Chapter 11: Pick what you are the worst at,Sonic started running around trying to find something to help this situation. "Check inside the desk I happen to know she keeps a bunch of scrolls from their princess there also something that seems the equivalent of a newspaper is in there." Shadow advised sonic as he calmly picked up a random book 'The Legend of Nightmare Moon.' Shadow remembered this from Twilight saying why Chaos magic was forbidden. "Lets see, blah blah blah, two sisters, one sun one moon, blah blah blah, one became remorseful, blah blah, turned into Nightmare Moon, blah blah blah, big sister used Elements of Harmony to seal her in the moon. Huh. Elements..." He pulled down another book 'The Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide' Shadow noted that the older the books were, the less silly their names were, "Elements, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty- Huh something is inscribed here, Magic."
"Wait I saw those before." said Sonic, "One one of those papers that looked more like a newspaper. Ah ha! It reads: After Nightmare Moon's return six ponies set out to find the elements. They were found and nightmare moon was destroyed leaving princess luna behind- Luna I thought there was only Celestia and after this it gets a bit more like it was written by Twilight?- The Ponies names and elements were as follows:
Honesty Kindness Laughter Generosity Loyalty LMagic-"
"LMagic? She must mean light magic. But nothing else says that magic was divided." commented Shadow.
"Its even more astounding once you read further!" Sonic stuttered, "The corresponding ponies in that order are, Applejack Fluttersh-"
"You are reading that wrong look it says Applejack, flut-tershy... Pin-ky-Pie... Rar-i-ty...... Ra-in-bo--w---D-a-s-h.... a-n-d-" Shadow stuttered not believing his eyes. The six ponies they met were the six elements. Of all the luck! "It looks like Twilight wrote something on the back: I have come to see that the magic element is divided into two parts, Dark and Light, Neither triggered by evil but only by those who do good with their magic. I would have not noticed if the pony who wields that element seems to have appeared. He wasn't around until... around a month ago. I have no idea who or where he is. Here is the point: If someone lost complete control of their dark magic, Nightmare moon, The Light Magic will be the final element. If someone became evil with the light magic then the dark magic element would arise. This completely disproves the Chaos Theory although fundamentally it is sound it does not always work out. Also if a being is stronger than magic much more than just one side will be needed. Both will be."
"I'm a bit worried that the thing is a bit over our heads." said Sonic. At this time they heard a book slam behind them. Twilight apparently had been awake and heard them talk. "Yes, IT will be. But when IT is summoned a prophecy shows a plan how to stop IT. Bring your friends and the other elements." Twilight said. Sonic and shadow nodded and took off. Sonic got the ones on the outskirts of town while Shadow got the rest.
They regrouped and Twilight began, "A monster has awoken... And it will destroy the universe. Thats pretty much all we have to go by." Fluttershy fainted at this and Cream screamed and hid. Twilight woke up Fluttershy before continuing. "Now an ancient riddle is all we have to go by to save ourselves. Here it is:
When the eater of worlds is awake,
There is but one path to take
Two must be found to start
To power the sealing to give all life.
First the light that shines in the dark
And then the dark made by the light.
Another two must guard the dual source
Of the power given to the other
One that at defense takes no remorse
One who acts like the ground's mother
Six more must channel the beam
But two colors must take the charge
One of all one like the stream
To vanquish the foe no matter how large."
The others stood in silence. Before Rainbow Dash said, "You have got to be kidding us."
"Unfortunately Rainbow I am not in the slightest." Twilight sighed, "I have no idea what it means either."
And for a while they sat there before Spike, who had woken up just before they started this crazy plot, said, "The first set seems to be about names or symbols, the second about character, the third about appearance. Can I go back to bed now that I solved your stupid riddle?" All eyes turned to him in astonishment. "What?" he asked.
Chapter 12: That is your job.(SHORT because i just needed a few things wrapped up.)
Rainbow Dash was surprised at the Spike's knowledge. But then again he was Twilight's assistant and he had actually had some healthy sleep in the past 24 hours. Twilight facehoofed. "Why didn't I think of that?" she muttered. Pinkie Pie jumped up shouting "Hey now that we know what to do we should throw a PARTY!"
"Look Ms. Hyper," Rouge said, "We got the formula but we have no idea what it means. And that doesn't help us much."
Twilight already had it covered. She was grabbing a few bags off a shelf. "Rarity, you keep the thief out of mischief." she said.
"HEY" Rouge yelled.
Twilight continued, "Tails, find a place where we can do dangerous magic without harming the environment. Fluttershy and Cream, go with him to keep the animals away. Pinky and Amy, bake stuff that we could use as we may be out swapping between worlds for a while. Applejack and Knuckles, Stop fighting for 3 seconds and think up fits to the riddle. Sonic, You will be coming with me to Celestia's palace. Rainbow Dash and Shadow, go to Luna and Zecora, I'll draw up a map."
"Wait," objected Shadow, "Since when did YOU take command?"
"I know more. Plus you cant do much." Twilight said. Her horn started glowing and so did Shadow and Rainbow Dash. "There if you get 100 meters away from Rainbow Dash you will freeze." She said. as she started drawing the map marking Zecora's place.
"I thought Luna would be in the palace?" Rainbow dash said.
"No, she is overseeing the rebuilding of the temple. She wants to make it her own palace." Said Twilight, finishing the crude map and putting the last book in the bags. "Me and Sonic will be walking. NO running Sonic, I'm nowhere near as fast as you." Sonic was a bit disappointed but smiled at him being called fast. "Everyone understand? Good. HEAD OUT!" Twilight said. And everyone did so. Rainbow Dash was a bit annoyed at the commanding attitude but she knew that she wasn't the only one. Shadow looked more stern than ever walking into the Everfree. 'If only I could know whats going through this pony's mind' She thought.
Interlude 3: Rising moonSunset Sky stepped into the palace halls. A meeting was to be held so she was not in Luna's palace but in Canterlot. Luna was waiting for her. "Hello Sunset." She said, "Everything well?"
"Fine, the board asked me to read a modern fantasy story, specifically..."
"That book... well it lets you at least tell someone even if they think it is a story."
"Yeah... oh well I got Thunder to cover me for tomorrow. Is Trixie here?"
"Yes I am." The light blue mare said from behind them, "No thanks to those incompetent Pegasi." Ah Trixie. One of the only 2 ponies to successfully cast a anti-aging spell and wake up from it. Also the only red mage in Equestria, next to herself. And really you have to admit she had grown a bit nicer since Twilight first met her. Not to say she wasn't still stuck-up. But she had improved enough to become her co-adviser. "Well I guess we should head in." Luna said as she turned and two guards, one white pegasus and one orange unicorn, turned with her.
As they went in they saw Celestia and two ponies beside her. One was Twilight and the other was a stallion covered in a brown cloak, Shadow. The sisters greeted each other, mother and daughter did the same. Twilight had barely changed from the time the book was set in. Only slightly older as she was 24 before she cast the anti-aging spell on herself by accident. Sunset was a young filly at the time and for 15 years Twilight lay in a magic-induced coma. Sunset herself was raised by Luna until she was 7, she was the one who gave her the nickname 'Comet'. Then Shadow started training her in magic showing both the light and dark sides. At 9 there was talk among the court as Twilight had simply disappeared and noone knew her whereabouts for 5 years. Shadow quickly taught Sunset a shape-shifting spell and she appeared before them as her mother, settling the court. She then worked as her mother until she had woken from her coma. Celestia revealed the scheme and Sunset, now a young mare, was put as Luna's adviser because she had done such a good job as her own. Noone knew her father except the two princesses, Trixie and older unicorn stallion who acted as Luna's guard. But that was simply due to their involvement. Yes, everyone (excluding the white Pegasus for he had no idea what was up) had some connection to the plight. She chuckled 'Revealing a bit to others, I feel more pressured by the secret now than ever!'
Appleblossom was a bit concerned. Thunder had been standing there staring into space for a while. "You okay sugarcube?" She asked. Thunder seemed to snap out of it. "Uh... I better head off." he said before spreading his wings and taking off. Appleblossom sighed. The Pegasus was fast but absent-minded and tended to be careless. Of course she was one to talk. If there was one thing she inherited from her father through and through was his temper. She was level-headed mostly but she was known for her outbursts of rage. And although you could say her strength was inherited from her parents, she was actually just a athlete. Her temper helped with that. When a tree wouldn't shake that last apple she would buck the tree to pieces. A good workout although it normally got her into trouble. And lets not forget the twentyish times she destroyed the master emerald. It breaks like glass but finding the pieces is a very good workout. And it is normally needed for running away from Knuckles when he finds out. She brushed a bit of dirt off her cutie mark which looked like apples, surprised?, but when you looked closely they were emerald apples. Funny that. Applejack just came out and said that it's around time for her to go to Knuckles. She got up and started toward the Everfree.
Thunder got to the Wonderbolts training ground just in time. The others were there stretching. Rainbow Dash was talking to a friend who had stopped by to watch the training; Spitfire, the former Wonderbolt leader. Thunder shook her hoof and welcomed her. After a quick chat they started the training. It was standard, along with the group tricks three got a signature maneuver. One twirled into the crowd and pulled up at the last moment, one flew up, free-fell, landed, and seemed to bounce back up at high speeds. Thunder took a page from Rainbow Dash's book and his signature was the hyper speed sprint. He actually touched ground and ran before pulling up which gave him much greater speed (everyone thought it was due to the speed of his descent not his actual running speed). Spitfire was impressed at all of these. Mission accomplished.
Sunset and Twilight were talking during the meeting between the two sisters and the court. Not much to get up to speed in. Twilight though how she really would have never guessed this point in her life. When she became Celestia's adviser two years after the incident she thought that would be where she would stay. She looked around and thought that everybody that had a part in this escapade was affected for better or worse. And that all have the burden of the secret. All because she dragged them into it. Starting with the trek to Canterlot when she divided the party.
Chapter 13: Do your job well!Knuckles and Applejack walked off. Thought for about 5 seconds. Said, "You fit number 2 description." And started fighting each other again now that their work was done.
Rarity And Rouge watched knowing that they would get pretty much nothing done. Then they started brainstorming ideas.
Pinky Pie... started singing what else? Amy rolled her eyes and kept walking.
Fluttershy, Cream and Tails were a bit more productive. By the evening they had done what was needed and were playing tic-tac-toe.
Rainbow Dash and Shadow were walking through the Everfree forest. It wasn't long before the found the cliff. "Now what?" Shadow asked.
"Well the fastest way there is down here." She replied. Shadow went down the place of the rockslide. Rainbow Dash followed him until they got to the edge. "Go down." He said. Rainbow dash complied and Shadow jumped off the cliff. Rainbow dash thought the black stallion was out of his mind. When he landed a sharp "UGH" was given and dust was kicked up everywhere. When it settled Shadow was standing and brushing it off himself. Rainbow dash hovered in awe. "I've survived a fall from space I think that won't kill me." he said when he noticed the expression. But then his face turned to a expression Rainbow Dash never saw in him. Fear. She finally saw what caught his eye. A manticore who looked like he knew Shadow and dint think too fondly of him. The black stallion gave a smile. "Come at me bro." And the manticore did. He charged at full fury and Shadow hopped on it's back. He then jammed his horn into the manticore's back and gave a humongous magic blast . The manticore dropped like a stone. Rainbow Dash felt a little sorry for the very wounded beast till he heard, "That was for nearly killing me." coming from Shadow. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe this was the same pony who was carving wood in a tree for a month. Shadow saw her expression again. "There is a reason I'm called the ultimate life form. Now close your mouth before some other creature flies in."
After a large amount of walking (and intense silence) Rainbow Dash could barely put up with it anymore. She had to say something. "So how is it with you and your marefriend?" She asked mockingly.
"I really have no idea what you are talking about." Shadow answered calmly
"Oh come ON you have been spending SOOO much time with Twilight."
"If you haven't noticed I barely have a choice. She kinda had me imprisoned in her house." Rainbow Dash knew she wasn't getting a reaction. "You and Sonic on the other hand." Shadow continued smiling a bit.
"Eh you read into things too much. Besides he's too competitive."
"And you aren't? If I am not wrong you two are, well, exactly the same."
"And you and Twilight aren't?"
"We are opposites. In pretty much every way." Said Twilight to Sonic, the two were having a remarkably similar conversation.
"Oh, come on, Twilight you know you like him." Sonic chuckled
"Yeah, sure, whatever." she said. Sonic could tell something was wrong with her. When she suddenly stumbled, fell and didn't come up. "Heh she really needs the sleep." he said as he loaded her onto his back, used the bags as straps and started running. Much better. Although Twilight was a bit heavy. He had strength to spare but he was a bit bogged down. Running up a mountain with a older filly on your back isn't the easiest task.
Rainbow Dash and Shadow were just past the river and bridge when the temple was in view. A deep orange unicorn with a sword as a cutie mark and arrayed in royal armor stopped them. "Halt you two, who goes there?"
"Me and this is someone who needs to see Luna."
The guard stared for a second through the fog and finally made out Rainbow Dash. "Oh hi, Rainbow Dash, I was concerned about your friend there." when he got a full glimpse of Shadow he was afraid again. "Umm, Rainbow Dash, Are you sure this guy is on the up-n-up?" The guard asked.
"Marnax, I would know if he wasn't. Plus a restraining spell was cast on him. He can only move when I'm around."
"Okay you and your coltfreind can go." Marnax chuckled. He caught their fiery glances. "What? it was just a joke."
"Uh-huh."
((Chapters 13 and 14 are told through Marnax's perspective here:
docs.google.com/document/d/1aczIk63sZYhaYSYLn4gVMh8qkgB4a_j2YIrcItxeHbI/edit?authkey=CIn9pMoL&hl=en_US&pli=1#))