left?”

“I expect I could afford to buy a few more of those eggs.”

“Oh... My...”

Celestia chuckled. “You know, you’re pretty funny when you’re not in psychologist mode...”

Once they reached the treeline, Celestia cleared away some of the snow, and placed the egg in the middle of the clearing before backing away. Daylight looked at her in confusion. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Hatch it.”

“Pardon- You want me to what?”

“Hatch. The egg.”

Daylight ran a hoof through his mane, exhaled, and then approached the egg. ’Dragons... Fire... It needs heat to hatch.’ He was about to cast a fire spell, but paused. ’No, wait... White... It’s a Frost Dragon... Ice.' He quickly switched spells, and encased the egg in a contained ice-storm. He looked to Celestia for confirmation that he was doing it right, but she was busy erecting a golden force-field around the area. “Uh, What’s that for?”

“You are dealing with massive quantities of magic. I’m placing a precaution.”

“Will it be necessary?”

“Only if you’re successful.”

He responded, “Great!” a little too cheerfully before turning back to his little blizzard, and placing a weak aging spell on the egg within. He normally used the spell to help with his compost pile, but it seemed appropriate. ’Only one thing left to do now...’ He began sending a stream of pure magic into the egg, increasing the flow exponentially. Eventually, he reached the point where he had his eyes clenched shut.

The snow on the ground melted, then reformed into a sheet of solid ice. A spiderweb of cracks ran through the ice until it shattered into small crystals. The crystals floated into the air, reflecting and refracting Daylight’s golden aura in all directions. The sky-blue stallion slowly floated into upwards, and his eyes opened to reveal solid white energy. The moment he did so, a shock wave was released, which blasted Celestia’s shield into glittering drops of molten magic. With a flash of light, the surrounding area was laid flat, and Daylight fell to the ground.

When he regained consciousness a few seconds later, he opened his eyes to find Celestia grinning down at him. He blinked to clear the blurriness from his vision, then slowly started to stand up. Celestia moved out of his way, and allowed him to survey his new surroundings. All of the trees within a sixty hoof radius had been knocked to the ground, arrayed in a circle facing away from the clearing. Most of the trees were alternating between frozen solid and in flames. In the very center of the blast site, there were a few fragments of white eggshell, as well as a new baby dragon. “Hah! I did it!”

“So you did. I’m now going to tell you a secret. The goal of the exam was to test your ingenuity, as well as your total magical output. It’s completely impossible for any living unicorn to hatch a dragon egg.”

“But I did it, right?”

“Yes... Yes you did. And that is a secret for another time.” She walked over to the baby dragon. It’s scales were white, and it had sapphire-blue eyes. “It’s a girl. What are you going to name her?”

Daylight looked at the dragon, then up at the clouds above them, then back down to the dragon. “Snowflake.”

“That’s a beautiful name. Very fitting too. Now there’s still one more thing that we need to do before we leave. She pulled a fragment of a purple dragon egg out of her pocket-dimension. “Did you know that when eaten, the shells of a dragon’s egg  can cause any dragon other than the one hatched from it to mature rapidly? Even more curiously, it will also pass on the knowledge of the dragon whose eggshell is eaten.” She passed the purple shell fragment to Snowflake, who began to gnaw on one corner of it. Within seconds, she began to grow until she was about up to Daylight’s hips.

Snowflake looked around in confusion. Then she spoke. “One, rapidly maturing is incredibly awkward. Second, the dragon whose knowledge I got must have lived in a library or something.”

“Yes, something like that... Daylight, Snowflake is now your new assistant."

"Why do I need an assistant?"

"To... assist you. Just keep in mind, an assistant is not a slave."

"Of course not! Hey, what happened to the dragon whose egg that was?"

"I honestly don't know. I expect that if he's still alive, he'll be living somewhere in the wasteland. He probably- Oh dear."

Daylight followed Celestia's worried look, and found himself looking at nearly every single pony from the market. The shopkeeper who sold them the egg was near the front of the crowd. "When I sold you the egg, I didn't think you were actually going to hatch the thing!"

"How did you know that's what we did from all the way back in the market?"

"I figured it out when I saw a dragon suddenly sprout into existence in the woods.", he said, with a bemused look.

Daylight looked back at Celestia, who seemed to be trying not to draw attention to herself. She noticed his questioning expression and said, "I forgot to mention that part. She shrunk back down before you woke up."

The shopkeeper leaned around Daylight to see who had spoken. His eyes widened. Daylight turned around, wondering what warranted that reaction. "Uh... Your cloak fell off."

Celestia narrowed her eyes at him. "Thank you daylight. I hadn't noticed."

Amongst all of the whispers from the crowd, the shopkeeper could be heard muttering, "Well that explains where the money came from..."

Along with the shopkeeper, a couple much angrier voices could be heard. Daylight facehoofed. "Great. Now by the time we're done our quest or whatever this is, they'll have burnt my house down..."

Celestia ignored his sarcasm and said, "Grab Snowflake, and let's go."

"I'm serious here! What about my stuff!?"

"Daylight, I'm sorry, but we really need to go. That magical discharge could have been detected from the wasteland."

"Why does that matter!?"

"Because- Did you see that?"

A pony in the crowd said, "Fantastic. The Princess is losing it again..."

Somepony else responded, "No she’s not, what the hay is that thing?"

Some creature that closely resembled a hare was circling the clearing... in the air. Celestia cried out, "It's a skvader! Kill it before it reports our position!" She immediately started firing beams of golden light at the winged hare. Some of the crowd started cowering when the Princess that had once nearly killed them all started unleashing combat spells into the air. Others stared in confusion, but a few started to help. Daylight shrugged, then started adding his own attacks.

A lucky shot from some unicorn in the crowd caused the skvader to burst into flames. The moment it hit the ground, another burst out of a bush and took off to the south. Celestia stomped one hoof and screamed, "DAMMIT!" That time, there wasn't a single pony who didn't flinch. Once she calmed down and stabilized her breathing, she addressed the entire crowd. "Everypony here needs to evacuate. The skvaders act as scouts, so the wyverns shouldn't be far behind."

Daylight started looking around wildly. "Wyverns!? I've heard stories about the wyverns! they're supposedly dragons crossed with regular lizards, and instead of forelegs, they walk using the claws on the tips of their wings! They're horrible monsters bred only to devour ponies!"

Snowflake ran over on four legs, then stood on her back two, and slapped Daylight in the face. "My great uncle was a wyvern!"

Rubbing his face with one hoof, Daylight apologized, "Sorry Snow, I'm sure your great uncle was a really nice wyvern, but judging from the way Tia said it, these ones are coming to eat us, so I suggest we do as she says and 'evacuate'."

While the crowd argued about whether or not to believe her, Celestia wandered off to recover her cloak. When she returned, Daylight levitated Snow onto his back, then started walking. Celestia hurried to catch up with him. "Where are you going?"

"To the capital. It’s way up in the frozen north."

"What about all your things?"

"Like I said, I know very well where wyverns come from. I think this is a bit more important. Tia, I'm sticking with you through this. I know what you face, and I won't let you face him alone."

Meanwhile, a stallion with shimmering crystalline armor was running, panicked, through the darkened halls of the royal citadel. He burst through a set of large double doors, and yelled out, "Your Highness! Something happened to the elements!"

A large, dark figure jumped up from her throne. Her features were obscured by the shadows, save for her mane, which glowed with stars, and had a multi-hued aurora running through it. "Show me!"

The guard took off again, his Princess close behind. As they ran, the guard began to recall what he saw. "There was a flash of light from the vault, so I went in to check. All of the elements were inactive, except for magic. It had turned purple, and it looked like there was a star inside it or something. It also had a slight imprint of- I don't know, a key?"

By the time the guard finished, they had reached the vault, where a faint violet glow was still emanating from within. The Princess shoved the guard out of the way, and practically broke the thick steel door off it's hinges as she entered. Arrayed in six glass cases were five grey rocks, and one shard of amethyst with an Enochian letter 'A' etched into its surface.

Princess Luna's face could be seen twisting with fear as she gazed at the swirling energies inside the glowing gem. 'The elements are selecting new bearers, and chaos rises in the wastes. Sister, I don't know how to deal with this... I need your help.'

Chapter 2: Loyalty

Redemption

of

The Sun

Chapter 2: Loyalty

“Now most ponies seem to think that The Wasteland is only to the south. This is only partially correct. The fringes of The Wasteland extend further north to the east, forming the Rainbow Desert.”

Daylight interrupted Snowflake’s lesson to exclaim, “Well that doesn't sound too bad!”

Snowflake swatted his head from where she was riding on his back, then continued. “The colors are from when the old Cloudsdale Weather Factory went down. It’s faded after a couple decades, so everything’s pretty brown, but there’s still some color if you look really close.”

“Why are we even going that way?”

“That’s another common misconception. The capital isn't just ‘north’, it’s in the very north-east section of the Crystal Mountains. We can either go through a hot desert with very little civilization, or a cold desert with no civilization whatsoever. I don’t know about you, but I seem to be lacking in winter supplies.”

“Alright, we’re taking the long way then. How do you even know all this?”

“Obviously I got the info from that other dragon.” She thought for a second before turning to Celestia, who was in the process of magically changing her cloak from black to beige as they walked. “By the way, was that a one-time thing or am I suddenly going to get smarter whenever the other dragon learns something new?"

Celestia looked up for a moment to answer simply, "One-time, sorry."

"One more thing, won't the dragon be able to sense me?"

"That's correct."

"And if said dragon knows that you were the one in possession of his shell, and also just so happens to blame you for his adoptive mother's death?"

Celestia stopped, and her eyes widened. She quickly finished with her cloak, then began walking at a much faster pace.

Daylight hurried after her, grumbling about angry dragons, prompting another swat from Snowflake.

~One Week Later~

"PERHAPS YOU SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED THAT THE CIVILIZATION IN THE DESERT WAS GRYPHONS!"

Daylight was running for his life from a pride of angry gryphons, iridescent sand swirling in the wind as it was kicked up behind him. It was around noon, and the desert sun was threatening to slow him down. He somehow found the strength to keep running. Snowflake held on to his mane for dear life, and responded, "Sorry Daylight! It slipped my mind!"

"How does 'I'm leading you through gryphon territory' just slip your mind!?"

Any further argument was cut off as both the stallion and the dragon were sent tumbling to the ground as Daylight's legs were tangled in a net. They were immediately surrounded by heavily armed gryphon bandits.

A massive armored Harpy Gryphon with skeletal-white feathers landed with his talons inches from Daylight's face, spraying sand into his eyes.  "Get these two tied up properly! And where did that mare get to!?"

Daylight's ears perked, and he whispered to Snowflake, "Where did Celestia go?"

The Harpy Gryphon kicked some more sand at Daylight before crouching down. Daylight gulped as he looked into the gryphons eye, noting the large vertical scar running across it. The gryphon smiled smugly and said, "We gryphons have good hearing. You may want to think of just keeping your ugly muzzle shut in the future."

"Oops?"

The gryphon stood up and chuckled before calling out, "The mare is the exiled Princess! Find her!"

From seemingly everywhere at once, Celestia's voice responded, "What if I find you first?"

With a flash of light, the lead gryphon suddenly found himself six hundred hooves in the air, with his wings pinned to his sides by the wind. Meanwhile, the confused gryphons back at ground level were quickly finding themselves outmatched against the beige blur that was darting amongst their ranks, sending them flying with waves of flash-compressed sandstone.

Back up in the air, the gryphon leader was still unable to open his wings, and the ground was quickly approaching. The last gryphon standing on the ground, a dark grey Harpy Gryphon hen, was watching in horror as her father fell to his death.

Celestia stopped moments from striking the female gryphon as she noticed her distraught expression. She looked Celestia in the eyes and said, "Let me save him, and I will help you with whatever you're doing here."

"You know that your clan will exile you for helping us?" The gryphon nodded. "Yet you would give up your life to save his?" The gryphon nodded again. "You show great loyalty. Go."

Just as the gryphon took flight, Daylight manage to free himself and Snowflake from the net, and walked to Celestia's side. "I think I finally understand what you're doing."

"What do you mean?"

"Loyalty. You're trying to find the Elements of Harmony."

"I'm not trying. But I am succeeding. Our path is somehow leading us to all of the new bearers."

"Fate works in strange ways."

"Yes it does."

Their conversation lapsed into silence as they watched the gryphon flying towards her father faster than Daylight had ever seen a living creature move. Celestia on the other hoof, had seen it once before.

With a last, desperate effort, the gryphon broke the sound barrier and sent a wave color radiating through the sky.

Daylight's jaw dropped. "No way..."

Celestia just grinned, and Snowflake recited, "The only recorded sonic rainboom was produced by the pegasus Rainbow Dash, the previous Element of Loyalty during the seventh age."

At the same moment that the gryphon broke the sound barrier, a guard found himself once again running through the halls of the Royal Citadel. Luna jumped up from her throne when the guard entered. "Another Element?"

"Yes, Princess. Loyalty."

"What is it's bearers mark?"

"That's the problem, it's a gryphon clan sigil."

"The new bearer is a gryphon!? This is unheard of!"

"Princess, we know which clan it is. Should we send guards to find the bearer?"

"Yes. Do so immediately."

The gryphon landed with her father beside her, then explained what she had agreed to before he could attack the ponies and dragon. He wasn't angry with her, but according to gryphon law, she had to be exiled.

As they said their goodbyes, the battle-hardened gryphon leader began to cry. "Osanna, you were my last reminder of your mother. I don't want to see you go, but Gilda would be proud that you would give up everything for your family. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, father. Keep the clan safe."

Before the gryphons left, the leader turned to Celestia and warned, "If my daughter gets hurt on your stupid adventure, I will not stop until you are dead."

Without flinching, Celestia calmly answered, "She will be safe with us."

"Good. If it weren't for the honor of my clan, you would already be dead. You really don't want to give me another reason to kill you." He then took to the air, the rest of the clan behind him.

When they were finally out of sight, Celestia turned to Osanna. "We're headed for the capital. We need you to escort us across the remainder of the desert."

"Yeah, I can do that."

Then they were on their way once more. Celestia fell to the back of the group, and after a few seconds, Daylight joined her. This left quite a bit of space between Osanna and themselves, perfect for talking about things they didn't want the gryphon to hear.

"Aren't you going to tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

Daylight rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. The Elements."

"I don't know if that would be wise..."

"Alright. I trust you."

"Thank you. I promise to let her know soon."

"I don't feel comfortable keeping secrets from my friends..."

"I don't either, but I must. It's for the best."

Daylight noticed how guilty she sounded, and changed the subject. "I notice that you haven't had another attack since we left the Vanhoover market. I take it you're feeling better?"

"Yes, much. You know, I never really did thank you properly."

"For what?"

"Just, everything. I honestly don't know what condition I'd be in if I hadn't met you."

Daylight smiled and pressed himself against her side for a second. "It's nothing. I enjoy helping you."

"Well you've done a good job."

There was suddenly an awkward silence filling the air between them. Snowflake, still on Daylight's back, only just managed to stop from grinning when she realized what was going on. Adding to the awkwardness, Daylight mumbled, "I'm gonna go check on Osanna..."

"Okay..."

He then proceeded to speed up in order to catch up with the gryphon. Once Snowflake thought they were out of Celestia's range of hearing, she immediately taunted Daylight. "You liiiike her~"

To which his only response was, "Shut up, Snow." Neither of them noticed the blushing princess behind them.

Osanna was surprised when she saw Daylight walking beside her. "I thought you guys were trying to avoid me."

"Dammit. Sorry Sanna. We just had some things to discuss privately."

"Did you just call me 'Sanna'?"

"Yeah, I always shorten names. Tia, Snow, Sanna."

"Whatever..."

"Anyways, I feel that you deserve to know that there's something we're keeping from you, but I promise we’ll tell you soon."

"I figured as much. 'Private discussion' and all. It's not my job to know what's going on. My job is to escort you three across the desert."

"I'm trying to be friendly here."

"I know, it's just, I was always taught to hate your kind. Let me tell you a story. My mother used to be friends with some pony named Rainbow Dash."

"What happened?"

"She went to visit Rainbow Dash, but the pony's new friends hated her, and drove her away. Since then, the two most important lessons in my life have been 'hate ponies', and 'always stay loyal to your friends'."

"Well I'd like to be your friend, if you'll let me."

"You ponies are so weird! I just tried to kill you a couple minutes ago!"

"And now's your chance to make it up to us."

After a moment of thinking, Osanna decided, "You know what? Fine. You guys are pretty cool anyway."

"Great!"

"Just make sure you don't spend too much time with me. Might make your marefriend jealous."

Snowflake burst out laughing, and Daylight spluttered, "I- She's- We- We're not- Why does everypony think that's what's going on!?"

Shining Armor strode confidently at the head of his squad as they crossed the Rainbow Desert. He had aged well for a stallion in his late fifties, and was still in pristine shape, so when Luna had taken over as ruler of the Crystal Empire, he had once again taken up his old position as Captain of the Guard. Now he had been assigned to find and retrieve a gryphon from the desert's resident clan.

Normally, somepony else would have been sent, but the fact that they would be walking straight into a gryphon den had caused Luna to deem his presence necessary. After a short trip through the city’s mass-teleportation gate, Shining Armor found himself standing at the top of a sand dune, overlooking the pastel colors of the Rainbow Desert. With a quick motion with one of his hooves, he signaled for his soldiers to follow, and began sliding his way down the steep dune in front of him. A little ways off, he spotted the gryphon town he was looking for. Hopefully they would put up a fight.

Within minutes, they had reached the town, smashed down the gate, and made their way inside. What they found wasn't what they had expected. Not a single gryphon made a move to attack, and most of them were sporting some nasty bruises.

A large, white Harpy Gryphon stepped out of a large building. Shining assumed that he was the leader. With a look of disgust, the gryphon stated, "Get out. We've had enough of your kind for one day."

Shining was tempted to just force him to help find the gryphon they were looking for, but his curiosity got the best of him. "Have you met other ponies out here?"

The gryphon smiled widely. "You don't know! Ha!" His voice dropped and gained a conspiratorial tone. "I'll tell you if you leave us in peace."

"Unfortunately, we're here for one of you. A gryphon of your clan has been chosen as the new bearer of Loyalty."

"Loyalty eh? Osanna."

"Which one is that?"

"She was my daughter. The ponies we encountered... employed her services as an escort."

"Tell me what happened."

"If I give you this information, you'll leave us in peace?"

"You have my word."

"Alright. There was a unicorn stallion, a wyrmling, and a mare."

"They had a baby dragon?"

"Yeah. Seemed to be the stallion's pet or something. But the mare was the reason we're all in this condition."

"What was she?"

The gryphon looked around, then motioned for Shining Armor to move closer before whispering, "She looked like a unicorn, but most of her body was covered by a cloak. The stallion called her 'Celestia'."

Shining's eyes flashed with rage at the name. "Which way did they go?"

"West."

Thank you for this information." He walked over to a nearby pegasus, who saluted at his approach. "Private. You're the fastest here. Go find the other ponies in the west, and relay my order to stop."

The pegasus responded, "Yes, sir!" then took off.

Shining looked at the gryphons, then at a unicorn from his own forces. "Lieutenant."

The unicorn saluted.

"Kill them all."

Two ponies, a gryphon, and a baby dragon made their way through the sand in silence. Snowflake was still lying on Daylight's back with her arms crossed behind her head, looking at the cloudless sky. She suddenly said, "What's that?" and pointed at glittering spot in the distance. All of the others stopped to get a look at it. When it became apparent that the approaching shape was a pegasus, Celestia pulled her cloak's hood over her head, and moved to the edge of their formation that was farthest from the approaching pony, prompting a strange look from Osanna.

The pegasus, clad in a solid crystal armor which was actually much lighter than it looked, landed in front of them and said, "By the authority of Captain Armor, you are hereby ordered to cease movement and await his arrival."

Daylight tilted his head to one side. "Who?"

Snowflake cleared her throat. "*ahem* Allow the walking library. Biography: Shining Armor. Later Captain Armor, then Prince Armor. Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, later married to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Brother of Twilight Sparkle, former Element of Magic. Shining and his wife took a ruling position in the Crystal Empire upon it's return after being lost for a thousand years."

"Twilight Sparkle's brother?" He glanced at Celestia. "Uh-oh."

"Apparently Spike didn't die in the cataclysm, ‘cause there's some post-cataclysmic additions. Removed from power by Princess Luna, who took the Crystal City as the new capital of Equestria." Celestia's eyes widened at that. "Psych report: Unfit for duty, portraying sociopathic and homicidal tendencies. Granted a position as Captain of the Crystal Guard based solely on experience."

Celestia returned to the middle of the group and spoke up. The pegasus, who hadn't even noticed her before, flinched a little at her sudden appearance. “All of you need to run. Now.”

The jumpy pegasus built up enough courage to say, “You were ordered to stay put.” A glare from Celestia caused him to cringe, and mutter, “Sorry...”

“You should report back to the capital. Tell Princess Luna that Captain Armor is trying to kill me, and that I’m sorry.”

“Who is this message from?”

“You don’t need to know that.” The pegasus looked confused for another moment before giving an uncertain salute, and flying further west.

Celestia turned back to the others, but before she could speak, Daylight interjected, “We’re not leaving you.” Snowflake and Osanna looked at each other. Daylight shook his head at them, then said, “I’m not leaving you.”

“Daylight, Shining Armor is likely to have an entire squad with him, but as Captain, he could technically be accompanied by an entire company. He’s going to kill me, and then he's going to kill anyone with me. You have to go. It’s now your job to keep Osanna safe, and find the others.”

“You’re a Goddess. You can’t die anyways. You’ll beat him, then we’ll continue.”

“I gave all of my powers to my sister. I’m just a regular unicorn who just so happens to have wings.”

“Stop coming up with excuses! I am not leaving you, and that is final!”

Celestia sighed. “I wish we had more time...” Then, to the utter shock of everyone, Celestia kissed Daylight on the lips with the passion of a hundred loveless lifetimes. Then they were gone. As her final sacrifice, she teleported all three of them away from her and much further west. She then turned to face the direction the pegasus had come from, and waited.

Shining Armor ran as fast as he could to find the one who stole his sister from him. Eighteen more ponies followed behind him. At long last, he ascended the next rise in front of him, and saw a lone mare sitting at the base. He paused upon seeing her, and the moment he did so, he was immediately tackled from behind.

Celestia jumped up as she saw Shining Armor’s own soldiers tackle him down the slope in front of her. “What in Tartarus!?”

One of the soldiers who was attempting to hold Shining down looked up at her. “The Captain here ordered Lieutenant Steel to wipe out all of the gryphons, but he refused and The captain killed him. Then he started screaming something about his sister and ran off.” After stopping for a second to better secure Shining, he asked, “Where’d Cake go?”

“The pegasus? I sent him to deliver a report to the capital.”

“What right do you have to send one of us anywhere!?”

At that moment, the kicking unicorn beneath him screamed, "CELESTIA! YOU KILLED MY SISTER! I'M GONNA BUCKING MURDER YOU!" With that, his horn flashed, and all of the other soldiers were flung away from him before being crushed into the ground with a purple force-field. Celestia and himself were the only ones left.

“Shining, I had no control over what happened with the Elements.”

“YOU’RE LYING!” He ripped his sword from it’s sheath with a violent pull of telekinesis, and ran at Celestia, swinging the blade wildly.

Celestia easily sidestepped, and pushed him over with a burst of magic. “Get ahold of yourself!”

“Ahold of myself!?” He stumbled upright before finishing, “Just you ‘till I get ahold of you, you bitch!”

He attacked again, and Celestia parried the blow with her horn before pushing him away again. “I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Well I want to hurt you!”

This time, Shining’s attack had a bit more control, but Celestia blocked it again. “I may not be a Goddess, but I’m still a powerful unicorn, and I have far more experience than you. You can’t win.”

“THEN I WILL DIE TRYING!”

Shining ran at her again, and she quietly whispered, “So be it.” Just before he reached her, one of her wings flashed outwards, hitting Shining’s legs and tripping him. His exposed neck landed perfectly on Celestia’s horn.

Just after Shining’s body hit the sand, none other than the translucent forms of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were standing over him. Twilight was crying, and Rainbow had her wing wrapped around her. Amongst her sobs, Twilight said, “If only I had been able to cast the spell faster...”

Rainbow noticed that Celestia was staring at them, eyes wide and mouth agape. She nudged Twilight’s side and said, “I’m sorry about your brother, but the Princess is staring at us right now.”

Twilight jumped up and flipped around to look at the stunned alicorn. “Princess Celestia!” She quickly wiped away her tears, then turned back to Rainbow Dash and said, “Go make sure the other three follow the right path.”

The pegasus nodded, then flew off at the speed of sound. Before the purple unicorn could say anything else, Celestia breathed, “Twilight...”

“Yes, Yes. I forgive you. Listen, that’s not important right now. The spell that's allowing us to communicate will wear off any second now.”

“I saw you die...”

“Oh, for the- I never thought I’d say this... Princess, shut up! There’s some things you need to know, and I can only cast the spell once, so listen close. You need to find the other Elements. Once you have all of them gathered in one place, I can finish my work, but I need to be able to talk with the others. Rainbow Dash and I are currently the only ones who can actually do anything. The other four are still lost, but all six of us are-” She disappeared before she could finish, and Celestia just fell into a sitting position, mind reeling.

“Daylight, she’s good, but there’s no way she could have taken an entire squad of trained guardsponies. We need to get moving, or did you forget that she gave you a job to do?”

“Dammit Snowflake, I know! sigh I know... Sorry Snow.”

Osanna, ever the gentle one, shoved Daylight upright and said, “Stallion up, you foal! We've still got a long time until we- On second thought, nevermind, we’re going to be leaving the desert very soon.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re gonna have to head into the mountains, unless of course you want to walk through that gigantic sandstorm that’s headed straight for us.”

Daylight turned to look at the supposed sandstorm. To him, it just looked like a brown wall, not that dangerous. On the other hoof, Osanna had lived in the desert her entire life. She probably knew how to judge a sandstorm. “At least we’ll be out of this heat...”

“But it's gonna get a heck of a lot colder in the mountains. Especially in the middle of winter. Anyways, it's getting dark but the edge of the desert isn't that far in this direction. We should be able to find shelter for the night once we’re out of this place.”

As they moved off towards the mountain peaks to the north, none of them noticed the rainbow blur fanning the storm towards them. When they reached the place where the desert turned into slightly rocky pine woods, Daylight paused and looked back. “Celestia... I’ll find you again. I promise...”

Chapter 3: Laughter

Redemption

of

The Sun

Chapter 3: Laughter

At the highest point of the Royal Citadel, everything was quiet. The stars in the night sky twinkled merrily, as though unaware of the evil happening in the world below. Princess Luna stood alone on her balcony, ethereal mane casting an aurora on the darkened backdrop of glowing pinpricks above.

Her peaceful basking in the moonlight was shattered when a loud knocking came from the doors behind her. *sigh* “Enter.”

A pegasus with a pastel gold coat and brown mane entered. He saluted and said, “Private Pound Cake reporting, your Highness.”

“Why are you not in your armor?”

“I’m actually on leave right now. I’m just supposed to give you my report, then I can head home for a week. Uh, your Highness.”

“Ah, you must be from the team I sent after the gryphon. Did you capture it?”

“I don’t know, your Highness. I was sent back early, and the rest of the squad still hasn’t arrived, your Highness.”

“What could you possibly have to report then?”

“We found the gryphon, but she was leaving the desert, and she wasn’t travelling alone. She was accompanied by two ponies and a baby dragon... Your Highness.

“Try to refrain from ending every single sentence with ‘your Highness’. It’s getting annoying.” She supported her point by rubbing her temples with one hoof.

“Yes, your Highn— Sorry.”

“Just describe the ponies.”

“There was a unicorn stallion. Light blue, pale yellow mane. Cutie mark of some weird symbol that looked kind of like a key...”

Luna’s ears perked up. “Did the dragon appear to be acting as an assistant for him?”

“Yeah, kinda. She somehow recited Captain Armor’s entire biography for them.”

“I see... What about the other one?”

“A unicorn mare. White coat, pink mane. Couldn’t really tell what she looked like other than that, ‘cause she was wearing a cloak the whole time. She gave me a me a message for you.”

The pegasus now held Luna’s full attention. “What did she say?”

“Well... I can’t really remember her exact words, but she said something about Captain Armor wanting to kill her for something to do with his sister. She also said to tell you that she was sorry for something, then she ordered the other three to run.”

…

“Your Highness? Oh, sorry...”

“Is there any chance she could have survived?”

“Against the Captain and our entire squad? I don’t see how she could have.”

…

“Princess?”

“You may go, Pound Cake.”

He looked confused at the sadness in the Princess’ tone, but saluted and flew home. The moment he was out of sight, Luna crumpled to the ground and began to cry. “Sister...”

As a pony, a gryphon, and a baby dragon trekked through a rocky pine wood as snow began to fall from the dark gray clouds above. "Goddesses, it's freezing!"

Osanna glanced at Daylight, then ruffled her wings. "It's not that bad."

He glared at her, and started to grumble something about feathers. Snowflake flashed Osanna a conspiratorial smile before commenting, "Ah... It's nice and cool up here."

Daylight twisted his neck to glare at her, then bucked her off of his back. "You should do a bit of walking. It's good for you."

Osanna stopped and crouched down to allow Snowflake onto her back. As they overtook Daylight, Osanna winked, and Snowflake stuck her tongue out. Daylight froze, then shook his head and continued. "Mares..." Suddenly, there was a flash of red lightning. At the same moment, the wind picked up, and the snow turned into blowing sleet. "What the buck!?"

Osanna started sprinting ahead, prompting Daylight to follow. She suddenly veered to the right, and disappeared into the mountain. Daylight was confused for a second before he noticed a cave. Upon spotting shelter, he picked up his pace.

Inside, there was only one thing he could say. "Whaaat?"

The cave was dark, but crystals could be seen growing in strange geometric shapes on all of the walls. The crystals also looked like they were some kind of iridescent metal. Snowflake seemed to be having a stronger reaction to their new setting than either of the others. Namely salivating. "Oh. Yes." She immediately jumped off of Osanna, and sprinted to the nearest batch of crystals.

When she reached them, she wasted no time in picking one from the stone. She tilted her head back and raised the crystal in one claw, preparing to drop it into her mouth.

A pair of glowing amber eyes stared at her from the shadowed ceiling. Very slowly, she blinked. The eyes blinked back. She still had the crystal held above her.

A male voice came from the spot where the amber eyes were watching. "Are you gonna eat that?"

Snowflake screamed and flung the crystal at the thing on the ceiling. As the ran back to the other two, she yelled, "THERE'S A DRAGON!"

Osanna took a defensive stance. Daylight looked around warily and asked, "Where is it?"

From Daylight's left, the dragon answered, "Over there!" and pointed at Snowflake. Daylight and Osanna spun to look at Snowflake and screamed. Snowflake screamed back, and pointed at the iridescent black dragon that was now behind them. Osanna and Daylight looked at it and screamed. The dragon examined himself, then he screamed too.

Osanna, Snowflake, and Daylight turned and ran farther into the cave. Eventually they found a shadowy alcove, and quickly hid inside it. They waited for a few minutes. Daylight heard a crunching sound to his immediate right, and turned to see the dragon's head directly beside him, munching on the crystal that Snowflake had thrown at him.

The dragon swallowed then turned to Daylight, and with a completely straight face whispered, "Do you think it saw us?"

Once again, all four of them screamed, then the three travelers and the dragon ran off in opposite directions. The pony and the gryphon failed to notice that Snowflake had run in another completely different direction.

The young dragoness quickly found herself lost. When she reached a place where the passage branched in two different directions, she sat down and tried to figure out which way to go. The dragon sitting behind her suggested, "You should go right."

"Oh. Thanks." She stood up and began to head right, then stopped. Her eyes widened, and she turned back to see the dragon sitting there, staring at the roof. "Aren't you going to chase me?"

He looked down at her in surprise. "Why would I do that?"

"Because we entered your cave and I tried to eat your crystals?"

"So?"

"You're not angry?"

"Nope!"

"Oh... Do you know where my friends are?"

"Yep!"

"..."

"..."

"Could you lead me to them?"

"Sure!" He got up and walked past her, following the right passage. "This way!"

Snowflake slowly shook her head before following.

Daylight and Osanna were searching frantically for their missing companion. Their efforts turned out to be pointless when they noticed Snowflake and the dragon they had been running from walk into the room, chatting. Daylight picked Snowflake up with telekinesis and pulled her over to him. "Snowflake what are you doing!? Dragons are dangerous!" Snowflake's bemused expression got his panicked mind thinking clearly once again and he mumbled, "Right... Sorry..."

Freed from Daylight's magic, Snowflake motioned for the dragon to move closer. "C'mon Vis, they're cool."

Vis inched a bit closer, but continued to examine the pony and gryphon nervously. "But what if one of them is the dragon?"

Snowflake facepalmed. "You are the dragon."

Vis once again examined himself before waving an open claw in front of himself and declaring, "This is not the dragon you are looking for."

Osanna and Daylight glanced at each other. The gryphon made a 'he's crazy' motion with one talon. Daylight looked back to Vis, who was grinning widely. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a movie reference."

"What's a movie?"

"I have no idea. The bouncy pink one told me to say it."

"What?" Everyone except for Vis looked around to try and spot anyone else. Daylight adopted his psychologist tone and asked, "Vis, who else do you see in the room with us?"

"There's the pink pony standing next to me, the purple unicorn standing next to you, and the blue pegasus with crazy hair standing beside the gryphon. Hm... the unicorn is confused about how I can see them."

Snowflake ran over to Daylight and whispered, "Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter."

Daylight looked at Vis, then asked, "A dragon?"

"We've already got a gryphon."

"I suppose... So these ponies he sees are the former bearers?"

"It would seem that way. Pinkie, Twilight, and Rainbow. Laughter, Magic, and Loyalty."

"I see..." He turned to Vis. "The unicorn, her name is Twilight?"

The dragon looked at the spot beside Daylight, then answered, "Yep."

"So they're ghosts?"

Vis once again awaited confirmation from Twilight. And kept waiting... And kept waiting...

"So?"

"Shh! She's not done yet."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Yeah, I didn't understand anything you just said." He directed his next words at Daylight. "She said a lot of stuff about spirits and harmonic energy and— WHY ARE YOU STEPPING INSIDE ME!?" Vis froze, then his eyes turned purple. When he spoke again, there was a strange female voice echoing alongside his. "This is fascinating... I'm going to need to do a lot of research on this dragon."

"What?"

Vis looked up at Daylight and answered, "Right, Sorry. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Somehow this dragon is linked to every possible reality simultaneously." His/Her eyes widened. "Just like Pinkie! This must have something to do with their element!"

"Twilight!"

"Right! Sorry again. I haven't actually been able to communicate with anypony other than the Elements you've already found, and the Princess the other day."

Daylight's ears perked, and a small smile appeared on his face. "Tia's alive?"

Vis/Twilight cocked his/her head. "Oh, right. You two are..." She coughed awkwardly before finishing, "...together. Myself and the other Elements were guiding you to the new bearers, but now that you've found Lord Vismut you can head straight for the capital. The Princess is waiting for you there."

Daylight appeared to be resisting the urge to jump up and down, something which looked rather strange to anyone who knew the normally collected unicorn. "I knew it! I knew she made it!"

A new voice answered him. He didn’t recognize it, but it was the voice of a being whom Twilight knew all too well. “Ah yes, My puppet got a little too... Emotional, and wiped out all of his little helpers. Oh well, watching Celly killing her loyal guard-captain was satisfying too!”

Vis’ eyes returned to their normal coloration for a second as Twilight’s very soul subconsciously flinched away from the voice, and back the realm it had been formerly inhabiting. His/her voice was barely a whisper, but the single word it spoke sent chills down the spines of every being present in the room. “Discord.”

“Twilight Sparkle! Fancy meeting you here! Actually, no it’s not. I lied.”

“Show yourself!”

“Oh, very well...” A stone draconequus partially detached itself from a nearby wall, then seemed to swim through the stone until it reached the travelers. “This is the best I can do without being there in person. I don’t really like it.” He detached from the wall further, and coiled around Vis/Twilight. “Do you want to know why I don’t like it?”

Vis/Twilight sighed, then shoved the draconequus off of him/herself. “Enlighten me...”

Discord feigned being saddened by his/her harshness, then grinned and slithered to the middle of the room. His smile fell; not literally falling off of his face and to the floor as one might expect from the comedic draconequus, but as a normal being’s would when they were unhappy. His stone face contorted into one of pure rage. In an icy voice he asked, “Have you ever been imprisoned in stone?”

Vis/Twilight hesitated before answering, “Once...”

“Then you know what it’s like. You find yourself frozen in place, unable to stop it as it works it’s way up your body. It burns as it goes, but you’re unable to make the pain go away. You try to gasp out your last breaths as your lungs solidify inside you, and when it finally reaches your head, greyness creeps into the edges of your vision. It crushes your eyes, and just when you think they’re about to pop, the greyness takes everything. Except instead of a quiet sleep, you live every moment inside your stone prison, able to hear everything around you, able to feel the constant pain.”

Vis/Twilight shuddered at her own memory of the experience. “Stop...”

Discord grinned cruelly, and moved to directly in front of the possessed dragon. “That is what you and your pathetic friends did to me for a second time,” His smile once again became a mask of rage.  “and that is why I will not stop until everything you hold dear has been WASHED TO TARTARUS BY THE TIDES OF CHAOS!”

Vis/Twilight began to slowly back away from the panting draconequus. “We need to leave now.”

Discord chuckled mirthlessly in response. "Leave? You didn't think I came all this way just to talk, did you? No, I merely wished to distract you long enough for two of my lieutenants to arrive.”

To everyone’s surprise, it was Snowflake who spoke next. “You like to make things interesting, right? That means you should tell us who we’re going to be up against.”

Discord smiled. “My, aren’t you a smart little one... I suppose it couldn’t hurt to give you this one little tidbit. The two I’ve sent after you are Glatisant and Zmey Gorynych.”

Snowflake smiled back, amused at how easily she had tricked him into providing them with vital information. “Glatisant, also known as the ‘Questing Beast’. Head and neck of a snake, body of a leopard, and the feet of a stag. Represents incest and chaos. No known weaknesses. However, Lesser threat. Zmey Gorynych. Three headed dragon. Part hydra, part wyvern. Represents pride and chaos. Possible to play on his pride. Greater threat despite this weakness.”

Discord blinked twice, then burst out laughing. “Oh this will be interesting!” With a snap of his fingers, the magic animating the stone draconequus was cut off. The statue fell and shattered against the floor.

After a few moments of silence, Daylight asked, “Plans? Anyone?” Vis/Twilight opened His/Her mouth to say something, then shook his/her head and closed it again. “Twilight? If you’ve got something, tell us.”

He/she looked extremely reluctant, but began to explain, “I have a plan. It will completely remove Zmey Gorynych from the equation, as well as make it easier to defeat Glatisant. But... There’s a catch; a few catches, really.”

“Which are?”

“The plan requires me to bind myself to you, allowing me to temporarily manifest in physical form. A side-effect of this is that if either of us is killed, the other will also die. On top of that, there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to remove the spell without killing both of us.”

“And why would this be a good thing?”

“I would be able to draw on the magical reserves of two elements of magic. Combined with a few of the combat spells I learned during my brief visit to Tartarus a few months ago, beating Glatisant should be relatively simple. I estimate a fifty percent chance of successfully removing Zmey Gorynych, a ninety-eight percent chance of defeating Glatisant, and a twenty percent chance of succeeding overall.”

“That’s not a very good chance... Wait, you were in Tartarus?”

“That’s not important right now. Anyways, those chances of success are nineteen percent higher than running out there without a plan.”

“Alright, what do you need to do?”

“Come over here.” Daylight did as he was asked. “Now, this will probably be the most horrifying thing you will ever experience in your life.” He/she placed his/her claws on Daylights horn.

“What could possibly be worse than—” Vis/Twilight’s claws erupted into violet flames, which quickly traveled down Daylight’s horn and encased his entire body. ”WHAT THE BUCK!?” He pulled away, but the spell had already taken effect. Though the flames weren’t causing any physical damage, Daylight was instinctively screaming and attempting to swat them out.

The others watched on, unpossessed Vis included, unsure of whether or not they should try to help. Luckily for the flaming unicorn, the fire receded and gathered at the tip of his horn before slowly leaving to float in the air beside him. The flames quickly coalesced into the form of Twilight Sparkle. With a flash, the spell was done. The resulting lavender unicorn seemed completely normal, except for a few stray violet flames drifting from her mane and tail. “Well. Let’s go.”

As the five of them headed for the exit, Vis noticed that all of them seemed to be frowning. An invisible pink pony began to whisper something in his ear. Moments later, he broke into song. The rest of them were confused, to say the least. This was a song which Twilight could identify as being Pinkie’s ‘Smile Smile Smile’. She began to sing along, a smile slowly forming on her face. Once they were used to the lyrics, the others joined in. By the time the song ended, all of them were smiling, and Vis somehow felt that this was what he was meant to do.

Princess Luna sighed as a guard approached her throne. These days, it could only mean one of two things. She made a lucky guess. “Which one is it this time?”

“Laughter, your Highness, and — you’re never going to believe this — It appears to bear the mark of a Dragon Lord.”

Princess Luna could hardly say she was surprised, what with the way things were going lately. “Thank you. Please keep me informed if anything else happens.”

The guard hesitated. “There was... one other thing...”

“Continue.”

“There’s a hooded unicorn mare at the castle gates. When she was denied entry, she told me to inform you — Well, her exact words were, ‘The sunrise was gathering harmony, but chaos cut her off’. I normally wouldn’t mention it, but with the Elements acting up...”

Princess Luna seemed unable to decide between happiness or sadness. “Send her in, and... Set up a memorial service for Captain Armor.”

The guard looked extremely confused at the last command, but dutifully saluted and said, “Yes, your Highness.” Before exiting the room.

A few minutes later, the hooded mare walked in, her cloak once again black. She glanced nervously at the guards in each corner of the room. Princess Luna noticed this. “Guards, nothing you are about to see or hear is to leave this room, under penalty of death.” All of the guards saluted in acknowledgement. “Good.” She stepped down from the throne, and approached the hooded mare. “Sister, it has been too long.” A few guards looked uneasy about the revelation, but they would remain loyal; there were still just as many stories about Nightmare Moon as there were of Celestia.

Celestia removed her hood. “I’m sorry, but you know it was for the best.”

“Yes, I suppose it was... You said that you were gathering the new bearers?”

“Yes. I was travelling with a unicorn named Daylight, a wyrmling named Snowflake, and a gryphon named Ossana.”

“The wyrmling, was it a Dragon Lord?”

Celestia couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of Snowflake as a Dragon Lord. “No, sister. Snowflake was hatched by Daylight as his assistant. What could have possibly made you think that a Dragon Lord would choose the name ‘Snowflake’?”

Luna looked a bit sheepish as she realized what she had asked. “The Element of Laughter activated a few minutes ago. The guard on duty said that it bore the mark of a Dragon Lord.”

“There’s only one Dragon Lord I know of who lives around here, and I can definitely see him as the Element of Laughter. I believe you’ve met him, a certain ‘Lord Vismut’?”

Princess Luna facehoofed. “Yes, I remember that one alright...” Her smile fell as she switched to a more serious topic. “So, Shining Armor...?”

“Yes, He’s dead. It wasn’t his fault, I could tell that Discord had taken him.”

Luna sighed. “Then it was unavoidable...”

“He would have broken one day regardless.”

“What do we tell Cadence?”

“The truth.”

Twilight stood facing a three-headed dragon and a Questing Beast. The others were standing behind her. “Say... Zmey Gorynych, why is Glatisant here with you? Did Discord really think that you needed his help?”

The dragon snarled. “Mne nuzhno nikto ne pomoshchʹ.”

“Oh really? Discord must think you do.”

“On ne posmeyet...”

“Well apparently he did dare.”

Glatisant spoke up, his voice accompanied by the sound of a few dozen yelping dogs. “Don’t listen to it! It’s trying to trick you!”

The dragon shot him a look of pure hatred. “Sushchestvuyet net drugogo obʺyasneniya vashi gryaznyye prisutstviye.”

“You idiot!”

“Spravitʹsya s etim samostoyatelʹno. Mne nuzhno imetʹ neskolʹko slov s Razdor.”

With that, the dragon took off towards the south. Glatisant looked at the rapidly shrinking form of his former ally, then back to Twilight. The lavender unicorn was grinning. “Uh oh...”

With her horn glowing a vivid reddish-violet, Twilight began to walk towards him. With a flourish of her horn, she cried out, “FÚGIANT SENTIRE EFFRENEM IMPETUM IGNIS TARTAREO! IGNI, INTERNECO!”

Discord paused from slapping the backs of all three of Zmey Gorynych’s heads to look at his scrying pool. “Oh wow... That’s brutal, even by my standards...” He went back to annoying the dragon.

“YA proshu proshcheniya! Ostanovitʹ bitʹ menya, chert vozʹmi!”

Chapter 4: Kindness

Redemption

of

The Sun

Chapter 4: Kindness

After a few minutes, Daylight managed to stop vomiting. "That— What the buck, Twilight!?"

"Well it was a spell from Tartarus, what did you expect?"

"Not that. Definitely not that. I'm thinking that maybe we don't mentioned this to Tia."

"I agree. I don't think she'd be very happy with me..."

"Let's just forget this happened and get moving again. Snow, which way are we headed?"

"Due east!"

Osanna spun around in a circle, looking confused. "Right... which way is that?"

"Oh, that way!"

While most of the travelers turned and began walking in the direction Snowflake had pointed, Twilight said, "I'll talk to you again when you reach the capital." Before turning into fire and disappearing mid-step.

Vis, Osanna, and Snowflake didn't even bother to acknowledge what had just happened. Daylight paused. "You know, you guys are absolutely right. I don't know why I'm surprised by things like that anymore." With that, he continued on, making sure to keep a decent distance from Glatisant; or what remained of him...

Discord finally got bored with harassing his servant, and decided that it was time to start making things interesting. "Hey! How many Dragon Lords does it take to create an absolute shitstorm at the capital!?"

"YA ne ponimayu..."

"You're no fun..." He grabbed Zmey Gorynych's face—His middle one—and said, "I. Want. You. To. Go. Find. Lord. Ametist."

"Okh. YA poluchayu seychas."

"So get going then!"

"Kak vy komand."

After another couple days, the four travelers reached the gates of The Crystal Capital of Equestria. They were locked.

"Huh. What now?"

Twilight suddenly materialized beside Daylight. "We ask them to let us in." She sent a flare of magic just high enough for it to be visible over the wall.

A unicorn guard peeked over the railing on the walkway above the gate. "Sweet Luna! There's a dragon behind you! Just Don't. Move. I'll take care of it." With an orange flash, the unicorn launched a fireball at Vis.

Twilight stepped directly into the path of the attack, which had no effect on her. This caused the guard to look a bit worried. Luckily, before the situation could escalate, a pegasus flew over and gave the guard a swat. "Care to explain why you're trying to kill those poor guys?"

"Sir, I—"

"Don't bother. I'm off-duty anyways. Just let them in."

"There's a dragon though!"

"Yes; Lord of the Crystal Range, esteemed guest of the princess."

The unicorn's ears pinned back. "Oh." Without another word, he disappeared from view. A few seconds later, the gate began to slowly rise.

As they waited for the gate to open, the pegasus flew down to join them. "Hey. You probably don't remember me, but I'm that pegasus from the Rainbow Desert."

Daylight gave him a friendly smile. "Yeah, I remember you. Thanks for the help with that guy."

"No problem. Silly recruits... I'm only a Private and I'm better trained than them. I see you got another dragon. I don't think I've ever seen such a varied group travelling together before."

"We're... Doing something important for the Princess."

"Ohhhh... You're those guys. The Princess made a statement the other day that you were to be directed to the palace upon your arrival."

Daylight turned back to the others. "Tia must have already contacted Princess Luna. Let's go."

The pegasus nodded in silent agreement. Then took off. "I'll leave you to that then. Seeya!"

"Wait! I never caught your name!"

The pegasus paused mid-flight. "Right! I'm Pound Cake! Bye!" Then he continued on his way.

Twilight disappeared again, and as the five travelers entered the city and watched Pound Cake fly into the distance, Snowflake commented, "It was very kind of him to help us out, especially when he barely knows us."

Daylight stopped dead in his tracks and facehoofed. "Dammit..."

Celestia jumped when she heard somepony knocking at her door. Despite her sister's assurances, she was still slightly worried about possible assassination attempts. She picked up a lamp with her magic and held it hidden under the bed. "Come in!"

The door was engulfed in an indigo aura, and opened to reveal Princess Luna. "Are you— Where did the lamp go?"

"I don't know what lamp you mean." Celestia lied, gently putting it down and releasing her hold on it.

"Oh well. I will send for another one so that you have some light to read by tonight. In the meantime, you will be happy to know that your friends have arrived at the city."

"Are you going to meet them?"

Princess Luna scowled. "Unfortunately there are... things I must attend to..."

Celestia gave a knowing smile at her sister's tone when she said 'things'. "Of course. It hasn't been so long that I've forgotten politics.

Princess Luna grimaced at the word. "Please refrain from speaking that vile word..."

After a second, both of them smiled. "I've missed you, sister."

Princess Luna looked behind her to ensure that no guards were looking into the room. When she was certain that nopony could see them, she leaned forward and hugged her sister for few moments. "I would have done that sooner but..."

"I know. That's why I didn't try when I first arrived." She sighed before continuing, "What kind of society is this that a Princess cannot be seen to show emotion...?" When Princess Luna opened her mouth to answer, Celestia interrupted with a smile, "That was rhetorical."

"Oh... So. Since I can't meet the new bearers myself, I thought it would be a good idea for you to do it."

"Oh, um..." Celestia felt a heat rise in her cheeks.

"Tia, are you... blushing?"

"No! I— I mean, 'no'."

Princess Luna gave an un–princesslike giggle. "I can't believe it! You— Ha!"

Celestia always had a very good poker face. Unfortunately for her, her sister had learned to see through it with ease. "No need to be embarrassed. I'm happy for you. Admittedly, I'm also a bit jealous. May I ask who and how it happened?"

"Daylight, the bearer of magic, and— Well, I'm not really sure how it happened. I spent the first twenty years alone, but I eventually I decided that I needed to reintegrate. I was walking through the Vanhoover market when I overheard him arguing with another stallion about whether or not I should be forgiven. He was arguing yes."

"What was his reason?"

"I'm still not entirely certain. He said that he could see how much my actions were hurting me, but— I accidentally killed his parents when we were..." She trailed off as a few tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up..."

Celestia regained her composure and said, "No. Pretending it never happened won't help anypony. Though, I'd rather wait a while longer. Perhaps tonight?"

"Are you certain? Won't you be spending time with your stallion tonight?"

"Luna!" Celestia yelled, blushing furiously.

Princess Luna giggled again. "I apologize. What happened next?"

"He recognized me by my eyes, and I honestly expected him to call the guards. Instead he said that he forgave me. During my first year back, I had started having occasional panic attacks. I stopped by his house a few months after we first met, and he helped me through one. I think I started to feel something for him after that. I tried my best to stay professional, but when I thought Shining Armor was going to kill me... The last time I saw Daylight, I kissed him just before teleporting him away."

Princess Luna tried not to smile at the thought that went through her head. She failed. "I wish I could be there to see how awkward it's going to be when you meet them."

"I'm sure you would. I should get going now, but I'd like to talk more later. We have a lot to catch up on."

"At least it wasn't another thousand years!" Celestia made a bemused expression at hearing her sister's joke. "I apologize. That was in bad taste..."

After a bit of discussion, Daylight decided that it would be best to speak with the Princess before attempting to track down Pound Cake. As the Princess, Luna would likely have a way to find the residence of any of her guard. Also, Daylight really wanted to see Celestia again...

'I'm not sure we should let the Princess know about me...'

Daylight froze mid-step, causing the others to look at him with confusion. "Twilight?"

'Oh right. I forgot to mention this...'

"Anything else you 'forgot to mention'?"

'Sorry. I think that's it though.

Daylight continued walking, but stopped again when he realized that the others were just staring at him. "Don't worry, I'm not crazy. Twilight was just talking to me telepathically. Apparently she can do that now."

'I said I was sorry...'

"Let's just keep going." As they resumed walking, Daylight got another thought. "Hey Twilight, you can still communicate with the others, right?"

'Others...? Oh! Yes, why?'

Celestia made her way through the Crystal City, having been informed by one of the guards as to the direction Daylight and the others were moving.

Eventually she made it to the main square, where she began to wait. The hooded mare got some strange looks, but far less than she would have if everypony could see her wings. After a few minutes, she noticed the three bearers and Snowflake walk into the square.

As they got closer, she could hear Daylight talking. "Alright Twilight. Send Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to go find Pound Cake while we meet with the Princess. If we're lucky, we won't even need her help. You stick with us and... do whatever it is you do."

Celestia had only a single thought. 'I think I may have missed something.'

Daylight suddenly froze and started looking around. "Where?" On his second pass examining the square, he spotted Celestia watching them. He immediately broke into a run. "Tia!"

She nearly fell over from the force of his running hug. As they pulled apart, Celestia said, "It's good to see you too, Daylight. Listen, about when I left... I—"

"It's okay. We can talk about this later. Right now, we're close to finding the Element of Kindness."

"I know. I overheard you talking to Twilight. How are you doing that?"

"Uh... Twilight, what do you want me to tell her?"

"I guess I should just show her..." Twilight's voice answered from nowhere. With a swirl of violet flames, she appeared beside Daylight. It took her a second to get the flames to be completely absorbed, but there was eventually just the usual few flickering in her mane. "Hello Princess."

Celestia looked absolutely horrified. "Twilight? What have you done?"

"I asked his permission..."

"Twilight, you need far more than just the host's permission to perform a soul bind!"

Daylight stepped forward. "I told her to do it."

"What!?"

"She told me what it entailed, and It was the only option we had left. Discord would have killed all of us if she hadn't done it."

"Discord...?"

"He found us when we met Vis here." He said, gesturing towards the dragon. "It was only a stone construct, but he sent two of his Lieutenants."

"What happened?"

"Twilight dealt with them."

"Both of them?"

"Well, she got the dragon to leave by himself first."

"Dragon? Zmey Gorynych?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Who was the other?"

"Uhh..."

"Glatisant." Twilight provided for him.

"Right."

Celestia looked like she was trying to hold on to some false hope of something. "Where is he now?"

Twilight lowered her head in shame. "Dead."

Rather than whatever response Twilight had been expecting, Celestia looked extremely guilty. "I know what kind of spell you would have needed to do that, and I also know where you would have gotten it from. Twilight, I am so sorry. It's my fault you had to go through all this."

The flames in Twilight's mane died down completely as Celestia embraced her. Twilight hesitated a moment before returning the gesture. "I forgive you, Princess. It's all in the past now." she chuckled sadly before continuing, "It won't matter anyway if Discord wins."

After the two finished their reconciliation, Vis spoke up before anyone else had a chance. He looked a bit uncomfortable. "Princess Celestia?"

"Yes?"

"You remember that time when you taught me how to feel if another Dragon Lord was trying to invade my territory?"

"Vaguely, why— Oh dear."

"Yeah..."

"Everypony, follow me. We need to get to Luna, now."

The others ran to catch up as Celestia began to head back to the palace at a brisk pace. Twilight caught up first and took a place to Celestia's immediate right. "Princess? What's going on?"

"Something I'm going to need you to stay out of." Celestia answered as she shoved a slow-moving pony out of their way. She ignored the pony's ensuing remarks.

"You know I'm not a filly anymore! I can help!"

Celestia suddenly stopped and turned to face the lavender unicorn. "I know, but it is imperative that you do not get involved. This dragon is possibly more dangerous that Zmey Gorynych himself, and he has been tracking us for some time."

Daylight's eyes widened in realization as he overheard their conversation. "Twilight, Tia's right. No matter what happens, you can not under any circumstances let this dragon spot you. There's no telling how he might react."

Twilight looked between the two of them before giving an indignant snort and vanishing in a flash of violet fire. They began walking again, extremely confused Snowflake and Osanna bringing up the rear, with Vis in the middle. Daylight took Twilight's place beside Celestia. "Why aren't you telling her?"

"If she finds out, she'll try to talk to him."

"Tia, you've been acting more and more like a Princess in the short time we've been reunited. You aren't one anymore. Twilight isn't your subject, she's your friend, and you need to trust your friends to know what’s right."

"It's for her own good. You'd better not be thinking of telling her anyway."

"You don't get to make decisions like that for your friends. You're going to have to decide what you want to be; our friend, or our Princess."

"I have lived far longer than any of you! I know exactly what I'm doing!"

Daylight glared at her for a moment before lowering his head and giving a resigned sigh. "Very well, Princess." With that, he fell back to walk beside Vis.

The iridescent dragon seemed to be handling the entire situation very poorly, and his spines had gone from standing upright to drooping. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Vis mumbled, "I don't like watching my friends argue..."

"She made her choice, Vis. She's not our friend anymore; she's a Princess again."

"I thought you two had something..."

"I thought so too. Apparently I was wrong."

Twilight Sparkle stood in another plane of existence, listening to her companions. She came to one conclusion; there was something going on that she needed to know about. With a telepathic pulse, she called Rainbow Dash to her position.

Within minutes, the cyan pegasus landed beside her. The perpetual layer of dust that covered everything in the plane drifted slightly away from the flapping of her wings. "'Sup?"

"Rainbow, I need you to do me a favor."

"Okay, what is it?"

"There's a dragon headed for the city. I need you to find it and tell me if there's anything I should know."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "I'm pretty sure nopony needs to know anything more than 'there's a dragon headed for the city'".

"Rainbow, just do it. The Princess is hiding something from me, and I need to know what."

"If you say so." She frowned and continued, "Not like it's any risk to me anyways..."

"Once we have the others, I'll be able to fix us. It won't be long now, I promise." Twilight said, placing a comforting hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"I know. You're doing your best, Twi." As she started to lift off, she added, "I'll be back in ten seconds flat!"

Twilight counted to ten, then grinned and shook her head. "Silly Rainbow..."

After making their way through the crowds of the Crystal City, the five travelers reached the gates of the Citadel. Those were locked too, and Princess Celestia was trying not to lose patience with the guards. "We are expected! Grant us entry!"

The guard glanced at his partner, slightly afraid of angering the cloaked unicorn. "I— I'm sorry ma'am. You— You cannot enter."

Princess Celestia let out a yell of frustration. She glanced back at her frien— former friends... and saw that they all looked worried about her. She turned back to the guards. Throwing off her cloak and flaring her wings, she barked, "What about now!?" Both guards immediately bolted.

Daylight shook his head as they proceeded onwards. "Nice. I'm sure you're giving everyone a real great impression." Princess Celestia flipped around and was about to retort, but he interrupted her before she had a chance. "Don't dig yourself a deeper hole, Princess. You should at least acknowledge that you still need us, and whatever you were about to say would not have helped convinced me to stay."

Princess Celestia looked at the floor. "Daylight... I really am sorry. I— I can't deal with this right now... Let's just go."

Without another word, Princess Celestia turned around and continued on. Snowflake hopped off of Osanna's back, ran over to daylight, and climbed onto him. "You didn't really mean that, did you? You wouldn't really leave, right?"

"No. At least, not until Discord is taken care of. After that..."

"You can't just leave us!"

Osanna and Vis picked up their pace to catch up with them. Osanna began to keep step with Daylight on his left. "What's this about Daylight leaving?"

Daylight sped up, both to catch up with Princess Celestia and get away from his pestering friends. "I'm not leaving! Stop worrying!" He called back at them. With the sudden rapid increases in speed, they all quickly caught up with Princess Celestia at the doors to the throne room.

After a long period of service, Pound Cake was finally able to relax. "Ahhh..." he sighed as he laid down on his bed. *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* "Dammit... COMIING!" He slid sideways off the bed and onto his hooves, then went to answer the door. He didn't like what he found.

"By order of Her Majesty, Princess Luna of Equestria, you are to report to the Royal Citadel."

"... Yay."

Pound Cake entered the throne room just in time to hear the tail end of a conversation. Princess Luna was talking to the travelers he had met twice before, and this time the hooded mare was back with them. 'Guess she really did get the Captain...'

"And where is Twilight?" Luna was asking. "After you told me, I was looking forward to seeing her again."

The hooded mare answered, her voice overlayed with tones of regret. "There was... An argument. It seems that I have lost my friends in order to reclaim my role as Princess."

Pound Cake couldn't help it. He tried, but it came out anyway. "WHAT!?"

In the ensuing awkward silence, everypony turned to stare at him. The hooded mare leaned over to Princess Luna and quietly asked, "He doesn't know about me?"

"No. The only ones who know are my personal guard."

"Do know what his outlook is?"

"I... do not."

"Then this could potentially end very badly."

Pound Cake quickly bowed when it finally sunk in that he had just interrupted the conversations of one or more Princesses. "I apologize for my outburst, your Highness!"

Princess Luna took a few steps towards him. "Rise." As he obeyed, she asked, "What do you know about my sister?"

"She killed my family."

The hooded mare visibly winced, and mumbled, "Yes, this is definitely going to end badly."

Princess Luna simply shook her head sagely. “These travelers have informed me that my sister is still alive. If you were to meet her, what would you do?”

Pound Cake made a confused face, but started to answer anyway. “I guess I would...” He thought for a moment before finishing, “Ask her if she was sorry for what she did.”

“You would not react with hostility?” Princess Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. I would give her a chance to explain herself before jumping to conclusions. Though I was just a foal at the time, I remember that my Aunt Pinkie would always say nice things about her, and I refuse to believe that she would just turn evil.” A small light started to radiate from a covered pedestal beside the throne.

The Lunar Princess turned and nodded to the hooded mare, who slowly pulled off her cloak. As Princess Celestia began to walk towards the shocked pegasus, she said, “Thank you for your faith, Pound Cake. And to answer your question, I truly am sorry for everything I have done to my little ponies.” To the surprise of everypony in the room, the alicorn bowed to the young pegasus and asked, “Will you forgive me?”

Pound Cake noticed that Princess Luna had tensed, as though prepared to defend her sister from an attack. Careful not to move too quickly, he moved to directly in front of the bowing Princess and said, “I miss my family with all my heart... but I know that everypony can make mistakes, even a Princess; they just make... Princess-sized ones. Sometimes all it takes to fix your mistakes, is to show a little kindness.” With that, there was a flash of light from the pedestal by the throne.

Princess Celestia stood up, and looked in the direction of the flash with a small smile. “Congratulations, Pound Cake. You are now the new bearer of the Element of Kindness.”

In the plane of the original bearers, two ponies welcomed a timid yellow pegasus to their group. A third pony—a lavender unicorn—would have liked to join them, but it could wait until later. In her signature swirl of fire, she jumped realities and found herself in the throne room of the Royal Citadel. Instead of dying down like usual, the flames stayed surrounding her, singeing the ground where she walked. “Princess Celestia. You should have told me about Spike.”

IMPORTANT NOTICE

[ragemode]So the starting scenario turned out to be a big controversy, so I said that if people kept downvoting based solely on that, I'd change it. I've never seen the downvotes go up that fast before... Fine. From this moment on, the starting scenario is being rewritten, and everything referring to the original scene will be redacted. I have no idea why all of you seem to think that I should know more about the inner-workings of the Elements of Harmony when even the fictional god-ponies have no idea, but apparently I should. Screw that. I'm just getting rid of that entire part of the storyline. Umadbro?[/ragemode]

Hm... Apparently there's no 'ragemode' BBCode function. That would be cool though. I imagine giant red font with an animated flame effect on it...

Table of Contents

Prologue - ~1.5k

Chapter 1: Magic - ~4k

Chapter 2: Loyalty - ~4k

Chapter 3: Laughter - ~4k

Chapter 4: Kindness - ~4k

Chapter 5: Honesty - Est. ~4k

Chapter 6: Generosity - Est. ~4k

Chapter 7:  Moonlight - Est. ~4k

Chapter 8: Sunlight -  Est. ~4k

Chapter 9: Daybreak - Est. ~4k

Chapter 10: Chaos - Est. >10k

Epilogue - Est. ~1.5k

I'm putting words here and I'm going to keep doing so until this stupid thing tells me there's words! wordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordword seriously? Not yet? wordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordwordword Oh wait, there needs to be spaces for it to count as words... word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word You know what? SCREW IT!