----Part 1:The Rise of The Elements----

Chapter 1

The Princess and the Student

Sirens blared over the loudspeakers across Canterlot. Civilians were being corralled rather like sheep to safe houses strategically placed around the city. The safehouses had been installed there when raids by the Dissenters started becoming more frequent. It had only been fifty years since then, and there were more of them now that the group had picked up again after the first two leaders died. They all had thought, or perhaps hoped that the Dissenters would die out with no one to lead them but it seemed that somepony had picked up the position.

The worst part was nopony knew yet exactly who it was.

Every raid brought about fear and panic but also for the crown, the possibility that the new leader of the terrorist group might reveal themselves. It always made at least one of the Princesses feel uncomfortable, and she always felt that they should confront the leader and handle it the old fashioned way, with a team.

The Elements of Harmony.

However it had been a hundred years and the team of Twilight’s years were gone. Rainbow Dash had gone down in the line of duty, good old Applejack refused to sell out a friend “for the greater good”. She couldn’t bring herself to replace either of them with some pony she didn’t know. Apple Bloom tried to take up the mantle after the loss of her sister but it never did work out, just as Applejack predicted.

“It’s not that Apple Bloom’s not an honest filly, but she ain’t me. An’ I wouldn’t want her ta try to be either, she’s her own pony and if she’s going to be any element she should be her own.”

Twilight would find later that the Elements , ever powerful had their own limitations. One of them being “one team every one century”. Nopony could replace another pony in the current team after they were gone. It seemed that whoever crafted the elements thought a lot like Applejack. (It wouldn’t have been surprising, she surmised if whoever created the Elements possessed all of their qualities.) They tried to make do over the years without the elements.

Alicorn magic could not solve this problem alone. It was widely believed, even by Twilight Sparkle herself at one point that alicorns could do anything. It wasn’t until the Canterlot Conflict that she learned a hard truth. That there were some things that spells and friendship couldn’t fix.

Like war.

Equestria had managed to avoid wars in the past until one came from the inside. The ponies had never dealt with such a thing and didn’t know how to react. Even Twilight wasn’t prepared; she knew how to deal with little ‘betrayals’ between friends but not one like this. Lately it had felt like the Dissenters were winning.

But she couldn’t let herself think like that.

“How are you doing it?” she asked Luna at one point.

“Doing what?” Luna had asked. Twilight looked away instantly regretting the question. Luna had been banished to the moon by her own sister for pony’s sake. She had lived for well over 1,000 years. Before she could get away Luna realized. “When you’re a ruler it is not pleasant seeing your subjects in pain, when they are like your children.”

“I know” Twilight said, “That’s what makes it so hard.” Agh, just when she thought she was getting better at this.

“But it is the sign of a good ruler if you feel this way. “ Luna said, gently lifting her head. In the years of her leadership ruling over the night’s stars the princesses had become closer. While Celestia still felt like a second parent to her, Luna was more like one of the older sisters Twilight never had by birth (Cadence, of course was the other). “However you do have to keep calm. As a Princess you are a beacon of hope. You must show your ponies and the enemy that we will get through this.”

What got her by was thinking of her friends and how they would get her through this. They would surely never let her give up. So as the sirens sounded Princess Twilight calmly waited for the guards to tell her what the damage was. All she could hope that was nopony had died this time-or as few ponies as possible.

Her heart broke looking up at the sky and waiting because she knew Lightning Charger was out there with the Wonderbolts. Lightning was never one to back down from duty, much like his father. The threat of danger wasn’t enough to keep him away though sometimes Twilight still wished she could still shield him from danger. She stood at attention when some guards entered. They hurriedly bowed before her and for a moment Twilight got the feeling that they were bringing bad news.

She could feel her heart pound and the worst thoughts started flying through her head. But she remembered Luna’s words. “You are their beacon Twilight” she told herself breathing deeply.

“Princess Sparkle” they said.

“Yes, what’s going on out there?” She almost winced; there was still a trace of worry. But the important thing was did they hear it.

“The Dissenters are trying to get in the barriers.” One reported. “We have two ponies down.” Twilight’s heart almost stopped for a moment. “D-down?”

“Yes, injured,” the other guard confirmed. She breathed a sigh of relief. “and…erm one dead.” For a moment it was as if everything around her stopped. For a moment everything flickered out and all she could hear were the confused mutters of the guards-and her own heart.

“Princess?”

“Are you allright.” She gulped for air. “Y-yes.”

“Yes, thank you.” She said, “See to it that the injured pony gets the best care possible.” They both nodded and rushed out. She realized she didn’t ask who the dead pony was. For the next hour and a half she paced back and forth waiting for another report. It seemed to stretch on forever. She tried to do the breathing exercises that Cadance taught her for stress. But all she heard was Lightning’s voice. She didn’t know what she’d do if she never heard that voice again, losing Steel and Red had been bad enough.

Sometime after a couple of the guard ponies came in with a ruffled looking unicorn colt who was limping on one hind leg and teenage dragon with spike on her head that was rather reminiscent of a horn. If it weren’t for Royal Propriety and saving face, Twilight would have smacked her forehead with her palm. It was her student Dawning Sun, and his best friend Carly. When those two were up to something, there was a fifty percent chance of some sort of crazy stunt.

****

Only hours earlier Dawning was finishing his plans for a “project” that he was confident would give Equestria the advantage it needed to beat the Dissenters. In one of the books in the Canterlot library he found a book of spells. One that caught his eye was a flying spell called the airscrew that when done properly could be of great use to the militia. The only catch was that it had to be controlled carefully so as not to cause unintentional damage.

“Are you sure? You have to be very careful about this, Don!” Carly said.

“I’ve been studying, come on Carls, relax.” Dawning said, “This is my fourth year of studying under the Princess herself. I think I can handle a spell.” He flipped the page with his magic. “Besides, think of all the good it could do! We could torpedo the Dissenters until they beg for mercy!” Carly rolled her eyes.

“That would be great…if we could find the Dissenters.” She pointed out. Dawning had a tendency to do only the studying that was expected of him to get what he wanted or needed. He favored brash actions to hours reading books. Carly always ended up being the voice of sense that pulled him back. He preferred to think of it as ‘being a ‘downer’ (a few of their arguments had been because she ‘crushed’ one of his brilliant ideas.) She looked over the illustrations and had to admit that the spell looked useful; if they could find the terrorists attacking Equestria the spell could go a long way in taking them down. Though as much as she hated to admit it , it would be best if it was done by a pony more advanced than Dawning.

“Yeah, all the time to perfect the spell!” He said. He used his magic to shut the book with snap, but not without dog-earing the page.

“Princess Sparkle is going to have your flank for that” Carly playfully swatted him with her tail.

“I’ll smooth it out before she sees it.” He chuckled returning the swat. Dawning went out to the balcony overlooking the vast courtyard. It was the perfect contained little space to work on the spell. As he cast it he could sense Carly looking over his shoulder making sure he did it right. He cleared his throat finding the right spell.

He produced what looked like a miniature tornado and Dawning kept his eyes locked on it as he started carefully guiding it around the courtyard avoiding making contact with anybody. It started out rather difficult to move at the beginning, but he found that as he did it more, building up power and momentum it became easier.

As he moved the airscrew around he started to get lost in his thoughts, imagining what would happen when he announced his discovery to his teacher. He would show it to Princess Sparkle, she would congratulate him and the idea would be passed on to the unicorns in the royal guard. With this spell and at least a dozen royal guards, Wonderbolts, and pegasus scouts they would be able to root out the Dissenters and bring them to their knees. The war would finally be over; all the ponies stationed in the Crystal Empire-including his father-would be able to come back.

“Dawning? DAWNING-“he heard Carly’s voice shout.

“I’ve got it under-whoa!” He never finished his sentence because just as he turned back to the airscrew it was headed straight for them. He tried to steer it away with magic but it would do nothing, he had lost control. He recalled the warning in the book (which now lay forgotten on the ground): ‘When not controlled by magic, an airscrew is highly destructive and will go on until it runs into the biggest thing in its path.’

Which, in this case, was them.

The inevitable crash came sending them both flying and hitting the ground. In the moment of impact it seemed Dawning’s mind skipped because the next thing he knew he was sprawled on the ground below with a sharp pain in his back leg. He was brought back at the sound of Carly’s voice.

“Do you even know what concentrate means?” she yelled, “I warned you!” He looked around and his heart sank at what he saw. The airscrew was gone but the courtyard was a wreck. A statue was broken leaves were everywhere a flower bed was destroyed and the balcony was in pieces. He pushed himself up teeth gritting in pain at that ache in his upper leg. Carly shook herself and a bloodied scale fell off of her, intensifying the squirm of guilt in his gut.

“I-I can fix this.” He said. She glared at him, baring her sharp teeth.

“If you do anything more than simple spells I swear to the Princesses I will rip into you!” He shuddered. It wasn’t so much from fear at the threat-though that did scare him too, if pushed hard enough ,Carly would strike a pony down with dragon fury- it was mostly shame that he had brought this kind of rage out in his best friend. Dawning strained to use his magic to fix up the courtyard. He found that while he could straighten up the flowers and fix the statue he couldn’t fix the balcony, not with how worn out he was. After he did everything he could he collapsed, his body aching for sweet rest. He assured himself that if he explained surely the Princess would understand, all he wanted was to help end the war.

“Hey!” The sound of the guards hardly even fazed him; he just pulled himself up with a groan. He would get a chance to explain himself to his teacher. “Who made this mess?”

“I..I was trying a spell” he said, “and I lost control.”

“You destroyed the royal courtyard!” One of the guards interrupted. Dawning winced at the word. Destroyed. Sure, he kind of wrecked it, but it wasn’t intentional- and it had only been the royal backyard technically. Though he regretted being so quick to try the spell out. He shut out the scoldings, as he made his way to the castle. His hind leg still hurt, but he didn’t dare say a thing about it, knowing the response he’d probably get-“serves you right”.

****

Twilight sighed when she saw them, as much as she loved her student, she found herself getting frustrated at his tendency for acting first and thinking second. Seeing Dawning’s test scores she knew he was capable of great magic, but he needed to learn how to use it and use it carefully.

“What happened?” her tone sounded more like ‘What did he do?’ .

“The courtyard is completely wrecked, and the balcony is broken, he says he lost control of a spell.” One of the guard ponies said.

“WHAT?” If she had been drinking she probably would have done a spit-take, “Dawning Sun, what did you do?” She was reminded of all the times she had scolded Lightning when he did crazy stunts. She also, to her shame, had reacted this way upon learning that he joined the Wonderbolts, so soon after his father’s death in action. Dawning cringed under her gaze.

“I-I just wanted to help-“

“And how is going around casting spells helping?” She demanded.

“I was just testing it out; I found a spell that would help with the war.” He looked down scuffing at the floor. “I probably shouldn’t have tested it out but I really thought I could do it. And I would have if I had kept concentration.” Twilight held up a hoof to silence him. She barely noticed the guards looking uncomfortable and slinking out to let the teacher and student deal with this alone.

“Dawning, I swear, I don’t know what to do with you. Did you ever stop and think that we have enough to worry about right now. If you really wanted to help, you would have passed it along to me. Magic is a serious responsibility; you can’t just try every spell you see. “She took a breath before she began talking again. “We are at war right now. We can’t afford to be careless. Ponies die when we are careless!” In the back of her mind she almost regretted her harshness when she saw the way Dawning’s eyes welled up. But he had to understand.

“I’m sorry.” He hung his head.

“I understand that you want the war to end. We all do. Many of us have loved ones that we’re worried about.” She said. She knew she did, oh how she wished her son could be near her. She tried not to think about it lest she lose control. Twilight closed her eyes and pulled herself together before she spoke again. Lately she had been debating on whether to make the choice, but teaching Dawning Sun in Canterlot while trying to manage her portion of Equestria was exhausting-and with Dawning being so brash the responsible answer was obvious. It was time. “Dawning, I can’t have you putting Canterlot in danger. We already have enough trouble outside. As of tomorrow I will be relocating you and Carly to Ponyville, and I will send you the details on a new project.”

“What?” He exclaimed, “But….Princess – I’m sorry…I swear I won’t do it again.”

“My answer is final. For now you two can get yourselves patched up and Dawning can write me an essay about the importance of self control.” With a heavy heart, she turned making her way back to her study.

“Princess Sparkle-“Twilight heard Carly say. She didn’t answer, she needed alone time.

****

The two were quiet as the nurses at the clinic patched up their wounds. Carly figured that Dawning was still in shock. He had been scolded before and bounced back, so it was strange to see him like this. It was what she liked about him, and it worried her to see him like this. ‘Maybe’ Carly thought, ‘maybe he just needs space’. She wasn’t going to deny, Dawning really messed up that time. She supposed at least it was good that he realized it. Dawning wasn’t a bad pony by any stretch of the imagination, but he was bold and tended to act thoughtlessly.

She also thought about the Princess. Something about Princess Sparkle just didn’t seem right, from the moment they came in. It wasn’t that she never panicked or worried. Carly had known Princess Sparkle for a long time and knew that she had her moments of losing her cool. When Carly was young she had been the least mature of the other dragons in her village. She was raised by her uncle , who was always quick to assure her there was nothing wrong with her, but his actions spoke louder than his words because he never spoke about his brother, her father. He refused to tell her much of anything about him, even when she asked what he had done so wrong when she overheard a mother saying that she didn’t want her hatchlings trained alongside ‘his daughter’. When a fellow dragon in her hatch jokingly –and innocently-called her a pony, her uncle attacked him.

It was after the fallout of that when he decided that it was better for her to leave the dragon clan, and he brought her to Canterlot one summer night. Her uncle had never liked ponies, so it was very strange. He met with the youngest of the Princesses asking about some ‘her’. The two had a heated argument and his uncle left, after giving her an empty “I love you” and the word no child –pony or dragon likes to hear-“it’s for your own good.”

The Princess actually gave her more answers about her father. That his name had been Spike and that he had been a hero to Equestria and like a brother to her. When she asked what he did that her uncle was so upset about the Princess told her that it was complicated and she would explain when she was older. She did say that ponies-and dragons –were foalish about it all.

After that Carly was raised on the stories of the Elements of Harmony and the legends of the Princesses. When she first learned all that the Elements had done it made her cringe remembering how amongst Dragons being called a “pony” equated to an insult and there were jokes about how ponies had magic as a “consolation prize” for their weakness. The Princess, as Carly knew her, was never weak, although she was more capable of being nurturing than Carly’s uncle had ever been. She earned the young dragon’s respect and gratitude.

The Princess’s bouts of panic were usually about something not going according to plan or disaster that could happen, like the time Lightning did something dangerous or Dawning had a test given by the High Princess of the Sun. This seemed a little different from those. Carly wondered what would have happened to make her want to send Dawning off somewhere, she was usually relishing in the role of being Dawning’s teacher over some of the duller parts of being a Princess, or when Lightning was away for long periods of time.

Dawning didn’t answer or show any of his usual exasperation when the nurse warned him to be careful, but rather nodded like a prisoner accepting his fate. When they were released Carly tried once again to talk to him.

“Hey…Don?” she asked gently, “…a-are you alright?” He gulped and nodded still keeping his head down.

“I wonder…who the Princess will choose ...you know or her next student” he muttered with a sniff.

“What?” Carly shook her head. “Dawning you’re her student”

“For now.” He said, “but she’ll need a new one. Once I leave.”

“Didn’t you listen; she said she was giving you a new project.” Dawning snorted.

“Come on. You know that will just be to keep me busy. “he said.

“Princess Sparkle doesn’t lie” Carly said firmly, if she’s giving you a project it’s for a reason.” He didn’t answer. The trip back to Dawning’s house was silent and thoroughly miserable. Carly didn’t try to talk to him for awhile, but she got the feeling he didn’t believe her words of assurance. She knew the Princess wouldn’t lie to them, but still what was she doing?

****

Twilight rested in the privacy of her library reading to take her mind off the weights on her heart. It was hard to get lost into her books with so much on her mind. Every so often she looked at the clock or outside, waiting to hear the news of the fallen pegasus. Somehow, she wasn’t sure how, she faded into sleep.

“Mom….Mom are you there?” Twilight groggily shook herself awake at the sound of Lightning’s voice.

“Lightning!” the young stallion was shocked when his mother leapt forward and held him close as if he had been gone for a year. “Oh thank the heaven’s you’re allright!”

“Are you okay , Mom.” Lightning asked, “You look like you’ve had a rough night”

“A bit. I was worried about you.” She said. Then with a wince she added, “And there was an incident with Dawning.” Lightning rolled his eyes.

“What did he do now?” he said. “Have you considered telling him …about …it again? Sounds like he could use a refresher.” Even though he was a pegasus, Lightning knew about how unicorns foals were often told a warning tale about unicorns who had abused their powers. Dawning was affected when he first heard them, but it had worn off all too soon (honestly though Carly seemed more shaken than Dawning, and she didn’t even have much power in the bursts that came from the horn in the middle of her forehead.).

“No. Scare stories are useless after they become teenagers. You know how they can be.” Twilight shook her head, “But, I did do something. I decided that it’s time for him to start preparing, so I sent him and Carly to Ponyville for independent study.”

‘and it nearly broke my heart to do it’ she thought.

“But he doesn’t even have his Cutie Mark yet” Lightning protested. As exasperated as he was with Dawning’s bold antics, he still cared about the little colt that his mother took on as a student. After all they had at least one thing in common - no father in their lives. “He’s younger than you were!”

“Not by much” Twilight said. “Ponyville will keep him safe until he figures out the Elements. We’re going to need them soon, Lightning.” The stallion nodded still reluctant.

“How’s he taking it?”

“I-I don’t know….I should talk with hi-“

“Princess Sparkle!” They both nearly jumped out of their skin when somepony pounded on the door. “There’s an important meeting-“

“Can’t you lugnuts do that without scaring us?” Lightning snapped. Twilight sighed and smiled.

“It’s all right. I’ll see you later. Try to get some rest.” She leaned down to give him a kiss on the forehead. Many years ago she probably would have had to stand on the tips of her hooves to reach, things have certainly changed. If only she still had her friends around to endure the changes together.

Author's Note

A/N: Some credit goes to my friend Futuramakid/Dani Phandom for some of the story ideas and the characters of Rose Blossom and Dawning Sun. He gave me a lot of advice and suggestions on this .