Twilight Sparkle had been curious about her mentor’s heritage before, of course. She had always had the question in her mind, but she had never asked it before because, as her mother taught her, it was rude to ask questions like that about anypony, especially the rulers of Equestria.

But she had no idea that this secret of her mentor was so needed to be kept secret. Never would she have guessed that it would be something so astounding.

“So the goddess of everything good is your mother, but your father is the demon lord of Tartarus?” Pinkie Pie was asking in bewilderment. “That doesn't make a lot of sense.”

“Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said in a voice flatter than a carpet. “You don’t make a lot of sense.”

“Ooh,” Pinkie said sarcastically. “Nice comeback, Rainbow Dash.”

“But how does any of this pertain to the Ten Elements?” Starlight wondered. “Now we know for certain that there are ten Elements of Harmony. And now we know that an ancient goddess not only exists, but is also your mother. So how is this connected?”

Princess Celestia conjured her magic and out of the tip of her horn came a swirling yellow cloud. The ponies crammed into the mop closet could all see into the depths of the cloudy window into the eternal, and two large, skinny alicorns were shown with crossed heads pointed downward in love at the dark clouds they stood on. The mare was a pristine white with a red mane, while the stallion was a dark gold and had swirls of scarlet woven into his long black mane. Behind them was a large tree with spiraling roots and crystalline bark, and the shade it produced had no end.

“Before Equus was created and ponykind conceived,” Celestia began, “the two eternal beings Solaris and Faust lived in the expanses of the universe, married in harmony and love, under the shade of the Eternal Tree of Life.”

“Ooh!” came an excited voice, and Firestorm burst above the rest of the ponies crammed into the closet. “Exposition! Come on, ‘Tia! Give us that beautiful monologue!”

“If you want, you can always just leave,” Luna offered irritably.

Firestorm managed to look sheepish. “Sorry, Loony. I am so, so sorry.”

The swirling yellow cloud pulsed with movement, and suddenly, surrounding the two bowing alicorns, hundreds of little ponies appeared at a time in stop-motion. Standing around Faust and Solaris were ten special little ponies, shining in multicolored radiant auras.

“Filled with love for each other, Faust and Solaris decided to create a race of ponies exactly like them in body and in mind. From before time began to flow, in the endless and meaningless heavens of premortal existence, Faust and Solaris conceived and bore fruit.”

“Did Faust and Solaris...do, um…” Rarity looked for a polite term to use. “Did they...“put the thread through the hole of the needle,” as it were, to make each of those ponies standing there?”

“Yes, they had sex,” Luna bluntly answered, making Rarity’s cheeks erupt in flame. “How else is life achieved?”

“Who are those ponies standin’ close to Faust and Solaris?” Applejack asked, pointing at the sight.

“Their eldest children,” Celestia explained. “Of which I was the first. Faust and Solaris were proud of their firstborn children, in the premortal life, for the close bond we shared as children. As gifts, my parents plucked fruit from off the Eternal Tree of Life for us--me and my other siblings-- and created from the fruit precious stones of power to help our parents shape the rest of the universe. Those stones are the Elements of Harmony. Magic. Honesty. Kindness. Generosity. Laughter. Loyalty. Courage. Honor. Sacrifice. And Redemption.”

Twilight’s mind reflected back to what Firestorm, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash had discovered on their friendship mission. A tree with ten Elements of Harmony on it. The tree they saw wasn’t the Tree of Harmony, it was the Tree of Life, the source from which the Elements had come from!

“Which Element of Harmony did you have, Celestia?” Pinkie curiously asked.

“The Element of Magic,” Celestia replied. “And my sister’s was the Element of Loyalty.”

Twilight felt her breath catch in her throat. Her mentor, before the planet even existed, had wielded the Element of Magic! The element that she now bore! It made her mind stagger to think of the result.

“There was a catch to such power,” Celestia continued. “We all had to be united in purpose and spirit to use the Elements. If even one of us deviated from the other, the Elements would not have the collective power to create life on other worlds, in galaxies far from where Equus is now. All ten Elements of Harmony, together, possess the power to create life on a massive scale or take it. Instantly.”

“That must have been so cool,” Rainbow Dash said in wonder. “Creating worlds of life on completely different planets! Like, you and your siblings could all point the Elements at a barren hunk of rock and fire those freaky lasers, and then the whole thing just blows up with life!” Her flailing arms almost made a mop fall on Starlight Glimmer, who used her magic to levitate it out of the way just in time.

“Indeed it was,” Luna added. “There was a sort of magical charm to it. Working with my brothers and sisters to create life for all who would eventually inhabit that planet. It made us feel powerful and united in strength. Like we were...doing something good for the universe we were living in.”

“It must have been exciting to think about how your own world was gonna be like!” Rarity said charmingly. “Have you ever thought about that?”

To everyone’s surprise, Celestia looked grieved at that.

“Princess...Celestia?” Rarity asked.

“We had no planet of our own,” Celestia murmured. “We had been creating life throughout the universe, but none of them was intended for us. They were for some other dominant life to inhabit that planet. For Solaris, Faust, and me and my siblings, it pained us to see life on the planets we had created go to some other kind of life to inhabit for themselves. There are planets where frogs are the dominant species. And others where whales were. And planets where the only kind of life was bacterial. But there was no place prepared for ponykind to flourish.” She managed a smile. “Until one day, when Faust and Solaris announced a grand meeting for all of ponykind to meet. We were to discuss a planet for ourselves to inhabit at last.”

“Ooh! Ooh! Was I there?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“Everypony that ever existed was there,” Luna spoke. “You, and Twilight, and Fluttershy and Rarity and everypony else you know was here.”

Pinkie let out an excited squeal. “That must have been the biggest party EVER!”

“I can still remember the day of the meeting. Ponies filled the vaults of heaven. They were crammed from head to tail. And every other sentient creature in Equestria was present as well, for it was Faust that gave them their intelligence when their spirits were first created by her magic. Every intelligent, sentient creature is a child of Faust, whether adopted into her family as a different species or physically born through her womb. Faust loves her children all the same, and she denied none to come and partake of the plan she created for us.”

The ten ponies and baby dragon could see in the small smokey window the heads of innumerable ponies, and rising above their heads were the upright forms of griffons. And behind those were dragons, of all colors and sizes, paying attention to the white alicorn addressing them.

“Finally, Faust presented her plan for the heavenly host. A planet would be chosen, specially set apart from the other planets, for us to populate. This planet would be both a trial and a gift to us. On the one hoof, we would experience the power and privileges of having a body, instead of an insubstantial spirit. This, however, would also lead to the disadvantages and weaknesses of having a body--hunger, and fatigue, and sickness. Having a body would give us agency and make us choose the actions we would take on Equus--of our own consciousness. And according to the choices we made on Equus, we would be rewarded after we came back to the presence of Faust. Good choices led to a good reward and led to us becoming more powerful than how we were at the time of the meeting. Bad choices led to the stripping of the power we already had as spirits.”

“Sounds like a fair plan,” Twilight slowly said.

“There are others that disagreed with you,” Luna said. In the swirling cloud, an angrily-posing golden alicorn had stood next to Faust. “For after Faust had given her plan, Solaris was shocked. He was surprised at Faust’s callousness and disregard for her own children--threatening them with the removal of their power if they made the wrong choice. He insisted that he would directly influence the minds of his children to do good all the time, that they would never even have to make the choice.

“Solaris insisted that nopony would be in danger of being condemned by their own parents if they simply followed the influence of their loving and all-knowing parent all the time, and Solaris ended by saying that the only way to love your children was to lead them all to the glory he wanted for them.” Luna looked down at the ground. “And that argument was persuasive enough to cause a rupture in the plans of heaven.”

“It was up to me,” Celestia said, “to pick a side. To pick a plan. To choose...between the two parents that raised me.” Celestia sniffled at the memory. “I chose to follow Faust’s plan and deny the plan my father suggested. And this led to Solaris’s forceful accusation that I loved mother more than my father, and that my actions would lead to unrest in heaven.”

The scene in front of them changed to a mass of chaos as it showed a still of bickering ponies surrounded by mists of darkness.

“He was right. Within hours, fighting broke out in heaven among which was a better plan--to have the continued freedom of choice, or to have the choices made for us and have assured salvation. The argument was not just among the endless hosts of heaven, but also among the ten bearers of the Elements.”

“So the Elements didn't work now because you were all divided in purpose?” Twilight guessed.

“Not exactly,” Celestia said slowly. “The Elements have individual power as well, but without the help of the others, their power is insignificant.”

The scene in the smoke then showed a still of six ponies on one side of the frame and four on the other. The six looked colorful and more healthy, but the four ponies on the left looked darkened and more ferocious.

“Six of the bearers joined with Faust, but four others--the bearers of Honor, Courage, Sacrifice, and Redemption--rebelled against us and threatened war against the rest of heaven, corrupting the elements they bore and turning them into mere shadows of their former self. War broke out in heaven over which plan would be better, and the divided Elements of Harmony were at the front of the charge.”

The ponies could almost hear the cries of war and of hatred and grief as it showed still after still of ponies wrestling each other to the ground in massive groups. Above them, fighting across the expanses of the universe, the divided Elements of Harmony spiraled and collided and fired the powers of their own Element at each other.

“Finally, Faust conquered Solaris, and banished him and his followers to the dimension of Tartarus, where they could do no harm and watch in eternal agony as the ponies right above them lived out their lives in peace and happiness.”

“Are they still spirits there in Tartarus?” Twilight asked. “Below the earth?”

“They were given a body, just as was promised, before they were banished to Tartarus,” Celestia said. “But their bodies were painful to live in. They were cursed and corrupted bodies, and it would have been better for them to be wiped out of existence entirely than for them to inhabit twisted, corrupted shells that drained you of love for life. Those that followed Faust, on the other hoof, were promised life on Equus in a glorious body of flesh and blood.”

“But our war in heaven was not without casualties,” Luna offered. “Over a third of the hosts of Faust’s children chose to follow Solaris into Tartarus, including the original bearer of the Element of Sacrifice--Marshal Malice.”

“Marshal Malice was an original--” Twilight started in shock, but was interrupted by the hateful roar behind her, and she whirled around.

Freedom Fighter had made a sound of anguish and had ripped his raging yellow staff out of the ground, making the ponies around him recoil. “Sacrifice!” he roared in his mind for the world to hear. “Sacrifice! Marshal Malice, who I am destined to kill, possessed the same Element of Harmony I have to now, in the premortal life? What kind of sick joke is this?”

“Freedom,” Noble Blade began.

“No!” he bellowed, whirling around. “No, Noble! Don't you dare start on this! You know nothing about this!”

“What I do know,” Noble said forcefully, “is that now you and he are more closely tied together than we could have imagined! Now you have no choice but to kill Malice!”

“What do you think I was going to do?” he yelled. “Invite him over for tea?”

“Freedom!” came the sound of Luna’s voice, and Freedom Fighter, miraculously, fell silent. He had his teeth bared through the hole in his mouth, but he did nothing else except grip his staff so hard it creaked.

“So what happened to the rest of the Element Bearers?” Starlight Glimmer asked.

“Malice was the only one of the original four dissenters who survived the war,” Celestia said in grief. “The rest of them...Me and Luna...had to...kill…” She swallowed something. “And it hurt...so much...to kill my siblings! When all they had to do was make the right choice, and they could have been accepted in love by my mother!” Her voice was really cracking up now, and the ponies stayed silent in respect.

Luna spoke up from the front of the closet while her sister stayed silent. “We destroyed three of the four, but they took casualties from us as well. The bearers of Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, and Generosity were all blasted out of existence by the four before me and my sister destroyed them. With Malice banished, and with everypony except me and my sister erased from existence, the ten Elements had nowhere to go.”

“So what did you do then?” Noble asked her solemnly.

“We started the plan,” Celestia said, straightening in an attempt to regain strength. “Faust created Equus, and put me and Luna directly on the planet, without our memories of heaven wiped, because of our status as firstborn. We were given immortal bodies because of our prewritten destiny to guide the rest of our little ponies to the lives they wanted. Our duties were to control the sun and moon for the other ponies that were placed on Equus at the same time as us. The souls in premortal heaven would go into the bodies of newborn fillies as, year by year, their progenitors on Equus had children.”

“But what dija do with the Elements?” Applejack asked persistently.

“We dispersed the four dead elements of Honor, Courage, Sacrifice, and Redemption among the surface of Equus. Where they are now, nopony knows.”

“Except you!” Applejack shot back. “Yall’s was the ones that hid the four bad elements on Equus. If anypony knows where they are, it’s you!”

“No we don’t,” Celestia said. “If we did know, we would have gotten them already.”

“So why don't you know?” Applejack instantly followed.

“We were instructed not to,” Luna said.

And now Applejack looked confused. “Pardon?”

“Faust banished the thought of that in our minds, ere we become greedy or jealous and attempt to possess them for ourselves,” Luna expanded. “Faust already had a backup plan before she even created the universe and the Elements of Harmony, just in case dissent rent the original bearers apart.”

“The backup plan,” Celestia spoke, “was for ten other ponies to take upon themselves the mantle and become the new bearers of the Elements during life on Equus. With four of the ten original Elements powerless, however, that made her plans change. The four lost Elements would stay lost on Equus and would only be found and repowered when the remaining six were reunited by new bearers.”

“And the six bearers of the Elements would lead the ponies who were destined to bear the four lost Elements to them and reunite the ponies with the Elements?” Twilight guessed.

“Precisely,” Celestia said satisfactorily. Twilight beamed.

“What about the times when you and Luna used the Elements?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“The ponies meant to wield them were not born yet,” Celestia said easily. “For thousands of years we used all of them as stewards of the Elements, not the bearers themselves.”

“Um, excuse me? Not to intrude, but...Where does the Tree of Harmony fit in all this?” Fluttershy whispered.

“Good job thinking of that!” Noble complimented her, wrapping a hoof around her shoulders. Fluttershy smiled and shrunk her head inside her shoulders cutely.

“It was the first tree on Equus created by Faust,” Celestia replied. “It was crystallized to preserve a memory of the creation. Later it was placed underneath our castle to help us remember our holy roots and our divine parentage.”

“And as an acting hiding place for the Elements,” Luna added. “We used the tree since the dawn of the world’s creation as a spot to conceal the six Elements that worked until the right ponies came along.”

“So we--” Rarity circled her hoof around the ponies assembled, “were the ones chosen, before the universe began, as backup to bear them?”

“As the bearers of the Elements on Equus,” Luna confirmed.

“But nopony has any idea where the remaining four Elements are,” Rainbow protested.

“Yes.” Celestia adopted a sly look. “No pony.”

“What do you mean, no pony?” Rainbow asked incredulously. “Does Scorpan know?”

“Scorpan’s role is only to spur us to action. The role of a prophet is to warn of events to come in the future. He who does know had his mind enlightened by Faust to divine the location of the scattered Elements. He is a Seer--which, coincidentally, was also his true name. Lightbringer. Child of Light. Unforgiven. Prophet. Seer. All of those are the true names of the spirits in heaven before they went to Equus.”

“Who is this Seer?” Starlight Glimmer asked.

“My disciple,” Celestia answered. “Star Swirl the Bearded.”

A few of the mares gasped.

“This is too much!” Firestorm cried, holding his head. “I’m gonna need a recap after you finish talking!”

Twilight’s mind was spinning. All this time, Star Swirl the Bearded knew the location of the lost four Elements! The pony she aspired to emulate, the pony she had studied for so long, had-

“Wait a second,” Twilight said suspiciously. She stepped forward so she was in front of Celestia. “I thought Star Swirl the Bearded was dead.”

“His magic is keeping him alive,” Luna answered.

“Where is he now?” Starlight Glimmer asked. “And why isn't he a pony?”

“Because after he divined the locations of the four lost Elements, he exiled himself into an alternate dimension so nopony with evil intentions could wring it from him,” Celestia said. She closed her eyes for only a few seconds, then opened them. “He went through a portal in the form of a mirror. To a dimension where the influence of Solaris could do no harm.”

A portal in the form of a mirror.

Twilight immediately understood, and her eyes widened in both realization and giddiness.

“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me,” Firestorm groaned. “I hate dimension travelling.”

“Have you ever been dimension travelling?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“No,” Firestorm admitted. He casually leaned next to her ear. “Have you?”

“I can break the fourth wall,” Pinkie Pie offered in reply.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said casually, rolling her eyes.

“So. Now is the time when we must regain the lost four Elements,” Noble Blade said. “But Marshal Malice is now on the move with his armies. We must move swiftly and decisively.” He looked Celestia in the face, and he looked like he was frustrated. “Correct me if I am wrong. We must travel to this alternate dimension, confront Star Swirl the Bearded, learn the locations of our missing Elements, return to this dimension, find the Elements, and defeat Marshal Malice and Solaris using the Ten Elements.”

“An accurate and succinct summary,” Celestia complimented him.

Noble Blade looked like he had something bad in his mouth, because his lips were twisted together reluctantly. Then, after a moment of silence, he gave a deep sigh and bowed before his princess. “Then we shall not fail you, Celestia. I feel mad about your reluctance to tell us--truth be told, it makes me tremble with incredulity and unbridled anger--but now is not the moment to argue with you, nor is it the time to lay down arguments or accusations. You had your reasons. And you at least told us. Now is the time for action, and we will destroy the influence of Malice and Solaris once and for all.”

“Then the time is now to start on your quest to save Equestria,” Celestia spoke. “Gather your things and return to Ponyville. The mirror to enter this dimension is in Twilight’s castle. Twilight will take it from there.”

“Ooh!” Twilight squealed, stamping the ground on all fours excitedly. “I can’t wait to introduce you all to my friends in the other dimension! And I can't wait to see how you look as a human!”

Firestorm blinked. “What’s a hyoo-man? Some kind of ear infection?”

“It’s the kind of creature she turns into when she passes through the portal,” Fluttershy told Firestorm.

“We turn into hyoo-mans when we go into another dimension?”

“That’s...how dimensions work, I guess.”

“ D’aww, thanks for the info, Flutters,” he said, and ruffled her mane, making her shrink. “Where would we be without you?” Without another remark, he frolicked out the door, humming carelessly to himself.

“Did he just-” Fluttershy started.

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash said simply. “I have a feeling we’re gonna have to deal with that a lot.”

“Last question,” Starlight Glimmer asked. Using her magic, she levitated a snoring Spike into the air. “Who’ll carry the sleeping dragon?”

Pinkie burst into giggles. “He fell asleep?”

Luna took the opportunity to whisper wittily into Celestia’s ear, “You lullabied a dragon into slumber with your storytelling!”

“You had a part in it too!” Celestia hissed. “Now, come on! Let’s dismiss the Gala and give Scorpan a room to stay in!”

“Shall I alert the Royal Guard?” Luna inquired.

“Yes. Send the word that Marshal Malice is preparing to launch an assault on Equestria within six months. Send our troops to the major cities of Fillydelphia and Manehattan; those are the spots near the land bridge connecting Equestria with the kingdoms to the East. We’ll discuss this with Scorpan tomorrow in the war room.”

And the princesses exited the mop closet and turned off the lights.

Which left only one more inhabitant inside.

The Nox had heard everything. Hidden in a panel directly above them, he had observed and had gained enough information to warrant a full report to Marshal Malice, who had sent him here in the first place without telling High Command.

He was right there in Canterlot. He could do so much more now that he was here, hearing every bit of communication.

Yanking out his small makeshift microphone, he whispered, “The Ten Ssoulss are heading to Twilight’s castle to head through sssome kind of magic portal. Ssstar Swirl the Bearded is reported to be inside the portal, and he is the only one that knowsss where the Elements are.”

K’ra heard the voice of his commanding officer issue out a report to unseen associates. “Send the advance scouts we stationed in the surrounding land into the town and search for the portal. They cannot learn the location of the lost elements.” Once the end had been reached, his voice came back through. “What more can you tell me, K’ra?”

“The princesses know Marshal Malice is plotting an assault by now,” K’ra responded. “They’ve considered sending extra troops to Manehattan and Fillydelphia as fodder for our armies.”

“Nothing we wouldn’t have discerned by now. Is there anything new you can tell me?”

K’ra reflected on what he had heard. That Marshal Malice had been one of the beloved by Faust and Solaris alike, and that the same Element he bore in the premortal life was the Element his nemesis was now purported to bear. It was potential heresy to his ears, but it struck him as being true.

“Nothing, ss-sir,” he reported, with a snap at the end of each word. “That wasss it-ah!”

There was silence from the other end. K’ra’s head pounded with possibility.

“Remember, K’ra,” the voice murmured. “Your location is the only thing working to your advantage. You as a Nox are replaceable, but it is your special geographic spot that forces me to trust you. Fail me...and your punishment will make it look like the Unforgiven’s death was a slap on the claw.”

K’ra remembered the trump card he had found out--that Freedom Fighter was the long-lost Unforgiven. They still thought that the Unforgiven had died in captivity. K’ra set that bit aside for future reference. “Yyesss...my Lord.”

“Are the princesses still unaware of the rest of the Noxxa we sent over the seas weeks ago to spy on their other city’s defenses? Should they be discovered, our offensive will fail.”

“They sssaid nothing about it, sir.”

“You’re dismissed for now. Scope out Canterlot’s supply inventory, then report back to me once you have it. We must know everything we can about the city when we besiege it in a matter of weeks.”

“Yesss, my Lord.”