"Oh, er, hi girls," fumbles Twilight.

She's heard of the Elements before—everypony has—but this petrification power is new. The narrative of Discord's harsh and nonsensical rule is just one of many similar stories, of malevolent kings, queens, emperors, and monsters that had sunk their claws into Equestria before the Princesses's sheer power became quite so load-bearing. Ambient, lasting peace has persisted for so long now that these insurgents, though well-document, have mostly become foals' fables or spooky campfire tales. Nopony really doubts they're true, but nopony really thinks they're relevant to a kingdom as resilient and stable as theirs. Discord's is one she's never really looked into.

"Hi, Twilight! How are you?" says one of the three unicorn mares she's encountered en route to the library.

"I'm fine, Minuette. I was just enjoying a moment by the river," replies Twilight, her eyes suddenly struggling against the draw of her hooves.

Luna's story, however, is one Twilight knows well. It's easy; there's not much to know. The moon hung in the sky for far too long, then Celestia gave a speech, and that was that. Dumping responsibility for the moon onto Celestia's plate never seemed to burden her much; day and night continued exactly as ponies were accustomed to after the incident. The sun's long-awaited ascent marked Celestia's arrival, and fell back away a short 24 hours later, giving the ponies a longer day as meager compensation. She was probably always capable of controlling both bodies at once, anyway, but it did seem natural to cede the moon to somepony named Luna.

"Oh, that sounds great! It's a beautiful day, after all," says Twinkleshine.

"Eheh, yeah."

If Luna could command the moon, it doesn't make much sense to send her there and stop short of any further measure. Couldn't she wreak even more havoc, that close to the locus of her power? She supposes that some further form of neutralization must have been used, perhaps petrification again. Maybe somewhere on the surface of the moon there stands a grand statue of an Alicorn princess, rearing fiercely, face contorted into a grimace of realization and fear, maybe she was petrified from the hooves up, maybe she focused all her frantic energy into her horn, hoping to fudge a makeshift counterspell that would free her wings long enough to—

"Maybe I'll take a page out of your book and visit the river later," Twinkleshine tells her. She seems proud of using a reading-related pun on Twilight Sparkle. The sun looms in the distance over Twinkleshine's head, and Twilight finds it difficult to persuade her gaze to drift down to the faded pink mare speaking.

How much of Celestia's power do the Elements contribute? An Alicorn would probably be tremendously powerful on her own—but to raise the sun, every day, always maintaining her distinctive royal poise—is that within their natural ability? That would be a simply catastrophic amount of power to have trotting around on four hooves without some mysterious artifact or other. But she had never heard of an Alicorn harboring the slightest of ill intent, aside from Luna's rebellion a thousand years ago. Even that week-long confrontation had not ended with the moon crashing to earth. Come to think of it, she had never heard of an Alicorn besides Celestia, Luna, and her old filly-sitter Cadance, who certainly never exhibited any power that rivaled even Twilight's during the time she knew her. But Cadance herself was a only a teenager at the time—who knows? The elder Princesses were quite obviously out of Cadance's league, but they also had a several thousand years' head start. Maybe the sheer magnitude of their magic came naturally to anypony with a horn who happened to live that long. Her Alicorn sample size was simply too small; she'd need to find a book. And maybe pick up Spiral Flare's review article, too. But that would have to be after attending to the most pressing curiosity: the Elements of Harmony.

"So, uh... what are you doing later today?" asks Minuette, one forehoof lightly scratching the other.

"Ah, I've got some studying to do," says Twilight, finding herself mimicking the pastel blue unicorn.

The Elements do seem like they would have been the perfect counter to Discord, sure. But Luna, who once wielded three of them herself? What, exactly, happened inside her head? Did living functionally alone so long twist her thoughts up into something darker? Did she know her demand for pony nightlife didn't make biological sense? Did she even realize that her subjects would starve to death under eternal night? Why did Celestia wait so long to banish her? If Celestia could have handled the moon all along, wouldn't she have been able to ease Luna's burden? Couldn't they have shared both responsibilities, letting Luna see the light of day and participate in pony society? Did Luna ask? Did Celestia say no?

"Oh, does the Princess have another task for you?" guesses Twinkleshine.

Twilight unscrunches her face. "Uh, nah."

"Are you writing another research paper?" Minuette ventures.

"Probably not. I just found something pretty interesting that I want to know a bit more about," says Twilight.

"That sounds a whole lot more like plain-old reading than studying to me," declares Minuette, smiling.

Twilight is asking the kinds of questions Celestia does not like to answer. Celestia is a friendly pony, and it's always been obvious that she cares deeply about each and every pony in her kingdom, including Twilight. She is, regarding everyday matters, surprisingly approachable, but she has always declined to comment on her sister, to anypony, as long as anypony can remember. Twilight realizes that she herself has never asked, although she can't imagine why it would really feel different to Celestia coming from her. Twilight is certainly closer to the Princess than most civilian ponies, having been her personal protégé at the Princess's School for Gifted Unicorns. But she's just a student. Maybe if she couches the questions as a report on the power of the Elements of Harmony...

The three unicorns blocking the road to the library are staring at her expectantly.

"Ah, what was that?" Twilight blinks.

"I said, Moon Dancer's hosting a get-together in the South Canterlot Garden today. Do you think you can make it?" says Twinkleshine.

"Um, I don't think so. I have a lot of reading ahead of me."

She wonders whether only the Elements could have defeated Discord, who seems almost a force of nature in his abilities and mystery. The essence of all that is good and harmonious to be found in the world, the only thing capable of scourging a source of chaos personified—it might be just poetic enough to be true, which may very well be a serious criterion for something as fuzzy and strange as the Elements. And maybe the Elements were the only nonlethal tool Celestia could find strong enough to overpower her mad sister, not having the resolve to destroy her.

Lemon Hearts, not having spoken up so far, took a couple of steps towards Twilight, who couldn't help but take a step back. A tiny, tiny step.

The Elements are so phenomenally powerful, but their story ends with Luna's, neither of them ever to be seen again. What sort of greatness could ponydom achieve, if only they were recovered? Were they destroyed in the final blast at Luna? Did the Princess seal them away somewhere, that she might not be tempted to undo her spell and free her sister, hoping for some kind of forgiveness and absolution? Are they just lying in the royal vault?

"Twilight..." whispers Lemon Hearts, meekly, slowly, as if she's afraid of pushing the wrong button. "Is today one of your bad days?"

Where are the Elements?

"Sorry, girls, I... really need to go." Twilight forces a tiny awkward bow and begins to trot away before anypony can reply.