Hoofsteps echoed around the eerily silent, dark, stone structured lands of Tartarus. With the three headed, great black dog known as Cerberus silenced, Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra simply walked up the stone steps, the very stone crumbling and cracking beneath their weight. Evil, twisted smiles were plastered on their faces as they laughed maniacally. The only other sound was a heavy, ragged breathing coming from just head of them.
Climbing up the final few steps, the pair made their way over to a glowing light blue circle in the center of the middle stone structure. There on the circle, was a large cage with a shrunken, red and black centaur.
"Lord Tirek," Said Queen Chrysalis.
The shriveled centaur turned, facing the changeling Queen and dark unicorn King. He took in the sight of the two of them, staring at them with his beady yellow eyes that shone creepily in the pools of black that surrounded them.
"Chrysalis, Sombra," Tirek spoke, his voice hoarse and strained. "How long it's been. I was beginning to think you had both perished."
"No, we're very much alive." Sombra assured him, laughing a cold, evil laugh. "And strong. Tirek, the three of us are all formable foes but together we can conquer Equestria."
"Keep talking." Tirek commanded.
"We were meant to rule over Equestria, Tirek." Said Queen Chrysalis. "Join us, and we will bring those ponies to their knees."
"Say no more." Said Tirek, narrowing his eyes. "I'm in."
"Excellent."
And with that Queen Chrysalis shot a green beam of magic from her horn, followed by King Sombra with his bubbling, dark magic. With a series of sizzling sounds, the bars of the silver, metal cage melted away, leaving a glowing orange hole in the bars. Tirek then stepped out of the cage, emerging from his prison to stand alongside the other two.
"Equestria shall fall and we shall rise once again!" Tirek cried. "It's time for us to take back what was rightfully ours!"
.......
Princess Celestia shot up in bed, drawing the covers in close to her chest as she let out a gasp. Practically breathless, the Princess took in large gulps of air, her eyes wide and wild. She felt as if there were a knot in her throat and there was a sickening feeling in her stomach. Beads of cold sweat had formed on her white coat and began rolling down her face. Heart still pounding, she leaned against her headboard, letting out an exhausted sigh.
Suddenly, the double doors to her bedroom burst open, revealing a composed, but obviously concerned Princess Luna. Her posture displayed the usual formal feel she gave off, but her blue eyes were just as wild as Celestia's. On her left was a pegasus guard with a white coat, and on her right was a gray bat pony with amber eyes. Both royal guards were clad in armor, ready to fight a possible intruder.
"Sister!" Luna exclaimed. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, Luna." Celestia assured her. "May I speak with you for a moment?"
"Leave us please." Luna commanded, putting up a hoof, signaling the guards to take their leave.
After the guards left and their hoofsteps had long died away Celesta slid out of bed. As her hooves touched down on the floor Luna approached her older sister.
"T'was is a vision, sister?" Luna asked, putting a hoof to her chin.
"Yes Luna, I'm afraid so. It was clearly no dream." Celestia responded.
"I knew I felt a disturbance in your dream. However, I was helping somepony else with theirs so I'm afraid you will have to fill me in on your vision."
"Luna, I'm afraid the King Sombra issue is worse than we feared. He isn't acting alone. He has Queen Chrysalis and Tirek on his side."
"An allegiance between Equestrian foes is unprecedented! How are we to handle this?"
"I don't know what's going to happen. But one thing is for sure, we have to find the bearers of the Elements of Wilderness, and fast. Otherwise, Equestria will surely suffer."
.....
The four alicorn Princesses each sat in a throne gathered around the cutie map. Twilight sat in her throne, Celestia in Rainbow Dash's, Luna in Pinkie's, and Cadence in Rarity's. Each of them deep in concentration, they looked to each other seriously.
"This vision of yours, Princess Celestia, sure is unnerving. But I suppose it also serves as a wakeup call to us." Said Princess Cadence, putting a hoof on the cutie map.
"Yes, I agree. We have to take action!" Twilight agreed.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Twilight Sparkle." Said Princess Luna, shaking her head sadly. "You see, we have yet to locate any other possible bearers of the Elements of Wilderness. And I fear time may not be on our side."
"That's precisely what I wanted to speak to you about!" Cadence broke in, speaking excitedly despite the topic of conversation.
"You've found possible bearers?" Princess Celestia asked, brightening ever so slightly at the thought.
"Yes! Well, one. His name is Geode. Shining Armor and I believe he could be the Earth element."
"What makes you so certain?"
"His skill with minerals, growing crystals, and finding gems of all sorts are unparalleled. He can grow crystals with simply his bear hooves! No unicorn magic required."
"He doesn't use unicorn magic?!" Twilight questioned, flabbergasted at Cadence's description.
"No, he's an Earth pony." Cadence responded. "I suppose it's fitting and all. However, I was just as surprised as you Twilight."
"He must be the bearer! His power relates directly to the Element of Earth!"
"But the Elements of Nature, Water, and Fire still remain. We must find them and put everypony on the right track."
"Yes, but perhaps we should start to push the ones we know of in the right direction while we keep searching." Princess Luna suggested.
"I couldn't agree more Luna." Princess Celestia agreed with a firm nod in her sister's direction.
"Princesses, I've been reading about the elements lately and I came across something that could cause some trouble..." Twilight brought up, trailing off at the end rather worriedly.
"What is it, Twilight?" Cadence asked, now watching Twilight with concern.
"When I was reading 'The Elements of Wilderness: A reference guide' it said something about how the elements could be dangerous." Said Twilight.
"Dangerous?" Luna repeated. "How so?"
"With all the raw power residing in the bearers of the elements somepony could get seriously hurt! Combining both the power from the elements and the bearers themselves could lead to a catastrophe!"
"Somepony could get hurt? We can't let that happen. However, are you implying that the power doesn't come from the elements themselves?" Cadence questioned, leaning forward ever so slightly.
"Yes! According to what I've read the elements don't give the bearers power, rather they multiply the power each of them already have and make it possible to combine and even fuse their magic." Twilight explained. "All of this is actually making me worried. What kind of leaders are we if we allow our citizens to get hurt?"
"My dearest Twilight," Celestia prompted, turning to her former student. "I understand your concern, but you must understand that we have no other option. I don't want anything bad to happen either, but for now it looks as if we may have to run that risk."
"I... I understand, Princess."
"Now that we know of at least three candidates for the bearers, we should come up with a way for them to meet. But they mustn't know of our intentions."
"Or our involvement." Luna chimed in.
"But why can't they know of our intentions?" Twilight asked. "I mean, I knew about the return of... Um..."
"It is alright, Twilight Sparkle. I am no longer Nightmare moon. Thanks to you and your friends, I have put that behind me." Princess Luna assured, nodding and giving Twilight a small smile. "You may continue."
"Well," Twilight continued. "My friends and I knew about the return of Nightmare Moon before we knew about us representing the Elements of Harmony. So, why can't they know about what's going on?"
"When you and your friends first met, you had the time to at least have proper introductions before they learned about the 'mare in the moon' as well. I fear suddenly telling them what they are could send them into a state of panic, or even disbelief." Princess Celestia explained. "Besides, Nightmare Moon was only one foe to handle, handing three on the other hoof, I'm afraid will certainly be cause for alarm."
"I can see you're reasoning behind this, however don't you think Twilight also has sound reasoning? I mean, in her case at least one of them had an idea of what was going on." Cadence brought up. "If we're going to push them in the right direction, shouldn't we supply their supposed leader with an idea of the task at hoof? If so, how would we do that in a way that is subtle? And even if we decided that's not in Equestria's best interest, how would we allow our bearers to meet?"
Cadence's sudden array of questions left everypony stumped. Yes, they were the right questions to be asking at the moment, but everything about these questions left the three other Princesses dumbstruck. The three stared at the pink alicorn, slack-jawed with eyes widened.
"Perhaps you are right. Forgive my ignorance." Celestia apologized, sighing in defeat. "I will allow you to push Winter Frost in the right direction. However, do be careful of how you do so Twilight."
"Yes Princess." Said Twilight, giving her a firm nod.
"If nothing else comes out of this meeting at least we shall all leave this room knowing that even though our enemy may have three on their side, we do as well." Princesses Luna told. "Cadence, Twilight Sparkle, keep us posted with your findings on the matters discussed. Good day to you both."
And with those final words, the Princesses dispersed.
AN: So what did everypony think of the chapter? I apologize for not updating for a while. I had a bit of writer's block plus my life has been very busy lately. Also, I apologize for the chapter being shorter than usual. However, I feel like it got the point across and I did my best to write a well written chapter. Let me know your thoughts, but just please do not be rude.