FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ch 17. Power of Friendship

A black cloud of smoke flew in through the shattered window into the throne room, and transformed back into King Sombra, landing on the marble floor. He saw Queen Chrysalis, no longer attached to her ovipositor, standing there levitating two ponies over her head with her magic, Prince Blueblood, and Lightning Dust."My love, are you alright?" the unicorn king asked the Changeling queen."Just fine," Chrysalis said to him with a grin. "These two tried to steel the elements, but they soon found out I am not to be underestimated."Sombra breathed a sigh of relief just as the rest of the Changeling swarm flew in through the shattered window, followed shortly by two giant rock hands. The hands opened, dropping Trixie, Gilda, Jet Set, Upper Crust, Dumbbell, Hoops, Score, Flim, Flam, and Iron Will onto the floor in a heap.The group grunted as they landed on the hard marble floor. They looked up, as they lay there, at Sombra and Chrysalis towering over them, and Blueblood and Lightning Dust being levitated in the Changeling Queen's magic. It didn't take a genius to tell that they had been unsuccessful.Chrysalis dropped Blueblood and Lightning Dust onto the floor over with the others and then levitated the elements off of Lightning Dust back over to her side."Are you guys okay?" Hoops asked everyone."No," grunted Flam as he and the rest of them got to their feet. "We're all captured again."Jet Set looked over at Blueblood and Lightning Dust. "What happened?"Lightning Dust and Blueblood looked ashamed. "It didn't go as planned," Lightning Dust muttered.Queen Chrysalis stepped towards them and spoke. "Tell me, what exactly did you expect to accomplish by all this? You already found out the elements wont work for you, so why try to take them again?""We were going to try and get them to ponies who could use them," Iron Will grunted as he rubbed his arm, which he had fallen on and hurt.Chrysalis raised her eyebrows. "That's surprisingly noble of you lot." Then she looked at Blueblood. "Speaking of noble, what are you doing here? I thought your friends said that you had ran away?"Blueblood looked at his comrades as he answered. "I came back to help them.""Well this day has just been full of surprises," said Chrysalis."What shall we do with them, love?" Sombra asked her as he stepped up to her side.Chrysalis sighed and let the elements fall to the floor around her hooves. "Oh, lets just kill them and be done with it. I've got to get back to laying my army."The twelve group members lying on the floor gasped. They glanced around for a way to possibly escape, but there were too many Changelings surrounding them throughout the throne room, on the ground and in the air. There was no way out this time. They were going to die.Sombra and Chrysalis's horns began to glow with their magic, readying a killing spell."Well, guys, it was nice knowing you all," said Score.The feeling was mutual between them as they all responded to him with nods, and a few "Same here"'s. They all closed their eyes and braced themselves for what they knew was about to come.But much to their surprise, it never came."WHAT!?" they heard Chrysalis shout in confused shock.The group all peeked their eyes open a crack to see why they hadn't been killed yet, and could see a bright white light. They opened their eyes the rest of the way, and saw that the bright light was coming from the six Elements of Harmony down at Chrysalis's hooves."What's going on?" Upper Crust asked, raising her hoof to shield her eyes from the bright light.Everyone stared in awe as the six elements then floated up into the air, and hovered over above where the twelve adventurers were standing."HOW CAN THIS BE?!" Sombra exclaimed."IMPOSSIBLE!" Chrysalis shouted.The elements flashed another blinding burst of light, and then suddenly transformed back into their original sphere forms. Blueblood and the others suddenly felt a wave of energy flow into them. Their eyes began glowing with the same white light that the elements were giving off. They didn't know how or why, but they realized that the elements, for some reason, were obeying them now. They began to float up off the floor into the air, with the elements hovering in a circle around them. In that moment, it hit them that they now had the power they needed to defeat the Changelings and Sombra. They all turned their heads to glare down at the two evil monsters standing below them."NO!" shouted Chrysalis, realizing the deep trouble she was in. She turned and shoved a dumbfounded Sombra beside her with her body, knocking him to the floor. "OUT OF MY WAY!" she screamed as she flared her wings and began flying up towards the shattered window in an attempt to escape.But the ten ponies, griffon, and minotaur had no intention of allowing that."TASTE THE RAINBOW, MOTHER BUCKERS!" they all shouted in unison.In that instant, a circular blast of all the colors of the rainbow shot out from the elements in every direction, sending all the Changelings, Sombra, and Chrysalis all hurtling backwards. Chrysalis was knocked out of the air by the blast and sent plummeting into a wall face first.The rainbow wave passed through the castle walls, shattering the rest of throne room's windows as it did so, and kept going outside the castle, striking Sombra's three giant rock creatures, which then instantly crumbled and collapsed into piles of rubble.Back inside the castle, the rainbow light from the elements flooded all throughout the throne room. One by one, every one of the Changelings let out blood curdling screeches as the harmony blasts hit them, causing their bodies to shrivel up and crumble into little piles of dust on the floor.Sombra screamed in agony as he felt his entire body being turned to stone by the rainbow light hitting him. His screaming only ended when his head completely turned to stone along with the rest of his body, leaving only a statue of him where he had been standing.And Chrysalis shrieked as the rainbow light swirled around her, her body drying up and shriveling into a brittle shell. Finally, her legs gave out from under her and she collapsed to the marble floor, her body shattering into dust upon impact.The rainbow light from the element continued to flow out over all of Equestria, lighting up the night like the day, and destroying all of Chrysalis's and Sombra's monsters, and freeing everypony who had been captured by them.Finally, back in the throne room, once all else in the world had been set right, the elements set to work fixing the one last thing that needed fixed. One last rainbow blast from the elements began to swirl around the crystal statues of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Cadence, Captain Shining Armor, and Spike. The black crystal statues began to crack all over, and in a few seconds, shattered into a million pieces, revealing the royals, the element bearers, and the baby dragon, all alive and back to their normal selves, but with utterly confused looks on their faces. It didn't take them long, however, to notice the group of twelve individuals floating in the middle of the room, wielding the Elements of Harmony.The enemy defeated, Blueblood and the others descended back down to the floor. Once their hooves made contact with the ground, their eyes stopped glowing as the power of the Elements of Harmony left them. The elements then transformed back into their necklace and crown forms, and fell down to the floor besides the twelve adventurers with a small clatter.They each gave a sigh of relief. It was finally over. Everything was finally set right. Then they looked over at the royals and the element bearers, who were staring at them all with their mouths agape.Hoops raised a hoof and gave them a small awkward wave. "Hi," he said, somewhat sheepishly."WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE!" Princess Celestia shouted, the first to break out of their stupor. She looked in horror at the shattered windows, and piles of gray dust all over the floor. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY THRONE ROOM!""You mean OUR throne room, right sis?" asked Luna."Quiet, Luna! This isn't about you!" Celestia snapped without looking at her.Luna grumbled in irritation."Wait, it's starting to come back to me," said Twilight as she rubbed her forehead. "I remember we were attacked by Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra... and then I blacked out.""Yeah, me too," said Shining Armor. The others all nodded in agreement."Don't worry. We took care of it," said Lightning Dust, pointing at the statue of Sombra and the piles of dust on the floor.They found themselves being stared at by wide, disbelieving eyes again."YOU GUYS DEFEATED THEM!?" shouted Rainbow Dash. "YOU!?""Yeah! We did!" said Dumbbell."I don't believe it," said Rarity, shaking her head in disbelief."Me neither!" said Applejack."But they were using the elements!" said Cadence. "We all saw them using them just now!""But how is that possible?" exclaimed Twilight. She turned back to the twelve individuals standing in the middle of the room. "How were any of you able to use the Elements of Harmony?"They all looked at each other and shrugged. "To be honest, we don't know," said Trixie."Yeah, they didn't work before when we tried them," said Hoops."Perhaps I can explain!"Their was a flash of white light as suddenly Discord appeared in their midst. "Hello again," he said with a wave to them all.Everyone turned to face the Draconaquis."Discord!" exclaimed Lightning Dust. "We didn't think we'd see you again.""In fact, some of us HOPED we'd never see you again," added Jet Set."Well, you can't keep a good eternal lord of chaos down, can you?" said Discord with a smirk."Well thanks for nothing," said Blueblood, a scowl now on his face. "Do you have any idea what we went through to save the day, even though you could have just snapped your fingers and fixed everything in an instant?"Discord put his hands on his hips in annoyance. "I told you, there are rules I have to follow! Besides, I'll have you know that I DID help out a bit. I went and found something I that I believe belongs to you. Tell me, do you know who this is?" He stepped to the side, revealing a pony dressed in a white hooded robe behind him. The pony pulled off the hood, revealing a woozy looking white pegasus, who they all recognized at once."SURPRISE!" Blueblood shouted as he ran over to her and pulled her into an embrace. "Surprise, are you okay? I'm so sorry for what happened to you! The Changelings didn't hurt you, did they?" Blueblood released Surprise from his embrace to face her. She just looked back at Blueblood in confusion."Um... who are you?" she asked.Blueblood's ears fell. "Surprise, don't you know me?"Just then, Discord spoke. "Yeah, she seems to have a bit of amnesia," he explained. "But don't worry, I'm sure the magic of friendship will help her to remember in no time.""Discord says you all risked your lives to save the world!" said Surprise. "Why would you do that? Its... not logical.""Because, Surprise," began Hoops, "the needs of the plot outweigh the needs of the logic. Hey, I AM good at this!""Come on, Surprise, try to remember," said Blueblood.Surprise scratched her head in thought. "Remember... remember..." Then she looked at Blueblood and smiled. "Nightshade!" she said.Blueblood frowned at her in confusion."Your name is Nightshade, from the G1 series!" continued Surprise.Discord laughed. "Close enough," he said with a shrug.After a few seconds, Blueblood also shrugged and simply patted Surprise on her shoulder, welcoming her back."But I still don't understand," Trixie suddenly spoke up. "Why did the Elements of Harmony work for us this time, and not before?"Discord smiled. "Simple. Because you were all only fighting for your own selfish reasons before, and you all weren't truly united by friendship. But once you started fighting for the right reasons, and embraced each other's friendship, only then did the Elements of Harmony allow you to wield them. After all, the elements choose their bearers, not the other way around.""Oh brother," groaned Gilda. "I think I'm gonna barf.""So are you saying that... these guys aren't meanies anymore?" asked Pinkie Pie."Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Discord with a snicker.Princess Celestia then began to speak. "But I do believe they have all learned a valuable lesson or two," the royal alicorn said as she looked down at the twelve new heroes with a warm smile. "I am very proud of all of you, especially you, nephew. You've all managed to rise above yourselves and become something greater than any of you thought you could. I believe we and all of Equestria owe you our thanks."All of them, especially Trixie, felt ecstatic that they were receiving praise from the ruler of Equestria."Guys, do you realize what this means?" said Dumbbell suddenly. "We're heroes!"They realized he was right, and they all felt like they were going to explode with joy and pride at that moment. They all cheered, high fiving each other and patting each other on the backs.Blueblood then turned back to Celestia. "Auntie?" he asked.Celestia looked down at him. "Yes, Nephew?""Does this mean I'm no longer cut off from the family fortune?"Celestia's smile faltered a bit and she gave him an inquisitive look. "We'll see, nephew," she responded, "after you've proven to me just how much you've learned.""Well I think he's learned a lot... your majesty," said Lightning Dust to Celestia, quickly bowing her head when she remembered who she was talking to.Blueblood looked back at Lightning Dust. "Thank you," he said appreciatively."Don't mention it," she said.Suddenly, there was a flash of pink as Pinkie Pie zoomed over and grabbed Gilda in a tight hug."YAY!" squealed Pinkie Pie. "THIS MEANS WE CAN ALL BE FRIENDS NOW!""Oh gosh, no!" groaned Gilda, pushing back against the pink pony with all her strength until she finally managed to pry her off of her, pushing her away.Pinkie Pie then simply began hoping up and down around the room. "You know what this calls for? A PARTY! But not just any party! A BIG, STUPENDUS, SPECTACULAR, SUPER-DOOPER, FRIENDSHIP PARTY!"Pinkie Pie was so busy hopping and talking that she didn't notice the group of new heroes along with Surprise begin walking towards the double doors at the back to the room."Hey, where are you all going?!" asked Twilight when she spotted them walking away.They stopped and looked back at the purple mare. "Look, if you guys are gonna start one of your lame friendship speeches, or sing a song about that crap, we're out of here!" said Gilda. "Lets go, guys." And with that, they walked out through the double doors, out of the throne room.Twilight and her friends watched them all leave with blank expressions on their faces. They looked up at Princess Celestia, who looked back down at them and shrugged."I guess some things never change," Celestia said with a small smile. Twilight and her friends all nodded up at the Princess and then giggled amongst themselves in agreement."Oh well, I suppose we should figure out what to do with Sombra's statue," said Celestia."Well just put it out in the garden where I used to be," said Discord, "completely out in the open where absolutely anyone could walk up to it, instead of locking it up somewhere safe and secure, which would be the smart and obvious thing to do."Celestia glared at Discord. "You're mocking me, aren't you?"Discord laughed. "Well, I can't help it, my dear. You just make it so easy.""HA!" laughed Luna, pointing a hoof at her sister......................................................"So what should we do now?" asked Flim as they were walking down the corridor of the castle towards the exit."Well, I think we should celebrate our victory," said Lightning Dust. "After all, we did just save the world.""Well, our house isn't to far away," said Jet Set. "And we have an open bar in our basement."They all stopped walking and looked at each other with smiles."You all thinking what I'm thinking?" said Gilda."BIG, LOW-BUDGET, VICTORY COKE PARTY!" declared Blueblood.They all cheered in agreement and then rushed down the corridor out of the castle, and then headed to Jet Set and Upper Crust's house......................................................A half hour later, they were all down in Jet Set and Upper Crust's basement, which was actually quite nicely decorated into a social area with chairs, couches, fancy pillows, a small, simple chandelier, a few plants, and of course, an open bar. Music was blaring, and they were all gathered around in a circle, holding their drinks."Here's to our victory," said Blueblood as he held up his glass with his magic."And to our friendship," added Surprise beside him, holding up her mug with her hoof."... Yes. And to our friendship," said Blueblood with a slight roll of his eyes.They all clinked their glasses together and took a drink. Gilda and Iron Will downed their big mugs in one go and quickly hurried to go refill them."It's just too bad we didn't get the goblet though," said Flam after they had finished their toast."Eh, we probably would have just ended up fighting over it anyway," said Score."You're probably right," said Flam."And plus, who would really want to live forever anyway?" said Hoops. "I bet life would get pretty boring after a while.""Speak for yourself," said Lightning Dust.Just then Surprise pointed at her with her hoof. "Your name's... Firefly!? Am I right?""Keep guessing," said Lightning Dust, walking off to refill her glass along with Gilda and Iron Will.As the party went on, some of them went to go dance or just hang and chat. Gilda, Iron Will, and Lightning Dust were starting a drinking game, Jet Set and Upper Crust were making out on the couch, Surprise and Hoops seemed to be hitting it off on the dance floor, and Blueblood and Trixie were off to the side talking to each other near a potted plant in a corner."I really like that plant in the corner," said Blueblood to Trixie."Yeah, it really ties the room together," she said in agreement. "So how does it feel to be a hero now?"Blueblood thought for a moment. "Pretty good," he said. "Yourself?""Same here.""You all did very well in the end," said an unknown voice behind them.Blueblood and Trixie looked behind them and gasped when they saw the ghostly image of Starswirl the bearded standing in a corner of the room in the shadows."I knew you had it in you," the ghost spoke again."Starswirl the bearded!" Trixie gasped. "But... you're dead!""Indeed I am," he said, gesturing to his transparent ghost form."We're sorry," said Blueblood sadly."Don't be," said Starswirl. "I should have been dead centuries ago. All things have their time in this world, and when their time is over, they must move on to make way for new things. Even the Princesses of the day and the night, ancient though they may be, cannot live forever.""Oh," was all Blueblood and Trixie could say to the ghost.Starswirl continued. "With Sombra at last defeated, my greatest failure has finally been corrected, and I can at last rest in peace, but your stories have just begun, so make them good ones while you can."Blueblood and Trixie both nodded to him."Well... goodbye," he said. And with that, Starswirl began to fade away."Wait, Starswirl!" said Blueblood. "What is the afterlife like?"Starswirl smiled. "Oh, if I were to tell you that, it would spoil the surprise," he said as he finally faded into nothing.Blueblood and Trixie looked at each other."Well that was certainly weird," said Blueblood."After all we've been through, I don't even know what weird is anymore," said Trixie.Suddenly some slower music came on. Blueblood looked at Trixie with a smile."Would you care to dance?" he asked her, holding out his hoof to her.Trixie thought for a second, and then she smiled and shrugged. "What the heck." She downed the rest of her drink and she and Blueblood walked over to the dance floor.They all partied the entire rest of the night. They had set out on their adventure looking for treasure, and in the end, they did find treasure. It just wasn't the treasure they had been expecting. The treasure they found... was friendship. And even though none of them knew it then, their lives were going to be a lot better from then on. Epilogue

They found Starswirl's body in the Everfree Forest and brought it back to Canterlot to give him a proper funeral. Over half of Equestria was there to say goodbye to one of the greatest sorcerers in history. It was a very beautiful funeral.They cremated his body and then the princesses placed his ashes into a golden urn, and then used their magic to launch the urn into outer space, all while Pinkie Pie played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.The next day, Prince Blueblood, Trixie, Gilda, Lightning Dust, Dumbbell, Hoops, Score, Jet Set, Upper Crust, Flim, Flam, and Iron Will were each given metals of valor for saving the world in a ceremony just like the one where the mane six had been awarded for saving the world from Discord. Standing up in front of all those ponies as the princesses placed their metals around their necks was the greatest moment of their lives... so far.Celestia granted Blueblood his birthright back on the soul condition that he begin writing and sending her his own friendship reports like Twilight Sparkle had to, so as to ensure he was truly learning to better himself.Trixie, as a favor, was given the chance to be tutored in magic under Princess Luna. When offered the opportunity, Trixie squealed in glee and promised she would do anything for the princess if it meant learning advanced magic. Also, she and Blueblood eventually started dating.After hearing that she had helped save the world, Lightning Dust was allowed a second chance in the Wonderbolt academy, but Spitfire told her she would have to start from the very bottom, and they would be keeping a close eye on her. Lightning accepted the offer, and, deciding they wanted to do something with their lives, Gilda, Dumbbell, Hoops, and Score also signed up for the Wonderbolt academy.Flim and Flam decided that they should stop trying to take other ponies' hard earned apple orchards and decided to buckle down and work hard to grow their own. It took them years and a lot of honest hard work, but eventually it all paid off and they became successful apple cider brewers.Jet Set and Upper Crust went back to their normal lives and improve their social relations, remembering to speak their own opinions instead of just agreeing with whatever the popular ponies said. They soon found that a lot of ponies began liking them better because of it.Iron Will is still teaching ponies to stand up for themselves.The End