Part 4: The Aftermath

The funeral for Twilight Sparkle had been an emotional one, held during a particularly clear late afternoon. The way the sun had set turned the clear, cloudless sky a most vivid shade of orange, as if even the sky was mourning with the many citizens of both Canterlot and Ponyville. Princess Celestia was now without her prized pupil, the citizens of Ponyville were without one of their key consultants for organization around the town, Spike was without the pony who was a mother to him, and Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were each without one of their sworn sisters, not to mention Shining Armor and his newly-wed wife, Princess Cadence, were without their little sister. After the service and burial in Canterlot, the remaining five of the six protectors of Equestria, Spike, the Princesses, and the leader of the Royal Guard had met in the Princess’s throne room to discuss what would happen without their fallen comrade.

“I can’t believe it… Twiley… How… HOW could this have happened???” Shining Armor asked himself in sorrow, tears streaming down each side of his face as he hung his head low and struck a hoof against the floor. “It isn’t fair… it isn’t fair!”

“It’s going to be okay… I hope…” Cadence had tried to console her husband, only to fall into a fit of crying as well.

“Grieving, unfortunately, will have to take a back seat to the issue at hand.” The Princess tearfully announced. “The issue being… the Elements of Harmony.”

Everypony’s attention became instantly fixated on the royal white Alicorn.

“What?! What about ‘em? What’s gonna happen to the Elements?” Applejack asked frantically, realizing the possibly extremely grim consequences following the demise of the lavender unicorn, but not wanting to believe her racing thoughts unless they were confirmed by Celestia herself.

“I’m afraid that, with the loss of the Element of Magic, they may not function as well… Considering they haven’t become all but useless now given that one of them has been disabled…” Princess Celestia stated worriedly.

“Oh… not to sound rude or anything, but… isn’t there somepony else strong enough to take Twilight’s place?” Fluttershy had timidly stated, fearing the reaction of everyone around her. As expected, she received a few upset, yet puzzled glances from some of her friends. However, she had brought up a good point.

“As much as I’d hate to say it… Fluttershy’s right,” chimed Rainbow Dash in defense of her fellow Pegasus. “Isn’t there somepony with as much magical talent as Twilight? Like say, you, or Cadence, or even Luna?”

“I understand your questions, my dear Pegasi, but I’m afraid they are for naught,” Celestia replied, sadly dispelling any thoughts the two Pegasi had about their theory. “Twilight Sparkle was the only unicorn powerful enough to wield the Element. She had demonstrated her raw magic ability the day she earned her Cutie Mark while taking the entrance exam for my School for Gifted Unicorns… It was one of the reasons I directly accepted her as my protégé. As for my sister, niece and I, Luna and I had lost our connection with the Elements long ago, and Cadence has no experience with them whatsoever. Not to mention that she had only met the rest of you during the wedding, which would mean your bond to her isn’t nearly as strong as it was to Twilight.”

“Oh… I see…” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly, feeling a new wave of sadness beginning to overtake her.

“But, what about Shining Armor?” Fluttershy had asked after realizing they had overlooked him.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy but…” Celestia retorted frankly. “The same case applies to Shining Armor in terms of your bond with him… and even though his magic ability has proven strong, his main strong point when it comes to magic is his ability to use protection spells, while Twilight was adept at every aspect of magic…”

Fluttershy’s heart sank at the Princess’s statement, as she could only squeak out an “Oh, okay…”

“Well… if she can’t be replaced by someone new…” Pinkie Pie began. “Then… what if one of us was to cover her Element for her?”

“Pinkie… What are you getting at?” Spike asked, curious to hear the pink mare’s suggestion.

“Okay, so Rarity is a gifted unicorn, too, right? She also shares the same bond with us that Twilight had. What I’m getting at is that she could maybe take over Twilight’s element while still keeping her own!”

“I see your point, darling,” Rarity interjected. “However, my gift is in fashion and design. My raw magic ability pales in comparison to dear Twilight Sparkle. I am afraid that no amount of magic training would catch my abilities up to hers. Besides, wielding two Elements at once sounds no less than extremely dangerous.”

“She is right,” added the Princess. “Luna and I were only able to wield all six Elements at once because we were born into our positions of power. The both of us together had more than enough power within us to control their power, and wield it to defeat a mighty foe. But of course, when my sister had become Nightmare Moon, she had inadvertently cut her ties to the Elements. I had to sacrifice my own ties to them when I was forced to banish her to the moon for a millennium. They disappeared after that fateful day, never to be seen or heard of again until the six of you had united and defeated Nightmare Moon with the power of your friendship.”

“If ya don’t mind me askin’, Yer Highness...” Applejack interjected. “What’s all that hafta do with our current situation?”

“It means two things,” the Princess replied. “One: I’m afraid that no one in this room, let alone Equestria, is powerful enough to be able to handle more than one Element at a time without placing themselves in extreme danger, or even qualified to handle Twilight’s Element. And Two: The Elements are likely to either be rendered useless and disappear once again, or be weakened unless a replacement for Twilight surfaces… And that would take centuries at the least.”

“Consarn it…” Applejack murmured under her breath.

The room fell silent as everypony had thought about how to mend the situation for the better.

"If I may make a suggestion..." Spike finally spoke. "Can you, by any chance... revive Twilight?"

The room fell silent once more, but this time, it was because everyone except for Princess Celestia had collectively gasped at Spike's seemingly bizarre idea.

"I'm sorry, Spike..." Celestia began. "...But that would not work either. At this point, Twilight's been gone for three days. Even if I was to consider such a thing, she would not come back as the unicorn we know and love, for biological reasons I'd rather not get into. Other than that, I stand firm ground against the resurrection of the dead, as it is unnatural and incredibly immoral, not to mention inconsiderate to rip someone away from the afterlife for our own selfish reasons," Celestia answered sternly, yet passionately.

"Well, yeah, but--" Spike began, but realizing the validity of the Princess's points against his suggestion, had stopped himself and bowed his head in shame and apologetic sadness.

"Do not feel bad, my dear young dragon. You were only making a suggestion like the rest of us."

"Thank you for your forgiveness, Your Highness..." Spike replied sadly, still feeling a bit guilty for his idea.

The room had fallen silent once again, but only for a quick moment before Fluttershy, having a frightening epiphany, asked, “Hey… If the Elements don’t work anymore, or not as well… Then what happens with…?”

Everypony snapped at attention when Fluttershy asked her question.

“What happens with whom, dear?” Rarity asked with a wide-eyed expression, as if she’d had a faint idea of whom the yellow Pegasus was referring to.

“D- D-Discord…?” Pinkie stuttered with a sudden twinge of fear.

“Y-yes…” Fluttershy responded meekly.

Celestia gasped in shock at the realization that the seal that petrified the wicked Draconequus in stone had possibly been broken once again.

“I don’t understand… Who is this ‘Discord?’” Cadence asked.

“And is he dangerous?” added Shining Armor.

“Long story short, Discord is a really evil guy who has a freaky-looking body but is really tricky,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“He’s the spirit of disharmony, so he has a knack for breaking the laws of physics and causing chaos at will. Worse, he does it for his own amusement, no matter who he hurts while doing it,” added Rarity.

“Sounds pretty bad, but not all that tough,” Shining Armor stated boldly.

“Now don’t you go bein’ all naïve, Armor,” Applejack objected. “It took yer sister and all of us to take ‘im down with the Elements of Harmony. And if it weren’t for Twilight… he woulda beaten us, and Ponyville would be all topsy-turvy!”

As Applejack finished her sentence, a sinister laugh had boomed from an unknown location in the room in which the group stood. The laugh echoed throughout the room, and although no one knew where it was coming from, the voice sounded all too familiar…

Next Chapter: The Resurgence Estimated time remaining: 52 Minutes