"Uh... Lu... LUNA!" I jump forward and immediately slam my face into something, knocking me back out. When I come to, I find myself in a light tan tent laying on a cot. I look over and see Luna sitting on the ground rubbing her head.

"Ow... that really hurt Miles..."

"Sorry about that... GAAAH!" I try to get up but my body immediately burns. I tear the sheets off to see that most of my body has been burned from the waist up, with cracks of blood wherever there is movement. I try to flare my hands, but I can't get my magic to start up.

"GAHHH, what's going on... why can't I use my magic, AAAHHH!" A sudden surge of pain washes over me as I try to keep still, but with every shock of pain forcing me to twist and turn, and every twist and turn sending a shock of pain through my body, I begin to scream out. I look over and see Luna holding her hooves to her mouth with tears falling down from her eyes. "H-hey... no tears. My body hurts enough, don't make my heart weep as well."

"Miles... I'm so sorry... I... I..." She turns and runs out of the tent, crying all the way. Well... fuck. I lay back and try to cope with the pain, but every second feels like hours as the pain burns away at my body. Soon a couple of nurses and a doctor walk into the room and start to try to fix me up. They start by trying to give me a blue potion, but when I try to swallow it, I immediately throw it up, causing me to open some huge wounds on my chest and neck area. They next try a white paste substance on my wounds, but it stings like all forms of new pain. I think I punched the doctor in a fit of pain... hope not. The last thing they try is to simply wrap up my wounds in gaze strips, it hurts, but I power through it and eventually end up being almost completely wrapped up. When they finish up, they leave the tent and talk to someone outside. I try to listen, but I can't really hear or understand what is being said. The tent flap opens up and I see Storm walk in. He's covered in blue and red stains and looks as if he hasn't slept in a while.

"What's up brother?"

"Miles... how are you feeling?" he asks quietly as he takes a seat next to me.

"I've had better days... how are the girls?"

"They're good... worried sick about you, but good."

"D-damn... I don't like making others worry... what happened to Luna?"

"She's disappeared, kind of. Celestia knows where she's at, but she doesn't want to talk to anypony right now." Fuck, I need to talk to her and let her know everything will be alright. "Miles..."

"Y-yeah."

"They want to try something, but there's a big chance it won't work. If it doesn't, you may be like this for a while."

"Really... alright... l-let’s give it a try."

"Don't you want to know what it is first?"

"Does it matter? I'll find out soon enough, let’s give it a try." He gives me a look before he walks out of the tent. Hopefully this won't be too painful, I don't know how much more of this I can take. He comes back in with a wheelchair... aw come on. This is going to suck. We spend what feels like hours getting me into the chair, the entire time I fight trying not to pass out from the pain of my entire body screaming at me. Once I'm in, Storm wheels me out of the tent. I think I'm in some recovery area. There are lots of tents and ponies running around. Some are being treated while some are running around, trying to find loved ones, looking for doctors, some just look like they're in a daze. "How bad was it?"

"It could’ve been worse. Once their queen was destroyed by Princess Luna, they either retreated or died fighting. I don't think we'll hear from them for a long time."

"Hmm... how many casualties?"

"Uh... well... about nine thousand dead and some twelve thousand wounded."

"Yeah... could’ve been worse..." We roll up to an open field where we find the girls and Princess Celestia standing in the center of a mass of ponies. The girls have on jewelry that seems oddly familiar... no, how would they have access to Project Harmonize, that would be impossible.

"Miles, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for Equestria today," Celestia says to me in a formal manner, "thanks to your actions, Canterlot stands, I stand, the ponies of Equestria stand. So to show you our appreciation, I am making you a knight of Equestria and healing you with the Elements of Harmony..."

"NOO!" I yell, making me double over in pain. Celestia falls silent from my outburst as I hear mumbles from all around.

"Miles, what’s wrong?" Storm asks from my side.

"That's impossible... those can't be the Elements of Harmony... they can't be..."

"Miles," Twilight says as she approaches me from the line up, "what's wrong? What's..." Before she finishes I reach out and quickly take the tiara off of her head, getting gasps from everyone. I look it over, feeling the energy from within. Yup... this is mine... how... but... I need answers.

"How do you have my Elements, and where are the others?" Celestia walks up to me and looks down at me for a second before she can answer.

"What do you mean, your Elements? These were made by the best pony magic over... three thousand years ago... Storm Cloud, could you wheel him into a nearby tent, I'd like to have a word with him in private. Twilight, bring the other bearers." The entire time Celestia says this, I just look over the element, this one is magic. I can't believe that this is back in my hands, after all those years of research, failed attempts, I finally have it back in my hands. When I look back up I notice that we've moved inside a tent, it's just me, the girls and Celestia.

"Where did you get these?" I ask calmly.

"Like I said, they were made..."

"WHO MADE THEM!? WHERE DID THEY COME FROM!?" I yell, making my neck bleed a little.

"Miles... please stop yelling, if you don't mind that is..." Fluttershy says from behind Applejack.

"Sorry... it's just... I made these. This was my greatest accomplishment, and it was taken away from me. I need to know where you got these."

"How do we know that you’re the creator of the Elements of Harmony?" Celestia says. I look to the gem in my hand and start to tighten my hold onto it, making it crack. "What are you doing!" Celestia yells, but I ignore her and continue to squeeze the gem. Soon the gem shatters and falls to the ground in countless pieces. I look around to see everyone staring at me with their jaws hanging as low as physically possible. I take a few of the shards and hold them against my chest, sending waves of relief throughout my body. Once it drains out, I pick up some more and do it again until I'm completely healed.

"Believe me now?" I ask as I stand before them.

"H-h-how did... YOU JUST BROKE THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC!" Celestia yells.

"Do you really think that you can destroy an element that resides in all of us?" I ask as I flare my hands, good to have that back. I walk over to a nearby table where I find a small gem. I pick it up and start to feed some energy into it, with the meaning of magic flowing through my mind. Soon the gem glows a soft purple as I finish filling it. "See, you can't destroy..." I start to say, but stop when the gem starts to vibrate. It shakes from side to side and begins shining brightly. I have to turn my head away to shield my eyes. When it stops shining I look back to see that it turned back into the tiara. "Strange..."

"Miles, I need answers, what's going on?" Celestia asks, as I take a seat in the wheelchair and look over the tiara.

"So that's why it never worked... they needed a host. That makes perfect sense..."

"Miles!"

"Project Harmonize."

"What's that?" Pinkie Pie asks as she dives her head into a bag of food.

"Pinkie, where did you get that popcorn?" Rarity asks.

"I dunno."

"Project Harmonize... was my masterpiece... I don't really know where to start..."

"Just start from the beginning," Twilight says as they all take a seat to listen.

"We'll... I guess it started when I went to dinner..."

I can't believe midterms are finally over! I still don't believe I passed pre-purge history with an A. Thank you Tenera for forcing me to study all those hours. Dare invited me and Sine to go to his parents’ place for dinner - apparently Dare's parents want to celebrate our passing another year while making dean’s list. So here we are in Dare's car, driving down the freeway to Dare's parents’ house.

"Dude, it's pretty nice that your parents want to treat us to dinner," I say from the back seat.

"Yeah man, I thought your parents hated us to be honest," Sine says from shotgun.

"Please, my parents don't 'hate' anyone. Think nothing of it, this is our treat for you guys being such great friends, and being the only available people to attend."

"Yeah, convenient that everyone else had something to do today," Sine says as he looks out the window.

"Hey, their loss," I say as I sit back and enjoy the ride. We pull of in the northern district and head towards a large building in the distance. We park in a circular structure that stacks our car high up in the building. We follow Dare into the building where we stop as soon as we enter. This place... is overly fancy. Everything looks as if it's overly embellished and expensive. This room is a platform station, having several platforms against the walls. There's art hanging on the walls and expensive looking furniture filling the center of the area. The flooring is pure marble and reflects the solid gold chandelier above.

"Dude... I knew your parents were rich... but what the fuck..." Sine says.

"I say!" scoffs an elderly lady as she walks past us.

"Yeah... we're... comfortable. It's not that different from the Parliament building."

"Maybe to you, but this is coming from an orphan and the son of an A/C repair man - no offense," Sine says to me as we start to walk in towards a Mico platform, with a crest behind it of a diamond with a sash going around the bottom, with LIBERE engraved in it.

"None taken, I take it this is your floor?" I say.

"Yeah - guys look, my parents are cool and all, but they're really old school, so watch your mouths."

"Ha, good fucking luck!" Sine says as he steps onto the platform and flashes away. This is going to be a long day.

"Miles?"

"I'll try my best, but I'm not guaranteeing anything," I say as I step onto the platform. I flash away and appear in a small waiting room, with overly cushy chairs sitting against the walls. Sine has already taken a seat and has his feet on a chair he pulled up to him. I walk over to him and gently kick his feet down. "Seriously?"

"What? I'm tired. I'm sure the Libere's won't mind." Before I can answer, Dare flashes into the room and walks in.

"Well, let’s meet my family." We follow him through a door and walk down a hallway that's filled with various paintings. I was never one for art, at least not paintings, but even I can see the expertise in these. We make it to the end of the hall where Dare takes a deep breath before entering the room.

"Oh, there's my little Dary wary!" says a middle aged blonde woman wearing a tight white dress, as she gets up and runs up to Dare, wrapping him up in a big hug.

"Hey Mom, good to see you." Dare says as he returns the hug.

"Dary... wary... fu—" Sine starts, but stops when I put a hand over his mouth.

"Later." The room we're in seems to be a living room, with a couch, table and massive television taking up the wall to the left. Everything in here, just like everything else in this building, is overly embellished, mostly with gold.

"Oh, and these must be your little friends, I am Semper Agens Libere, but everyone just calls me Sal," She says as she lets go of Dare and shakes our hands. "Dare has told me so much about all of you, please come in, make yourselves at home. Dinner will be ready shortly - OH! Let me fetch your father," she says as she runs off into the house.

Sine leans over to me and says "Dude... total milf."

"You’re sick. So, Dary Wary..."

"Do you want to die?"

"Well, I did join the military." We share a small laugh as a middle aged man walks into the room. He's wearing a red sweater and has light tan slacks on. He extends a hand to us and shakes our hands, but doesn't say anything.

"This is my husband Dat Libere, you'll have to excuse him though, he lost his ability to speak during a mining incident when he was young. Now if you'll follow us, dinner is ready." We follow her into the dining room where silver trays hold our expertly made food. Didn't know you could take goo and make it into molds of art... whatever, tastes good either way. "So, Miles, Dare tells me you’re quite the success story."

"Did he now?" I say, looking over to him.

"To come from such a horrid background and to become one of the top students at Stella Ficor, I'm impressed."

"Well, I had lots of help from my friends."

"Yeah right, besides Tenera, we help you about as much as a..."

"So!" Dare interrupts. "What do you plan on taking next semester, Miles?"

"I don't know, I was thinking of doing something like advanced enchantments, or modern to postmodern historical accounts."

"Oh, that sounds interesting, what would you focus on if you took enchanting?" Sal asks.

"Well..."

"Maybe you can see if there is a way to make people work together," Sine says jokingly.

"Like mind control?" Dare asks.

"Maybe find a way to see how people interact, like make one that always makes you happy!" Sal says jokingly.

"Yeah, and then I'll make one that can force you to tell the truth all of the time, oh, wait, that's what we have Sine for." We all share a laugh and finish dinner, talking idly about school and military stuff.

"You know what that as...cot Altum told me?" Sine says to me. "He said that our group was a one in a million, all getting into the Spartan regiment together. That he had to double check our scores to make sure we didn't cheat, you believe that?"

"What do you expect, he's a sadistic power monger." I say.

"Miles! That's no way to speak about your dean," Sal says.

"Mom, it’s true. Ever since Miles was brought to Stella Ficor, Altum has had some secret agenda to either get Miles and us in trouble, or to make him do something abnormally painful."

"I'm sure he's just trying to push you all to do your best. And I think it's working. I haven't seen a unit perform as good as you guys since... well, never actually." Dat raises a glass and takes a drink, I think he's agreeing. "A true diamond in the rough, if I say so myself."

"We're no different than anyone else. We perform just as anyone else would," I say.

"Oh posh. If that were the case, then we wouldn't be three kilometers underground - I'm telling you, there's something about your little group."

"Mom, I think you've had too much."

"I'm just a little tipsy, why don't you take your friends to your room to play while I finish the dishes down here?"

"Yeah Dare! Let’s go play!" Sine says sarcastically as he runs off into the house.

"You don't know where you’re going! Sine. SINE!" Dare says as he runs after him. I get up to follow them out when an idea hits me. What does make us different?

"Miles? Miles, where are you?" Tenera calls out.

"I'm back here!" I yell from my work bench. I've been spending the past few months in the military enchanting workshop, a musty old stretch of workbenches filled with various tools and gems, with various workers enchanting and disenchanting.

"Miles, why have you been spending all of your free time in this dusty old workshop?" I look over and nearly fall over.

"What's with the dress?" She's wearing an all yellow strapless dress that ends just before her knees. She has her hair loose and is blushing heavily.

"Oh, you don't like it... I knew you wouldn't... I'll just go now..."

"Tenera, I like it, it's very nice. I'm just not used to seeing you out of uniform."

"Well... it was Fidus's idea..."

"I figured. And to answer your question, I'm working on a secret project for the military."

"Really? What's it about?"

"Us." She blushes even more deeply when I say this and freezes in place. "I'm looking into what makes our group work so well. There's something about us that makes us function better than all of the other units, and I'm going to find it."

"Oh... what do you mean by that? We're no different than anyone else."

"I thought that too, but look at the numbers," I say as I pull out a tablet and show her some graphs. "No matter the test, no matter the obstacle, we not only come out triumphant, but with better results than anyone out there. But when we work on our own, we only score average marks. Something happens when we pull together and I'm close to finding out what it is."

"What could possibly be special about us..."

"Are you kidding?" I say as I set down the tablet. "Sine is physically unable to lie, Fidus is loyal no matter what, Dare would give the shirt off his back for anyone, you're easily the kindest person alive, we have something between us, and I'm close to solidifying it."

"You really think I'm kind?"

"Who else would help an idiot like me all these years?"

"OY!" yells a mechanic from behind, "either take your girlfriend outta here, or get back to work!" Tenera and I immediately turn red and look to one another.

"I should get going..."

"Yeah, I've got work to do sooo..." Tenera quickly walks out of the room, where I hear her argue with Fidus - what could she have asked? I ignore it and get and get back to my notes.

I'm in the testing chambers, standing behind a blast shield next to Altum. The room we're in is fairly small, devoid of anything other than a small stand, some lights, and twelve gems sitting in the stand with power cables attached to them. I look back to the wall behind me and flip a switch, sending energy to the gems. They begin to glow their appropriate colors and lift into the air. Come on... work...

KA-BOOM

"Fucking dammit!" I yell as I walk out from the blast cover to the now destroyed stand. I've perfected solidifying the twelve elements, but whenever I try to use them all at once, they explode. I have no fucking clue what's going wrong. I walk up to the stand and kick some of the debris around. "WHY... WON'T... YOU... WORK!?"

"Maybe your little project is too advanced for you," Altum says as he walks out from the cover.

"Don't start with me, Altum!"

"Well... today is a bust, why don't you go home and we'll call it..."

"No, I'm going to get this to work, just give me some more time."

"Miles, it's been five years. I need results or I'm pulling the plug."

"What? No, I'll get results, just give me another try." I plead, making Altum smile.

"Well... one more, if nothing new happens then I'm pulling the plug, got it?"

"One more, it'll work this time, I promise." I run behind the shield and pull out my bag. I pull out twelve more gems and set them on the ground beside the platform. I spend the next half hour filling the gems with the appropriate energies. Honesty. Kindness, Anger, Jealousy, Magic. When I finish enchanting them I connect the power supply and walk behind the shield.

"It better work."

"It will." It has to. I flip the switch and watch the gems glow. They begin to lift into the air where they hold a few centimeters off the ground. Come on... work dammit. They give a little shake and turn bright white. "Fuck yes! Transformation!" They continue to glow until they drop to the ground with a solid thud. I quickly turn the power off and walk out to them. They seemed to have turned into balls of white stone, each with markings on them.

"Is that it?" Altum says as he looks at the stones.

"Do you even know what it is?"

"IT, is a giant waste of my time and the military's time. I'm pulling the plug on thi—"

"But we just made them, you can't end this now! Not when..."

"The military has no interest in making gems turn to rock. It's over Miles, I'm taking your research and putting it on ice." He motions to the wall where a door swings open and some MP's walk in. Two of them keep me back as the other two collect my elements and put them into a duffle bag.

"Altum, you can't do this! I was so close! Altum!" I yell as the two MP's hold me back from ripping his head off. Once they collect the gems and Altum walks out of the room, the two guards let me go, right after a few punches to the gut. I was so close. I finally got them to take form... that fucking asshole, I'll make him pay for this.

When I finish telling everyone about my project, the room falls silent. Everyone stares at me in disbelief of what happened all those years ago. I look back to the element of magic and look it over some more. The actual gem resembles Twilight's mark while the rest of it looks to be made of gold. I wonder where it takes the gold from. There's no way it just creates it from nothing.

"There's one thing I don't get... actually I don't get a lot of it, but there's one major thing I don't understand," Twilight says, "if you created the Elements of Harmony in Topaz Falls... how did they end up here?"

"I don't know, when Altum took them from me he had them locked up in the city archives... my best bet is when the city was attacked they tried to move them to another city, where they were lost along the way, but that's still a long shot."

"Why's that?" Rainbow Dash asks.

"We would never go to the surface during a move. We would dig our way to the next city. So if what I said is true, then how did they get above ground?"

"I don't know... all I know is a pony gave them to me and my sister when Discord came to power. And all I know about the ponies that gave them to me is that they came from Roam. Other than that, they've been a complete mystery to me..." Celestia says as she thinks deeply about this. I look around at the looks of deep concentration on all of their faces. As much as I want to figure this out... I want to find Luna more.

"Well... it doesn't matter now. You have them, and hopefully you'll use them properly. I'm going to head out..."

"What!? Where are you going?" Twilight asks.

"Well, I'm all healed up, I've got my magic back, and there are a lot of hurt people out there. I think it's time to get back to work." I will help a few out, so it's not a total lie. I really just want to get out there and find Luna.

"Well... alright. But when this is all settled I want to have a word with you about the elements. We will also need to discuss your knighthood," Celestia says as she stands up.

"You know where to find me," I say as I walk out of the tent.

Shout out to PTTN for picking who woke up Miles. Thanks for reading and like always, Brony on!