Five thousand years ago, Vindoponia

The scattered remains of the earth pony army had taken shelter in the ruins of the once-proud city. Shortly after the great battle, a fierce storm had moved in from the south - the pegasi had been too busy fighting off the Darkness to really take care of the weather, and vast swathes of the land now were reverting back to their natural climate. Icy rain beat down on the blackened rubble, driven almost horizontally before the wind.

Cor Angeli, bearer of the Element of Trust, and Vox Communitatis, keeper of the Element of Confidence, had their hooves full. Keeping morale up in the face of this pyrrhic victory over Fear, Doubt and Regret would have been a monumental task even for the full complement of six Elements of Community. Now that the other four lay dead, the load on the survivors was all the heavier. Cor Angeli had just lain down to get at least a little rest when the voice of his fellow Element cut through the howls of the storm.

"Do you think we'll ever see them again?" Vox Communitatis' voice was rough, close to giving out by the sound of it.

Cor just shrugged. Whatever that last splinter of the Ancient Darkness had done to him in its final moments, it had burned out his vocal cords. He grabbed a quill and a scrap of parchment and jotted down a few words. Who can tell?

"This isn't over yet." Vox looked out of the window - one of the few untouched by battle and storm - before turning back to Cor. "The griffons have withdrawn, leaving only a single emissary. They won't fight again. We haven't heard from the unicorns in weeks, and last we heard, the pegasi were preparing for a final stand at Vallis Nubium. And nopony knows what the dragons are..." He broke off, his eyes widening. "Cor, look!"

Cor turned his head, and his eyes fell on the shelf where they had placed the burnt-out remains of the copper necklaces worn by the other Elements of Community, as well as the dust and stone splinters left of the griffon Elements of Virtue.

They were glowing - so softly that it would have been imperceptible even under a full moon, but in this darkened room, there could be no doubt. Tiny motes of orange light were rising from the four copper necklaces, while equally small pinpoints of greenish light danced around the remnants of the marble ones.

What is happening? Cor quickly jotted down.

"I have no idea." Vox sounded as awestruck as Cor felt. "Do you remember the old legend of the Elements, where it says nothing dies?"

As long as there's somepony who remembers it. Cor stared at Vox. Look. They're rebuilding. Indeed, the motes of light seemed to try out new shapes, extremely slowly. What are we going to do?

"We will have to wait for the others. This affects us and the griffons at the very least, and I think several of the Elements of Discipline and Power have fallen as well, so this might be happening in pegasus and dragon lands as we speak." For the first time since the battle, Cor saw Vox smile. The Element of Confidence opened the door, startling the guard placed outside. "Guard, spread the news. The other Elements may have fallen, but they're still with us."

***

Hall of the Stewards, Vindoponia, six months later

"I must ask your forgiveness, esteemed stewards." Tachos Iris, ambassador of the Pegasus Courts, bowed. "Pegai Pyros took some time to recuperate from his injuries."

"We understand," Vox Communitatis replied from the right of the two bronze thrones. "But may we take from this that he's finally recovered?"

"He has, and in fact he arrived a few minutes ago." Iris smiled. "He is waiting in the Chamber of Memories."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Vox tried to get up, only to fall back into his throne. He cursed his weakness silently - ever since the battle, his hind legs had started to refuse service more and more, to the point of complete uselessness. A gesture to his co-steward, and Vox and Cor Angeli were walking towards the back end of the great hall, nothing apparently wrong with either.

***

A surprise was waiting for the earth pony stewards in the Chamber of Memories.

"Greetings, noble stewards." The black dragon bowed. He was young for his species, but still taller than all the ponies in the room. "My name is Aculeus," he continued, drawing down his robe at the neck so that an obsidian necklace set with a green, quill-shaped gemstone became visible. "I am the bearer of the Element of Resolve."

Next to Aculeus, a pegasus slowly dragged himself into the light. Vox and Cor exchanged glances - from the white mane, the dark blue coat and the iridescent wings - or what was left of them - , this could only be Pegai Pyros, bearer of the Element of Courage, and he looked like absolute Tartarus. Vox marveled that he was even alive in this state. "I don't have all that much time left, honoured fellow bearers," Pyros began. "You asked in your last letter whether our destroyed Elements had started to show signs of regeneration." He pulled a wooden case from under his robes and threw back the lid. "See for yourselves."

Vox peered into the case, at first only seeing five twisted heaps of silver wire. But the longer he looked, the more he thought he could see tiny motes of light dancing about the ruined Elements of Discipline, similar to what was happening to the Elements of Virtue and Community stored in the glass case in the centre of the room.

"Here are the broken Elements of Power," Aculeus chimed in, retrieving a box seemingly carved from a single diamond and opening it. The heaps of broken obsidian showed the same reaction. "The question is, what do we do about this?"

"The griffons and the unicorns have already withdrawn from our Alliance, or are threatening to do so. My own people will certainly follow suit if the unicorns leave." Pyros' face hardened. "I'm not leaving these in the hooves of my government. I don't trust them any further than I could carry them."

Tachos coughed. "Are you sure this is the right place for these sentiments, bearer?"

"You think exactly the same as I do, or they wouldn't have sent you to a peacemaker court." Pyros gave an apologetic look to the earth ponies. "Their word, not mine - certainly not with the contempt they place behind it."

"Well, we might..." Vox broke off as he realized something. "Did they do that before?" He pointed at the Elements of Power and Discipline. Between the two cases, a narrow stream of light had formed.

"No. But then, they haven't been in close proximity to other Elements until now." Aculeus turned to the glass case. "They're doing the same."

Vox followed his gaze. "Are you certain? I can't see anything."

"It's too weak for pony eyes to perceive yet." Aculeus grinned, a decidedly unsettling show of teeth. "Dragon eyes, on the other hand, are made to see more than most. They're linking."

"Is there more to this than just the connection?" Tachos asked. "What exactly is happening?"

"One moment." Aculeus closed his eyes and focused. When he opened them again, they were pools of deep blue light. He stared at the cases for a few seconds. "Oh, now I understand."

"What is it, Aculeus?" Vox asked impatiently. "What is going on?"

"They are trying to rebuild, but much has been lost," the dragon replied, as if from very far away. "The servants of the Darkness were created to combat order, and that's what they destroyed in these. But there was more to them than just pure law - they had a chaotic side to them as well, and that side mostly escaped the Darkness' onslaught, and is trying to reconstruct the Elements." Aculeus closed his eyes. "Yet there is too little left to rebuild them all. And since they're forces of chaos now, it will take time before anything comes of this."

"How long?" Pyros asked. "And what will be the final result?"

"A long time, even as dragons measure these things." Aculeus bowed his head. "I'm sorry, but none of you will live to see the end results of this process. I'm not sure if I will. As for results, they're forging something new - they couldn't do anything else, they're forces of chaos. I don't think more than four new Elements will come of this, though. There is very little magical power left in most of the old Elements."

"Then what do we do?" Vox asked.

The scratching of quill on parchment made them look at the fifth person present. Cor Angeli held up a piece of parchment. We will place all of them in shared custody, because neither pegasus nor dragon trust their own people in this, and I have no idea whether we can trust the earth ponies once Vox and I are gone. We shall propose to make it a grand exhibit in the Grand Meeting Hall of the Alliance, and we shall watch over them as best we can. Perhaps the existing Elements can accelerate this process somehow.

***

Grand Meeting Hall of the Alliance of Five, ten years later

"Vox Communitatis is dead."

Cor Angeli stared up at the young black dragon in front of him for a second, then he pulled out his parchment. Then we're the last ones, except for the unicorns.

"Yes." Aculeus, bearer of the Element of Resolve, turned his eyes skyward. "When you die and I go into my next Big Sleep, the Alliance will break apart. We've barely managed to keep it standing even with Vox' help."

We can't allow that to happen, Aculeus. Cor's hoof was trembling as he wrote. What will become of the prisons?

"Their guardian is in place and knows his duty," Aculeus answered. "The more pressing question is, what will happen to the destroyed Elements?" He pointed to the great glass showcase in the middle of the room. Motes of light were dancing around shattered and twisted remnants of the old Elements, slowly weaving together the essences of obsidian, marble, copper and silver. "They will need time to finish their work, wherever it may be leading, and no one knows how long that will take. Even I might not live to see it."

Then we will do what Vox and the others did. Cor's face set in grim determination. We will not pass our Elements to new bearers. They shall watch over their fallen kin, where we cannot.

"How do you imagine that to work, Cor?" Aculeus made a sweeping gesture with his right forelimb. "This place will be open to scavengers as soon as the Alliance breaks apart. The Elements will need to remain undisturbed. Who is to take care of that?"

Cor managed a smile. You will. Even in a Big Sleep, no one is so foolish as to attempt intrusion in a dragon's lair, and you will pick this very hall as yours. Even the Grand Arbiters of your kind will not deny the last surviving Element of Power his right to choose this symbolic place to rest for the next few centuries.

The dragon grinned. "I see how you managed to keep your earth ponies in line, Cor. Your cunning would have done a dragon proud." His face turned serious again. "But what if this takes longer than my lifespan? I'm young by dragon standards, true, but I shall not live forever."

We shall let this place be forgotten, Aculeus. Cor's hoof was trembling again, tears coming to his eyes. No one must remember that this Alliance even existed, for if they did, they would want to visit the places of power, and none more so than this one. The greatest weight of all shall bury this memory - time.

"So we must..." Aculeus broke off as the full weight of Cor's words hit him. "We will destroy that which we helped build against the Darkness. You will make the earth ponies withdraw to their lands, and I shall do the same with the dragons. All that we did will come to nothing."

No, old friend. Cor forced himself to look the dragon in the eyes. We already managed to contain six of the greatest evils this world has ever seen, but we can't forget our responsibility to the future over our concerns for the present. He pointed at the case. They need our help. They can't take care of themselves yet, and it might be millennia before they are able to. They're depending on us, and on the essence of the ones who survived the great battles.

"Sometimes I envy the unicorns." Aculeus stared out of one of the great windows. "Their Elements have been preserved, and yet they were second to withdraw from the Alliance."

They don't know what they could have lost. But their Elements, powerful as they are, are but a part of the whole. Everything shall be needed in time. Cor Angeli took off the copper necklace with the orange hammer-shaped gemstone and placed it atop the glass case, and Aculeus followed suit with his obsidian necklace.

"They will not remember who we were." Aculeus' claws dug into the stone floor. "Is this what Stargazer meant when he spoke about the 'Alliance that Never Was'?"

Perhaps. But if his visions of the Dawn of the Seventh ever come true, all of the Elements will be needed.

"Then let us leave. We have a lot of work ahead of us." They turned and left the Hall, leaving the Elements to continue their rebuilding work.

***

The same hall, about five thousand years later

Time had taken its toll on the once-proud hall. The forest on the hillside had clawed and broken its way through the marble walls and even the floor, leaving hardly any trace that there ever had been a building here.

The huge heaps of gold and gemstones at the far end of the room were still intact, if covered in a thick layer of dust and grime. Their owner had gone to his last Big Sleep almost a thousand years ago, and he had been doubtful whether he would ever wake from it.

A single clear note ringing out from the middle of the room dispelled those doubts. The air seemed to waver for a second, and then the ancient glass case was there again, the illusion masking it from prying eyes gone in an instant after holding up for five millennia.

Aculeus slowly managed to pry his eyes open, the debris of a thousand years of sleep falling from the lids. The glass case was glowing brightly, almost painfully so to eyes accustomed to darkness for so long.

The glow intensified by the second, until even a dragon's nictitating membranes couldn't block it all and Aculeus had to turn away, finally giving out one last brief flare that even managed to penetrate a dragon's outer eyelid, and then darkness fell again.

The ancient black dragon stared at the case, fearful of what he might see.

It was empty. No trace remained of the Elements, intact or not. The glass lay on the floor in shards.

The ancient mouth curled up into a smile. "Their time has arrived, then. I only wish I could see who they are."

As if in answer to that, light flickered up around the case again, coalescing into the image of a dragon whelp barely into his teens, with purple scales and light green spines running down his back.

The smile faded. "That baby? This is the new bearer of my Element?"

Just then, the young dragon turned, and Aculeus could see his eyes for the first time. The deep green was only too familiar to the old Element bearer.

"The eyes of a Bladerock." The smile returned. "Well, grandson many times removed, I wish you all the luck in the world. You will need it."