Pain shot through Celestia’s chest and she came to a stop, sweat trickling down her face. No, I have to keep going, she thought. This pain was nothing compared with what her subjects must be going through under Discord’s reign. He had taken her heart from her just for his own amusement. She shuddered to think what was happening in Canterlot right now.

“Are you all right, Princess?” Victory’s concerned voice asked from beside her.

“Yeah. Let’s keep going.”

It had been more than a day since Celestia was wounded, and their progress was slower than any of them would have liked. Wind Chime assured them that they had to be careful. Dark creatures lived in this part of the forest, and even though Luna could probably defeat most of what lurked in the shadows of the Everfree, it was best not to draw too much attention to themselves. It was the Nightmare’s wood, after all. They walked in pairs, Wind Chime leading the way with Page at her side and Celestia following, leaning on Victory for support. Luna brought up the rear, watching over all of them.

“How much farther is it?” Victory asked, not for the first time.

Wind Chime stifled a sigh. “We are very close now.”

“Have you ever been there?” Page asked the windigo.

“Once.” There was something guarded in Wind Chime’s tone.

“Well, what is it like?”

Wind Chime frowned and glanced over her shoulder. “Empty,” she said. “Its once-great towers are broken, and its halls are ruins where nopony walks. Nopony living. I only ventured within its walls out of curiosity, because I wanted to see the place where my race was born.”

“Why is it named Castle Twilight?”

“I don’t know. That’s the name it’s always had, even long before the prince of laughter fell. The dragons say it was built during the war, as a bastion against the power of Harmony. But I’ve heard that others say it was built to stand against the Enemy. But in all the stories it is a place that stands between the darkness and the light.”

Page had so many questions. She had been badgering Wind Chime almost constantly since yesterday, asking about Cauchemar and the war with the forces of light. Even though she was a windigo, Wind Chime was still basically a filly, and only knew stories that she had been told. But since her stories were different than the ones Page had studied, she asked question after question, trying to put together a picture of the past. It seemed wise, since they now knew that the Arch-Enemy of Friendship was very real. Neither Celestia nor Luna had spoken much about what had happened to them when Celestia was wounded, but Page had figured some things out on her own and Wind Chime had filled in some others.

It was Starswirl’s book, The Sea of Night, that had sparked Page’s interest. Celestia didn’t seem too interested in what the book said, since it denied the power of friendship, but something attracted Page to it. In it, Cauchemar was described as something heroic, standing against Harmony. Celestia was fixated on Starswirl, but Page was starting to wonder if the Enemy wasn’t the more dangerous threat. She wanted to find out everything she could about her.

Wind Chime came to a stop.

“What is it?” Page asked.

“We’re here.”

In the shadows, the dark castle loomed before them. Once it must have been beautiful, but centuries bore down upon it, and it had broken beneath the weight of time. Holes gaped in its walls, and its stairs were crumbling. Only a few of its towers remained standing, reaching up like the rigid hooves of the dead.

“Looks… cozy,” Victory said.

Page snorted. “I don’t know how we are going to find the Elements here. The book never gave specific directions.”

“Let’s just go look,” Celestia said. She didn’t know if it was just the lightheadedness she was feeling since being wounded, but for some reason she wasn’t without hope. They were close now; she could feel it.

Wary, but somehow excited too, the friends ventured into Castle Twilight. Wind Chime was right when she said it was empty. Every hall, every chamber was nothing but bare stone. They walked in silence, eyes scanning every room by the light of magic and Wind Chime’s cold blue ghostlight. But they found nothing.

“Um… what do you suppose the Elements look like?” Victory asked.

“I don’t think anypony knows,” Page said. The books and poetry I’ve studied seems to disagree on what they even are. They could be magical objects, or legendary heroes, or… I don’t know…”

Wind Chime fought a shiver. All her life she had been taught that the Elements of Harmony were magical weapons that could destroy creatures like her, and here she was actually searching for them. It was… almost funny when you thought about it. She smiled to herself.

“Think we should split up?” Page suggested. “Maybe cover more ground… faster.” She gave Celestia a meaningful look.

Celestia shook her head. “I’m not at death’s door yet.” But I am not so very far from it. “And I don’t think we should split up. I think we need to be together.”

Her friends exchanged glances. “Okay, Princess,” Victory said.

They traveled up a flight of stairs, Celestia straining with each step, to the upper chambers of the castle. They were just as empty as those below. As the minutes turned into hours, the friends started to lose patience.

“We don’t even know what we’re looking for!” Victory said. Her voice echoed loudly in the quiet of the empty castle.

“Calm down, Victory,” Celestia said. But she was starting to worry too. What if Page had been wrong all along? What if the book was lying, the way it lied about magic?

“But I can’t be calm! If we don’t find them, you’re gonna… you’re gonna…”

Celestia smiled weakly. “Hold on a minute. We can go back to looking in a moment.”

They stood in a large chamber, one that could very well have been a throne room long ago. There were no thrones now, just a long, empty chamber with arched windows. The darkness of the Everfree swelled beyond those windows, but the light of the friends’ spells kept it at bay.

“If we don’t find the Elements in time—”

“Don’t talk like that, Princess!” Victory was trembling, perhaps with anger, but Celestia thought it was more likely fear. She was terrified of losing her princess. What have I ever done to earn such devotion?

“He is going to ruin everything,” Celestia said.

“You mean Discord? If we can find the Elements, he—”

“Not Discord. Starswirl.” The patchwork healing spell that Page and Luna had cast on her was coming unraveled, and Celestia’s wounds were beginning to reopen. Fresh stains were appearing on her coat. She felt weak… “We have to stop him.”

“Stop him from what? You already stopped him from conquering Equestria. He ran away from you!”

“Ruling Equestria is not his goal.” She winced noticeably as a fresh wave of pain rippled through her body. For a moment her vision blurred, then her friends came back into focus. “What he’s trying to do is…” How could she explain it? Looking over his plans that day, the books and notes he left for her to find, to give her a choice between Harmony and… “He wants to ruin magic.”

“What?” Page said, alarmed.

“There are two kinds of magic, or two ways of looking at magic. You know this, Page. You’ve read his books. One view is that friendship is magic. Magic is supposed to work because of the power of friendship.”

“Isn’t that… a little childish?” Page asked.

Celestia grimaced. “That’s the other view. Magic is just a force to be studied and controlled by those who are smart enough, or powerful enough. There is no inherent goodness in it.”

“But… isn’t that true? I mean, magic can be used to hurt…” Page’s eyes fell to the wet spots on Celestia’s coat.

“Because ponies have forgotten what True Magic is. The tribes are always fighting, and the ponies in the cities let fillies starve in the streets, and everypony is convinced that friendship is so weak. They have forgotten the power that once banished the eternal Winter and saved the world.

“I don’t know why, but Starswirl actually prefers a magic that is empty. He believes with all his heart that the power of friendship is weak, and he is fighting against Harmony because he wants a world where magic has no connection to friendship.”

“Can he do that?”

“I think so. If he can make ponies not believe in the power of friendship. If the Enemy is as powerful as I think she is. And if he ever gets his hooves on the Elements of Harmony…” Celestia shook her head vigorously. “No. That’s why we can’t let that happen.”

“We won’t,” Victory said.

“Of course not,” said Wind Chime. “If a windigo like me can choose the power of friendship, then Equestria isn’t so hopeless.”

“I would like to see a world where spells are made out of friendship,” Page said.

“Sister,” Luna said. “You and I have touched real magic. There is no power that will ever be able to destroy our friendship.”

Celestia beamed at them.

The quiet of the empty castle was broken by the sound of tinkling laughter. The friends stared at each other, eyes wide. None of them had laughed. Indeed, none of them even felt like laughing, with Celestia in the state she was. Then another laugh, clear and silvery, filled the empty chamber.

“Five fillies that believe that friendship is magic?” a high, musical voice surrounded them. It had a ghostly quality, like Wind Chime’s, but was gentler, more like a warm breeze than a cold wind.

“Who’s there?” Victory demanded. The friends drew together in a tight circle, facing outward. Was this another dark denizen of the Everfree Forest?

“Once, there was another who believed that.”

Light filled the ancient room, a golden radiance that glittered on the columns and the walls. As Celestia and her friends watched, the holes in the walls filled, the windows were restored, and a deep red carpet ran down the length of the floor. The light bent and took shape. Two great thrones appeared at the end of the room, and the ghostly forms of ponies long since gone filled the floor, talking and laughing.

“What’s going on?” Page asked.

Luna took a step forward and examined one of the ghostly ponies. “I think this is illusion magic. They aren’t real.”

“They were, long ago.”

“Look there!” Wind Chime said, pointing to one of the thrones. Upon it sat a winged unicorn, a stallion, with a silver coat and gleaming horn. A jeweled necklace adorned his collar. His eyes sparkled with joy. He leaned down to his princess, a cream-colored earth pony. She whispered something in his ear and he laughed.

There was something familiar about his voice.

“Discord,” Celestia whispered in awe.

“Not yet,” the mysterious voice said. “Watch, my little ponies.”

A wind blew through the castle and the scene changed. The golden light turned a cold blue. The crowd of ponies that filled the great hall vanished, along with the earth pony princess. The silver prince sat alone on his throne. He was no longer laughing. His eyes were hooded and his expression grim. The golden necklace that he wore was gone. Instead, he wore a silver amulet carved in the shape of a winged unicorn, and set with a red gem. Frost spread over the ground and walls, and the hall filled with windigos, who bowed to the shadowed prince.

“This is how my race was born,” Wind Chime said softly.

“This is the past,” Celestia said. “This is what the Enemy did. Why are you showing us this? Are you trying to help us somehow? Are you a friend?” She felt no malice coming from the mysterious voice. She hoped it was friendly, whatever it was.

A crystalline giggle. “Follow me, children.”

The illusion faded and the light left the room, all but a single sparkling trail that glittered faintly and led out of the great chamber, through a door and up a flight of broken stairs. Celestia followed it.

“Are you sure about this?” Luna asked her.

“I have no idea!” Celestia tried to laugh, but it turned into a pained cough. She forced a grin through the pain. “This just feels right, doesn’t it?”

They followed the trail of light up the crumbling stairs, which were outside. They looked out into the blackness of the Everfree Forest. The sun really doesn’t shine here, Celestia thought. But then the light spread out before them in another vision.

The alicorn prince struggled against a band of phoenix warriors, which were carrying him in a dive. His amulet slipped from his neck and disappeared into the darkness. The firebirds dragged him into a bright light. Celestia’s eyes widened. She knew this place. It was where she was reborn in the afterlife, the well of light where the lives of creatures of every kind swam together and intermingled. There the alicorn prince was unmade—dissolved, the same way the unicorn filly that had been Celestia was dissolved—only… something was wrong. A shadow seeped into the light, soiling it. And when the alicorn prince was recast, he was not just a composite of the lives of pony and phoenix and creatures of light, but also of the twisted monsters that were born out of chaos, and the dark races of the Enemy. Dragon and gryphon and manticore. His eyes opened, and they gleamed red with a terrible hilarity.

“This is how it all began,” Celestia said.

“No,” said the voice. “It began long before this. Come and see.”

The illusion faded once more into the trail of light, which led them into a ruined tower, and a vast chamber. As they looked on, the chamber was transformed the same way the other one had been, restored to the splendor it must have had centuries ago. Only it was not a throne room. It appeared to be an observatory.

Two young mares stood before what looked like some kind of astronomical device. Both were unicorns. One had a coat of pale violet and a mane that was the color of an ocean wave. The other shimmered in various shades of pink and gold, like a walking sunset. They were talking about something, but their voices were silenced in the vision, so Celestia couldn’t hear what they were saying. They seemed to be very close, judging from their body language, as comfortable with one another as Celestia was with Luna. Celestia wished she could hear what they were talking about. Then, for the briefest of moments, the eyes of the violet unicorn left her friend’s face and she seemed to look right at Celestia. A smile touched her lips for an instant, then it was gone, and she was once again engrossed in her conversation with the golden unicorn.

Then the scene changed. The observatory fell away and open sky stretched out beyond. The unicorns that were just conversing so happily now faced one another in fury. Behind the violet unicorn was an army of phoenixes in golden armor. They stretched across the horizon like a sea of fire. The unicorn’s eyes glowed with white light. There were tears shining on her face as she yelled something at the other unicorn. The golden unicorn stood her ground, an army of ghosts and demons at her back.

The armies clashed and the vision exploded in a light so bright that Celestia had to shut her eyes. Then the illusion was gone. The tower chamber was once again an empty ruin. Celestia and her friends were quiet.

“Who were they?” Celestia asked at last.

“Friends,” the voice answered. “But their time is long past. This is your hour, and the power of friendship. Welcome, children of Harmony.”

Celestia squinted as bright beams of colored light surrounded them. The rainbow spectrum converged at five different places in the chamber, and bent to reveal what looked like ponies made out of pure white light. They were too bright to look at directly. They surrounded Celestia and her friends.

“Wh-Who are you?” Celestia asked.

“You should know. You have searched for us,” said one of the pony-shaped lights. It wasn’t the same voice as the one that had led them here. It had the same warmth, but it was richer somehow, like flowing water. “We are the spirits of the Elements of Harmony. And we have been waiting for you for a long time.”

“You’ve been waiting for us? Why?”

“We are mere shadows of friendship’s power. To show the world the magic of friendship, to bring Harmony back to the land, we require living champions. Only hearts forged in friendship and chosen by Harmony can wield our power. You have been chosen because the five of you represent the five Elements of Harmony.”

“C-Can it be? The Elements of Harmony…” Page breathed.

“Yes,” said one of the voices. “You, Page Sparkle, who are always searching diligently for the truth, and are unafraid to find it in unexpected places, whose friends trusted your words enough to follow you into the darkest place in all the land, represent the Element of Honesty.”

The pony-shaped light floated toward the trembling blue unicorn filly, who clamped her eyes shut behind her glasses. When it touched her, the light melted into her and wrapped around her like a cloak, lifting her off the floor. Page gasped as the light narrowed into a single shining band around her neck, then faded, revealing a golden necklace with a jeweled pendant shaped like her own glittery cutie mark. She floated back down to the floor, breathless with wonder.

“And you, Victory Song,” another of the voices said, “whose devotion to your princess is unmatched, who would brave the scorn of your own kind to hold onto a friendship with a pony from another tribe, represent the Element of Loyalty.”

The light swept the little earth pony off her hooves and claimed her the same way that the other light had claimed Page. Victory glanced back at Celestia, smiling, eyes brimming with tears.

“Wind Chime,” said a voice. It was the same high, musical voice that had led them here. “You were born as one of our Enemy’s children, doomed to feed upon hatred and never know happiness, but for the sake of friendship you have come out of the darkness and into joy. You whose sadness has been broken forever represent the Element of Laughter.”

When the spirit of Harmony melted into Wind Chime’s ghostly form, the windigo’s light turned from a cold blue to a burning gold. And even when it passed, and the white-gold light faded into a necklace just like Page’s and Victory’s, the blue of Wind Chime’s form didn’t look as cold as it used to.

“Dear Luna,” said a voice like falling rain, “so gentle and full of love, always willing to show mercy, and never to do harm, represents the Element of Kindness.”

The young alicorn almost seemed surprised to hear her name. Celestia watched as soft light pulsed through her sister’s entire body, down to the point of each feather, then gathered around her neck like the others, forming a moon-shaped pendant.

“And Celestia,” said the last voice. It reminded Celestia of a phoenix’s voice, full of fiery life. “The one who is willing, time after time, to sacrifice her own life, in half or in full, for the sake of her friends, who would give anything and everything to protect the ones she loves… you represent the Element of Generosity.”

The pain left Celestia as soon as the light touched her. Her whole body filled with warmth and she felt the deep wounds of the ice blades healed. This is the power of Harmony, she thought. It’s even stronger than the power Luna and I touched in the monster village. Her Element solidified around her throat, the emblem of her own sun glowing like an ember.

I’m wielding one of the Elements of Harmony! The thought trumpeted inside Celestia’s mind. And so are my friends. Why, together we can confront Discord! We can… Her smile faded a little. Something wasn’t quite right. This was… amazing… wonderful even, but it wasn’t perfect. Something was missing.

“Wait…” she said aloud.

“What is it?” Luna asked.

“Page, do you remember that poem? The one about the Elements of Harmony that you read to me when we first met?”

“Yes. Of course I do.”

“It said that five Elements weren’t enough.”

“I…” Page frowned. “You’re right.” She cocked her head quizzically. “What does that mean? There are only five of us.”

“I think there’s a sixth Element.” Celestia looked upward. The lights were gone, turned into the jeweled necklaces they wore, but she had a feeling that the spirits of Harmony were still around, somewhere. She addressed them: “Am I right?”

For a moment there was silence. Then a voice filled the ruined observatory, “Five Elements are found. One remains lost…”

“But five Elements aren’t enough to bring true Harmony back to Equestria! We need all the Elements of Harmony! Are there really six of you?”

A sorrowful voice answered. “Once… we were seven.”

“Seven?!” Celestia could hardly believe it. The elation she felt when the power of Generosity was transferred to her was fading fast. “I… thought you were waiting for us! I thought this was meant to be!”

“We have been waiting for you. One of us waits still. And the other… she does not wait, but hunts for her own chosen one.”

“What?”

“Seven spirits of Harmony. So it was when the world was young. Then the Dark came and the Light was broken. And one of us fell.”

“Fell? What do you mean, fell?” A horrible suspicion was forming in Celestia’s mind.

“Dreams… the last Element of Harmony, the one who was meant to give friends hope for the future… she fell and became something else.”

Celestia’s heart was beating very fast. “The Nightmare. You are talking about the Nightmare. Cauchemar. The thing that tried to steal Luna from me, the Arch-Enemy of Friendship… she’s an Element of Harmony?!”

“No. She is not that. Not anymore. She is absolute darkness, our opposite. The Enemy.”

Celestia slumped to the ground. “The battles we saw… the War… how long has it lasted?”

“Ages. We choose our champions, and she chooses hers.”

“So she can choose anypony?”

“No. The Dark Element must choose a bearer that represents her in full, the same as we. Only a noble soul, fallen to the darkness, can bring her power into the world.”

“Like she did with that alicorn prince.” And she tried to do with me and Luna. A chill ran down Celestia’s spine. Then her terror turned to anger. “What about this other Element of Harmony?”

“Our lost sister. She waits for her chosen one.”

“What do you mean? The world must be full of ponies that have the qualities we do. One of them must represent… what is the last Element, anyway?”

“The one that binds all the others together: Magic.”

“Magic…” Celestia whispered. Friendship is magic. “She’s the one we need.”

“She is lost…”

“No!” Celestia stood to her hooves. “You were lost and we found you. If there’s another Element then she’s here. She can hear me. We need her.”

“She is beyond our reach.”

“I don’t care! We came all this way, we suffered and trusted and loved, we defied the Enemy. We need her. I know you can hear me, Magic! I demand to speak to you! If you really are an Element of friendship, if you really care that this world’s magic is being twisted, then show yourself!”

“Um, Celestia…” Wind Chime said. Her pendant started to glow. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea…”

The jewels in the Elements of Harmony all started to shine with light. The light leapt from one necklace to another like electricity, forming an incandescent circle. In the center of that circle stood Celestia. Her friends tried to step backward, or face away from her, but the power surging through their Elements held them in place.

Then the power discharged, like a spell from a unicorn’s horn, four rays of colored light converged on Celestia, and reacted with her own Element. She was lifted bodily from the floor, a halo of blazing light all around her. The power exploded, scorching the ground and throwing her friends backward.

And Celestia was gone.

Where am I?

“Welcome, Princess,” said a voice. It was calm and sad and hummed with gentle power.

Celestia felt something soft and warm under her body. She opened her eyes and found that she was lying on what looked like stars, thousands of them, all spread out under her hooves like flowers in some kind of celestial meadow. Slowly she stood up, the lights bearing her weight, and looked around.

It was like being inside the night sky instead of under it. The clouds that loomed over her head were actually colorful nebulae. Shining galaxies spun in the distance, and occasionally a star came loose. These glowing stars drifted through the air like summer leaves. And between all the lights of the night sky was the night itself, the inky darkness that roiled between the stars. Celestia had never seen anything like that blackness, but it reminded her of the way Luna described the place she went when she traveled into ponies’ dreams.

“Is this… the Dreamscape?”

“No, Celestia. This is not a place the darkness could ever enter.”

Celestia looked around, but there was nopony. “Are you… Magic?”

“The weakest and mightiest of the Elements of Harmony.”

“I…” Celestia’s mouth was suddenly dry and her legs wobbled under her. Magic! She was talking to Magic itself! Awe settled over her. She remembered the long hours she had studied under Starswirl, trying in vain to grasp the edges of that indefinable power. And here she was, still reaching for it. “We need you…” There was more she could say, but she got the feeling that the Element was already aware of it. A plea for help was enough. It was what she came here, wherever here was, to say.

“I have watched you for a long time, little one,” the voice of Magic said. “And I am not the only one... Always you have proven yourself a lover of friendship. Of course I will help you—I have already lent you my aid more than once. Just remember, my power belongs to those who cherish friendship. But I cannot return to your world. Not yet.”

“Why not?” Celestia whined, her hopes fading. She didn’t mean to sound so petulant, but her realm was falling apart. The reverence she felt for Magic was drowned in the suffering of her subjects. “There’s lots of ponies who cherish friendship. Why are you the only Element with no bearer?”

There was silence. Then the voice whispered, “I have a bearer.”

“You do?”

“I have felt her presence across time. The one who is friendship. Whose heart will call me by name when she stands before Harmony’s Enemy.”

Sudden emotion filled Celestia’s chest and she fought tears. “And there’s nopony else?”

“None. Only one shall stand between the darkness and the light, and call them friends. You must find her.”

That shook Celestia in her disappointment. “What?! Why me? How would I know the difference between the one who is friendship and all the other ponies that care about their friends?”

“She will be weak. Unless the light of friendship shines on her, then she will be magic incarnate.”

Celestia’s ears drooped. “You know… it’s strange, but I feel jealous of her,” she admitted.

“Celestia…”

“When I first learned about Harmony, and the kind of magic that comes from friendship… I wanted to be the one to know you—Magic—better than anypony. Then when I found Luna, I thought I did. I didn’t think it was possible to know friendship better than I know it with her…” She shook her head slowly. “I never even imagined being chosen to bear one of the Elements of Harmony. And now I’m jealous of some mystery pony because she’s been chosen by the one I wanted without even knowing it.”

“Oh, my precious little pony… you will know friendship deeper than you can imagine…”

With the back of one hoof, Celestia dried her eyes. “If I can’t be the one to carry your power, can you at least lend it to us when we face Discord?”

“My power will always be with true friends. Speaking of which, it is time for you to return to yours. They wait for you. And I will restore what Discord has stolen from you… so much as I can.”

“You mean… I will be an alicorn again?” Fresh hope bloomed within her.

“I can restore as much of your power as you lost, but not what you gave to your sister when you claimed her. That was an act of friendship, and my power cannot undo it.”

I wouldn’t want you to, Celestia thought. “Thank you…”

“You will always be welcome in my realm, Princess.”

With those words Celestia felt her body lift off of the starry ground. Suspended in the air, she started to glow like the stars. Layer after layer of warm light wrapped itself around her, like a cocoon. Then the cocoon broke open in a dazzling flash.

And Celestia was gone.

Magic, the last Element of Harmony, waited alone in her starry realm. For ages she had waited here, and would wait for centuries more. She let her power drift along the current of time. Windows opened up in the air, showing scenes from the past and the future: two unicorns stargazing on the eve of a magical experiment… a dashing prince and his four friends leading a company of ponies against an army of the dead… a little unicorn filly dying of malnutrition on the streets of Canterlot, until a kind old wizard stopped and asked her if she would like to come home with him… a blue unicorn with glasses reading a book she shouldn’t… Celestia facing another alicorn, one as black as night…

Celestia… she appeared in so many of the windows showing things yet to come… Magic looked and saw her standing at the bedside of a friend that had grown old and was ready to die… she was talking to Starswirl the Bearded… she was with another friend, a silver unicorn who hasn’t even been born yet… and there she was, locked in combat with a changeling queen…

The future unfolded like the pages of a book. Magic could not see all of it, but she could see enough… until it happened, just as it always did: the Enemy’s shadow fell across the pages of time, and she could see no further. The darkness spread from page to page, window to window, devouring all it touched, swallowing the future.

“Be careful, my chosen one, whoever you are. And you too, Celestia, my unchosen. My sister is more powerful than you can imagine… but she is not more powerful than friendship.”

A star shone through the gloom surrounding Castle Twilight, its light falling on the broken stones, the first celestial light to touch the ancient palace since the Nightmare’s evil forest swallowed it centuries ago. Like a diving falcon, the star fell from the heavens, blazing pure white with rainbow-colored gleams. Then it slowed its decent, breaking through the darkness that had settled over the castle and drenching its towers with light.

Four little ponies looked up and marveled as the star alighted in the arched doorway of the observatory. The light faded and they stared at Princess Celestia, who beamed at them the way the sun does, warm and glorious.

“Um… was I gone long?”

For a moment nopony said anything, then all of them started talking at once: “Princess, your wings!” “Sister, where were you?! I thought you were…” “You had us scared, Princess…” “Celestia, what happened?”

Celestia blinked and flexed her wings. They were back! Did that mean…? She tried a simple spell on her friends… It worked! They were surrounded with the golden glow of her magic and yanked toward her, where she gathered the four of them in a fierce hug, wrapping her restored wings around them as far as they would go.

“I’m sorry if I worried you,” she said.

“Where did you go?” Luna asked.

“I… I’m not sure, myself,” Celestia said. “I talked with the last Element of Harmony.”

“And?” Wind Chime asked. She was fidgeting in Celestia’s embrace, clearly not used to being hugged. “What did she say?”

A single sentence burned in Celestia’s mind: My power will always be with true friends. The princess smiled. “She told me I have everything I need to defeat Discord and save Equestria right here.”