My Little Pony: Friendship's a B%!@#

     The six ponies, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy stood at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. It may be called "forest" but it many parts it seemed more like a swamp. It looked very dark inside, the thickness of the forest blocking out much of the moonlight. Plant life grew as wildly as it wanted here, except along the pathway. The night-time forest seemed to had both a mystical beauty about it and an eerie aura giving off what could only be described as "pure spookiness".

     "Weee!!" Pinkie Pie hollered, "Let's go!"

     Nopony was eager to go except her. The rest entered with reluctance. With the exception of Pinkie Pie making noises at random, they mostly traveled in silence. They were on their way to the ancient castle within Everfree Forest, in hopes of finding the Elements of Harmony. Though Twilight had never been in the Everfree Forest before, she had ways of finding the castle.

     "So," Twilight started with a scared voice, "none of you have been in here before...?"

     Rarity seemed to be experiencing a little fear herself. "No! Heavens, no! Just look at it! It's dreadful!"

     "And it ain't natural," Applejack added. "Folks say it don't work the same as Equestria."

     The fear in Twilight's voice became more apparent. "W-what's that supposed to mean?!"

     Despite the fear in the air, the stroll through the forest was mostly uneventful. There were many animals in the forest, though they were mostly small and uninterested in the group. Twilight almost fell off a cliff due to unsafe footing, but she repeatedly teleported herself towards what was left of the cliff's edge until her hooves could reach it and take hold. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy helped her up get back up. Twilight bowed her head and thanked the girls for coming to her rescue. The fall seemed to have dispersed the fear they felt. Applejack was surprised by Twilight's resourcefulness but she didn't let it overwhelm her.

     "Damn. I had no idea you could do that, Twilight. That was amazing."

     After the compliment, Twilight had great pride in her stride. She was feeling pretty good about herself. When nopony was looking, Applejack smacked Twilight on the plot. She gasped sharply and hopped forward awkwardly, shocked. The others turned to her, wondering about her odd behavior. She turned her head away from them, immediately blushing bright red; she knew only one pony could've done it.

     "I'm fine! Just lost my balance," she said, laughing nervously.

     They seemed to accept it and continue on. She turned to take a look towards the offender, Applejack, who blew a kiss her way and grinned seductively. She turned to face the front again and held her head down, blushing an even brighter shade of red. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to hide her embarrassment this time. Dammit!, Twilight thought, why is she doing this to me right now?? They still had quite a bit of ways to go.

     "Aaaaahhh!!" Rarity screamed. Everypony became alert.

     "What's wrong, Rarity??" Twilight said with great urgency.

     "I have mud in my mane!" she cried dramatically.

     "Ah, fer fuck's sake..." Applejack said, sighing. "Hun, we thought somethin got you! Don't yell out like that if yall don't sense danger."

     Still, Rarity was very distressed.

     Twilight sighed. "We'll take a break soon, and then we can all do whatever it is we need to do."

     "Random encounter time!" Pinkie Pie yelled out excitedly, keeping low to the ground and bouncing, eyes forward.

     "What?" said everypony else.

     "Preemptive strike," she whispered.

     Up ahead was a monstrous lion. It wasn't quite a lion although it looked like one. It was also much larger than any normal lion could ever be. The not-quite-a-lion had the head of a lion and the body of a lion, but it also had giant bat-like wings and a giant scorpion's stinger tail. Its front paws were ridiculously large compared to the rest of its body. The force they were capable of generating could easily crush a pony's skull just by pressing downwards. It lay in the grass, casually observing its surroundings.

     Aside from Pinkie Pie, who was already low to the ground, and Rarity, who wasn't about to get any dirtier than she already was, everypony dropped and stayed low to the ground, keeping their voices just as low.

     "What the heck's that thing?" Applejack whispered.

     Fluttershy and Twilight spoke simultaneously. "Nothing to worry about", "Don't worry about him". They looked at each other a second.

     "It hasn't spotted us yet," Twilight said, continuing ahead of Fluttershy with her explanation. "We can just fly past it."

     Rainbow Dash didn't like that idea one bit. "Forget that! Just who do you think's gonna have to do all that flying?"

     "Well, then we should try to sneak past it. But if it comes down to it, we can actually fight it. Manticores don't have any defenses against magic. With my magic controlling its head and claws, he won't have much to attack with. It'll be like beating a kicking bag."

     Fluttershy was very disturbed by Twilight's idea of killing the manticore. She spoke up with her own alternative. "Manticores don't normally attack ponies. In fact, they're more likely to run away. He definitely knows we're here. He won't attack unless he thinks we're threatening. If we stay out of his personal space and walk past him like nothing's wrong, he'll probably just watch us carefully. And if he gets nasty--"

     Fluttershy's alternative was thrown out of the window as the manticore was caught barreling as fast as it could towards Rarity, who was trying to pick clumps of mud out of her mane. Twilight was too far away; she wouldn't reach in time for her levitation spell to hold it back.

     "RARITY!! RUN!!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

     It leaped and took a swipe at Rarity, who skillfully ducked and quickly countered with a jumping back kick that was as graceful as it was destructive. It hit the manticore square in the face and sent it flying backwards a few feet.

     "Take that, beast!" she taunted. The manticore roared loudly in response.

     Rainbow Dash was in complete shock. Twilight was a little surprised herself. She thought for sure Rarity was a goner. She took hold of the beast immediately following, focusing on its head and claws. By this time, Applejack had run up to the manticore.

     "Alright, Twilight, get it ready!" she yelled as she propped herself up on her front hooves. "Hold the head down!"

     Twilight did as she was asked and brought the manticore's head down so Applejack could give it a kick. WHACK!! The animal screamed bloody murder as her hooves reconstructed his face. The kick was so powerful, it broke Twilight's hold. Upon seeing her hold broken, Rarity screamed. She and Applejack fled. The manticore seemed to give chase to both before stopping randomly.

     "Girls, stop!" Fluttershy yelled, very disturbed by the fighting..

     "Shit! That's not supposed to happen!" she yelled out of panic, realizing that she wouldn't be strong enough to subdue both its head and claws if they attacked it. She opted to take hold of its claws, to stunt its movement and take away its preferred attack. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof was gearing up for an attack of her own. She shot forth towards the manticore as only a pegasi could.

     "BOOYAH!" she exclaimed, as she planted her back hooves into the manticore's face.

     The kick broke Twilight's hold. It was so powerful, the animal was sent tumbling along the ground until its back smashed into a tree, hard enough to make it rumble. It screamed, then rose as quickly as it could and roared loud as ever, though Twilight noticed it was definitely affected by that last kick due to its widened balance.

     "He's feeling it, girls! Keep it up!" Twilight cried out, informing the others.

     As if by some odd twist of luck, Pinkie Pie had already been in the tree the manticore had hit. She jumped off and onto the manticore's back, taking hold of its mane. The manticore didn't like that one bit. It started to shake violently to force her off its back.

     "Weeee!!" she yelled joyfully as it bucked.

     Rainbow Dash pointed and giggled. She cheered her on. "Go, Pinkie Pie! Ride him into a tree or something!"

     The manticore bucked a little longer and then it suddenly stopped and lowered its posture, arching its back. Twilight's heart almost stopped. Before it could do what she suspected, she used her levitation to take hold of its stinger tail and kept it pushed back, to stop the monster from attacking Pinkie Pie with it.

     "We don't have to fight it!" Fluttershy yelled again. She had a different way to end the dispute without fighting, but nopony knew. Nopony cared. She was ignored.

     "Pinkie Pie! You crazy heifer!" Twilight yelled out, very irate, "What the hell are you doing up there! Get off his back before he kills you!"

     Pinkie Pie looked confused. "I thought we were killing him?" she countered loudly.

     But she did as she was told. She hopped off, giving a sharp kick of her own to the side of its head that made it writhe in pain as it took a vicious swing her way. She bounced and twisted her body away, almost as if in complete harmony with the swing, and moved back until she was standing next to Twilight. Twilight let go of its tail. His face was starting to look quite beat up.

     "Don't ever do anything that crazy again!" Twilight snapped at her.

     "Awwww!! But it was fun!" she whined.

     "No buts!" Twilight snapped again, though less aggressively that time.

     Applejack was beside her, dragging a front hoof along the ground, readying herself to charge.

     "Alright, Twilight, get it ready again!" she yelled. "Time ta give it another buckin."

     "Dammit, WAIT!!" Fluttershy screamed irritantly at everypony as she blocked their path towards the manticore. Just as she asked, they all stopped. She turned to the manticore and started to pace around it. Seeing this, the manticore moved as well. They stared each other down, walking slowly in circles. The manticore growled a little. Hearing this, Fluttershy growled too. She sounded and looked believably deranged and vicious. The manticore growled back, trying to drown out Fluttershy, but Fluttershy turned towards him and let out a much louder roar, angrily pacing forward. The manticore tried to retreat but fell, temporarily losing balance. Fluttershy noticed and sped up her walk until it got on its feet. Seeing that, she paused for a moment, continuing to approach slowly. She was inches away from it now. It started to sniff her mane and she sniffed its face. It fell to the ground, placing his paw around her and licking her mane. It was the kind of scene you wouldn't believe unless you saw it for yourself.

     "Go now," Fluttershy commanded. It was very hard to tell if she was actually angry.

     As they left the manticore's space, Rainbow Dash was the first to say something. She laughed as she excitedly recounted the experience.

     "Okay, what was all that back there? Rarity with her awesome hoof-to-hoof moves, Pinkie Pie riding on his back, and Fluttershy with her weird manticore taming thing?"

     Rarity was slightly embarrassed. "A lady has to be able to defend herself..."

     That was a hell of a lot more than defending yourself, Twilight thought. Just the act of dodging an unfamiliar creature's attack so easily meant her hoof-to-hoof ability was probably military-grade. The strong counterattack to the face made it certain.

     Shortly after, Fluttershy returned to the group, her mane slick with manticore saliva and shaped like a lion's, giving her a somewhat lion-like resemblance. She was silent though obviously happy and very satisfied with the outcome. Twilight had stayed behind the group to wait for her. She didn't understand what she did and was interested in knowing. She wanted to understand, but didn't really know where to start.

     "What did you do?" were the words in her head that decided to come out.

     "I understood him," Fluttershy replied. "New animals make him nervous and suspicious. He's constantly attacked by groups of animals he's never seen before and he's getting really sick of it. The poor thing."

     Twilight didn't know what to think. It seems unimaginable that she could've determined all of that with the limited contact she had, but she is an animal specialist.

     "How could you possibly know that?" Twilight asked.

     Fluttershy smiled. "If you really want to understand someone and make peace with them, you have to consider their feelings. Avoid appearing powerless. Fit in; make them get used to you while getting used to them, then take what you need."

     Twilight was impressed. Her method was definitely manipulative, but it didn't exactly sound like a harmful or even very deceitful type of manipulation. It was actually.. pleasant. Twilight had considered manipulation to be anything but. She decided she had much to learn about the art.

     They were very deep into the forest now, not too far from the castle. Twilight knew that they only needed to cross a river and a bridge and they'd be there.

     "Ewww. I need a rest from all this icky muck."  she complained, not liking the path they took.

     "The stuff comes with the territory, girly" Applejack replied. "Don't know if ya noticed it yet, but we're in a swamp." Rarity glared at her.

     Slowly but surely, there was a lot less light. It was probably just the denseness of the forest. The group made their way through the muck, not really having much of a choice.

     "Ugh," Applejack said, holding up a front hoof. "I think I stepped in somethin." she gave it a sniff. Rarity looked incredulously at her. Twilight might have face hoofed but that would mean getting mud in her face. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie either didn't see or didn't care.

     "Don't miss the river, girls," Twilight said, informing the group.

     As they moved through the forest, the group eventually came across some much needed light and finally saw the river they needed to cross. As they moved towards it, they heard the sound of someone crying. Someone very large. Quietly, they searched for the source.

     "What, a world, what a world!"

     They spotted the creature. It was a giant purple sea serpent. He was about a hundred feet long. He had a very long orange mane and a long handlebar mustache. Or perhaps that would be the case if the other side weren't missing. He seemed very distressed about something, the way he thrashed around in the water.

     "Okay, that's just weird," said Rainbow Dash.

     Twilight was the first to approach. "Excuse me, sir?" she spoke up, addressing the serpent, "Why are you crying?"

     As he answered, he splashed in the water and used various gestures. He ranted on so quickly about whatever it was that no one could understand him.

     "And now, I look simply horrid!" That was all they could hear him say clearly as he gestured towards his mustache.

     "Oh, for Celestia's sake..." Rainbow Dash said. Applejack agreed with her sentiments.

     "Now, now," Rarity said as she took control of the situation, "don't be so insensitive. I'm sure we can take a few minutes to help the poor fellow out."

     She approached the edge of the river. "Sir, come down here please. Lay your head down and hold still."

     The serpent laid his head down on the river coast. She bit down on one of his loosened scales, pulling off one from his face.

     "OW! What'd you do that for?!"

     She made a ssshhing sound. "I'm going to make you look fabulous."

     She put her hooves down on the cut end of the mustache, using the scale and a swift bodily motion to cut it evenlt and shape it up, muddying herself and his face. She stood back a bit and observed the mustache from afar.

     Rainbow Dash let out a grunt of frustration. "Do we really have time to be doing this?" she asked, completely unsatisfied with this stop.

     Ignoring her, Rarity moved to the other side of the serpent's face, about to cut down that part of the mustache.

     "Whoa! Wait a minute!" the serpent exclaimed dramatically, raising his head up, splashing Rarity in water. Her mane and tail no longer had their unique appearance. "What are you doing?!"

     "I'm going to trim the other end now," she said plainly, trying to ignore the fact that she was splashed with water.

     "...But you can't do that!" he said reflexively.

     Rarity raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

     "With a short moustache, I'll look even worse!" he whined loudly.

     Rarity was confused. Didn't he know...?

     "Dear, you're in damage control right now," she told him. "You'll not have a long moustache for some time now. You have to let it go."

     The serpent was starting to sniffle now, tears threatening to pour down.

     "Listen," she said, trying to smooth things over for him as she explained the matters to him, "feeling bad about it all day won't help you change how you look, and it certainly won't make you feel any better. If you feel bad about yourself, then so will others. If you loudly declare that your moustache looks horrid, they'll not disagree with you. You simply cannot allow them to think badly of you. How they feel about you starts with how you feel about yourself," she said, beating a hoof against her chest.

     "You have to take action to change your circumstances. Your only recourse right now is salvaging your looks. They may have been damaged, but it's not the end of the world for you yet. It just means you'll have to get used to something different for a while. Tell your friends that short is in this season, and if they make a fuss beyond that, let them know that your fashion designer friend Rarity says otherwise."

     It was quite a mouthful for him to absorb. He seemed to think about it for a moment before silently laying his head back down on the coast. Rarity measured to determine where to cut. Taking the scale into her muzzle and using the same motion as before, she made her cut, discarding the scale after use.

     "There!" she exclaimed eagerly, "You may rise now. Clean out the clumps of mud and then give it a look!"

     Everypony waited quietly as the serpent took a look at his reflection in the river through the moonlight night.

     "Wow," was all that came out of him at first. Moments later, he had plenty to say.

     "I don't even know what to say. Except... what was I thinking, brandishing such a long moustache?! Why, I daresay you've done me a greater service than I'll ever know." he started to glow radiantly -- metaphorically speaking, not physically -- as he quickly began to accept his new look.

     "How wonderful!" he exclaimed positively.

     "You look smashing!" Rarity said with a wink.

     "So... are we gonna..." Rainbow Dash interrupted, trying to hurry the group along. She didn't have a taste for this kind of conversation at all.

     "Oh," Twilight said, snapping out of learning mode. "Yeah, we should really be on our way now. Let's cross the river." With the exception of Rarity, she and the others had started to cross the river.

     "Awwww! So soon? But you just got here!" he said, a bit disappointed but not depressed.

     "Yeah yeah, we have a mission to get back to," Rainbow Dash answered back, clearly irritated.

     "See you around, dearie," said Rarity to the serpent, giving him her farewells. She crossed the river along with the others.

     "Bye! Hope to see you soon!" he yelled back to her.

     They were silent for only a short time after the serpent encounter. About five minutes later after they had gained some distance away from the river, Pinkie Pie was the one who initiated conversation.

     "You know, I've learned something on this trip," she said, her spirits just as high as ever. "I thought I'd want to be friends with everyone I ever met, but now, I just don't know about that anymore. I mean, I never thought I would think about it this way before because I never thought I'd meet anyone who was so annoying, but now I can't stop thinking about it. There are people I soooooo never want to be friends with, like ever! Like that snake guy. What a downer!"

     Rainbow Dash let out an exclamation of disgust. "Don't even mention that guy anymore!"

     Applejack shuddered. "I get yer point, but ya'll still shouldn't talk bad about someone behind their back."

     Twilight giggled quietly to herself. Focusing all of her attention on Rarity, she hadn't noticed Pinkie Pie's unusual silence.

     Rarity stopped walking. She took a look backwards, trying to see how far away they were from the river now. She couldn't see it any longer. She let out an exaggerated grunt of frustration as she dropped to the ground.

     "We're stopping. Right here. Right now. I will not travel another step." Though she tried to say it calmly, it was clear that the forest was driving her up the wall.

     "Applejack, you'll go with Twilight to collect firewood. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, you will find a nearby water source while searching overhead. While you're at it, see if you can spot the castle. I will set up the campfire. Pinkie Pie, you will rub my shoulders, my back, my buttocks, and my hooves. And I will not hear any arguments from anyone."

     Rainbow Dash didn't disagree. "On it!" she exclaimed, saluting Rarity before she took off into the sky.

     Fluttershy didn't say anything. She simply took flight high up and looked all around before she disappeared. Twilight on the other hoof didn't know how to react. That is, until Applejack approached her.

     "Let's get it done, sug," she said softly, putting a hoof around her. Twilight suddenly became a nervous ball of mixed emotions.

     Pinkie Pie was very confused. "Umm... what about food?" she asked.

     "What?" and "Huh?" came from Applejack and Rarity simultaneously. Twilight perked up. There was a momentary air of silence. To Twilight, the answer was so obvious that she wondered if she should even mention it.

     "Uh.. Pinkie...? We're surrounded by it. The forest grass is edible."

     Rarity nodded.

     Pinkie Pie was visibly horrified. She laughed nervously."You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking..."

     "It's good for you," Twilight said, bending down to eat a little herself, though mainly to escape Applejack's hoof. Afterwards, she galloped off into the forest.

     "Twilight!" Applejack yelled, following after her. "Wait fer me!"

     "I'll go find us some berries or something. Be right back!" Pinkie Pie told Rarity, before quickly shooting off into the forest.

     "Pinkie Pie!!" she yelled, rising to her feet quickly and chasing after her.

     Rainbow Dash had flown up high enough to see much of Everfree Forest. Spotting a water source was child's play. She had already found a few without intending to. She was far more interested in the castle. And it was a simple flight away from where they were camping out.

     "Fluttershy!" she called out. The yellow pegasus came swiftly, hovering beside Rainbow Dash.

     "We're gonna go get the Elements of Harmony," she told her.

     "Huh?" Fluttershy responded with surprise. "Shouldn't we go with the others?"

     "The others don't have wings," Rainbow Dash told her. "We're pegasi, we can just fly over there and come back."

     Fluttershy didn't really want to go with her. Rainbow Dash could tell. She took hold of her hoof.

     "C'mon, we'll be back in a jiffy," she said, doing her best to coax her into coming along.

     "Okay..." Fluttershy replied softly, gliding with her.

     On hoof, it would've taken about 30 minutes to reach the castle if they moved with the group. By flight though, they'd need less than five. The castle was set high up on a mountain. It was no longer in good shape, having long since been in ruins. On the outside of the castle ruins, broken up gravel covered in moss lay everywhere. Moss and vines grew along the walls of the inside. Light patches of grass grew on the stairs leading to the part of the castle that was left. Old trees took root around the castle's walls. In the center of the room was some old pedestal structure. Three uniformed pegasi were standing nearby. Sensing danger, Rainbow Dash took hold of Fluttershy's hoof again.

     "We gotta land, get down!" she said whispered urgently. The two landed quickly, not too far off from the castle.

     "Someone's already over there!" she whispered, being careful not to make any noise. "Did you get a look?"

     Fluttershy shook her head.

     Rainbow Dash took Fluttershy's hoof into both of her own. "Look, I'm gonna go see what they're doing. You go back and tell the others what's happening here. Stay under the trees so no one see you."

     "Okay," she said softly before flying off.

     Rainbow Dash hovered off the ground slightly, closing in on the castle. Barring extreme closeness, hovering helped a pegasus move quietly than sneaking and was far easier to do.

     "I'm sick of this!" said somepony with a ridiculous high pitched voice. She was stomping frustratedly.

     Rainbow Dash searched to find a crack to peer through. She laid down, hooves holding her up to eye level of a tiny hole. She couldn't see much, but she could see enough.

     "They're just not here!" the whiny mare continued. "We should just go, we're wasting time!"

     Rainbow Dash heard the sounds of a heavy kick, the high pitched pony's scream, and a small thud. She saw one of the ponies laying on the floor.

     "Let me make this perfectly clear to you," came a modulated female voice.

     From what Rainbow Dash could tell, they seemed to be wearing a flight suit similar to the ones the Wonderbolts wore. They were similar in design, but not in color scheme. Instead of the regular sky blue suit with sun yellow markings and a lightning bolt symbol on their flanks, these were black and purple with minimal markings of yellow. The symbol on their flanks was different too. It seemed to be a cartoony depiction of a winged skull. Nothing much about the three stood out aside from their size differences and the colors of their mane and tail.

     "I run this team. I call the shots. You listen to me," said the standing mare to the fallen one. "Do what I say, as I say it, when I say it, and there won't be any trouble."

     "Myra, she's right. We have to get back and tell the princess what's up," said the stallion, with his own pleasantly masculine voice. He was the largest of the three, though not by much.

     Myra was becoming frustrated. "She's already told us where they could possibly be! If they're not here, that means Celestia has them. Celestia can't have them because the moon is still up. This makes no sense!"

     By now, it was obviously past the time the sun would have risen, yet only the moon and stars were present. Rainbow Dash hadn't considered that at all until Myra mentioned it. The mare on the floor started to pick herself up. When she got up, she started to walk around the pedestal, examining something on it.

     "Could these things be it?" she asked. From Rainbow Dash's point of view, she seemed to be referring to something on it.

     "Do they look like Elements of Harmony to you?" Myra asked the other mare.

     Dread sank into Rainbow Dash's stomach. Though she didn't know who they served, a wild guess told her that they weren't on her side. Even if they were, she'd have to consider anyone who wanted anything to do with the Elements of Harmony to be an enemy. If they did find them here in the castle ruins, she'd have no choice but to fight for them. She knew first hoof how absurdly powerful a professional flier could be. If this squad was anything like the Wonderbolts, fighting them would be akin to suicide.

     "What are we gonna do now?" she squeaked.

     "Look, our role here is to do as the princess says, not think about it," he told them. "We have to go back and tell her that it can't be found."

     She let out an exclamation of frustration. Shortly after, she bolted off into the air. The other followed closely behind. Once she was sure they were gone, Rainbow Dash moved as quickly as she could into the ruins towards the pedestal. Maybe they overlooked something, she thought to herself. Upon closer examination, the structure had sub-pedestals. Five on the outside, and one in the center. There were large stones on each of the pedestals. Like everything else in the castle, the stones had mossed over as well. Each of the stones had inscriptions engraved on them.

     "The truth is both my lance and my shield," she said lightly, reading one of the inscriptions. She grinned; it was a strange message, but she liked it. She moved on to read another. "Laughter is food for the soul." In a completely different way, she enjoyed that one just as much.

     "There's nothing more important to me than those I care about."

     Upon reading that, she felt something: pure distaste. It didn't matter what the other inscriptions said, she'd already made up her mind. That one was the worst of the five.

     She had to wonder though: were the inscribed stones the Elements of Harmony? It seemed highly unlikely. If they were, she had a bit of a dilemma. It wouldn't be possible to bring all the stones back quickly without being noticed. Bringing them back one by one would take too long. And thinking about it all day would take even longer. At the least, she thought that they might help Twilight figure something out. She hovered over the pedestal of one of the stones and took hold of it, flying upwards. It was very heavy but she did her best. The problem was more that she wasn't used to flying with something heavy.

     It would take her a little longer than five minutes to make her way back, being unable to fly as freely as she would. In the sky, she could see smoke rising from the direction where the others in the group would be. Very soon, she'd fly over to find that three of the ponies were very irritated. Everypony was seated around the campfire, except Pinkie Pie, who was standing over Rarity, rubbing her back as she laid stretched out on her stomach.

     "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight was the first to speak, and not in a very pleasing manner. She had originally intended to scold her, but the object in her hooves piqued her curiosity.

     "What's that thing?"

     Rainbow Dash landed and dropped it, placing a hoof on top of it. She was breathing a little heavily than normal. "I'm not sure, but I found it in the castle. I was hoping you would know something about it."

     Twilight walked toward the stone to examine it. Rainbow Dash moved away to give her room. She saw the inscription and noted its very round shape, but nothing really stood out about it.

     "I dunno, it just looks like a rock to me."

     Rainbow Dash was starting to realize that Twilight didn't know what she knew.

     "Okay, let me explain," she started, taking a seat.

     "When Fluttershy and I were going to the castle, there were these three other pegasi there already. They were looking for the Elements of Harmony too. They wore flight suits like the Wonderbolts but theirs were completely different. They couldn't find them so they left. When they left, I flew in and took a closer look. Five of those things were seated on this big platform thing in the middle of the room. Those guys didn't think they were the Elements of Harmony, but I thought they might help you figure something out."

     The gears in Twilight's head started to grind.

     "Did all five have something engraved on them?" she asked Rainbow Dash.

     "Uh... yeah, I think so. I know at least three of them did," Rainbow Dash replied.

     "And you're certain that there were only five?"

     Rainbow Dash nodded. "Uh-huh."

     That seemed to correlate with a peculiarity Twilight noticed when she read about the items earlier that day. There are six elements of harmony, but only five are known. The sixth is a complete mystery, as if the 6th didn't hold any importance at all. The same was the case here. It followed strict rules of magic. She previously thought that they were magical artifacts, which were powerful and unique items that could be created only under very special conditions. Now, however, she suspected that they were talismans... yet that didn't make much sense to her.

     "I'm going to try something," she informed them. "Everypony stand back. I don't know what'll happen."

     As she asked, they all stepped back. Twilight used her magic to give it a tiny electric charge. A tiny amount of sparks flew out. Fearfully, Twilight slowly touched her hoof to the stone.

     "OW!!" she cried as she was shocked.

     Now she knew for certain. Despite a lack of electrically conductive material, it had maintaned an electrical charge. Talismans were very conductive of magical energies.

     "Twilight?" Applejack called out. "You okay?"

     Twilight turned to her and nodded reassuringly.

     "Well, girls, I have some good news, some bad news, and some... weird news."

     Fluttershy and Rarity looked worried. Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked confused. Pinkie Pie was still rubbing Rarity down.

     "The bad news is that these things are definitely the Elements of Harmony, but they're useless now. The weird news is that they're just talismans."

     Nopony knew what to make of that. "Come again?" said Applejack, wanting clarification.

     "Umm... It means we can just make another set of them. That's the good news. What makes it weird is that anypony can make a talisman. We could all make one right now."

     That was an odd answer. It wasn't the one they wanted to hear, but it was a lot better than hearing 'we're screwed'.

     "I have no idea how it was done, but we can learn how. The studies for something like the creation of the Elements of Harmony should be in the Canterlot Archives. We'll go there as soon as we're all rested up."