The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapters

Whitetail
Harmony Meets Nature
A Darkness Reborn
The Original Host
Ponyville's New Residents
Settling In
Recap
Flowers and Fire
Party With Jagger
Relations
The Country of Alamante
Nature in Canterlot (Part 1)
Nature in Canterlot (Part 2)
Nature in Canterlot (Part 3)
Nature in Canterlot (Part 4)
Friends From Afar
Guidance of the Wind
The Talks
A Day of Firsts (Part 1)
An Evening of Firsts (Part 2)
A Night of Firsts (Part 3)
The Oncoming Storm
Lessons with Luna
Escalation
Getting Colder
Freezing Point
Ice and Laughter
A Much Needed Chat
The Choice
Saying Goodbye
Grieving
The Battle of Ponyville (Part 2)
The Battle of Ponyville (Part 3)
The Battle of Ponyville (Part 4)
The Battle of Ponyville (Part 5)
An Elemental Prophecy
Seven Days After
Into the Wild White Yonder
The Battle of Ponyville (Part 1)

Whitetail

And here is chapter two re-written. Here ya go and I only own my own characters. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 2: Whitetail

Early the next morning, the alarm clocks of all six mare rang into their ears alerting them to the time of 6:00 AM. That was the time all of them agreed to wake up so they could all meet up at Twilight's house in the morning before they embark.

Applejack had packed up the night prior a tent of her own, a sleeping bag, and lots of tasty apples and apple related treats wrapped up for all of her friends to share. She moved quietly so she wouldn't wake up anyone else in the house. But before she left, she headed for the bedroom belonging to her younger sister to give her another run down of what she explained yesterday.

"Now Ah mean it, Applebloom. All you do is go to Zecora's hut, water a few of her plants, and make sure everything is in order. Then ya leave and come straight back here. You don't touch anything, you don't take anything, ya leave with nothin' but the bow on yer head. Am Ah clear?"

"Yes yer clear." Applebloom whined.

"Repeat it back to me." The elder sister snapped.

"Ah won't touch or take anything from Zecora's hut." The filly groggily responded.

"One more time." Applejack was very insistent on this.

"Alright! Ah get it! Ah won't lay a hoof on anything there! Now can Ah PLEASE go back to sleep? It's six in the morning and it's Saturday!"

Applejack had briefly forgotten that little tidbit of information. Since it was Saturday, it was only one out of two days each week in which the filly could sleep in a few extra hours without being bothered by the tedious chore of going to school.

"Well alright then. Ah'll leave ya to snooze." The orange mare turned and walked out of her younger sister's room.

Applebloom immediately went back to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. The snoring Applejack heard from the staircase down to the front door made her chuckle as she headed out to Twilight's library.

Rainbow Dash had packed light with a tent, sleeping bag, and a few snacks. Before leaving, she left out a big bowl of tortoise food for her beloved magically hovering pet, Tank. The floating reptile rubbed his head to his owner before she went out the door. The cyan pegasus jerked her head in every direction possible to make sure nopony could see her before she gave the shelled creature an affectionate nuzzle in return. Then she shut the door, locked it, and flew down to town.

Fluttershy, like Rainbow Dash, also packed light but did not pack the same things. All she packed was some food for herself and her friends. Being an animal expert, she had spent a good amount of time sleeping outside with some creatures in order to take care of them if the circumstances called for it. She caught a cold a few times because of it but she didn't care at all for that. The thing she strained a bit on in preparation to leave was finding somepony who could take some time to go over and check on her animals. It took a couple of hours, and Rarity to actually ask for her, but she finally was able to find a suitable temporary caretaker. Lyra Heartstrings volunteered. All she needed to do was go over there in the afternoon, get the bags of food in the kitchen, read the labels for each, and then give it to the creatures on the specific labels. It seemed easy enough.

Rarity was never one to pack light. In her sense, those two words, "pack" and "light", didn't even belong together in the same sentence. She packed everything she considered essential to living outside. A giant tent, a whole inflatable mattress, bed sheets, pillows, food, flowers, it was just ridiculous. Sweetie Belle was requested the day earlier by her older sister to come by and make sure Opalescence was fed. With that, the ivory fashion designer was off.

Pinkie Pie did pack her own tent and a sleeping bag for herself. The rest of the space in her bags was filled with nothing but tasty treats which were more than enough to last the planned time span of the trip. She didn't like doing it, but she had to keep Gummy locked up in her room with a little extra food and water because Mr. and Mrs. Cake weren't all that comfortable with the alligator being around their twin foals. However, Pinkie assured her beloved pet that everything would be fine and ventured off.

Twilight was wide awake about an hour before any of the others were. She had set her alarm earlier so she had time to go over the things she packed one last time to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Spike, as usual, groaned and did his best to ignore her calls for him to get his scaly butt out of bed. Eventually though his feet did touch the ground and he packed the only things he cared about taking with him, his blanket and a pillow.

Once Twilight headed outside, she was pleased to find that everypony else was there like she had instructed them to be. Spike, still rubbing his eyes, joined her by her side and did his best to stay awake.

"Alright, everypony. I hope you all packed wisely because we aren't turning back now." Twilight started.

"Ah'm all set to go, Twi. And Ah think the rest of us are good too." Applejack looked around.

Pinkie Pie was smiling, Fluttershy looked as ready as she would ever be, Rarity had the seams of her bags about ready to burst, and Rainbow Dash....was snoring while standing up.

"Rainbow!"

Immediately the pegasus jolted awake and sprung into the air by reflex hovering a few feet above the rest of them.

"Huh?! Wha?! Where?!....oh....right I'm up I'm up."

"Rainbow Dash, please try to stay awake. This is very important." Twilight told her.

"I'm trying to. But can you PLEASE tell me why we had to get up this early?" Rainbow complained.

"Because I want to get as much time in on our search as possible. There isn't a single moment to lose now that we're on the hunt for them." Twilight responded.

Rainbow groggily nodded before Applejack asked one more question.

"Shouldn't we give the princess a heads up about this? Ah'm just sayin, that letter said there was a war going on. Seems like something she'd like to have knowledge about."

"I sent her a letter about it last night before I went to bed. I told her everything about the book I found and the letter inside it. Honestly I wasn't expecting a response from her until much later. But she sent me this in no less than five minutes."

Twilight's magic grabbed hold of another parchment and it unrolled to reveal a letter to Twilight from Celestia.

"My dearest Twilight,

I was quite surprised at first to read about your findings and the name of the pony you said wrote that secret letter concealed within the pages of that book. I would love to supply with more information but I am afraid I am not at the moment ready to tell you. However, I can tell you this. Hitashi Ma, if you or anypony else doubts it, is very much real and very much alive, as are the six ponies he tells of.

It is my hope that if and when you find them, you ask for them to come and see me. There are things that must be discussed with them. Good luck and safe travels in your search for them.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia"

When Applejack finished reciting the words of the letter, Twilight rolled it back up and placed it back in her saddlebags.

"You understand what this means, don't you?" Twilight asked them all.

"That once we find them that we'll become all their bestest friends and we can teach them our Equestrian customs and you, Twilight, being the studier that you are will ask them all sorts of questions about their homeland and what they can do and what their own customs are?"

Pinkie grinned showing all her teeth after that little rapid rant leaving Twilight confused a bit.

"What....Pinkie no....well actually some of those things are true. I do want to ask them questions and all but that's not what I was going to say. What I was going to say is that, according to the way Celestia worded her response to me, it confirms that these six ponies are in fact real and not some hoax like some of us were thinking."

That was mostly directed to Rainbow Dash since she was the only one with such doubts.

"And now that we know that the princess wants to talk to them about something, I guess that only makes this trip all that much more important, right Twilight?" Fluttershy said.

The lavender unicorn nodded.

"Exactly right, Fluttershy. So if that's everything, let's move out, ponies."

That was indeed everything. With that, Twilight closed the door to the library, locked it, and then set off with Spike on her back for the Whitetail Woods. Applejack and Rainbow Dash of course recognized their surroundings from the race they had together in the Running of the Leaves. It brought back old memories of both of them thinking the other was cheating to get ahead of the other. All of it just to both finish behind Twilight. Everypony gave off a few giggles as they recalled that race.

The Whitetail Woods were a big region of the Ponyville outskirts meaning it was going to take some time to search every square inch of the place. By the time the sun had just began to set, they hadn't found a single clue to the whereabouts of their mystery ponies.

"This is totally bogus." Rainbow complained. "What are we supposed to be looking for anyway? A sign that says, 'This way to the weird element ponies'?"

"If there was a sign like that, I would've spotted it! I have a knack for finding signs and reading them!" Pinkie said not in the least bit worn down from the search.

Rainbow Dash just shook her head and looked into another pony's direction.

"Maybe we would have more luck if SOMEPONY would take her eyes of that dumb book and help us."

Twilight wasn't listening to her at all. Like Rainbow had said, Twilight hadn't peeled her gaze away from the pages of that book since the first hour they were looking.

"Twilight! This search was your idea!" Rainbow shouted.

The volume of her voice that time was able to break Twilight's concentration from the book and look up at her friend.

"Sorry, Rainbow. Just a little distracted I guess." She excused herself.

"A little? You haven't looked up once since we started. You've nearly ran into so many trees it's not even funny. It was at first but the gag got old really fast."

Twilight rolled her eyes and just continued to do what she was doing in the first place as if she hadn't been interrupted at all. Seconds later though she was interrupted again this time by Pinkie who shoved her face next to hers to look at the pages of the book.

"So what else are you finding in there, Twilight?"

Twilight smiled as she thought about that.

"All sorts of things, Pinkie Pie. I'm learning so much about the culture of Alamante, their customs, their climate, geography," Then her smile vanished and disappointment crept up on her. "But I haven't found anything in here about a prophecy like Hitashi Ma's letter talked about."

"I wonder. What do you think this prophecy will entail any who?" Rarity wondered.

"I'm not sure. And unless I keep reading, we'll never be sure." The lavender unicorn put her nose back to the text of the pages.

The search went on all day with a few breaks in between. Then it came time for the night to show up. The moon was only half full this night with plenty of stars to keep it company. It was only minutes after the moon was raised that the group unanimously decided to call it a night and resume the search first thing in the morning.

While everypony else set up their tents and rolled out their sleeping bags, Spike built a small pit filled with some flimsy wood and made a fire strong enough to cook some food with. He used a single pot that brought along to boil some water and mix them with some vegetables and spices to make quite a tasty soup. Rarity supplied a loaf of sliced up bread to pass around and share with everypony as a side.

The meal was delicious but it did little to ease some minds. Some of them were completely certain that what they were doing was the right thing. Rainbow Dash for one. She was still a bit convinced that this was all just some prank despite the princess asking to talk to these ponies after being found. Fluttershy was a bit frightened because she had got the thought in her head that maybe these six other ponies were probably not in their homeland because they were exiles or criminals banished for a crime they committed.

After they ate, Spike gathered up the bowls they had used and set them in a container. He would wash them whenever he found a source of water. But first, he wanted to sleep. Both he and Twilight were the first to go in terms of who was going to sleep for the night. The other five ponies weren't all that tired yet and decided to talk for a bit longer to the point where they were ready to hit the sack.

Only fifteen minutes passed after Twilight and Spike fell asleep. That's how long it took for the fire the drake made to go out.

"Ah man, Spike didn't use good enough wood for the fire." Rainbow complained.

"Oh this is just great." Rarity joined her. "How is a girl supposed to sleep out in this dreadful wilderness without there being a reliable source of heat?"

She did have a point. It may have been decently warm weather around these parts but in the woods at night, it always got a bit chilly. The ivory mare shivered a tad while Applejack just let out a chuckle finding Rarity's inexperience with nature quite humorous.

"Alright, quit yer fussin'. Ah'm gonna get us some quality wood that'll burn all through the night. You got the horn. So Ah need yer help to see out in these woods."

Rarity, eager to get the fire going again, hastily went along with the country mare to gather more firewood and conjured an orb of light to illuminate their way. As they walked, Rarity jumped at every little thing she saw crawling in sheer terror.

"Rarity, will you cut it out?" Applejack sternly requested. "Landsakes, girl, why does the outside make you so jumpy?"

"Applejack I'm just not tuned with nature the same way you are. It does not mean I jump at every little-AHHHH WHATWASTHATWHATWASTHAT?!"

The country mare groaned as Rarity literally jumped on top of her seemingly clutching for dear life.

"It was a bush, Rares! Get off!"

With one motion of her body, Rarity fell off and thudded to the ground as Applejack spotted some good firewood and walked forward to gather it. While she did, Rarity turned around in every direction getting a good vision for what was surrounding her. She began to talk to herself in the process.

"It's fine, perfectly fine, Rarity. You have dealt with much more messier forests than this. Like the Everfree. That place was at least five times as uncouth as this forest is. This place is peaceful. Good view of the stars…..fresh air.....bugs everywhere.....perhaps poisonous plants….”

Her head jerked around in every direction annoying Applejack because she was the source of light. Instead the light was shining everywhere from the bushes, to the ground, to the black figure on the branch of the tree.

Rarity redirected her head for a second before she squealed and turned back to look up into the tree and stumbled into Applejack again causing both of them to topple over to the ground,

"Ugh. What is it now? A leaf? Did your delicate little hooves snap a twig in half?"

"No. I think I saw a pony up in that tree!"

Rarity shined the light in the correct direction the branch she looked at before. There was nothing and nopony on it but a few leaves growing from it.

"You overreact a lot, Rarity. But that is just the icing on the cake." Applejack laughed a bit.

"I know what I saw, Applejack!" Rarity seemed firm on her opinion. "It was a pony, up in that tree, wearing a big black cloak."

Applejack still wasn’t buying it. She stood up and started to regather the wood that Rarity made her drop.

“Rarity, stop being a fraidy cat and help me gather some wood. I could use some levitation help over here.”

Sighing but not quite ready to drop the subject, Rarity got back up and started to use her magic to help Applejack with the wood. Once they had enough, they trekked back to the campsite only to find that the fire was completely out. The weak wood Spike had placed into had swiftly served its purpose. Rarity kept the light from her horn going as she set the wood down next to the fire pit. Applejack stacked some of the logs nicely in the pit to make for a strong fire. Then the five still awake mares were faced with a problem.

Starting the fire.

“Sooooooooo what now?” Pinkie asked her friends.

“Hold on, I’ll wake Spike and Twilight up.” Rainbow started to head over to Twilight’s tent.

She was stopped a second later by Applejack. The farmer then made Rainbow look at the tent and heard them both snoring in a peaceful slumber.

"You leave em’ alone, Rainbow. Those two are all tuckered out. Let em' rest up."

"But it's getting cold out here and they're the only two who can make us a fire." The cyan pegasus turned around to Rarity and looked at her.

Rarity noticing the stare could easily tell what her flying friend was trying to insinuate.

"I am sorry, Rainbow Dash. But I do not know a spell for starting a fire."

“Well….I think I know how to start one.” Fluttershy raised a hoof.

“Alright! Go Fluttershy! Lets see it!” Rainbow said actually wanting to see Fluttershy perform the act.

She never got a chance to though. She was putting a hoof towards the logs to actually do something, but inches away from the wood, flames erupted from them making her give a loud yelp and fall back on her flank frightened. The other four just started at the now burning wood with complete shock at their friend.

“Fluttershy….how….how did you do that?” Rainbow Dash asked awestruck,

“It…..it w-wasn’t me…..the logs….they just...caught fire out of nowhere.” the yellow pegasus said as she slowly got up.

That new tidbit of information made the group look at the fire with more confusion than ever now.

"How the hay did that happen?" Applejack wondered as she stared at the flames. "Rares?"

"I just told you I don't know any fire spells." The ivory mare turned back to Twilight and Spike's tent.

The two of them were still sawing logs so it couldn't have possibly been them unless Twilight suddenly learned how to cast magic in her sleep. Her gaze returned to the flames rising and flickering with more strength than before.

“We have fire now! So I’m gonna go to sleep! Gnite!” Pinkie Pie bounced off to her own tent.

Pinkie did have a point. Now that they had fire, it was about time to head off to bed. The rest of them headed off to their own area to konk out of consciousness themselves. It only took a matter of minutes for that to actually happen and the whole campsite was filled with snoring, both soft and loud.

*1 hour later*

Snapping. Branches snapping and bushes being rustled as a dark figure made his way through the forest towards a certain area. In that area rested the six ponies along with their dragon friend. Fluttershy, being the only one who wasn’t sleeping in a tent was the only one who was able to get stirred awake by the faint noises. Her ears twitched and then her eyes slowly fluttered open looking around. The fire was still going strong but other than that there was nothing noticeable. Shrugging, she laid her head back down and attempted to go back to sleep.

A matter of seconds later passed by before the sounds returned again. Now feeling a bit frightened, Fluttershy stood up and out of her sleeping bag trying to figure out which way the noise came from.

“G-girls?....”

She checked every single tent to find every single one of her friends in their tents sleeping soundly unaware of the noise or the loud zipping of their tents opening up. Leaving them all open, Fluttershy turned around to hear the loudest rustling of a bush yet. When she turned around to look, she lost her breath and her ability to speak.

Walking out of the bush and into the campsite was a pony. At least something that looked like a pony. This creature was equine shaped with different shades of dark purple and black, a mane of dark grey, and eyes with thin catlike irises resembling that of a bat pony. It grinned at Fluttershy showing its teeth to be sharp as knives. Fluttershy took a step back with every step this creature took forward. The mare unknowingly backed up all the way into Rainbow Dash’s tent and tripped over her snoring body stirring her awake. She was not pleased with being woken up so suddenly and glared at her friend.

“Fluttershy, what the hay?! What time is it?!” She shouted.

The yellow pegasus never even made eye contact with her. Instead, she pointed a shaky hoof in the direction of the dark creature and Rainbow turned to see it. At first her eyes widened and she bolted up to her hooves. The next second, her eyes narrowed as she prepared to charge.

“I don’t know who or what you are, but leave us alone!”

Her wings revved up and she launched herself at the dark horse. Halfway there, she turned her body preparing to strike at it with her hind legs in a spin kick. The creature though was quick to react. Much quicker than Rainbow Dash had thought. Once her left hand leg has lashed out for its head, its jaws opened up and clamped down hard sinking into her skin and drawing blood.

Rainbow Dash let out a cry of pain as her momentum was halted and woke everypony else up to see their friend’s leg in the mouth of an unknown horse shaped creature. It gave a harsh spin and used the motion to throw Rainbow back in front of her tent where Fluttershy rushed to inspect her wound. The other four mares just looked at the dark one as it took a step closer. Twilight took a single step forward.

“Who are you and what do you want?” She demanded.

The creature stopped advancing and looked Twilight’s way. When it spoke, its voice sounded deeply feminine and had quite a rasp to it.

“All of you.”

That was all Twilight needed to hear. Her horn immediately flared up and she shot a bolt of energy straight for it. The creature easily dodged it and then opened up its mouth. Out from its jaws came a shot of dark looking magic aimed right for Twilight’s head. She was just narrowly able to jump out of the way and the shot ripped a hole in her tent. Applejack snorted and brushed her hoof against the ground ready to charge herself. Pinkie Pie was as well standing by the farmer’s side.

Right when it looked like the creature was about to strike again, it's attention was diverted to the left. Out of the tree line, a pony dressed in a black cloak appeared and stood between the group of mares and this shadowy creature. The head was blocked from view thanks to a hood. All that was seen of this pony were the tip of its hooves and a unicorn horn poking out of the hood.

“Back off.” A voice sailed out of the hood of the cloak clearly signalling that this pony was a stallion.

The creature made a feral growl and then lunged for the cloaked stallion. With fast reflexes though, the stallion lunged as well and was strong enough to drive the creature away from the six other ponies. The cloaked stallion wrestled with it for a few moments on the ground before the creature shoved the stallion off. He rolled back into a standing position then grunted as his front two legs thrusted his upper body straight and he stood bipedally. He leaned his now standing body into a stance that clearly signalled he was ready for a full on fight.

The dark pony let loose another cry again and stood in the same position. It was the one to make the first move and darted for the cloaked stallion throwing a punch with its foreleg. The stallion easily waved his own foreleg blocking the punch. Then he jumped back when it threw a sidekick towards him. After that, the stallion took his turn to be on the offensive. Closing the gap one more time, he expertly jumped and spun around to deliver a roundhouse kick to the creature’s head. The creature ducked it but it wasn’t able to dodge the next strike thrown at its stomach. It was thrown off a bit but it quickly recovered to block the next overhead strike from the unicorn.

While this engagement took place, Fluttershy was still trying to treat Rainbow’s wound while the other’s kept their eyes on the fight. Rainbow had taken karate classes before. But the way this stallion was fighting was a style she had never even seen before. It was almost like something out of a movie. Twilight too saw the techniques and skills as unfamiliar. Having a brother who was trained by the royal guard of Canterlot she was keen on fighting styles even though she never utilized them.

The stallion and the creature then came to be in a grapple. Another beast like roar came from the dark figure’s body as it prepared to shoot off another shot from its mouth at point blank range. Seeing it charge its attack, the stallion jumped back far and somersaulted backwards before landing right behind the campfire. The shot was taken. Then the stallion looked at the campfire and waved his forelegs upwards swiftly. In motion with his legs, the fire grew and shot upwards like a small geyser of flames. The entire campsite grew much brighter as the group of seven all looked on at the move stunned. The dark shot hit the wall of fire and immediately dissolved into nothing.

Instantly, the spout of fire died down showing once again the stallion who conjured it up. But he wasn’t done. In a similar fashion but much slower, he directed an upwards waving motion of his two forelegs towards the fire again. The flames grew and rose up to his torso level and began to swirl into a ball of fire a bit wider than his body. After it was spinning around fast enough, the stallion quickly spread his forelegs all the way out causing the fireball to shoot forward at the dark creature. There was no time at all to dodge it and the creature was hit so hard it was sent flying into a tree nearly cracking the trunk of it.

Weakened and smoking, the creature looked again to the cloaked stallion was was starting to approach. There was nothing more that could be done by this thing and it knew it. It turned tail and sprinted straight out of the campsite and away to who knows where. When it was out of sight, the red unicorn adjusted his hood, stood back down on all four hooves, and turned to look at the group that just saw him fight. Their fear dying down, they all began to stand back up. His face was only barely seen through that hood because of the dim light the campfire gave off.

Rarity took a step forward.

"Um....thank you...mister...what's your name?"

"Not important." That was the only thing he said before his body vanished in a brief flash of flames. But his voice was still heard from around them. "It isn't safe in these woods. If you plan to proceed, do so with the utmost caution."

With that, he was now completely gone, leaving the seven friends in total confusion, amazement, and a smidge of fear at what they just saw.

"What....just happened?" Spike finally managed to say.

“Well….some dark pony came out of nowhere, then we got our butts saved by some dude wearing a cloak.” Rainbow gave a short hiss as another wave of pain surged up her leg. “I gotta give the guy this though. He sure knows how to fight. I mean did you see those moves of his?”

“YEAH!” Pinkie seemed overly excited about it. “I mean did you see him! With the “WOOSH!” and the “WHAM!” and the “POW!” And then….” That was when Pinkie Pie took in a large gasp as she noticed something. “And then…..the FIRE! He didn’t use a spell! His horn wasn’t glowing! He threw actual fire! From the campfire! That was so cool!”

Twilight took a second to think about it and found that Pinkie was in fact right. At the time when the mysterious unicorn used that attack, his horn wasn’t giving off any sort of glow. Meaning it wasn’t magic but something else entirely.

“He was using his mind alone to move that fire….no magic whatsoever involved…..that was him…..” She muttered.

That pretty much gave it away for the others as well.

"So yer sayin.." Applejack started.

"Yes, That was one of those six ponies we came here to find! And we let him go...." Twilight’s tone quickly changed from happy to disappointed.

"Well now we at least know that they DO exist." Rainbow Dash threw in her opinion.

"And that they must be here in this forest like that letter had told us before." Twilight added. “Oh….I really wish he didn’t teleport. If he had ran, we would have been able to follow him.”

"It's okay, Twilight. We just took a huge step forward in finding them. Plus, I’m sure tomorrow will yield us better results than today.” Rarity said in attempt to assure the lavender unicorn.

“Maybe…..” Putting that thought on the back burner, Twilight turned to Rainbow to check on her.

Fluttershy was wrapping up her leg with medical tape. Whatever that thing was that bit her, it had sunk its teeth in deep. Fluttershy had just washed out the wounds and applied an ointment to it so it wouldn’t get infected. Though treated, Rainbow’s leg still hurt like hell. Luckily for her it wasn’t a factor when it came to her flying performance.

Not wanting to take anymore chances, Twilight decided to make sure they all slept in peace tonight. She powered on her horn and sent a spell skyward which soon spread into a force field surrounding their campsite preventing any further intruders.

“Alright everypony. Time to get some real sleep now. Tomorrow, we’re going on a pony hunt.”

With that said, Twilight retreated back to her tent which sadly now had a huge gaping hole in it, and laid back down in her sleeping back. But not before using a similar force field spell to cover the hole itself. Spike was not far behind her. As soon as he laid back down, he was sawing logs. It wasn’t long at all before the others were out too.

A few dozen meters away from the shield covered campsite, a spectator viewed the magenta color of the force field wall. An orange fetlock hoof then swept back the hood of his cloak to show a head. Golden yellow irises brought color to his optical orbs of black and white. His mane was a bright red with wild orange streaks. His coat, a darker shade of red.

The stallion of fire stood on the branch for sometime until he turned away to listen a voice that entered his head.

“What happened out zere? I sensed you were een a fight but weeth who?”

A voice with a very french accent. He talked back to it.

“It was another one of THEM. Usually it’s not a big deal but we have a problem. It wasn’t after us this time.”

“Zen who was eet after?”

“Those six mares and that baby dragon you sensed before. Any idea why they’re here?”

“Not yet. I never bothered to read zem because I thought zey were just campers upon first sensing zem.”

“If those things thought they were important enough to take out, then they obviously aren’t ordinary campers.”

HIs eyes narrowed as he turned back to the force field.

“Don’t read them yet. Only keep them on watch. Whatever reason they’re out here for, we’ll find out when the time is right.”

“Eef you say so. Just come back soon. You know I-”

“Yes I know you worry about me. I’ll be there in a second.”

With that, the voice was gone from his head and he pulled the hood over his head again looking at the shield.

“Stay safe.”

Another flash of fire later and he was gone to be with whoever it was making that voice in his head ring. He knew those six weren’t normal ponies. But if he knew just how not normal they were, he would never have left them alone.

Harmony Meets Nature

*Just as a reminder to all who are not aware, this store takes place after the season 2 ending. Seasons 3-5 have not been incorporated into this story because I started this story way back after season 2 was still going on. So yeah. Let's get to it. I only own my OC's and the plot of this story. Everything else is property of Hasbro and Lauren Faust*

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 3: Harmony Meets Nature

Nopony in the campsite slept easy that night. They were still a little freaked from the short brawl they witnessed between that black unknown creature, and the red hooded pony. Twilight's mind was racing the most as she lied down, thinking about what that black creature was. It looked enough like a pony but she knew there was something very off about it. The way it sounded, even the way it LOOKED. She had never seen a pony with that kind of coat pattern before. And those eyes. They seemed almost catlike. The only other place she had seen irises like those were on Princess Luna's guard ponies who were thestral ponies. But that creature last night was not sporting leather wings.

Eventually though, she did fall asleep and before she knew it, it was morning again. That meant it was time to wake up and begin a new day. Spike, as usual, was defiant to wake up. Twilight didn't really feel in a rush to wake him up so she let him sleep in. Walking out of her tent, she saw that the others had already woken up before her and started making breakfast. After everypony bid good morning to each other, they just sat there not really talking that much.

All of their minds were still replaying the fight from last night like a play by play. None of them were sure exactly what to make of the supposed Alamantian they saw, or what his leaving message was. Proceed with the utmost caution. Did that mean he knew what that creature was and what it wanted? What was going on? What were they all getting closer to getting caught up in? And most importantly, were they going to be able to handle it? So far at this point in their lives, they had dealt with three major threats. The evil alicorn of the moon, Nightmare Moon, Discord, the spirit of chaos, and Queen Chrysalis of the changeling hive and her subjects. All they could wonder now was, what new threat were these Alamantians dealing with?

Even after Applejack served breakfast, the aroma being enough to wake Spike up and lure him out to eat, none of them still made a peep.

"So....anypony gonna say anything?" Rainbow asked for the sole purpose of breaking the silence.

She just wanted to talk with anypony. It didn't matter to her who it was. After what happened last night, she had a lot to say. It turns out so did everypony else. They just needed somepony to be the first one to talk.

"It was....strange." Twilight muttered. "Not just that dark pony but....him."

She flashed back to last night yet again, giving her a picture of the cloaked unicorn manipulating the campfire. His form and movements were unlike anything she had ever seen before. And his horn wasn't even playing a single part in his ability to do what he was doing to those flames.

"There was no magic." She said again still unable to believe it. "I...I don't know what I was expecting. From the book I was reading I knew I would see something like what we all saw last night happen but....but..."

"You thought it was just fancy spellwork, didn't ya?" Applejack finished for her knowing that's where she was going. "Ah know, Twi. To be honest Ah was kinda thinkin' the same thing."

"The way he moved around with the fire...it was beautiful....almost like it was a part of him." Rarity added on wanting to voice her own opinion. "Simply divine."

"But what about that other thing?" Fluttershy asked all of them, the images in her head making her voice a little timid. "That thing...was growling at us...it hurt Rainbow Dash. What did it want?"

That was the question all over again. What DID it want? The creature was definitely there for a reason.

"That's why we gotta find that fire pony and the other ones." Applejack firmly responded. "Ah think it's safe to say they'll have some answers for us."

"If we're able to find them." Pinkie now took a turn to speak. "He teleported away. We don't have any idea which way to go now. Do we? Is there a spell that can track teleportation, Twilight?"

The eyes of all the unicorn's friends turned to her as they awaited a response to Pinkie's question. Before she answered, she thought back to her reading really trying to remember if she had even heard of such a spell.

"Sorry. If there is then I haven't read about it yet." She answered. "But I can say for certain that I could tell how powerful his teleport spell was. It was like mine. Short range. So he couldn't have gotten too far. So here's what we're gonna do."

The plan was fairly simple. They were gonna keep their campsite as "home base" and split off into six different directions. Spike stayed with Twilight while everypony else went out on their own searching for any sign of anything strange. Not too complicated.

They found nothing.

A time span of two hours went by and all of them returned one at a time with absolutely no results whatsoever. Not even so much as a lousy hoofprint.

"Well we at least know they're thorough in leaving no trace behind." Spike commented.

As much as the others agreed with him, it still didn't do any good. Going this long without any results was starting to eat away at their patience.

"Well what are we supposed to do now?" Rarity asked in a whining tone. "I know the princess wants to talk with these ponies, but does she really expect us to spend another whole day outside looking for them? I'm starting to get a sunburn."

"Oh would ya quit it already with your prissy attitude?" Applejack snapped at her. "So you're spending a little more time outdoors. Get over it!"

With a huff, Rarity turned to glare back at her friend, offended by her words.

"Proper coat and skin care is no laughing matter to me, Applejack! You may choose if you please to have the complexion of a 50 year old mare at such a young age but I like to take care of my body!"

"Girls! Big picture! Please!"

Twilight was in no mood right now to deal with the ongoing arguments of beauty versus outdoor life with Applejack and Rarity as the hosts again. They happened too frequently for anypony to keep track of in some cases. The two mares in question backed down from each other once they heard Twilight's raise in volume.

"Sorry, Twilight." They both apologized in unison.

"Don't worry about it. Now let's pack our stuff up and head for a different area of the woods." The unicorn said. "Maybe we'll have better luck."

Nopony else seemed to have a problem with it. It didn't take too much time for them to take down their tents and re-gather their things. Soon enough, they were back to trekking through the trees again in search of the six foreign ponies.

Thirty minutes passed and they didn't seem to get too far away from their previous camp site. Instead of just wandering through the trees with no sense of direction, Rainbow Dash decided on another idea. They weren't too far away from the path that is used for the Running of the Leaves. So she suggested they use that to keep on going so at least they would have a path to follow. But even with that, no progress whatsoever was made in another twenty minutes passing. They had just stopped at the bridge that passed over the nearby river and waterfall.

"UGH!" Rainbow shouted to the sky. "This is getting us nowhere! How do we even know that they're still here?! What if they packed up and left?!"

"Would you quit your bellyachin'?!" Applejack shouted back. "None of us like this anymore than you do, Rainbow Dash. But we gotta keep lookin. We're on a mission, remember?"

"Yeah! I mean imagine it Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie was of course unbelievably optimistic. "We're gonna meet them and then we'll have six new friends to do all sorts of fun stuff with! We can learn their birthdays and have parties, buy them Hearth's Warming presents, bring them along on all of our get-togethers, it'll be totally TOTALLY AWESOME!"

"While those things DO sound appealing, Pinkie Pie, please remember that those aren't the reasons we're out here." Rarity stopped her friend's joyous rant.

"Sheesh, I know why we're out here, Rarity. Everypony's only been repeating it over and over since we started." Pinkie groaned back to her.

While she was right, it did little to change the overall attitude of her friends. What they predicted would take no more than 24 hours was now turning into twice the time. Even worse in Twilight's mind, how long was she going to leave the princess waiting? Her mind began to race. The princess surely doesn't like to be held up when it comes to a summons for six unknown ponies. And then she gasped. She hadn't bothered to give a progress report of yesterday! How could she have been so wrapped up to forget something like that?!

"Spike! Scroll and quill! Quickly!" she whipped her head around to look at her number one assistant.

Only to find that he wasn't on her back, or anywhere around them. First she noticed, then the others caught on that their dragon friend was nowhere in view.

"Spike! Where are you?!" Twilight raised her voice, worried.

"If this is a prank, Spike, it's not cool!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

One by one, they all sounded off hoping for a sign that Spike would answer them.

"Just give me one minute!" The dragon's voice came back loudly, with a touch of anger behind it.

"Where are you?!" Twilight cried back. "Answer me! Are you hurt?! In danger?!"

"I'm behind a tree going to the bathroom! Now can I please do so in peace?!"

That did its job of shutting all six of them up. Twilight actually blushed a bit embarrassed that she had interrupted Spike in the middle of that.

"Sorry...." She meekly responded, no longer raising the volume of her voice.

Since he would take a bit, Twilight decided to write that progress report herself. A scroll and quill telekinetically floated in front of her face as she began to write.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Day one of our search yielded few results. We have yet to find a true path to follow that will lead to these ponies, but our encounter last night proved-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!""

The point of the quill pierced through the scroll as a huge scream of terror from Spike snapped her back to what was around her. Spike came running out of the tree line and began hiding behind the nearest pony he could find, who happened to be Applejack.

"Landsakes, Spike. What's goin on with ya?" the country mare asked.

Shakily, Spike brought a claw up and pointed to where he exited the woods. Something had followed him.

It exited the woods holding a snarl on its face and pointing it towards the six mares. All of them had recognized the creature from last night. Had it been following them the whole time? How could they have not known? As if it weren't enough, it turned out it had friends. Four more of the dark pony shaped creatures came out into the clearing all growling like beasts towards the bearers of harmony. Not a single one had a difference between them when it came to physique or look. There now stood five dark ponies, completely identical.

Rainbow Dash growled back wanting revenge for last night. The others now stood completely ready to fight these things with no surprises.

"What is it you even want?!" Rarity cried.

"We have been ordered by our queen and majesty. You will surrender the book, and maybe you shall live." The center creature hissed at them.

The book? It must have been referring to the Alamantian history book. But why was that so important? Was it possible these creatures were looking for the same thing? And what majesty? The only creatures any of them knew about under the ruler ship of a queen were the changelings. And these creatures did not resemble changelings very well.

At once, the five creatures started to advance towards their prey....only to immediately step back. The bearers of harmony became confused as to what made them change their minds. Then they heard galloping coming from behind them and getting closer.

They all turned around and saw for one second two more figures wearing black cloaks dashing towards them in a sprint. It looked like they were going to be tackled. But no. The two cloaks instead just jumped over the group of seven, landing in between them and the dark creatures, in a bipedal stance. The creatures began to hiss at them in a feral manner but nothing happened. All they did was raise their hooves to the hoods of their cloaks and draw them back.

One of them was a stallion, blue all over. Light in the coat, darker in his mane which was in a slick style and seemed to cover one of his teal eyes. His companion was a yellow coated mare with a brown mane held back by a black elastic headband. Her ruby red eyes narrowed at the creatures.

"You know, I'm really starting to get sick of these damned things." The blue one growled.

"Then let's make short work of them and get back. They interrupted my lunch." The yellow one replied.

With that, the two of them let their cloaks drop to the ground behind them revealing their whole bodies. No wings or horns, they were both earth ponies. But that wasn't the first thing that was noticed. Spike took a look at the cover of the book and then at the flanks of the two ponies now in front of them. Two of them matched up. The blue one had the white symbol of water, and the yellow mare was bearing the brown symbol of earth.

"Check it out! Jackpot!" Spike whispered to Twilight as he pointed to the cover of the book and then to the two earth ponies in front of them.

Everypony followed Spikes claw and mixed in with their slight fear of these unknown creatures, came a sense of relief upon knowing their search has more than likely come to an end, and sooner than expected to boot. First however, these creatures had to be dealt with.

Before any of them could make a move towards them, the creatures lunged for the two earth ponies. Fast as they were, the Alamantians were faster. The blue stallion hopped to the left and the yellow mare jumped to the right. The mare stomped her rear hoof on the ground and a thick pole made of rock erupted from the ground in front of her. She took hold of it with both hooves and gave it a strong pull. As the pole was pulled from the earth, a large chunk of the ground ripped with it in the shape of a round flat faced hammer almost as big as her own body. With ease, she moved it around as if it were light as a feather and stood ready to swing at anything that came near her.

The blue stallion turned away and pointed one of his front hooves at the nearby stream. From the clam flat surface, a tendril rose up, under the control of the stallion's power. The water then extended towards him with lightning speed and enveloped his whole leg. He then brought his two front hooves together where the water was gathering, being pulled from the stream, then lashed both of his arms out turning back to the impending battle scene. There were now two large tendrils of water extending from both of his front legs like powerful whips.

The six bearers of harmony were more than ready to join these two in what was about to happen. However, when they saw the two of them show off their power, they decided to take a step back and just let the two Alamantians give them a show of what they were capable of. Twilight especially was looking forward to it.

Two of the black creatures lunged for the yellow mare first. She ducked the first one then laid the head of her hammer down on the ground and used it as leverage to vault herself towards the second one and thrust a strong back kick at it. She connected and the thing was sent sprawling back as the hammer rose up from the ground again. The first one she dodged then went for her again from behind and it was then knocked back once more when the butt of the hammer's handle was jabbed into its stomach.

The other three decided to focus on the stallion. In unison, all three of them charged up blasts of dark energy and launched them at him. Using his tendrils, the stallion was able to easily evade them and then lashed out his left foreleg. The water tendril attached to that leg extended and whipped all three creatures at their legs sending them off the ground. Before they hit the ground, one of them was struck again, this time by a harsh upward slash of the right side tendril. The creature was sent flying back away before thudding harshly into the dirt path. The other two who were beside him recovered quickly from their trip and advanced throwing punches and kicks at the stallion. Again, it was little work from him to evade their attacks. Menacing as these creatures looked, they did not offer a lot in terms of power or tact. Dropping the water tendrils, he grabbed one of the creature’s legs as it was thrown at him, then the other one's after that. He jerked them together then pushed them away before grabbing an amount of water he dropped to the ground and focusing it into two orbs hovering above his hooves. One by one, he shot them at the creatures and they both were hit knocked backwards off balance. As they were beginning to recover, they were then hit once more by the other two that were focusing on the mare. The stallion looked over and saw his ally holding her hammer as if she had just finished a strong swing of it.

All five of them regrouped together and saw that the two ponies in front of them weren't even breaking a sweat. They looked more than ready to inflict more damage. Glancing at the group of mares they come for, they growled and turned around to run off, obviously giving up and retreating. When they were out of view, the mare placed her hammer down by the head and tapped the handle. The hammer itself then crumbled into a pile of rocks and dirt at her hooves. The both of them turned to take their first good look at the group of ponies they jumped in front of to fight for.

One by one, all six of the harmony bearers stepped out from their hiding place slowly approaching the two ponies. The last one to join them was Twilight who sported a hung jaw and dilated pupils, shocked more than anypony else at the spectacle she just observed.

"Uhh...is she alright?" The yellow mare asked, tilting her head.

"She was a couple minutes ago." Spiked waved his claw in front of Twilight's eyes. "Twilight?"

A few blinks later and the lavender unicorn did the best she could to recollect herself.

"I'm sorry. I..I don't mean to gawk. It's just..you're earth ponies." She muttered

"So what if we're earth ponies?" The yellow mare asked again.

The blue pony seemed to scowl.

"Oh no. You're not one of those uptight snots from Canterlot who think earth ponies aren't worth anything are you?" He questioned.

"What-no! Of course not!" Twilight answered back loudly. "I mean I'm FROM Canterlot but I'm not like them. Th-there was a time a couple years back I was kind of like them but I got better I promise!"

"Okay okay calm down there, girl. We'll take your word for it." The yellow mare chuckled at Twilight's little rant.

Then it came to be Rainbow's turn, or at least she wanted it to be so she could talk.

"That...was...AWESOME!" she shouted. "I've never seen moves like that before! Where did you learn how to do that?!"

"Years of vigorous training in a place FAAAAAAAR away from here." The yellow mare answered them again.

A grunting noise came from her friend who joined her at her side and looked at the others he helped protect with a glare.

"Well thank you for this conversation. It was virtually pointless and I will work hard to forget both it and you. Bye now."

Without any regard to how rude he was, the blue stallion walked past her with a huff. Rainbow turned around snapping at him like a pincer, very unhappy with how she was just talked to. Who did this stallion think he was?

"Hey! I'm not done talking with you!"

"Tough shit. We're done with you." was her response from the blue pony.

Growling, Rainbow Dash was about to walk right up to him and clock him across the jaw. However, she stopped in her tracks once the yellow mare stepped in front of her.

"Sorry about him. He's an asshole." She said not really caring if he heard it or not. After that she talked again openly concerned in her tone. "Look we appreciate your gratitude and all that crap but me and him can't stay out in the open. And you should just go home. Something has been out to get us for a long time now and if you stick with us, it'll be after you too. Sorry but this is goodbye. It's for your own good."

Not wanting to put them in anymore danger like she said, the yellow mare turned away and grabbed her discarded cloak from the dirt with the intention of never seeing those ponies again. However, those intentions turned to dust one second later. Twilight however, was not willing to just let it end there. She took one step forward hoping what she said next would mean something.

"But we have a message for Pyro from Hitashi Ma!"

It turned out doing that was the right move. The mention of the names made the two earth ponies immediately cease their movement forward and turn back around to face them. Both of them were quite surprised to hear Equestrians mention them.

"How do you know those names?"

Twilight spoke firmly and clearly now that she had their attention.

"We have a letter from Mister. Ma. He told us that if we found it to come and find you and ask for a pony called, Pyro. Please just hear us out."

Just hear her out. A suggestion that both these element moving earth ponies were contemplating at the same time in their heads. The blue stallion let out a very loud groan. He didn't want this to happen. He thought his job was just gonna be to kick some ass and then vanish like normal. Now all these complications just came crashing down. The yellow mare felt similar. It was bad enough for her she had to worry about herself and a few others getting hurt. Now these six ponies and a baby dragon no less have gotten themselves involved in something way bigger than they could possibly imagine.

They didn't have a choice anymore. After rubbing the bridge of her nose a bit more rough then she had intended to, she looked back at the group of waiting ponies.

"Follow us back to our home. We can talk there."

It was reasonable enough to the group. So with that said, they all gathered their things up and began to follow the two earth ponies back to...wherever it was they were leading them to. They were led off the pathway and back into the trees and bushes.

"This is a mistake." The blue one muttered to his comrade beside him. "They're gonna get themselves killed."

"Well those things have seen them, so there's no going back for them now." The yellow mare whispered back. "And if they have info for us on Master Ma, we need it. You know that."

His growl was heard amongst everypony around him. Cautiously, Rarity approached them wanting to get a bit of information herself. Hearing her hoofsteps caused Agua to turn around with a glare.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

The fashionista huffed not caring for the uncalled rudeness of his vocal tone. First with Rainbow and now her. What was this guy's deal? Nonetheless, she put on a smile wanting to be polite and hoping it would encourage him to do so in return.

"I just wanted to ask for your names, is all. I'm Rarity. And you are?"

"We're none of your concern." He answered back in that same snap of his.

The ivory unicorn was beginning to growl herself. Spike was too. In fact, all of them were. She was just asking a question and he just shuts her out for no reason. Then the yellow mare jabbed at his side quite roughly not really caring herself for her friend's behavior.

"I know you don't like this, but be nice." she said warning him.

The she then turned back to look at Rarity sporting the smallest hint of a smile.

"My name is Chikei Jishin."

The name and dialect she used it in was unlike anything the Equestrian herd had ever even heard before. All of them looked at her very much confused.

"Uhhhh...Chica what now?" Applejack had to ask. She wanted to know how to say her name the right way.

The yellow mare just chuckled.

"Right. Equestrian. Well in your language it translates to Terrain Quake. Why don't you just call me, Terra?"

Terra. Now THAT was a name they could remember. Simple. One word. Easy to pronounce.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Terra." Rarity nodded pleasantly, happy at least one of them was being nice.

She didn't say anything more after that curious to see if the blue one would at all loosen up a bit. He didn't. He just kept looking straight forward with no intention of saying a word.

"His name is Shio Tamari, Tide Pool." Terra answered for him.

His head snapped in the direction his yellow partner glaring at her with eyes frigid as the arctic north. She didn't even flinch. But the others did take a step back when he redirected his glare to them.

"Call me Agua." He just grumbled and resumed his march forward picking up pace a little bit. Pinkie Pie bounced up to where he was and looked to Terra with her head tilted a bit.

"What's with him?" she asked genuinely wanting to know.

"I really don't know. For as long as I've known him, he's always been a grump." The mare of earth answered with a shrug. "Don't worry about it. Right now there are bigger things going on."

"Yer darn right about that." Now Applejack approached sounding stern. "We got some questions and we want answers. Why are y'all here in Equestria? What were those things that attacked us? Just what the hay is going on around here?"

"Just chill out, miss hat." Terra chuckled. "You'll get all your answers soon. And then some."

Applejack blinked at what she was just called.

"I'm sorry....miss what now?" she asked.

"Well I don't know your name so I had to call you something now, didn't I?" Terra responded with another chuckle.

"Heh....well mah name is Applejack."

One by one each of the others announced their own names to the two Alamantians. Terra responded pleasantly.

"Well it’s cool to meet you all."

Agua simply did not.

"Whatever. After we get this over with, hopefully it won't matter anymore."

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie was really getting annoyed with his guy. All it was with him was one rude comment after the other. "What's your problem? You don't have any reason to be a big meanie to us!"

Once again, a growl sounded off from his throat as he turned to look at Pinkie, his eyes shooting daggers.

"Oh you really think that?" he stopped and turned around to look at all of them. "The seven of you have inadvertently gotten yourselves tangled up in a crossfire between us and something we have zero knowledge on. Because of that, now we have to worry about not only ourselves, but now all of you getting hurt or even worse, KILLED! It's already stressing enough on us to watch over each other, but now we have to worry about six other mares AND an infant dragon! So forgive me if I'm not exactly in a bright mood over that!"

Still growling, Agua backed off and turned his back once more heading down the dirt leaving the others feeling a bit guilty themselves. He may not have said it in the most polite of ways, but he was right. They were involved, and they were at risk. But it's not like they MEANT to be. They didn't know what would happen. It was just an accident.

"Look we ain't entirely happy with this either." Applejack responded to him as calmly as she could. "Things weren't supposed to go this way but they did. There's no changin' it. So would it kill ya to at least try and be friendly?"

It seemed that by his response, that either this water manipulating stallion was against that idea, or he just liked to scowl a lot. It didn't matter. Whatever it was it didn't stop Applejack from scowling back at him.

"Friendship isn't my strong suit." He said as he turned his back again.

Keeping the pace behind him, the others, minus Terra of course, were starting to get a little bit nervous about what to expect when they meet the others. Fluttershy tapped Twilight's shoulders and brought her muzzle up to her ear.

"Are you sure about this?" She whispered. "This thought didn't cross my mind until now but what if we tell these ponies the princess wants to see them and they no?"

"Then we'll convince them....somehow." Twilight whispered back though unsure herself. She then turned back to look at Terra and Agua speaking out loud. "How much longer until we reach your home?"

"It's not any much longer. We're here." Terra answered, pushing a bush out of the way.

She turned around and held a hoof out behind her as if she was presenting some kind of grand and spectacular showing in that direction. All they saw was the flat surface of a rocky mountainside.

"Uhhhhh it's just a mountain. There's nothing here." Rainbow Dash was beginning to think these ponies were insane.

The mare of earth laughed. Rainbow Dash tilted her head confused as to why the laughter was even happening? What did say that was funny? Was this mare really off her rocker?

"Equestrians. I swear you ponies have no imagination."

Swiftly, the yellow mare stood bipedal once more and dug her hind hooves into the ground. She then threw her right foreleg straight out to the face of the rock. Once her leg was at full extension, they all heard, felt, and saw the front of the rock begin to sink into the ground, following Terra's own movement down with her hoof. When it lowered, a passageway was revealed to be there, concealed by the rock. Again bewildered by the power the mare possessed, they just stood there with their jaws agape at the show before they were brought back into reality.

Agua was the first one to enter in followed by the others and Terra in the rear. When they were all inside, the mare of earth used her power again to shut the door behind them. The corridor they were in was lit by a row of torches along both walls. Not far from the makeshift door, there was also a small coat rack holding four similar black cloaks and two empty hooks. They were filled shortly by the cloaks Agua and Terra had themselves.

"Follow us. Meet the family." Terra beckoned.

She and Agua walked down the torch lit corridor and went out of view as they exited it. Shortly, the six ponies followed with Spike still atop Twilight's back.

As they exited the corridor, they came into a wide open space with what appeared to be makeshift workout equipment. Weights made of rock, a punching bag made out of a thrown out bed spread and filled with sand, a sparring ring, and the walls were lined with all sorts of various weapons. The items in there weren't what caught the harmony bearer's attention. It was the company. Spike brought out the book again when he saw that there were three other ponies in there using that equipment.

Over on the punching bag, rapidly throwing punches and kicks in a bipedal stance, was a white unicorn with a cyan colored mane and tail, with his mane in a mohawk style. On his flank was a cyan symbol cutie mark that matched the symbol of ice on the Alamantian book. And over in the sparring ring were two mares. One of them was a pink pegasus with bright blonde hair who bore a blue symbol cutie mark, which Spike saw as the symbol of wind. Her sparring partner was a unicorn, who looked to be much younger than anypony else there judging by her size. Her coat was an electric purple color and her mane and tail were flat black with a bright purple streak going down the middle. Her flank had a cutie mark that matched up with the symbol of plasma.

Five of the six ponies were now right in front of the elements of harmony. But where was the one that came to their rescue last night? Where was the pony of fire?

The pink pegasus looked over to the corridor entrance and noticed that they had unexpected company. Once she noticed, the purple unicorn saw it too and they made their way out of the ring to approach them. The white unicorn wasn't far behind them as he walked away from the bag, letting it sway from the impact of his last hit.

"Agua, Terra, who are these ponies?" The white unicorn asked uneasy.

"It's alright, Cryo." Terra responded and also gave the visitors his name. "They don't mean us any harm."

"Can't Typhoon just read them, get the info, and make them forget they ever saw us?" Agua suggested.

The pink pegasus huffed.

"You know how I feel about misusing my power like zat!" Judging by her reaction, she was the Typhoon Agua was talking about.

None of them were really expecting an Alamantian to have a Prench sounding accent though.

"Yeah I know how you feel but it doesn't mean I understand why you do." The stallion of water said back to her.

"Because eet's wrong! To go fishing around een someone's head and changing memories like zat weethout permission ees a huge eenvasion of zeir privacy!"

Typhoon and Agua were now nose to nose and scowling back at one another.

"Well I think the ends justify the means here. We don't need them."

"Agua, Ty is right." Cryo stood by the pegasus' side. "We can't do that. It isn't right."

One by one, all five Alamantians began to raise their voices at each other. Soon, the five voices mixed together into one track that none of the harmony bearers, nor the young dragon with them, could make out. All they could do was watch the spectacle, growing more uneasy by the moment.

"Uhhhh....what did we walk into?" Rainbow Dash muttered to anypony.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Applejack was the one to reply.

The five of them continued to bicker with an audience watching them for a few more moments until they were stopped by small explosion of fiery sparks over their heads similar to fireworks. All twelve present persons looked up in silence. But only five of them knew what it was that caused it. The Alamantians turned their heads in the same direction to view their sixth exiting out from a corridor and into the open.

The harmonious 6 and Spike all recognized that color of red the unicorn stallion was sporting. No longer concealed by his cloak, they were finally able to see the rest of him. His tail matched his bright red and orange streaked mane and his golden yellow eyes shimmered as if they were the mineral itself. On his flank he bore the orange symbol of fire making the circle of six complete. He stopped only inches away from his friends and gazed into Twilight's eyes, then Rarity's, then Pinkie's, and so on until he finally locked his sight on Terra.

"What happened?" his tone seemed almost emotionless.

Terra was quick to answer.

"Agua and I left to scout the disturbance, we ended up bringing these six ponies and a baby dragon back with us."

Not one part of the fire stallion's face seemed to move a single bit. Not even when he stepped through his team and stood in front of Twilight.

"I don't know if you have been made aware, but we-"

"Yeah yeah yeah we get the idea." Rainbow Dash interrupted him. "You've apparently had a thing going with another thing you know nothing about and now our lives are at risk. We already know."

"Then why have you willingly sought us out?" he asked, wondering what sort of crazy idea this bunch must have had.

"Well....in our defense, when we started looking for you, we didn't know how bad it was." Rarity softly said before remembering something. "But it was you. Last night you saved us from that one creature didn't you?"

Again, his expression didn't change much. All he did was give the unicorn a nod.

"Well then....allow us to give you an overdue thank you, Pyro."

He didn't seem at all moved. He just raised his eyebrow upon hearing the unicorn say his name. His attention was diverted to Spike when he noticed he seemed to have his eyes averted onto the purple Alamantian unicorn.

"You're welcome." He said to Rarity first before addressing Spike. "Is there something about my sister that interests you, drake?"

"Wha?" Spike jumped up a little realizing he had been caught staring.

"Spike, what have I told you about staring at ponies?" Twilight said scolding.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. But...." He looked back at the other unicorn. "How old are you?"

He like the others had noticed that the unicorn was smaller than the other ponies here. In a manner that seemed to match Fluttershy's, she let loose a squeak upon realizing she was being shown attention and took a step back uncomfortable.

"Um......thirteen." She muttered.

The number caught the Equestrians off guard a bit. That young a mare? Caught up in something like this?

"Just thirteen?" Spike asked again. "And you're okay with...what you're doing?"

"It's not like I asked to have this mark....." she replied while she brushed the ground with her hoof nervously.

"Eet's alright, Gem. None of us asked for zese cutie marks." Typhoon said softly to the young one, now known to be called Gem. "But we have zem, and we all agreed to ze contract zat came weeth zem."

"Contract?" Pinkie Pie piped up. "You had to sign a contract when you got your cutie marks? Is that how it works where you come from? Sounds like a lot of trouble to go through just for discovering your destiny."

"Uh...eet was a metaphor." Typhoon said back to the party planner.

"Yes and changing the subject, you haven't answered my question." Pyro started talking again. "Why were you looking for us? And who exactly are you?"

That's when the Equestrian guests remembered that they had only given their names to two of the Alamantians. Deciding to get the easy one out of the way first, Twilight gave her name and Spike after her.

"Ah'm Applejack. Ah work in town sellin’ apples."

"I'm Rarity, the best dressmaker in Ponyville."

The ivory unicorn swore she heard a small gasp from Typhoon come right after she introduced herself.

"My name's Rainbow Dash! Best flier in all Equestria!"

"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie! Would you mind all writing down your birthday’s here on this paper? It's for reasons that I assure you aren't wrong."

Shrugging, Cryo took the pad of paper and quill she apparently conjured out of nowhere and wrote down his date of birth curious as to what Pinkie would want with such information. The others followed, some unwillingly, and Pinkie stuck the pad of paper back in her mane smiling brightly with gears spinning in her head.

"Um....hi.....I'm...Fluttershy."

All seven of them were introduced. With that, Pyro slightly bowed his head to them.

"And I am Pyro as you apparently know." he then turned back holding a hoof up to his friends one by one. "And you've already met Cryo, Gem, Typhoon, Terra, and Agua."

At last the young unicorn was identified as Gem. She was the only one out of the five who gave them a gesture when Pyro said her name. She just raised her hoof and gave a shy wave, again, mimicking Fluttershy in a level of shyness. The demure pegasus herself seemed to take a small bit of comfort in the fact that there was more than one pony there who seemed a bit timid with all the introductions going around.

"They said they know, Master Ma, Pyro." Agua said getting back to business.

The red stallion's eyebrow rose up at the mention of that name. His head turned back to the seven guests with every ounce of interest now aimed at them.

"Did they now?"

Rainbow stepped forward and held a hoof up.

"Whoa whoa hold up. We never said we KNEW the guy." She said defensively. "All we have from him is a book and a note we found in a library. That's why we came out to find you. The note asked us to."

Both items mentioned hovered over to Pyro enveloped in Twilight's magical glow. The color of that glow turned from magenta to orange as he took them into his own telekinetic grip. As he looked at it, the heads of his five compatriots gathered around his to view it.

"What do you think?" Cryo asked.

"Well it's definitely from him. I'd recognize the writing anywhere. Even in Equestrian." He responded.

"So what does it say?" Gem then asked her question.

"That's just it. It doesn't really say a lot. There's no instructions for us or anything like that. It's just a note asking whoever finds it to search for us." Again Pyro answered as he turned the note over looking for more than what was there.

"I think he wants you to come out of hiding." Rainbow Dash pointed to a certain line in the note. "Right there it says, 'The time has come for them to step back out into the world'. Maybe he thinks you guys are ready to leave this place."

"Also, Princess Celestia has some things she wishes to talk to you about as well." Twilight added.

Both statements got all six Alamantians thinking. What could the princess of Equestria possibly have to say to them?

"Uhhhhh....really?" Typhoon asked. "What could ze princess possibly want weeth us?"

"I really want to hear the answer to that myself." Was all Twilight answered with.

"Gather, my siblings." Pyro requested.

The six Alamantians all took a few steps away from the Equestrian visitors in their midst and huddled together, speaking in only whispers. They all took note of Pyro using the word, "siblings". Is that why they easily got into arguments? Were all six of them somehow related to each other? Was this just normal for them? Terra did say to come and “meet the family” when they first entered the hidden home. Now that they were found it didn't seem like anything was getting cleared up like any of them thought it would. Instead, watching the six of them interact with each other only made more and more questions pile on that they wanted answers to. By the time they would get the chance to ask one, they wouldn't even know where to start.

"So what do you think? Should we trust them?" Terra was the first to ask.

"They said they're in tight with the princess. I think we can trust them." Cryo said, on the Equestrian's side.

"That's because you trust anyone, you naive moron." Agua growled. "If they said they could also shoot rainbows out of their asses and cure diseases with it, you'd believe it."

"Zat's enough, Agua." Typhoon snapped at her brother before looking at the others in the circle. "I deedn't read zem but I can tell zey are being sincere. I say we go weeth zem. Eef we end up een trouble, we can get out easy. Aucun problème du tout."

Pyro nodded seeming to agree with Typhoon's reasoning. But there was still one more to hear from.

"Gem, what do you think?"

All five of them turned to face the young mare of plasma who gulped not liking being put on the spot like that. Nevertheless, she exhaled through her nose and spoke her thoughts.

"Well....I don't think they would have gone through so much trouble to find us if it wasn't important to them....I believe them."

A series of nods came from the group, save for the stallion of water who was not happy about being outvoted. With a decision made the six of them broke their huddle and turned back around to face their visitors.

"Well?" Twilight asked a bit nervous.

Her answer came to her immediately from the stallion of fire.

"We will come with you to Canterlot. If your princess wishes to speak to us that bad, then what she has to say must be important for both us and herself."

Not just Twilight, but everyone else with her took a sigh of relief at the fact that there wouldn't be any complications in convincing them to come.

"W-we're gonna meet the Princess?" Gem asked suddenly sounding very uneasy. "Oh wow....that....that sure is something."

"Yeah who would've guessed huh?" Terra threw a foreleg around her youngest sibling's back. "Six renegade Alamantians meeting royalty."

"Aren't YOU technically royalty?" Cryo asked his sister.

"I make no connections to that life." Terra brushed it off, while unknowingly adding yet another question to that pile for the bearers of harmony. "Fire up your horns and let's get going!"

"Horns?" Twilight tilted her head. "I think you must be confused. We have to get to Canterlot by train."

A laugh was heard after that sentence. And it came from Agua.

"Train? That's what the slow folk use. Watch this." He looked to his ice powered comrade and gestured his head forward. "Do your thing horn dogs."

All three of the present Alamantian unicorns rolled their eyes at the nickname. Nonetheless, the three of the stood side by side and began to prepare their horns. Pyro's glow was a gold color, Cryo's was cyan, and Gem's horn shone a bright brown color. Twilight watched the three of them intently curious as to what sort of spell they were going to use. Their process however was interrupted when a small cry from the Alamantian pegasus overcame the room. Cryo, Pyro, and Gem all stopped what they were doing and looked to Typhoon who had a hoof to the side of her own head.

"Typhoon? What is it? What's wrong?" Cryo asked concerned.

None of the guests had any clue as to what was happening with the pink mare. Slowly, she took in a breath to focus kept the hoof to her head.

"I am picking up another disturbance." She told them all before going on. "Just outside Ponyville.....at a construction site. Eet's huge zis time. Eet's probably going to take all of us."

"The construction site in town?" Applejack wondered. "What's goin on there? Is everypony there okay?......hey wait a second! How do you even know somethin's happenin'?"

That part was just noticed as Applejack pointed it out. This pegasus just had a hoof to her head and was telling everypony that there was trouble happening in town. How could she possibly know? This was starting to become aggravating. Just how many questions were they gonna have when this was over? Right now that pile of questions had pretty much reached the ceiling.

"We'll explain ourselves later." Pyro told. "And the princess is going to have to wait. Typhoon, send me, Cryo, and Gem the location."

"Wait! You agreed to come! And the princess has a schedule to keep!" Twilight cried not liking getting diverted this much.

The Alamantians however didn't seem to care in the slightest at her plight.

"If the princess really does want to talk with us, then she can wait a few more hours." Terra told her. "Right now there are some ponies who may be in trouble and we have to help them."

"We have the location." Cryo said. "Pyro, Gem, let's do it."

Again, the three unicorns came together and their horns began to glow their respective colors as a spell was starting to cast. At first it didn't seem like anything was happening. The brightness on all three horns just seemed to get a little brighter. Then in a snap, it happened. Right in front of the unicorns, three flashes of gold, cyan, and brown appeared simultaneously and a brightly glowing ring of energy formed right above the ground. Through the ring, Twilight peered and saw there was what appeared to be a construction site right there through it, almost as if she was looking out a window. Immediately she was able to tell what the spell was.

"A portal spell?" she muttered. "But.....I've never heard of a spell like that. How did you three do that?!"

"Again, we'll explain later." Pyro said before looking to his team. "Be ready for anything."

"Wait, Pyro, we're not seriously gonna leave these guys here in our home while we're gone are we?" Terra asked gesturing to the element bearers and Spike.

"Yeah she's right!" Rainbow shouted. "Let us come! We can handle ourselves just fine in a fight!"

The decision was Pyro's in this case. He wasn't entirely convinced that these six plus a baby dragon could fight all that well, and he was making this judgement off of what he saw last night with just one of those creatures. But he and his friends didn't just want to leave them there in their home without so much as an explanation. Not sure of what to do, he turned back to his team.

"What do you think?" He asked the five of them.

"I say let them come. We can handle things if they get sticky." Terra replied with confidence.

Cryo and Typhoon agreed with their yellow friend. Agua was the only one opposed.

"They'll only just get in our way. We can do things ourselves." he argued.

Even though he was already outnumbered, everypony looked to Gem as if she was the deciding vote. Apparently they all wanted to get everypony's opinion before the decision was made even if the vote was already leaning in one direction.

"Well....I don't really know them....but if they want to come it's not like we have the right to tell them no." the young unicorn murmured.

With a nod, the Alamantians all looked towards them with Agua being the only one sporting a glare.

"Alright then. Just walk through the portal and be prepared for an uneasy stomach." Cryo advised.

Eyebrows were raised at that comment.

"Uhhhh....why?" Applejack asked.

"Happens with all first time portal travelers." Cryo said with a shrug. "First time I went through I puked. But that was years ago and I'm good. Now let's go!"

He then galloped over to the portal and with a "Woohoo!" jumped through it to the other side. Pinkie, liking his high spirit, was the first to follow him bouncing into the gate. Rainbow Dash followed, then Terra, and then one by one everypony else followed until the only ones left were Twilight and Agua, Spike having gone on before. Twilight was distracted by the portal itself tapping at it as if it were a hard surface.

"So fascinating. This is unlike any transportation spell I've ever heard of. I mean just think! All this time I could have been using portals instead having to put all that effort into teleporting! just think about how this could revolutionize the area of-GYAAH!"

Her little rambling session was cut off when she was shoved from behind into the portal by Agua. The stallion of water let loose a heavy sigh relishing in the brief moment of solitude before looking upwards to the ceiling.

"Lord Poseidon, I don't ask for a lot. But I beg of you please keep our interactions with these ponies short."

With that little prayer, he walked through the portal himself and it vanished as soon as he did. Little did he know that even before he made that little request, his fate and the fate of his siblings, were already sealed.

A Darkness Reborn

I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 4: A Darkness Reborn

Today was a very beautiful day in Ponyville. The Pegasus ponies had made the sky all blue with not a single cloud in sight. For most folks, that was delightful, but for others who strain their bodies every day for their jobs, the heat piled on them like a heavy load.

On the northern edge of Ponyville, some of the ponies were working hard on a construction site. Earth, unicorn, and pegasus ponies alike were working together to put together a new foundation for a building. Holes were being dug and hills of sand and dirt were rising higher and higher as the excavation grew deeper. The head worker pony was overseeing development. It was a male Earth pony with a dark brown coat, black mane, and a cutie mark of a shovel.

“KEEP AT IT, EVERYPONY! AT THIS RATE, WE SHOULD BE DONE IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS!”

He wasn’t all the good with tools but he could sure get the volume up on that voice.

“Hey Hard Head.” Another pegasus pony with a coat of grey, mane of white, and a jackhammer for a cutie mark came over to him.

Apparently the shouting Earth pony’s name was Hard Head.

“Yeah, Jack. What’s up?” Hard Head said to the Pegasus who was simply named Jack for obvious reasons.

“Me and some of the other guys were about to head out to lunch. You wanna come? We’re buyin.”

“You’ve known me for eleven straight years, Jack.” Hard Head said to the flyer. “And in that time, have you ever known me to turn down a free meal?”

Jack chuckled at him.

“Yeah. I sometimes forget you’re a leech sometimes.”

Hard Head just laughed as Jack went off to tell his colleagues that his boss was in for lunch. But right before he joined him, Hard Head saw something near a big crate of supplies. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was worth checking out.

H approached the crate, but he never got the chance to investigate. As soon as he took one step towards that crate, something seeped through the cracks of it and rammed right into Hard Head. All the worker pony saw was a poof of bluish black smoke before his vision went black.

Two minutes later, all the ponies at the site were under the same kind of slumber. There was a big bluish black cloud hovering above the site. And a very eerie voice came from the could itself.

“This should lure them out.”

Whoever or whatever it was turned out to be right, because three minutes later, they arrived.

From the sky not far, six orbs of the six elements came down and when they hit the ground, the Alamantians were their normal bodies again along with Twilight and the others. But she and the other Harmony elements took their first few steps away from the nature elements off balance and dizzy. Spike tightened his grip around Twilight’s neck to keep himself from falling off her back.

“Did we just…teleport a long distance?” Twilight asked still dazed.

“Yes you did.” Terra answered. “And quite well I might add. Most ponies tend to puke the first time they do that.”

Rarity grasped her stomach which bothered her now very much.

“I can’t imagine why.” She moaned.

But she and the others were quick to recover for the effects quickly wore off.

“So….what exactly are we looking for?” Rainbow Dash asked as she turned and looked around.

“Anything out of the ordinary.” Pyro responded as he looked around. “Let’s take a look up there.”

Pyro took the lead and led his team and Twilight’s up a small hill of rock. But as soon as they reached the top of it, their eyes just went to terror.

“Would this qualify as ‘out of the ordinary’?” Applejack asked.

Everypony who was a worker out at that site was lying on the ground with their eyes shut tight. But none of them looked like they had any injuries or anything like that to cause such a thing. No cuts, bruises, no nothing. All twelve ponies and Spike immediately rushed to the downed construction workers to see if they were even breathing.

“Are they….dead?” Gem could barely mutter the word as she stood next to Typhoon.

Typhoon herself put her hoof on one worker’s neck to feel for a pulse. And luckily she felt it.

“Non.” She said. “Zey are all fine, Gem. Zair ees no need to worry.”

With that, Gem nodded and then turned back to the rest of them who all happily gave her the same news. But it still didn’t explain what the heck happened to them. The twelve of them stood in a group.

“It’s a relief that they’re all okay. But what caused this?” Twilight wondered.

“HEY!”

A voice from behind startled them all. They turned around to see a pony there. It was Hard Head. They all took a sigh of relief upon seeing it was just a worker.

“What are you kids doing here?” he said as he rubbed his head as if in pain.

All of them were now even more relived to see that one of them was awake. Fluttershy then came out of her hiding place behind Typhoon and decided to speak herself.

“Umm…..would you have by chance happened to see what happened here?”

Hard Head looked at them all, and then looked around and shrugged.

“Sorry kiddo. I don’t remember a thing.” He replied.

But just as they were all about to leave and do something else there, Hard Head spoke up once more.

“Wait a sec.” The worker pony said. “Do you think it maybe looked something like this?”

Then that pony became something else entirely. What SHE truly was. Her colors changed to dark blue and black. The eyes transformed into those of a cat. And she grew both a horn and wings. Her cutie mark was a crescent moon on a dark purple cloud. Her mane and tail looked like a waving dark cloud. And she grew a few feet in height.

Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike couldn’t believe who it was. They thought they had vanquished this being some time ago. But as for Pyro, Typhoon, Gem, Cryo, Agua, and Terra, they were clueless on who she was. All they did was raise their dukes in a bipedal stance knowing she was a threat. Their new friends hid behind them.

“Well, that was weird.” Gem commented.

The dark figure raised her hoof after laughing and waved at them.

“You’re too kind. Allow me to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know me.” The alicorn said. “I’m locally known, globally feared, universally despised.”

The six Alamantian ponies shared glances with one another still not getting her name. And then it came.

“They call me Nightmare Moon.”

She expected it to send shivers down their spines. It did for Twilight and her friends. But it strangely didn’t for Pyro and his. Agua only pointed his hoof at her.

“Well pack your bags, bitch. Cause we’re sending you right back where you came from.” He said in an angry tone.

Now Twilight and her friends were scared as to what Nightmare would do to him after an insult like that. But Nightmare only lowered her head to look closer at the group of twelve.

“Well well well.” Nightmare said. “Alamantian adolescents with big mouths.”

Agua growled at being called adolescent.

“I suppose not much has changed in Alamante ever since that beautiful war broke out.” Nightmare added.

“You really don’t know who you’re dealing vith, Shady.” Typhoon said.

“Oh is that so?” Nightmare wasn’t scared one bit.

“Yeah.” Pyro said. “We’re the six chosen ones.”

Now Nightmare was laughing at them.

“Oh my! Where’s my autograph book? This is too good! HA!” She finally stopped laughing and then glared at them. “Chosen ones huh?”

Then she turned away from them and took a few steps forward while the others behind her followed her actions. Although Twilight and the others wanted to be nowhere near her.

“So that old fool Ma still has a bunch of kids doin his work for him, huh?”

That line got all of their attention now. She said Ma. It was in the form of a name. But how could she possibly?

“How do you know Master Ma?” Pyro demanded to know.

“He and I have…danced together…quite a few times in the past.” Nightmare replied.

Everyone got what she meant by that. Master Ma and Nightmare have apparently been fighting with each other for some time. But then, that only meant one thing. She knew where he was.

“You tell me right now! What have you done with him?” Pyro shouted.

“Oh he’s safe…..for now.” Nightmare taunted with a bit of laughter.

Pyro was about to make a move and attack her, but Typhoon stopped him. It wouldn’t do any good to have her burned to a crisp. They still needed information out of her. That and…he was unaware that he couldn’t burn her effectively even if he tried.

But it was clear she wouldn’t talk willingly. When she turned around again, she took notice of the ponies behind the Alamantians. And once again she laughed.

“Well lookie what we have here.” She muttered. “Twilight Sparkle is it? And the rest of the Elements of Harmony. You have NO idea how long I’ve wanted to see you all again. So I can return the favor for what you did to me not too long ago!”

Then the Alamantians looked back at Twilight ant the other five ponies who were all now a bit scared.

“Hold up. You guys know her?” Terra asked.

“Unfortunately.” Rainbow Dash replied. “It’s a long story.”

“You guys are the Elements of Harmony?” Gem asked.

“Yes. We are. What’s it to you?” Rarity asked.

The Alamantians went silent on the spot. And that made it clear to the six Equestrians and their dragon friend that there was something to be explained.

“Can we just please kill this bitch and move on, please?” Agua demanded.

“My my.” Nightmare looked at Agua. “Such hostility. Master Ma was a fool to think you kids could stop me. But I think I’ll have MY kids take care of YOU instead.”

Nightmare’s horn began to glow and then sparks of energy flew out of it and landed on the ground beside her. As she cackled away, that same energy formed into the shape of ponies. And then they gained colors.

“Rise my Shadowmares!”

Those ponies were the exact same ones the Elementals have fought before. But none of them knew how that was even possible. All they knew now was that they were called Shadowmares.

“Soon now my name will be the one that everypony worships as a god!” Nightmare boasted. “Welcome to my nightmare!”

She laughed evilly once more as she became enveloped in a black cloud and disappeared.

“She’s gone.” Cryo muttered.

“Um…but THEY’RE not.” Rarity timidly pointed out.

The Shadowmares were still there and they did not look to friendly.

“What now?” Twilight asked anyone.

Terra looked behind her and over the ledge they were near. It wasn’t that big a jump.

“I think we’ll have more room down there.” The pony of earth said.

Pyro immediately agreed.

“Guys, go!”

Pyro rushed for the Shadowmares while the others jumped. Terra got hold of Applejack and Rarity was grabbed by Cryo. The four of them jumped down together and landed nicely on their feet. Agua and Gem followed while carrying Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. And then Fluttershy was grabbed by Typhoon and the former screamed while Typhoon jumped down the ledge and also landed nicely.

Pyro was able to punch a few Shadowmares before he looked and saw that his friends were safe. Then he ran the other way, got hold of Twilight and Spike and then followed them all down the ledge. After he landed, he looked at Twilight.

“Twilight, take your friends and get to somewhere safe. We’ll handle these guys.”

Knowing she had no clue on how to beat a group of Shadowmares she decided to listen to Pyro and get the hell out of the way. She and her other five friends ran and hid behind a rock, leaving Pyro and his team to fight. All six of them got on their hind legs and raised their dukes.

“Let’s take these guys!” Agua shouted eager to fight.

“Everypony spread out!” Pyro commanded.

The six of them all ran in separate directions, and Pyro spotted a shovel wedged in between some rocks. Thinking of an idea, he went to the shovel, and pulled the long handle off the actual shovel part.

As the Shadowmares jumped down the ledge themselves, Pyro twirled the handle like a staff and got ready to fight.

“Welcome to MY nightmare, bitch.”

As the Shadowmere’s closed on him, Pyro decided to act. He swung the staff at one and sent it on its back. Another one tried to throw a kick at the fire pony and all he had to do was duck and swing the staff upwards. The momentum of that swing caused him to spin and then he jumped.

“Heads up!”

He threw an airborne spin kick with his back hoof into the face of another Shadowmare sending it spiraling to the ground.

Twilight and the others were completely dumbstruck and cringed when they saw him do that.

“These guys are brutal.” Spike observed.

“They might be a bit assertive, Spike. But they’re GOOD.” Rainbow Dash added.

They then looked over in Terra’s direction. She jumped over a boulder, somersaulted, and landed running from a single Shadowmare. Then she spotted a big rock the size of her head. She decided it was her time to throw some punches. She put her hoof on the rock.

“Hey shady. Ever play pony soccer?”

Terra kicked the rock to the Shadowmare distracting it enough for her to rush for it and then roll over its back. The Shadowmare dropped the rock and threw a backhanded swing at Terra. But Terra leaned backwards and threw her own hoof into the mare’s stomach. Then she spun around with her hind hoof and swept the Shadowmare to the ground. Then she turned around and grabbed another Shadowmare by the front hoof. Then she spun around herself and threw the Shadowmare into the rocks.

“Ooooohhhhh. That had to hurt.” Applejack pointed out.

Over with Typhoon, two Shadowmares came at her from both directions. When they jumped for her, she ducked down and the two shady henchmen collided with each other. Then two more came for her and she too stood up on her back hooves and grabbed both of their heads.

“Kiss and make up, mares.”

Typhoon made the two Shadowmares butt their own heads together knocking them out. Then she let go and threw her front hooves forward. When she did, two big blasts of wind were made and they blew the two henchponies back away before skidding on the ground.

Cryo flipped past her and then ran into another one. He then began to front kick it many times in a row before the Shadowmare went down. Then he saw three more were running for him. His horn began to glow a cyan color like his mane, and then a beam of the same color blasted out. The ground underneath the Shadowmares’ hooves froze solid. And Cryo walked away and into another Shadowmare. He blocked the kick that black henchpony threw at him and then did a quick backflip. As he flipped, his hind hooves struck the Shadowmare in the underside of the chin and made it fall down hard on the dirt.

Gem saw two coming for her on both the left and right. She jumped up and did a split kick showing off her flexibility. Then she ducked down to avoid another Shadowmare’s punch. And her timing was great because that Shadowmare ended up punching another one in the nose. Then Gem uppercutted the other one in the chin and sent it sprawling on its back.

There was one lone Shadowmare who was seeming to have one hell of a time with Agua. Every punch got blocked no matter how many were thrown and how fast they came. And then Agua decided it was time for offensive maneuvers. The blue pony of water threw his weight back and began somersaulting like he was a gymnast or something. When he began to get farther away, the Shadowmare ran after him. Just like Agua wanted. When the timing was just right, Agua went airborne for his last back flip and landed on his two hind hooves. Then when the Shadowmare was close enough, the water pony threw his hooves both front and hind into the Shadowmare at least eight to ten times before giving it a good kick to the chest sending it crashing into a rock.

Now from behind the rock they were all hiding behind, the mane six had their eyes glued on each and every one of the six fighting ponies. The way they moved around and beat the living daylights out of these black henchponies was both super amazing, and a little scary at the same time. Even though she was already hiding behind a rock and none of the Shadowmares were after them, Fluttershy still felt the need to protect herself even more by burying her head in the dirt. Something Rainbow Dash thought was stupid.

“Oh come on, Fluttershy. You’re missing this!” the multi-colored pony said. “This is so AWESOME!”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Fluttershy’s muffled voice came.

But even though Rainbow thought she was an idiot for not wanting to see this, Rarity was the one who grabbed Fluttershy’s mane and pulled her head out of the dirt. She used her magic to do so.

“Darling, I will NOT let you ruin your mane by burying it in this filth!” she flatly stated.

Fluttershy just groaned and decided to watch the fight like the rest of them.

“Oh wow. I’m a black belt in karate and all, but I never learned any moves like THOSE before.” Rainbow was still awestruck.

Rainbow had her eyes set on Cryo for the time being. The way the white and cyan unicorn moved and jumped around looked almost as if he were…dancing. But nonetheless, his moves were quite useful in a fight and he was doing very well.

Then things went a little north when the same Shadowmare he was fighting against split into two. That thing just cloned itself. As a matter of fact, ALL the Shadowmare were cloning themselves at a very rapid pace. Everypony was staring to get a bit overwhelmed and freaked out. But they did their best to remain calm.

“What do we do now? There’s too many of them!” Gem shouted.

“Don’t give up, Gem!” Agua shouted. “Just keep beating them as they come!”

Agua was trying as hard to fight them all off. But as soon as they began to crowd him, he jumped backwards, backflipped and landed on top of a hill of dirt. And he looked to his left noticing there was a large boulder nearby. Thinking of an idea, he looked down at his enemies.

“Let’s see if you guys can play catch.”

Then Agua’s right front hoof became enveloped in clear water. His hydrokinesis was finally being put to use in this fight. Then he threw his hoof out at the boulder and blasted a stream of water out at a pressure so high, there was a good chance it could have torn through a brick wall. But he instead blasted the ground that was below the boulder. As it vanished, the boulder than began to roll downhill right for the Shadowmares.

And as soon as Pyro saw, he was horrified. Why? Because as much as he hated the bad guys, he had no intention to actually kill any of them. But apparently Agua felt differently.

“AGUA WHAT THE HELL?” Pyro shouted. Then he looked over to his yellow friend. “TERRA! THAT ROCK!”

Terra was a little too busy with her own fight right now to even think about that rock. So everyone watched in terror as the boulder crushed the Shadowmares.

But the thing is, it wasn’t as horrific as they thought it would be. Instead of a gore filled and bloody scene, the Shadowmares just…poofed.

The Shadowmares got crushed and then poofed into black smoke. Upon seeing that scene, Applejack remembered something. How the Shadowmares got there in the first place. Nightmare Moon didn’t summon them, she created them with her evil magic. So that meant one thing. She jumped out from behind the rock and shouted as loud as she could.

“LISTEN UP Y’ALL! NIGHTMARE MOON WENT AND CREATED THOSE PONIES! THEY’RE NOT REAL!”

Not real. That changed things in their eyes. Maybe not Agua’s but still. This was a turning point as all of them realized just what that meant.

“So zat means….” Typhoon started.

“We don’t have to hold anything back with these things.” Agua finished.

Pyro smirked and threw away the wooden stick he was using for a weapon. Then he addressed his team.

“Alright siblings! Show em’ what we can do!”

That was the cue to unleash everything they had in them. And they gladly did. They hardly ever got a chance to. And it was right here when for the first time ever, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all saw what these guys were truly capable of.

Terra looked at her oncoming group of Shadowmares and raised herself up with her hind legs. Then her front hooves began to glow with a yellow energy as she focused her mind on the ground she stood on.

“As sturdy as its soil!”

She brought her hooves down and as soon as she did, a loud bang was heard a huge crack opened up in the ground where the Shadowmares were standing. After all of them fell into the crevice, Terra used her powers to close it back up.

“The element of Earth!”

Over with Typhoon, she grew a smirk as she stood contently and began to twirl her left hoof in a slow circle before eight of her own dark ponies.

“As ever changing as eets breeze!”

Before the Shadowmares even knew it, they were sucked up into a huge tornado courtesy of Typhoon. And then the pink pegasus made the twister thinner and faster in spin velocity. The Shadowmares all dissolved inside it not being able to withstand the spinning and the tornado died down.

“Ze element of wind!”

Agua was smiling huge as he prepared to do in his group of henchponies. His front hooves were becoming surrounded with water as he stood on his hind legs.

“As fluid as its waves!”

He threw his front hooves forward and two giant streams of water game gushing out of them. He then used his power to surround the Shadowmares in the water and enclose them in it creating a big sphere of water hovering in the air. Since they weren’t real, Shadowmares didn’t breathe any air. But drowning them isn’t what Agua had in mind. He then used his mind to make the sphere smaller. Crushing their bodies together until they dissolved. After they did, Agua released his grip and the water sphere fell to the ground splashing on the dirt.

“The element of water!”

Gem got ready to unleash her power as well when she found she was surrounded. Both her horn and hooves became enveloped with a purple glowing energy like substance.

“As complex as its form!”

Her whole body then became the same glow. Then she literally split into fourteen different pieces. One for each Shadowmare that was near her. Those pieces made contact with the mares and they dissolved on impact. When they were gone, Gem’s body came back together and her purple furred body was seen again.

“The element of plasma!”

Just a few more to go. Cryo had the pleasure of going next as ten more Shadowmares charged him. The cyan part of his front hooves began glowing dimly.

“As fury as its frost!”

Underneath the hooves of each Shadowmare, a circle of cold cyan energy formed. Then the circles took the forms of ten giant ice made spikes that stabbed the henchponies and made them puff into black clouds of smoke then vanish.

“The element of ice!”

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike were all blown away by what they just saw the five ponies do. But they still had one more to witness. Pyro looked at the remaining Shadowmares with a flat look on his face. Then he too stood up on his hind legs, and jerked his two front hooves forward. His hooves both lit up in flames.

“As fearsome as its burn!”

Three balls of fire formed from his hooves and hovered above his head.

“The element of fire! HYAA!”

He threw his front hooves forward unleashing the full fury of what he was doing. Those three balls transformed into long streams of blazing fire. Just by waving his hooves, Pyro controlled those three streams to attack every last remaining Shadowmare by going through their bodies. That took about ten seconds total.

When the work was done, Pyro closed his hooves together and the fire vanished. All of them then retook their original stances and stood on all four hooves again. All breathing a bit heavily after working themselves like that.

When everything was calm and the coast was clear, Twilight and the others all came out of their hiding spot with their jaws dragging in the dirt. Pyro, Terra, Typhoon, Agua, Gem, and Cryo all looked back pleased to see they were alright. But their looks said differently. Physically they were fine. Mentally….right now, not so much.

“What? We didn’t scare you, did we?” Cryo asked.

“Scare us? No. Of course not.” Rainbow assured him. “We’re just a little...uuuhhhhh….what’s the word I’m looking for here?”

“Shocked?” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah that’s it. Shocked.” Rainbow answered.

Pyro nodded at the girl’s words.

“Well I must say I’m not surprised by that. We don’t often meet Equestrian ponies really often. Actually to be honest…you’re all the FIRST Equestrian ponies we’ve met up close and personal. So our powers are somewhat unknown of around these parts.” The fire pony explained.

“I can see why that is.” Twilight said to him. “My special ability is being able to do magic period. And I’ve never seen anything like that before. I didn’t even know earth ponies and pegasus ponies could do things like that. Unicorns maybe. But still.”

“We can do a lot more than what you saw us do.” Terra said.

“Alright enough of this!” Agua shouted which wasn’t really necessary. “What do we do now, oh great leader?”

Pyro growled.

“First off, YOU can cut the sarcasm.” He shot.

Agua growled back at him, scowled, then looked away.

“Second, we need to head back to the hideout and take a minute to think about who or WHAT the heck this Nightmare Moon character is, and what she has against us.”

“Why?” Gem asked. “You think maybe she’s the one who started the war back home?”

“Not sure, Gem.” Pyro responded. “But as of right now, she’s the only suspect we got AND she seems to have some hatred towards us. We need to find out who she is and what she’s capable of.”

“Ummmm…..we might be able to help y’all with that.” Applejack said.

The six Alamantians turned their heads and looked at their new Equestrian friends with confusion. They then remembered before the fight started that they had mentioned they had a run in with Nightmare Moon before.

Maybe they weren’t as expendable as the Elementals thought.

“You know who she is. How is zat?” Typhoon asked.

“Maybe we should go somewhere where it’s safer to talk.” Twilight suggested.

A good suggestion it was indeed. All of them grabbed their teleporting partner like they did before and one second later, they all felt that tingling sensation return to their bodies as they teleported away in the form of an orb of the respected element.

A few seconds later, when everyone regained their sense of sight, they were back in the hollowed out rock that made their base.

And then the questions began from both sides.

“That was so awesome.” Rainbow Dash started. “Where did you guys learn to fight like that?”

Those were the type of questions that began to go back and forth between both groups. But then Agua got quickly fed up and asked the six Equestrian mares the right question.

“How do you know that Nightmare Moon character?”

It was the question that indeed needed to be both asked and answered. And Twilight was the one to give it and a long explanation.

“It was about a year ago when I first moved to Ponyville from Canterlot. The prediction that Nightmare Moon would escape from her thousand year imprisonment was about to become a reality. When it did, my friends and I harnessed the Elements of Harmony for the first time and used them to defeat her.”

“Wait. The first time?” Gem asked. “You mean you’ve used the Elements more than once?”

“Yeah. The second time was not too long ago.” Twilight said. “It was when Ponyville went all crazy because of a new enemy called Discord. It took some effort put we were able to turn him back into a statue ending his terror.”

“I remember that.” Terra said. “We had to use all the elemental power over nature we had in order to shield this rock from his evil magic.”

It was silent for a few more seconds until the next question was asked.

“If you guys really are the Elements of Harmony, how come you just didn’t take her out when you saw her back there?” Cryo asked.

“Well it doesn’t work that way.” Applejack said. “We’re not the elements themselves. We just have the power to use them. The actual Elements of Harmony are locked away in a vault in Canterlot Castle.”

“But I don’t get it. How is she even alive? I thought we destroyed her.” Rainbow Dash said.

“I don’t know Rainbow.” Twilight answered.

But then she grew a smirk on her face thinking of an idea. She looked over at Pyro and spoke again.

“But I think I know somepony who might be able to help us.”

“Really? Who?” Typhoon asked.

“I’ll explain on the way.” Twilight said. “But we need to go to Canterlot Castle right now.”

“Right now?” Cryo muttered. “Um…Twilight, I’m all for research and everything and I would just LOVE to see the castle in Canterlot. But that fight completely wore me out. Can’t we just take a short rest and go in a few hours or something?”

Twilight thought about that. She and the rest of her five fellow Elements of Harmony were all fine because all they did was watch. But Pyro and his team had to be a little tired due to the fight they were just in. So letting them rest up a bit seemed fair.

“Yeah I guess we can all rest a bit.” Twilight said. “Get to know each other a bit better.”

They seemed to like that idea. Everyone except Agua that is. That blue pony never seemed to like anything. He went off alone to his room where his small pond of the purist water anyone would see waited for him.

Rarity wanted to know if Typhoon’s hair was natural. So she went with her to her room. And it was stereotypically girly. Pink on the walls like her coat and fashion and beauty products everywhere. Rarity LOVED it. Especially the furniture made out of clouds. And there was even a fashion magazine that featured Rarity’s designs in it. But as thrilled as she was to meet a fan of hers, Rarity’s mind went elsewhere on this question.

“You have a magazine subscription? How is that even possible? You live in a rock.”

Typhoon looked back and smiled as laid down on her bed.

“I was in Ponyville almost three years ago when I first came here. I was cloaked to hide of course. But I found mare who was actually willing to deliver mail out here in ze woods. Her name escapes me. But I do remember she had ze strangest of eyes.”

Rarity knew there could only be one pony she was talking about. Strange eyes and a mailmare who would be crazy enough to drop magazines off in front of a rock can only lead to one pony.

“Was her name, Derpy Hooves?”

Typhoon smiled upon hearing that name.

“Oui! Zat was her.”

With a smile and a laugh, Rarity went on to say how much she was flattered that Typhoon was a fan of her clothes and of beauty in general.

Spike wanted to know if Pyro could teach him to breathe fire and move it around. Pyro only responded with a light chuckle and pat on the head thinking he was kidding. But as the rest of them went on to enjoy the next few hours, outside the rock, they had no idea they had been located and were now being watched by a puff of black smoke.

“They are more powerful than I had expected. I must remember not to underestimate them next time. Otherwise they ALL could become a serious problem.”

Nightmare flew off to find someplace of her own to hide. But she was nowhere near done with them. For the Elementals, this was just a normal day for them other than the whole meeting Nightmare Moon thing. But Twilight and her friends had no idea what they were about to get into was gonna take something much more powerful than friendship to overcome. They just hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

The Original Host

I only own my OC’s and the plot. MLP: FiM belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 5: The Original Host

In the grand city of Canterlot, the more upper class ponies went about their daily lives doing their jobs and just doing their best to meet ends meet. But they were a little distracted for a second when they all saw six orbs fly overhead in the form of six elements of nature. And they were headed right for the castle.

The six orbs whirled around before they landed on the ground in front of the castle door. All twelve ponies took on their normal shapes again along with the small dragon still seated on Twilight’s back.

Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all groaned again while the other six ponies just stood up straight and looked at the castle.

“That’s gonna take some getting used to.” Rainbow remarked as she rubbed her stomach.

“Don’t worry. You’re doing really good.” Cryo assured her. “You’re doing a lot better than I did when I first learned to teleport.”

“Oh yeah? How did it go for you?” Rainbow asked wanting to know.

“The first ten times, I puked my guts out. But in time my body got used to it.” Cryo responded.

Rainbow nodded not very sure if she wanted to go through that queasy experience ten times. Terra stepped forward and marveled at the castle walls with bubbly eyes.

“So this is the castle up close.” Terra remarked. “It seems bigger than I thought it was.”

“Yeah. That’s what everyone says when they see it for the first time.” Twilight told her.

“I can’t wait to meet the princess.” Terra went on. “I’m such a huge fan of hers. She’s polite, powerful, kind, and most importantly, she is 100 percent in favor of gun control.”

Twilight was very confused by that as were her friends. It was true that the princess did support gun control to a very strict leash, but it confused them as to why that would be the trait Terra finds most interesting about her.

If that wasn’t enough to boggle their minds, what Terra did next certainly was. The yellow pony began to inhale air very rapidly through her nostrils and set them near the ground as if she was a dog picking up a scent.

“Really? You’re gonna do that HERE?” Agua scolded.

Terra paid him no mind at all. She just kept on doing her thing as if it was completely natural.

There was a single guard near the front door of the castle. In normal situations, castle guards would not move an inch for whatever reasons. But in this case, that one guard’s visions shifted over to Terra. And Rainbow Dash caught sight of that.

“What the hay? I can’t get them to move when I make a face at them. But all Terra does is sniff the ground like a dog and bam. They move. Who knew?”

Her thoughts were then put on hold as she saw Terra lean up against a pillar near the door. And that was it. Somepony just had to speak up.

“Terra, what in the world are you doing?” Rarity asked. “You’ll get your face all dirty and that will lead to pimples.”

“Rarity, if Terra was to ever get zits from getting dirt on her face, than that would have happened a long LONG time ago.” Cryo assured her.

Then Rarity looked at the oddly acting Terra quite surprised.

“You mean to tell me she has never had a single zit in her life?” Rarity asked the pony of ice.

“Well not as long as WE’VE known her.” Cryo replied. “She’s the element of Earth. She can breathe dirt itself and convert it to oxygen.”

That was enough for Rarity. She wasn’t even paying attention to the whole breathing dirt thing. All she knew was that Terra never got zits and she didn’t even do anything with her face to make such a thing happen. It fascinated her to no end.

“But that still doesn’t answer the question as to what she’s doin.” Applejack added.

“Just give it five more seconds.” Pyro said.

And after five seconds like he said, Terra stood up straight with a look of surprise.

“The walls….are a magical combination of granite and diamond. The hardest rock and mineral known to ponydom. Not bad. Definitely fitting a royal castle such as this.” The yellow pony said as she stood on all fours again.

Twilight was surprised. She herself read up on the castle and Terra was right. The walls themselves were forged by Princess Celestia herself and made from combining granite and diamond together into one very strong and sturdy rock capable of withstanding almost any assault. Not that there had ever been an attack on the castle in history, but it was good to know that it would still stand in case one did ever occur.

Twilight was about to ask Terra how she did that, but then she found the question to be a little bit unnecessary for she already figured it out. Terra was truly one with the earth she walked on. So it was no surprise that she would be an expert on all kinds of rocks and gemstones. The gemstone part is what Rarity found interesting.

“Shall we go inside?” Rarity asked.

“How?” Gem questioned. “It’s not like we can just knock on the door. This is the princess we’re talking about here.”

“It’s okay. I can get us in no problem.” Twilight answered her. “The Princess and I are very close. The guards will know who I am and let us in no problem.”

As they approached the door, the guard noticed them get closer. And then he stood in front of them blocking their path.

“Identify yourselves.” He demanded.

“Um…I’m Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia’s personal protégé.”

So then the Alamantians knew now how Twilight was close to the princess. She was her star student apparently.

“Sorry. But no one gets in without an appointment or a summons.” The guard stated.

The six Equestrian ponies were met with quite a shock upon hearing that.

“What? When was that rule put into effect?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I don’t make the rules, kid. I just follow them.” The guard said. “Now leave.”

That was a little rude. And Agua was NOT gonna take it.

“Alright look, mall cop. Just let us in already. This is urgent.”

“Mall….cop?”

The offended the guard to a level so high it was ridiculous. He began shaking out of anger and glaring into Agua’s eyes.

“Yeah you heard what I said.” Agua continued. “Listen, as much as I would love to sit around and discuss your gay haircut, we actually have a good reason to be here. So why don’t you just step aside and let us through.”

It wasn’t enough for Agua to insult the guards’ position apparently. Now he was going for the guy’s manecut and sexuality at the same time.

“I could take you down in a split second if I wanted to.” The guard growled.

Agua gave a small laugh.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, sweetheart.”

That was it. The guard then raised his hoof and threw it at Agua’s face. But the pony of water was much faster and more trained than these guards. He caught the hoof with his own and got a good solid grip on it.

Instead of letting go, Agua wanted to show this stupid guard what a stupid mistake he made. Slowly, Agua began to twist his hoof increasing the amount of pain being put on the guard. When everyone saw the expression on the guard’s face, they knew he was in pain.

“Alright, Agua. Let him go.” Pyro said.

He didn’t. Agua’s grip didn’t loosen at all. If anything, it tightened. And it put more pain on the guard. The blue pony’s eyes got a little bit evil.

“You’re hurting him, Agua.” Fluttershy pointed out.

He already knew that, but he didn’t give a care. He just kept on twisting. The guard began to dimly shout in pain. Everypony was now starting to fear for the guard’s well being and the somewhat scary smile Agua had on his face.

Pyro’s face grew angry.

“Agua I said let him go!”

Despite his angry tone and the shouting of the guard, Agua didn’t let up. He was close to breaking that guard’s hoof.

“Not so tough now are you?” the blue pony muttered.

That was it. It was officially enough. Pyro glanced at Gem and the purple unicorn of plasma stepped forward horn glowing electric purple. Then out of her horn, she shot a small bolt of plasma at Agua’s hoof. The bolt made contact with his hoof and he immediately jerked it away from the guard pony to start rubbing it. The castle guard did the same with his own.

And then Agua glared over at Gem who began to look away from him and back up. Pyro stepped in front of her glaring right into Agua’s eyes.

“You went too far.” Pyro muttered.

“He started it.” Was all Agua came back with.

“I don’t give a damn.” Pyro growled at him. “Next time I tell you to stop, you better do it.”

Agua just growled back at Pyro and put his sore hoof back on the ground. And then another guard came out of the castle doors He first approached Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle. A pleasure seeing you again.”

Twilight waved hello to the guard recognizing him.

“I really need to see the princess. Is she in?”

“Of course she’s in. And sorry if this guy here gave you any trouble. He’s new.” The guard said.

Twilight nodded one more time and then she led her friends in through the castle gate. The guard glared at Agua as he passed by and the blue stallion of water shot him the same look back before catching up. Shortly after the door closed, another pony approached them bearing a white coat and a multi colored mane and tail waving as if there were a breeze. Her cutie mark was a blazing golden sun.

It was Princess Celestia herself. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all bowed down to her. But strangely Pyro and the others didn’t bow.

“Twilight Sparkle, my star pupil. How nice to see you and your friends again. And…”

Celestia then noticed that there were others amongst the friends she knew Twilight to already have.

“It seems you have made more. I’m impressed.”

“Um….well…I’m not sure if we’re friends yet, your highness.” Twilight answered.

“I don’t understand.” Celestia said.

Pyro, Agua, Terra, Cryo, Typhoon, and Gem all stood in front of Celestia and stood on their hind hooves. Then they brought their front hooves together and bowed their heads down to the Princess.

“It’s an honor to meet you in person, Princess Celestia.” Pyro spoke for his team.

Celestia’s eyes went a little bit wider than usual when she saw these six ponies bow like that. She had done a lot of traveling in her years being royalty and a politician. And there was only one place where she had been to where ponies greet each other like that.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Celestia followed their actions and bowed like that herself in a bipedal form.

“It’s a real honor to meet you as well.” Celestia said. “I must say I’ve never expected to see anypony from Alamante here in Equestria.”

The bows finished and the conversation resumed with everypony on all fours.

“If it were up to us, your majesty, we wouldn’t be here at all.” Agua truthfully said. “But unfortunately circumstances say otherwise.”

“Yes. I’m aware of the war.” Celestia said. “I’m really sorry you ponies had to experience it up close. But I’m not sure what Twilight meant. Are you friends of hers or not?”

“As of the moment, Princess, we’re more like….bodyguards.” Terra explained.

“Bodyguards? For Twilight and her friends? But why? Are they in danger?” Celestia asked.

Then Twilight stepped forward in front once more to speak.

“That’s the reason we’re all here, Princess. We need to talk to Princess Luna.”

That got Celestia thinking. Usually whenever Twilight came to the castle it was either to talk to Celestia directly about an urgent matter, or she just decided to pop in for a casual visit. But never before has she asked to see Princess Luna before.

She immediately began to think this had something to do with these six Alamantians standing before her. And it turns out she was in a way right.

“It’s very important we speak with her, your highness.” Rarity added. “This may be hard to believe, but Nightmare Moon is back.”

That indeed got Celestia’s undivided attention. And the look in her eyes clearly indicated such.

“How is that possible?” She asked. “The Elements of Harmony destroyed her.”

“Apparently not, your majesty.” Agua said. “We just saw her a couple hours ago. We fought her henchponies.”

“It’s true, princess.” Twilight sided with the Alamantians. “We don’t know how it’s possible, but Nightmare Moon is very much alive. And we think Princess Luna might know how it’s possible.”

Celestia nodded to that. If anypony would know anything on Nightmare Moon, it’s Luna. So she instructed them to follow her to Luna’s chamber. As they walked, they talked.

“So how long have you and your friends been here in Equestria? A few months perhaps?” Celestia asked.

“Actually, your highness, my brothers and sisters and I have been here for three years.” Pyro answered.

This surprised Celestia very much.

“Three YEARS?” she asked. “How? I’m able to sense any foreign pony from this castle to all over Equestria. How did you evade my tracking spells?”

“You have your magic tricks, and we have ours.” Terra replied.

“I see.” Then Celestia remembered something. “I’m so sorry. But I’ve forgotten to ask you your names.”

“I thought you knew our names, Princess! I’m Pinkie Pie! Don’t you remember me? I’m the pony who throws the best super duper parties in all of Equestria! How could you forget…OOMPH!”

Pinkie Pie was interrupted by Applejacks hoof getting jammed into her mouth.

“She means them, Pinkie.” Applejack said gesturing to the six Alamantians.

Celestia gave a gentle giggle and smiled at the pink party pony.

“I could never forget any of Twilight’s friends, Pinkie Pie.” she assured her before redirecting her voice to the elements of nature. “Now your names?”

Cryo went first.

“Of course, your highness. My name’s Cryo. My element is ice.”

Gem was a little shy in her introduction.

“Um….I’m Gem. I control plasma. It’s nothing special.”

But Typhoon put her hoof around her purple friend and smiled at her.

“You are plenty special, Gem.” She assured her. “Princess, my name ees Typhoon. My element ees wind.”

“The name’s Terrain. But I like to go by Terra for short. I’m Earth.”

“Agua’s my name. Water’s my element.”

“And my name is Pyro. As it would suggest, my element is fire.”

Celestia looked at Pyro once more. But this time very closely. She had seen him before. But not up close and in person. Where? Oh yes. She remembered. She saw him not in person. But in photographs from an old friend. She still had to be sure.

“Pyro, does the name, Hitashi Ma mean anything to you?”

“Wait a minute.” Pyro stopped in his tracks. “You know Master Ma?”

Celestia smiled upon hearing her confirmation.

“Almost everyone in Equestria knows your master. He and I especially. He’s one of my closest friends as he is to all in this country.” Then she looked directly at Pyro with her next words. “He often visited the castle. He spoke very highly of you. His star student in his martial arts class. And he also said you were the most advanced fire manipulator he ever saw.”

Then she used her magic to show Pyro and the others pictures. Old photographs that were taken by Master Ma himself. They were mostly pictures of the students the elderly pony taught in martial arts and power control. There also a few of Master Ma himself. He was a very elderly pony with a white mane and mustache to match. His coat was dark red. And his cutie mark was a black wheel that looked somewhat like a gear. This was the Alamantian symbol of wisdom.

And then there were many pictures of Master Ma working directly with a young version of Pyro himself. Teaching him how to properly fight, and there was a few other photos of the elder pony working with Pyro on how to control his pyrokinesis.

“I didn’t even know he had photos.” Pyro confessed softly.

“He’s a very resourceful pony.” Celestia said to him.

“I’ve met him a few times.” Typhoon said. “He travels all around ze world. He actually helped me with my own aerokinesis.”

“No way. He helped me too.” Cryo said.

It turns out all six of the present Alamantians had received lessons from Master Ma. But as nice as that was for them to know, there was a question one of them asked that demanded an answer.

“Umm….you….you wouldn’t happen to remember the last time you saw him. Would you?” Gem asked.

Celestia thought hard about that. But she did remember.

“If I remember correctly, the last time I saw Master Ma was…about three months ago. It was a much more serious visit than others. He warned me that something bad was going to happen soon. And if what you told me about Nightmare Moon is correct, then he may be right.”

“Three months ago?” Terra wondered. “That’s very strange.”

“How so?” Twilight asked her.

Cryo answered that one.

“See, one of the reasons we’re here is to find out what began the war in Alamante. And the other one is to find Master Ma. None of us have seen him for years and we’ve been covertly searching without a single clue found.”

“Until you showed us that book.” Pyro said to Twilight. “That history book belonged to my master. If we couldn’t find him, he made it that way. But he wanted YOU to find that book. And he wanted you to come find us. And I now think I might know why.”

“Then please tell us.” Twilight answered. “If this has anything to do with that prophecy, then please tell me what page it’s on in this book. I read it thoroughly and didn’t find a thing.”

Twilight used her magic and showed him the book one more time.

“Turn to page 57.”

Twilight sighed and went to the page Pyro spoke of. But there was nothing there that spoke about a prophecy.

“See? Nothing.” Twilight assured him.

But the Alamantians knew that book better than any of them did. Typhoon walked over and put her hoof on the page.

“Sometimes, you just have to look a leettle closer.”

And then she turned the page outward. As it turned out, page 57 was folded in to make it look normal sized. On the folded in pages, there were more words. Those were the words of the very prophecy Pyro and the others spoke of. Twilight and her five friends, along with Spike and the princess, all looked at the pages as Twilight read them out loud.

“It says….Darkness shall fall across the land and all will seem lost. An old evil long thought forever vanquished returns to spread evil once more. Harmony and nature shall then come together as one and a miracle will happen.”

That was the prophecy. And right below the text, there were small inked pictures of twelve symbols. Six of them being the six hieroglyphs that stood for the six elements of nature. And the other six caught Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie off guard. There were symbols that looked exactly like their own cutie marks. A pink star, a red apple, a blue balloon, a pink butterfly, a dark blue amethyst, and a red lightning bolt.

“Are those…” Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to finish.

“This prophecy says in simpler terms that the six elements of nature shall somehow work together with the Elements of Harmony to defeat a long lost evil.” Agua said.

“That’s why we were very interested when you told us who you were.” Terra said.

“We’re supposed to fight Nightmare Moon? Again?” Rarity asked. “Oh why? It hard enough beating her the first time!”

“I know it was stressful on you, Rarity.” Celestia said. “But I do now believe what Master Ma said about a returning evil seems to be exact.”

“Which is why we need to talk to Luna, princess.” Applejack said.

Celestia nodded. But along the way to her room, Celestia began to remember how Luna and Nightmare Moon were related. And the little incident between the two of them has never left Luna’s mind. So she might not want to talk about it.

And being very loving and protecting of her younger sister, she would definitely respect her wishes if it came to that.

A minute later, they came to a door in the castle bearing a large mark of a crescent moon. This was the door to Luna’s room. With a simple spell, Celestia opened it. And inside the room, the second princess was there reading a book.

Dark blue coat, with a darker blue mane and tail that waved in the exact fashion Celestia’s did. Her flank was emblazoned with a crescent moon on a patch of black. This was Princess Luna. As soon as the door opened up, she saw her sister along with twelve smaller ponies.

“Tia? What’s going on?” she asked.

“Luna, you remember Twilight Sparkle and her friends.” Celestia said.

Luna smiled at Twilight.

“But of course. She released the Elements of Harmony and returned me to normal. But who are the other six?”

Celestia introduced them next.

“This is Terra, Gem, Agua, Cryo, Pyro, and Typhoon. They’re from Alamante.”

The six Alamantians stood up and gave Luna the same bow they gave to Celestia.

“Alamante?” Luna had heard of Alamante before and the news of the war. That’s why she was interested in seeing six ponies from that country here in Equestria.

“The war is the reason we’re here, Princess.” Pyro said. “We were wondering what you know about a figure called Nightmare Moon.”

Luna froze right up. She was nowhere near comfortable talking about a subject. So she did something she wasn’t very proud of. She lied.

“I’m sorry. But I don’t know very much on her. I’m sorry I can’t be of any help.” Luna immediately turned her back on them and began to walk the other way.

Celestia would have to tell them herself out of respect for her sister.

“Well I guess that’s about it then.” Celestia said starting to leave Luna’s room.

“Wait.”

But Pyro held up a hoof and everyone froze in their tracks.

“Not quite yet.” He muttered.

And then he looked at the pink pony with the blond mane that was his best friend.

“Typhoon. You’re on.”

Typhoon nodded and then she took a few steps forward. Luna’s back was still turned so she had no idea everyone had not moved yet. The pegasus of wind narrowed her eyes and focused her mind on Luna. And in a split second, her mind was inside the dark blue princess’s.

“That was way too close. I can never tell them about the truth of Nightmare. What would they say? What would they DO?”

That was all Typhoon needed to hear. Turning off the telepathy, she looked at her friends both new and old.

After a strange facial expression, Typhoon spread her wings and flew over to Luna. Then she landed right in front of her blocking her walking path.

“Um…is there something else?” Luna asked.

“Why did you lie?” Typhoon asked right back.

Once again, Luna froze and tried her best not to show she was a bit freaked out. The pink pegasus was basically glaring at her.

“Lie? I would never do such a thing. I am a princess. I can’t lie.”

But Typhoon didn’t but it one bit.

“Oh is zat so?”

The pegasus’s eyes narrowed once more and then Luna’s head was filled with a voice.

“Do you zink that my friends and I are ‘ere for some casual visit? No way. You know something about Nightmare Moon. And you’re going to tell us.”

Luna began to back up scared of what was now happening. Where was that voice coming from? It was obviously Typhoon’s but her lips weren’t even moving.

“How are you doing that? Stop it this instant!” Luna shouted.

But even though it was a command given by a princess, Typhoon didn’t stop. She only began to walk forward and focus more.

“Just tell us what we came here to find out. Thees ees no game I’m playing.”

Luna was backed up against a corner now. Celestia tried to approach her, but she was shockingly blocked by Agua.

“Just give it a few more seconds.”

This was new. Somepony was actually telling Celestia, the PRINCESS, what to do. Needless to say, Twilight was horrified. Celestia however remained calm trusting the six Alamantians. But what was going on with the pink one and what was she doing to Luna? That’s the only thing Celestia couldn’t figure out.

“I am ordering you as Princess! Stop this at once!”

“So sorry, princess. But I’m Alamantian.”

Luna was now officially terrified. Not of Typhoon and what was happening in her head, but rather of her having to spill the beans about Nightmare and how she and her are known.

“TELL US NOW!”

“Okay! I’ll talk! Just please! Stop doing that!”

Typhoon finally stopped narrowing her eyes and her mind departed Luna’s. Then Luna took a seat trying to get rid of the massive headache she now had with deep breathing.

Typhoon’s friends all approached her and looked at Luna as well.

“Luna, what was going on?” Celestia asked.

“She…she was inside my head. Talking to me.” Luna answered.

“How? That’s impossible.” Celestia assumed.

“Not for her.” Pyro said as he walked to his best friend’s side. “See, Typhoon here is very gifted other than being able to control the wind. She’s also a very powerful telepath. Meaning she can read anypony’s mind without you even knowing and also communicate with them whenever she wants.”

This astounded both princesses very much. For the longest time they didn’t believe in any form of psychic abilities. They believed in magic but they considered those two things to be very different from each other. But Luna couldn’t deny it as she began to understand. Typhoon was inside her head using no magic at all.

“That also means that if you lie to us again, we’ll know right off the bat.” Agua added. “So start talking, Princess.”

On any other day, Twilight would have been terrified to see anypony talking that way to a princess. But on this particular day, she wasn’t really thinking about that. After being attacked by Shadowmares a couple times and nearly getting killed, she wanted to hear Princess Luna spill everything. And she was just about to until….

“That’s so cool that she can read minds!” Pinkie Pie began to ramble on. “It’s like your heads never really alone wherever you go, like having your own telepathy pal on the go wherever you go no matter where you might go, there they are right there in your brain talking to you.”

All the other ponies except for Celestia began to groan as Pinkie went on.

“Hey Pinkie.” Typhoon called. “You want to see something else I can do with my telepathy?”

Pinkie smiled hugely at her.

“Uh-huh!”

Then Typhoon looked at Pinkie and placed her right hoof on her own forehead.

“Go to sleep.” The telepath muttered.

“Okay.” Pinkie quickly said.

Pinkie then fell over on her side and began to snore in less than a second. And once again, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Applejack, Celestia, and Luna were amazed at Typhoon’s ability.

“Amazing.” Celestia muttered. “But, will she be alright?”

“Oh she’ll be fine.” Cryo told the princess. “As soon as we’re done, Typhoon will wake her back up.”

With all that said, Luna took a seat on her haunches and everyone else did too. Then Typhoon secretly began to read her mind once more on the hunt for any lie of any magnitude.

Princess Luna began to speak after delaying for a few more seconds.

“Just so you know, this is quite a long story.” She began. “But please don’t think badly of me when I tell you this. I’m too ashamed of it as it is.”

“What is it?” Pyro asked.

With a sigh, Luna confessed.

“The reason I know who Nightmare Moon is….is because for a time, I WAS Nightmare Moon.”

Yes. It did shock the six Alamantians to learn of this truth. But it required an explanation to which Luna gave.

“Many centuries ago, Celestia and I worked together to rule Equestria and raise the sun and moon every day and night. But at some point, I began to grow jealous of my sister because ponies always played in her daylight and ignored the night I brought to them.”

“Okay well I get that.” Cryo said. “I’m sorry I interrupted. Go on.”

“Thank you.” Luna said. “But my hidden jealousy and anger somehow made me a target for the entity that took me over. The entity….of Nightmare Moon. My mind and body was twisted and drunken with darkness.”

“I had no choice but to seal Luna away in the moon. And she stayed there for a thousand years.” Celestia added. “But when she escaped, Twilight and the others used the power of their friendship to unleash the power of the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare and give me back the sister I missed so dearly.”

Luna and Celestia shared a smile as a loud snore from Pinkie Pie distracted the rest of them for a split second. But they soon came right back.

“But I thought we destroyed Nightmare Moon the first time the six of us used the Elements of Harmony.” Rainbow Dash said referring to her five friends.

“No.” Luna corrected. “You see, Nightmare Moon is not merely an identity that I created myself.”

Now that got everyone confused.

“What do you mean, Luna?” Even Celestia had no idea.

“You weren’t there, sister. But I know.” Luna answered. “Nightmare Moon is not like us. She is merely an evil spirit created from eons of pure hatred that come from certain ponies’ hearts. But although powerful, she does not have the power to take on her own shape in the form of a physical body. So in order for her to survive, she must bond with a living host. And then posses that host.”

It seemed clear but at the same time it didn’t. There was still more to be explained.

“So you see, when the six of you first used the Elements of Harmony on me, you didn’t destroy Nightmare Moon. You merely expelled her essence out of my body. If you saw her only a few hours ago, than that can only mean she has found a new host.” Luna went on. “The thing you must now find out for yourselves is…who is the new host?”

“Well….you were the original host. What are the requirements?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Luna thought hard and good about that very good question. It was a long time ago, but she did remember what emotions she had in her heart right before she became Nightmare Moon.

“Anger….rage…..jealousy….sadness….that’s what I felt in myself.” Luna answered. “And I regret ever feeling like that.”

There was nothing else that needed to be said after that.

“Princess Luna, this has really helped us a lot. Thank you very much.” Cryo said.

Luna nodded.

“Be safe, my little ponies. Nightmare Moon is not to be taken lightly.”

With that, the ponies began to leave. All of them but one that is.

“Um..Typhoon? Aren’t you forgetting something?” Twilight said to the element of wind.

“No. I don’t zink so.” Typhoon responded. “Why do you ask?”

Twilight pointed to the ground where Pinkie was still underneath the wind pony’s telepathic slumber.

“Oh. He he.” She giggled. “My bad.”

Then she placed her front hoof on her temple and began to concentrate.

“Alright, Pinkie. You can Wake up now.”

Pinkie’s eyes shot straight open and then Pinkie herself shot straight up to stand up tall. And then her chatterbox ways immediately activated.

“Oh that was so awesome, Typhoon! You gotta do that again when I go to sleep tonight! I was dreaming the most awesome dream that I could have EVER imagined!”

She went on and on all the way out of Luna’s chambers. But Pyro stayed behind one more second because he wanted to say something before he left.

“Is there something else on your mind, young one?” Luna asked.

“I just wanna say something.” Pyro said before going on. “You may have done some bad things in the past. But you can’t let that define who you are. If I didn’t believe that, I would not be the pony I am today.”

Luna frowned a bit but she was hearing what he was saying.

“It’s all in the past. It’s done. You can’t change that. Nopony can. But here’s what you can do. Stop beating yourself up about it. Are you really sorry for all the things you did as Nightmare Moon?”

“Of course I am. Not a day goes by when I’m not.” Luna answered.

Pyro grew a small smile on his face and a gentle look in his eyes.

“Then don’t worry about what anypony else thinks. If you’re truly sorry and regret all the bad you’ve done as Nightmare, than that’s all you need. Before you begin to seek other pony’s forgiveness, you must first forgive yourself.”

Although they were the words of a pony far younger than her, Luna heard Pyro to be very wise for his age. She actually grew a smile on her face.

“Thank you for that. And you’re right. I need to forgive myself first.” Luna said.

“Good day, Princess.”

With that, Pyro nodded one more time and left Luna’s room. As he did, Celestia smiled at him.

“I see Hitashi’s wisdom has rubbed off on you.” She said.

Pyro smiled as she referenced Master Ma again. But that little happy moment was cut short.

“So um….now what do we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“Now, Fluttershy…..I don’t know.” Twilight said. “Princess, what do you suggest?”

“Well if what you tell me is correct, then not only do you need to keep these other ponies safe, but we must find a way to keep the Elements of Harmony themselves safe.” Celestia said.

“But aren’t they safe enough in that vault?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’m afraid they’re not. If Discord was able to get through that door to the elements, then it’s possible Nightmare can too.”

“Uhh…..” The shy Gem began to speak. “I think I might know a way”

Everypony looked at Gem now.

“Really? How?” Twilight asked.

“Well…there’s this spell. Alamantian. And if it gets pulled off correctly, the Elements of Harmony will be a lot safer than they are now.” Gem explained.

“That’s great.” Terra said. “With all the recent danger we’ve been encountering, we’ll need a simpler way to watch over them.”

“Big words coming from the hippie.” Agua muttered barely loud enough to hear.

Most of them did though. That was the point where Terra’s temper became lost. She didn’t care what company she was in right now. She glared at Agua and then approached him until she was right up in his face.

“I’d much rather be a hippie than a total jerk like you!” she raised her voice. “And how many times have I told you to not call me that?”

“Maybe once the smoke stops coming out of your room, we’ll talk about me stopping.” Agua responded. “But in the meantime, it seems to fit with you wanting to be…as you put it, one with the Earth you so tenderly love. Oh man that was a funny one.”

Terra just growled and her hooves began to glow with yellow energy.

“How about I REALLY be one with the Earth right now, take a chunk out of the wall, and then use it to cave in your skull?” Terra shouted.

“Oh just try it, dope fiend.” Agua dared her.

Things were about to get ugly. Before it happened, their faces were separated when a small wall of fire came in between them, startling everyone except Pyro who made the wall to begin with. With a wave of his hoof, it was gone.

“Have you two finished yet?” he scolded them. “Agua, none of us like you calling her that! And Terra, Agua’s a jerk! You know it. I know it. We ALL know it. Just move on and ignore him.”

The two earth ponies sighed and glared at each other one last time before looking away.

“Does that happen often?” Applejack muttered to Typhoon.

“Oh yeah.” The pegasus of wind murmured back.

“Alright.” Pyro said. “Now Gem. This spell. Do you have the book?”

“Yeah. I always have it. Here.” Gem replied.

Gem’s horn began to glow electric purple again. Then one second later, a book appeared in a small flash of light.

But the thing was so small Spike could eat it in one bite.

As she motioned it to Pyro, the red unicorn got it in his own magical grip and set it down on the floor face up. And of course, Twilight’s skepticism reached a high point.

“Really? THIS is a spell book?”

Pyro chuckled.

“Pocket edition.”

And then the orange glow in his horn came back and he cast another spell on the book. The book began to shift as if it were a piece of paper unfolding itself from many creases.

As the folds went on, Twilight and her friends remained speechless and Pyro was talking.

“This one book contains every spell that great Alamantian unicorns have ever come up with. Whether it be from simple lifting spells to the more advanced stuff, this is the one book that all Alamantian unicorns have ever used to learn magic. The six of us only have this one copy.”

As Pyro put the last fold out on the book, the length and width was about, one and a half feet by two and a half feet. It seemed pretty big, but it was very thin.

“Really? THIS tiny little thing has EVERY spell known in your country?” Twilight was still not bought over.

But then Pyro placed his hoof on the face of the book and raised it up. As his hoof elevated, the book got thicker and thicker. And then the whole book was about as thick as it was long, and for Twilight and the other Equestrians, that was just ridiculous.

“Every. Known. Spell.” Pyro repeated.

Twilight just stared at the book marveling at it’s size.

“So….many….pages.” she looked as if she was about to get hearts in her eyes for that book.

Rainbow just put her hoof on Twilight’s back trying to make her calm down.

“Easy there, Twilight. Don’t go nuts.” She muttered.

Pyro just chuckled.

“Yeah. After about a dozen centuries of creating spells, that thing has gotten a bit overweight.” Pyro said. “Now Gem, what page is this spell of yours on?”

“Um…….” Gem’s hoof rubbed her chin thinking. “I think…page 589.”

Pyro’s magic turned to the right page and everyone looked on the page and saw a depiction of a pony and some strange item caught in some magical force. But only Pyro and his fellow Alamantians could read it since it was still in the Alamantian language. Using a translation spell on a book that big would most likely give Twilight a massive headache.

“What kind of spell is this?” Rarity asked.

“You’ll see.” Terra told her. “But according to the clause, in order for this spell to work, we’re gonna need the Elements of Harmony themselves. Where are they?”

“Follow me.” The Princess gestured.

Celestia led them all once more through the corridors and hallways of the castle until they reached a very large door. And there looked to be a keyhole in the center of it. Celestia inserted her horn in the hole and it glowed a golden yellow. Then the door opened up and the twelve other ponies were momentarily blinded by the great blue light that shone out of the door.

And when the light died down, there was a chest floating in front of them thanks to Celestia’s magic. When she opened it up, five golden necklaces and a single gold tiara were revealed to be inside. The gemstones encrusted into those jewelry pieces were similar to Twilight’s and her friends cutie marks. Pyro and his friends were all amazed to see them.

“The Elements of Harmony themselves.” Pyro muttered. “When my master told me about them, I didn’t believe they existed. But then again, I was only six at the time.”

“I was five when my grand-mere told me ze story.” Typhoon added.

Applejack looked strangely at Typhoon.

“What in tarnation a grand-mere?” she asked.

“It’s French for grandmother, Applejack.” Rarity told her.

“Oui. Zat is correct.” But then Typhoon’s face went to a sad expression. “I do miss her.”

“Oh I’m sure you’ll see her soon. The war can’t last forever. Then you can go home.” Pinkie Pie said to her.

“Actually….she died right before I met Pyro.” Typhoon sadly corrected her.

“Oh.” Then Pinkie did something she rarely does. Frown. Everypony did. “I’m sorry.”

“Eet’s quite alright. She went peacefully.” Typhoon assured her. “Now let’s get to thees spell.”

“Quite right.” Pyro agreed. “Princess, would you please place the elements in a circle right here?”

Celestia nodded and levitated the elements out of the box and in a circle right next to them.

“Now before Gem starts this off, which element do…” Pyro started.

“Wait. What?” Gem interrupted him. “Pyro, I thought you were going to do it.”

“Nope.” Pyro corrected. “You’re doing it, Gem.”

“Bu…but Pyro….I’m not good enough. I’m not..”

“You are perfectly capable of pulling this off.” Pyro said to her. “Gem, I’ve seen you with these kinds of spells. You’re amazing. And I have faith in you.”

Gem had known Pyro for a few years now. And whenever she felt down about herself, he was always the one to get her motivated enough. She always felt good whenever she heard him talk in a good way about her.

“Okay.” She said with a smile.

With a nod, Gem turned around and looked at Twilight and her group.

“Okay. Which element do each of you represent?” she asked.

Each of the six told her which element they were. Twilight: Magic. Applejack: Honesty. Rainbow Dash: Loyalty. Pinkie Pie: Laughter. Rarity: Generosity. Fluttershy: Kindness.

Spike hopped off of Twilight anticipating something was gonna happen that involved him getting off. But without even thinking, he hopped onto the next pony’s back who was closest. And that just so happened to be Terra. She was more than surprised. Spike was immediately regretting not thinking about he was doing. But he got lucky.

“Eh. Whatever.” That’s what Terra said.

“So…I’m alright up here?” Spike asked to be on the safe side.

“Sure. You actually got rid of a knot I’ve had in my back for the longest time.” The pony of earth said.

Now comfortable, Spike relaxed. And then Gem led the six harmony elements over to the elements themselves and told them to stand in front of their designated one. But Gem still wouldn’t tell them what spell this was or what it was even going to do. She just told them in order for it to work, the six of them had to concentrate on their element alone and think about nothing else.

And they did just that. Although it was hard for Pinkie Pie to not think about cupcakes but she fought through it. And after checking with Typhoon to see if they were all focusing their minds, it was all ready to begin. Gem’s twisty horn began to glow a bright electric purple.

He mind was also being focused on all six elements. All six of them floated an inch off the ground and then they began to glow white. But then the color Gem’s horn glowed shifted from purple to white. That’s when a small beam shot out of each element at the pony that they belonged to. Then a big blinding flash over came them all. When their eyesight came back, all the ponies there opened their eyes and saw that the Elements of Harmony were gone. And everypony was looking at Gem.

“What in tarnation did you do with the elements?” Applejack shouted. “Where are they?”

“Did you steal them?” Rainbow demanded.

“No.” Typhoon answered. “We didn’t steal them.”

“Well then where are they?” Rarity asked.

Instead of using words, Pyro used his magic to levitate the Alamantian spellbook over to them so they could see for themselves. He used the exact same translation spell Twilight used on the history book. Only he used a smaller scale version of it for the page with the spell just used. Noe being able to read it clearly, Twilight deciphered it.

There was a pictograph of a strange looking object and a pony being surrounded by an aura of light. And then there was another one with the picture of the object over the outline of the pony.

“It says this is the merger spell. It combines the life force of a pony with the power of a magical object with a mystical force. Extreme concentration required.”

And boom. That was when they all figured out where the Elements were.

“You put the Elements of Harmony…inside our bodies?” Applejack asked.

“Yes I did.” Gem answered.

“With the Elements of Harmony manifested inside of you, they should be a lot safer now.” Pyro explained.

“Well the Elements might be safe. But what about US?” Rarity asked referring to herself and her five friends. “Now those horrible disgusting Shadowmares might just come for us.”

Pyro smiled to assure the young mare.

“I have thought of that too, Rarity. And Celestia agrees with me.”

Pyro and Celestia smiled at another sharing a nod. Then Pyro looked over at the five he considered to be his brothers and sisters. Then it was back to his new Equestrian friends.

“Since now you are potential targets for Nightmare Moon, the six of you have now been officially been placed under our watch.” Pyro said. “Myself and the others will gather our things and go with you all back to Ponyville.”

Now everyone was able to make sense of what Pyro was saying. Although they understood, none of them felt really comfortable with that. Pyro just said in simpler terms that the six Elements of Harmony just got new roommates.

“Hold on there, Pyro.” Applejack said. “Ah’m not so sure about that. Sure it’s one thing for you to watch over us but is it really needed for you to LIVE with us too? We’ve only known you for a matter of hours.”

Celestia stepped forward to give the answer to that one.

“If the situation was not as grave as it is, then we wouldn’t push this.” She started. “I understand your concern, Applejack. But Pyro has a point. Nightmare Moon isn’t done coming after you. It’s the best for everypony if you stay as close as you can to each other to ensure your safety.”

Some of them weren’t really up to that idea. But they didn’t dare argue considering that Princess Celestia was backing this plan. So they kept their mouths shut and just nodded.

And then Pyro looked at his icy brother.

“Cryo, accompany Pinkie Pie home. Protect her with your life.”

Cryo walked over to Pyro and looked at Pinkie Pie who had a big smile plastered on her face.

“Alright! Ice maker living in my house! Free air conditioning! And wait till Mr. and Mrs. Cake get a load of him!” Pinkie was of course ecstatic to become roommates with any of them.

But then Pyro said this last thing to Cryo.

“And I cannot stress this enough. I want you to strongly practice the art…of concealment.”

Cryo nodded and repeated it back in different words.

“No powers unless necessary. Got it.”

“Awwwwwww.” Now Pinkie wasn’t smiling so big, but it was still there.

And then the fire pony went on as Cryo stood next to Pinkie Pie.

“Terra, you will watch over Applejack.”

Terra nodded and walked over to Applejack stopping at her side. Applejack actually liked Terra. So she had no problem with it. Then Pyro went on.

“Typhoon,”

But he didn’t even have to say anything more.

“Fluttershy?”

Pyro chuckled. Her telepathy was just too awesome.

“Fluttershy.”

The pink wind maker nodded and then went over to Fluttershy who smiled at her. Rainbow Dash was kind of jealous because she kind of wanted to get paired with her. Fluttershy was a bit pleased to be paired with the pink pegasus. She seemed a little more on the calm side than the rest of them. Not more than Gem though.

“Twilight, I will watch over you myself.” Pyro said.

“Sounds alright to me.” Twilight answered.

Twilight actually liked that arrangement. Since Pyro was the leader and she was kind of the leader of her friends, they felt that they would get along nicely.

“Gem, I’m assigning you to..”

But Agua interrupted.

“Alright. You’re putting Gem with Rarity and I’m going with Rainbow. Done deal.”

But as soon as Agua took his first step away…

“No.”

Pyro uttered that one word and Agua froze right up.

“Gem’s going with Rainbow Dash.” Pyro said to Agua. “And you, Agua, are gonna be watching over Rarity.”

Rainbow Dash took a sigh of relief when she found out she wasn’t gonna be paired with Agua. She would have taken the strange Terra over him. But Gem would do fine. At least she thought that.

Agua just stood there glaring at his red leader.

“You’re joking right?” he muttered.

Pyro shook his head side to side signifying he was dead serious.

“Pyro, a word. NOW.”

As Agua began to walk away, Pyro just sighed and groaned.

“Oh great. A word.” Then he looked over at Typhoon. “Time this one.”

Typhoon nodded and then Pyro and Agua went behind a closed door.

“Um…what’s going on?” Twilight asked.

“Trust me. It’s better to not ask that question and leave them alone.” Cryo warned.

“Well I disagree.” Rarity said. “I think he’s talking about me considering the way Agua reacted when Pyro told him he was going to look after me. I want to know what they’re saying.”

“One step ahead of you.” Twilight readied her horn.

“Don’t say we didn’t warn you.” Terra muttered.

Twilight stepped forward and her horn began to glow. A spell shot at the door Pyro and Agua closed behind them and the two of them didn’t know it, but now everyone on the outside of that door they were behind could see them and hear everything they were saying. And with the both of them sporting angry looks in their eyes, their words sounded something like this.

“Out of all of them, you choose me to watch over HER? Do you hate me, Pyro?” Agua shouted at the red unicorn.

“What’s wrong with her?” Pyro asked back. “Rarity seems like a nice pony to me.”

“Oh please. I knew her from the second I saw her! I recognize her from one of Typhoon’s gayass magazines! She’s a fashion guru! I’ll bet you anything that she’s just spoiled uptight brat who cares only about herself and is too stupid to notice anything around her!”

“She’s the Element of Generosity! That little fact right there makes everything you said to be totally wrong! I paired you with her because call me crazy, I think you might be able to learn something from her.”

“And what is that supposed to teach me, Pyro? Teach me how annoying she can be? I mean come on! I’ve only known her for not even one day, and I already get the urge to wanna hang myself whenever she rambles on and on about her stupid little fashion career!”

Pyro was beginning to growl. On the other side of that door, everyone was beginning to regret listening in on this conversation. Especially Twilight who cast the spell in the first place. Celestia was just blown away on how two ponies who are so close in a sibling relationship could be at each other’s throats like this.

Then everypony noticed one more thing. A soft sob escaped Rarity’s throat. Her eyes were brimming with tears. It was kind of obvious now that she was hurt by what Agua had just said. Seeing her pain, Cryo walked over to her.

“Hey hey hey. Don’t cry. Trust me. Agua’s like this with just about everyone.” The pony of ice told her.

“But why?” Rainbow Dash asked as he walked over to Rarity as well. “Why is he so mean?”

“He doesn’t do it on purpose.” Gem said to her new partner. “The tribe he was raised with, the way they trained him, it just made him into what he is.”

Not wanting to talk any longer, they all went silent once more and looked at the two arguing ponies.

“How dare you speak that way of her!” Pyro shouted. “You know Cryo might be the pony of ice, but your heart is so icy it makes him look like a frickin furnace!”

“Oh cut the crap, Pyro! Those six ponies shouldn’t even be near us! We should be doing this ourselves! They’ll only get in the way and cause trouble for us!”

“You are some piece of work, you know that? They’re the Elements of Harmony for Alamante’s sake! They deserve nothing but our utmost respect! They were the ones who defeated Nightmare Moon the first time around!”

“Oh yeah? Well clearly they didn’t get the job done right! Because she’s still alive and trying to kill us all now, isn’t she?”

That made all six of the harmony ponies look down at the ground a bit ashamed. Agua’s words might have been extremely harsh, but they couldn’t shake the fact that he was in a way right. They didn’t do a good enough job when they faced Nightmare Moon the first time around. If they had done something more, there’s a chance none of this could have happened. Only problem is, they have no idea what else could have been done to Nightmare the first time.

“I’ve had enough of this!” Pyro’s voice went up to the max right there. “Agua, listen to me. I’m not asking you to like living with her because let’s face it. You hate everything. All I’m asking for is for you to give Rarity a chance. You only think you know her. But you don’t. Just give her a chance and you might be surprised at what you find. Now can you PLEASE pull some maturity out of your ass and do that? Can you?”

Agua just growled annoyed that he was listening to Pyro lecture him.

“And one more thing.” The unicorn of fire said. “Those six ponies out there are just as special as you and I. They might not have completely destroyed Nightmare Moon but they WERE able to defeat her. And that just indicates how strong they really are. They’re not weak, Agua. They’re the farthest thing from it. And I think it would be very wise of you to notice that. Because they’re going to be sticking with us for quite a while.”

Agua had nothing to say. Pyro’s argument was too much for him to counter. Sighing in defeat, he admitted it out loud.

“Alright. I’ll give it a chance. But I’m not going to like it.”

“I just said I’m not asking you to like it.” Pyro said. “Thank you, Agua.”

A few seconds later, Pyro and Agua exited the room and Twilight stopped using her magic to try and hide it. It was a success. Pyro and Agua were oblivious to the fact they were watched.

But as soon as Agua stood close to Rarity, the water pony took notice of her face. Rarity couldn’t even look at him. Her eyes were shut tight and slowly leaking with tears. And her bottom lip was trembling.

“What’s the matter with you?” Agua muttered.

Then Rarity’s severely hurt feelings took control of her next actions.

“YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A BIG JERK!”

As Agua popped his ears from the loudness, Rarity ran out of the castle sobbing heavily. She got further away and Agua only got more confused as to why that little outburst just happened.

Then he turned around to notice everyone looking at him quite crossly. Even Celestia wasn’t really thrilled about what just happened.

“Nice going, Agua.” Applejack sternly said. “You gone and hurt Rarity’s feelings.”

To most of their confusion, Agua then grew a stern face of his own.

“Screw that! How does she even know what I said?”

He caught on rather quickly. It wasn’t before long Pyro began to agree with him. They were behind a closed door. How could any of them hear the two behind the door? They were yelling sure but the walls were pretty thick. Unless….

“Typhoon?” Pyro looked over at the element of wind.

And she immediately shook her head defending herself and her telepathy.

“Hey eet wasn’t me! Eet was her!”

She raised a hoof and pointed at Twilight. Pyro and Agua were now looking at her a bit surprised and also a hint offended.

“Twilight?” Pyro said to her. “What did you do?”

“Well, Rarity wanted to know what you guys were talking about. So I cast a spell that let us all hear what you were saying on the other side of the wall.”

Pyro sighed upon hearing that.

“Okay. I understand why you did it. But just for future reference, whenever you see Agua and I going into a room together, it’s best just to stay clear for a while”

Twilight nodded understanding that.

“Well okay. But I think somepony needs to go and talk to Rarity.” Twilight added.

“I’ll go!” Spike jumped up and began to run in Rarity’s direction.

But he was caught two seconds later in the magical grip of Twilight’s magic.

“No. Not you, Spike. I was thinking more like Agua.”

Everyone did look at Agua who was now trying his best to glare at all of them at once.

“No effing way. I’m not going out there.”

“Agua, you hurt her. YOU be the one to fix her.” Pyro said.

“OKAY!” he shouted. “But just for the record, I’m caving early because I can’t stand to listen to another one of your lectures!”

The blue pony then stormed off in the direction Rarity went.

“He is such a….oh I can’t find a good word. Jerk’s been overused.” Rainbow said.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you a list I have back at the rock.” Terra told her jokingly.

“Well I’m sure in time he’ll warm up to her just like he warmed up to the five of you. You are his friends aren’t you?”

Pyro, Typhoon, Terra, Gem, and Cryo all looked at Celestia with looks that clearly stated they were unsure about the answer to that question. And Celestia herself also sported a look like that upon seeing them not respond immediately.

“Well….uhhh…” Gem tried to think of something but nothing good or positive came to her.

But Terra thought of something. It wasn’t the best but it was all anyone had.

“He’s like the guy who’s an asshole but he’s our asshole.” The pony of earth said.

It wasn’t a lot to go by. However, everypony there, even Celestia had to agree, that pretty much described Agua. But Celestia had high hopes for Agua. She had faith that he could become a better pony. He had potential. He just needed to recognize it. At least that’s only what she herself thought. Everyone else had the alternate opinion about the pony of water. He’s just a heartless jerk who cares only about himself. Pyro thought that only halfway. The other half of him remembered Master Ma’s teachings to always find the good in anypony. But with Agua, Pyro had been searching a long time for that so called, “good.” So far his search right now was fruitless. But there were some moments when he proved himself to be more than just a jerk.

“That’s not entirely true.” Even Cryo knew that too. “Agua may be a hardhead sometimes, but deep down he’s good. He’s had some moments where he shows that he cares. I’ve seen them.”

“Name one time that jerk was ever nice.” Rainbow Dash was daring Cryo now.

“Just trust me.” Was all Cryo said back to her.

“By the way, thanks for sticking up for all of us.”

Twilight said that to Pyro. And she was referring to when Pyro was defending the Elements of Harmony in the argument with his watery comrade.

“Don’t mention it.” He responded.

Outside the castle, Rarity had her face buried in her hooves and she was crying a river. At first she thought being partnered with him wouldn’t be so bad. But after hearing all of that horrible stuff Agua said about her, she didn’t want to be anywhere near him. As she wiped away another tear that was loose on her cheek, she watched it fall. But then the tear itself stopped in midair and floated up so it was in front of her face.

“Did you know tears have water in them?”

That voice was the blue Earth pony’s. Agua was approaching her and he still kept the teardrop suspended in the air.

“What do you want?” Rarity snapped. “Come to tell me how annoying I am when you don’t even know me?”

“Look, it was wrong of me to say that about you or any of your friends for that matter.” Agua was having a difficult time getting this out. He hated sounding weak. “I always act before I think and it always gets me into scrapes I find hard to get out of. But I always seem to because I’m strong.”

“Good for you.” Rarity failed to see any point to what he was saying.

But that was because he hadn’t gotten to the point yet. Agua did his best to restrain himself from getting angry again.

“I’m sorry for what I said about you and your friends. It wasn’t fair for me to judge you without getting to know you first.”

Now Rarity was actually looking into his eyes. He wasn’t trying to look back into hers. It was difficult enough NOT looking at her.

“I’m not saying I’m gonna like living with you, but…will you please let me watch over and protect you?”

Watch over…and protect her? Rarity let those words playback in her head a few times before looking at Agua more closely. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who would be roommate material. Everypony who knew him knew that. But his facial expression clearly showed that he wanted to protect her from danger.

Agua just fiddled with Rarity’s floating tear by expanding it and manipulating it while he waited for her answer. But the things he did with that one tear distracted Rarity from giving her answer. She quickly regained her train of thought however.

“Well it’s not the most formal apology I’ve ever heard.” Rarity said. “But…I do accept it. And yes I will allow you to protect me.”

Agua nodded and then released his mind grip on that now large tear. It splashed on the ground and quickly evaporated into the sunlight. And then everyone else joined them.

“So are you two okay?” Pyro asked.

The both of them nodded at the red and orange unicorn.

“Good. Now there’s just a couple things we need to do.” Pyro went on. “Let’s head back to the rock, get our stuff, and then we’re moving in with our new friends.”

That meant it was time to say goodbye to the Princess.

“I can rely on you to protect these ponies, Pyro?” Celestia asked him.

“I will guard Twilight with my own life. And I trust my brothers and sisters to do the same for the rest.” Then Pyro stood on his hind hoofs and bowed at her like he did when he said hello. “Thank you for your time, Princess.”

Celestia stood on her hind hooves once more, put her front ones together, and bowed to him again. Twilight and the other five Elements of Harmony had no clue as to why the princess would bow to anyone.

“Take good care of Twilight and her friends. They are truly special to me.” The princess said before going back into the castle alone.

As the doors closed, that left the twelve ponies alone in the courtyard.

“Well….now what?” Rainbow asked.

“Now, Rainbow…it's like Pyro said. We go back to our rock, pack our stuff, and then move in with you guys.” Cryo explained.

“Cool. New roommate.” Spike was obviously on board with the arrangement.

That was all that needed to be said. And then the six Alamantians grabbed hold of their new partners, and teleported back to Whitetail Wood. Where the rock awaited them.

Ponyville's New Residents

I only own my OCs and the plot. Enjoy.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 6: Ponyville’s New Residents

Twilight and her friends still weren’t one hundred percent sure this idea was the best one, but if Princess Celestia was going along with it, they had to at least think it was the right thing to do. After the teleportation was complete, the Elements of Harmony found themselves back inside the rock that the six Alamantians called their home. But now it was time to leave it for good. The six foreign ponies all had to pack their stuff and leave.

Pyro lit up the giant torches that acted as their source of light and then each of the six went off to their own rooms to get everything they owned. Their new partners all respectively followed. Each of them had their own room themed to their liking.

Cryo’s room was chock full of snow hills and ice patches. Pinkie Pie of course jumped for joy because she loved to ice-skate. As Cryo began to pack his things, Pinkie skated on the ice with her bare hooves humming a random melody melody.

Terra’s room was more rocky and dirtier. There were even small caves and underground tunnels that Terra dug herself. Applejack was quite impressed with the work Terra put into that room. But as soon as she entered, Terra hid an object from Applejack. Applejack caught a glimpse of it. She couldn’t tell what it was before Terra covered it up with a blanket.

“What’s under the blanket, pardner?” she asked.

Terra knew full well what was under there. But she didn’t want to tell. What she had…was a very expensive water pipe. A bong to be more specific. Yes. There’s a reason Agua calls her a hippy. Terra smokes the leaf.

“Um….nothing.” she lied right off the bat.

“O….kay.” Applejack wasn’t sure to let it go or not.

The country mare did anyway knowing sooner or later she’d find out. As soon as she turned her head, Terra tossed the bong into her duffel bag along with a big brown paper bag filled with the contents that go with the bong itself.

Typhoon’s room was very interesting to Fluttershy. It was pink and filled with beauty products indicating she was very into her own image. Every single piece of furniture in there was cloud. It was like Rainbow Dash’s whole house. But the thing that caught Fluttershy’s attention was the dresser over in the corner decked out in purple paint and white stars. On top of it were all kinds of books that related to psychic skills and mind books.

Fluttershy walked over to it and took a look at one of the books. And then she looked at the page that was marked. Chapter 14: The Temporal Barrier.

Typhoon was using a few light breezes she created to carry some of the lighter stuff over to her own case. Then she looked and noticed Fluttershy looking at her books.

“Zose are my telepathy books.” She said in that french accent of hers. “Zey help me to learn more and more about mind transfer and whatnot.”

“I’m sure Twilight would love to get her hooves on books like these.” Fluttershy said. “Knowing her love of magic, she’d go bananas.”

“Oh, zose books would be of no use to Twilight.” Typhoon said. “She may be extremely gifted with magic, but telepathy is not a mere spell you can learn. One must be born with such power.”

“Okay then. How were YOU born with that kind of power?” Fluttershy asked very interested in knowing how.

Typhoon went silent for a moment before she gave Fluttershy an answer.

“Nopony knows. My mama and papa don’t have ze power. Eet must be something different about my genetics. Zat’s ze only reason I’ve ever come up with.”

Fluttershy decided to drop it right there. She didn’t want to dig too much into her past and suspicious to Typhoon. She wanted to trust her. And she wanted Typhoon to trust her.

“So…what ees eet you do, Fluttershy?” Typhoon asked wanting to know a bit more about her.

Fluttershy closed the book and put it back on the dresser.

“I take care of animals of all kinds.” Fluttershy answered. “It sounds simple but it’s really hard at times.”

“I can imagine.” Typhoon answered. “Eef you like animals go to Agua’s room. He’s the only one out of all of us who has a pet.”

“Oh my! I’ll be right back to help you pack!”

Fluttershy dashed out of Typhoon’s room and went to find Agua’s. She spotted Rarity and the blue stallion about to enter it and when she got closer, Rarity asked why she was there.

“Sorry to intrude, but Typhoon told me Agua has a pet. And if it’s no trouble…well…may I see it?”

Considering the way Fluttershy’s seen Agua treat others around him, she was quite nervous being this close to him. But his glare was not present at this time. It was just a straight face that showed no identifiable emotion.

“Sure, he’s right inside.”

He was allowing her access. And then he opened up the stone door to his room and the two mares were absolutely blown away.

Agua may be a jerk, but his room was magnificent. The stone walls had various holes and they were all pouring out the clearest water they had ever seen into small pools below. And in the center, there was a large pond.

“If you wanna see him, he’s in that pool.” Agua pointed for Fluttershy.

Fluttershy hovered over to the small pond and looked all around the water for Agua’s pet. But she couldn’t find it. There was nothing moving in there. All she could see were some plants which were pretty but not alive.

“Agua, there’s nothing in here.” She pointed out.

Then Agua came over and looked around the pond.

“Yeah there is. Look right down there.” Agua pointed again to the bottom of the pond.

And then Fluttershy and Rarity saw it. Agua’s pet wasn’t a fish. It was a very large creature with a very hard and gorgeous shell. As Fluttershy identified what the thing was, Agua went over to his closet and fetched a very large aquatic tank for the creature to fit in.

“Is that a giant clam?” Fluttershy asked him.

“Yes. Yes he is.” Agua answered as he rolled the tank over. “This is Bobo. I found him near the shoreline of the ocean back home a few years ago and I adopted him. Isn’t he just awesome?”

Fluttershy got closer to the pond looked closely while Agua used his hydrokinesis to keep the water perfectly still so she could see through the water clearly. Bobo was a very colorful creature with a shell of many colors. And inside the shell, the body was a brilliant blue.

“Don’t they only live in coral reefs?” Fluttershy asked.

Fluttershy was an expert on all animals both above and below water. So she knew all about the natural habitat of a giant clam.

“Yes they do. But I was able to make a mock reef in this pond.” Then Agua jumped into the water and splashed Fluttershy and Rarity a little bit.

The blue pony of water made his way down to the bottom of the small artificial reef he create and picked up his pet clam in a sphere of water. Something that really strained Agua because Bobo weighs nearly five hundred pounds at minimum. If he wasn’t able to breathe underwater, Agua might have died from trying to carry Bobo up. But both the clam and Agua breached the water with Bobo still surrounded in a ball of water.

“Come on, Bobo. We gotta get you into your tank.”

“Um…” Rarity hoped he wasn’t serious. “You plan to bring that giant creature into my house?”

Then a deep voice, a VERY deep voice spoke.

“You got a problem with clams, prissy?”

That wasn’t Agua’s voice. It was the clam’s. Apparently like some of the other animals in the world of Equestria, Bobo could talk. And his voice was very deep.

“Did…that thing just talk?” Rarity asked scared of the answer.

“Yeah. I can talk. And I’m not just any creature. I’m a clam. A GIANT one. And all I want is respect, and for Agua to remember to scrub my shell every week.”

“And I remember.” Agua added. “And who’s the most awesome clam in all the world?”

“I am.”

“Damn straight.”

The dynamic between Agua and his pet clam seemed a bit strange. It made the two girls in the room feel uneasy. So Fluttershy left to go aide Typhoon with packing her things and left Rarity to deal with Agua and Bobo. Agua pulled out a rather large aquatic tank and filled it up by moving some of the water from Bobo’s pond to the tank. Then he placed the clam inside.

Gem’s room was decked out with all sorts of weird gismos and mechanical tools that Rainbow Dash couldn’t identify. But there were several giant mechanisms that caught her attention. They all looked like weird rod looking things with balls on the tips. There were about ten in total all around Gem’s room.

Rainbow flew up to one and tapped on the tip.

“Hey, Gem. What are these things?” the pegasus asked her partner.

“Tesla coils.” Gem answered. “Those are what I use to practice my powers with. They create plasma.”

“Cool.” Rainbow then moved out of the way as Gem used her magic to get a hold of all ten coils, shrink them, and then place them in her bag. “Uh…where do you plan on putting those when you get to my house?”

Gem froze up and looked down at her hooves.

“I can leave them here if you want me to.”

She sounded just like Fluttershy tone and all.

“Bring em’. We’ll find a place for them.”

Gem smiled and continued packing. She used a shrinking spell on her coils and placed them all in a custom case made just for them.

The packing went a lot faster in Pyro’s room. Spike was fine in there, but Twilight was already sweating like a pig due to the extreme heat in the unicorn’s room. His room consisted of many torches, fire pits, and even a small pool of lava. She wasn’t sure if the lava was real.

“Is that ACTUAL hot lava?” she asked him.

“Yes it is.” He answered. “It’s lava from the magma river near the volcano.”

“Volcano?” Twilight was confused. “I didn’t know there were any volcanoes here in Equestria.”

“It’s in the Everfree Forest.” Pyro went on. “If you go in deep enough, you’ll find the base of a volcano and there’s a river of lava that flows from it.”

That explained it. Twilight was also not very fond of the Everfree Forest like her friends weren’t either.

“Okay. So why do you have a pool of lava?” Spike asked.

And then Pyro did something Twilight and Spike thought was crazy. He jumped into the lava pool. They thought he was dead. They thought his flesh was being burned to soup in that pool. But no. He was still solid and unharmed. In fact, he didn’t even wince.

“It’s my bathtub.” He said.

Now that was weird to both Spike and Twilight.

“You take a bath in hot lava?” Spike asked to be sure he wasn’t talking wrong. “I can do it no problem since I’m a dragon and all, but I never thought any kind of pony could.”

“I do every night.” He said. “I tried a normal shower once. But the bathroom turned into a sauna. The only time I ever get in water is when I’m near the ocean or in a small pool to make it a hot tub for relaxing.”

“But….the lava…does it actually clean you?” Twilight asked curious.

“For anyone of the Ember Tribe, yes. My body is built to withstand the most extreme burns imaginable. Being a pony of fire. All the others can withstand their elements all the same. Cryo can have a picnic in a blizzard, Terra dances to earthquakes and so on.”

“Okay.” Twilight understood. “You know the lava isn’t going anywhere near my house right?”

“I’m aware of that.” Pyro answered.

About an hour later, everyone met up in the main hall. Everypony had their stuff packed and was ready to go. Terra took a final look around. It was hard to leave this place for the six Alamantians.

“Hard to believe we lived in this rock for nearly three years.” She muttered.

Then Pyro took a look at the walls of the rock he called home for years.

“This boulder has served us well.” he said. “But now is the time to leave it behind and move on. Elements, gather your things and prepare to teleport.”

Just as they began to pick up their bags, and Agua got a good hold on Bobo’s tank, something very wrong transpired.

The whole place began to violently shake making everypony lose their balance and grip on their belongings.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?” Rarity screamed.

“IT’S NOT ME! I SWEAR!” Terra shouted at equal volume.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

That laugh. They knew it from only a few hours before.

“It’s Nightmare!” Spike shouted.

“You all will die!” Nightmare’s voice came again.

“Elements! Grab your partner and teleport to Ponyville now!” Pyro ordered.

“What about all our stuff?” Cryo shouted at him.

“There isn’t time, Cryo!” Terra agreed with Pyro.

The yellow earth pony just grabbed one small bag she considered to be the most valuable and left the others behind.

“Applejack! Get over here!” she shouted.

With all the shaking, Applejack found it very difficult to run. But she got herself over to Terra and they both wrapped their hooves around each other in a tight grip. Then Terra concentrated and turned both her body and Applejack’s into a big ball of dirt as they teleported up and out of the rock.

“Rainbow!” Gem shouted.

“Fluttershy! Come to me!” Typhoon told her partner.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew to Typhoon and Gem respectively. Gem and Rainbow turned into a single ball of purple glowing energy and Typhoon and Fluttershy teleported away in the form of a gray swish of wind.

“Pinkie Pie! I got you!” Cryo, despite all the shaking, managed to jump his way over to Pinkie with only one of his suitcases.

“Hang on!” Agua shouted as he grabbed hold of Rarity and Bobo’s tank.

The roof was starting to come down on them. Agua and Rarity took the form of a ball of clear water and Cryo and Pinkie followed them as a big snowball leaving a trail.

“Pyro! Help!” Twilight called.

Twilight’s teleporting ability was nowhere near the level of Pyro’s. She couldn’t do it herself. Grabbing only one of the three bags he had packed with his magical grip, Pyro rushed over to Twilight and got a good hold of both her and Spike.

“Don’t worry! We’re all okay!”

With that said, Pyro turned the three of them into one big ball of fire and it soared out of the hole in the ceiling. As it did, they grew to normal size and made their way to Ponyville. As they made their exit, the rock gave off a rather large explosion making the smoke and a few flames visible from Ponyville.

The boom was heard and everypony stopped what they were doing to look at the smoke coming from Whitetail Wood. Applejack’s little sister and her two friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had also taken notice.

“Mah stars. What happened?” Applebloom wondered.

“Maybe Snips and Snails found some fireworks and thought the fuse was shorter than it looked.” Scootaloo thought with a chuckle.

“Look up there! What is that?” Sweetie Belle looked up and saw a big ball of dirt coming right for Ponyville.

Everypony saw the dirtball and assumed it was a threat. So they all began to fear it. And when it crashed down, they expected it to explode or something. Everypony covered their face with their hooves. After a few seconds of nothing happening, they all looked and saw the ball of dirt take on the shape of two ponies. The dirt vanished and the actual ponies were seen along with a single suitcase.

“Applejack?” Applebloom saw her sister. “How did you do that?”

Applejack was too busy recovering from the teleportation to answer. And then a ball of plasma and wind came crashing down followed by one of ice, water, and then finally fire. When all the ponies had their shapes back, they didn’t even notice that everypony in town had shocked stares pointed right at them. The six Alamantians just looked at the smoke coming from the woods.

“Our home….gone.” Typhoon muttered.

“There’s nothing more we can do, Typhoon.” Pyro said. “Let us just be glad we all made it out of there alive.”

Then Pyro looked at his partner and the dragon on her back.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m alright.” Twilight answered. “What about the rest of you?”

Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all mumbled yes in their own way. But it was then they noticed that every single pony within the general vicinity was staring at them.

“Did you see that?” A cream colored mare said out loud. “Who are they?”

That’s when the six Elements of Harmony took a closer look at the direction the folks were looking. They were staring at Pyro and the other five foreign ponies.

Just then, the mayor of the city came through and stood in front of Pyro. She looked at him with very suspicious eyes.

“You look familiar.” She said. “Have you passed through here before?”

“Can’t say that I have.” Pyro honestly said. “And you are?”

“I’m the mayor of the town you’re standing in.” the tan mare replied. “And since I just saw you and your friends here fly away from the sight of the explosion, I demand to know what happened out there.”

“Um…hold on, Mayor.” Twilight had to do something here. So she stepped in front of Pyro. “My friends and I were with them. It was just some crazy pony who got a hold of some fireworks and didn’t know how short the fuse was. But it wasn’t any of these guys. I can vouch for them. They’re friends of mine.”

The Mayor seemed to like that. Scootaloo grinned knowing her theory was correct. It really wasn’t but Twilight’s words made her think it was.

“Ah. More of your friends from Canterlot?” The mayor asked Twilight.

“What? No.” Terra answered. “We’re from Alamante. You know? The country across the ocean from you guys?”

The ponies in the background began to mumble again right after Terra stopped talking. None of them thought that was a good sign. Agua hit Terra a bit harshly on her shoulder.

“Way to go, Terra. You just screwed us.” He angrily mumbled.

But two seconds later, the mayor smiled at them.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” she sounded like she was actually happy to meet them.

And their much to their surprise, all the other citizens of Ponyville smiled as well towards them.

“It’s always a pleasure to have travelers come through our parts. But we’ve never had Alamantians come along. What brings you here?” the mayor asked.

It was safe for them. They all sighed in relief.

“Unfortunately the war back in our home brought us here.” Cryo honestly answered. “We just had to get away from there. So we bailed and came here.”

That was only half the truth. None of them could speak that Nightmare Moon was on the hunt for them. They would get run out of town.

“Well you are always welcome in Ponyville. Please make yourselves comfortable.” The mayor assured them as she walked away.

That left all twelve of the recently teleported ponies in a state of relief greater than the first one. They were welcome to stay.

“That was close.” Gem muttered.

“No kidding.” Cryo agreed.

“What was close?” Rainbow asked as she and the others approached them.

“Well…..from what we’ve heard around when we snooped around here cloaked for food, we got the idea that most ponies hate Alamantians.” Gem explained.

“What? Why on Earth would they hate you?” Rarity asked.

“Because of the war back home.” Terra took that one. “Everypony knows about it and they’ve gotten the sense that all Alamantians are blood-thirsty, violent craving savages.”

The six of them seemed a bit upset over it. Even Agua seemed a little down. But Twilight was sure no one in Ponyville acted like that.

“Are you sure it was the people here and not the ones in Canterlot?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’ve been there before and those ponies are so stuck-up it’s not even funny.”

“Hey!” Twilight shouted. “I was born there! Remember?”

“Yes, Sugarcube. You were born there. But then you came down here and we Ponyvilled you.” Applejack had a good point.

Twilight isn’t very in tune with her Canterlot self anymore. She’s more Ponyville now.

“It might have been Canterlot.” Cryo answered. “It’s been a while since any of have even been outside before today.”

They got that. They needed to stay hidden. But now they were welcome amongst the people and they couldn’t be happier.

“Applejack!”

That was Applejack’s little sister. The three cutie mark crusaders saw everything from when they all finished teleporting.

“Oh uh…Applebloom. How long have you been here?” Applejack asked the three kids.

“We saw everything. But how did you do that, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked her sister. “You were a ball of water! That was cool!”

“And Rainbow you were….you were…..what exactly did you turn in to?” Scootaloo wasn’t very sure what element she saw Rainbow transform from.

“That was plasma squirt.” Rainbow answered.

“Okay. Shall we all get settled then?” Pyro suggested.

And they agreed. The Alamantians al grabbed the bags they took with them before the rock exploded and made their way towards Applejack’s place because it was closest.

Their problems however were just beginning. They narrowly escaped death no less than ten minutes ago. And they were all thankful that they were able to avoid it thanks to their new Alamantian friends. If they thought THAT was hard, then they were in for a big surprise in the days to come.

Settling In

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 7: Settling In

It had been not even ten minutes since the explosion in Whitetail Woods transpired and the twelve ponies came teleporting in. Just when they thought they were going to be outcasts because six of them were Alamantian, it turns out the citizens of Ponyville were above all the racism they had heard and welcomed them. After that, the three little fillies Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle went up to them and introduced themselves to the foreigners. Agua wasn’t too thrilled upon learning Rarity had a little sister. He thought he was gonna have enough trouble living with just her. He was however relieved when he found out Sweetie Belle only lived there when their mother and father were out of town.

But after the six foreigners and the three young ones got decently acquainted, they all headed out to move into their new homes. First up was Sweet Apple Acres because it was a long walk and they wanted to get it out of the way. Along the way, they chatted.

“So….you live on a farm?” Terra asked Applejack.

“Oh yeah.” Applejack answered. “It’s mostly an apple orchard though. Ah live there with my grandmother, my big brother, and you’ve already met Applebloom here.”

Applebloom waved at Terra slightly as she rode on Applejack’s back.

“Cool.” Terra muttered.

“What did you do back in your home?” Applejack asked.

“Well…pretty much nothing.” Terra then revealed something about her. “See….my father is the chief of my entire tribe. And being his daughter makes me heir to the throne.”

“Throne?” Applejack repeated.

“Yep. In Alamante, the chief of the tribe is royalty. So technically, I was and still am, Alamantian royalty. A princess to be exact.” Terra said.

This came as quite a shock to the Equestrian ponies present.

“But…how is that? If it’s just the chief of the tribe, how can that be considered royalty if it’s just one country?” Twilight asked.

“Alamante is a much bigger country then Equestria.” Cryo answered. “With the territory divided amongst six tribes who don’t really get along well anymore, each land gets their own king or queen. Or both in some tribes.”

“And my father is king of Geo tribe.” Terra went on. “My life was pretty easy. Big palace, big wardrobe full of the most gorgeous dresses, servants waiting on all four of my hooves…”

“It sounds so dreamy!” Rarity was bought at the word “palace”. “I would love to have living arrangements like that.”

“Well good for you because I don’t.” Terra said. “I hated it. I hated being a princess.”

“WHAT?” Rarity shouted and gasped at the same time. “Why would anyone HATE being a princess?”

“Because it wasn’t any fun.” Terra answered. “I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without a stupid guard following my every step, my father and mother were extremely overprotective, it was a nightmare. Then Pyro came looking for the rest of us because Master Ma told him about the prophecy.”

Now things got interesting.

“See, the war had been going on for at least six months now and Pyro had left home to try and find us six symbol bearing ponies to bring us together. He went from tribe to tribe covertly searching so he wouldn’t be caught. When he came to the Geo territory, he had already found Cryo and Typhoon. I was fourth to be brought into the group.”

“At first she said no.” Cryo pointed out.

It was true. Back when Terra first met Pyro, Typhoon, and Cryo, and was asked to join them, she refused the offer.

“Why did you say no?” Rainbow asked. “Did you finally get used to being a princess?”

“Oh good gravel, no.” Terra said. “I didn’t want to fight anyone. But then…”

“I had to convince her that we were fighting for there to be peace in all of Alamante.” Pyro took that one. “THEN she agreed to come.”

Terra nodded confirming the story to be true.

“It still would have been nice to know you were the princess BEFORE we tried to leave.” Pyro stated.

“Oh come on. It wasn’t that bad.” Terra said back.

“Ze entire Geo tribe tried to keel us all because zey thought we were trying to keednap you!” Typhoon added. “One of ze spears zey threw at me nearly sliced off my wing!”

From there, the conversation went on. But the three Cutie Mark Crusaders had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. They certainly intended to find out.

After another ten minutes of walking, they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Once there, Terra took a look around the land surrounding the barn the Apple family lived in. It was quite lush with trees everywhere with bright red apples growing on every single one of them. Being the pony of earth, she fell in love with it as soon as she saw it.

“Applejack, this is so beautiful.” Terra said to her partner.

“Well thank ya, Terra. Ah hope you like stayin here.” Applejack said back. “Plus the apples are almost ripe and ready to taste test. Maybe you can taste the first one.”

She would indeed. By the looks of it, everyone thought a girl like Terra would like living on a place so in touch with the earth. But then two seconds later, Terra’s eyes caught the sight of another pony. A red colored stallion with a green cut apple for a cutie mark.

Upon seeing him, Terra stopped in her tracks with a gasp.

“Oh sweet mother boulder.” Terra nearly lost her voice. “Who is that?”

“Wha? Oh that’s mah brother, Big Macintosh.” Applejack told her. “Hey Big Mac! Come over here!”

The summoned family member walked in front of his sibling and her friends. But he noticed there were a few ponies there he had never met before.

“Big Mac, this here is Terra. She’s gonna be stayin with us for a while.” Applejack told us.

“She’s gonna stay with us?” Applebloom asked. “Why?”

“Uh…well…it’s very complicated, AB. But Terra needs a place to stay and she’s gonna stay in our house for a bit.”

Big Macintosh and Applebloom didn’t know why Applejack was okay with this. She was bringing a total stranger to their house and they had no idea why Applejack was so calm about it. They were a bit off.

“Well…we do have a spare room for her.” Big Mac said.

He then realized if Applejack was calm about this, than it couldn’t be that bad.

“Good. Applebloom, take Terra here and show her to the guestroom.” Applejack said.

“Terra.” Big Macintosh repeated her name so he would memorize it.

Then he smiled at her to welcome her properly.

“Well it sure is a pleasure, ma’am.” Macintosh said.

Terra smirked at him deviously and said,

“Play your cards right and it definitely could be.”

With that little line, she picked up her stuff and followed Applebloom to the barn. And that left everyone else there with varying looks on their faces.

Big Macintosh’s face was the most weirded out. He just got hit on. And in a very strange way.

“Um…what did she mean by that?” he asked hoping it wasn’t what he was thinking.

No one had the guts to give him a straight answer. Everyone that is except for Agua who approached him.

“Oh let’s just say she’ll be watching. I’ll leave it at that.” he said trying not to laugh.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, his next line didn’t help at all.

“Enjoy her, buddy. She’s YOUR problem now.” Agua said it almost like he was taunting him.

With that, Agua turned to leave and everyone else soon followed him after they said good bye to Applejack. When they caught up to the blue pony, they couldn’t help but ask questions.

“What do you mean she’s THEIR problem now?” Rainbow asked Agua referring to Terra.

“Oh you don’t know Terra like I do. Trust me. Applejack will soon see what she’s like.” Agua said that almost as if Terra was hiding something.

Well….she was hiding something actually but they didn’t know that except for her brothers and sisters.

“Just ignore him.” Cryo muttered to the rest of them. “You’ll learn in time to just drown him out.”

“Yeah. Whenever he starts to rant, my mind wanders and I can hear the ocean.” Pyro said with a smile.

“I wish I got the ocean.” Gem said with a frown. “All I get is this hellish buzzing sound.”

“Well I got the buzzing when I was younger like you are, Gem. But the beach is coming for you.” Pyro assured his little sister.

Gem nodded and when she looked back up, she saw a big house made out of clouds hovering above the ground.

“Welcome to your new home, Gem.” Rainbow Dash said before she found a small problem. “Uhh….how are you gonna get up there?”

“Oh I can walk on clouds.” Gem said. “When you told me you live on a cloud, Cryo cast the walk-on-cloud spell on me. So I’m good.”

“But the question is still there.” Twilight said. “How are you gonna get up there?”

“I can go get the balloon!” Pinkie suggested.

Everypony said no. That would have been too much of a hassle and everyone thought so. But all of them stopped their brainstorming session when Gem stepped out in front of them all without a word. She looked up at Rainbow’s house and then her right front hoof glowed with the purple plasma energy she represents. Then she threw it forward and the plasma blasted out of her hoof. The plasma then took the shape of an object rather than explode in the ground. The plasma made a small mechanical elevator and the rail it rode on extended up all the way to Rainbow’s house.

Gem grabbed her bag and then stepped inside the elevator. One second later, it rose upwards towards the house. Shocked, Rainbow slowly followed. When the two of them reached the top, Gem stepped out of her elevator and then the purple plasma energy that helped make it disappeared.

“Talk to you guys later!” the purple plasma unicorn called to them.

“Alright! Bye, leettle seester!” Typhoon shouted.

They all waved to her as she and Rainbow went inside the cloud house. The rest of them continued on their way.

“How did she do that?” Twilight asked. “Was that some sort of spell?”

“No way.” Cryo said. “Gem’s element, plasma, is very unique and different compared to the other elements of nature.”

“It’s raw energy that can be shaped into any form. And Gem has the power to make that happen. Into anything she can see in her mind.” Pyro finished.

“That’s awesome!” Scootaloo said.

Yeah. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were with them. They have been ever since they all teleported in.

“Where are you guys from again?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“A country called Alamante.” Cryo answered the filly. “It’s all the way across the ocean.”

“How did you get here?” Scootaloo asked.

Even though Rainbow Dash was gone, Scootaloo still was interested in these new foreign ponies. She wanted to know more about them. At least the basics.

“It’s a long story, kid.” Agua replied.

“Which place is next?” Twilight wondered.

“Sugarcube Corner.” Pinkie answered. “It’s right over there.”

Pinkie pointed over to the left where Cryo caught the sight of his new temporary home.

“You live in a bakery?” Cryo asked. “Awesome!”

“Glad you like it!” Pinkie liked Cryo’s attitude. “I hope you like it here. Mr. and Mrs. Cake are always welcome to having guests.”

One short walk down the street later, they arrived at the bakery that was Sugarcube Corner.

“Let’s all go inside!” Pinkie Pie cried. “We can all share a batch of cupcakes!”

Pinkie opened the door to see something a bit abnormal for her. The owners of the place, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were running around and panicking in out loud words. It looked like they were trying to break a world record or something.

“Um…maybe you should come by later.” Pinkie suggested.

“Uh…okay then.” Agua muttered.

“See ya later.” Twilight said to both of them.

“Bye.” Cryo and Pinkie both bid their goodbye.

With that, the rest of them walked away as Pinkie shut the door to the bakery as Cryo set down his bag. The Cakes kept running back and forth with those panicking looks on their faces.

“Does this happen often?” Cryo asked his new partner.

“No it doesn’t. Hang on a second.”

Pinkie went behind the counter and got in front of Mrs. Cake’s path.

“Mrs. Cake, what’s wrong?” Pinkie asked very concerned.

“It’s horrible!” Mrs. Cake shouted back. “We just got an order for three ice cream cakes to be made in just a few hours. But when I went to the freezer well….go see for yourself!”

She sounded like it was something out of a horror movie or something. But nonetheless, Pinkie Pie walked over to the freezer and Cryo stayed by her side and dropped his duffel bag behind the counter. Pinkie then opened up the freezer and gasped at the sight she saw.

Something had caused the freezer to break down. Because it wasn’t cold inside and everything that was supposed to be frozen wasn’t. The ice cream just looked liked multi colored soup when Pinkie opened up a tub to take a look.

This was definitely not good. The Cake’s were best known for their perfect timing. Never being late for anything no matter how big the order was.

“We don’t have enough time to go and buy more ice cream.” Mr. Cake said as he came out of the kitchen.

“This will tarnish our good name for sure!” Mrs. Cake was panicking now.

Pinkie was on the verge of panicking too. Then she saw her new white unicorn stallion friend step forward and take the ice cream container out of Pinkie’s hooves and put it back in the broken freezer using a magical grip. Then he shut the door.

“I got it covered.” He said cooly.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake stood there wondering what the heck he was talking about. They thought he was gonna cast a spell with his unicorn magic. But his horn didn’t glow anymore. All he did was take a big breath of air in.

Then he softly blew the air on the door of the freezer from the top to the bottom. That was about five seconds. After he finished, he smirked at Pinkie and gestured her to open the door back up.

When she did, she was both impressed and overjoyed. The entire inside of the freezer was cold and everything in there was once again frozen. And Pinkie could see her breath.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were now relieved but also shocked that he did that without any unicorn magic.

“Look, Mrs. Cake! The ice cream isn’t melted anymore! You can use it!” Pinkie showed her by taking a random carton out and eating a big scoop of it from her hoof.

“Yes dearie that’s great.” Mrs. Cake observed as she and her husband approached Cryo. “But who are you?”

“Oh!” Pinkie forgot to introduce him. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake, this is my friend, Cryo. He’s REALLY good with ice. But he doesn’t have a house of his own. Is it okay if he stays here for a while?”

“Oh I remember now!” Mr. Cake figured it out. “You’re one of the Alamantians. I heard somepony talk about you a few minutes ago.”

“Um…yeah that’s me.” Cryo told them. “It’s nice to meet you. As Pinkie just said, my name is Cryo.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Cryo.” Mrs. Cake warmly welcomed him. “And of course you can stay here. Our way of saying thank you for fixing our freezer.”

“You’re welcome.” Cryo said. “But I didn’t exactly fix it. I just froze the inside of it. I know freezers pretty well and it looks like you got a busted coil in the back. I’d recommend calling somepony and getting it replaced as soon as you can.”

“We’ll be sure to do that.” Mr. Cake said. “Pinkie, show him upstairs and then come down here. We’ll need your help if we’re gonna get these ice cream cakes made on time.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Cryo asked.

“Oh thank you, dearie. But we can do this on our own. After you get settled in, go on out and familiarize yourself with the town.” Mrs. Cake said.

“No problem. And thanks for letting me stay here. I promise I won’t be any trouble.” Cryo said to her.

With that, Pinkie led Cryo upstairs and the unicorn stallion regained the magical grip on his duffel bag and followed her upstairs. It was just as big upstairs as it was downstairs. And it was split into two separate rooms. Pinkie had occupied one and the other one was empty.

“I’d be more than happy to share my room with you if you like company.” Pinkie said.

“That’s okay Pinkie. I’ll take this one. I like to have some privacy.” Cryo opened the door and placed his bag inside. “No offense of course.”

“Oh none taken, Cryo! Just get settled in and I’ll get to work planning a big welcome party for you and the others! Just like I did for Twilight!”

With that, Pinkie rushed into her room and slammed the door behind her. Cryo looked at his bag and opened it up with the cyan magical glow of his.

“A party huh?”

Out of it, he pulled out a black vinyl record album and smiled at it.

“Oh well. As long as there’s a good rhythm to dance to, I’m in.”

That was something Pinkie would later learn about Cryo. His love for music. That was all he saved from all of his things. Countless records and a custom player. As he closed the door, he began to settle in.

Pyro, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, Rarity, and Agua now remained.

“So where to now?” Pyro asked.

“Actually I think this is where we part.” Rarity answered. “Twilight’s house is that way, mine is the other, and Fluttershy’s is near the Everfree Forest.”

“Near ze forest?” Typhoon repeated. “Don’t you live in ze clouds since you are a pegasus?”

“Actually, I don’t live in the sky like Rainbow does.” Fluttershy told the pink pegasus. “My cottage is over this way. And it has a spare room you can take.”

Typhoon shrugged. It wasn’t what she was expecting, but a nice cottage on the ground might be nice. Picking up her one and only remaining duffel bag in her mouth, both she and Fluttershy spread their wings and headed off to the cottage.

And that left Pyro, Twilight, and Spike to head for the library and Agua, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle to make their way to Carousel Boutique.

Once at the library, Pyro paused to take a look at the outside.

“Quaint.” He muttered.

That was all he needed to say. Twilight then proceeded to open up the door to the place and Pyro walked inside. He turned around a few times to get himself familiar with the place. But all he saw were books, books, and more books.

“That’s….a lot of books.” He noted.

“Tell me about it.” Spike agreed.

“Well this is a LIBRARY.” Twilight added. “What did you expect?”

Pyro instead of answering took a look at some of the books on the shelf. But there was one in particular that caught his eye. Using his magic, he pulled it out of the shelf and examined the cover and title.

Pyrokinesis For Less Than Average Unicorns.

“I’ve read it. Totally wrong on every level.” Pyro said as he put the book back.

“I haven’t yet.” Twilight said herself. “But I’ve been meaning to.”

“Do yourself a favor and don’t.” Pyro advised. “If you wanna learn how to make a simple fire, you ask me.”

Twilight shrugged. There was no argument there. If anyone knew fire, it was definitely this guy.

“Well alright. I don’t have a guest room but I can clear the basement for you.” Twilight said.

“That sounds reasonable.” Pyro agreed to it.

The three of them proceeded down to the basement to clear it out and make room for Pyro.

Meanwhile with Rarity, she, her sister, Agua, and Bobo the clam who was strapped to a cart attached to Agua, finally reached the boutique. Once inside, Agua immediately froze in fear at the sight. It was like he was stuck in a women’s clothing store. Which…technically he was.

“It’s…..nice.” He barely was able to get that out.

But inside his head, he said this.

“Oh holy tsunami. I think I’m gonna be physically ill!”

It was obviously gonna be torture for him.

“So he’s gonna stay with us?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why?”

“It’s very complicated Sweetie Belle.” Rarity answered. “But Mr. Agua here is a special guest here in Ponyville and I’ve volunteered to take him in. Now how about we help him get settled?”

“REOOOOOW!”

That was a very loud and angry meow of a persian white cat.

“I almost forgot! There’s someone else here you need to share the place with.” Rarity told her partner.

Just then, the cat made herself completely visible.

“Agua, this is my pet cat, Opalescence.” Rarity said. “Opal, that’s Agua. You be a good kitty and be nice.”

Opal was not the kindest of pets in Ponyville. She just stuck up her tail and walked the other way wanting nothing to do with Agua.

“Wow. That cat’s a jerk.” Agua noted.

“Then I suppose you should get along fine with her.” Rarity commented.

“Hm….alright that was a good one. I’ll give you that.” Agua had to admit to that.

Nodding, Rarity was about to take hold of Agua’s bag so he could detach himself from the carriage Bobo’s tank was on.

“Wait a minute.” Sweetie Belle stopped them. “Where’s he gonna sleep?”

Rarity got hit with a dilemma. She hadn’t thought of where to put Agua. There were only two bedrooms in that house of hers and they were taken up by both her and Sweetie. All the other rooms were used for storage and other stuff.

So there was only one place to put him. And two out of the three ponies there weren’t gonna like it.

Later that night…

“This stinks.” Sweetie Belle said.

She rolled over in her bed and tried to get comfortable. And laying on the ground next to her bed, was Agua underneath a blanket.

Yes, Agua and Sweetie Belle were sharing a room. It was against Sweetie’s wishes. But Rarity had no other choice. Until her parents return, Sweetie Belle and Agua were gonna be in the same room. Bobo’s tank was up against the wall.

“Look, I’m not a fan of this either, alright? Let’s just try to get through tonight and we’ll figure something out tomorrow.” Agua growled.

Agua turned his head away from her. But the light from Bobo’s tank still shone in her eyes. And that really annoyed her. Not so much the light, but Bobo himself.

“Your clam is creeping me out.”

“He creeps me out too. But I love him more than anything in the world. So shut up.”

The rude words probably weren’t necessary. That’s just how Agua is. Sweetie Bell found it very strange that he loved that clam more than anything. But in short time, she would be proven wrong in what she found strange.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack had worked hard to get Terra acquainted properly with everypony who loved there. Applebloom was fine and Granny Smith was asleep so she hadn’t met her yet. But it was Big Macintosh who felt very weary around her. Mostly because of the way she looks at him whenever he passes by.

It was time for everyone to hit the hay for the night. The only two who were still awake were Applejack and Terra. And the former was on her way to the now occupied guest room to check on her. However, when she knocked on the door, she heard a sound of as if the pony behind the door was trying to move fast.

“Hey Terra. Whatchya doin in there?” The farmgirl asked.

“Um…nothing!” The pony of earth lied.

That was enough for Applejack to open the door and she couldn’t believe what she saw. Terra had frozen in place and in her hooves was a set of materials needed to smoke an illegal green herb. A bong, a lighter in the form of a pedal to press with a hoof, and the weed itself. Needless to say, Applejack wasn’t the least bit happy. Not wanting anyone else to hear this, she closed the door.

“What in tarnation do you think you’re doin’?” she demanded.

Terra didn’t know what to say, but she just gave a groan and took her hoof off the glass pipe.

“I’m having a smoke. Alright? I do it all the time.” Terra told her the honest truth.

“But…that’s marijuana!” Applejack complained. “It’s illegal!”

“Not if the cops can’t find it.” Terra reasoned.

“They couldn’t find it before because you’ve been living in a rock.” Applejack argued. “Now listen, Terra. Ah know you’re supposed to protect me and all. But you’re living at MAH house now. And that means…NO. SMOKING. THE LEAF.”

Terra didn’t seem to like that one bit. So she had to put all her cards on the table if she wanted to keep her bong.

“Applejack, I understand, but please hear me out.” Terra started. “I’ve been doing this for probably a year and a half now. I know you probably don’t like the fact that there’s weed on your property, but you have to understand that I NEED this stuff.”

“That’s what every addict says.” Applejack snapped.

“Listen to me.” Terra wasn’t finished. “At the end of the day, it is just so stressing and I’m tired as hell. This is just my way of relaxing. I only take small doses so I don’t freak out or anything. But….I guess if it makes you feel more at ease, I’ll get rid of it.”

Applejack was about to tell her to throw it all out right now, but then she saw Terra’s face. She looked very depressed. But it was just the leaf. Was she that attached to it? She figured it wasn’t and this was about something else. Later on, she would find that to be right.

But the look on the yellow pony of Earth’s face was enough to buy Applejack over.

“Oh alright, you can keep the stash.” Applejack said. “But keep it well hidden. Ah don’t want nopony else finding it. Especially the authorities or mah little sister.”

“You my good mare, have got yourself a deal.”

Terra immediately turned around and put her hoof on the pedal. She pressed it down and a spark came into contact with a gas flow on the edge of the lighter. The stem of her bong got heated up and smoke filled the inner chamber as the water began to bubble.

Then the yellow pony of Earth put her mouth over the mouthpiece and slowly began to inhale through her mouth. The smoke went up into her throat and once it was all gone, Terra took her hoof off the pedal and stepped away from the bong.

After waiting a few seconds, she let her breath loose along with a big cloud of smoke.

“Ahhhhh yeah.” She pleasurably moaned.

With a groan herself, Applejack left Terra to be high. Inside she was torn. The pony who swore to protect her was high as a kite. How could she possibly protect them like that? Applejack stayed up thinking about that one.

In Rainbow Dash’s cloud home, things weren’t so complicated. Gem got settled in quite nicely. Rainbow’s house is gorgeous and the guestroom has plenty of space for all of her tesla coils. After putting each one in a certain spot, the rest of the hours were spent simply getting to know each other. From what Gem got about Rainbow, she concluded she was a brash but brave pony who isn’t afraid of anything. And what Rainbow saw in Gem was…well….Fluttershy. Not completely. But Gem is very quiet and softspoken just like her. The only differences are Gem is a unicorn who controls plasma, and she can fight. All the time Rainbow kept asking her if anything bothered her at all, Gem only responded with saying everything was perfectly fine. Though her tone didn’t sound very convincing.

Before they headed off to bed, they had one more short conversation.

“Gem, are you sure there isn’t anything else you need? Blankets or anything like that?” Rainbow asked her guest.

“No it’s fine, Rainbow. I’m just happy I get to sleep on a cloud. The bed I had back at the rock was….well a rock. Clouds are so comfortable.” Gem responded.

“If you say so.” Rainbow was about to make her way to her bed.

“Oh! I almost forgot.”

Gem made her way to the nearest window and Rainbow followed her. Then the purple unicorn stuck her head out of it.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked.

Gem didn’t answer. Instead, her horn glowed a bright electric purple and it then shot a small white beam out. That beam went out a few meters before it began to expand into some sort of wall and surround the whole house. When the whole house was covered in the giant sphere it created, the wall vanished. Or so it seemed.

“What did you do?” Rainbow asked as Gem’s horn stopped glowing.

“I put up a very strong shield spell.” Gem answered. “Nightmare Moon is strongest when there’s no sun. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

The shield was still up. It was just invisible so nopony would see it and get freaked out. And with that, Gem and Rainbow went off to sleep for the night.

But Cryo saw the shield’s glow from Sugarcube Corner.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

He then proceeded to stick his head out his window and put up the same kind of shield up around the bakery. Pinkie Pie didn’t even notice because she entered Cryo’s room after he was finished.

“You need any extra blankets or anything?” Pinkie asked him.

“You’re asking a pony with ICE running through his body if he needs blankets?” Cryo asked her right back.

Pinkie now thought her question was silly.

“Oops. Should’ve known. Oh well. I guess I’ll see you in the morning then! Good night!”

“Hold up!”

Before Pinkie got all the way out of the room, she stopped when Cryo called her.

“Yes, Cryo?”

“This is very important. If you see anything or anyone suspicious in the night, I want you to come and wake me up and tell me about it. Got it?”

Pinkie knew he was being serious about this. After all, he was supposed to guard her with his life.

“Okie Dokie Lokie!” She responded. “Well then, good night, Cryo!”

“G’night, Pinkie.”

With that, Pinkie shut the door to his room and Cryo did one last trick for the day. He used his powers to create a small bed out of ice. It was hard and cold. Just the way he loves it. He laid down on it and closed his cyan eyes ready to dream.

Fluttershy was just locking up her doors as well. Everything was all set and all her animals were tended to. When she went to go check up on Typhoon, the yellow pegasus found her new pink psychic partner laying down on her bed reading one of her telepathy books.

“Is everything alright for you, Typhoon?” Fluttershy asked her guest and partner.

“Everything ees fine, Fluttershy.” Typhoon answered looking up from her book. “Ze bed ees actually surprisingly comfortable for not being a cloud.”

All of Typhoon’s furniture in her old room at the rock was all clouds. And with the explosion, they were all gone.

“Well that’s good. I’m going to bed now.” Fluttershy informed her. “Wake me if you need anything.”

“Ze same thing goes for you.” Typhoon said back. “I’m supposed to be protecting you. If you happen to wake up and see anything strange, you come and tell me. Got zat?”

“You got it.” Fluttershy was sure to do that. “Sleep well, Typhoon.”

“You too, Flutershy.”

And that was it for those two pegasi. The lights all turned off and Typhoon marked the page in her book so she could pick up where she left off tomorrow.

Finally there came the library where Pyro was at with Twilight and Spike. They had just finished clearing out the basement and turning it into a second bedroom for him. Well…almost a bedroom. It was still a basement filled with junk, they just did a good job putting it someplace else.

As Twilight prepared herself to go to bed, she found it a bit odd that Pyro wasn’t. Spike did as well.

“Aren’t you gonna go to bed, Pyro?” Spike asked his new roommate.

But the red unicorn shook his head and his mane waved.

“I don’t sleep.” He responded.

Twilight heard that from upstairs.

“You don’t sleep?” she repeated. “That’s impossible. I saw you fight today. You were energized. The only way you could be that energized is if you got a good night’s sleep.”

“Or I used a spell on myself to keep myself from falling asleep.”

That caught the interested attention of Twilight and Spike both. They had heard of a lot of uses of magic. But not that one.

“You cast a spell on YOURSELF?” Twilight didn’t seem very thrilled about it. ‘Do you have any idea how dangerous that is for us unicorns? I didn’t even think it was possible for anypony to have the audacity to try that!”

“Well it is possible.” Pyro corrected her. “And there was no danger with this spell.”

“Wel…what spell was it?” Spike asked.

Pyro used his magic to bring out the huge Alamantian spell book. Gem had left it with him before they parted ways. Then he opened it up and showed both Spike and Twilight the page.

“The insomnia spell.” Twilight read aloud. “Primarily used for boundary guards to keep themselves alert for intruders at night, this spell enables the affected pony to stay awake without any feelings of drowsiness, wear, or any need to sleep. Warning: The pony who casts the spell is also the only one who can remove it.”

“And THAT is why I cast it myself.” Pyro finished.

“But…why?” Twilight wanted to know.

Pyro looked away from her. He had reasons alright. But he was nowhere near comfortable enough to share them with her. Not yet at least.

“Let’s just say I have my reasons.” He told her.

“Would you care to share them?” Twilight dug in more.

But she was digging into a wall of metal.

“It’s been a long day, Twilight. You get some rest. I’ll just go walk around and…patrol.”

Before Twilight could even say anything else, Pyro walked out the door and closed it behind him leaving Twilight and Spike alone like normal.

“Something tells me he’s not telling us something.” Twilight pointed out.

“But he seems like a really nice pony. He looks like the most level-headed out off all of them.” Spike put in his opinion.

“What do you think about all this?” Twilight asked him. “How do you feel sharing the house with a pony we know nothing about?”

“I actually know quite a bit about him. We talked during dinner.” Spike said. “He comes from the Ember Tribe, he loves to surf on lava waves inside a volcano, he eats everything with the spiciest hot sauce ever known to exist, and once as a prank, he heated up Agua’s personal pool to scold him when he got in. Pyro laughed and Agua tried to kill him so he says.”

Twilight looked at her number one assistant oddly on that comment.

“Where was I during this conversation?” she wanted to know.

“You went out to get some more hot sauce. Remember?” Spike answered. “Pyro dumped all we had in his plate and swallowed it like it was nothing.”

Twilight remembered it with Spike’s reminder. Pyro used every ounce of hot sauce Twilight had in her cupboards to pour on his meal. Then he chowed it all down in seconds flat.

She was still a bit suspicious of him. He seemed level-headed like Spike said, but he still put a spell on himself to prevent him from sleeping? The question was…why? Was he afraid of the dark? Nightmares perhaps? It didn’t matter. All that does matter is that Twilight was very curious as to why Pyro would put such a spell on himself.

“There’s still something about him. I can’t put my hoof on it though.” Twilight spoke.

“Well I’m happy he’s here. I mean no offense, Twilight, I love you like a sister. But I’m just ecstatic to be around other guys for a change.”

Twilight had to understand that. Spike was the only guy in a group of seven. And six of them were girls. So him wanting to be around other males was to be expected.

“I just wonder…what’s going on his head?” Twilight muttered.

“Let’s figure it out tomorrow.” Spike said. “I’m tired. Plus I do kinda feel safer with him awake and alert.”

That was true. With Pyro awake, Twilight was protected all the time. All of Ponyville was. Using her magic, she turned off the light. But she left the front door open so Pyro could get back inside without having to wake her. Soon, she and Spike found their way into dreamland.

With everypony else asleep, that left Pyro alone until the sun came up. After he put up a barrier around the library identical to the ones Gem and Cryo made, he walked off. It was just him and the moon. With his thoughts, he slowly walked through the streets of Ponyville as the lights in all the windows went out for the night.

A few hours went by and it was already midnight. Pyro had gone a few laps around the whole town by now. And he was about to start his fifth until he heard a small sound.

It sounded like someone was humming something. He then put himself to work trying to find the pony that was making it the sound. He found himself passing by a flower shop. But the second he got near the shop, the noise stopped. Now a bit weary, Pyro slowly began to creep. But when he got near the corner of the shop…

*CLANG!*

…he got hit in the head with a very hard metal object.

The impact made Pyro yelp a little in pain and go to the ground rubbing the sore part of his head. As he did, he looked at the ground and the shadow of a pony holding a shovel in her hooves.

“You stay back! Or I’ll just hit you again!” she shouted.

“What are you talking about?” Pyro asked.

That’s when the head of the mare came from around the corner looking afraid. But then her face changed when she saw Pyro on the ground. She looked a bit more scared but in a different way. Like she was concerned.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you! I thought there was a burglar or something.”

The mare then came out of the shadows and showed herself. She was cream in the coat and red in the mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a single half-bloomed rose. Her eyes were a pale green.

As Pyro rubbed his head, he got back on his hooves.

“No it’s okay. I was planning on having my skull caved in by a professional anyway.”

The mare dropped her shovel and got back on all four hooves. Then she approached Pyro and looked at his head which now had a big bump where the shovel hit.

“Sorry. I should have known better. Burglary is a very rare thing around here.” She told him.

“Oh it’s alright. I don’t blame you for thinking that.”

“No it’s not alright. I nearly cracked your skull. I….hey wait a minute.” The mare took a good look at him. “You’re one of those Alamantians. Aren’t you?”

So she was among those who saw them all teleport in this afternoon.

“Uh…yeah. I am.” He answered honestly.

“Well it’s nice to meet you.” She said. “My name is Roseluck. But everyone just calls me Rose for short.”

Pyro nodded once and smiled at her.

“I’m Pyro.” He gave her his name.

“Pyro.” Rose repeated. “If you don’t mind my asking, why are you up so late?”

“Oh I…just needed to clear my head. So I took a late night walk.” Pyro fibbed. “What about you?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I decided to give my flowers a midnight watering.” Rose answered.

“Interesting.” Pyro said. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you then.”

As Pyro began to walk away, Rose caught his shoulder.

“Wait. Do you even have a place to go?” she asked a bit worried about him.

“Yeah. I’m staying with Twilight Sparkle at the library.” Pyro answered.

Rose was about to let him go. But then she took another look at the bump on his head where the shovel hit. Seeing it made her feel guilty.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Can I get you a pain killer or anything?” Rose asked him.

“I assure you, I’m quite alright.” Pyro insisted. “There’s no need for you to apologize.”

“Yes there is. I hit you in the head with a freakin’ shovel.” Rose insisted. “How about this? As a way of saying welcome to Ponyville…and that I’m super sorry, let me buy you breakfast tomorrow.”

Now this caught Pyro off guard a bit. He had just got hit in the head with a full sized shovel, and now the same girl who hit him was trying to ask him out to breakfast.

“Umm…..sure. Why not?” he couldn’t think of a reason to say no.

“Great.” Rose seemed pleased by it. “Meet me at the café tomorrow morning. It’s just a short walk over there.”

Rose pointed over to the café she spoke of. It was just left of the flower shop.

“You have a deal.” Pyro said. “Well….good night, Rose.”

“Good night, Pyro.” Rose smiled at him just before going back into her house.

When she went back inside her house, Pyro continued walking but still felt the pain in his head throb a little every few minutes or so. He decided to make his way outside the borders of Ponyville where it was more open and lush.

It took him ten more minutes of walking after that for him to realize what he had done.

“Did I just agree to go on a date with a mare I’ve only known for five minutes?” he asked himself out loud.

He felt like something just went ninja on his brain. Because he got a date with a girl and he didn’t even realize he had done it when he did.

Then he just chuckled at the thought.

“Oh well. She is a bit cute I guess.”

“Has the brave and bold leader become smitten?”

He was then joined by another voice. The voice of someone not visible and was obviously trying to taunt him. Then Pyro looked up and saw something out of the ordinary.

It was a dark cloud of black. And then two catlike eyes appeared out of them in giant size and gazed upon Pyro. It was Nightmare. That much he knew off the bat. He stood on his hind legs and lit up his front ones in fire ready to fight.

“So eager to take a beating, ward of Hitashi?” Nightmare taunted.

Pyro growled at the mention of his master’s name.

“What have you done with him?” he demanded an answer.

“Your master will meet the same fate of countless ponies back in your home country.” Nightmare said to him. “I then shall make sure you and your friends will soon follow.”

She wasn’t here to fight. If she was, she would show her full self. Pyro turned off the fire and stood back down on all fours.

“What do you want, Nightmare?” once again, he asked demanding an answer right then and there.

“I come to warn you.” Nightmare Moon started. “Soon, at a time of my choosing, I will strike with full force. And I will obliterate your new town home along with your precious friends both old and new. Unless you accept this deal.”

“What deal?” Pyro asked knowing full well he couldn’t trust her on anything.

“My deal is this.” Nightmare said. “Take your Alamantain brothers and sisters and leave Equestria once and for all and return to Alamante. If you do, I will leave Ponyville, and all of Equestria unharmed. If you say you’re the student of Hitashi Ma, you should be smart enough to accept.”

Once again, there was no trusting her. There was no way he was gonna give up just like that. Nopony in the world was that stupid.

“I’m not going anywhere. And neither are my friends. Master Ma would never tell me to give up.”

Nightmare growled angrily.

“Very well then. This is your warning, young fool. I will return. With all of my fury.”

With that, the two eyes vanished and the night returned to being a peaceful one. Pyro looked back to the town of Ponyville. He couldn’t leave just like that. None of them could. They had a responsibility to find whoever started the war in Alamante. They had to protect the innocent. And now they had a responsibility to protect their new friends.

“Twilight….” He spoke out loud but quietly. “I’m not gonna leave so easily.”

Then he looked back to the sky.

“Bring it on, Nightmare. You can attack. But you can bet your flank that we’ll fight back with all we got.”

With the night sky looking clear from this point on, Pyro teleported back to Ponyville in a streaming ball of flames. He landed and retook his natural furry form perched on top of a roof. He had no idea what roof it was.

It was there he remained for the rest of the night. Alone with his thoughts. Alone to meditate like his master had taught him. His eyes closed and his mind began to focus very hard on calming himself. Slowly, his heart rate lowered to a stable rate and his mind became totally at piece.

“Master….I have found them. The special ones the prophecy speaks of. If you are somehow able to hear me, just know that I have become closer to solving the riddle of the quarrel on our homeland. I just pray you are alive to heed my voice, my master.”

Through the rest of the night, Pyro meditated just like he was taught. Today was a trying day for him and the rest of his friends. But this was only day one. Day two would begin shortly.

XXX

I only own the plot of this story and my OC’s.

Recap

I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 8: Recap

All through the rest of the night, the citizens of Ponyville slept soundly. Most of them were unaware they had a silent protector watching over them. He made sure to make himself scarce before anypony saw him and got suspicious.

Daybreak came. Princess Celestia did her job quickly and raised the sun for all to bask in its light. The rays touched the ground and like clockwork, nearly everypony in Ponyville opened up their eyes to meet the light.

Fluttershy was among those who did. Her dark azure eyes opened slowly and took on the rays of light that now shone in them. With a yawn, she got up out of her bed and looked out the window to see all of her animals start to wake as well. And she knew what that meant. Time for breakfast. Peeking into the guestroom, she saw Typhoon’s face still sound asleep with the curtains shut. She lightly snored and a small scale breeze exited the room. Wanting to let her wake up on her own, Fluttershy closed the door back up and got to work with her animals.

She always fed the animals before she fed herself the first meal of the day. She just got herself a glass of water for a short burst of energy then fed them all one group at a time. Seed and worms for the birds and chickens, another glass of water for herself to get the taste of worms out of her mouth, and so on.

As she fed the animals, Fluttershy began to ponder about what happened yesterday. Typhoon seemed like a nice pony and all and she had no problem letting her stay in the guestroom of her cottage. It was the baggage that had Fluttershy worried. Typhoon came packaged with a whole fight against Nightmare Moon that Fluttershy and the others would be involved in one way or the other. Fluttershy had no desire at all to go through fighting Nightmare again. Sure the last time was a piece of cake, but things can change.

After she gave a few nuts to the squirrels in the trees, Fluttershy took a sigh and prepared to go inside to prepare herself breakfast. But she was stopped by Rarity. The unicorn told her pegasus friend that all six of the girls were meeting at Twilight’s house to discuss the previous night’s events. Spike was gonna make them all breakfast too.

Fluttershy agreed. What was the harm? Spike was making a free meal and his cooking was great. After a quick walk to the library, Fluttershy was pleased to find everypony else was there. Spike was in the kitchen cooking. Their Alamantian partners were all either asleep or otherwise involved with other things. All six of them took a seat in a circle as Rarity broke the ice.

“Okay everypony. Let us divulge. How did night one go with our new Alamantian bodyguards?”

Rainbow raised her hoof and decided to go first.

“It wasn’t too bad to be honest. I mean Gem’s a cool pony and all and she’s strong with that plasma stuff. But all in all, I don’t think she’s the right type of pony for me to be partners with. In all honesty, I think she should be with Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy looked strangely at her fellow pegasus friend.

“Why?” she wanted to know.

“Because she’s a lot like you. Quiet, talks softly, tries to go with the flow so everypony is happy, you two are a perfect match. I’ll trade you partners, Fluttershy. Gem for Typhoon.”

Everypony thought she was just joking. But the look on her face showed differently.

“Oh please. You just wanna trade because you think wind is cool.” Applejack stated.

Rainbow began to stutter.

“Yes! Um…no!...I mean….perhaps I….look the point is I think it would benefit us both if we have partners that are more like us.” She tried to reason with them.

But to no avail.

“No. Nopony is trading partners.” Twilight firmly said. “It doesn’t matter if our partners might not be the perfect match for us. This experience will teach us not only about another culture, but also coexistence.”

Everypony just looked at Twilight with straight faces.

“You already have a whole mess of letters to the princess planned, don’t you?” Rarity asked.

“Well….it’s not every day you get to take in a foreign pony who can move fire with his mind alone.” Twilight admitted with a somewhat dorky smile. “I didn’t even think it was possible for a pony to surf on lava.”

They would all ask her about that later. Even more later would they view that with their own eyes. Until then, they went on discussing their partners.

“What about you, Fluttershy? How’s Typhoon?” Rarity asked.

“Typhoon is a nice pony. It’s hard to understand what she says sometimes because of her accent but I catch on after a few seconds. Other than that, it’s no hassle at all.”

“Doesn’t it make you a little nervous that your new bunk buddy can read your mind at any given time and you won’t even know it?” Pinkie informed her.

Fluttershy had forgotten about that little fact about Typhoon. The pink pegasus of wind was telepathic. A mind reader. And by the first impression Fluttershy got from her, she was a damn good one.

“I trust she wouldn’t read my mind unless there was a good reason to.” Fluttershy said.

“Now what good reason is there to read anypony’s mind?” Applejack asked. “That psychic stuff is all just creepy voodoo hooey to me.”

“You thought Zecora was a creepy voodoo lady. But after getting to know her better, she turned out to be one of our good friends.” Twilight tried to reason with her.

“But Zecora ain’t psychic like Typhoon is.” Applejack said back.

“If we can trust these ponies enough with our lives, I think we can trust Typhoon to keep her telepathy off when necessary.” Rarity reasoned.

They all had to agree there. The six of them were trusting these foreign ponies to protect them. Trust was vital here.

“So….Typhoon is nice?” Rarity asked her yellow friend.

“Yes. Very.” Fluttershy responded.

“Well I like Typhoon too. Her eye for fashion is a keen one.” Rarity added.

Everyone else there just rolled their eyes as they moved on to the next pony.

“So how did you like it with Terra, Applejack?” Pinkie asked.

And thus began another session of complaining.

“Well it started off fine. Granny Smith was asleep for the whole day and all through the night so Terra hasn’t met her yet. Applebloom seems to like her. But the way she keeps lookin’ at Big Macintosh really creeps me out.”

“I do remember the first words she said to him were something about…pleasure.” Fluttershy said. “I don’t really understand what she…..oh. …….um…… … …. . never mind.”

She got it. The intense shade of red on her cheeks clearly indicated it.

“But it’s not just that. She smokes marijuana. And she’s even got one of those weird…glass water pipe things to smoke it from.”

Out of all six ponies, only one of them was able to put two and two together.

“You mean a bong?”

Rainbow said it. And now everypony was looking at her.

“Uh…yeah.” Applejack replied. “How’d you know what it’s called?”

“It’s general knowledge.” Rainbow answered in somewhat of a cocky tone. “I’ve had friends who smoked the stuff and every single one of them used a bong to smoke it.”

“When did you EVER have friends who smoked that horrible stuff?” Fluttershy asked concerned.

“Long ago and far away.” Rainbow put it flatly not wanting to touch the subject any longer.

“Okay, that covers the girls. Now let’s get to those whose partners are the opposite gender.” Applejack suggested.

And everypony agreed.

“Alright, Pinkie Pie. Your turn. How do you like living with the only natural cold-blooded pony?” Rarity asked.

“Cold-blooded? Oh not at all! Cryo may have ice in him but he’s a really fun person to be around. He even fixed our freezer! Well…not exactly. But he did freeze the inside of it to preserve what was in there. And I think he went with Mr. Cake this morning to go find somepony to fix it.”

“Really?” Rainbow was surprised. “You mean you actually have no problems with the walking ice cube?”

“His name is Cryo you silly forgetter girl. And no I don’t have any problems with him. He let me finish his desert for him after dinner, he’s amazing with the Cake’s twins, he doesn’t snore, and he loves music! I saw him with a bunch of records and a good player for them.”

“Well Ah’m glad to see at least one of us is happy with their pardner.” Applejack said honestly. “Pinkie’s havin fun with Cryo, while Ah’m stuck with Terra and her…..water pipe.”

“Bong.” Rainbow muttered.

“Oh whatever.” Applejack humphed. “It’s just not right I tell ya.”

“Well at least your partner isn’t obsessed with a stupid clam!” Rarity now took her turn in describing her first night with her partner. “All through the rest of the day that was pretty much all Agua talked about! Bobo this! Bobo that! Bobo Bobo Bobo! He is downright infatuated with that creature! He actually thinks if I give it a chance, I’ll like that clam more than I love my precious Opal.”

Then Rainbow openly spoke her mind.

“No offense Rarity. But I’ve only caught a small glimpse of Bobo, and already I like him better than Opal.”

“Ah second that.” Applejack agreed. “Like Rainbow said, no offense, Rarity. But Ah think even you have to agree when Ah say that, Opal ain’t really the nicest of critters.”

Rarity thought this was nonsense to her.

“Oh come on now. Opal isn’t that bad.”

Then Twilight voiced her opinion of Opal.

“Rarity, you brought her to my house one day. She saw a book with a mouse on the cover and then shredded it like it was nothing at all with her claws! It took me forever to find another copy of that book again.”

“Well what book has a picture of a mouse on it anyway?” Rarity asked.

Twilight gave a smile as she remembered the book.

“It was an old children’s book my mom used to read to me every night before I went to bed as a filly. It was called ‘The Tales of Jacques the Mouse.’ I used to love that story.”

“I remember that book. I actually have a copy myself.” Fluttershy said. “I read it to the mice in my house every night.”

The yellow pegasus smiled too as she recalled the book. But it turns out Rarity wasn’t done ranting about her partner of water.

“He is walking all over every fantasy I’ve ever had about a boy living with me.” She had imagined the scenario in her head many times. “He would treat me with such elegance and kind words. Make me every meal for me. On cold winter nights he would build a big and strong fire and cuddle with me under a blanket. And on rainy days or days I’m just not inspired or too sad to work, he would know just the right words to say to make me feel better. And later on…we would get married in a gorgeous wedding. And the experience on that first night would be so….”

It was right there Rarity realized she was about to tell all of her friends her most intimate desires in bed. Luckily she was able to stop herself.

“Please continue.” Rainbow teased.

Rarity scoffed and spoke again.

“Anyhow, that’s the ideal stallion for me.” She said before her tone went to a sad one. “And what I’m stuck with is….well….a hydrokinetic jerk with a possible clam fetish. Some dream huh?”

The rest of them had to give their unicorn companion a bit of sympathy. Their first impression of Agua was not a good one.

“Maybe in time he won’t be so….intolerable.” Twilight had to find the right word.

“I just fear by the time that day comes I’ll be dead for a hundred years.” Rarity complained.

Rarity was stuck. That was true. But there was still one more pony to hear from.

“What about you, Twi? How’d it go with Pyro?” Applejack asked.

“OOOooooohhh.” Rainbow taunted. “That’s right. Your partner is the HOT one. If you know what I mean.” She finished with a wink.

That pun was clearly intended. But Twilight had no desire to go along with it. Although it did get a few giggles out of the others. And she would never admit to it, but Fluttershy could have sworn she saw her blush a little.

“Well it was actually very interesting.” Twilight started. “He’s a level-headed guy who knows a lot about magic like I do. Although the kind of spells he specializes in are mostly used for combat. I didn’t even know there existed such types of spells.”

“Well don’t waste your time trying to learn them, darling. The last thing us unicorns need is to learn how to use magic in a violent way.” Rarity reasoned.

“I disagree.” Rainbow said. “We’re going up against Nightmare Moon here. I don’t think it would hurt to learn how to defend ourselves.”

“Let’s argue ‘bout this later.” Applejack stopped the two of them. “Go on, Twi.”

Twilight nodded and continued.

“Anyways, other than just talking about magic and the different cultures the two countries have, that was pretty much it.”

“So it looks like both you and Pinkie got good partners.” Rarity complained. “While I’m stuck living with a giant egotistical jerk!”

“Hey, at least yer partner isn’t on weed!” Applejack complained herself. “Ah swear Ah didn’t sleep well at all last night knowing she was high off her flank! What kinda protectin’ does that leave me with?”

“Hey hey hey! Lighten up! The effects of weed only last for about an hour and then they wear off. And I’ve learned that all it takes is a splash of water over the head to make you snap out of the high immediately. But doing that leaves you with a massive headache.”

Now as Rainbow explained all that, all five of her friends couldn’t help but notice how well she explained it.

“Rainbow….what do you have in yer house?” Applejack sternly asked.

Sighing, knowing she said the wrong thing, the pegasus confessed.

“Alright! I USED to smoke the stuff but I’m clean now. It was years ago before I moved to Ponyville. I was young, confused and Gilda introduced me to it. She was my only friend back then so I gave it a shot and got addicted.”

Gilda the Griffon. Everypony remembered her as nothing but a selfish jerk. Rarity was about to say something relating to Agua on that definition, but decided not to just tired of knowing he lived with her now.

“Well it’s no surprise to me that Gilda would get you hooked on such nasty stuff.” Pinkie commented. “So how did you get clean, Dashie?”

“It wasn’t easy but I had to stop smoking by myself with no one to help me. I had just moved to Ponyville and the weather patrol required a drug test. I passed it and I’ve been clean ever since.”

That was pretty much it. The five other mares gave Rainbow a small applause as if it were some kind of group therapy session.

“Good fer you, Rainbow. But that still doesn’t make me feel better ‘bout Terra.” Applejack said.

“Hey my partner isn’t really perfect either.” Twilight commented.

“Oh what do you have to complain about?” Rainbow thought Twilight sounded ridiculous. “Your partner’s the most level headed of them all. What’s wrong with him?”

“I’m not saying he’s odd, Rainbow. He’s a very nice pony. But….the thing about him is….he doesn’t sleep. While Spike and I slept last night, Pyro just went out by himself walking around town.”

“You mean he’s been awake the whole time?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh my. Let’s just hope she doesn’t get cranky like Applejack did during applebuck season.” Rarity added.

Applejack’s ears dropped down upon remembering that unfortunate event.

“Ah thought we agreed to never speak o’ that again.” She groaned.

“Sorry, Applejack.” Rarity said before turning back to Twilight. “But was he at least tired?”

“No. And here’s how. It turns out he cast a spell on himself to keep himself from falling asleep or becoming tired. For all I know, he’s never slept a day in his life.”

“He cast a spell on himself?” Rarity sounded frightened. “But…that’s just insanity!”

“I know right?” Twilight agreed.

Now with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie pie not being unicorns, they had no idea what the problem was.

“Hold up. What’s so scary about using magic on yerself?” Applejack asked.

Rarity and Twilight gladly explained.

“Mature unicorns can cast magic on other objects and other living creatures no problem. But in time, our bodies grow some sort of intolerance to our own brand of magic.” Twilight started.

“It’s kind of like my own magic is like a disease to myself.” Rarity added.

“Hold on a second.” Rainbow stopped them. “What about that spell that allows earth ponies to walk on clouds? Didn’t you cast that on yourselves?”

“Oh heavens no!” Rarity corrected. “I cast that spell on Twilight and then she put it on Pinkie and Applejack.”

“But what about Twilight and her teleporting?” Fluttershy asked.

That made everypony except Rarity question the claim of this magic intolerance. But Twilight and Rarity were quick to clarify.

“Teleporting is the only spell unicorns can perform without succumbing to magic sickness because of its mild nature.” Rarity explained.

“If we were to cast more advanced and concentrated spells on ourselves, we would have gotten a disease called, “Magic Sickness”.” Twilight added.

“And the symptoms are not fun. They vary all the time. Violent coughing, vomiting for a week, headaches, stomach aches, it’s horrifying.” Rarity added.

“One time in Canterlot, I tried to levitate myself across the room. I started this sneezing fit which didn’t stop for like twelve hours.” Twilight winced remembering how much her nose hurt after sneezing so much like that.

Then Spike came out with a big plate of food for all six of them. He had heard what Twilight had said.

“I remember that day. I thought she stuck a pepper shaker up her nose.” Spike was smiling during that sentence.

“Did it ever occur to you to help me with that problem?” Twilight sternly asked as Spike put down the plate.

“Well I wanted to but I couldn’t breathe. I was laughing too hard.” Spike then saw the glares of both Twilight and Rarity pointed right at him.

“Spike, Magic Sickness is no laughing matter. If the spell is too extreme, then it can be lethal.” Rarity warned him.

Spike sighed and then served everypony breakfast consisting of different flavored sandwiches. And Spike himself had a few rubies to munch on. All of them ate for probably ten minutes straight without talking. After they were all done, Spike took the dishes back to the kitchen and the conversation picked up right where it was as if it never stopped.

“Well okay then. How come Pyro turned out okay after casting that spell on himself?” Applejack asked.

“Because Pyro’s immunity is much stronger zen normal ponies.”

That voice was in a French accent. Everypony turned to see Typhoon enter the library and close the door behind her. Then she went on explaining something interesting to the rest of the girls there.

“Zere are two ponies in my family who have unbreakable immune systems. Pyro and Cryo. And zat ees a good zing considering both of zem are unicorns.”

“What’s so special about their immune systems?” Rainbow asked.

“Pyro has fire flowing through hees body. Any disease zat gets inside of heem gets burned away by hees super heated blood. Eet makes heem immune to anything including ze magic sickness. Cryo’s body works ze the same. Kind of. Instead of burning, hees body freezes ze germs.”

That got Twilight thinking, if those two were protected, what about the rest of them. Needed to know right away, she asked.

“What about you, Terra, Gem, and Agua?” the lavender unicorn asked.

“For us four, we have ze same immunities you do.” Typhoon answered.

So that explained it a bit. Pyro’s and Cryo’s bodies can kill any type of germ or disease that gets inside them. It only made them even more interesting. And a bit supernatural aside from their element powers.

Fluttershy remembered her manners and said hello to her partner.

“Good morning, Typhoon.” Fluttershy greeted her. “How did you sleep?”

“Very well. Merci.” Typhoon replied. “So what were you girls talking about?”

“Oh..uhhh…we were just…talking about….the party Pinkie’s planning on throwing for you and the rest of the others.” Twilight fibbed.

“Hey! How did you know? It was supposed to be a surprise!” Pinkie cried unknowingly blowing her cover.

It wasn’t a very convincing lie. It was all Twilight could think of at the time. And at the same time, Pinkie just blew the cover herself for the party she was planning for the new guests. The pink psychic pegasus was able to see that without using telepathy.

“Ees zat seriously ze best lie you could come up with?” she asked.

They all seemed startled Typhoon called them on it so easily.

“H-how did you know we were….” Rainbow Dash stopped herself from finishing that sentence upon remembering exactly what Typhoon can do other than wind control. “You read our minds. Didn’t you?”

“At first I wasn’t going to.” Typhoon admitted. “But when I entered ze place, I heard you mention Pyro. So I probed.”

None of them really liked the idea of their minds being so vulnerable to Typhoon like that. Except for Pinkie who didn’t really care at all.

“Well Ah understand that, Typhoon. But our minds are our own personal business. And Ah think it would be best if you stayed out of em’.” Applejack sternly said.

“I understand. I will cut back with ze mind reading. You ‘ave my word.” Typhoon agreed. “But now I must ask. Why were you talking about Pyro?”

That was the one thing Typhoon didn’t fish for when she was in their minds a minute ago.

“We were talking about why he put a spell on himself that makes him not fall asleep.” Applejack answered.

Typhoon went strangely silent. Without a word, she walked right past them all and stopped in front of Twilight. She looked down at her with concern.

“Twilight…may I speak with you alone?”

That was all Typhoon said before she started to make her way to the kitchen.

“Um….okay.”

Twilight got up and followed her not knowing what to expect. When she got to the kitchen with Typhoon, the psychic pegasus made Spike leave the room. Then she locked the door to the kitchen. Twilight was starting to regret putting locks on every door in her house right then. From the looks of it, she thought Typhoon was gonna murder her or something.

That was not the case here. Instead, Typhoon just wanted to talk. It was about something very important.

“Before I get to saying anything, I want you to promise me zat you will not breathe a single word about zis to anypony. Do you promise?”

Her tone was dead serious. Secret keeping was something Twilight had gotten better at over time. So she trusted herself.

“Okay. I promise.” She assured Typhoon before she went on.

After taking in a breath, Typhoon began.

“Twilight, everypony in zis group has secrets they wish to not tell yet. Zis is one of Pyro’s I zink you should know since you live with him now.” Typhoon went on. “Zere’s a reason Pyro put zat spell on himself. And here’s why.”

Then Twilight heard the story of her partner.

“It was right when ze war began. Probably a month or two into eet. Ze attacks were starting to spread from one territory to another. I zink most of us suffered losses.”

Twilight then began to get some idea of where she was going with this.

“Pyro’s mother, Agnius, was murdered in a surprise raid on ze Ember tribe. He took eet really hard. After seeing her die in front of heem, he was just…broken.”

It didn’t really help Twilight understand Pyro better. But hearing that made the unicorn mare feel a great deal of sympathy for her pyrokinetic partner. She had no idea what the pain must feel like to lose someone close to you in front of your very eyes..

“Okay….so his mom got killed. Um…..what about his dad?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know. He never said anything about hees father. I did ask once but it strangely made heem angry.” Typhoon answered. “But zat’s not important. What’s important ees thees. I am ze first one he found when Master Ma sent him out to find ze six symbol bearing ponies. He confided in me. He told me whenever he falls asleep, he has the same nightmare zat makes heem relive hees mother’s death all over again. And when zat happens, hees powers go out of control. Zen he burns everything around. He can’t help it. I actually saw heem do eet one night before he used ze spell. Zankfully I was able to quell his fire with my wind powers.”

This caught Twilight by surprise. She had seen up close what Pyro can do. He was amazing. And he said himself that he was taught by the wisest pony in all of Alamante. The thought of him losing control of his powers sounded ridiculous.

“So you see, ZAT is why Pyro put zat spell on heemself. To protect heemself and everypony around heem. Just please PLEASE don’t tell heem I told you. I promised heem I wouldn’t tell anyone about zis but since you are living with heem now, I feel you have ze right to know.”

Sympathy. Nothing but sympathy. Twilight’s opinion of her partner changed. He wasn’t some wacked up weirdo. He has PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He relives bad memories in nightmares so he put a spell on himself to avoid them. Clever as it was it still sounded a bit…over the top.

“I…wow.” Twilight had trouble finding the right words. “I promise I won’t tell a soul about this.”

“Merci.” Typhoon finished. “I’ve seen hees mind. I know vhat goes on hees head all ze time. I worry about heem.”

“Well I don’t think you have to.” Twilight put in her opinion. “Sure what he went through was tragic, but don’t you think he’s capable of handling himself?”

Typhoon shrugged at the point Twilight made. Typhoon secretly watched over Pyro telepathically. All the time too. But Pyro’s a big boy. He doesn’t need protection. If only Typhoon could see that.

“Perhaps. Let us join with ze others.”

With that, the private conversation was over and the two mares rejoined the others waiting for them out in front. When Twilight was asked by her friends what it was all about, she just answered it was some tips about Pyro and nothing else. Then Applejack sarcastically asked for some pointers regarding Terra. But Typhoon didn’t think she was being sarcastic.

“Okay, here are a few zings you should know about Terra.”

Typhoon then explained to Applejack that Terra only smokes once a week or when Agua is being an extra jerk to her. The bong is stress relief for her. But Applejack knew there had to be a reason why Terra would start such a nasty habit to begin with. She would figure it out soon enough.

Then Typhoon went on to give the others a few pointers about their partners. Rainbow was told that Gem is shy, but a scientific genius. She built her tesla coils herself from scratch using nothing but levitation magic and tools. She is just very modest and doesn’t think very highly of herself despite her being a very strong pony.

Pinkie didn’t really need any pointers by the looks of it. She and Cryo were just fine.

The only advice Typhoon could think of regarding Rarity and Agua was….don’t make him mad. It wasn’t very helpful but it was all she could come up with at the time.

Just when everypony thought she was done,

“Oh and one more theeng, Rainbow.”

….she had one more thing to say.

“Yes?” the cyan pony acknowledged her.

Typhoon’s eyes seemed to narrow into a very stern expression with her next sentence.

“I care deeply for my leetle seester, Gem. Some would say I am a bit overprotective of her. And guess what? Zey are right. So I am giving you one warning. Eef you say something to my seester that hurts her and makes her shed so much as ONE tear, I will come for you.”

She was dead serious. She spoke with an accent but the tone clearly indicated she was serious in her words.

“Uh….okay.” the rainbow pegasus muttered.

And with that, Typhoon’s glare vanished.

“Magnifique.” She said.

That was scary to say the least. Typhoon just made a solid threat at Rainbow Dash. Nopony had ever threatened her before. This is where Fluttershy learned something about her own partner. She’s overprotective. And not just a bit. A LOT. That little threat made it clear to all of them. But they were sure they didn't have to worry. None of them had any intention to do anything that would trigger the wind mover in such a way.

This was just part one of the morning. The rest of the day would bring a few surprises

Flowers and Fire

I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 9: Flowers and Fire

After Spike had finished cleaning up in the kitchen after breakfast, he rejoined his friends outside in the main room of the library. It didn’t take long for their partners to find them. Typhoon was already there. But soon after, Cryo showed up, then Agua, then Terra and Gem together. Cryo reported to Pinkie Pie that he and Mr. Cake found a repair pony to fix the freezer and he was currently working on it as he spoke.

They conversed for a few minutes but all the while one of them remained silent. That one was Agua. He said nothing to anyone nor was he spoken to himself. He just sat in his place and looked around the setting he was in. He observed Twilight’s house from his own eyes and found it to be not his style. But there was one item there that caught his attention.

Near one of Twilight’s bookshelves, there was a picture frame and a photo inside it. The photo was of a white unicorn mare with a purple and white striped mane with three stars for a cutie mark. Her smile caught Agua’s attention. Along with other attributes.

“Twilight, this mare in the picture. Who is it?” he asked.

They were all a bit surprised to hear Agua finally talk. Nonetheless Twilight responded to his question when she saw the picture her referred to.

“What? Oh the picture. That’s my mother, Velvet. She lives in Canterlot.” Twilight answered.

After staring at the picture for a few more seconds, Agua turned away from it and addressed Twilight again.

“Twilight, you just went up a notch in my book.”

“Well that’s good.” Twilight said.

But then she took a second to wonder to herself why that just happened.

“Um….why have I just gone up a notch?” she asked.

“Because your mother is a grade-A MILF.” He answered.

That earned him nothing but the disgusted looks of everypony there. Everypony there….except for Twilight.

“Why thank you, Agua. By the way. What’s a milf?”

And bam. The level of noise in the place dropped down to zero. Twilight’s eyes met the very wide ones of everypony else presently in her house.

“What?” she muttered.

Thinking she had to know, Rainbow Dash hovered over to her lavender friend and whispered something into her ear. At first, Twilight seemed to easily get what Rainbow was saying and didn’t really seem off.

But a few seconds later, Twilight’s calm expression vanished. It was quickly replaced with one of shock and disgust. Holding that facial pose, she glared at Agua and approached him face to face.

“Okay water-boy.” She hissed. “I don’t care if you are an unpleasant pony who probably has enough power to kill me in one split second. If by some chance you do meet my mother face to face, and you even TRY to make so much as one TINY move on her, I will end you.”

That didn’t make Agua feel scared in the least bit. If anything he gave a chuckle signifying he wasn’t the least bit frightened.

“Twilight, a sophisticated lady such as yourself should not go around making threats.” Rarity advised as she approached her fellow unicorn.

Twilight gave a sigh knowing Rarity was right. But then the fashionista spoke again while glaring at Agua.

“He’s MY partner. I’ll kill him for you.”

Smiling to the sound of that, Twilight put a hoof around Rarity’s back.

“You’re a great friend, Rarity.”

A few minutes later, somepony finally noticed that there was one pony missing from their group.

“Hey Twilight? Where’s Pyro?” Gem was the one who asked.

That was indeed a good question. According to Cryo, Pyro usually comes back before the morning comes. That little line made Twilight see something that related to what Typhoon said to her in the kitchen. Apparently everypony in the group knew about the insomnia spell Pyro put on himself. But they were clueless as to the reason why he did it. He must have come up with some lie to buy them over.

Terra suggested going out to look for him and everypony was on board with it. As they all made their way out the door, Spike hopped on Twilight’s back. At least he thought he did. He didn’t realize it until his butt was planted. He only looked from behind and saw a purple pony. When Spike saw the color of her mane was almost entirely black, he found out he wasn’t on Twilight’s back. He accidentally jumped on Gem. Immediately he felt guilty and awkward.

“Oh! Sorry about that, Gem. I thought you were Twilight.” Spike apologized.

“It’s alright, Spike. I don’t mind.” Gem answered. “You can stay up there if you want.”

Spike wanted to get off her back and over to Twilight’s. But he found himself too lazy to want to move at all. So he just stayed put.

“Thanks, Gem.” He cheerily said.

With that, they went on. And Twilight felt relief not having to sustain Spike’s scaly butt on her back.

Not only were they looking for Pyro, but Twilight and the other five elements of harmony found themselves playing tour guide for Gem, Cryo, Terra, Typhoon, and Agua. The five present Alamantians were beginning to learn more about the town they were calling their temporary home. What they found most interesting was how the weather worked. The pegasus ponies made the weather themselves with schedules for what happens on what day. They all found it to be very odd.

All the while they still kept their eyes on the lookout for the red and orange unicorn that Twilight now called “partner”. It took about thirty minutes of walking around town but eventually…

“Hey, isn’t that him over there? At that restaurant?” Pinkie pointed over to a distant café.

The others followed her hoof and saw a few hundred meters away a red unicorn. Rainbow’s good eyesight was able to make out orange streaks in his hair. He was sitting at a table levitating some food up to his mouth.

“Oh yeah. That is him.” Rainbow said.

“Well let’s go over there and see what he’s having. I could go for a little breakfast myself.” Cryo said.

“Hold it!”

Cryo began to walk forward but Terra grabbed his tail with her teeth.

“We can’t go over there.” Look at who he’s sharing table with.”

That’s when all of them actually followed her instructions and looked at the other side of Pyro’s table. They saw somepony else sitting there talking with him. A girl. A young mare with a red mane around their own age. They couldn’t tell from a distance, but it looked like she was smiling.

“Is…..is that….Roseluck?” Rainbow could see from a long distance due to her eyes used to wind pushing against them.

“She’s kinda cute.” Cryo openly said. “What do you think, Terra?”

“Are you kidding? If I didn’t prefer the fellas, I’d do her.” The pony of earth said a bit louder than needed.

That little statement earned her the pleaser of hearing everyone around her groan with a bit of disgust.

“Too much?” she muttered.

“I’m going to need therapy just for hearing that.” Rarity whined.

“Sorry. I’m a bit too open at times.”

That was for certain.

“But who is that girl and why is she with Pyro?” Gem asked.

Rainbow looked at Gem as she asked the question and took notice of something. The tone she used wasn’t as soft as she usually speaks in. Also, her eyes seemed a bit narrower as if she was a bit….angered by the fact that there was a girl with Pyro. Rainbow’s thoughts on the subject would have to be put on hold.

“That’s Rose. She’s one of the town florists.” Fluttershy answered. “She’s very nice.”

“And she seems to be having a nice time with Pyro.” Spike observed.

“Well let’s just let him be then. I’m sure he’ll explain himself later.” Cryo said.

“No. He’ll explain now.”

Agua walked away from all of them and right for Pyro and the girl he was with.

“Oh come on, Agua.” Cryo begged him to stop. “All six of us have been cooped up in a rock for the past three years. We’re on the outside now, bro. We’re living! Let Pyro make new friends. Let him meet someone, for Alamante’s sake! In fact, I wouldn’t mind finding a nice girl myself. Not right now but still the point is clear.”

Typhoon gave a light smile at Cryo. But Agua’s scowl remained.

“Well good for you and your quest for a mate, Cryo.” He snarled. “But I’m still gonna talk with him.”

He started to walk forward again but was stopped by Terra who caught up to him.

“Don’t you believe in respecting other pony’s privacy?” Terra asked.

“Yes I do as a matter of fact. But that rules gets bent for this matter.” Agua then shot back at Terra. “But in your case, I’ll be there for when you get a date. I love it when to girls make out.”

When he turned his head away, everypony else there went wide eyed. It was one thing to make fun of Terra for smoking pot, but when it comes to sexuality in Ponyville, the whole town believes in a zero tolerance policy of making fun of it.

All of them looked at Terra who now had a stare at Agua that was even colder then the stuff that runs through Cryo’s body. Oh how she hated that water pony at times.

With one step forward, her eyes narrowed. Applejack heard something scrape the ground near her hooves and looked down. She saw that a few good sized rocks lying on the ground were starting to move towards Terra all on their own. After about fourteen rocks were close together, they began to lift up off the ground.

Applejack knew what was going on. Terra’s element is Earth. Rocks are earth. They’re hers to do whatever she wants with. And she had full intent to launch them right for Agua’s head.

“Terra, don’t do it. Don’t let him get to you.” Cryo advised.

She heard nothing. All her focus was on the rocks and hurting the water pony.

“Just one stone right to the back of his empty jackass head. Just one. Please.” She had wanted to do that for so long now.

“If you do, it will just mean he wins and he knows he can get to you.” Twilight added. “Terra, just let him go.”

She had no desire to do that. The stones she had hovering around her head were just itching to be thrown. But what she hated was that her friends were right. If she threw just one rock and it hit Agua or not, he would gloat and he won.

With a sigh, she released her mind grip on the rocks. They all dropped to the dirt ground and it was safe to approach her. Applejack did first.

“You alright, sugarcube?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Terra muttered with a hoarse tone. “One of these days, he and I will have it out. And I’ll show him just how much of a “hippy” I am.”

“Fightn’ with him won’t make things easier fer you, hon.” Applejack assured her.

“No. But I can bet it’ll bring me just a few minutes of peace.” Terra hissed.

“Well kudos for not doing it sooner.” Rarity told her. “I guess we better be there to make sure those two don’t start anything violent.”

That was logical. With Pyro and Agua, even with only knowing them for one day, the six elements of harmony had to agree. Those two weren’t very friendly with each other. And they wanted to know why.

As they approached, Pyro was oblivious as he looked across the table at the mare with whom he was having his meal with. At first he thought he would be a bit uncomfortable seeing as how he knew nothing about her as if it was a blind date. But it turns out, he was really enjoying himself. Rose was as well. Pyro felt really comfortable around the flower mare.

“So how long have you been a florist?” he asked.

“Five years I’ve been in the business.” Rose answered. “I run it with my two older sisters, Lily and Daisy. But I’ve been fascinated with flowers my whole life. There’s just something about them that makes me feel totally at peace. It’s like when I take one whiff, and all my worries just wash away.”

Pyro smiled at her. Already he was making a new friend. It felt good being outside the rock and actually talking to ponies other than his adoptive siblings.

“I’ve actually heard stories about flowers from your country.” Rose went on. “I’ve seen pictures and there was this one that really caught my eye. The stem was oddly red, the petals are the brightest of orange, and yellow leaves came from the stem. Oh what was it called?....uhh.”

“The Agnolia.” Pyro knew of the flower she spoke of. “The flower of fire.”

“Yes! That’s it.” Rose cried a bit loud. “That would have had me thinking all day. How did you know what it was called.”

The answer came with a frown from the pyrokinetic. He tried his best to not show it and barely succeeded.

“My mother’s a florist too.” he said with hidden pain. “Her flower shop sold the most exotic of flora one would ever see.”

Rose was interested to say the least upon hearing that. This stallion was the son of a florist.

“I your house was beautiful.” Rose commented.

“Yeah…..it was.” He murmured back.

He lived in a hut. Not a full size house. But that mattered not to Pyro. His hut back in Alamante was indeed always decorated with tons of gorgeous flowers. It made the overall scent of the place soothing. It helped him with meditation.

It had been so long he had forgotten what the scent even smells like. It pained him so deeply.

“What about you? How long have you been……um….. …..what exactly do you do for a living?” Rose realized she didn’t know Pyro’s occupation.

But as it turns out, nopony did. The question was enough to get Pyro away from his troubles.

“Nothing.” Pyro answered. “I don’t have a job.”

This was news to Rose. Everypony who’s at least sixteen or around that age has a profession. Everypony she knows that is.

“There aren’t a lot of jobs that involve my kind of talent.” Pyro added.

That made Rose remember what Pyro was capable of.

“Can you really do that….weird elemental stuff?” she asked.

The unicorn of fire smirked. Then he looked around and spotted an unlit candle on the table they were at. With a simple wink of his eye, the wick lit up in a small flame. Then Pyro reached out with one of his front hooves and the small flame levitated from the wick and went into his hoof.

Rose was very amazed to say the least. This was all being done with no magic. The stallion decided to give her a small treat. Turning his hoof upwards, he focused his mind on the flame and it began to reshape itself and grow. It took the shape of a long stem with thorns. Rose could see where this was going. When the stem was a foot long, the flame made itself into the shape of a full bloomed rose.

“It’s called pyrokinesis.” Pyro said. “But….weird elemental stuff works too.”

Rose giggled at the humor intended for that. Then Pyro waved his hoof and the fiery rose vanished. She was without a doubt impressed.

“It must have been cool to grow up with power like that.” she commented.

“It wasn’t all fun.” Pyro informed her. “When I was five I was put into intensive training on controlling my powers. Some parts were hell and some parts were just plain fun. Equestria ponies don’t get that kind of treatment due to them not having abilities such as our own.”

“Yeah tell me something.” Rose had a question. “How come your country has those element powers and the rest of the world doesn’t?”

That was a good question. It had Pyro stumped. He honestly couldn’t think of a valid answer. But one came. Just not from him.

“That goes all the way back to when Alamante was founded. It’s a long story.”

That was Cryo’s voice. The red unicorn stallion turned around and waved at them all.

“Good morning all.” He greeted. “How did you guys sleep?”

“Um….fine.” Spike answered. “Pyro why are you eating here? And….whoa. What happened to your head?”

Now all of them noticed a big white bandage on his head covering the bump he got last night. Fluttershy being the caring pony she is rushed to the wound and felt it with her hoof.

“Oh my. What happened to you, Pyro?”

“It’s nothing, Fluttershy.” Pyro insisted.

Just then, the pony with whom Pyro was having breakfast with gave a small cough. Pyro glanced at her realizing introductions were in order.

“Guys, meet what happened to my head.” Pyro said.

Rose gave them all a nervous wave and they all waved back.

“Once again, sorry about that.” Rose said to Pyro.

“And I’ll say it again. Don’t worry about. I heal very fast.” Pyro assured her.

“Hold on a second.” Agua said. “Pyro, who is this?”

“Oh yes. How rude of me.” Pyro remembered. “Guys, this here is Roseluck. But just call her Rose.”

Rose gave a small wave to them once more.

“Rose, these here are my brothers and sisters. This is Agua, Typhoon, Terra, Cryo, and Gem.”

The red maned earth pony seemed a bit confused when he called those other ponies his brothers and sisters. But she smiled at them nonetheless.

“Nice to meet you.” She said softly

“You too.” Four out of five of them said in unison.

Agua remained silent not feeling any pleasure in meeting her.

“Rose….what exactly did you do to his head?” Twilight asked wanting to know her partner’s injury.

“Oh well…..I was up late last night because I couldn’t sleep. And he was out too. I heard him coming close and I thought he was a burglar. So I may have….hit him in the head with a shovel.”

There was a short pause before the silence was broken again.

“Well…I suppose that’s one way to get a date.” Rarity said.

Rose and Pyro seemed flustered by that statement.

“This….this isn’t a date, Rarity. It’s just me saying sorry.” Rose informed her. “Nothing more.”

“If you want, you guys can join us. But I think you might have to pay for yourselves.” Pyro told them.

They were all seriously considering sitting down and joining him and Rose. Pinkie bounced over and took a seat in between them.

“Oh I love breakfast! It’s the most important meal of the day, you know. If you don’t eat breakfast then you’re exhausted for the rest of the day and you might as well just go back to bed and sleep for the whole day because…..”

She went on to rant for ten whole minutes about breakfast. Finally Cryo had enough and magically lifted her up and away from Pyro and Rose’s table.

“Okay, well thank you for the invitation Pyro. But I think we’ll all pass on breakfast.”Cryo said to his brother.

“I won’t.” Agua said. “I got a bone to pick with you.”

Pyro just groaned as he knew this wasn’t gonna be pretty. Rose got nervous. But then something weird happened, Agua’s whole body became encased in a block of solid ice.

Cryo was the one responsible. He lowered his glowing hoof and sighed.

“Oh he is gonna kick my butt for that.” he groaned.

Then he picked up the frozen Agua and then made himself and his friends walk away. But before they left, Pinkie went up to Pyro.

“Hey, do you think you could come by Sugarcube Corner around noon? I wanna show you my house! It’s the best in all of Ponyville….because it’s filled with SWEETS!”

Her nose was touching his and her eyes were bugged out a bit. It didn’t stop him from nodding though.

“O….kay. I’ll be there.” Pyro promised.

“Great!”

Pinkie then bounced off with the rest of her friends as they all left Pyro and Rose to their privacy. They finished up their meals and Rose called for the check. As they waited for it to come, Rose had to ask Pyro one more thing that confused her.

“You called those other ponies your brothers and sisters.” Rose informed. “Why?”

“Well…we’re not REALLY brothers and sisters. We’ve just grown so close we consider ourselves to be a family. Albeit a strange one but still a family.”

She still didn’t fully comprehend.

“How?” she wanted to know. “I saw all six of you when you….flew in. You look nothing alike.”

Pyro gave a small chuckle and explained.

“Just because we look different, it doesn’t mean anything. We care about each other. It doesn’t
matter what element we control or…whether we’re unicorn, earth pony, or pegasus. We look at each other and see the good and the good only.”

“Even in that blue guy?”

He gave another chuckle almost expecting her to say that.

“Yes even in him. He may not show it but I’m sure Agua has some good parts in him.”

“You have an optimistic eye.” Rose observed.

“When you live with him for three straight years, it’s needed. Along with some snappy comebacks because he tends to mouth off.”

Rose giggled at that. Then the check came and she laid the money down. With breakfast finished and Rose’s conscience clear, they stood back up and prepared to leave

“Thanks for breakfast.” Pyro said to her. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

Rose smiled at him.

“Yeah. Definitely.” She muttered back. “Catchya later, Pyro.”

“Have a good day, Rose.”

And with that, the two ponies walked in different directions. As he walked off, Pyro turned around and smiled at her. When he turned his head back, Rose looked back to smile at him.

When Rose got back to her flower filled home, she looked in a book and found the picture of the Agnolia Pyro mentioned. It was truly beautiful.

“How can a land with such pretty flowers be at war?”she wondered.

Party With Jagger

I only own my OC’s and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 10: Party with Jagger

Shortly after he finished breakfast with Rose, Pyro didn’t have to walk through much of the town to find his new friends and siblings. Not surprising to him, when he got there, Agua was yelling at somepony. At first the unicorn of fire thought he was yelling at Terra like always. But when he got a good enough angle, he saw differently. Agua was arguing with was Cryo.

It was a rare occurrence for Cryo to actually get into a heated argument with anypony. And even here it still didn’t look like Cryo was actually yelling at him. Agua would yell, and Cryo would calmly argue back without raising his voice.

It turns out Pyro’s hunch was right. Agua was pissed he got frozen from behind. And when they all saw Pyro approach them, Agua turned away from Cryo and went up to the leader of the elements.

“So do you wanna explain what the hell you were doing having breakfast with that girl?” he demanded.

Everypony else just groaned.

“Ten bits says this one ends up getting physical.” Rainbow Dash muttered to Applejack.

“Yer on.” Applejack agreed to the wager.

With a bet now going on, those two mares listened intently to the fight.

“She was just apologizing for hitting me last night! That’s it! What is it to you anyway?”

“What it is, is that we’re supposed to be keeping ourselves scarce. And now you’ve just made yourself acquainted with an innocent mare. She’s friends with you now. Which means you’ve just made her a possible target for Nightmare.”

“Hey! Shhhhh. Keep your voice down about that.” Twilight muttered from behind. “Nopony here wants anypony else to know that Nightmare Moon is back. Understand?”

Agua did understand that. And Pyro sort of understood what Agua was getting at. But the fire pony could see it in his eyes. Agua wasn’t just concerned for Rose which he barely was. He was jealous.

“Oh I see what this is.” Pyro had the guts to say it. “You’re just pissed because I made a friend and it happens to be a girl. Whereas you, my unlikable brother, couldn’t get a girlfriend if he put an ad in the paper.”

Agua began to growl louder than ever at him. Rainbow began to smile thinking she was about to get some money.

“Don’t….you….dare go there with me.” The blue stallion hissed. “What makes you think she won’t rip out your heart and stomp on it? How do you know she won’t hurt you? I’ve seen it before Pyro. Tons of my friends had their hearts shattered by tramps. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”

“A tramp? She’s not a tramp. She’s…..”

Pyro stopped short upon hearing precisely what Agua had just spoken to him.

“So you’re saying….you’re concerned about my feelings. How sweet, Agua.”

Agua’s face dropped upon realizing what he said.

“Oh….you….just…..aw the hell with it.”

“You ARE a good brother.” Pyro didn’t stop.

Agua just groaned and smacked his forehead.

“And one more thing. I have no intention of dating Rose. It was one breakfast. She and I are friends. That’s it.”

“For now at least.”

That came from Rarity.

“Excuse me?” Pyro asked for her to say it again.

“Oh it’s….nothing.” Rarity fibbed seeing the look in Rose’s eyes from before.

Of course Pyro caught on to what she meant. He thought it was nonsense. So he waved it off. Seeing how the fight was over between the two males, Rainbow bitterly gave ten bits to Applejack.

“They get verbal. Not physical.” Applejack slickly mentioned.

Rainbow immediately regretted making that bet with her. She should have figured they wouldn’t hurt each other after listening to the fight they had at Canterlot Castle yesterday. Two seconds later she forgot all about it. Because finally Pinkie Pie was able to drag them all to Sugarcube Corner. Her place of residence.

“I still don’t understand why it’s so important we see your house, Pinkie.” Terra said. “I mean no offense. I’m sure it’s filled with sugar like you said but seriously. What gives?”

“Oh you silly rocky girl!” Pinkie Pie was walking backwards nose to nose with Terra. “You can’t call yourself an official pony of Ponyville until you’ve had a treat from Sugarcube Corner.”

“For the record Terra, I had a few of them last night. They really are quite delicious.” Cryo added to his partner’s enthusiasm.

Pinkie nodded in agreement and Terra gave a shrug.

“Well if Cryo says anything is good, I listen to him.” Terra said.

Pinkie gave a squee as she smiled. Then soon, they were all going up the stairs of Sugarcube Corner. Typhoon’s face went weird for a second sensing something. Nopony noticed. Her telepathy had just told her what was going to happen.

As soon as Pinkie opened up the door, they all saw that it was dark inside. When Pinkie flipped on the light….

“SURPRISE!”

Typhoon was the only one there out of the six Alamantians who didn’t almost have a heart attack. Nearly half the town of Ponyville was inside the bakery. The whole place was decked out with balloons streamers and a huge banner that read, “Welcome to Equestria!”

“Surprise!” Pinkie added. “This party is just for the six of you!”

All the Alamantians smiled at that. Pinkie Pie went out of the way to put together a big welcome party just for them. They all appreciated her work.

….well….almost all of them.

“A party?” Agua repeated not sounding very thrilled. “Okay. I’m out.”

Agua began to turn to walk out the door. Pinkie’s face grew a sad expression when he started to get closer to the door. But before Agua could open it, his whole body became enveloped in an orange glow and he froze, unable to move.

Pyro’s horn was glowing the same color and he used his magic to lift Agua up and levitate him away from the door. The two stallions then glared at each other for the second time that day.

“Put me down, Pyro.” Agua warned him.

“Agua, Pinkie worked very hard to put this party together for us. Now either you stay and try and enjoy yourself or so help me Alamante I will turn you into steam.”

Pyro rarely gave out threats. But Agua is a special case. The pony of water was about to argue against him but then he saw Pinkie Pie’s face and how sad it looked. The bubbly eyes, the trembling bottom lip. He may be a jerk but he does draw the line at making ponies cry. Although he did screw that up with Rarity yesterday.

Just because of Pinkie’s face, he admitted defeat.

“Oh alright.”

With that, Pyro released his grip on Agua.

“Thank you.” He muttered.

“Bite me.” Agua said back.

With that, Agua went off on his own while the others just glared at him from behind. Spike however hopped off Gem’s back and went to go and find some small gemstones for himself. Pinkie was always kind enough to lay out a special plate of them just for him.

“What is his problem?” Rainbow asked anypony.

“You know that part of the body where kindness and all that good stuff comes from?” Terra responded. “Well….I think Agua was born without it.”

“Oh come on now. Y’all can’t possibly know if he’s been like this his whole life.” Applejack reasoned.

“He has for as long as we’ve known heem.” Typhoon added. “As for hees whole life, nopony knows.”

“Oh who cares how he became a jerk?” Twilight spoke. “Let’s just forget about it and have a good time at this party.”

“Yeah! A party with six guests of honor! Let’s rock!” Pinkie added.

“Hold up!” Cryo stopped Pinkie from bouncing off because he spotted something. “Pinkie….are those my records?”

Cryo pointed over to the record player Pinkie had set up in the corner of the room. Sitting next to it was a large case of vinyl albums. Each of them were marked with Cryo’s symbol of ice to signify his ownership of them.

“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind, Cryo. But I thought you might like hearing some of your own music.” Pinkie explained.

The song playing right now was one nearly nopony recognized. Only the six Alamantians knew what it was. The label on the record read, “I Got A Feeling”.

Knowing the song by heart, Cryo closed his eyes and bobbed his head.

“Nah, I don’t mind, Pinkie.”

Pinkie brightened up even more when she heard that. Then they all took off in their own directions. Fluttershy introduced Typhoon to a few of her friends such as Berry Punch and Carrot Top. Those two were quite pleased to meet Typhoon and it brought the pegasus of wind much joy.

The three little Cutie Mark Crusaders were also present at the party. All they could talk about was the new ponies.

“So how do you think they got their powers?” Scootaloo asked. “Toxic waste?”

“No. That’s just silly.” Sweetie Belle argued. “They obviously got them from a freak science experiment gone wrong.”

“No way. You two are both wrong.” Applebloom put in her say. “Ah asked Miss Terra last night. They were all naturally born with their powers.”

That seemed to confuse Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

“They were born that way?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why couldn’t I be born an Alamantian?”

“Totally! I’d LOVE to have superpowers like them!” Scootaloo agreed.

All three of them agreed to that. Just when they start debating which element they would want to control, the door opened up and two more fillies walked into the bakery party. The crusaders groaned upon seeing them one pink with a tiara and another gray one with glasses. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The class bullies.

“Well if it isn’t the three blank flanks.” Silver Spoon taunted them already upon spotting them.

Looking past that, the five fillies began to argue group to group.

“What are you two doing here?” Applebloom asked her two miniature enemies.

“Pinkie Pie invited us to welcome the Alamantians.” Diamond Tiara answered. “Why are YOU here?”

“Ah live with one of ‘em now.” Applebloom replied.

“Me too.” Sweetie Belle added.

“You….LIVE with those…..freaks?” Silver Spoon said in a snobby and surprised tone.

“Freaks?” Scootaloo thought this was madness. “They’re not freaks. They’re totally cool! You should see what they can do!”

“What they can do is exactly why they’re freaks.” Diamond Tiara said. “They don’t belong here. This is one party that shouldn’t be happening.”

She went on to say more. But she had no idea there was a certain blue stallion standing right behind her and Silver Spoon. The crusaders saw him but decided it would be funnier to not tell her he was there.

“They’re all just a bunch of crazy ponies who tore their own country apart. And I can guarantee you that the only reason they’re here is to make us do the same.”

The crusaders were right. It was funnier. Agua glared down at the two of them as she kept insulting Alamante and the six present ponies from there.

“The way they can move around water and dirt and stuff, it just labels them as freaks of nature and nothing more.”

“No. We’re not freaks of nature. We ARE nature. Period.”

That voice was a male stallions and it made Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon turn white. Slowly, they turned around and saw the big blue stallion of water glaring down at both of them at the same time.

“Uh….hi there.” Silver Spoon said frightened. “We’re really happy you and the other ponies could…”

“Shut up.” He growled.

“Yes sir.” Silver squeeked.

Wanting to make this quick, Agua decided to make them terrifying them easy.

“Tell me something. How old are you two?”

“Um…..we’re nine. Why?” Diamond Tiara answered.

“Really? Shame.”

“Um….why is that a shame?” Silver Spoon muttered.

“Because if you were only a year older, I would have gone to town.” Agua proudly said.

That was enough to leave Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon speechless in fear as Agua walked away. As soon as he was far enough, Sweetie Belle approached them.

“He’s the one I live with.” She said to her two classmates.

“Y….you live with…..that guy? Doesn’t he scare you the least bit?” Silver Spoon asked.

“No. I overheard the reason he’s there. He’s protecting my sister and me. So he can’t hurt me.”

“Protecting you?” Diamond Tiara asked suspiciously. “Protecting you from what?”

Sweetie Belle never got the chance to answer that question. Because two seconds later, the door opened up and two much bigger ponies walked through the doors. Both of them sporting both horns and wings.

Everypony bowed down upon seeing the Princesses of Equestria enter the bakery. The two shopkeepers rushed up to them smiling wide.

“Uh….Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! What are you doing here?” Mrs. Cake asked shocked that the two princesses would show up unannounced.

“Luna and I received an invitation to this party welcoming our new Alamantian friends. And seeing as how the two of us had nothing urgent to attend to today, we decided to drop by and say hello.” Celestia explained.

“We hope it is not an inconvenience.” Luna added.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake nervously laughed as they gazed upon the two princesses.

“An inconvenience? You two? What nonsense.” Mr. Cake declared.

“We are always honored to have such regal guests in our establishment.” Mrs. Cake agreed. “Just uh…please mind that we have two babies asleep upstairs.”

“Absolutely.” Celestia and Luna both chimed.

“And congratulations.” Luna added.

After the Cakes thanked her, Celestia and Luna parted ways. Celestia immediately found Twilight standing next to Pyro. The two of them hadn’t noticed the princesses walked in.

“So…in your country…you have cockatrices for meals?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.” Pyro answered. “It’s an Alamantian delicacy. Especially popular in the Ember and Geo tribes.”

“But….but….it’s meat! You’re a pony! Ponies don’t eat meat!” Twilight complain.

“Maybe not here. But in Alamante, we do. Grass just doesn’t cut it for us. Our bodies are much different than yours.” Pyro argued back.

“Yeah. Typhoon gave me a little heads up on that and your immunity of steel.” Twilight said. “Something I consider to be a little supernatural.”

Pyro gave a chuckle as he levitated a glass of punch to his mouth and took a sip.

“Hey look on the bright side.” He said to her. “If you ever get sick or something you don’t have to worry about me catching anything.”

“I would agree that is a definite bright side.”

That voice was the most regal off all ponies. And hearing it was enough to startle both Twilight and Pyro. They looked to the side and saw Princess Celestia standing before them.

Twilight bowed down to her princess and teacher while Pyro stood in his bipedal stance and gave her the Alamantian bow of respect.

“Princess. If I may ask…why are you here?” Twilight asked.

“Your friend Pinkie Pie sent Luna and I invitations. We decided to be a part of welcoming our new guests to this country.” The princess told her star student.

“That was awfully nice of you, princess.” Pyro said to her as he got back down on all fours.

Celestia smiled at him knowing he was appreciative of her company.

“So how was your first night in Ponyville, Pyro?” Celestia asked.

“Very nice.” Pyro commented. “Very quiet here. Unlike back home. Even before the war started there was always noise outside my window at night.”

Twilight noticed Pyro wasn’t telling the princess about his little condition which he put on himself. She was about to blurt it out herself but she remembered the promise she made to Typhoon. She would keep her knowledge of this a secret until circumstances say otherwise.

“How pleasant.” Then Celestia turned her head to Twilight. “Twilight, I trust you and your friends are being good hosts for our guests.”

“Of course, your highness.” Twilight assured her. “We’re learning a lot about each other and our cultures.”

“Ah yes. I did hear that conversation. And for the record, cockatrices do make good meals.”

The Princess made sure to keep her voice low so a certain animal loving pegasus mare wouldn’t hear that. But Twilight heard it and she was lightly disturbed.

“I myself had them for a meal before the war started. I made trips to Alamante frequently and I took part in ritual ceremonies. Eating cockatrices was and still is one of them.”

That part made Twilight feel better. The conversation went on as Luna went over to Fluttershy and Typhoon. Typhoon immediately apologized for what happened between her and the princess yesterday at the castle. Luna forgave her understanding why she did it. Luna even said she was very impressed with Typhoon’s ability to enter one’s mind with no magical assistance.

Applejack, Terra, and Big Macintosh were sampling some of Pinkie’s caramel apples. Not bad at all. But then little Applebloom came over to them dragging along an elderly green mare. She spoke to the yellow pony of earth.

“Miss Terra, Ah don’t know if you’ve met her yet but this here is mah Granny Smith. She lives with us at the barn.” Applebloom explained.

“Really?” Terra asked then looked at Applejack. “Where was she yesterday then?”

“Granny here likes to take VERY long naps.” Applejack honestly answered. “Sometimes Ah think she forgets she’s asleep.”

“My dreams get more and more literal each day.” Granny Smith spoke to her.

Applejack laughed a bit at that and so did Bog Mac.

“Yeah. Granny Smith here is a very important pony.” Applebloom gladly said. “If it weren’t for her, Ponyville wouldn’t even exist.”

“Is that so?” Terra found that interesting.

“Oh darn tootin it is little filly.” Granny Smith said. “All thanks to Princess Celestia’s knowledge of the land and the zap apples from the Everfree Forest. Now what the hay is this here party for?”

The three younger apples looked at each other strangely. Big Macintosh spoke to his grandmother.

“Granny, this is party is to welcome Miss Terra here to the country. She’s from Alamante.”

Granny eyed Terra suspiciously when she heard the word Alamante.

“Your Alamantian huh? Ah’ve had a few customers from there before. You know, you slightly look like this one whose name was…oh…Mountain Cap.”

“Mountain Cap?” Terra knew the name. “That’s…..my grandfather’s name.”

“Oh he can’t be your grandfather.” Granny Smith insisted. “Ah’ve seen his granddaughter. She’s only a filly.”

That didn’t work. So Terra thought of another tactic.

“Was the last time you saw his granddaughter?”

“Oh that was…maybe seven years ago.” Granny Smith calculated. “Oh but Ah do guess she’s all grown up now.”

“And was her name, Terra?”

“As a matter a fact, that is her name. You one of her friends or somethin’?”

“No. I AM Terra. I grew up. Don’t you recognize me at all?”

Granny Smith took a few minutes of staring at her to realize that the mare in front of her was indeed the young filly she knew from years ago. With a smile, she accepted she was who she said she was.

“Oh I knew you looked familiar!” Granny Smith realized. “Your grandfather was one of my most faithful customers. And then after a few more years, his son, which was your father at a young age joined him. Oh he just loved coming here to taste the first batch of Zap Apple Jam every year.”

Terra seemed to brighten up with that.

“YOU’RE the pony who makes the Zap Apple Jam? Oh my gosh I love that stuff! Granted I haven’t had any of it for a few years but I LOVE it!”

“Well thank ya kindly little filly. It takes a lot of work to make that jam right. Your father knew that and greatly appreciated it.”

Terra frowned when Granny Smith mentioned her father.

“You know, the chief is considered to be royalty in Alamante.” Granny Smith told her.

“Uhhh….yeah. I know. I used to live there.” Terra informed her.

“And if your father is the chief then that means…..” Then Granny gave one of the biggest gasps in her whole life. Then she bowed down in front of Terra. “You’re a princess! Oh mah stars there’s another princess here!”

Terra looked first at Granny Smith a bit embarrassed then was even more embarrassed when she looked up and saw that everypony else was looking at her shocked themselves.

“Um….he he he. How are ya?” she squeaked.

“Oh yeah! I remember you now!” Granny Smith said that surprising everyone with it.

Granny Smith actually remembering something was quite rare.

“I used to make trips the Alamante myself to personally deliver your father’s order of jam. I remember seeing you and your older brother playin together like you were the best of friends. Oh what was his name…uh….Junebuggy?”

Terra winced at the mention of older brother’s name. Granted it was the wrong name but Granny Smith knew she was close. Applejack was surprised to learn Terra has an actual blood related sibling.

“Um….it’s Dunehopper.” She muttered.

“Oh that’s right. Dunehopper.” Granny Smith remembered now. “He was such a nice and handsome stallion the last time I saw him. That was about three or four years ago. How is he?”

Then Terra hurt even more. But she didn’t want to lie to a pony who was apparently close to her. She deserved to know the truth. And with sorrow and depression in her voice, she spoke again.

“Uh…Dunehopper is…..dead.”

This brought a shock to Granny Smith as well as Applejack. The orange mare of honesty was now learning something new about her partner of earth.

“What?” Granny Smith replied. “But…he was so young.”

Terra didn’t dare let anyone see her eyes get watery. She turned her head away slowly. But Applejack knew that look. It was the same look she got when she thought about her late parents.

“I know.” Terra barely got it out.

“I am so sorry.” Granny Smith muttered. “How did he pass?”

It nearly brought Terra to a point of crying, but she was able to inform Granny Smith on how it happened.

“He enrolled as a soldier in the war. And he became one of the casualties.”

Granny Smith didn’t feel pleased hearing that. She would have liked to have known Dunehopper died in a more peaceful way. Not in the wrath of war.

“I’m sorry. Please excuse me.” Terra turned around and walked away from them.

As she did, Applejack saw one small drop fall off of her partner’s chin. It was a tear. When the farmer girl brought her head back up, she wasn’t sure of what to do. She might not know Terra that well, but she does know that whenever somepony close is in pain, you be there to help them.

So she followed Terra’s track. And she followed her right into the part of the kitchen that was behind a door and away from the party. When the door was shut and the noise from the party was muffled, Applejack was able to hear a small sniffling sound coming from Terra. Concern now showed on Applejack’s face.

“Sugarcube? Are you alright?”

Terra jumped a little and lightly gasped not expecting to hear Applejack’s voice behind her. From the back, the orange country mare saw Terra mover her right front hoof to her face. Applejack didn’t have to be in front of her to tell she was wiping her eyes. Then she turned around and put a smile on her face.

“Of course I’m alright. Why wouldn’t I be?” She said with a voice cracking a bit.

Of course Applejack didn’t buy it. There was one thing Terra didn’t think she would notice.

“Terra, yer eyes are red.”

“Well of course they’re red. They’ve been red since I was born.”

“You know darn well what Ah mean.” Applejack sternly said. “Listen Terra, Ah’m not a pony who tries to meddle. But Ah’m trusting mah life to you. And bah that definition, Ah think we should be totally honest with each other. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to tell. All Ah ask is that you don’t lie to me. Ah’m not the element of honesty for nothin’.”

Of all the things Applejack could have used on Terra, that was the best choice. A good play of words. Hearing them made Terra trust Applejack a bit more. So her actions were determined.

“He was my best friend.” She muttered.

Applejack didn’t have to ask who she was talking about.

“My father neglected me because he wasn’t pleased with me not wanting to become the future chief. And as for my mom, she was okay. But when it came to being there for the girly stuff, she wasn’t really up to it. As for life outside the palace, well….I didn’t have much of one. Guards always followed me wherever I went and I was rarely allowed to leave. So I had zero friends.”

It was almost heartbreaking hearing this about her. Applejack didn’t have any sort of idea a girl like Terra could be this deep.

“Dunehopper was the only friend I had. He and I were like two peas in pod. We did everything together. Played together, laughed together, we even snuck out of the palace a few times together using our geokinesis. We never got caught.”

It took a few seconds for Applejack to remember exactly what geokinesis is. But she got it in time to catch her next lines.

“He actually was the one who taught me how to use my powers. But then…the war started….then he died. When he left, half of me went with him. I’ve never been my whole self for years now. That’s the reason I got addicted to the bong.” Terra confessed. “I try so hard each day to try and not think about him. But….I do….I could never….forget him….he’s….”

The water in her eyes neared release. But right before they did, Applejack’s opinion of her partner drastically changed. Terra wasn’t a junkie because she thought it would be fun. She lost someone very close to her and now she only finds relief in the bong. Seeing as how Terra was trying super hard to hold back her tears, Applejack gave a small smile for comfort.

“Terra…it’s okay.” Applejack assured her. “You can cry if you wanna.”

“I can’t.” Terra softly said. “I can’t show weakness.”

“It’s not showing weakness. It’s called being a pony.” Applejack told her. “Look, you’re mah pardner now. And Ah know we’ve only known each other for one day now, but Ah want you to be able to trust me as much as Ah trust you. Ah know how you feel. Ah’ve been there before. Just go ahead, Terra. Cry. Let it out.”

“But I…I....”

As much as Terra wanted to fight it, she couldn’t no longer. Applejack was making her see things differently. She didn’t know what it was. Happiness knowing she had more friends to confide in or something else entirely. But without anypony else there knowing, she wrapped her hooves around Applejack and began to sob into her shoulder. Knowing how much pain this brought to Terra due to being there herself, Applejack wrapped her hooves around her and rubbed her back gently.

Last night Applejack wasn’t comfortable with Terra protecting her. But this moment right here changed her mind on the spot. Terra was an honest pony. A true hard head, but honest. That crying session lasted about ten minutes. When Terra calmed down, she saw Applejack wipe away a single tear of her own.

“I didn’t make you cry too, did I?” Terra asked.

“Well…maybe just one tiny tear.” Applejack confessed. “Just old memories getting dug back up is all.”

With one last sniffle and wipe of her eyes, Terra regained herself fully.

“Thanks, Applejack.” She told her. “Just uh…don’t tell Agua I was crying. Okay?”

With a giggle, Applejack agreed.

“Done deal there, rocky. Now let’s go party.”

Looking in a nearby mirror to make sure her eyes weren’t too red to present, Terra went back out with Applejack. Nopony suspected a thing. Typhoon never saw Terra leave so she didn’t think to read her mind.

Pinkie was dragging Cryo all over the party trying to introduce him to the locals. She stopped in front of two mares. One cream colored earth pony and an aqua coated unicorn.

“Hi there, Bon-Bon and Lyra! I want you to meet Cryo! Isn’t he just awesome?” Pinkie introduced them in less than a second’s time.

“Um….hello there.” Cryo politely greeted with a wave.

“Hi.” Bon-Bon and Lyra both said back.

It was awkward. Cryo felt almost as if Pinkie was trying to set him up with a date or something.

“Oh! Stay right there! There’s somepony you REALLY gotta meet, Cryo!”

With that, Pinkie rushed off, leaving Cryo alone with Lyra and Bon-Bon.

“So….what can you do?” Lyra asked not knowing what else to talk about.

“Um….ice.” Was the only answer Cryo could think of.

“That’s nice.” Bon-Bon replied.

Cryo nodded at them seeing no other reason for talking to them.

“Okay then. Good bye.”

With that, he walked off and got himself one of the tasty cupcakes Pinkie had made for the party. Using both his magic and element power, he picked up the cupcake and froze it before eating it. He likes cold food.

When he turned around to go fins somepony else to talk to, he found himself face to face with a mare. She was magenta with green eyes, a pink mane and three smiling flowers for a cutie mark.

“Um…hi. Who might you be?” Cryo asked.

Sweetie Belle was there with the mare. She wanted to introduce the two to each other.

“Mr. Cryo this is my teacher, Miss Cheerilee.” Sweetie Belle said. “Miss Cheerilee, this is Mr. Cryo. He’s not the one I live with but he’s cool.”

“Oh. Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Cryo.” Cheerilee greeted him.

Something right there went off in Cryo’s head. He didn’t really find anything appealing about Bon-Bon and Lyra. But the cheery tone Cheerilee gave him upon saying hello made him feel friendlier.

“Please. Just call me Cryo, Miss Cheerilee.” He said with the same tone as she.

Cheerilee seemed to like that tone.

“Well then….just call me Cheerilee then.” She told him. “You know I’ve always wanted to give a history lesson on Alamante and its culture. But I’m afraid I don’t know enough about the place to give a full lesson.”

“Yeah I know. Not many Equestrian school books cover anything about my home anymore.” Cryo agreed.

Cheerilee knew what fact and was greatly disappointed by it. She felt children should know about the other countries that exist other than Equestria. But ever since the war, new textbooks were given out and they had no information about Alamante or how it even came to be.

“Well I for one certainly think you and your home are worth learning about. Children need to be educated in geography and other countries no matter how torn they are.” Cheerilee said.

“Well….if it’s alright with you, I’d be happy to come in and be a guest speaker to your class.” Cryo suggested. “If that’s okay with you that is.”

Cheerilee was indeed surprised by such an offer. But she would have hated herself if she had been stupid enough to decline it.

“Really? That would be wonderful!” the teacher mare happily said. “And if you want to, you can bring your friends.”

“Siblings.” He corrected. “They’re…my brothers and sisters.”

This was the second time today that word was said to a mare who didn’t understand.

“They are? Really?” she asked.

“Well….not by blood of course.” Cryo corrected. “But the six of us love each other. We watch out for each other like brothers and sisters would. We’re a family.”

That slightly warmed Cheerilee.

“That’s very nice.” She said to him. “Perhaps you could introduce me to them. If it’s not any trouble.”

“Oh it’s no trouble at all, Cheerilee. Just tell me who you want to meet first.” Cryo said.

Cheerilee looked around recognizing the other Alamantians as soon as she saw them. But they were all already involved with other conversations. She didn’t want to be rude. Then she found one of them standing alone. And he just so happened to be blue and near the punch bowl.

“I think I’ll start with him.”

“Hold up.” Cryo stopped her. “Are you sure about him?”

Cryo pointed to Agua.

“Yes.” Cheerilee acknowledged.

“Okay. That’s Agua. Now he’s not the most friendly of folk. So if you go into a long introduction, he’ll just walk away. So here’s what you do.”

Cryo then gave the teacher a set of instructions.

“When you get close enough to him, he’s gonna look you right in the eyes. You look back. You then just say hi to him. Just hi. Nothing else. If he says it back, wait a few seconds, then say your name. Just your name itself in one word. He’ll then say his name back to you in the same fashion. Then you repeat that process only now you say what you do. Teacher. That’s it. If he says, “that’s nice”, that means he finds you tolerable. And that’s means something considering how he is.”

“That’s it?” Cheerilee asked. “Just…tolerable?”

“Trust me. With a guy like him, tolerable is as high as you’re gonna get on a first impression. In about a year’s time, you graduate up to acquaintance, then friend, then brother.”

“That seems….very complicated.” Cheerilee thought of herself as lucky for catching all that.

“Some ponies are just like that. Agua there is one of em’.” Cryo said. “Now go on. Don’t be scared. Walk slowly.”

It seemed like Agua had his own set of instructions like he was a toy fresh out of the box. But it would come to turn out the icy stallion knew exactly what he was saying.

Slowly, she walked one step at a time towards Agua as he stared blankly at the punch in the bowl. When she got up close to him, she took one last step and the floor beneath her hoof creaked loud enough for Agua to hear. His eyes locked right on to hers. This was where Cheerilee thought to consult the instructions Cryo gave her. Step one.

“Hi.” She muttered.

“Hi.” Agua said back.

So far what Cryo said was true. After three more seconds, she put step two to the test.

“Cheerilee.”

“Agua.”

While waiting for the next few seconds, Cheerilee got distracted when she saw a small bundle of punch float out of the punch bowl and in front of Agua’s face. Agua was no doubt doing it using his mind over water powers. As impressed as she was, Cheerilee needed to do the last step.

“Teacher.”

“That’s nice.”

It seemed unbelievable. Everything Cryo instructed Cheerilee to do played out exactly as he told. That showed that he was a keen observer.

“Hey, tell me something.” Agua said to her in a full sentence this time. “Are those two kids, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in your class?”

Cheerilee finally felt that it was safe to speak fully now.

“Yes they are. Why do you ask?”

Agua gave a grunt as he glared at the two fillies coldly.

“Well kudos to you for putting up with them.” Agua said as he levitated the punch he was controlling up to his mouth. “Remind me to find their parents so I can tell them the same thing.”

He then put his lips to the ball of punch and sucked it all into his mouth in one gulp. And with that, he walked away. When he did, Cheerilee was left standing there not really knowing how to respond to something like that.

“Did he just….insult two of my students?”

While she processed that question through her head, Cryo approached her again for he viewed what just went down.

“Hey not bad.” He complimented her. “You did much better than I did when I first met him.”

“Really? What did he do?” Cheerilee asked.

“He punched me square in the nose.” Cryo answered. “But in his defense, the war had just begun and we were all a bit on edge.”

“Aren’t you still?” Cheerilee asked him. “Doesn’t it bother you that your family and friends back home are in danger?”

Cryo’s faint smile was now gone from his face with that question.

“Every second of every day, Miss Cheerilee.” He answered with sorrow. “I compensate with humor. At least that’s what my friends say.”

That seemed a bit depressing. But Cheerilee had to understand his situation. The whole Alamantian situation. These six ponies are far from home and their country is at war with itself. It must bother them a lot knowing their friends and families are still there.

“But until then, I think I might like making new friends here. I really need that.” Cryo told her.

“Well….you have one with me.” Cheerilee smiled at him.

Cryo couldn’t help but smile back at her and gently say,

“Thank you.”

The two conversed with each other further as the party progressed.

About a couple hours later, everypony had gotten acquainted with the six new ponies most of them just learning their names. Pyro was smiling the whole time. He was very pleased that the whole town of Ponyville was accepting him. All around him, there were ponies who did not judge them by race, fur color, or what element you have. It was a very nice change of pace.

But as he took a gander at the other side of the place, one pony caught his eye. And it was a good thing. Because what looked like a normal green colored pegasus seemed to be looking at Twilight with an evil glare. Then it raised a hoof and much to Pyro’s horror, it began to glow with the same dark energy that comes off of those evil henchponies. Without thinking twice,

“GET DOWN!”

He grabbed Twilight hard and pushed her down to the ground along with himself. It was just in time to dodge the blast of dark energy the Shadowmare in disguise threw at them. The explosion the blast made in the wall was enough to bring the party to a screeching halt.

Everyone looked at Pyro now who quickly got back up on his hind legs in a bipedal stance. He then threw a fastball of fire at the Shadowmare’s head and it was a dead on shot. The impact from the ball of fire made the Shadowmare lose concentration and drop the disguise. It was black like normal now.

When everyone saw it, they immediately started to panic. When somepony tried to bolt for the door, another Shadowmare popped out of hiding and pushed the mare back into the crowd of frightened ponies. Then about ten more of them showed their faces and everypony was once again silent and in fear for their lives. The Shadowmares had all of their hooves lit up in dark energy and that was enough to keep the citizens of Ponyville completely still

The same Shadowmare Pyro hit before was now standing up hooves energized with dark power. It glared right at Pyro and he himself was ready with his flames.

It was all too easy. The Shadowmare was only able to fire one good sized shot at Pyro. Using his flames, he waved his hooves, blocked the shot, and then did a sidekick in place. Out of his kicking hoof came a big blast of fire that made contact with the Shadowmare and made it dissolve.

When he turned to shoot another one…

“Don’t move, hot-head!”

He froze upon seeing that one Shadowmare had Diamond Tiara in it’s grasp. Its free hoof was charged with dark energy and held up to the side of her little head. Pyro set his aim right for the head of the dark pony.

“Drop the flames or it’s bye-bye filly.” The Shadowmare hissed.

“Let the kid go.” Pyro kept his hoof pointed right at that Shadowmare’s head flames flowing. “She’s not involved in this quarrel.”

The Shadowmare cackled.

“Everypony you talk to is involved now firebug. Now put the fire out or I’ll put this kid out. Permanently.”

Pyro wanted so badly to launch a ball of fire right through that thing’s head. But if he made another move, Diamond Tiara would be killed. But then out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something that gave him an idea.

He had no choice. Slowly, he let his hoof hang down at his side and the flames vanished.

“Good little Ember.” It chuckled. “Now lay down and put your hooves over your…”

But then the sound of a hoof impacting the Shadowmare’s head was heard. But the thing is, there was nothing there. The black henchpony just toppled over and lost its grip on Diamond Tiara. Then the same Shadowmare kept on jerking around like it was getting beat up. When it was finally weak enough to go to the ground, the true culprit revealed herself. Cryo was doing everything. He had just turned himself invisible. It was another Alamantian spell. Cloaking. One Twilight was eager to get her hooves on now. The Shadowmares started to all rush for him. But Cryo acted again.

His hooves were energized with cyan ice energy and he blasted some at each Shadowmare’s hooves. He was deadly accurate and froze all of their hooves to the ground. And they couldn’t break free. Everypony else tried to get free of the place but the Shadowmares still had the doors blocked using walls of dark energy.

Luna and Celestia immediately began to use their magic to make the dark walls vanish. But that turned out to be all for not. As soon as the Shadowmares saw them try to act, they blasted at the two princesses. Their hooves were still frozen to the ground. Strangely, they shot the blasts out of their mouths. Gem, seeing that, raised her own front hooves energized with her element of plasma. Using it, she created a wall to act as a shield to protect herself and everypony in the vicinity of the blasts. And it worked perfectly. The dark blasts vaporized upon contact with the plasma wall. Then the pony of plasma made the wall extend into a whole dome that surrounded all of the Shadowmares entrapping them inside.

“Oh shoot! Why did they have to crash the party?” Pinkie complained. “Now it has to end early.”

“Says who?” Cryo asked.

“Are you not at the same party here?” Twilight asked. “Look around, Cryo. These guys are everywhere.”

“What are these ponies anyway?” Rarity asked anypony.

Luna knew. She wasn’t proud of it but she knew.

“They’re called Shadowmares.” She answered Rarity. “Nightmare Moon’s flunkies made from shadows. She can shape them into any form she wants to whether it be wingless, with wings, bigger, smaller, it matters not.”

“And I count about twenty of them.” Rainbow Dash added. “We’re screwed.”

“Oh please.” Cryo was still arguing. “Pyro, if I may?”

Everypony around him heard what he was saying and understood what he was asking for. To go in there alone. As much as everyone there wanted Pyro to say no…he didn’t.

“By all means, my icy bro, the floor is all yours.”

One nod from Cryo and he was off. Using his own magic, he phased himself through Gem’s plasma wall and then stood in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the evil black ponies.

“Is he insane?” Rainbow Dash asked anypony.

“Just watch and learn from the master.” Terra shushed her.

“Typhoon, you know my favorite tune.” Cryo said.

Typhoon looked in Cryo’s case for the album he was referring to. Shortly she found it with the label of, Moves Like Jagger.

It disturbed everyone how Cryo was being so calm about this while vicious Shadowmare were around. Typhoon just put the record on and the music began to play as Cryo stood up on his hind hooves in his own bipedal stance. Then with a wave of his right hoof, the ice that had the Shadowmares trapped shattered.

“Alright, you bastards.” Cryo openly said. “You ruined a great party. Now it’s time for you to know my song and dance. Literally.”

The music that began to play confused everyone there except for the six Alamantians. Even the Shadowmares were confused. Nopony had ever heard music like this before. Not even the two princesses knew what was going on with the music or why Cryo was by himself surrounded by the enemy.

“Things are gonna get chilly.”

(BGM: Maroon 5: Moves Like Jagger)

The intro seemed to involving someone whistling and an electric guitar. After a few rounds of that, Cryo himself began to sing. Rather well too. As he did, he began to rhythmically bob his body back and forth slowly, leaving everyone but his siblings totally confused as to why he was singing right now.

There have been plenty of musical numbers in Ponyville, but the citizens of Ponyville got their world rocked upon seeing this type of number.

Cryo:

Just shoot for the stars
If it feels right
And aim for my heart
If you feel like
And take me away and make it OK
I swear I'll behave

Thinking it was nonsense, the Shadowmares all lunged for him at once. But this was all Cryo’s plan. He ducked gracefully by doing the splits. And all the Shadowmares collided with each other’s heads and fell to the ground.

You wanted control
So we waited
I put on a show
Now I make it

The unicorn of ice stood himself back up and began to move around quite nicely on his two hind hooves alone. Pinkie was immediately impressed.

You say I'm a kid
My ego is big
I don't give a shit

Then when the Shadowmares got back up and only one of them lunged at him, the fun really began.

And it goes like this

By blocking the punch thrown at his face, Cryo showed everypony a new way to dance along with a whole new type of music never before heard to them. He started by pulling that same mare forward then punching it in the face.

Take me by the tongue
And I'll know you
Kiss me 'til you're drunk
And I'll show you

All the moves like Jagger
I've got the moves like Jagger
I've got the moo-oo-oo-OO-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger

As he sang, Cryo was performing a very impressive combination of dance moves and martial arts together. Right before he started the next verse, another Shadowmare came up to him and tried to kick him in the face. But Cryo being a very agile mover, he threw himself down on his back to dodge the attack and succeeded. And as soon as his back was in full contact with the ground, he then threw his hind legs forward to give him enough momentum to stand back up and kick the Shadowmare in the stomach.

I don't need to try to control you
Look into my eyes and I'll own you

With them moves like Jagger
I've got the moves like Jagger
I've got the moo-oo-oo-OO-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger

The white unicorn of ice put his hooves on the necks of two of the dark flunkies and then pushed them all the way down so the smacked their heads on the hard floor.

Maybe it's hard
When you feel like you're broken and scarred
Nothing feels right
But when you're with me
I'll make you believe
That I've got the key

When a few more tried to get him, Cryo decided to turn on his true powers. His two front hooves energized with cyan energy of his natural element. Instead if shooting the Shadowmares, he pointed his hooves to the ground and froze it all. Only the ground that was inside Gem’s plasma barrier got frozen. The Shadowmares now had trouble with their balance. But Cryo was one hundred percent stable. He began to skate.

Oh
So get in the car
We can ride it
Wherever you want
Get inside it

Pyro, Typhoon, Agua, Terra, and Gem knew this song by heart as well. After hearing it come from Cryo’s room so many times back at the rock, they learned it themselves. They were now rhythmically pounding the floor as Cryo danced, skated, and fought away.

And you want to steer
But I'm shifting gears
I'll take it from here (Oh! Yeah yeah!)

One Shadowmare created two blades from dark energy. It swung at Cryo and he leaned over as if he were playing limbo.

And it goes like this (Uh)

As his voice continued singing, his ice powers became fully seen. After he leaned back up from the limbo stance, he turned around and eyes the Shadowmare from behind. He then raised his hooves up, then quickly dropped them down again. Doing that made a small pillar of ice form from the ground then quickly drop down, slamming the dark flunkie to the ground.

With a single spin and another wave of his hooves, Cryo attacked another Shadowmare. Several spikes of ice shot up from the icy ground and floated over to the Shadowmare and drove into the ground around it, trapping it.

A few more steps forward and Cryo threw a punch at another one from ten feet away. A patch of ice right in front the Shadowmare flew up and collided into the dark pony sending it to the ground. With a half turn and a kick of his right hind hoof, the same thing happened to another one. Then Cryo spun around and backflipped over another one. As he was airborne, the ice on the ground expanded and froze the Shadowmare in a block of ice.

Take me by the tongue
And I'll know you (Uh)
Kiss me 'til you're drunk
And I'll show you

All the moves like Jagger
I've got the moves like Jagger
I've got the moo-oo-oo-OO-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger

When Cryo landed, two long icicle blades formed from his hooves and he blocked another Shadowmare armed with his own dark blades. He blocked then swung his ice blades right through the body of the Shadowmare. It disovled.

I don't need to try to control you (Oh, yeah)
Look into my eyes and I'll own you

With them moves like Jagger
I've got the moves like Jagger (Yeah yeah)
I've got the moo-oo-oo-OO-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger

More dark flunkies came for him. His ice blades were still formed around his hooves. Putting them to use, he danced more and swung his arms gracefully and very precisely. Any Shadowmare that came into contact with those icy blades evaporated into the shadows that made them. Then he turned around and threw out his arms. The blades from his arms detached and drove through the heads of two more making them also dissolve.

While this was all happening, everypony there aside from Cryo’s five siblings were totally shocked, terrified, confused, and amazed at the same time.

But if that wasn’t enough to shock them, then this was. Wanting to turn this little performance into a duet, Typhoon got up on her hind hooves and walked straight through the plasma shield after Gem had opened it for her and then quickly closed it up. Then her voice came on.

Tyhpoon:

You wanna know how to make me smile
Take control, own me just for the night
And if I share my secret
You're gonna have to keep it
Nobody else can see this

It was no surprise to everypony that Typhoon could sing well. But the shocker was this. Not to the other five Alamantians but to everypony else. As she sung, Typhoon’s French accent completely disappeared. She now had a flawless voice.

That little verse got the attention of every Shadowmare there. They now split into two separate groups. One for Cryo and one for Typhoon. Now both ponies were doing the same form of technique with blasts of ice and wind going in multiple directions.

So watch and learn
I won't show you twice
Head to toe, oooh baby rub me right
But if I share my secret
You're gonna have to keep it
Nobody else can see this (Ay! Ay! Ay! Aaay!)

As he bashed two more Shadowmare heads together, Cryo took over lead vocals again.

Cryo:

And it goes like this

Now it was here where both Typhoon and Cryo danced as partners using martial arts, dancing moves, AND their own elemental powers over ice and wind.

Take me by the tongue
And I'll know you

Typhoon:

Take me by the tongue!

Cryo:

Kiss me 'til you're drunk
And I'll show you (Yeah yeah yeah!)

All the moves like Jagger
I've got the moves like Jagger
I've got the moo-oo-oo-OO-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger

Typhoon got a little creative with two of the dark ponies. He jumped up on to her front hooves and stood on them. She then used her powers of wind to make herself spin around in circles. As she spun, a whirlwind formed around her. Then she swung out her hind legs and the whirlwind quickly expanded out and made the surrounding Shadowmares fly away.

It was here where Cryo decided to finish it up. And he knew how to do it in style. Seeing Typhoon stand bipedal again, he slid over and embraced her in a starting position. Then he swung her around in a perfect wave with her hind hooves coming into contact with the approaching heads of Shadowmares. Then the two went on to do that again but differently.

(Oh, yeah)
I don't need to try to control you
Look into my eyes and I'll own you

With them moves like Jagger
I've got the moves like Jagger
I've got the moo-oo-oo-OO-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger

Terra, Agua, Gem, and Pyro all assisted with whistling the end of the song and then the record ended. As did the whole fight. When Cryo and Typhoon struck their final pose embraced in each other’s hooves, the Shadowmares all evaporated into black smoke. The danger passed, Gem waved her hoof and made her plasma shield dematerialized.

That only left Cryo to get rid of the ice on the ground. Typhoon got off the patch and then Cryo began to rotate his right hoof in a slow circle. This amazed all the ponies. The ice began to peel off the floor and funnel into a giant sphere in front of Cryo’s hoof. When it was all there, Cryo walked outside with it, and rolled it into the open light where the sun quickly began to melt it away.

When he closed the door back up, he finally noticed everypony there had their eyes on him. It was no doubt because of the display he just gave.

“H…..h……how?” Was all Spike was able to get out.

“Oh yeah. About Cryo.” Terra told them. “His fighting style revolves all around his special talent. He may be a great master of ice but inside, he is one hell of a dancer.”

“Special talent?” Scootaloo repeated. “But if dancing is what he loves to do, how come he doesn’t have a dancing cutie mark?”

“Kid, when it comes to the six of us, our cutie marks don’t represent our true passions and talents.” Pyro explained. “I mean sure. I can take a simple candlelight flame and turn it into a frickin inferno in a split second. I’m good at it. But it doesn’t mean it’s what I love to do. Granted it’s fun but I don’t LOVE it.”

“Really?” Sweetie Belle seemed to find that very odd. “Well then…how did you guys get your cutie marks? And what do you guys love to do?”

That was indeed a good question. But now wasn’t the proper time to answer it.

“A story for another time, Sweetie Belle.” Terra answered.

“But that was still…..totally awesome! Wasn’t it everypony?” Pinkie asked loudly.

Terra, Gem, Agua, Cryo, Pyro, and Typhoon thought they were all gonna be screwed right here. Everypony there just saw what they were truly capable of doing to a bunch of ponies that weren’t even real.

And once again they were quickly proven wrong when everypony started cheering and clapping mostly for Cryo and Typhoon.

“Huh? What?” Cryo couldn’t believe it.

“Zey….liked eet?” Typhoon asked herself.

Scootaloo ran over to the two dancing fighters.

“That was so cool! Do it again do it again!

As cool as it was, it was also tiring. Cryo and Typhoon were breathing deep to catch their breath. Then a mare approached the two of them. A white unicorn with a blue mane and wore sunglasses. Her cutie mark is a backwards double quaver. She didn’t say anything. She just looked at them blankly through her shades.

“Um…..yes?” Cryo muttered.

“Vinyl? What’s wrong with you?” Twilight gave the unicorn’s name.

Vinyl just stared at Cryo and then lowered her head at him.

“Dude, I beg of you….teach me your ever so divine dancing moves.”

It turns out Vinyl wasn’t the only one there who wanted to know how Cryo dances like that. No way. Lyra wanted to learn to along with a few others. In fact, had they not been too distracted by that, they would not have noticed that they were still not out of the woods quite yet.

But they were lucky Gem noticed it. There was one more Shadowmare that remained incognito during the fighting dance. The dark energy flowing from its hooves gave it away. It raised one hoof and prepared to fire a blast at Rainbow Dash’s skull.

“RAINBOW LOOKOUT!”

Turning around, Rainbow and everyone else saw the Shadowmare blast it’s attack right for the cyan pegasus. But then they were met with shock when Gem jumped in front of the blast and took it full contact on the left side of her torso.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” Gem cried in pain.

As she thudded to the ground, everyone saw the wound on her side. It was as wide and round as a bowling ball edged with black. It had begun to already bleed. That was enough to get Agua’s blood pumping. He then eyed the punch bowl he drank out of earlier.

“Pinkie, you might wanna refill the punch bowl.”

Standing bipedal, Agua motioned his hoof in the direction of the punch bowl. With a wave, every drop of red colored punch flew out of the bowl and swirled in a sphere in between his two front hooves.

With one step forward, Agua launched the punch at the Shadowmare’s head at a very high pressure. Since the Shadowmare wasn’t a real pony, the speed Agua was making the watery substance move at was fast enough to drill a hole straight through the black pony’s head and make it dissolve.

Satisfied with his work, Agua stood back down on all fours.

“Before any of you ask, I was able to move the punch because it’s mostly water. Everything fruity just went with it.”

The six elements of harmony were indeed about to ask that. Agua spared them from it.

“Nice shot.” Cryo muttered.

With that done, Gem’s moans of pain brought everyone back to view her wound. She was bleeding a lot more harshly now but the pain had died down a bit.

“Oh mah stars. That doesn’t look too good.” Applejack muttered.

“She…saved me.” Rainbow barely got that out.

Rainbow was starting to feel different about Gem right here. That little unicorn had just jumped in the way and took a blast meant for Rainbow herself. If she hadn’t, it would have hit the middle of Rainbow’s head and she would be dead.

But Gem took the blow for her. Slowly, the multicolored pegasus got down so she was closer to her partner.

“Why did you do that?” she asked her.

Gem was still in pain. But she could still talk.

“You’re my partner. I said I’d protect you, remember?”

Now that made Rainbow feel weak. And she downright hated it. Gem was a few years younger than Rainbow. The pegasus didn’t think she would ever do that to such extreme levels such as this.

“I…..I…..” Rainbow didn’t know what to say other than this. “Thank you.”

The only response she got to that was Gem moaning due to the throbbing pain in her side. Luckily Pinkie had invited one of the local nurses to the party. Nurse Redheart. A white earth pony mare with a red cross adorned with pink hearts for a cutie mark.

Redheart immediately examined the wound and came to a quick conclusion.

“It’s only a flesh wound.” She said. “Your friend is gonna be fine. But we should bandage her up just to be safe.”

Twilight had already gone and fetched a first-aid kit and set it down next to Redheart. But before she could even open it up, Agua got in the way.

“Those bandages aren’t necessary.”

“What?” Redheart thought he was talking nonsense. “You have no idea what you’re saying. Now step aside and let me wrap her up.”

The only response she got was Agua glaring at her with cold eyes.

“BACK. OFF.” He said as if it were a warning.

Now a bit frightened of him, Redheart began to walk backwards. Looking back at the wound, Agua was satisfied with the space he now had as everypony else just thought of his more as a jerk. Then he spoke.

“Gem, this might sting for just a bit.”

Gem, still breathing heavy, gave a small nod and braced herself for whatever Agua was about to do.

Taking a deep breath, Agua cleared his mind and focused on his little sister’s wound. Then he activated his hydrokinesis. With a few gentle motions of his front hooves, a small sphere of clear water materialized right in front of him. Slowly he made the water ball move towards Gem’s wound. When it was there, Agua slightly waved his hoof and the ball deformed into a flat floating puddle. It then covered up Gem’s wound on contact.

Gem winced when it made contact. That was the part Agua was talking about when it would sting. But it quickly subsided. With another deep breath, Agua put his hooves on the water itself. The water and the tips of his hooves began to glow dim white a bit and everypony there gasped. Even the blue stallion’s siblings.

The water Agua was manipulating began to slowly swirl as it lit up in light. After a few more seconds and a few waves of Agua’s hooves, the glow died down and Agua moved his hooves away. That’s when everypony viewing got a surprise. Even Celestia and Luna were shocked.

Gem’s wound had completely vanished. So did the water Agua used to perform the procedure. The purple unicorn of plasma felt no more pain much to her surprise. She leaned up and looked at her side viewing her body to be as good as new.

Luna stepped forward to view closer. It just baffled her that a pony with no magical powers could perform such power. Feeling better, Gem stood back up on her hooves as if the blast never hit her. Rarity looked at her partner with the most shock if them all.

“What did….how did….you….huh?”

She couldn’t find words. Her jerk of a partner just healed a wound on Gem’s body on his own volition. Out of the one day Rarity knew him, it seemed a bit out of character.

“I’m not heartless.” Agua muttered. “It may seem like it but I’m not.”

“Agua….how come you never told us you could Mizu-Mend?” Typhoon asked

Agua stood up, looked at her, and gave her a straight answer.

“You never asked.”

And with that, Agua said no more words as he walked away leaving everypony else there confused.

“Maybe you CAN get along with him, Rarity.” Fluttershy softly said. “He seems to have some good qualities in him.”

Rarity couldn’t deny that after seeing what Agua just did for Gem.

“Well….I suppose I could give him a chance.” She muttered.

That was settled. But there was still one thing that had Spike confused.

“Wait. Mizu-what now?” Spike asked.

“Mizu-Mend.” Terra answered. “Only some of the most powerful members of the Hydro Tribe are able to do that.”

“It’s an ancient form of healing using water.” Pyro added. “No other element out of the six has the power to do that.”

“Amazing.” Celestia muttered. “Not even magic can heal wounds like that. Gem, how do you feel?”

“I feel great, princess.” Gem replied.

Once again, her mind was blown. The ruler of all Equestria had been to Alamante many times before and seen these elemental powers used. But never in ways like this. This was all brand new information for her and she was having a bit of trouble letting it all soak in. These six have powers that even she doesn’t know.

It made her feel…uneasy. The sight of those Shadowmares attacking didn’t help at all. Her star student and her friends lives were in very grave danger. That much was clear. She only prayed these new foreign ponies would have enough power and wit to overcome the threat.

It seemed after that the party would be over. But then Cryo saw Cheerilee approach him with a very strange look on her face. Of course she was freaked out by what she just saw happen. It made the icy pony’s heart drop a little.

“Let me guess. You want me nowhere near your school or any other child for that matter.” Cryo muttered upset.

“Why would you think that? I thought you were amazing!” Cheerilee said.

Cryo’s eyes were open all the way now. How was this happening? He thought.

“I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?” He asked shocked. “What you and everypony else just saw was me beating the living daylights out of a whole horde of dark ponies. And yet…you’re not afraid?”

“Of course not!” Cheerilee actually thought the icy stallion was being silly. “You may have been a bit graphic but you saved us all. And that music was very interesting. Who was it by?”

Cryo smirked a bit at that.

“I don’t know the name of the band who sings it. But it’s….out of this world.” He was speaking the honest truth.

“Well regardless, your dancing seems to have been very effective.” Cheerilee said.

Cryo had to let that soak into his head. He had just unleashed his full power upon a swarm of evil bloodlust ponies, and nopony was scared of him. He thought for sure they would be frightened a little. But they weren’t.

“Okay. It’s official. This. Town. Rocks.”

Cheerilee giggled at that and gave him a warm smile.

“Welcome to Ponyville, Cryo.” She gently said.

With a chuckle himself, Cryo spoke back to her.

“You must be the coolest teacher ever.”

With a little bit of laughter, the party somehow was able to come back from the dead. Everywhere Gem went that day, she was seen as a hero who saved a not just a pony’s life, but also risked hers in the process. It was a bit embarrassing for her to keep being looked at like that. Rainbow Dash didn’t leave her side the whole time.

Soon, the party ended and the sister princesses returned to the Canterlot Castle. The two parted ways as they went to their separate rooms.

When she closed the doors to her quarters, Celestia used her magic to drop the curtains and block out the sunlight. She then lit a few small candles nearby.

To Princess Celestia, she was probably the biggest believer in honesty to ever live other than Applejack. She had never kept any secret or had any of her own to tell.

That’s why there was something sticking in her craw. Because for the past days, she had been violating her own beliefs.

Calmly, the sun princess went to the center of her room and sat down on her hind hooves. Closing her eyes and breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, she brought her front hooves together.

Her mind then began to focus. She had learned how to mediate nearly a century ago from an old friend. She had a secret. A secret that she knew she had to keep, but pained her to do it. She began to focus on the same person who had taught her how to meditate in the first place.

“Focus, Celestia. Become one with your center.”

A voice popped up in her head signaling she had achieved total zen with her mind.

“There was an attack today. Nightmare Moon’s soldiers showed up and tried to kill them.”

She was having a full conversation with this voice. The voice was elderly and it sounded like a stallion’s.

“And I trust they are all still alive?”

“Of course they are. Their abilities and skills with the elements are magnificent.”

Then Celestia’s tone switched to one of concern.

“I really hope you know how awful a risk you’ve taken, dear friend. This is the first time I have ever feared for Twilight’s life.”

“Perhaps you should trust her new friends a bit more, Celestia. Don’t forget. If the prophecy is true, then their combined power will vanquish Nightmare forever this time.”

“I’m aware of what the prophecy says. But I still fear for my best student. Her life is at risk. All of their lives are.”

“I believe that young stallion will indeed protect your beloved Twilight as he promised to.”

Celestia sighed.

“He’s still just a boy. I sense the troubles in him. And Twilight is as young as he is.”

“And this is a problem because?”

“It’s a problem because this burden will probably show to be too much for them to handle. I’ve sensed dark times for some time now. Nightmare is growing stronger with each second that passes by.”

“As are they, Celestia. And I believe that this unification of nature and harmony will make them all even more powerful beyond even our own wildest dreams.”

She couldn’t think of a way to argue anymore. She was getting a headache.

“I sure do hope your right. Because if not, we may be looking at a catastrophe.”

“It will not come to that. I can assure you. Take care, my dear.”

“Be safe, old friend.”

Her conversation ended, but Celestia kept her mind in the state it was in for a little while longer before resuming her royal duties as ruler of Equestria.

The worst was yet to come

Relations

I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 12: Relations

A few more days passed. It’s been ten days now. The way day and night comes so easily to Equestria seems almost too good to believe sometimes. It’s the same routine. Sun comes up, sun goes down. Moon goes up, moon comes down. And then the cycle repeats over and over again. It’s all too easy.

Sometimes there are a few who believe that the easy-going nature they all live in is to perfect to last. And recently, they had reason to believe it. After the event which ponies are now calling, “The Party of the Jagger”, for obvious reasons, they had started to slightly worry that the same thing would happen again.

Their worry was eased with the thought of the six newest residents. The six Alamantians, the element manipulators, were there to protect them. Ponyville just wasn’t aware how much protecting they were really doing. The only six who knew of that were the other six Elements of Harmony.

Relating to the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle found herself in a bind. She was on a mission by herself to figure out something that happened to her a week ago in Canterlot Castle. She remembered the spell Gem cast on the Elements of Harmony so they manifested themselves inside their true bearers. Now Twilight was faced with a predicament.

She didn’t know how to make her Element of Harmony appear out of nowhere.

Pyro said to her the element of magic was now flowing through her veins like his fire does for him and as the other elements do for their other friends. The problem was figuring it out how to make the magic come forth. She tried spells, enchantments, potions, some low degree hexes, but nothing seemed to work. With every failure, she started to get a little more worried that she wouldn’t get it at all.

It was a simple day so far. Early morning routines had been all completed be everypony in Ponyville. Well….almost everypony.

Twilight had been up for hours and she still wasn’t done getting ready. She always took longer than most ponies to get through her morning routine. She made lists of things for her to do every morning before she went to bed the previous night. Sometimes they were too big for Spike to carry without straining his back.

Lucky for the still snoozing dragon, this particular morning’s list was extra short. All Twilight put down was get new list making supplies which she did herself in less than twenty minutes. The house was clean, the books were properly shelved, Spike was snoring with his blanky covering his face, all seemed right with the world.

As for the other guest in the house, Twilight assumed he had gotten in from his late night walk last night. She proceeded down the stairs to her basement to see.

“Pyro, you promised me you would teach me long range teleportation today.” She said before reaching the bottom of the staircase.

When she got there, she was surprised to find that he wasn’t there. For the past week and a half since Pyro’s been there, aside from the first night, he was down in the basement every morning meditating. Not this time. Instead of taking time to think about where else he might be, Twilight did something that she is an expert in other than magic.

She panicked.

With a quick teleportation, she was back in the front room of the library. She rushed out the front door and prepared to search the entire town of Ponyville in search of him. But before she could get away from her house, she ran into a few of her friends. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were all there with their partners.

“Oh good! You guys are here! Now listen to me! We have a serious problem and we need to act fast if we wanna have any chance at finding him!”

Only Typhoon knew what she was talking about due to her telepathy. Applejack went over to the frightened unicorn and rest a hoof on her shoulder.

“Whoa there, girl. Take it easy.” The farmgirl gently said. “Now what is goin’ on?”

“It’s Pyro. I can’t find him anywhere.” Twilight fearfully said. “He could be hurt! He could be in danger! He could be scared!”

“A guy like Pyro?” Terra thought she was hearing things. “Okay. In danger: maybe. Hurt: most likely not. Scared: Not on your friggin life.”

“Pyro’s not afraid of anything.” Gem added. “And it’ll take something big and I mean BIG to hurt him.”

“Big like Nightmare Moon?” Twilight said. “Nightmare could be anywhere in the night and she could have spotted Pyro all alone. Think about THAT!”

“Wow.” Typhoon was at a loss. “You’ve been living with heem and you obviously know nothing about heem.”

“Yeah what she said.” Rainbow Dash agreed. “Twilight, I think you’re seriously underestimating Pyro.”

“Nonetheless I’ll feel a lot better when I see that he’s okay.” Twilight still wanted to search for him

The door to the library opened up again and out of it came Spike trying to wake up. He walked over to the group of girls in front of him.

“What’s going on?” the young dragon asked very much curious.

“Oh good Spike! You’re awake! Listen, Pyro’s missing and we gotta find him right now! I mean who knows? Nightmare Moon could have gotten him last night while we were all asleep and he was awake the whole time because of that insomnia spell! Spike, our partner could be hurt! Dead! His fire could have been blown out!”

Nopony knew how this was actually possible, but Twilight right now, was acting more like a drama queen than Rarity ever had.

“Let’s all split up and search everywhere for him. If he’s alive, he should be nearby.”

“Twilight….”

“Applejack, you and Terra take the north part of town.”

“Twilight….”

“Fluttershy, Typhoon, you two look on the west.”

“Twi….”

“Rainbow Dash and Gem, you two go and-“

“TWILIGHT!”

Spike quickly got fed up and raised his voice. Fortunately it was enough to make Twilight stop talking.

“Um….yes, Spike?”

“You don’t have to look anywhere. Pyro’s right up there.”

His hand pointed at Twilight’s house and upwards. There are two balconies on the library. And on the highest one, there was the red stallion Twilight was worried about. She took a huge sigh of relief in seeing he was okay and unharmed.

“You were about to search the whole town. Didn’t you check inside your own house first?” Terra asked.

Twilight was now blushing huge out of total embarrassment. She felt so stupid not checking the library first.

“Whoops.” Was all she could say.

Spike rolled his eyes and leaned against Applejack’s front hoof.

“Ten days Pyro’s been here and he shows no annoyance at Twilight’s behavior. I should ask him how he does it.”

“Oh stop it, Spike.” Applejack muttered so Twilight wouldn’t hear. “We all know how much Twilight can overreact to somthin’.”

“I already knew he was up zere.” Typhoon confessed. “I would have said something, but Twilight was talking too fast.”

“Right. Mind reader. Not creepy at all.” Rainbow Dash murmured. “What’s he doing anyway?”

The viewing ponies sat in silence viewing the unicorn of fire. He took in some air through his nose, then a few flames flew out his nostrils as he exhaled.

He then performed a single jump and landed on his two front hooves putting himself in a hoofstand. It wasn’t as much that part that got Twilight and the others impressed. It was more the fact that Pyro was doing a hoofstand on the railing of Twilight’s balcony.

Twilight was about to rush up there and make him stop but somepony bit on her tail to stop her.

“Shhhhhh.” The pony who did that was Terra. “He needs to focus.” She whispered.

Wondering exactly what he was doing, the seven mares sat down on their haunches and watched Pyro in silence. The stallion looked like a perfectly balanced statue. No sudden movements, no indications of losing balance.

About a minute later, something else finally happened. A few meters out from Pyro’s face, a small ball of fire formed from the air. It was a small orb about the size of an oversized marble. Then a few flaming rings formed around the orb resembling an artist’s rendition of an atom.

The little atom of flames then shifted into one slightly bigger bundle. At a steady speed, it went over to its master and began to swirl up his hoof planted on the railing. It whirled around his head and began to make its way up and down his body.

A few more rings formed around Pyro blazing bright orange, red, and yellow. Three rings in total. Slowly, the rings merged together to become one bog one encircling him. Then the ring broke off into one stream of flame and flew away from the house. When a few meters out it was, the stream changed shape into that of a serpent dragon. It breathed out even more fire into the sky.

“He didn’t even move a single muscle.” Rainbow dash said in awe.

“Sometimes, ze mind can be more powerful zen ze body.” Typhoon whispered.

Typhoon had seen this routine before. He was now finished with this practice move. Slowly, his eyes opened up and he looked straight down at the ground. He slightly smiled at the sight of his friends and his adoptive siblings.

“Hello all.” He said ever so softly.

“Um…are you sure that’s safe, Pyro?” Fluttershy asked very concerned.

“I know it’s not really safe, Fluttershy.” Pyro answered raising his voice a bit to reach her. “But I can take a high jump.”

“Where did you even learn how to do all this anyway?” Rainbow Dash floated up to his height so she wouldn’t have to raise her voice.

Pyro found that convenient seeing that he didn’t have to raise his voice either now.

He frowned as he gave his answer.

“Master Ma taught me everything I know from blasting fire to meditation and everything in between. This particular exercise helps me with focus…and balance.”

“Well I can see that.” Rainbow Dash observed. “You’re standing on a balcony on one front hoof. I think your balance is pretty good.”

Pyro sighed. Apparently he wasn’t clear enough.

“Not just that kind of balance, Rainbow. Balance between my inner energy and my mind. It takes great concentration for the two to be in perfect sync with each other.”

Rainbow comprehended it a little bit.

“When the mind and inner force become synchronized, the end result…”

Before he finished his sentence, Pyro moved his whole body. He sprung himself off his front hoof then landed back on the balcony rail standing on his two hind hooves. As soon as his hooves touched the rail, he threw a punch to the sky and blasted a good size stream of fire heavenward.

“…is total control.”

Easily they were impressed by his strength and words. Twilight found them to be a bit familiar. She remembered lessons Princess Celestia gave her. She said magic works almost in the same way. It takes great focus of both the mind, and horn. Twilight has always thought of her horn to be her inner energy. That was before she became one of the Elements of Harmony. She then figured it out it wasn’t her ability to do magic that was her inner energy. It was the magic inside her heart that empowered her. Her friendship. Ever since that first fight with Nightmare Moon her ability to perform magic amplified significantly.

She only hoped it would be powerful enough to take Nightmare on a second time.

Tired of slightly shouting at her brother to talk, Terra pounded the ground with her hoof and made the ground she and the others were currently standing on raise up in a giant pillar. After they reached Pyro’s height, the red stallion and Rainbow Dash chuckled at seeing the others except for Terra a bit dizzy.

“Could you give some warning before you do that?” Twilight asked as she rubbed her head.

Then she redirected her voice to her partner.

“I wish I could do that with MY element as easily as you can with yours.” She complained. “I’ve been trying for days to figure out how to make my weird crown thingy appear and I’ve come up with absolutely nothing!”

Pyro jumped off the railing and on to the pillar of rock. Standing back on all fours, he looked at his partner with a calm look.

“Master Ma told me the Elements of Harmony work almost in the same way as those of nature. It takes great focus and balance to conjure up their power at will. Perhaps if your mind was a bit calmer than it is now, you would have more success.”

“How can my mind possibly be calm?” Twilight pressed her nose up against his. “Nightmare Moon attacked us at Pinkie’s party! Who knows when she’ll try again? I need to figure out how to make our elements combine like that prophecy said in that book! How can YOU be calm?”

After taking a few seconds to pop his ears, Pyro placed a hoof on Twilight’s head and nudged her away from his own.

“Your heart is in the right place, Twilight. But you’re trying to advance yourself too quickly. You need to slow down. Pace yourself.”

“Slow down? How can you say something like that? How can you possibly be so easy going about this?”

“Because I have faith in you and everypony else. Have patience, Twilight. I’m sure in time you’ll discover the key to this whole element uniting thing. But don’t try to rush it. Let it come to you naturally. Only then will it truly be clear.”

The voice of reason came to Pyro so naturally. After years of being under the wing of somepony who talks that way all the time he learned more than just moving fire.

“I bet if you grew a mustache and beard, you’d look just like Master Ma.” Terra joked.

Pyro sighed and smiled as he looked down at the ground from the pillar.

“I’ve known Master Ma ever since I was three years old. When I turned five he became my teacher. I tend to talk like him sometimes.”

The stallion jumped off the pillar of stone and fell straight for the ground. His hooves impacted the dirt and Pyro didn’t seem the least bit phased. Terra lowered the rocky pillar and it fit right where it was before.

“He’s sort of like my father. But he isn’t really. He’s just the closest thing I’ve ever had to one.”

“You mean you didn’t know your real father?” Twilight asked.

“Nope.”

“Do you at least know who he is?” Terra asked.

“Nope.”

“Do you have any clue WHERE he is?” Rainbow Dash took her turn.

“Nope.”

The third no in a row got them all a bit confused and a little worried.

“Pyro…do you even at all care about your father?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Not one damn bit.”

He could have just said no. But the words he used to deny this matter for the fourth time made it clear to all of them he was not comfortable talking about this.

They should have just ended it right there.

“How could ya not care? It’s yer father. Yer kin.” Applejack reasoned.

He could take a few questions, but now Pyro’s blood began to boil even more than it already does when he’s NOT mad.

“He is not my kin nor do I consider whoever he is to be my father.” He growled.

“Well then…what DO you see him as?” Twilight asked.

Pyro just wanted them so badly to stop. He took a chance and figured they would stop if he answered one more question honestly.

“I only view him as the bastard who had sex with my mom, and bailed when he found out she was pregnant. So there. You happy now?”

They were not the least bit happy. They felt guilty for pressing the matter. After the first no he said, they should have just let it all go. But they didn’t. They pressed and now he was mad.

“Okay. So you’re father made a mistake in leaving.” Twilight tried to calm him down. “But that can’t mean you’ve never been curious about him.”

“Well sure I have. When I was just a colt. But the more I grew up, the more I realized he never cared about me. If he did, he would have stuck around.”

“But you can’t…”

She got interrupted.

“Twilight…remember when you and I both agreed that we didn’t need to know every single detail about each other?”

“Yes.”

“Well….this is one of MY details. I beg of you to not dig further into it.”

That was the last thing Pyro said on that matter. After that, they all headed out to Rarity’s place.

“Pyro, you said you would teach me long range teleporting today.” Twilight reminded her partner.

“And I intend to hold my end of that promise.” Pyro assured her. “Have patience. The day has just begun. I want to check in with Agua and Cryo to see how they are doing.”

Twilight agreed. That was the second time today Pyro told her to be patient. She didn’t think of herself as that much of an impatient mare but apparently everypony else says otherwise.

With one knock on the door to Carousel Boutique, the shop’s owner opened it.

“Hello, Rarity.”

“Oh good morning, Pyro. And hello everyone!”

Everypony else said hello to Rarity as she let them all walk inside.

“And why have you come?” Rarity asked.

“Just wanted to see how things were going.” Pyro told her. “Maybe you can give us the report.”

The only response Pyro got was an icy glare from the fashion lover.

“That bad, huh?”

“Pyro what on earth were you thinking when you made him my partner?” Rarity growled. “He is nothing but a rude, vile, always angry pony who makes life very unpleasant! Why I ask you! Of all the ponies you could have put me with, why HIM?”

A deep breath was all it took for Pyro’s wise words to come back out.

“Rarity, trust me on this. I of all people know how difficult Agua can be. He and I are total opposites when it comes to elemental traits and more. It took a while to get to know him, but I give you my word of honor. Give it a bit more time and you will discover a side of Agua that is softer than you’ll know.”

“Your word of honor? That’s all I have to go by?” Rarity still wasn’t convinced.

“Hey, in our country we take honor VERY seriously. So when we say we give you our word of honor, we aren’t screwin’ around.” Terra sternly backed up her brother on this.

“Eet’s true.” Typhoon added. “Honor is ze most sacred zing to Alamantians.”

That little fact was indeed worth respecting. Even after being away from Alamante for three years, the six of them still hold their honor dearly sacred.

Rarity thought about her situation for a bit. If honor was what these guys are all about, and they gave her their word of honor that Agua would come around, she felt obligated to believe them.

“Well…alright. I’ll try HARDER to be friends with him but it’s just so darn hard already. He dug a hole in my backyard without even letting me know.”

Fluttershy, Typhoon, Pyro, and Twilight were the ones there who didn’t already know that. All four of them looked outside Rarity’s window to view the hole the off-white unicorn spoke of. It wasn’t a hole as much as it was a pond.

To get a better look, they all went outside. In retrospect, the pond wasn’t actually that bad. In fact, it was quite beautiful. The light gleamed off the surface nicely and underneath the water the plants Agua placed swayed back and forth.

And on top of the water’s surface, as if it were solid ground, Agua stood there in bipedal stance. His back was turned so he noticed not the ponies behind him. A few orbs the size of bowling balls revolved around him as if they were in orbit. As he closed his hooves, the balls all became one orb and streamed around him similar to what Pyro was doing earlier.

Rarity stepped forward.

“Agua…”

The stallion’s eyes shot open. Without even thinking, he spun around and shot the stream of water he had a grip on right for them.

Reacting quickly, Pyro jumped forward lighting up his fire moving skills. A thick wall of flames erupted from his hooves and blocked the shot. The water stream turned into steam.

“Calm yourself!” he shouted at his brother.

The wall of flames dissipated. When it cleared, everyone saw Agua’s face.

“Jeez, Agua! Do you shoot at everypony who says hello?” Rainbow shouted.

Agua was gonna scream back, but instead, he took a deep breath and looked down at his reflection in the water.

“I apologize. I was just a bit startled.” He said.

It shocked them all to hear him apologize. Rarity especially.

“Yeah well cool off. We’re all heading over to Pinkie’s and Cryo’s place. You want in?” Pyro asked.

“Sure.”

As simple as walking on ground, Agua walked on top of the surface of the water with the most ease. When he reached land, he stood back on all fours and joined his adoptive siblings and new friends. More like acquaintances for him.

To get to Sugarcube Corner from Rarity’s house, there’s a bridge over going river one needs to cross. When they got to it, Terra began to sniff it. It was an old stone arch bridge. Made of her element of earth.

“Solid granite. Very sturdy foundations.” She noted before crossing it.

As they crossed the bridge, they passed by two Ponyville mares. Fluttershy recognized them as the two mares from the asparagus stand who cut in front of her before she met Iron Will. One was blue in the coat and a dark blonde mane adorned with bows. The other one was pink with blue hair and lightning bolt earrings.

When the ten secret heroes got to the end of the bridge, they were stopped when those two mares spoke to them.

“Hey! Nice head band! I didn’t know the hippie look was a fad in your country!”

That sentenced was followed by laughter. Terra froze in place. She was the only one out of all of them who wore a headband. So the taunt was directed to her.

“Where did you get it from, your grandmother’s closet?” the pink one added.

“Why don’t you go buy a tye-dye shirt and go live in the park with a guitar, you freak?” the other one teased.

Even more laughter followed after that. The other nine ponies saw Terra’s face. She was hurt by their words. She may have a rough texture but there were some things that could really get to her.

What she wanted to do to those snobs. First, she would wait until there was no one else around to see them, then she would bury the two in the ground never to be seen again.

But she couldn’t. She was under instruction from Pyro to keep her powers restrained when in public. As much as she hated it, she knew she had to abide by it.

However, Pyro had other plans. His voice directed towards his sister, he spoke three words.

“Just this once.”

Her eyes sparkled bright with glee as she heard those words. Smirking deviously, she plotted out her rebuttal to the taunts.

Before Rarity saw her smirk, she walked over and placed a hoof around her back.

“Don’t listen to them, Terra.” Rarity comforted her. “You may like to roll around with dirt and rocks but you are still beautiful.”

“No no no no no no. She’s right, Rarity.” Terra then turned around and faced the two snobby girls. “Head band hippie look! Hilarious! HA HA HA! But uh….you wanna know what I find worth laughing at?”

Before those two bullies could even think about responding in another taunt, Terra smacked her front right hoof to the ground. The smack sounded a bit louder than it normally would for anypony else. Around the two snobs, a small cloud of dust arose in a perfect circle. Then not even one second after that, the ground they stood on fell down leaving a circular hole in the bridge.

The two bully mares gave a small yelp as they splashed into the water. Agua laughed a bit before walking over to the hole and looking down into it. Both the girls were soaked in a body of water that was only knee deep.

“Now THAT…was funny.”

The two dripping mares only growled as they began to stand back up. But they didn’t know their ride wasn’t over yet.

“One more thing. Don’t ever talk to Terra that way again.”

Standing back up on his hind hooves bipedal, Agua made a few circular motions with his hooves, and then he lashed them both forward as if he were violently pushing somepony. The water those two mares were standing in began to move. A few meters away, a large wave formed and the two were picked up in it and washed away. They shrieked as they got farther and farther down the stream.

“SURFS UP BIG KAHUNA!” Agua shouted at them.

After they were out of site, the river’s water calmed down to normal. The big stone Terra cut out of the bridge didn’t budge from Agua’s mini tidal wave. Raising her hoof, she raised it back up and slid it back into place. But she couldn’t let go yet. If she did, the giant chunk of granite would simply fall back down into the river. So she took care of it. Nopony could see it, but the edges of the rocky disc sprouted out pegs that dug deep into the bridge itself. After she let go, Terra rubbed her hoof on the bridge to see if it was sturdy enough. It was and she was satisfied.

As Agua rejoined them all, all of them looked quite surprised by what he did to those two mares who made fun of Terra.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Terra said to him.

“Yes I did.” Agua sternly said. “The only one who’s allowed to rip on you….is me.”

He walked on without another word for Sugarcube Corner leaving everyone there quite surprised.

“That’s the nicest thing he’s ever said to me.” Terra noted.

“Well Pyro….I suppose I can take you up on that word of honor of yours.” Rarity admitted.

With a nod from the stallion of fire, the rest of them made their way to catch up with Agua. As they walked, they conversed more.

“Why do you wear that headband anyway, Terra? Is it a fashion choice you like?” Fluttershy asked.

Terra’s face went soft and her eyes looked up at her forehead.

“It used to belong to Dunehopper.”

By now, everypony knew who she was talking about.

“Your older brother?” Rainbow Dash asked to be sure.

“Yeah.” She replied. “All soldiers are given these headbands in the Geo Tribe to signify their graduation from training. He gave me his right before he left to fight in the war. It’s the last thing I have left of him. I haven’t taken it off since he gave it to me.”

“You’ve been wearing that thing on your head for three straight years?” Rarity thought it to be a bit unsanitary. “Darling you had to wash at least once.”

“Nope. For years this thing has been attached to my forehead. I’ll always carry my brother with me no matter where I go.”

“But Terra, it must be filthy!” Rarity would not have it. She turned on her horn.

Terra’s headband began to glow blue like Rarity’s horn. Slowly, it began to slip off her head. Angrily, Terra put her hoof on the headband and violently pulled it back down to her forehead.

“DON’T. TOUCH. THE HEADBAND.”

That was a very stern warning aimed right for Rarity. The glare she was shot made her release the headband from her magical grip instantly. Clearly Terra cared about that elastic band on her head very much. They thought it was sweet how Terra wanted to carried her brother wherever she went.

It made Applejack a bit concerned however. She knows how strongly one can feel about an older brother. The way Terra holds on to that headband however makes it look like she’s not really moving on from his death at all. She’s just trying to hold on to him as much as she can and it didn’t seem like a god thing.

Applejack didn’t dare say that out loud to her.

“I wouldn’t even begin to imagine how much pain I would be in if something happened to my own brother.” Twilight confessed.

“You have an older brother?” Pyro asked.

“Yeah. His name is Shining Armor. He just recently got married to Princess Celestia’s niece, Cadence.”

“Cool. So…your brother married a royal family member. So she’s your sister in law.” Pyro pointed out. “Wouldn’t that make Celestia part of your in-law family as well?”

Twilight’s eyes bugged out right there upon realizing Pyro was right. Now that her older brother was married to Princess Cadence, Celestia was now tied to her by a family bond.

“Yeah. I…..guess it does.” She murmured. “Huh. Weird.”

She would send a letter to Celestia later about that. For now, she wanted to see how Cryo and Pinkie Pie were doing. A short minute later, they all arrived at the front door of the bakery. Once inside, they stopped at the front counter where Mrs. Cake passed by.

“Hi Mrs. Cake. Have you seen Pinkie or Cryo?” Rarity asked.

“They’re both upstairs.” Mrs. Cake answered her before rushing off to complete her task.

While the cakes worked, the other ten ponies proceeded upstairs.

“I wonder how Cryo’s been dealing Pinkie Pie’s randomness.” Spike wondered as he rode Twilight’s back.

“Oh the poor guy.” Rainbow just remembered how Pinkie is. “He must be starting to go insane right about now.”

Applejack gave Rainbow a playful bop on the shoulder.

“Oh don’ you go and be that way, Rainbow. Ah’m sure Cryo is doin’ just fine with Pinkie.”

As they got closer to the second floor, a noise came upon their ears. With each step closer, it got louder and louder.

“The hell’s that noise?” Agua wondered.

“Sounds like Moves Like Jagger to me.” Gem answered.

Everypony listened closer now. They heard Cryo’s and Pinkie Pie’s voice singing together.

Take me by the tongue and I’ll know you
Kiss me till you’re drunk and I’ll show you
All the moves like Jagger
I got the moves like Jagger
I got the moo-oo-oo-OO-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger!

“Well I’d say they’re getting along just fine like you said, Applejack.” Fluttershy agreed.

They stood in front of the door ready to open it up. But right as Twilight was about to do it, the music halted and the two ponies on the other side of the door began to talk.

“Whoo! Pinkie I’m getting tired. You’re wearing me out.”

“Aw come on Cryo. We’ve only been going for an hour. I just have a couple more moves I wanna try out with you.”

“Well….alright. But don’t go too fast this time. I don’t want you getting a cramp or anything.”

“Oki-Doki-Loki! Now crank up that tune!”

Two seconds later, Moves Like Jagger began to blast through the house once again. But the ten ponies along with the baby dragon cared not for their ringing ears. Because the words they just heard spoken got their minds all stirring.

“What….?” Terra muttered.

“…the...?” Agua added.

“…hell?” Typhoon finished.

The noise continued. The grunting on the other side of that door seemed to intensify with every passing minute. The only reason nopony would open the door as because they were afraid of what they would see on the other side.

“Does this…happen often?” Terra asked.

“Not for Pinkie.” Applejack answered. “What about with Cryo?”

“I once walked on him….you know what? Forget I said that.” Gem started but cut herself off.

Everyone else’s faces seemed more disgusted.

“Oh how I’ll try.” Rarity whined.

More voices came from the door.

“Cyro! You’re going too fast!”

“Try to keep up, Pinkie! This DOES require both of us ya know.”

“I know I know. The only way to get better is to practice.”

All ten of them were jaw dropped. Twilight had covered Spike’s ears not wanting him to hear.

“Alright! That’s it!”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t stand it anymore. By the sounds of it, Pinkie was being taken advantage of. And Rainbow was gonna stop it.

She bucked the door open and charged through the doorway.

“What do you think you’re….!”

She finally saw what the two ponies were doing and froze.

“…..doing?”

Cryo and Pinkie were indeed not doing what everypony else thought. They were both standing on their hind hooves embracing each other. Pinkie had one hoof around Cryo’s back and the other one latched onto his own hoof. Cryo had his other hoof around Pinkie’s back.

“Um….hello.” Cryo muttered.

Everypony in the doorway gave a small wave to the two ponies caught in the bipedal embrace.

“What’s going on here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“What’s it look like?” Cryo asked back at her.

“Well its sure better than the image we had in our heads. That’s for sure.” Terra added.

Cryo knew Terra’s mind very well. And by the looks of it, everypony was thinking what she was right now. Cryo was taken aback.

“Oh come on, guys! You know me better than that!” Cryo was offended.

“Yes we do, Cryo. We’re sorry.” Twilight apologized. “And Pinkie, I’m sorry if we offended you too.”

“Of course you didn’t, silly! I thought it was funny! You thought Cryo and I were doing things we weren’t! Hilarious!”

The five Alamantians who WEREN’T living with her found Pinkie’s laughter here to be a bit out of place here. They didn’t know her like the rest of them had. They were totally unaware of the bizarre things she could do with pretty much anything around her.

They would learn in due time.

“Pinkie wanted to learn how to dance like I can. So I offered to teach a few things. Is that so wrong?” Cryo said to them.

“Of course it isn’t, Cryo.” Twilight answered. “We just heard you two talking on the other side of the door and we just misunderstood.”

Cryo nodded at her and smiled.

“It’s okay. I guess we should be a little less vocal.” He admitted.

“You should be a little less gay, frost-face.” Agua teased.

He was only teasing but everyone glared at him anyway.

“What do you want from me? So I like music.” Cryo defended himself.

“I’ll say.” Spike said as he viewed the records in his hands. “I mean look at all these. “Moves Like Jagger”, “Raise Your Glass”, “New Divide”, “Hungry Like the Wolf”, I’ve never even heard of these songs.”

“Where did you even get all this music anyway, Cryo?” Rainbow asked as she looked closer at the bin overflowing with records.

“It’s kind of a long story.” Cryo started. “But I think I can make it shorter.”

Then Cryo gave everypony a story and everypony listened carefully. Cryo’s five brothers and sisters already knew the story.

“The six of us were here in Equestria for probably a few months and already living in the rock. Out of all of us I was probably the most comfortable with Typhoon. Don’t know why. But I was intrigued by her telepathy and asked if she could teach me how to do it.”

“Apparently he thought anypony could learn how to be a psychic.” Typhoon said as she rolled her eyes.

“Anyways,” Cryo went on. “She read my mind while I tried using some of my magic at the same time to learn it. But something else happened. Our powers created some kind of reactions. A tear in time and space.”

Twilight’s attention was now unbreakable from Cryo’s story.

“A tear in time and space?” she asked not grasping hold of the idea very well

“Yeah. I don’t know what my magic and her telepathy tapped in to, but I think we ended up accessing another dimension or something.”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Another dimension? Oh come on, Cryo.”

“As crazy as it sounds I believe it to be true. I don’t know what the world was like or what lived there, but all I had on my mind was music. With my mind focused on it, that’s what I got from that world.”

“You mean all this music….is from another world?” Applejack didn’t believe it.

Everypony now looked at the bin of records with much more interest.

“Yep.” Cryo answered. “I was able to get my hooves on enough vinyl records to transfer the music into listening form.”

“And thus began the many nights we got without sleep.” Agua groaned.

“Oh shut up, dude.” Cryo snapped. “Or should I mention the number of times I caught you in my room listening to it and dancing along?”

“SHUT UP! THOSE NIGHTS NEVER HAPPENED!”

Everypony else couldn’t help but laugh at him now. Agua wasn’t one too blush. He was more of one to smack himself in the face.

Cryo however stopped laughing when he took a gander at the clock.

“Oh crud! I’m gonna be late! Sorry, Pinkie. We’ll pick up lessons later. I gotta go.”

He started to make his way out but then his sister spoke to him.

“Where ya goin’?” Terra asked.

“To the school.” Cryo answered. “Cheerilee asked me to come into her class as a guest speaker and I said I would.”

“Are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Twilight asked.

“What’s the harm?” Cryo asked back. “I’m just gonna talk to a few kids about Alamante. It’s not like I’m gonna freeze the school in one big block of ice or anything. You guys wanna come?”

“Wait. Will those two kids, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon be there?” Agua asked.

“I’d assume so.” Rarity answered him. “They’re in Sweetie Belle’s class.”

“Then I’m in. It was fun scaring those two little brats at the party. I wanna see their faces when we walk in.”

“Agua, NO. SCARING. KIDS.” Pyro warned him. “I better go too to keep an eye on you.”

That was how everypony in the group ended up agreeing to go to the school. After straightening up her room a little pit, Pinkie Pie joined the others outside the bakery and they all made their way to the school.

There, Twilight and her fellow Elements of Harmony would learn the biggest thing about their partners ever.

Their origin.

The Country of Alamante

I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 13: The Country of Alamante

There’s only one schoolhouse in all of Ponyville for little fillies and colts. Cheerilee was in charge of running it. She was the only teacher and the principal of the place. It was a responsibility she took upon herself and she loves everything about it. Molding kids to become knowledgeable ponies makes her feel so happy with her life.

She had been looking forward to this day since the welcome party for the Alamantians. As the bell for recess to end rang, the kids all came rushing back to the schoolhouse. Once all of them were seated, they still chatted amongst another as Cheerilee walked through the door.

“Alright. Settle down everypony.” Cheerilee called to her class.

Upon hearing her voice, the class of young ponies dialed back on the chatter until it was silent. With all the attention on her now, Cheerilee addressed her class of fillies and colts.

“Class, today I have a very special treat for you.” Cheerilee said with a very wide smile. “I’m sure by now all of you little ponies know about our six new foreign guests. And one of them was gracious enough to come in today and speak to you about his home.”

Everypony in the class room had their faces bright with smiles when they heard Cheerilee say that. All of them except for two. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon

“I expect all of you to act well behaved and around him and do not press him about his abilities. I know full well what he can do and I’m sure he would appreciate if he were not asked about it. You can come in now, Cryo!”

The door to the classroom immediately opened up. The class gave a small round of applause for Cryo as the white unicorn of ice made his way in. Then a few seconds later, the class went a bit silent as more ponies entered the door. Eleven more in total. Five of them were the other Alamantians, and the remaining six were their partners. Although nopony knew of the arrangement that was going on other than the twelve of them.

“Hope you don’t mind, but my siblings decided to accompany me. I hope it’s okay.” Cryo explained to Cheerilee.

“Of course it is, Cryo.” Cheerilee answered him. “We’re honored to have such special guests in our class. Right kids?”

All the kids said yes in their own way. All of them except for two.

“Special? Oh please. Don’t make me laugh.” Diamond Tiara snarled. “The only thing these six ponies are….are dangerous.”

Everypony else gasped at her words. The six they were directed at stood firm trying to show no reaction.

“Um….” Cryo couldn’t think of anything to respond with

For the past three years, the six Alamantians had heard a lot of ponies talk a lot of smack on their home. Never before have they actually been told those things right to their faces. They had no idea who to respond. They could only think of doing two things. Standing perfectly still and trying to not to show pain. But it became harder to do as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon went on.

“You six think you’re so special because of you freak element powers. Well you know what? Those only make you show-offs!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“Hey!” Lucky for the six foreigners, some of the kids were on their side. “They’re not show-offs! And why are you yelling at them? If I remember correctly at that party, they saved your life!”

“Yeah! You should be thanking them!” Sweetie Belle agreed.

The rest of the class seemed to agree with Sweetie Belle’s opinion. But Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would not have it. They had nothing nice to say to the six element movers.

“They probably set the whole thing up. It was all just a big act to make us like them.” Silver Spoon said.

“Silver Spoon…” Cheerilee started to talk but she was quickly interrupted.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had plenty more insults for the six of them. After about thirty more seconds, it got to here.

“You’re nothing but scary monsters to us and nothing more! We don’t want you here!” Diamond snarled.

Gem looked away from them not wanting anypony to see her face. Rainbow looked and saw she was nearly crying because of the insults. She was about to say something to defend them but then the next thing happened so fast.

“Get out!”

Silver Spoon had fished into her lunch box and brought out an apple she had originally intended to eat. She instead used it for something else. She threw the apple at them and Typhoon’s face became covered in the mushy remains of the fruit.

Everypony gasped at the sight. Typhoon couldn’t speak and everypony else was too in shock to say anything. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon only smiled proud of their work.

“That is enough!” Cheerilee yelled and slammed a hoof on her desk.

Cheerilee was a pony who hardly ever raised her voice to her students. But when she did, they were all scared something fierce. Even Twilight and her other friends were a bit startled. They had never ever heard her yell up close but they heard it from a distance one rare occurrence. This time her loud and stern voice was directed at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“I will not tolerate that kind of behavior in my classroom or anywhere else for that matter! You two wait outside and don’t come back in until I say so! And I will be telling your parents about this! You were raised better than that! I taught you better than that! Now go!”

Shamefully, Diamond and Silver got out of their seats and slowly made their way out the door. The Cutie Mark Crusaders succeeded in concealing their delight at the sight of seeing those two bratty foals get kicked out of the classroom. They had it coming.

Calming down, Cheerilee’s voice returned to its normal sweet tone.

“I am so sorry about that.” she apologized to Cryo and the rest of the present foreign ponies.

“It’s alright.” Cryo assured her. “We’ve all heard it plenty of times. Although…..granted that’s the first time anypony ever said it right to our faces but still.”

Typhoon walked over to a nearby wastebasket and stuck her face near it. Then with a slight blow, a gust of air blew on her face and every bit of that apple mush was blown off of her and into the can.

“We’ve heard zem all.” Typhoon added. “Freaks, savages show-offs….cold..blooded murderers.”

She along with the other five Alamantians cringed at that last one. It made everypony else aware that they were certainly not fond of it. Trying to fake tolerance for it, the six regained themselves.

“But hey. We pay it no mind. Because it doesn’t matter to us.” Terra said. “It’s fine.”

“No it’s not. And I can easily tell by your faces that it DOES matter.” Cheerilee corrected. “Nopony should be talked to like that. Especially the six of you. And you certainly do not deserve to have things like apples thrown at you.” Then she addressed her class. “Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Racism is something I will not put up with at all. You will treat our guests with nothing but the utmost respect. Understood?”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee.” All of the present students chimed at once.

With a smile, Cheerilee turned to Cryo.

“The floor is yours.”

Pyro lightly slapped his brother on the back and Cryo confidently walked to the front of the classroom to view the many fillies and colts looking at him with interest.

“Well. Hello there young ones. My name is Cryo and I am from the Frost Tribe in Alamante.”

“Yeah we know who you are.” Snips said. “We saw you at that party dancing around and fighting at the same time.”

“Do you give lessons?” Snails begged. “Because I have the money to pay you for lessons! I want to shoot ice from my hooves!”

Cryo laughed a bit and addressed the two boys.

“I’m sorry. But the truth is you have to be Alamantian in order to have any elemental powers like we have.”

“Aw. But why?” Pipsqueak asked. “How come only the ponies in your country have these incredible powers, while the rest of the world doesn’t?”

That was a question nearly all the world wanted to know.

“That goes WAY back to when my home was first founded. And contrary to belief, Alamantians didn’t always have this power. And even though we’re the only ones who have it, it doesn’t mean we’re greedy or anything like that.” Cryo explained.

“A lot of ponies in Canterlot say otherwise.” Scootaloo said to him.

“Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon both think all Alamantians are nothing but braggers who think they’re better than everypony else in the world.” Little Dinky Hooves added.

“Well it’s a shame she feels that way. Because I think it would really surprise her to know that my country was originally founded by Equestrian ponies.”

As soon as that last word left Cryo’s mouth, everypony gave him a look of surprise. The kids, Cheerilee, even Pyro and the other Alamantians found a deal of shock at this. Not even they knew. But if they didn’t know, how is it Cryo did?

“Equestrians founded Alamante? How?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“There is quite a story to that. And I just happen to know it. I can show you guys a memory from long ago that shows how my country was created.

“Wait a minute.” Pyro stopped him and approached him. “You mean to tell me you ACTUALLY have in your brain, the ancient memory that holds the true origin of our home?”

“Yeah.” Cryo answered. “I’ve had it lodged in my brain for a few years. Since before I even met you and the others. I was curious as a young colt so I went around and found a pony who actually knew and was gracious enough to bestow the memory upon me. I crossed referenced the events in that memory image with every history book I could find to verify. It’s one hundred percent the real deal.”

Another pause overcame the room for a quick moment. Hearing enough, the fiery stallion backed up a bit.

“Oh this is one story I wanna hear.” Pyro took a seat on his haunches in between Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s desk.

It turns out he wasn’t the only one. The other older ponies present relaxed themselves and prepared to hear Cryo’s story. Even Cheerilee got out of her desk and sat on her haunches in front of Cryo.

The unicorn ice maker smiled.

“Alight. Gather ‘round, little ones. You’re all about to see something that most ponies in my country beg to see but never do.”

With a full crowd focused entirely on him, Cryo activated his horn and summoned up the memory he spoke of.

“It all started about…say….1500 years ago.”

A cyan rimmed viewing screen appeared to the class in front of Cheerilee’s wall mounted blackboard. Then through the screen, an image of Equestria from 1500 years ago was clearly seen. Cryo began to explain as the image began to move like a live picture.

“Life was very peaceful back then as it is today here in the country of Equestria. But although the walls of Equestria provide a peaceful life for all who lived there, there were still some ponies who wanted to leave and discover more land. One of these ponies was named Voyage Rockstead.”

The screen showed an image of a now ancient unicorn stallion wearing the clothes of a pioneer. The color of his coat was a dark grayish color with his mane flat black. His cutie mark was clearly a compass rose.

“Voyage was a pony who had the greatest sense of direction. He could find anything in any situation. Snow, rain, you name it. Anyway, Voyage knew there just had to be more to this planet than just Equestria. So he got on his hind hooves and pleaded with both Princess Celestia and Luna to take a crew of the bravest of ponies and set sail across the ocean in search of new land. Which at first they denied in regard to his safety. It took a few more sessions of begging, but Voyage was finally granted permission. And so he, a crew of one hundred and fifty ponies, and his family all set sail.”

While he spoke, the screen showed everything he spoke of. Princess Celestia and Luna from 1500 years ago, Voyage begging with them, and then him and his crew setting sail. All the ponies on the ship waved goodbye to the crowd below as it left the docks. Even the two princesses were there. Twilight found it fascinating to see the two rules of Equestria from a millennium and a half ago.

“The trip took at least five months. But finally, his ship struck ashore on a patch of land that nopony recognized. They knew it wasn’t Equestria because they had been sailing in a straight line all the way from where they started. Straight east.

The image in the screen showed Voyage and his crew getting off the ship and taking a look around a beach. Voyage spun around in multiple circles amazed at the new land he had found. But then he found himself, his family, and his whole crew to be surrounded but a large group of black and white creatures holding spears in their hooves and pointing them right at the settlers.

“Once they stepped ashore, Voyage was quite surprised to see that there were already creatures living there. But they weren’t ponies. No. They were zebras. Striped creatures that looked like ponies, but yet, they weren’t.”

“We know what zebras are, Mr. Cryo.” Applebloom interrupted. “There’s one living in the Everfree Forest.”

That caught the six Alamantians totally by surprise.

“Really? There’s a Zebra here?” Gem asked.

“Yeah. Her name is Zecora.” Sweetie Belle replied. “She’s really nice.”

Applejack heard something near her. It sounded like a small gasp. She looked to her left and saw Terra’s face. The earth mover looked as if she had just seen a ghost.

Another matter for another time Applejack thought. Right now she was too much into Cryo’s story. The screen did show a visual image of the memory. But however, since it was so long ago since the real thing happened, words tended to be forgotten. So Cryo was basically showing them a silent movie with no subtitles. Lucky for the kids, they had his narration.

The image changed from the beach to Voyage standing in front of another zebra. This one sporting a large red feathered headdress, a cape, and wrinkles signifying age. He also beared a lot of red tribal paint on his body in different symbols and shapes. With no dialogue heard, nopony could tell what he was saying. But it was clear he was talking to the old zebra.

“Upon arrival, Voyage quickly learned the zebras did not speak the same language as them. Luckily the zebras had one amongst their tribe that spoke many languages. The chief of the tribe allowed Voyage to explain himself. He told the truth. He was an explorer in search of new land. He meant not to threaten or harm anypony or zebra. The chief heard the sincerity in his voice. So he allowed the settler ponies to stay amongst them and learn the ways of nature.”

Voyage was then shown bowing to the chief of the tribe while the elder zebra smiled at him welcoming the ponies to the nameless country.

Everypony watching enjoyed learning this new lesson. But Rarity couldn’t take her eyes of one little detail. What the zebras were wearing.

“Oh dear Celestia. Just look at their outfits. How revolting! Who in their right mind would wear such atrocities to fashion?”

That little statement got her results she had not anticipated nor wanted. All six of the present Alamantians, even sweet little Gem, glared at her with cold eyes.

Rarity gave a shy grin realizing her mistake. Insulting Alamantian tribal wear when actual Alamantians are present is not a good idea.

“…….sorry.” was all she could say.

Terra sighed and shook her head disapprovingly at Rarity. Cryo just got back on track.

“Ahem. Anyways, as I was saying….”

The screen switched a view of construction. The ponies were building small huts similar to the ones the zebras had made already. Some zebras were there helping the ponies.

“The zebra tribe taught the ponies everything about living off the land. How to detach themselves from their own Equestrian customs. After a few months, the ponies had become one with nature. And they then began to construct a home village similar to the zebras. But of course there were still some disputes to settle out among them. First off, they needed to decide who gets what land in the country. For as long as any of them could remember, the zebra tribe were the only ones who lived in the country. Which is quite surprising considering how big the country was and still is. These feuds went on for months until….”

Cryo got interrupted when he saw a little white hoof poke up through the crowd. It was Sweetie Belle.

“Um….yes?” he muttered to the filly.

Sweetie Belle lowered her hoof and spoke to him.

“If your country was discovered by normal Equestrian ponies, then how did you get your powers?”

Cryo gave a small smile. He expected that question to come up sooner or later.

“I was just getting to that, Sweetie Belle. And here it is.”

Then he went on to give the ponies exactly what they wanted to hear. The birth of the elemental powers that became the iconic trait of Alamante.

“How many of you here are familiar with the centennial meteor shower?”

Everypony raised their hooves. Not a single pony on all of Equestria hadn’t heard of it. Then he got back to the story.

“Like I was saying, the territorial disputes among many others such as crops and other resources in the land seemed like they would never get settled. But then came one night where all of those arguments were put on hold. The night of the centennial meteor shower. The chief had told Voyage that the night of the shower was one the entire Zebra tribe considered to be one of the most sacred. To this day, all Alamantians pray to the stars every one hundred years on the night of the shower, the give our thanks to the gods who we believe gave us this power.”

His use of the word gods made every Equestrian there think about that. Everypony in Equestria only looked upon Celestia as if she were a goddess. Which in fact she is. They had never heard of any other gods.

Cryo didn’t go into talking about the gods. Instead, the screen switched to view the centennial meteor shower from 1500 years ago. On the ground, the zebras were all bowing to the shooting stars as they passed by their region of the sky.

“It was a beautiful sight seeing a whole bunch of shooting stars go by at once. But they weren’t looking close enough at those passing rocks. And how could they? They were hundreds of miles away from where they were in space. But had they been able to see, they would have seen an event that changed the look of that country and its people forever.”

Now it was getting to the good part. The combination of words he used defined it. Then the screen shifted images again. This time, it was of outer space and all of the rocks that passed by the planet.

“One of the meteors got knocked off course. Nopony knows how. But we Alamantians believe the six ancient gods of the elements from old times pushed it.”

Twilight couldn’t help but feel so fascinated with Cryo’s words. Cheerilee felt the same. Never in her years had Twilight heard of anypony worshiping gods other than Celestia and Luna before. That is until she read that book that belonged to Master Ma.

“This meteor’s path was redirected right for the surface of the planet. Now the thing about these rocks, they give off a form of radioactive energy. That’s why they shine so bright in the meteor shower. And in this one’s descent to the planet, it became empowered with the energy of the six elements of nature thanks to its special properties.”

Nopony there knew how that was possible. But Cryo was nowhere near done talking. As the rock began to close in on the planet’s ground, it first had to heat up as it went through the atmosphere. It glowed red and a few flames could be seen as it picked up speed.

“The extreme heat the rock felt upon entering the atmosphere energized it with the element of fire.”

Heat from the atmosphere. Pyro’s inner origin was finally being revealed. He found it quite odd that mere atmospheric heat is what empowered him with his flames.

“The air it pushed through in it’s rapid fall to the surface energized it with the element of wind.”

Typhoon felt something strange inside her. It was kind of like a feeling of self discovery. Similar to what she and her siblings were all feeling other than the icy pony telling the story.

The image then showed the rock falling through the sky and into a patch of grey clouds with lightning bolts going through them.

“The rain, hail, and thunder clouds it punched through in a neighboring sky energized it with the elements of water, ice, and plasma.”

Water and ice everyone got. But Rainbow nor nopony else knew how lightning could be thought of as plasma.

“Hold on a second.” Rainbow had to ask. “Lightning is majorly electricity. How could it change into plasma?”

Gem answered that one for she had already figured it out when Cryo told the tale of the rock.

“You see, when the lightning bolts touched the rock, the rock did absorb them. But for some strange reason, the main particles that made up those bolts became energized with the radiation of all the other elements that had already gone into the rock. So the lightning was reformatted into plasma.”

That made it not entirely clear but it was a bit more understandable. Plasma was not only electricity, but a small combination of air, water, fire, and ice together as one.

Then finally, the meteor crashed into the ground with a bang creating a very large crater.

“And finally, the ground the rock crashed into energized it with the element of Earth.”

That came as no surprise to Terra. Where else would energy that represented earth come from? Cryo went on as the screen now showed an image of the rock dormant on the ground. It glowed in multiple colors as if it were a single rock aura.

“Hearing the impact from a distance, one stallion whose name escapes me went to investigate alongside a few of his comrades. It didn’t take long to find where the sound came from. But what was found at the site was unbelievable. A strange rock. Glowing in a rainbow of energy. Those who found it thought of the glow to be some sort of essence from outer space. But not wanting to get closer to it, none of them dared to find out exactly what that glow was. In its crashing spot the fallen asteroid remained for another six months. Until one day, somepony finally worked up the nerve to try and solve the mystery of the strange rock.”

This is where it got good for the kids. The memory screen showed an image of a pony that wasn’t Voyage Rockstead. This pony was a young mare. Her coat was white, her mane and tail were fuchsia, and her flank was blank. Something the three Cutie Mark Crusaders found interesting. From the looks of it, this mare was probably Gem’s age. Why was her flank still without a cutie mark?

The young mare was seen slowly approaching the rock with a bit of fear.

“This young mare probably somewhere around her mid teen years, got curious as to why a bunch of ponies were scared of something as silly as a fallen rock. Her name was Penelope Rockstead. She was the daughter Voyage and curious mare by nature. But she had not yet earned her cutie mark yet. She snuck away from camp one day and got closer to the rock. With awe she looked upon its size and glow. And to this very day everypony in Alamante is thankful for the action she took next. She touched it.”

Nopony understood until a few seconds later. The screen showed the young mare Penelope placing a hoof upon the rock with nervousness. At first, nothing happened. But then the glow in the rock began to intensify with each passing second. Before ten seconds passed, the rock obliterated and a multi-colored shockwave is what resulted. Penelope ducked for cover and was covered herself in a cloud of dust.

“Upon the touch of her hoof, the energy inside the rock became unstable. And thus, it gave a massive explosion. The energy inside the rock was released into the air. The blast spread throughout the entire country and those within its vicinity absorbed it. Ponies and zebras alike. They just didn’t know it yet. Penelope survived the explosion even though she was right next to the blast.

“Nopony thought it any mind until a few days later. That’s when the real stuff began.”

Three or four days later, life in pony tribe seemed to be going normally. But all motion in the area screeched to a halt when a blood curdling scream pierced the air. It came from a nearby hut. Everypony close by rushed to see what the scream was about. Once they were inside, they saw it. But nopony could believe it.

A young mare with a cream colored coat kept on shrieking as she looked at her hooves. They were beginning to change color. Her coat of cream fur was changing to a dark yellow-orange color. Her mane went from a pale green to a hot red. The only thing that remained the same were her crimson eyes which were now leaking tears of fear.

Before anypony could do anything, all of them began to feel strange on the inside. Then one by one, the same thing began happening to them. Their fur began to swap colors. To add to their confusion, it was just the ponies who changed coat colors. The zebras all remained black and white.

“At first everypony thought the transformation was some kind of disease or curse. So they isolated those who were “infected”. But as time went on, the same exact thing happened to everypony else who hadn’t yet changed. So nationwide panic started.” Cryo narrated.

The tribes began to go into a quarantine mode. Huts were blocked off. Doctors were trying their best to find out what this disease was even though they were supposedly “suffering” from the same symptoms. Some ponies complained of having a burning heat inside them that wouldn’t go away. Others felt cold. Some others as if their insides had become completely solid or liquid. There were also some who felt as if they were lighter in weight. And others who looked to be a lot more energized than usual.

“About a month or so went by with the whole nation in panic. The Zebras and ponies couldn’t figure out for the life of them what could have caused this or what it even was. The ponies began to get angry at the zebras. They figured since they had lived in this country their whole lives, they would know about some diseases that are in it. The zebras all argued that they too felt a bit strange inside but didn’t know why they weren’t changing color. The pony tribe was getting impatient though. They refused to believe the zebras were telling the truth out of fear. They began to get into heated arguments over it.”

Then the screen changed again. This time it was focused on one mare. Her coat was a dark yellowish brown and her mane had gone flat black. It took a few seconds of staring and squinting but everypony in the school could tell who it was.

It was Penelope Rockstead having undergone her own transformation. Only her eyes remained the same color. As she walked, she looked as if she had a look of confusion on her face. Not one of horror like most of the other ponies in the tribe.

“One day, Penelope was sent out to try and find a “cure” for the rapidly spreading change. She ended up going a few miles away from her campsite to search for something. But since she was no medical expert, she had no idea what to look for. She just figured a few herbs from the meadows nearby would do the trick. On her way back, her path was blocked.”

Penelope was trotting along, minding her own business completely. A small sack she had in her mouth carrying some herbs she thought would cure the symptoms of the entire tribe. She was only a few minutes away from her home when out of nowhere, a huge dragon landed in front of her with a big drooling mouth.

“The dragon was hungry. And Penelope was terrified. So she did the only thing she could think of. Turn around and run.” Cryo said.

Scared out of her mind, Penelope did just that. She turned right around and screamed bloody murder as she ran. But the huge dragon had other plans for her. With a single leap, it got in front of Penelope’s path again. The kids all watched intently as they awaited their next actions.

Scared stiff now, Penelope found herself unable to move. Fluttershy had her eyes covered scared at the very image of the terrifying dragon.

With a roar, the dragon spat out a big stream of flame right for the mare. She covered her face with her hooves completely terrified of what was about to happen. One second later, she felt the heat get closer to her face. It grew hotter and hotter with every inch closer it got.

Then it stopped.

Just as easy as the heat came, it strangely vanished. Opening her eyes to see what had happened, she looked and saw the dragon still there. She also saw between her and the beast a cloud of smoke and dust as if the fire had hit something on its way to her.

The dragon looked just as confused as Penelope did. Except it also sported on it’s face a fair amount of shock.

Quickly though, the dragon’s face changed to one of anger. With a deep breath, it blasted another stream of fire at Penelope.

Penelope raised her hooves to cover her face. But this time she kept her eyes open. Then she saw what she did. Needless to say, she was super shocked as to what she performed. As she rose up her hooves, the ground right in front of her rose up and formed a wall of rock. The fire blast from the dragon wasn’t enough to break the wall.

Lowering her hooves made the rock wall lower as well. At first she thought someone was watching over her from afar. However, seeing as how her movements were in sync with the rocks that made up that wall, she saw differently. It was her.

Before she could think about it longer, the dragon, although now a bit uneasy, lunged for her instead of breathing more fire. Penelope jumped out of the way just narrowly avoiding it. When she was up, she did the only thing she could think of. She threw her hooves up in the air hoping something would happen.

The ground near her began to shake. That was the first sign that something was happening. But instead of a wall of rock, a huge chunk of the ground tore from the surface and floated in midair.

She was holding up a giant rock in midair. She had no idea how she was doing it, but she then thought of something.

If she had a hold of it, she could use it.

With every bit of might she had, she made a pushing motion with her hooves hoping something would happen. Lucky for her it did. She sent the boulder right for the dragon. The dragon was hit square in the chest and sent back skidding on the ground a ways.

Scared, the dragon got up and flew off not wanting to be crushed by any more giant rocks. When it was out of view, Penelope took a few moments to think about what had just happened. She fought a dragon.

And she won.

It didn’t matter how many times she let it go through her head. It still sounded unbelievable. She won a fight against a giant menacing dragon. How? She wondered to herself how it was possible. How did she do those things with the rocks? She didn’t even touch them, and yet she lifted them with no trouble at all. They were as light as feathers on a pegasus.

The only thing that could have caused this kind of change was a very unique energy source. And the only one she had seen since coming to this country was…..

….that fallen meteor.

Then a look of realization came across her face. She took a look at her hoof. The color changing in her fur and the strange solid feeling inside her, it wasn’t what everypony thought it was.

It was a gift. Not a curse.

Then a dim light shown from behind her head. Looking to see what it was, she gasped at what she saw. The light came from her flank. After a small flash, her cutie mark appeared. The mark was a boulder with a crack halfway down the middle.

Penelope smiled wide in finally discovering her true talent. But her moment of joy was soon over because of a small dilemma.

“Even though she had extraordinary power, she had no idea how else to use it or what else she could do. She needed to learn. So she turned around and ran away from home for a few days to a secluded part of the desert.” Cryo narrated.

The screen then showed Penelope out in the desert by herself trying to learn how to control her new powers. Terra found it absolutely fascinating. She was watching the very first earth mover learn how to use her powers. The footage seen varied from Penelope lifting rocks to creating walls and much more. Some of the moves seen were some Applejack had already seen Terra do. Such as creating pillars of rock rise from the ground. Then there were a few that had not yet been seen by the earth mover present. Such as creating objects out of rock like giant hammers and other weapons. When she eyed Terra, the yellow Alamantian smirked.

“Been there done that.” she muttered.

Applejack didn’t doubt her partner’s abilities. After seeing her practice a few days ago, she didn’t dare say one word that sounded negative to her power. When she turned her head back to Cryo’s screen, the scene had once again changed. This time it showed Penelope crossing the front gates to her village. When someone came up to her with medical supplies, she waved them off much to their surprise.

“Upon her return to the village, Penelope told the tale of what happened to her to all ponies and zebras. She left out no detail in her explanation. And after she was done, everypony thought she had gone crazy. They had all thought she was delusional. A side effect from the sickness. But with one move she proved them wrong.”

Penelope went in a bipedal stance and stomped the ground. With the stomp, she raised her front hooves making the ground around her rise up in the form a rocky pillar. She then began to address her audience once more with a few boulders also hovering around her.

“She opened their eyes to their mistake. She said if they really were sick, they would be feeling a lot worse. The tribes heard her words and took them greatly. It was then the zebra chief remembered some of his childhood lessons. Lessons of ancient gods over the elements of nature. These powers had been seen before. In ancient times. But never in his life did he think he would witness them with his own two eyes. That was finally when the ponies all opened up their eyes for the first time. Sure they all felt a bit differently on the inside. But other than that and the sudden color change, they felt perfectly fine. There was nothing wrong with them.”

This point in the story is where things started to approach the end.

“The elder zebra then gave a speech and lesson in one to everypony. He told them all of the six elemental gods and what they stood for. And everypony agreed, that these gods had bestowed their gifts upon them.”

“Who are these six gods?” Cheerilee herself asked.

“Agni, Poseidon, Aeolus, Gaia, Skaldi, and Cybele.” Twilight answered. “Those are the six gods they worship. But they only pray to their respective one.”

All activity in the room stopped as everypony looked at Twilight with a bit of confusion. Not confusion in who the gods were. But confused as to how she knew that.

“I read it in Master Ma’s book.”

Shrugs were the response she got before Cryo got back to the story. The screen now showed Penelope being spoken to by the Zebra tribe elder and her father Voyage. It appeared she was being honored by the elder. The old zebra was placing a couple of feathers in her ears, and a necklace bearing the symbol of earth upon it. Everypony recognized it as the symbol Terra had on her flank.

“Penelope was given great respect amongst all the people both ponies and zebras alike for becoming the first elemental mover. And in doing, she decided to take on a new name. One that would become known for generations to come. Rocksteady.”

The image of Penelope, now dubbed Rocksteady, transitioned from her to a geographical view of the country.

“As soon as they realized the plague was just a false alarm, everypony began to discover their new powers over their respective element. And the territorial dispute was finally settled as each group chose a spot of the land that was suited best for their element. The Ember tribe settled near the base of the volcano range in the west. The Hydro tribe found their peaceful home near the ocean on the southwest side. The Eneoji tribe set up camp in the east side meadow plains where lightning storms regularly occur. The Aero tribe took their residence to the south eastern mountain range where the wind blows. The Geo tribe founded their home in the great southern canyon. And as for my tribe, the Frost tribe, we found our true place in the snowy mountain pass in the north.”

Each tribe had both ponies and zebras living together as one. United by the elements they control. From the footage the kids could see, they found a little bit more respect for the lone zebra they have living in the Everfree Forest. But they also discovered something about her. She was a zebra. And from what Cryo had just said, all zebras come from their home country. And that meant she might have some special talents other than being a voodoo potion master.

Another matter for another time. Right now they were all too focused on this story to care. Cryo began to wrap things up.

“Along with Rocksteady, she and five others, each from the other tribes, became the first chiefs. Rocksteady of the Geo Tribe, Maelstrom of the Hydro Tribe, Obsidian of the Ember Tribe, Tundra of the Frost Tribe, Cyclone of the Aero Tribe, and Neon of the Eneoji Tribe. A group of sages that acted as a council for the six tribes. They became known as the Elite 6. The first and maybe the best element movers to ever live other than the gods themselves.”

The other five Alamantians looked at their icy brother in shock. They had known him for three straight years and they all had no idea he knew all of this. Had they known, they would have asked him much sooner.

Finally, it came time for the lesson to end.

“So in time, everypony learned how to harness their powers and learn new ways to use them so they could teach future generations to do the same. And soon, all six tribes came together to finally form a name for this country. Ponies and zebras alike. And they all agreed on the ancient word of old Equestrain slang. Thus their home was named….Alamante. The land of elements.”

Everypony there felt so intrigued by the whole thing. Explorers, zebra tribes, meteor showers, dragons, elements, ancient gods, it all felt to them like some sort of storybook and a comic book rolled into one. But this was no story. This was the real deal. Six of the ponies present in that classroom had actual super powers.

Finally Cryo could turn his horn off. And not a moment too soon. His head was starting to hurt from using his magic for a prolonged period of time. After rubbing his head to get rid of the pain, the stallion of ice returned to the front of the room while the other older ponies made their way away from the kids.

“And that kids, is the story of how Alamante came into existence.” Cryo said. “Any questions?”

Almost every hoof in the room went up in the air. Cryo selected Dinky first.

“Does Princess Celestia know the gods you pray to? Are any of them related to her?” the young unicorn filly asked.

“Oh dear no. Celestia is indeed a goddess. But as far as I know, she has no relation to the six elemental gods. That’s a whole different branch of deity.” Cryo answered.

“Although if she DID, that would be totally awesome.” Rainbow Dash muttered.

When Cryo looked at the clock, he found he had already stayed longer than he had anticipated. Then he looked at all of his friends who also felt they had had been there long enough. Their faces clearly said it.

“Well I hate to do this but we must be going. I hope we weren’t a bother.” Cryo said to Cheerilee.

“You were nothing of the sort.” Cheerilee insisted. “Thank you all for coming in and sharing with us. It was really special.”

“No problem at all.”

With a nod, Cryo joined his friends and siblings as they made their way out. As they did, Cheerilee called to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to come back in. As the two fillies re-entered the room, they passed by the guests.

“Have fun terrorizing the town.” Diamond Tiara snarled.

Even after they had gotten their flanks chewed off by their teacher, those to fillies still had the audacity to insult them. One of them could take it no longer. When eleven of them were out, the twelfth one shut the door leaving himself on the inside. The lone one was Agua.

“And you’re so special?” he muttered.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon froze upon hearing his voice. They were still a bit timid of him after what he said at the party. Slowly, he approached them and stood towering over them with a glare.

“You know, you two think you’re the two most important fillies here. I’m sure of it. You say hurtful things to other ponies to make yourselves feel superior. But you’re not. In reality, you’re nothing but two dripping wet brats who aren’t any better than anypony else in this class.”

They would have argued back if they weren’t confused by his words.

“Wet? What are you talking about?” Silver Spoon started. “We’re not…AAAAGH!”

She was cut off when a substantial amount of water poured on top of both of them. Angry, they looked around and saw nopony holding any buckets or any kind of container that could hold that much water.

Then they looked up at the blue stallion in front of them whose respective element was just dumped on their heads. He had a certain smirk to him.

“HA HA! You are now!”

Smiling, Agua turned his back and walked out of the school proud of his work. In his departure, every other child in the room couldn’t help but start to giggle while the two dripping fillies in front of them began to growl.

Upon closing the door, he was glared at by most of the others. Pyro was about to start lecturing him

“Agua….”

“Hey. You said no scaring kids. You however said nothing about soaking them.”

“Ugh. You are incorrigible.”

“Pyro, look me in the eye and tell me truthfully you weren’t thinking of doing something similar.”

Nopony had no idea how it was possible. But Agua bested Pyro with that sentence.

“Oh fine. I wanted to set their tails on fire. But I didn’t. It’s called restraint. Practice it.” Pyro stopped right there.

After that, all twelve of them and the dragon on Twilight’s back made their way up the town in no determined direction.

“So…you got your powers from the centennial meteor shower. How intriguing.” Twilight said.

“Yeah. The last one wasn’t too long ago too.” Rainbow added.

“Yep. That was the only night in the past three years where all of us slept n the ground outside that rock.” Gem told.

“I don’t like how that dragon was portrayed.” Spike commented. “All blood thirsty and vicious. It’s an insult.”

All of them seemed a bit confused by that statement.

“Spike…that wasn’t a movie you were watchin’.” Applejack said. “That was a memory. That was what actually happened all those years ago.”

“Yeah. Spike that wasn’t a portrayal. That was a real dragon.” Rainbow Dash added.

After that little realization, Spike couldn’t help but feel a bit stupid. That memory Cryo projected lasted about half an hour. And he thought he was watching a movie. He slapped his face with his hand and ran it down.

“Right. Sorry. I guess dragons in Alamante hate ponies.” He mumbled.

“With a passion that burns hotter than me.” Pyro confirmed.

That only made Spike feel bad. Defending dragons, how own kind, gets harder and harder to do every day. Why do they have to be so vicious and hateful towards ponies?

Pinkie Pie saw the look on Spike’s face and smiled.

“Oh don’t you worry about that old dragon, Spike. You’re the best dragon ever! Anypony would be lucky to be your friend! Even when you grow into a full sized dragon! You won’t be like that meanie pants who tried to roast that earth mover pony! He was just a cranky meanie!”

“And he got his butt whooped by a pony. That was totally awesome.” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but smile remembering that.

“Yeah. Rocksteady sure was something. I just never knew she started out like that.” Terra said with admiration.

“Oh drat.” Typhoon whined. “Ze apple zat brat threw at me ees now stuck een my mane. Eet takes forever to get my hair like zis.”

Rarity looked over at the pegasus of wind trying to get some fine chunks of apple out of her gorgeous mane using her hooves. Rarity considered Diamond Tiara’s and Silver Spoon’s behavior to be unacceptable like Cheerilee said. Especially when somepony messes up another pony’s fabulous hairdo.

Since this was in some way a fashion emergency, Rarity put her mind into overdrive to come up with a solution. Then after a few seconds, her eyes began to sparkle and she smiled strangely at Typhoon.

“Um…what’s with the impending rape face?” Agua asked.

Rarity paid her partner no mind.

“IDEA!” Rarity rushed over to Typhoon and grabbed her hoof. “Typhoon, allow me to treat you to the greatest spa treatment you will EVER experience.”

Typhoon was a bit surprised by the sudden offer, she didn’t know what to say.

“A….a spa treatment?”

“Oh now don’t tell me you have never heard of a beauty spa before.” Rarity found it hard to believe consider she knew Typhoon read magazines.

“I have heard of beauty spas, Rarity. I’ve just never gone een to one. We could not afford such luxuries living een a rock.”

That was a truth of which Rarity was reminded of. The six of them lived inside a rock for three years. They probably didn’t come across a lot of money. And it does cost a hefty amount for the kind of spa package Rarity purchases upon every visit.

“Well then Typhoon, prepare yourself. You are about to feel more pampered than you have in your entire life! Your mind is going to be at total peace!”

“Rarity, I’m a telepath. My mind ees NEVER at peace.” Typhoon stated flatly. “But you don’t have to do zat, Rarity. Eet will be fine.”

“Oh come now. I will not take no for an answer. Besides, Fluttershy and I always go to the spa together every week. I would be thrilled if you would join us this time.”

“Every week? What about last week? I’ve been here for ten days.”

“Oh I was just so busy with big orders and everything I didn’t have time.” Rarity explained. “Please, Typhoon. Allow me to treat you to an all expense paid spa treatment. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Breaking her promise secretly, Typhoon turned on her telepathy and read Rarity’s mind. From the brief five seconds she was in there, Typhoon saw Rarity wasn’t going to let up until she said yes. So the pink pegasus sighed.

“Alright zen. No wonder you are ze element of generosity.” She said with a smile

“She really is.” Fluttershy agreed. “And I promise you, Typhoon, Rarity is telling the truth. It’s so relaxing.”

Now her own partner was telling her to go. If Fluttershy, the girl who gets freaked by her own shadow, says the spa treatment is worth it, then it must be true.

“Lead ze way, Rarity.”

“Oh great!” Rarity squealed. “I’ll talk to you all later!”

Everypony bid Rarity, Fluttershy, and Typhoon goodbye as they began to ponder what to do next. But then they realized something. Fluttershy had her partner with her.

Yet Rarity didn’t.

“Well I guess that’s a couple hours or so Rarity free.” Agua stated out loud. “See you guys.”

“Hold it right there, Agua.”

Already Agua began growling upon being stopped. Pyro was up to something he knew it. He stopped walking. But he didn’t turn around.

“Fluttershy has Typhoon protecting her. Tell me why you shouldn’t be with Rarity right now?”

It was a good thing Agua wasn’t turned around. If he saw Pyro smirking as he spoke, the water pony might have killed him.

“Because I wouldn’t be caught dead in a beauty spa, Pyro. You as a stallion should know that.” Agua growled back.

“Agua, I can take a beauty spa. You’re talkin to a guy who’s hut was filled with flowers day in and day out. So I have a feminine side. Granted it’s small but it’s still there. But back on the subject. We’re supposed to be watching over our partners like hawks. And that means your flank is going into that spa with them even if I have to knock you out to do it.”

“Not gonna happen.” Agua quickly said.

“You’re going.”

“No way.”

“You will.”

“I won’t.”

“Trust me. You will.”

“Forget it.”

“Fine then.” Pyro played his hoof. “Then I suppose you won’t mind me showing these ponies a certain memory that involves you in Cryo’s room. Remember? The nights you said, “never happened”?”

Glass shattered inside Agua’s head. He couldn’t believe Pyro of all ponies was blackmailing him. He kept his back turned refusing to let any of them see the enormous shade of red on his muzzle.

“I hate you. So freakin much.” Agua mumbled.

“Love you too, bro.” Pyro said back

And so Agua slowly walked off in Rarity’s direction to go suffer in a spa with her and two other girls. What fun for him.

That left the other four pairs and the baby dragon alone to figure out what to do next.

“So what now?” Twilight asked her partner.

“Well…I do believe I promised to teach you long range teleporting today. I intend to keep my word.”

“That would be lovely.” Twilight agreed.

With that, Twilight and Pyro closed their eyes and teleported away to the library. Gem and Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Terra, Pinkie Pie and Cryo. All three pairs went their separate ways to figure out what to do with the rest of their day.

It was the next one however that would change the rules of the game.

Nature in Canterlot (Part 1)

A/N: First off, I just wanna say I’m sorry it took me so long to update this story. I promise it won’t take me this long ever again. I only own my OCs and the plot. Nothing more.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 14: Nature in Canterlot (Part 1)

When school got out that day of the special guest lesson, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders went over to give Cryo a personal thank you for the lesson. The ice mover was more than happy to hear three of the kids in the class say that to him personally. He and Pinkie Pie however both got a bit uneasy when they heard the three fillies talking about fighting a full grown dragon to try and get their cutie marks. Apparently that part of the story got to them a little. So it was a good thing Applejack and Rarity forbade their little sisters from hunting down a dragon of full growth. So the kids tried something else.

Soon enough, the next day came along and all through the morning and afternoon, things were pretty normal. It was right about 4:00 PM where the true events of the day began.

At 4:00 PM a train was pulling in to Canterlot. It’s departure point was Ponyville. When the train stopped, the doors opened up and ten ponies walked off. A baby dragon was hitched on a red unicorn’s back. The only two not present were Applejack and Terra.

“Would you now please tell us why we’re here and why we’re spending the night?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight and Pyro.

The reason she asked those two was because they were the ones who dragged everypony else away from what they were doing at the time to hop a train to Canterlot.

“Yes I do wish to know myself.” Rarity agreed with Rainbow. “I was working on a very important order when you came in to my shop.”

“So what’s goin on?” Cryo asked.

Pyro and Twilight walked a few steps so they were in front.

“We’re sorry we interrupted what you all had planned for today. But there’s a reason we’re here.” Twilight assured them all. “Pyro? Would you care to explain?”

The inferno red stallion gave a small nod then addressed his friends.

“Earlier today, Twilight received a letter from Princess Celestia. The letter said she wanted a status report on how we have all been doing in the past ten days. She asked if we could come to Canterlot and give the report to her personally and that she would provide accommodations for all of us.”

It was a royal summons. For most of them that sounded like a pretty good reason.

“The princess sent you a summons in the middle of the afternoon?” Agua asked. “Couldn’t this wait until tomorrow?”

“I was curious too, Agua. But she said she wanted to see us. She sent me a second note just a minute later saying it was urgent we came today. But she didn’t say why.” Twilight answered the blue stallion.

That only made him and the rest of them even more confused.

“So…she sent you a letter telling us all to come here today and that it was urgent. Are status reports urgent to her?” Gem asked.

“I…I don’t know, Gem.” Twilight spoke again. “But this is Princess Celestia we’re talking about. If she says something is urgent, then it must be urgent.”

Her logic there was pretty solid. If the most powerful pony on all of Equestria sends out a summons for no good reason other than saying it’s urgent, it’s best not to ask questions.

“Well this isn’t how I planned to spend my evening.” Agua groaned. “Talking to the princess over how things are going just sounds boring.”

“We figured some of you may have that attitude.” Twilight interrupted.

Now everypony other than Pyro and Spike were lookin at her confused.

“The letter didn’t say ALL of us had to go and talk to her.” She went on. “Pyro and I agreed that the two of us would go give the report to Celestia while you all go out into Canterlot and have fun.”

Hearing that made nearly all of them smile a bit. That sounded WAY better than just sitting around and talking about what they’ve been doing for the past days. They do that enough already as it is with each other. Going around Canterlot with no plan at all seemed like a nice change of pace.

“Besides, I think it might do you some good to be away from Ponyville for a while, Agua. Considering the terror you caused at the beauty spa yesterday.” Twilight pointed that comment to the blue stallion of water.

“Oh come on. It wasn’t that bad.” Agua retorted.

Those four words did not fly with Rarity. It wasn’t that bad. What a lie that was.

“Agua, you got mad for no reason at all and flooded the whole place with the water from the pool.”

“Hey there was a damn good reason. I warned that chick not to touch me. Did she listen? No. I do NOT like getting touched. ANYWHERE.”

And thus began another round of listening to Agua being a jerk and Rarity trying to argue with him.

“I think you should consider yourself lucky I vouched for you! I could have just as easily let all the blame fall on you instead of talking to Aloe and Lotus into letting it pass! Had it not been for me, you’d be back there right now giving massages to sixty five year old ponies to work off the debt! Do you have any idea how much money you cost Aloe and Lotus? The poor dears might be in debt after this!”

“Oh stop drama queening!” Agua shouted back. “It was just water! How much damage can water possibly do?”

“You cracked ze walls, Agua. Water can rot out ze building’s support structures eef not treated.” Typhoon answered.

Typhoon was actually repeating herself from yesterday right after they had left the spa dripping wet. That was when Fluttershy learned Typhoon had an affinity for architecture.

“Usually repairs like zat can range up to one thousand beets.” Typhoon accented the word “bits”.

“And you’re telling us you’re not going to TRY and say you’re sorry to Aloe and Lotus?” Rarity snapped.

Even though Agua’s mostly angry, it’s not who he is. There’s more sides to him than just a hydrokinetic jerk. He just has a hard time showing them.

In this case, his argument was beaten due to the fact that he didn’t have a good one. So he let another side show.

“Alright look.” Agua began. “During the years I lived in the rock we all took turns in trying to get our hooves on some money so we could get some food. I know a few places that I’m in good with. I’ll try to get some work and send every bit I make to the spa chicks. Sound good?”

That was maybe the last thing Rarity expected to hear come from Agua’s mouth. He didn’t give a smart remark or insult or anything of the sort. He actually sounded like he was being a sincere and not all that bad pony.

So strange.

“O-okay.” Rarity replied. “That’s…very thoughtful, Agua.”

“See? I can be a nice guy.”

“If only that nice guy would stay.” Rarity commented under her breath.

That was a bit too far a reach in her mind. Then Pyro spoke.

“Here’s the game plan. Twilight, Spike, and I will give our status report to the princess. The rest of you just go on into the city and enjoy yourselves. I think after what we’ve all been through, we deserve it.”

“Hey this works out perfect for me and Gem.” Rainbow said. “Let’s hurry up, Gem. If we get to the stadium early, maybe we’ll see the Wonderbolts practicing.”

Back when Gem saved Rainbow’s life at the welcoming party, the cyan pegasus got tickets to a Wonderbolts show as her way of saying thank you. And as luck would have it, the show was in Canterlot and about to start in an hour.

“Okay. We’ll talk to you later!” Gem said to everypony as she and Rainbow headed off.

“Bye, Gem! Have fun!” Typhoon shouted.

“We will!” Both Gem and Rainbow shouted.

As those two disappeared off into the city, everypony else decided to leave as well. Agua and Rarity went off on their own direction. Pinkie, Cryo, Typhoon, and Fluttershy decided to stick together while they went out. That left Twilight, Spike, and Pyro alone to head for the castle. It wasn’t a long walk but they did have a few minutes to converse.

“Kinda nice not having to teleport.” Pyro commented. “Never knew how relaxing trains could be.”

“Teleporting is handy at times. But the way YOU teleport can be…a bit nerve-wracking.”

“No it’s not. You’re just afraid you might throw up.” Spike assumed.

“Well I don’t like throwing up. It’s gross and the leftover taste is AWFUL.” Twilight confessed.

“Yeah I hear ya.” Pyro agreed. “Nasty business puking.”

“Wait. I thought you couldn’t get sick.” Twilight thought.

“Getting sick is when your body is infected with a disease. Throwing up is a bodily function. There’s a difference.” Pyro corrected.

He did have a point. Puking can even be induced by oneself. So in a way, it’s not REALLY being sick. It’s just making one’s self FEEL sick to the point of upheaval.

“But….if you’re ever around Terra when she’s sick and she’s about to hurl….RUN. You run fast, you run far. Because it is NOT pretty.” Pyro advised.

“Uhhh…noted. Speaking of Terra, why didn’t she come again?” Twilight asked forgetting the reason.

“I don’t really remember.” Pyro answered. “All she said to me was…it’s a personal matter.”

“Hm.” Twilight couldn’t figure out what could be so personal she asked to stay behind. “Well I’m sure she’s okay.”

“Why wouldn’t she be? Although she’s still Alamantian royalty, she’s about as much a fairy princess as I am.”

The metaphor was clear. Terra is a girl but she’s is not in any way a girly girl.

Upon arrival to the castle, they were met with no opposition this time. They were let in right on the spot and waited patiently for the Princess to arrive.

While they waited, the others proceeded to follow Pyro’s and Twilight’s plan and just enjoy themselves. Cryo, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Typhoon were walking around and looking in the windows of some of the stores and stands in the streets. But mostly, the two Alamantians were too busy admiring the city of Canterlot itself. Typhoon having an eye for architecture couldn’t help but ogle some of the finer crafted buildings.

“I heard this place was big. I just...never really knew HOW big.” Cryo commented.

“You mean you’ve NEVER been to Canterlot before?” Pinkie asked with a gasp.

“No I have.” Cryo confessed. “I used to dance on some of the street corners to make some money here in this city. I just never really took notice to it before.”

“Dancing for money?” Fluttershy asked.

“Some jobs were hard to come by.” Typhoon replied. “We had to do whatever we could to make money so we could get some food.”

“Some months were better than others but we got by.” Cryo added. “I mean one time I was seriously thinking about lowering myself to prosti….sweet Skaldi is that an antique shop?”

His eyes brightened and his smile grew big. The three mares followed his line of sight to a store that was indeed an antique shop. One of the females grew the same smile Cryo had. That one female was Typhoon.

Almost as if they were in a trance, the two Alamantians approached the store with their partners in tow. The bell handing from a thread on the door chimed as the door opened and closed. The shopkeeper behind the counter looked up at the ring of the bell. He was shorter than most stallions seen around and had a bit of a chub in his belly. His coat was dark green and his mane was flat black. His cutie mark was a bag of money. He wore dark glasses so his eye color was a mystery.

He saw four ponies walk in and approached them immediately. Well…mostly he approached Typhoon.

“Why hello there, little miss.” He said with a strange low voice. “Welcome to my shop.”

Right off the bat Typhoon did not like the shopkeeper’s smug tone. Neither did Fluttershy or Cryo. Pinkie however didn’t really take that much of notice.

“Take a while to peruse around.” He said. “If you see anything you like, say an object or my address, just let me know.”

With that he turned around and walked off leaving Typhoon incredibly repulsed, and Cryo pissed off that somepony treated his sister like that.

“Talk about making a bad first impression.” Cryo growled.

“That…that wasn’t very nice of him.” Fluttershy whispered.

“Do you guys wanna leave?” Pinkie Pie asked finally sensing the other three were a bit uncomfortable. “There are plenty more antique shops in Canterlot.”

“No, eet’s alright, Pinkie.” Typhoon insisted. “We’re already here, we might as well look around.”

They did just that and they were sure to steer clear of the creepy shopkeeper. There were many things in there that did interest them. All four of them. Old ceramic vases, wall décor, dinnerware, furniture, chandeliers, and more. The shopkeeper may be a jerk but his store is filled with tons of awesome stuff.

While Pinkie was closely admiring the pattern on a metallic candle holder, her partner had taken notice of something else hanging from the wall.

“Whoa. Hey. Hey Ty! Come over here. You gotta check this out.”

Wondering what it could be Cryo was so interested in, Typhoon and Fluttershy walked over and pointed their eyes in the same direction Cryo had his set on. What Cryo was looking at turned out to be…

“A stick?” Pinkie muttered.

It sure looked like a stick by first impression. The object was made of wood, thin, at least 65 inches in length, and it appeared to be plated in a few areas of some metallic material.

“What’s so special about that stick?” Pinkie asked.

“Zat ees not just any steeck, Pinkie.” Typhoon’s smile was so wide she almost looked like a schoolgirl with it. “Zat is an Aero Tribe staff. Alamantian made. Some of ze great wind movers use staffs like zis to channel their power.”

So that’s what caught her so much. That staff was from her very tribe. Made to make some of her techniques more powerful.

She had to have it. But she had zero money to spend.

“Ah. You have quite an eye.” The creepy shopkeeper saw Typhoon looking at the stick and walked over to them. “I found that little baby in a walk one day on my way to Trottingham. Don’t know what it’s used for but from the markings on it, I could tell right away it was valuable.”

Typhoon’s face towards the shopkeeper turned cold. But the stallion didn’t notice because he wasn’t looking back at her.

“So what do you say, little missy? You interested in buying?” he asked.

“I’ll get back to you.” Typhoon answered flatly. “And never call me zat again.”

“You got it, feathers.” He winked at her as he walked away.

Once again, she was repulsed by his vulgarity.

“What a creep.” Cryo muttered.

“Typhoon, if you want, I could buy that for you.” Fluttershy offered. “I have enough bits to afford it.”

“No, Fluttershy.” Typhoon firmly responded. “I will not allow anypony, including myself to pay for zat staff.”

She almost seemed like she was mad for some reason.

“But why, Ty?” Cryo wondered curious why she would pass it up.

“Because he’s lying.”

Typhoon’s words earned her the shocked faces of her other three present friends.

“What? He’s lying?” Fluttershy asked her partner. “How do you know?”

“I read hees mind.” Typhoon confessed. “He didn’t find zis staff. He went to Alamante years ago and stole eet from a wind mover. I refuse to pay for an item zat was stolen. Especially if eet came from MY tribe.”

“So…what are you gonna do?” Pinkie asked.

Typhoon had a plan cooking in her head. But she needed to think more about it.

“I’m working on eet.” She answered. “Come come. Let us check out some more shops.”

That did seem like a good idea. With that weird shopkeeper, leaving would make them clear of his sight. Soon enough, they were off to find another shop to browse in.

Over at the Canterlot Arena, the whole place was slowly starting to fill up with ponies who had all purchased tickets to the same event. The Wonderbolts night show. Two of those ponies were the cyan rainbow maned pegasus and the dark purple and black unicorn plasma mover.

As they found their seats that matched the ones on the ticket, they took a moment to view the sky up above them. It was now the darkest shade of blue and a few stars had popped into vision.

“These are the best seats in the house.” Rainbow commented. “We have good views from all angles. Can I get tickets or what?”

“I’ve always wanted to see these ponies performing.” Gem softly said. “Thanks for bringing me, Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey it’s no prob, Gem. After what you did for me back at that party, I owe you big.”

“This show, and your friendship, is thanks enough, Rainbow.” Gem insisted.

Rainbow smiled at the unicorn and looked upwards and to the right.

“They usually make their entrance from the northeast. So keep your eyes in that direction.” Rainbow Dash advised.

The response she got to that was not words. No. It was more like a weird gurgling bubble sound. Loud too. Rainbow turned around to see Gem frowning a bit. Then the gurgle came again. That time Rainbow realized where it was coming from.

Gem’s stomach.

“I take it you’re hungry.” Rainbow said.

The unicorn nodded.

“Sorry. I haven’t eaten a lot today.” Gem replied.

Rainbow had prepared for things such as this. When it comes to a Wonderbolts airshow, she takes every precaution possible. With her, the pegasus had brought a saddlebag filled all sorts of things. Cushions to sit on, blankets in case it got a bit nippy, binoculars, and a jar with the 16th letter of the alphabet written on the front of it in permanent marker. Gem was a bit shocked to see that one.

Finally Rainbow Dash fished out what she was looking for. A small bag of bits to spend. Using her mouth, she tossed it to Gem who caught it in her magical grip of electric purple.

“Go get yourself something to eat, Gem. The food in this stadium is AWESOME. So go nuts.”

Gem smiled as her stomach growled again. Then she hurried off to make sure she returned before the show started.

Within the center part of the city, the ponies of generosity and water were there inside a tea shop getting a drink. Rarity had to fork over the money to pay for Agua since he was in possession of zero money. But other than that, things were going…shockingly well.

Rarity was surprisingly having a peaceful time with Agua. He wasn’t getting angry or trying to beat anypony up for looking at him funny. He tends to do things like that quite often. But not today. Rarity just couldn’t put her hoof on the reason as to why he was doing this.

As they left the tea shop, they began to converse.

“You know I gotta admit. Compared to the tea I’ve had from Alamante that stuff almost measures up.” Agua said.

He and Rarity had just exited a tea shop where the tea was in fact quite tasty as Agua said. The way he said it though was a bit odd.

Are you saying Alamantian tea brews are better than Equestria’s?” Rarity asked.

“Have you ever HAD Alamantian tea before?” Agua asked right back to her.

To that, Rarity could only shake her head “no”.

“Thought so. Anyway, I knew this guy back home in my village, Zen was his name. It was short for something but it was too weird I can’t remember what it was. He had his own tea shop near the beach. Best cup of tea you will EVER drink. Don’t matter which flavor”

“Sounds rather delightful now that I think about it.” That was it. Rarity couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know what the hell was going on.

“Okay, Agua I have to ask. What is it with you today? Ever since you came to live with me you have been nothing but a huge pain in my flank. And now all of a sudden today you turn into…well this.”

Agua gave a slight groan half expecting that question to pop up.

“I’ve seen how the others are with THEIR partners alright? I just thought..well maybe you could have something like that with me.” He answered.

“Well how come it took you this long to come to that?” Rarity asked.

“I have a lot of personal shit going on with me, Rarity.” Agua replied. “A lot of shit that I’ve kept locked in my head and I intend to keep it there.”

“Well….are you sure that’s healthy? Why not just talk to somepony about these things?”

“Talk with who? A therapist? I’m flat broke. Plus those guys always charge up the ass for just one hour at a time.”

As crude as he put it, Rarity had to admit Agua had a point. There were some therapists out there whose prices were just ridiculous.

“Well…what about me?” Rarity dared to ask. “I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but we are partners and we do live together. Albeit you live in a pond outside my actual house but it’s still within the property lines. And you come in to eat and use the bathroom.”

She wanted so badly to just be the least bit close to him. To understand him. To find out why he’s…the way he is.

“I appreciate the offer, Rarity.” Agua was honest in that. “But things have happened to me in my past. Things I’m not sure you would understand. It’s just…by Poseidon’s beard.”

Agua’s teal green eyes had locked on a pony. Not just anypony. A female one he considered to be very VERY attractive. His hoof pulled Rarity close to him and the other hoof pointed forward.

“Rarity. That girl In the white. And the pink. With the sexy eyes. Who is that?”

White, pink, and sexy eyes really weren’t a lot to go on. So Rarity had to follow Agua’s line of sight to get a clue. She shortly spotted the girl he was talking about. It was someone she knew.

“Her name’s Fleur De Lis.” Rarity informed her partner.

“She nice?”

“Of course.”

“She single?””

“No.” Rarity said that with a firm tone to make a point. “She’s married to Fancypants. The most important business pony in all of Canterlot.”

“Married?” Agua repeated. “Hm…challenge accepted.”

Agua proceeded to walk towards the front door of the building Fleur walked into with Rarity behind him.

“You mean you’re going to make a move on her even thought I just told you she’s married to somepony else?”

“Yep.”

Rarity hung her head down and groaned.

“….aaaand he’s back.” She muttered under her breath.

As Agua went through the door of the place, Rarity looked up to see exactly what place it was. The sign’s words brought horror to the unicorn.

It was a beauty spa. The best one in all of Canterlot. Yesterday Rarity figured out Agua and beauty spas DO NOT go together.

“If he floods this one, Rarity…just sneak out the back door.”

She figured as long as Agua’s in there trying to make a move on a girl, she could at least get a full spa treatment and compare to Ponyville’s. So she went inside and hoped for zero percent chance of floods.

Meanwhile back at the castle, nothing had changed. Pyro, Twilight, and Spike were still outside the princess’s chamber waiting to be let in. They had no idea what was going on in there. But whatever it was, it had to be important to keep Celestia’s attention. While they waited, they tried to find some ways to keep themselves out of boredom. The most interesting way was when Spike suggested breathing as much fire as he cloud onto Pyro’s face to see if the stallion would feel anything. Of course Twilight was shocked her number one assistant would even think of such a thing. But the real surprise was when Pyro agreed to do it.

So for twenty minutes straight, Twilight sat in total confusion as she watched Spike take in deep breaths and blow as much fire as he could right into Pyro’s face. The red unicorn felt nothing. Spike didn’t even get a single wince or cringe out of him. Twilight watched this hoping to Celestia that not all guys were like this.

Finally, after nearly two hours of waiting, the doors to the princess’s chambers finally opened up. Not even a few seconds later did the princess of the sun herself walk through those doors and stop on front of Twilight, Pyro, and Spike. Twilight and Spike bowed their usual way while Pyro bowed his usual way. Bipedal and front hooves together.

“Princess Celestia. How nice to see you again.”

Having the utmost respect for his culture, Celestia gave Pyro a bow right back in the same fasion.

“Hello to you as well, Pyro. Twilight, Spike. Good evening.”

“Good evening, Princess.” Twilight greeted her mentor.

Wasting no time, the princess got right to the point.

“I’m sure you are wondering why I summoned you here at such an odd time of the day.” Celestia looked out a near window and found she needed to correct herself. “Or rather in the night.”

It was now fully night time. The stars were shining bright with a near full moon overhead.

Pyro and Twilight wasted no time either. They got straight to it.

They proceeded to tell the princess of everything that had been happening in the past two weeks. Everything in Ponyville had been quiet and free of any sinister activity. Everypony was getting along more and more with their partners. Though Agua and Rarity were a bit of an exception to that.

“Well I’m sure in time, they’ll learn true harmony from one another.” Celestia positively said.

“Harmony? From Agua?” Spike repeated. “I think we have a better chance of Rainbow Dash cutting off her own wings.”

Pyro being a wise young pony was rarely seen laughing. But that comment had a little something to it because he gave off a few giggles.

“Trust me. I all of all people know how difficult Agua can be. But he means well.”

“Maybe you should try telling that to Terra.” Spike suggested. “You know, before she picks up a house with her bare hooves and sets it down on top of him.”

“A house? Bare hooves” Twilight thought Spike was being silly. “Oh Spike, I know Terra is a strong pony and all. But I don’t think even she can lift up things like houses with nothing but her hooves.”

“Actually she can.” Pyro corrected.

This is where Twilight was once again confused and Pyro felt need to clarify.

“Terra is a master at moving earth. But she does have another ability. She has muscles. BIG muscles. She can lift things up without using her powers. All she needs to do is just get a good grip, lift, and bam. Super strength.”

“Ah yes. I have been to Alamante many times. Super enhanced strength is a very common side effect amongst the Geo Tribe. In fact all of the tribes have their own interesting side abilities.”

“She’s right. Agua for example. He can breathe underwater. Gem can see in the dark with no assistance from magic or her powers. Cryo has that immunity deal like I do. And Typhoon…well..she’s a telepath. But I think she’s alone when it comes to that. As for me, I can fly.”

That last one caught Twilight a bit off guard. As well as her dragon companion.

“You can what?” Spike asked for him to repeat it.

“You didn’t hear me wrong, Spike.” Pyro assured him. “I have the ability to fly.”

The lavender unicorn that was his partner shook her head refusing to believe it.

“You know, the last time I checked, unicorns without wings CAN’T FLY.”

The look in her eyes told Pyro she wanted a demonstration.

And he intended fully to give her one.

“Check again, Twi.”

One small movement from his hooves was all it took. All four of his hooves became engulfed in flames. Then his back two started to pour an excessive amount out. A few seconds later, it seemed to intensify. Then the next thing Twilight saw baffled her more than anything had ever baffled her before.

Pyro’s hooves lifted off the ground.

The lavender mare couldn’t believe it. The unicorn that was her partner was floating in front of her using nothing but fire from his bare hooves. His horn didn’t glow one bit. As he lowered himself to the ground, Twilight stuttered a bit before Twilight was finally able to speak an actual word.

“H….how?”

“You’re a smart girl. Take a few moments and think.”

She did just that. The unicorn mare put her brain into overdrive thinking of how Pyro’s flight abilities were possible. Celestia loved seeing that look on her favorite student’s face. Watching her think was one of the joys of being her teacher.

Finally, after about a minute of pondering, Twilight cracked it. She looked at her partner with a wide smile and pointed her hoof.

“Jet propulsion!”

“Exactly.”

Twilight’s face beamed hearing she was right. Spike however was still in the dark.

“Huh? I don’t get it.”

Twilight explained.

“It’s easy, Spike. Somehow Pyro is able to use his pyrokinesis to manipulate the flames that originate from his hooves and control the intensity and pressure therefore making him capable of ascension.”

Not one word of that was able to register into Spike’s brain. Hoping for a better explanation, he turned his head to the red stallion. The look on his face was a clear indicator that he needed simpler words. Pyro was able to provide them.

“I can use my flame powers to turn my hooves into rockets.”

“Oooohhhhh. Now I get it.”

An annoyed Twilight gave a small grumble. This sort of thing happens to her too often. Celestia gave off a small giggle seeing Twilight’s face like that.

“Oh don’t be upset, my faithful student.” She said to the young mare. “Your knowledge knows no bounds.”

It always made Twilight feel better to hear encouragement from the most powerful pony in all of Equestria.

“Yeah well in all honesty, I’d rather have a unicorn that flies for a partner than a pegasus who can reads minds.” Twilight commented.

Of course she was referring to the blonde pink pegasus that was the element of wind.

“Between you and I, Luna still feels a bit nervous when she sees Typhoon.” Celestia said.

“Really? Didn’t Ty apologize to her at the party?” Pyro asked.

“Oh she did. And it was a very good apology too. But Luna and I have never met a pony with such abilities like your sister. It still confuses us as to how she has them.”

“To be honest, your majesty. I think Typhoon is even more confused.” Twilight said. “She says she has no idea where her telepathy came from and that she’s the only pony in her family to ever have it.”

“But nevertheless it does come in handy sometimes.” Pyro added. “And let me tell you something. Being a master of the mind, she makes one heck of a therapist.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that.” Spike commented. “Bet she’d make a lot of money.”

Pyro was going to say to Spike that Typhoon had no interest in being a therapist. Before he could, a royal guard came over to the princess and whispered something into her ear. After he was done, Celestia looked down at her three visitors again.

“Oh I am so sorry for this, but something requires my attention. Please give me a minute.” Celestia said to them.

“Of course, princess.” Twilight responded.

With a nod, Celestia walked off with the guard at her side. As soon as they turned the corner, another guard walked in. One Twilight recognized. This guard was wearing different colored armor than most of the common unicorns around the castle. White in his coat and blue in his mane and tail, his cutie mark was a knight’s shield with a pink star inside it very similar to the star Twilight has on her own flank.

Twilight smiled upon seeing him and when he saw her as well, he did the same.

“Twiley!” he shouted out his nickname for her.

“Hi Shining Armor!” Twilight ran up to him and hugged the stallion.

Shining Armor. Pyro recognized the name. This was Twilight’s older brother. She had spoken quite well of him and all that he has accomplished. Wanting to meet him up close, he approached the two as they finished their hug.

“What are you doing here, little sis?” Shining Armor asked.

“Oh just visiting.” Twilight answered.

“And giving a tour.”

That little add on was brought to them by the red unicorn who had just walked up to them with Spike on his back.

“Hey Spike.” Shining Armor waved to the dragon and Spike waved back.

Then Shining Armor looked into Pyro’s eyes.

“And you are?”

Twilight immediately remembered her manners and introduced her friend.

“Oh. Pyro, this is my older brother, Shining Armor. Shining Armor, this is Pyro. He’s a friend of mine.”

“Nice to meet you.” Pyro extended a hoof.

Smiling, Shining Armor grabbed Pyro’s hoof with his own and shook it firmly.

“You too. So are you just friends with my sister or is there anything romantic going on?” he asked.

Both Twilight’s and Pyro’s faces dropped upon hearing that question.

“What? No of course not.” Pyro answered.

“There’s nothing like that between us, Shiny.” Twilight added. “He’s just a friend and I said I’d show him around the castle.”

“Suuuuuuuuuure you are.” Shining Armor replied with a clearly intended teasing tone.

“Oh Shiny stop it.” Twilight said a bit annoyed.

“Oh lighten up, Twiley. I’m just teasing.” The captain chuckled as he looked at Pyro again. “So, tell me, how did you two meet?”

He froze. If he told Shining Armor the truth it would only mean having to tell him everything about the Nightmare Moon thing and the possible threat to Twilight’s life. The quick glance Twilight gave him said she didn’t want him to know either. So he did the only thing he could think of that didn’t sound awful.

He stretched the truth.

“I’m a visitor from the far east.” Pyro said. “Twilight offered me a place to stay while I get situated in Ponyville.”

“Really? How interesting.” Shining Armor didn’t seem to mind that a guy was living with his younger sister. “I take it Twilight never mentioned me, huh?”

“Actually I’ve heard a lot about you from your sister.” Pyro corrected. “Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and husband to the princess. Quite impressive.”

“Well thank you.” Shining Armor replied.

Pyro gave a small nod to gesture back to him.

“So….Pyro. Interesting name.” Shining Armor then looked at the stallions flank. “Interesting mark you’ve got too.”

“Uh…thanks.” Pyro muttered.

“What does it mean?” the guard captain asked. “What exactly do you do?”

Once again the truth was stretched like a rubber band.

“I work with fire. A lot of fire. LOT’S of fire.”

“Okay I get it. You like fire.” Shining Armor got the point. “Not a really surprise. With those colors, you look like a walking flame yourself.”

“All natural.” Pyro felt need to add that for some reason. “Some people think I dyed my hair for show.”

“Yeah I get that. Back when I first joined the guard, I got ripped on a lot because everypony thought I highlighted my mane. I mean come on! Does this look highlighted to you?”

Shining Armor bent his head down in front of Pyro so he got a good view of his mane. After taking a good look at it, Pyro spoke to him.

“Do you REALLY want me to answer that honestly?” Pyro asked.

Shining Armor just groaned.

“No.” he mumbled as he leaned back up. “Dammit.”

“Hey don’t feel bad about it, Shiny.” Twilight tried to comfort her brother. “Your mane is fine.”

“And besides, you wear helmet most of the time so who cares really?” Spike tried to help in making him feel better.

It really didn’t. He just decided to let it pass for now. That was a good decision seeing as how Celestia had just walked back in and taken notice of the captain’s presence.

“Oh good. Shining Armor I see you have met, Pyro.” Celestia said. “I trust you two are getting along ?”

“Of course we are. Why wouldn’t we be?” Pyro asked.

“Oh I just need to be sure things go smoothly here, Pyro.” Celestia asked. “You can never be too sure of something.”

None of them had any idea what she meant by that. But they paid it no mind. Shining Armor was easily turned away from the subject when another mare entered the room. And this mare was there just to see him.

It was another alicorn. Her coat was pink and her mane was comprised of golden yellow, magenta, and purple. The same with her tail. She was just as big as Shining Armor and Pyro. She walked up to the former and gave him a quick peck on his lips.

“Hey you.” She muttered.

“Hello yourself.” He said back to her with a smile.

There was only one who was still in the dark here. Lucky the white stallion noticed it.

“Oh uh, Pyro, this is my wife, Cadence.” Shining Armor gestured to the mare at his side. “Hon, this here is Pyro. He’s visiting from the east and he’s staying at Twilight’s place in Ponyville.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Pyro bowed his head a bit.

Cadence upon seeing his face, she gave a small gasp. Then she put her face closer to his as if she were examining for zits or something. Needless to say, personal space ceased to exist for a brief moment. And Pyro really didn’t like it.

“Uh…why are you looking at me like that?”

She sure took her sweet time in answering.

“It’s just…I feel like I’ve met you before.”

“Can I look like someone you know…but from a bit of a farther distance?”

Finally something snapped in Cadence’s mind and she backed away from him.

“Oh I’m sorry. That was a bit rude of me wasn’t it?”

“Eh it’s no big deal. I’ve dealt with ponies who were much ruder than that.”

“Really?” Cadence asked.

“Yeah but…let’s not get into that.” Pyro did NOT want to get in on that subject.

Being an Alamantian he had been subject to a lot of racism over the years. He did a good job of hiding. But there were still some that knew on sight what he was. And boy did he and his siblings get an earful at times. Experiences he wasn’t very fond of, and he did not want to start talking about them again.

“If you say so.” Cadence agreed to not go there.

So now it was Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight, Pyro, and Spike all in a group chat. As that went on, things were getting a bit…steamy.

Quite literally they were.

Over in a certain beauty spa, Fleur De Lis had just entered the hottest room in the place. Soon enough, the experience that room brought people began and she entered bliss.

The sauna of the joint was filled with heat and steam just like one should prefer. And Fleur was loving every second of the feeling on her body.

Even though she was in bliss, she of course still had her sense of hearing. The door gave off a slight creak as it opened and closed. Maybe all the steam from years and years of sauna time wore out the hinges a little bit.

Through the steam, Fleur couldn’t exactly tell who it was. All she could see was a silhouette. She watched the shadow walk close to her and sit down not too far from her. Wanting to be friendly, she decided to speak.

“Why hello there, darling.” She greeted thinking this other pony was a female like herself. “Enjoying a girls day out now are we?”

“Well it’s a day out alright.”

Fleur’s face dropped right there upon realizing that was indeed not a mare. But another stallion.

“And right now I could see it turning into a day with a girl.”

She could hear. She just couldn’t see who it was. Then suddenly and strangely, the steam all moved out of the way and the two ponies were able to glimpse each other. Fleur saw a young well built stallion still in his teens looking at her with dark teal eyes. His dark blue mane and light blue coat were dripping wet with steam water. Though wet, Fleur came to the conclusion the look went well with him for some reason.

That did not however change what he just said. And it turns out he wasn’t done.

“The name’s Agua.” He greeted himself slyly. “And I’m hoping to make more than just your acquaintance.”

It didn’t take a genius to realize exactly what those words meant. Fleur decided to pump the brakes right there.

“I have a marriage with another stallion.”

“Well I have an erection caused by you. It’d be a real shame to waste it wouldn’t you think?”

The unicorn turned her head away in disgust, revolted by the way he said that. As if he were proud. And his confident smirk, that only made her even more revolted.

“You sir are no gentlecolt.” She shot. “If you don’t leave I will call security.”

She was dead serious. As much as Agua wanted to make a move, he didn’t want to be brought to the castle in shackles.

“Fine.”

He got up to leave. But right before he got to the door…

“Here. Have a bit more.”

He raised his hoof right at the bucket of water that was given to Fleur and waved. Some of the water streamed from the bucket and onto the hot pile of rocks by itself. As another cloud of steamed formed from the pile of rocks, Fleur took notice of what just happened and did the math in her head. When she came to the answer, she was amazed.

“Wait a minute.” She called.

He halted right in place.

“You’re…an Alamantian water mover?” she muttered.

Agua never answered her. Instead, Fleur’s mouth turned up into a very devious smirk.

“I’ve never been with a water mover before.”

Agua knew the seductive tone and smiled showing all his teeth. He then turned around and approached Fleur so their noses were barely millimeters apart.

“Well then my dear, allow me to make your first time something you will never forget.” He whispered.

As they began to do some certain things in that sauna, a hand made of water arose from the bucket near the door, and pushed said door shut and locked it. Then the window became caked with steam making vision inside the room impossible.

Canterlot truly is an interesting city. But while all this was going on there, the other two earth ponies of the group were off doing something entirely different in the Everfree Forest. The forest is a place that nopony dares to go inside in the dead of night.

Those ponies apparently haven’t met a yellow mare by the name of Terra.

Nature in Canterlot (Part 2)

I only own my OC’s and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 15: Nature in Canterlot (Part 2)

In the capital city of Canterlot, ten of the chosen ponies were for the most part enjoying themselves. Some were meeting new people, shopping, enjoying a good show, or…some other activity. However, the other two ponies remained behind at the request of the mare of earth herself. She and Applejack missed the train to Canterlot intentionally to go somewhere else.

Into the Everfree Forest.

So while everything in Canterlot was happening with the other five pairs of ponies, the sixth pair was busy with their own expedition. With the sun going down over the horizon and darkness settling in, Applejack openly expressed her dislike of Terra’s idea of going in at the time. Terra had heard warning of such things from other folks around Ponyville but she didn’t care one bit. Ever since yesterday, when she heard from Cheerilee’s class that there was a zebra living in the forest, she had been thinking all about it. Her heart was determined on seeing her. Only problem was she had never been into the forest before and Applejack didn’t quite remember how to get there on her own. There was a filly who did though.

So the party was increased to three mares going into the forest. The third being little Applebloom. The way to Zecora’s hut never left the little one’s memory. She had been there enough times herself to remember it by heart. So she was acting as the guide.

Once they were on the right trail, Terra pulled out a few steps ahead of the apple siblings not only eager to get to where they were going, but to keep a lookout for any of the dark creatures the townsfolk had warned her about. Even though she was hellbent on seeing this zebra, she still knew her job was to keep Applejack safe. And Applebloom fell into the duty by family extension.

They had been walking for fifteen whole minutes without so much as a single word of conversation. It was around that time where Applejack just had to speak up.

“Why in tarnation are we goin to Zecora’s place while the sun is settin’?” Applejack asked her little sister.

“Don’t ask me. Ask her.” Applebloom pointed to the geokinetic mare walking in front of them. “She’s the one who wanted to.”

Upon walking up to Terra’s side, Applejack did just that.

“So what’s the deal, Terra?” she asked. “It’s one thing to come out here in the forest in the daylight, but at night it’s just crazy.”

Hearing the way she worded that made the yellow mare question Applejack’s famous bravery.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little darkness, Jackie.”

Jackie was a nickname Terra coined for the cowgirl mare. She wasn’t really fond of it, but she paid it no mind as long as Terra was the only one who used it. If Rainbow Dash were ever to say it, she would be bucked by a pair of strong orange hooves.

“Hey now, I ain’t scared of nothin’.” Applejack strongly emphasized the word, ‘nothin’. “It’s the place mixed with the dark that gets my coat crawlin’.” She admitted.

“What’s so bad about this forest? Almost everyone I’ve met in Ponyville keeps telling me to stay away from it but they won’t say exactly why.”

“Because this place just ain’t natural, Terra.” Applejack explained her reason of fear. “Every plant out here grows on its own, the clouds move without anypony pushin’ them around, and the weather out here is just so unpredictable. How is that not scary?”

Terra found it difficult, but she succeeded in keeping her laughter inside. The way Applejack rant on about the forest being unnatural and describing the way things work in there were just too funny.

But she had to say it anyway.

“Jackie, in my country, ponies don’t control the weather. It’s completely random like this forest is. If you want my opinion, I think what Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi do is unnatural. You guys make the weather in a factory. That’s not natural. That’s just…industrialism.”

As much as Applejack wanted to argue back, she found her mouth hanging down. Clearly her country and Terra’s were far more different than she could have imagined. Rather than the elemental powers that is.

“Well then Ah guess this forest kinda feels like home for ya. Doesn’t it?” she said as she adjusted her hat.

Right as rain she was there. Terra looked around the forest and sniffed the air around them.

“Yeah. Now that you mention it, kinda.” She answered. “And….oh good gravel.”

Terra walked away and stopped in front of a bush. Applejack looked closer and saw that it wasn’t just any bush. This bush carried a leaf that was too familiar to not recognize. Terra had a huge smile on her face as if the plant was casting a trance over her.

Even for Applebloom it was recognizable.

“Hey. Ah’ve seen that leaf before.” Applebloom said. “Yeah uh…it was in school a few weeks ago.”

That last sentence caught both Terra and Applejack by surprise. Both of them looked at the filly in fear that there may be a potential dealer in her school. And at such young age.

“Some older pony came in and gave us a presentation on how we should stay away from it. He said it was a drug. Ah don’t forget what it was called. Just that it started with an “M”.”

Both the teenage mares took a sigh in relief knowing Applebloom was clean.

“Uh…yeah. That’s right, Applebloom.” Applejack told her sister. “You just stay away from that plant. Ya hear? Ah don’t want you or any of yer friends comin’ out here just to see it.”

“Alright, AJ. Ah promise.”

“Pinkie Promise.” Applejack sternly ordered.

Terra had no idea what the heck Applejack was talking about. What the hell was a Pinkie Promise?

She got her answer two seconds later when Applebloom made a few motions with her front hooves and spoke a little rhyme.

“Cross mah heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in mah eye.” After she placed a hoof over her right eye, the filly got back on track. “C’mon. Zecora’s hut isn’t too far now.”

Applebloom pressed forward with her older sister right on her tail.

“C’mon, Terra. Just leave it alone.” Applejack said.

“Yeah alright.” Terra murmured back.

But right before she turned to join them, she leaned her head in hear the plant and sniffed it.

“I’ll be back for you later, my love.” She whispered to the leaves.

When she caught back up to Applejack, their conversation picked up right from where they left it.

“You never answered mah question.” Applejack reminded her. “What put this idea in yer head?”

Finally Terra let loose her answer.

“You said a zebra lives out here, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And her name is Zecora?”

“That’s right.”

“There ya have it then. That’s why we’re out here.”

But…she already knew that much. She grunted as they.

“Ah know that’s why we’re out here, Terra.” Applejack was a bit annoyed. “But that still doesn’t explain how you know her.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The filly up front let loose a bloodcurdling scream and dashed behind her sister and Terra shivering.

“What’s got into you?” Applejack asked.

Applebloom shakily pointed her hoof forward making the two mares follow with their eyes. Up in front they saw what caused her to scream.

A manticore was a bit ticked that three ponies were invading its territory. And it seemed intent on making the intruders either leave, or making them its next meal.

Chances were the second option was more likely.

“Ah got this one.” Applejack insisted.

Terra was quite surprised to hear that. She was all set to lay down the law Alamantian style. Instead she watched her friend pull off her hat, reach other hoof into the hat, and pull out a rope tired into a lasso. Putting it in her mouth, she then ran straight forward.

“Applejack, wait!” Terra cried.

It was too late. Applejack was already too far away to hear Terra’s voice. The manticore began to dash right for the orange mare. When she was in range, Applejack thrust the lasso forward and made it wrap around the creature’s muzzle and tighten. Then she jumped and landed on her back with the rope gripped in her hooves. The manticore began to shake its body in an attempt to throw Applejack off. Being a rodeo pony, the attempts were gonna have to be harder.

“Get along lil’ doggy! YEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAA!”

Terra was to say the least impressed. Applejack had some bravery to take on a manticore. It made her second guess the reason as to why Applejack hadn’t fought any Shadowmares yet. Maybe when the time comes. Who knows?

Terra and Applebloom watched for a few minutes. Applejack was able to make the creature bang it’s head into a couple of trees causing some pain and dizziness. Not to mention it was growing tired from thrashing its body trying to get her to let go.

“Alright, Terra! He’s all worn out! You take it from here!” She called to her partner.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Applejack motioned her rope and made it come loose from the manticore’s muzzle and jumped off and away from the creature. Then it looked over and saw a new target. Another pony of yellow and brown. Terra didn’t move a muscle. She only narrowed her glare at the manticore. The creature then began to charge. When it was close enough, it lunged for the mare.

That was the moment Terra struck. Quickly, she went to her hind hooves and made a strong punch motion with her right front one. The punch came packaged with a geokinetic touch. A pillar of rock shot out of the ground and hit the manticore right in its center. It went skidding back to the place it was before at the start of its run.

Applejack went up beside her partner lasso back in her mouth while Terra made a few nearby boulders rise from the ground and orbit around her to intimidate the creature. It worked. The manticore got scared and began to run away as fast as it could. When it was out of sight, Terra put the boulders back where they were and made the rock pillar she made sink back into the ground. Applejack wrapped up her lasso and placed it back in her hat.

“Nice rodeo work there, cowgirl.” Terra complimented.

“Not too shabby yerself, rocky.” Applejack reciprocated.

Applebloom approached the two teens amazed at that they both did together.

“That was so cool!” she cried with a smile.

“How about that?” Terra joked. “We have a fangirl.”

“What a beautiful thing.” Applejack added.

And just like that, the walk to the hut continued. Only now the conversation began to turn into a different direction.

“Terra? Why is it so important we’re out here?” Applebloom asked her this time. “Did you know Zecora or somethin’?”

Finally Terra said something the sisters hadn’t already heard.

“Yeah. I know her alright.” Terra finally answered. “She lived in the same village I did within my tribe’s territory. Her hut was right next to the palace. She used to come visit me and Dunehopper almost every day.”

“Wait.” Applebloom stopped her. “If you and Zecora are from the same village in the same tribe, and in the same country…wouldn’t that mean she can do what you can?”

Applejack had never thought of that. Zecora was Alamantian. And thus being so she must have some elemental traits to her. But until this moment she thought it was just being an herb specialist and potions crafter.

“When we get there you can ask her yourself.” Terra replied. “But I need to talk to her first.”

“Why?” Applejack was too curious now. “Did something happen between you and her?”

Terra was a bit annoyed how they kept guessing everything before she could explain it in detail.

“The last time I saw her, things didn’t really go so well.” Terra began.

Terra cringed as she painfully recalled the memory.

(Three years ago; Alamante; Geo Tribe Palace)

It was a sad day for all the Geo Tribe. The announcement of Dunehopper’s death spread like a wildfire from village to village. Before it began to spread, one girl was already crushed by the news. A young yellow mare with brown here and puffy red eyes. The princess of the tribe, 14 year old Terrain.

She laid on her giant stone slab she used as a bed crying into her pillows uncontrollably while clutching in her hooves the only thing she now had left of her brother. An black elastic headband. While she wept, the door opened up she heard a voice speak to her. One of the male guards that worked in the palace.

“Forgive my intrusion, Princess Terra. But you have a visitor.” The guard announced.

Through her crying, Terra was barely able to make her words understandable.

“*Sniff!*....I…I thought I said..*sob*..to leave me…*sniffle*…alone!”

“I apologize, Princess. But this zebra is persistent.” The guard argued.

Upon hearing it was a zebra who wanted it, Terra changed her mind. She turned around and nodded her head at the guard. After that gesture, he let the mentioned zebra in. Terra ran up to her and hugged her still crying her eyes out.

“My little filly, my sorrow is great. I was shocked to hear of your brother’s fate.”

The crying filly took her head out of Zecora’s chest and looked up at her face.

“He’s gone, Zecora.” She muttered. “Dunehopper is gone! What am I gonna do now?”

“I know right now you must be in pain. I know that it won’t be quite the same.”

“Well of course things aren’t going to be the same! They’re going to be worse! In case you haven’t noticed, I hate it here, Zecora!” Terra sobbed and yelled.

Zecora helped Terra back to her bed so she could lay back down.

“Now with him gone, I’m gonna be miserable. He was the only one who made this place tolerable. Now mother and father are just going to ignore me.”

It was too unbearable seeing Terra like this. Zecora had to try something to ease her mind.

“Terra my dear, please don’t think like that. This place isn’t really all that bad. Even though your brother is no longer here, it doesn’t mean things as are they appear. Right now you are sad, and indeed you should be. But know that forever, this way it won’t be. Within each of our hearts, Dunehopper will reside. But for now, the best medicine for you is time.”

Her words were sincere. All she wanted to do was make Terra see the light in this dark time. If only she had known that there was no light at this hour with her. She was way too sad to even think about any light.

“That’s all you have to say? Time will heal me? Dunehopper was my only brother and the best friend I ever had! And you knew that! And you’re just going to tell me to get over it? I WILL NEVER GET OVER THIS! MY BROTHER IS DEAD! HE’S NOT COMING BACK! I AM NEVER GOING TO SEE HIM AGAIN FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE! DOES THAT NOT MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU!?!?”

Zecora backed up as she felt the ground shake beneath her hooves almost in sync with Terra’s yelling.

“HOW CAN YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL? YOU NEVER HAD ANY REAL BROTHERS OR SISTERS! YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE KIDS OF YOUR OWN! YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT KIND OF BOND THAT THING CREATES! YOU’RE JUST A LONELY OLD HAG! SO WHY DON’T YOU JUST GET OUT OF HERE AND GO BREW SOMETHING THAT CAN BRAINWASH A GUY INTO ASKING SOMEONE LIKE YOU ON A DATE?!”

Terra knew exactly what she was saying but her emotions were clearly dominating her mind right now. She didn’t care what she said. Zecora stood there frozen eyeing the girl with a look of sadness. Almost as if she was about to start crying.

“YOU HEARD ME! GET OUT OF HERE! GO! I DON’T NEED YOU! I NEED MY BROTHER BACK!”

With that there was nothing else to say. Terra dove her head back into her pillow to continue weeping for Dunehopper while a guard escorted a silently tearing Zecora out of the palace.

Applejack and Applebloom looked upon Terra with looks of shock. Terra didn’t dare look back at them. She only looked down at the ground with her eyes almost leaking.

“I was a complete bitch to her. And she didn’t deserve one bit of it. She was just trying to help me. And I was….just awful.”

Applejack was sure familiar with that sort of tone. It was a tone of regret and sorrow. One she was familiar with. She had been through a few situations where she herself had done the same thing with her closest friends.

After seeing what she had done to that manticore just a few short minutes ago, seeing Terra like this was a bit…odd.

“Terra, Ah know what it’s like to go off on somepony for no good reason.” Applejack softly spoke. “But whether they be friends or family, they’ll forgive you. No matter what you say, they always forgive you because you love them and they love ya back.”

The only response the orange mare got from that was a deep sigh. It was followed shortly with a few words.

“I hope you’re right, Jackie.”

It didn’t take long after that for them to reach their destination. Zecora’s hut. Seeing the outside of it reminded Terra so much of the one the zebra used to have back home in Alamante. Before it was destroyed in a surprise attack. The outer décor was almost the exact same as she remembered. Every piece made by Alamantian hooves. The three ponies stopped moving for a few seconds right in front of the door.

“You ready?” Applejack asked.

One deep breath and a wipe of the brow later, she answered.

“Yeah.”

With a nod, Applejack knocked on the door a couple times.

“It’s open!” Zecora’s voice called.

Terra lost her breath for a moment upon recognizing the voice to indeed belong to the zebra living there. The doorknob was made of stone. That made opening the door easier. All Terra had to do was point her hoof at the knob and twist a bit. Creakily the door opened up. Something that needed to be fixed.

Once all three of them walked inside, Applejack pushed the door closed. Then there she was. Balancing from the top of a stick, there was Zecora upside down. Her back was turned so she had no idea who was there.

“Well howdy, Zecora.” Applejack greeted.

“Welcome back.” Applebloom added.

Terra didn’t say a word. Not yet. Although she was thrilled to see her she just couldn’t speak.

Zecora easily recognized the two voices that spoke.

“Hello Applebloom and Applejack. It feels so good to be back.”

Terra gave a small giggle. She knew Zecora’s love of rhymes so well, it felt good to hear it again

“Did ya have a nice trip, Zecora?” Applebloom asked.

“Indeed I did through every day. It was quite relaxing I must say.”

Very smoothly, Zecora shifted her weight over to the left and made the pole tilt. She landed nicely on her hooves and let the pole clink to the ground.

Other than being a bit impressed by her skill, all three mares near the door could easily tell that happy tone was fake.

“Zecora, we know where yer from. And what’s happenin’ over there.” Applejack said quietly.

It was loud enough for Zecora to hear and it was enough for her to lose the smile.

“How is it you know of this war? Was it all from that book Twilight found before?”

“Well…kinda.” Applejack answered.

In a way it was true. The letter Master Ma hid in that book told of the war.

“And a new friend of ours helped us understand. She says she knows you.” Applebloom added.

“Somepony from home who says she knows me? I must ask you now. Who could that be?”

Finally the third voice sounded.

“You haven’t changed one bit, you know that?”

Zecora froze. She had recognized that voice right off the bat. Only the last time she heard it, it was a bit higher pitched. Turning around, she saw Applejack standing next to a yellow coated pony with ruby red eyes.

With a small gasp, the zebra turned around again. Terra frowned thinking she did that because she was still mad at her. All those years and she was still angry at her. Terra’s heart of rock was starting to crumble.

Applejack, seeing her partner’s face, thought it would be best to give Zecora and Terra a chance to talk.

“Uh..we’ll just leave the two of you alone. C’mon, AB.”

Applebloom still wasn’t sure what was going on, and she wanted to find out. Her older sister had already gotten her outside the hut before she could ask anything.

Zecora didn’t move a muscle. Terra had taken a few cautious steps closer and sat down on her haunches. She had absolutely no idea how this was gonna turn out. All she knew was it was gonna be bad and this was probably a mistake. But she had to take a chance.

“Z-Zecora…I know you I’m probably the last pony you expected to see here. And you probably don’t even want to talk to me. But just listen. About the last time you and I saw each other.”

Zecora was hoping she wouldn’t bring it up. She knew from the moment she saw her standing in the doorway she would anyway.

“Everything I said is NOT how I really feel about you. From the moment you shut my door and left, I knew that. It’s just…hearing my older brother was dead just destroyed me. I thought I could never be fixed. I thought I was beyond repair. And I know….what I did…everything I said…is beyond forgiveness.”

Zecora said nor did nothing. She remained as still as a statue. It was like she wasn’t listening to a word Terra was speaking.

Terra’s eyes began to well up with tears. She was hoping they wouldn’t but she could no longer hold it back.

“Oh Gaia I am so sorry for what I did, Zecora! I know you must be mad at beyond reason! But I just had to…GAH!”

She got cut off when one of Zecora’s hooves wrapped around her back and jerked her forward. Then both of Zecora’s hooves embraced Terra in a hug. Something the mare of earth did not expect to happen in this lifetime.

“Wha? How…how can you forgive me just like that? After all I said to you...aren’t you the least bit mad?”

It was there, for the first time ever, Applebloom and Applejack heard Zecora speak without rhyming her words.

“I could never be mad at you my little earth mover. I was just upset. You took Dunehopper’s death the hardest of anypony. I was afraid your depression would overtake you completely and you would never find true happiness.”

Zecora brought her head off Terra’s shoulder so she could look her in the eye. Both of them saw the other’s eyes overflowing with tears.

“But from your face, I see I am wrong. I can’t believe it has been so long.”

Just like that, the rhymes came back into Zecora. She was just too happy to even think about rhyming when she saw Terra. The Zebra just wanted to speak to her whether she be rhyming or not.

The yellow mare wiped her eyes clear of her tears but they weren’t done coming out of her eyes.

“Applejack…she said you went back to Alamante for two weeks. Why? You know how dangerous it is there.”

“The reason I left here was the same as the last few. I returned home Terra, to try and find you.”

Terra felt like she was about to start crying even harder. Three years have gone by and all Zecora could think about was her. The zebra braved the war-torn land they dare to still call home, just to try and find her. To make sure she was alive.

“I searched every tribe, every temple, every town. When I found nothing, my hopes went down.”

“Didn’t anypony tell you I left too? I left like three years ago. Shortly after you did.” Terra informed her.

“I asked around on my countless endeavors. I was led to believe…I had lost you forever.”

Terra sniffled and looked at the zebra who now smiled back at her.

“But now you have found a new life and new friends. And I am so happy to see you again.”

Her tears still flowed, but now Terra was smiling. She then placed her hooves around Zecora’s back and returned the hug. Now she felt safe to call her something else other than just her name.

Upon seeing them hug, Applejack and Applebloom now thought it was okay to reenter the hut. The first words they heard upon opening the door…

“I’m happy to see you too, Aunt Zecora.”

…were without a doubt a bit confusing.

Terra is a pony. Zecora is a zebra. Therefore what Terra just said made absolutely no sense.

“Wait just a minute. Zecora…is yer AUNT?” Applejack asked.

It made so sense sure. But the yellow mare was about to make sense of it all. She and Zecora just had to take a minute to stop crying and wipe their eyes clean of all tears.

“Well she’s not my aunt by blood relation.” Terra began to explain. “See, my mom was never born into royalty like my father was. She was orphaned when she was just a foal. She and Zecora met at the same orphanage. They were adopted together and they grew up together as sisters. Therefore Zecora is my aunt.”

“Oh yes she is indeed my niece. Seeing her has put my mind at peace.”

So that’s why Terra was hellbent on seeing Zecora. She wasn’t just an old friend. This was a family matter. Applejack and Applebloom would have never in a million years guessed that Zecora was Terra’s family let alone her closest aunt.

Terra pulled the door closed with her mind grip on the stone doorknob. Then all four girls sat down and finally talked.

Applebloom’s question about Zecora having the same powers as Terra turned out to be valid. Zecora answered her and she was correct. The zebra was an earth mover just like her niece was. All of the drinkware and most of the pots were carved from various stones and painted. For the first time in a very long time, Zecora openly used her powers in front of other ponies by levitating some cups over from her cabinet and into each other’s hooves. Then she used them again to move the stone teapot and pour them all some tea. Applejack and Applebloom would have been surprised but given the recent days with Terra and the rest of them, they were shocked still but seeing her actually do it wasn’t so big a thing. The zebra was pleased with that.

“Still brewin’ up remedies for anything, huh Aunt Zecora?”

“Quite indeed I haven’t stopped. And my sales in Ponyville are on top.”

From time to time, Zecora made a habit of selling some of her more simple potions to some ponies in town. Like pain relievers, hygienic things, or a brew that would clear up the sinuses faster than one could say Alamante. The only reason Zecora wanted to occasional bit was so she could buy some herbs from the local shops to put into her mixtures.

While they talked, Zecora couldn’t help but examine Terra more closely. The last time she saw her, the young yellow one was smaller in height and very depressed. But now here she is three years later, and Zecora saw the happy kid she used to know. But there were other things about her. She had friends. A bit of maturity. And not to mention that headband.

“My little earth mover, so much you have grown. If only your brother could see on his own.”

Hearing her mention Dunehopper almost made Terra want to cry again. But her rough exterior had already allowed enough tears to escape her eyes. She had grown tired of crying.

“If only Auntie Z. If only.” She mumbled.

“I see you keep his headband on your brow. And I must say, it looks good on you now.”

Terra giggled at that. It kinda reminded her of what happened before with those two snobs on the bridge. She could still hear their screams as Agua conjured up a tidal wave to carry them away. Oh what a laugh.

“I’ll say.” Applejack still had her opinion that Terra holding onto that headband to tightly wasn’t healthy, but she didn’t dare say it out of the sake of her partner’s feelings and known short temper. However she couldn’t deny it looked good on her. “Terra hear pulls off that headband better than anypony else I know.”

“Yeah. You look pretty hot in that hat of yours too, Jackie.” Terra returned the compliment.

Applejack gave hearty chuckle and took a sip of tea.

“Hey! What about me?! I have somethin’ in MAH head too!” Applebloom pointed to her head feeling left out.

The three older mares laughed and decided to throw the filly a bone.

“Applebloom you’re the only pony I’ve ever seen who’s cute enough to pull off a hairbow.” Terra said.

Applebloom beamed after she heard that. She took pride in her hairbow. Hearing somepony random or known compliment it meant the world to her.

“Thank you.” She said.

With that over, the conversation went another direction with Applejack’s next question to Zecora.

“So why did you keep yer earth powers a secret Zecora? Had you used them in the past, you coulda helped us so many times.”

“Like when Spike grew into a full grown dragon and started terrorizing Ponyville.” Applebloom added for an example.

“Or when those parasprites infested the town.” Applejack piled on.

Zecora had an explanation alright.

“I kept my powers hidden for reasons. If you recall, I was feared for many seasons.”

Applejack remembered now. Being a zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest all alone brought along plenty of nasty rumors about Zecora being an evil enchantress. If she had used her powers over earth, they would have just gotten worse.

“Ah’m still sorry Ah said those things about you, Zecora.” The orange mare had apologized to the zebra many times before about judging her by her striped cover. But to the cowgirl, it never seemed like enough.

Zecora thought differently.

“Now Applejack, there’s no need to worry. Now my memories of those days are blurry.”

She felt a bit better now. Then Zecora went on to say how happy she was Terra and Applejack befriended each other. She even said back when Terra was still not known about, Applejack reminded the zebra somewhat of her niece. The striped one said it was because of her muscles and somewhat stubbornness. Both the young mares giggled at that. That was indeed a couple of similarities they shared.

“Just wait until you meet my other friends, Auntie Z.” Terra said with a smile. “They have marks like mine. You have no idea how relieved I was to learn there were more like me.”

Then the joyous catching up moment ended for Zecora upon hearing that. The look she gave the mare of earth was more than enough to give to tell the yellow pony exactly what she was thinking.

“You already know. Don’t you?” Terra saw it clearly. “For how long?”

Zecora easily admitted defeat.

“I have known about you for a long while. The prophecy foretold of your arrival. Not only was the tale my clue. But Master Ma had a theory of you.”

It wasn’t a surprise Zecora knew Master Ma. He was already known to have quite a reputation around Alamante as the wise traveling hermit.

“He was there on the day of your birth. When you got your mark, he spoke words of worth. That you would be destined to great things. To become one of the strongest ever seen. So you could save this world from certain doom. He said the same thing this afternoon.”

That last sentence was the one considered to be the most important.

“Wait a minute, Aunt Zecora. Are you telling me you saw Master Ma?”

Terra and Applejack began to get serious. Applebloom on the other hoof…

“Master what now?”

….didn’t have a clue what was going on.

“Zecora how long has it been since you saw him?” Applejack asked.

“Why I just saw him a few hour ago. When I returned to Equestria, he walked me home.”

That’s Hitashi Ma for you right there in a nutshell. Wise, caring, knowledgeable, and a true gentlecolt and friend.

To hear he was seen just hours ago came as quite a shock to Terra and Applejack. Had Pyro been there he probably would have freaked out. Still their faces were easily read by Zecora.

“Master Ma is now long gone from here. Why may I ask do you seek him, my dear?”

Terra sighed and answered her.

“I’m not really the one who’s bent I’m finding him.” Terra answered. “It’s more Pyro.”

“Pyro?” Zecora responded with.

Terra had forgotten she hadn’t mentioned her friend’s names yet.

“Pyro is Master Ma’s student. His favorite student is more like it. And his name kinda points it out. He’s the element of fire.”

“Hmmmm.” Knowing the explanation, Zecora did feel a little less fuzzy than before. “Of this Pyro, I think I have heard. I know through Master Ma’s wise words. When I returned from my trip back, I saw him help me with my sack. We greeted each other like friends should do, then he told me something new. He told me if I met the pony of fire, I must not tell of his master’s desire. You see Hitashi is wiser than most. And where he is now, I honestly don’t know.”

“Uuhhhhh….Ah don’t get it.” Applejack muttered.

“Me neither.” Terra added.

Zecora rolled her eyes back. Clearly this called for a simpler rhyme.

“Listen to me and my voice’s sound. Master Ma does not wish to be found. I have already told you all that I may. Please, there is nothing more to say.”

She seemed insistent on it but the two mares didn’t like it. Master Ma was probably the only one in the world who knew what had to be done to defeat Nightmare. So finding him was kind of important. However, if he didn’t want to be found, then those chances of actually finding him would undoubtedly go down.

“Pyro sure isn’t gonna like that.” Terra muttered.

“Well he’s gonna have to live with it.” Applejack responded. “If Ma doesn’t want to be found then he must have a good reason for it.”

“Well…I guess.” Terra said with a sigh. “It’s getting late. Maybe we should head for Canterlot.”

“Yeah. The train leaves in about ten minutes. But even if we run we won’t catch it.” Applejack found a downside.

“We won’t be running. Come on.”

Terra got up and led her partner outside. Zecora and Applebloom followed to see what she was talking about. Once they were all outside, Zecora shut the door and Applejack stood close to Terra.

“Alright. Hang on.” The mare of earth said.

With a stomp, her geokinesis began to do its work. The ground around the two of them began to crack in a circle. Then with an upward motion of her hooves, the disc of ground they stood on floated into the air.

“Dig me, Jackie. I’m the first inventor of earth to sky surfing.”

Applejack giggled then looked down below. She knew she was kidding.

“You run on home, Applebloom.” Applejack told her sister. “Terra and Ah are gonna head fer the train station.”

“B-but…Ah don’t wanna go all the way through there at night…..alone.” Applebloom murmured.

Applejack should have known her little sister would be afraid of the forest at night. Ever since that night she and the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders wandered in there to find a missing chicken of Fluttershy’s, she had grown weary of the forest at nighttime. That manticore her older sister and Terra fought off not too long ago had also gotten her a bit creeped.

Understanding, Terra looked to the zebra.

“Auntie Z, do you think you could take Applebloom home? Jackie and I need to get to Canterlot like, right now.”

“Accompany her home, I certainly will. It’s not too far from Ponyville.”

Applebloom knew she could always count on Zecora. With a smile and a final wave goodbye, Zecora led Applebloom through the forest so she could make her way back to the barn. Terra and Applejack instead headed up above the trees thanks to the former’s geokinetic grip on the chunk of ground the two of them stood upon. They began to fly on a rock away from the forest and towards Ponyville Train Station. Terra was strong but she didn’t have enough strength in her to carry them all the way to Canterlot. The ground chunk she had would slow her down sooner or later. So the train it was.

“Ah sure learned a lot about you tonight, Terra. There anything you wanna know about me? Ah only ask because we’re friends and all.”

Applejack laid down on her belly while Terra kept her four hooves standing concentrating on her flight.

“Alright. I have a question for you.”

“Yeah? What?”

“What the hell is a Pinkie Promise?”

Nature in Canterlot (Part 3)

OC's and plot are all I own.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 16: Nature in Canterlot (Part 3)

A few hours, maybe three at the most have gone by since the five Alamantians and their Equestrian partners stepped off the train into Canterlot. The black sky was clear with a near full moon and thousands of shining stars. Princess Luna was still out touching up on a few things to make it look perfect.

Down in a beauty spa, Rarity was getting a hoofacure on all four of her hooves which were looking simply divine. As she looked up from her seat where she was, she saw her partner walk out of the hallway that led to the sauna room with Fleur right next to him. Fleur had a towel in her head and a bathrobe covering the rest of her body. Agua was wearing nothing at all. His mane was wet and one of his eyes was covered. Then again, his hair ALWAYS looks wet. Just his natural look.

When Agua looked over and saw Rarity, the unicorn waved her hoof signaling him to come over. Agua groaned already knowing she saw him walk in wit Fleur. Grumbling, he walked over to her and stood before her.

“Where have you been?” Rarity demanded to know.

Agua told her not honestly but he gave the silvery unicorn mare an answer nonetheless.

“Fleur and I were just getting acquainted with each other. That’s all.” He said.

“Really?” Rarity asked suspicious. “That’s all that happened? You seemed pretty intent on asking her out on a date.”

“Asking her out? She really thought that’s all I wanted to do with her? Man even Terra is sharper than that. And she smokes weed for Poseidon’s sake.”

That was what Agua was thinking. This is what he actually said.

“Well it never came to that.” At least that part was honest. “Things were said and I ended up changing my mind about asking her out. But we did enjoy a nice sauna session together.”

That part was true too. To a degree. As long as Rarity didn’t ask what happened in that sauna he was in the clear. He just had to keep a straight face. Which he did rather well.

“Well alright.” Rarity took it hook line and sinker.

“Ah, Rarity! I thought that was you!”

Rarity recognized the voice as soon as she heard it say her name. She and Agua looked to the right and saw Fleur approach with another white unicorn. This one a stallion. His mane and tail were well groomed and light azure blue along with his mustache and hooves.

By the looks of him it was a good guess this guy was at least a solid ten years older than Fleur if not one or two more.

“Fancypants. How nice to see you again.” Rarity greeted.

Rarity knew Fleur was a fan of spas but she had no idea Fancypants enjoyed the treatment too.

“Oh I know you’re confused to see me here.” Fancypants explained. “But they offer great manecuts here. Oh I’m sorry who is your friend?”

He took notice of the blue stallion standing next to Rarity. She immediately introduced him.

“Fancypants this is Agua. Agua, Fancypants.”

“Sup?” Agua greeted.

Fancypants chuckled a bit hearing him say hello like that. Then he took notice of his cutie mark. Being a business pony, Fancypants had seen a lot of things shipped from different places. There was only one place where he saw a symbol like that. So he now knew what Agua was. It was in his name.

“You’re Alamantian. A water mover.” He said it almost as if he were accusing Agua of something.

Agua didn’t like it.

“Yeah. What’s it to you?” he snapped back.

“Oh its nothing to me.” Fancypants said in defense. “I just think Alamantians are fascinating, that’s all. The things they are able to do are truly a sight.”

“What does guy think I am? A carnival sideshow?”

Agua’s hard head and boiling temper can sometimes make him feel offended by even the most harmless of words. That was no secret to anyone. Especially not Rarity. Lucky for her, he was keeping that all bottled up for her sake and her sake only.

“Anywho, Rarity, my wife and I would be delighted if you and Agua here would join us for a soak in the tub.” Fancypants said.

Agua was shocked when he saw Fancypants put a hoof around Fleur. He knew she was married he just didn’t know it was to this guy.

“That would be most lovely, Fancypants.” Rarity answered with a nod.

Nodding himself, Fancypants and Fleur went off to get in the tub and soak. Rarity had gotten up out of her chair to go and join then but Agua caught her arm holding her back.

“Hold on a second. THAT is her husband?”

“Yes. So what?” Rarity asked taking note of the shocked tone Agua used.

“Nothing.” Agua lied. “Just…didn’t expect him to be so…up there.”

“Well if you mean in class, then yes. Fancypants is the most import business pony in Canterlot and he has been throwing a lot of work my way.” Rarity informed him. “So I would appreciate if you kept your interest in his wife to yourself.”

He didn’t mean that when he said “up there.” He was talking about the guy’s age. Lucky for him Rarity didn’t know that.

“Are you coming or not?” Rarity asked her partner as she made her way to the giant tub.

“You go on ahead. I gotta use the bathroom.” Agua answered.

With that said, she turned away from him and joined her two friends in the tub leaving Agua to think.

“Son of a bitch. She’s a trophy wife.” He muttered.

After he used the bathroom he was quick to join the other three unicorns on the tub for a soak. It was an above ground tub like the one in Ponyville. Not too long after that, one of the spa’s employees, a unicorn mare, who Agua thought was really cute, came to them and asked if they would like any drinks. Agua and Rarity were both taken aback by that. Rarity even more so. She had been a regular customer to the Ponyville spa for years. And never once was she offered to have a beverage while getting pampered.

She was the first to order. She ordered a cup of tea and so did her partner and Fleur. Fancypants asked if they had any cider and the spa employee said yes. She then left to go get them their drinks.

As they waited, they all got into telling stories from their pasts to share memories. Agua’s taught Rarity a bit more about him. Before the war came around, it turns out Agua was once an instructor for teaching water moving to young colts and fillies. Right now he was telling a tale of when one of his students got out of hoof.

“So the next thing I know, I’m swept up by this huge wave that came out of nowhere. Turns out that kid got cocky enough to think he was better than me and tried to form a tidal wave to prove it. Well he succeeded. But he easily lost control over it and nearly wiped out a whole column of huts and my favorite tea shop. Needless to say his mother and father were NOT very happy. Neither was I. So as punishment I made the kid scrape and clean the tide pools near the ocean. From that day on, no other student of mine ever tried to show me up. Because I am the king.”

A few chuckles from Fancypants and Fleur came out of their mouths amused by Agua’s story. Rarity faked a few laughs for her own sake to seem like she was thinking the same. She was a bit, but more than half of her didn’t really think the tale to be that funny. She had no idea why Fancypants or Fleur thought it was. And why were Agua and Fleur shooting smiles at each other when Fancypants wasn’t looking?

“Agua, you are a delight.” Fancypants said happily. “Rarity, where have you been hiding this fellow?”

“Oh I haven’t been hiding him.” Rarity answered. “Agua and I actually met each other quite recently.”

“Really? Well I must say, Agua. You are without a doubt a charming young stallion.”

It took almost every ounce of willpower Rarity had not to say something objecting that. Sure Agua was being a charming and friendly gentlecolt now. But Fancypants and Fleur were obviously clueless about his other side. The side that is more him than anything.

“So are you and Rarity here involved romantically, Agua?” Fancypants asked.

Both named ponies were quick to answer that one.

“Good heavens, no!”

“No freakin way!”

Fancypants was quite surprised with this revelation.

“Oh.” He muttered. “So you two are…”

“Friends.” Rarity answered. “He and I are just friends and nothing more.”

“And we intend to keep it that way.” Agua added.

“Oh well…alright then.” Fancypants said.

As the business mogul talked, Agua was able to catch a few signs that evidenced more to Fleur being a trophy wife. She never said a word about anything. Not even a comment here and there while Fancypants told stories. Also, she was about two feet away from him not even caring what he was doing. She was just swishing her hair back in her hooves as if she were styling it while sitting in a tub of water. Before he could analyze further, that same cute employee from before came back with a tray of cups in her magical grip.

“Your drinks.”

“Oh why thank you.” Fancypants used his magic to levitate one of the glasses off the tray.

Rarity and Fleur also used their magic to levitate their drinks to their mouths. Agua used his hydrokinesis to make a hand and arm form from the pool water and grab hold of his cup.

“Alamantians. So fascinating.”

Nodding, Agua made the water hand tilt his cup into his mouth.

“What fascinates me is that there exists a spa where you can order drinks.”

“Is there anything else you would like?” the attendant asked.

“Oh no we’re fine. Thank you.” Fancypants told her.

Agua turned to look at her again. The way the light bounced off her at this angle made her look stunning. All the way from her head to her hooves.

When he got to the hooves he noticed something odd. Not on the hooves themselves but what was below them. Correction. There was supposed to be something there below her that was not.

A shadow.

There was no shadow. The light was pointed right at this spa employee. And there was no shadow beneath her. He had seen that before. The last time he did…was at a party. That only meant one thing. He dropped the cup into the pool.

With a quick motion of his body, Agua raised up above the water so it appeared like he was standing on it. Then he made a fast spin and threw a large stream of water right at the spa girl. The mare was thrown off her hooves and also off the pool’s deck to the ground.

“Agua! What in Celestia’s name are you doing?!” Rarity shrieked totally frightened of a repeat performance of the Ponyville spa incident.

“That was uncalled for!” Fancypants shouted.

“Oh yeah?” Agua pointed to the downed spa employee. “Look.”

Clearly he thought something of that mare the other three didn’t. So the said three paused themselves through the water of the pool to look over the edge and see what Agua was referring to.

Not even a second went by before their eyes went wide.

That spa employee was not hurt. In fact, it wasn’t even a spa employee at all. Spa ponies do not have the power to turn themselves into black furred ponies with sharp teeth and animal-like screeches.

“Oh no. Not here. Not now.” Rarity fearfully mumbled.

The Shadowmare had already recovered from Agua’s attack. And it was ready to dish out some payback.

“Out of the water! NOW!” Agua shouted to the three unicorns.

As fast as they could, the trio of unicorns got out of the water and took cover, leaving Agua to deal with the Shadowmare. It blasted a shot at him and it was quickly blocked by a substantial amount of water. Then he threw a rapid series of punching motions and several small shots of water blasted right for his target. A few of them hit but some didn’t allowing the Shadowmare to move away.

Agua followed it running alongside it on the pool water. When he was just a bit ahead, he jumped off and lunged for the Shadowmare. He tackled it and they rolled around for a bit until the Shadowmare bucked Agua into the wall cranking it. Then Agua felt his stomach throb in pain when he got punched there. All of this, Rarity was seeing from behind the couch where she was hiding nearby. Seeing her partner get punched a couple times and smash into the wall made her cringe. Before the Shadowmare could get full on into another punch Agua moved to the side and made its hoof put a hole on the wall. Quickly it then shot a few blasts at him but they were evaded.

The Shadowmare shot another blast and Agua dodged it again. A hole was created in the side of the pool and water began to flow out draining the pool. Immediately Agua used it to his advantage. He reached out a hoof and grabbed a hydrokinetic hold of the water gushing out of the hole. With a few swaying motions it began to move. A few threads of water began to go upwards in a helix form. At the front they formed a sharp tip. With an underhoof motion, the water began spinning faster and faster as it was redirected right for the Shadowmare’s head. It drilled right through the skull and it dissolved quickly.

Just as he thought the danger had subsided, the water mover heard Rarity and Fleur shriek. Agua began to move quickly to where they were. He saw another Shadowmare growling and slowly approaching the couch his partner and friends were hiding behind. Rarity and Fleur had peaked out their heads to see if it was clear and ended up seeing a Shadowmare lock eyes with them.

The inside of the Shadowmare’s mouth was beginning to let loose a fair bit of excess dark energy that had been charging up. Mere seconds before release, it found itself violently pushed over and was now wet in a puddle. A few moments later and the Shadowmare then found itself in a headlock courtesy of Agua.

“How many more?” he growled.

The Shadowmare talked.

“Too many for your friends to handle, water mover.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

All it took was one more abrupt move to put it to an end. Quickly and violently, Agua twisted the Shadowmare’s neck and a loud cracking sound was heard. The dark pony screeched one last time before evaporating into its basic component of black smoke.

Standing back down on four hooves, he then walked over to the couch the trio of unicorns was using as shelter. Seeing his blue fur made them all come out from hiding.

“Where are those strange ponies?” Fancypants asked him.

“Gone.” Was all Agua answered with before looking at his silvery white partner. “Come on. We gotta get outta here.”

“Agua what’s happening?” Rarity asked scared.

“I’m not sure. But if those Shadowmares are any indication, it’s nothing good. Now c’mon!”

Fancypants and Fleur were able to tell by his tone alone that he knew exactly what was going on. However, since this seemed to be a bit dangerous, they thought it best to not question him and just get the hell to safety.

Once they burst out the door, confusion rose up about their plan.

“What should we do?” Fancypants asked.

Agua gave him immediate instructions.

“Alright listen to me. Take Fleur and get to somewhere safe. The safest place you know of. And then stay there.”

Taking his word, Fancypants led his wife away from there as more Shadowmare started to pop up and close in on Agua and Rarity.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to let them go off alone?” Rarity asked.

“They’ll be fine. Right now we gotta let the princess know what’s going on.” Agua said.

Rarity was on board with that plan. She turned around to head for the castle but froze.

“Um…A-A-Agua?” She shakily rose up a hoof.

“What?”

One turn around and Agua took a step back not expecting to view what was there. A small army of Shadowmares ready to kill.

“Rarity, have you ever been in a fight before?”

“Well..yes. A few times actually. Why?”

In front of Agua, a semi circle of water appeared on the ground. Then the blue stallion controlling the water raised his hooves up and made a few tentacles rose up made of the H2O.

“Because as much as I hate to admit it, I think I’m gonna need some help here.”

A few miles away from the city, a late night train was on the rails currently inbound for the capital city. The only passengers were Applejack and Terra, leaving the entire train to themselves.

For the past minutes of the trip, the two had been talking about many things. Starting with Applejack answering Terra’s question of what a Pinkie Promise is. Terra gained a bit of fear for Pinkie Pie after hearing her partner tell her about what happened when she ‘technically’ broke her Pinkie Promise during the whole Dodge Junction incident. Had Applejack not been able to talk her way out of it using a loophole, she shuddered to think of what might have happened. Terra just sat there frozen shocked to hear someone as playful as Pinkie going so crazy. Even though the story came from the mare of honesty, she found it hard to believe.

After a while longer, Applejack moved on to another story about a couple of cocky business stallions who invaded Ponyville to try and kick Applejack and her family out.

“So then Flim and Flam packed up their machine and got the hay outta Ponyville. Haven’t seen em’ since.” Applejack laughed as she recalled that memory.

“Those two guys sound like a couple of assholes to me. If I see em’ I’ll drop a boulder on top of their precious cider machine.” Terra offered.

“Oh girl, believe me. Ah wanted to give those two a good hard buck right to their smug little faces. But Ah couldn’t cause there were children present.”

“Commendations for that.” Terra nodded. “I still think you shoulda knocked them around. I mean they threatened your farm. Your orchard. Your family! I think that’s a good reason to break some of your own rules and morals.”

Applejack could see where Terra was coming from. Family was indeed a high priority to the farm girl. If ever there was to be any threat made against Applejack herself and her family, then she would make it her job to make sure nothing happens to them. She just always tried to find a solution that didn’t resort to violence. Although Terra did have somewhat of a point. Protecting your family can sometimes mean you gotta get your hooves dirty.

“Perhaps you’re right, Terra. But what’s done is done.” She said as she adjusted her Stetson. “Flim and Flam are gone and with any amount of luck, Ah won’t ever have to see em’ again.”

“But if you do, just give me a holler. If you won’t get violent, Jackie, I’ll gladly do it for you.”

“Much obliged, Terra.” Applejack nodded as hers and Terra’s body moved forward a bit thanks to the decrease in speed. “Oh look we’re here.”

The train finally pulled into the Canterlot station. When it came to a stop, the doors opened up and the two ponies on board got off while talking.

“Never been on a train before.” Terra commented. “Not bad if I do say so myself.”

“Well that’s why trains were made in the first place. To make travelin’ easier.” Applejack said. “Ah’m sure in time you’ll come to like some of the other things that Equestrians made. Like….uh…”

She didn’t stall because she couldn’t think of anything to use as an example for Terra. No way. Applejack stuttered because she had finally turned her head away from Terra to look forward and took notice of something.

The entire platform the two of them were standing on was crawling with Shadowmares. They were blocked from getting through to the city and it seemed like there was nowhere for them to go. Nervous, Terra waved a hoof at them.

“Uhhh….hi guys. There a party?” she muttered.

Her answer was every single one of them blasting at her and Applejack with dark energy. Bipedal the yellow pony went. And with a quick stomp of her hind hoof and raising up her front ones to the sky, she made the ground in front of her and AJ raise up in the form of a giant wall of rock. The blasts made contact with the rock and fizzled away into nothing. When the wall lowered, the pony who summoned it was gone along with her orange partner.

Outside the train station, a hole burst open in the ground and Applejack and Terra rose out of it, the latter having a grip on the former. Looking back, they saw they were now quite a ways away from the train station. Far enough to where the Shadowmares couldn’t see them.

Terra was furious. She didn’t like being shot at. She NEVER likes being shot at. She began to walk straight back to the train station with full intent to lay down the law Geo Tribe style. That walk lasted only a few steps before Applejack bit her tail forcing her to a halt. After spitting it out, she spoke.

“There’s too many of ‘em, Terra. And if there’s that many at the train station alone…”

“Then there are probably more of them in the city.” Terra finished realizing she now had to do something else. “We gotta get to the castle and fast.”

With every bit of speed they had, the two mares began to sprint straight for the castle.

Meanwhile back inside the city, the mares of kindness, wind, and laughter, accompanied by the stallion of ice, had made their way in and out almost every antique shop in the entire city. Pinkie and Fluttershy were nice enough to spring a few bits for some of the things Cryo and Typhoon had their eyes set on. They also sprang for some stuff they thought was pretty. Fluttershy bought a very nice set of teacups she thought would do well to replace her old set which had started to crack recently. She also paid for a few hair mane accessories Typhoon had interested in. Pinkie Pie had gotten a few nice wall decorations she thought would go well in Sugarcube Corner. As for her icy partner, he didn’t really see anything he wanted. He instead asked for a thing for someone else. A pair of light blue and gray ceramic hoop earrings for Gem. Gem had her ears pierced when she was just a child. It’s custom for all members of the Eneoji tribe to get their ears pierced. But when she came to Equestria they were removed. And Cryo wanted to give them back to her in a way.

After they had finished looking around, they walked out of the store into the Canterlot night life. Carriages carrying ponies to and from destinations like fancy get-togethers and what not, bars filled up with guests for a late night drink, the city truly deserved to be known as the Capital of all Equestria. The customs alone uphold the reputation of the fine establishment.

Through the streets the four ponies walked getting closer to the castle with each drop of their hooves. A couple of them had grown tired and wanted to be shown to their rooms for the night.

“By Aeolus, I’ve always wanted to stay at ze castle.” Typhoon saw one of the castle towers through one of the gaps in between of couple of buildings. “I’ve heard some of ze chambers are as extravagant on the inside as ze whole castle ees on ze outside.”

“Oh it’s true!” Pinkie said with a happy bounce. “Rarity stayed there a couple times when she went on business trips for supplies like cloth and needles and thread and stuff like that. The princess allowed her to stay there since she’s friends with Twilight.”

“I’m alright with Sugarcube Corner.” Cryo voiced his opinion. “Compared to the life I had back home in the Frost tribe, that bakery is already a castle to me.”

This wasn’t the first time Cryo had made a reference like that to his homeland. Pinkie had noticed he had talked like that quite often.

(Sugarcube Corner; A week ago)

Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Pinkie Pie, and Cryo had all sat down together for dinner. Before so, Mrs. Cake, with help from Cryo’s unicorn magic, had set the table with plates, silverware, and whatnot while Mr. Cake and Pinkie put Pound and Pumpkin Cake in their respective high chairs.

Cryo and his partner sat next to each other while Mr. Cake brought over a steaming hot plate over to the table from the kitchen. A stainless steel dome lid had the plate entirely covered. Mr. Cake placed it in the center of the table and smiled proudly.

“Cryo, would you do the honors please?” Mr. Cake asked.

The white unicorn nodded and focuses his eyes and his horn on the lid of the plate. Now encased with a cyan magical aura, the lid lifted up off the plate revealing what was concealed underneath. Immediately Cryo and Pinkie began to drool a bit.

Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake had teamed up to form this meal. It was a scrumptious looking pasta casserole with sauce along with a few side dishes. Everypony soon began to serve themselves and Mrs. Cake fed her babies.

“Cryo, are you sure you don’t want any more?”Mrs. Cake asked noticing the share Cryo served himself was quite small.

“It’s alright, Mrs. Cake.” Cryo insisted. “Really it is.”

“There’s plenty to go around, son.” Mr. Cake had grown especially close to Cryo since he had been there due to his kindness and assistance. So the ice maker didn’t mind being called that. “By all means, take more so you won’t get skinny.”

“The last thing we want is for you to starve.” Mrs. Cake added.

Cryo chuckled after Mrs. Cake got done saying that.

“Me? Starve? Mr. and Mrs. Cake, compared to what I used to eat back home, this is a feast for me.”

The cakes didn’t push it any farther than that. By the look of his face alone, they could tell it was something he didn’t want to bring into conversation. Pinkie noticed it too after a bit more time but she didn’t let go as easy as Mr. and Mrs. Cake did. Cleary there was something about her partner she didn’t know.

That was the first time Pinkie had heard Cryo compare his life in Equestria to his life back home in Alamante. It came up a few more times in different scenarios other then food shares. She wanted so badly to ask him about it but she like the Cakes respected his privacy too much to do that. She had thought about asking Typhoon but then that would be going behind his back. The bubbly pink pony was torn on what she should do. She wanted to know what was wrong with him so she could help, but on the other hoof, she didn’t want to betray his friendship and trust. She had been straining herself to think of a loophole ever since.

“You must miss it there.” Fluttershy muttered to him in her sweet little voice.

Cryo nodded in a wordless response. Soon the four of them started to approach a fork in the road. The right path led to the castle and the left path went back into the downtown area where they started a few hours ago. Before actually reaching the fork, three out of the four of them already had eyes for the right path.

But there was still one thing that Typhoon couldn’t get out of her mind. Instead of heading to the castle, she turned left and started to make her way back to the first store they entered a few hours ago.

Groaning, Cryo began to follow her with Fluttershy walking at his side and Pinkie bouncing on his other.

“Why is she going back?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Oh I have a guess.” Cryo muttered.

Without anymore words, Cryo took off after his sister with his partner and Fluttershy in tow. When they walked through the door they were immediately met by the shopkeeper like before.

“Well welcome back, my friends.” He greeted. “Come back to actually buy something this time?”

“We’ll see.” Cryo muttered.

“Oh and uh…one more thing.” The shopkeeper then wrapped a hood around Cryo’s neck like he was on old buddy or something. Then he pointed over to where Typhoon was.

“Your friend over there. Is she single?”

That was the wrong question to ask and the wrong pony to ask it to. With a glare, Cryo shoved the shopkeeper off him and stared directly at his eyes through his sunglasses.

“Alright. Listen up, creep-ass.” Cryo’s tone turned into a stern one. One that Pinkie hadn’t heard before. “I’m only gonna say this once. If you make a single move on my sister over there, or any of these two mares next to me, I will beat the everloving crap out of you. Do I make myself clear?”

The shopkeeper began to slowly back away from Cryo with the white rims of his eyes going so side they could be seen past the edges of his dark shades. Pinkie and Cryo shared similar looks but they stayed right next to him not moving an inch.

“Whoa, take it easy man.” The shopkeeper timidly said. “I…I didn’t know she was your sister. I’m sorry. Look I’m getting away from her. Okay?”

“Good.” Cryo growled.

With that, the shopkeeper went back behind the counter and Cryo went over to stand by Typhoon’s side. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked at each other still stunned by Cryo’s tone.

“Has he ever…um…spoken like that before?” Fluttershy asked Pinkie.

“No no no.” Pinkie answered. “I’ve never heard him talk like that. I wonder why.”

“I think he just wants Typhoon to be safe.” Fluttershy assumed.

Pinkie nodded not wanting to think of it anymore as she turned to view the store once more.

“We never did buy anything from this place.” She recalled.

So she and Fluttershy went around the store again to see if there would be anything in there to catch their interest. While they went off alone, their two partners stood still gazing up at the wall that held the prize Typhoon eagerly wanted to hold; The Alamantian Aero Tribe staff.

“Ty, I’m begging you. For the love of Skaldi, just let it go. It’s just one staff.” Cryo pleaded with his sister.

“Cryo, how would you feel eef you saw a treasured item of ze Frost Tribe hanging on zat wall?” Typhoon argued.

Cryo sighed not knowing what to do. He just wanted to end her obsession.

“If you want it so much then just ask Fluttershy to buy it for you. I’m sure she will. Element if kindness and all.”

“No. Absolument pas.” She snapped with her accent gone full. “I will not give zat slimeball shopkeeper ze satisfaction of anyone paying for something zat he stole.”

“I know it makes you mad but can’t you just let…”

“Ah!”

Typhoon let out a small yelp rubbing her hoof to her head, interrupted Cryo in mid-speech.

“Ty, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Something ees here.” She said like a warning. “My telepathy ees picking up something.”

“Picking up what?”

He was cut off by a shriek. A loud shriek. Had it been any louder the windows might have obliterated into a million tiny pieces. Within less than a second after the sound reached their ears, Typhoon’s and Cryo’s heads shot in the direction from which it came.

“I zink eet may be zat.” Typhoon said.

The other ponies in the store rushed out except for a few of them and the shopkeeper. Two of that few happened to be Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They were both on the ground holding each other in their hooves as two black ponies with white spots and purple and black manes approached them one of them carrying a blade glowing with a dark black aura.

“Laughter and kindness. What wamby pamby elements.” One of them joked.

As the other one raised up its blade to strike them down, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie embraced each other thinking this was it. But it wasn’t.

Before anything else could happen, the two Shadowmares froze up. Literally. Their bodies went from dark black to a frosty cyan with icicles hanging down from their limbs. Then they both obliterated. The left one went to pieces when a familiar white and cyan hoof punched its way through the chest. And the right one broke when the bottom end of a staff jabbed straight through the stomach. When they were clear to view, Cryo and Typhoon were seen, the latter holding the staff from the wall in the grip of her hooves.

“You zink zey’re wamby pamby? Zen try us on for size.” Typhoon spat on the ice as black smoke rose from it indicated the Shadowmares were dead.

But not all of them were dealt with. Another scream alerted Typhoon and Cryo of the other pair that were right behind them. Cryo had his turn with his ice. Now it was Typhoon’s turn to use her element. Twirling the staff in her hooves, she was able to channel her power through it and use it as an extension of herself. As the wooden staff spun, air moved around Typhoon’s body in sync with the staff’s spinning speed. Then she swung the staff vertically down and let loose a huge blast of wind right for the Shadowmares. The two dark flunkies were sent right through the door and out skidding in the street.

Shortly after, Typhoon and Cryo followed them out with the remaining customers, their partners and the shopkeeper all on their tail. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stayed behind their respective partners as the others ran away. The Shadowmares blasted big shots of dark energy at their targets. The four ponies jumped clear out of the way and the store behind them was blown up in a big explosion. Typhoon twirled the staff quite nicely to use the air nearby to extinguish the fire.

“You and that staff. I swear to Skaldi, Typhoon.” Cryo groaned realizing she took it.

“Eet’s not stealing. Eet’s liberating.” Typhoon argued. “Plus, I zink ze shopkeeper has beeger problems zen a meesing staff.”

Cryo looked back at the store they were just in and saw how much damage the Shadowmares did to it.

“Good point.”

So far this trip to Canterlot was turning into a brawl. Over in the arena however, two mares were having a hoot.

Smoke trails filled the night sky as the six ponies creating them flawlessly execute the most difficult of aerial techniques as a team. The Wonderbolts show was sold out just as always. Hundreds if not thousands of ponies showed up to cheer on the squad. But no cheering could ever match that of their number one fan, Rainbow Dash. Tonight she also had a bit of assistance from Gem.

The two mares cheered every tome the Wonderbolts flew over their head and filled their ears with rumbling. To Rainbow Dash, it was music to her eardrums.

“WOOOOOOOOOO!” She gave a rowdy cheer for her heroes.

Gem chuckled at her friend’s enthusiasm as she continued to observe the Wonderbolts in motion. She witnessed them all diving straight down together then pulling up in their own directions sharply. Her eyes caught their movements and her brain began to calculate.

“You know, I bet they would be able to get into the formation pattern more easily after that move if they slowed down at least 7.2854 miles per hour. At the speed they were going, pulling up had to be a bit straining on their backs.”

Rainbow Dash saw a good bit if Twilight’s eggheaded tone in this girl. But nevertheless she was baffled by what she said.

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“I have a very scientific eye, Rainbow. Sometimes it’s a blessing other times it’s a curse. And I’m telling you, if they could pull up at a slower speed after that last move, getting back into formation would be a breeze.”

Rainbow had forgotten that little detail about her partner. Typhoon herself explained that Gem is a scientific genius. And if she was able to get a conclusion like that from watching the Wonderbolts from a distance…

…imagine what kind of pointers and tips Rainbow could get from an up close study from the young unicorn.

“Next time I got out practicing, Gem, I want you there watching every little bit.” She told her partner. “With your powers of observation, I can perfect my tricks in no time! The Wonderbolts will HAVE to accept be by the time tryouts roll around!”

Gem giggled at her friend’s obsession. For all the time she’s been staying with her, most of the time all the pegasus talked about was joining the Wonderbolts. She said it was her lifelong dream.

With their heads up to the sky again, they continues to view the show. But then there came a disturbance in the form of six other ponies flying in out of nowhere in similar outfits the Wonderbolts had.

“What the hay? Who are those guys, Rainbow?” Gem asked.

“I don’t know.” Rainbow Dash answered. “They look kinda like Wonderbolts but everypony knows there’s not that many.”

“Weird. Hold on.” Gem said as her horn shined electric purple.

Gem kept her eyesight on the unknown flyers as she levitated her binoculars up to her eyes. Rainbow brought up her own binoculars with her hooves and followed her partner’s line of sight. Soon they got view of the new fliers. They were wearing outfits similar to the Wonderbolts. But there were noticeable differences. They were purple and black with yellow zig-zag trim and yellow eyes. Their cutie marks looked like skulls with wings coming out of the back. Gem had never seen nor heard of this team before.

“Hey wait a minute.” Rainbow Dash’s memory had recalled them. “Those look like the Shadowbolts. I remember Nightmare Moon tested my loyalty to my friends in the Everfree Forest with them.

“Wait….Shadowbolts? Then that can only mean…”

With a small gasp, Rainbow and her younger partner looked at each other quickly, then back at the sky. The Shadowbolts began to go into a nosedive aimed straight for them.

“SHADOWMARES WITH WINGS!”

Their guess was correct. The Wonderbolts had screeched their show to an abrupt halt upon seeing these intruders. They had intended to fly down next to them and ask them what they were doing, but a few moments later they decided against it. From the mouths of all six Shadowbolts, energy began to charge up. Then they released their blasts right for Rainbow Dash and Gem. The audience began to shriek and panic.

The blasts neared but Gem was quick. Her hooves glowing purple, she swirled in a perfect circle. As she did, a circle line of her plasma element was drawn around her, Rainbow Dash, and a few other audience members who were too scared to move. When her circle was complete, Gem raised her hooves straight up into the air almost like a ballerina. That movement made her drawn circle raise up and curve into a dome plasma force field.

When the dark shots collided with her shield, the young unicorn cringed. Every impact upon her shield, she felt with her own body. Some of the plasma even backfired on her. When the last shot hit her force field, a small bolt of plasma shot back at its master and hit her on her rib cage area. Gem yelped a bit and Rainbow looked up at her concerned now seeing a bruise caused by the girl’s own element. As softspoken and closed off as she was, Gem wasn’t going to let a single bruise be enough to slow her down.

The dome began to vanish as Gem’s hooves began to glow with the same energy substance that made up her shield. Throwing out her hooves like punches, she launched a few shots of plasma right for the oncoming Shadowbolts. The airshow wannabees evaded the attack but pulled up to turn around and try again. But Gem was ahead of them. Rainbow hadn’t forgotten that Gem could use her element to form any object she saw in her mind. The young unicorn of plasma was doing just that right as the Shadowbolts launched another wave of black shots.

Gem smacked her front hooves to the ground and quickly raised them to the sky. Rising up as well was her plasma forming the shape of the object Gem was picturing in her head. A few seconds later, the purple glowing element finished forming a full size medieval catapult. The dark shots blasted at them made their way into the bucket of the machine and made it swing all the way back. Then it launched forward sending the blasts back at their shooters, hitting them and making them vaporize.

Work done, Gem powered down and looked around. Lucky for her, not many ponies seemed to care what she had just done. The audience got scared right after the Shadowbolts shot their attacks first. So the evacuation was moving quickly.

“And to think I dressed up as one of those guys for Nightmare Night!” Rainbow shouted disgusted at the thought.

“Forget about that right now, Rainbow! We should find the others!” Gem cried.

Before she responded, Rainbow Dash turned back around to see if she could spot the Wonderbolts but no such luck. The skies were clear. They must have flown away after they saw Gem’s plasma shield block the first wave of shots. As much as she wanted to know if they were okay, Rainbow knew she had more important matters to worry about. Like making sure her best friends were alright.

“Okay let’s get out of here!” she flapped her wings and she took off airborne.

Gem was still ground bound but she had other ways of getting around other than her hooves. Using her plasma power, she waved her hoof and created a large hollow wheel of her purple glowing element. She stepped inside the wheel and stood in a sideways bipedal position as if she were surfing. The wheel began to move forward and Gem made her way out of the arena and into the streets of Canterlot with Rainbow Dash right above her.

Over in the castle, everyone inside was completely oblivious to the events happening outside the walls. They were all too busy talking to each other. The word “all” refers to Twilight, Spike, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Pyro, and Shining Armor. They were all inside Celestia’s and Luna’s throne room chatting to pass by the time. All the while, Cadence kept shooting looks at Pyro. And the stallion was easily able to take notice of it. It made him uncomfortable.

Shining Armor and him though were getting along like they were long lost brothers or something. That’s how Twilight saw it at least. Even though she was happy her brother getting along with her new friend, the flat expression on her face wasn’t showing it.

“Twilight? Is something wrong?” Celestia was easily able to notice it.

Never being one to lie to her mentor, Twilight gave her honest words.

“In your letter, you said it was urgent that we come.” Twilight began. “But I don’t see how something as little as a status report qualifies as urgent.”

Hearing her explain that made Spike and Pyro remember the letter too.

“Hey yeah.” Spike added. “She worded it like it was some sort of emergency.”

The fire red stallion was now a bit suspicious.

“Princess…is there something you’re not telling us as to why we’re here?” Pyro wondered.

Shining Armor and Cadence were clueless. Celestia on the other hoof was nervous. Twilight could tell. She knew the princess long enough to tell the signs for when she is nervous. Right now she was showing them. She was looking at nopony in particular. She had a steady breathing pattern. And the rest of her body wasn’t moving as if she were frozen. Not even a blink of her eyes. Finally she spoke.

“What you must understand is…”

Before she could complete her sentence, Celestia was cut off when the door to the throne room was rapidly opened and a grey unicorn guard made his way through it.

“Princess, you’re needed outside. It’s an emergency!” The guard said.

“What’s going on, soldier?” Shining Armor asked his comrade.

“Something bad, captain!” the guard cried. “Please! Hurry!”

Not knowing what else to do, the Princess got up with everyone else in the throne room behind her. The guards who were already stationed inside the room to begin with also followed. Once they were outside and back in the waiting area, the doors to the throne room closed. But as everyone looked around, they saw absolutely nothing wrong. Everything looked fine.

“Soldier, where is this emergency you spoke of?” Shining Armor ordered his comrade to explain.

The same guard who burst through the door looked back at them with a new evil facial expression. Then it spoke with a new voice.

“Right here.”

In a puff of black, the guard vanished and its place was taken by a Shadowmare. The rest of the guards nearby then followed suit, making that ten Shadowmares in total.

Cadence shrieked while Shining Armor stood in front of her to protect her. Pyro did the same for Twilight and Spike. Celestia stood her ground horn glowing and ready to attack if necessary.

Shining Armor could tell they were a threat. Immediately hey began to shoot blasts of magic at them. The Shadowmares easily blocked them and charged him. He was tackled to the ground and pinned while Cadence was backed into a corner. One of them charged for Celestia but it soon found its path blocked by a red unicorn.

“You just made a very bad move.” He growled.

The Shadowmare tried to punch Pyro’s face. It was unsuccessful. He easily blocked it and gave the dark pony a good sock to its own face. Then a few more tried to gang up on him. Three to be exact. One came from the left, another came from the right. Thinking simply, Pyro merely stepped out of the way at the right time and made the two on coming black ponies punch each other. Then the third one was easily beaten with another dodge of a punch and a good sidekick to the center.

“Seriously? Is that it?” Pyro asked a bit disappointed in their efforts.

Suddenly the red unicorn let out a sharp cry of pain. And then he grunted as his head roughly jerked forward and he was knocked off balance and onto his belly. Looking down Twilight saw a bruise on his back similar to the one Gem got from that party.

“Pyro!” Twilight cried afraid.

Before she could get a chance to help him, another Shadowmare got in front of her. It was the one that had shot Pyro. It was a Shadowmare, but it was somewhat different. It was smaller than the others, about the size of Pyro. It had no white spots on its coat unlike all the rest. It’s mane and tail was longer and tied into tails. The eyes remained the same. But the most noticeable difference, was that this one had a horn on its head.

With its front hooves energized, the unicorn Shadowmare stood bipedal and backed Twilight up against the wall while more ordinary dark ponies appeared and piled on top of Pyro as he began to get up. Try as he might he couldn’t overpower the weight of all those Shadowmares on top of him. A few of them copied themselves and those new Shadowmares surrounded Celestia threatening to kill Twilight if she moved.

The unicorn Shadowmare had its eye on Twilight and her alone. Twilight tried shooting a shot of magical energy at it. With ease the Shadowmare deflected it back at her. Twilight thudded to the floor after being hit by her own spell. When she looked back up, she saw the dark unicorn standing above her now carrying a large blade in its hooves made out of dark energy.

“Your time as her student has come to an end.”

It raised the blade to strike and Twilight closed her eyes. But over at the Shadowmare pile, Pyro’s eyes opened back up. Through a small gap, he saw his partner on the ground and a Shadowmare about to kill her.

“NOOOOOOOO!”

The unicorn Shadowmare was interrupted in its assault. It looked back at the pile of other Shadowmares and saw a dim orange glow coming from within. One second later, the top of the pile burst with a blast of flame.

He was free. And he wasn’t happy. Standing bipedal, he spun around while creating a flaming whip from his hoof that made every Shadowmare that came into contact with it dissolve into the black smoke that built them. When it was clear, he stood alone whip still dangling from his hoof.

The unicorn Shadowmare decided to make it quick and rose its hoof to strike Twilight down again. It’s hoof halted and began to heat up. It looked and saw a line of fire wrapped around the hoof and gripped tightly. It led all the way back to Pyro who still had a grip on his flame whip.

He was not happy with what he was looking at. His partner, his friend in danger, and a unicorn Shadowmare about to kill her.

“Get the hell away from her.” He growled.

Before the horned Shadowmare could even react, Pyro gave a hard yank on his fire whip. He spun around a few times then made the whip vanished releasing his grip on the dark pony. The unicorn went flying into a wall and fell to the ground dazed.

The remaining normal Shadowmares began to all advance on Pyro. But he was ready for them. The five Shadowmares launched simultaneous blasts of dark energy at him. Hearing the blasts shot, Pyro countered with his own technique.

With a spin, he swung his hoof releasing a slice of flames. The slice vaporized the dark blasts. Then he threw another punch releasing five balls of fire just a bit bigger than his head. All five hit their targets directly and made them also vaporize.

He then turned around to view the last Shadowmare left to defeat. The unicorn.

Now free, the Princesses, Spike, and Twilight all thought it would be best to take cover while the fiery stallion finishes the last one. Shining Armor was about to run in to try and help, but he was caught by the tail thanks to Twilight’s magic.

“Twilight, let me go!” Shining Armor demanded.

“Shiny, trust me. We want to stay away from this.”

“But Twilight…”

“Shining Armor, please. Don’t question me on this. Just come on!”

Wasting no more time, Twilight picked up Shining Armor’s entire body with magic and carried him away with her back into the throne room. Twilight put her brother down and then she, Princess Celestia, Spike, Cadence, and Shining Armor all poked their heads out wanting to view what was happening.

There was only Pyro and the unicorn Shadowmare. Right now, the waiting area outside the Princess’s chambers was being used as an arena for this fight. For about a minute or so, all they did was stare each other down before the evil unicorn finally spoke first.

“You’re pretty calm minded for a hot blooded pony.” It’s distorted and strange voice came.

“You’re pretty durable for a Shadowmare.” Pyro snapped back.

The unicorn shadow pony chuckled.

“My queen put a little bit more power into making me. A bit more effort to make sure I was powerful enough to stand up to you, fire mover.”

Shining Armor was still confused. Nopony was giving him an answer and it was starting to make him ticked.

“Fire mover? What is that thing talking about?” he demanded to know.

He was a bit annoyed when he received no answer. Everypony else seemed too focused on watching the two fighters banter. As the Shadowmare stood up in a biped pose, the flame red stallion slowly did the same.

“You speak as if you have a mind of your own. Like you actually have sentience. But I know you don’t. You’re just another extension of her.”

“Is that so, hot head? Well…let’s see how hot you are. EAT THIS!”

The black unicorn had enough of chatting. Its hooves glowing with darkness, it motioned forward and released that dark energy right for the red stallion in the form of a black beam.

Pyro reacted defensively and energized not only his hooves but his horn too. Using his magic, he created an orange glowing protective force field around himself while his flames gave the shield a bit more power. The black beam collided with the force field and Pyro felt his body strain. The power this Shadowmare was giving off was indeed a bit stronger than the other ones. That still didn’t stop him.

When the beam stopped, Pyro depowered his shield not even the least bit worn.

“Sorry. But I’m not hungry.” He growled.

Skillfully moving his body, Pyro executed his offensive attack. With one forward punch with his arm, two fireballs larger than his own body blasted out and began twisting in the form of a helix. The Shadowmare was a bit frightened at his strength but jumped out of the way to dodge and counter. The flames blasted at him impacted into the wall and dissolved. There was only a tiny scorch mark left on the wall due to it being so strong.

After regaining itself the dark unicorn blasted a few small shots back. Pyro skillfully evaded and showed off some of his defensive martial arts with his twisting motions. Then his hooves lit up again and he timed his punches correctly so he made impact with the other shots.

Angry, the unicorn Shadowmares released a large wave of dark energy and made a circular wall around it and the red stallion. The spinning circle wall began to close in. As much fun as it was to see a Shadowmare with the least bit of conscious, it grew boring quickly.

With a quick movement of his hoof, Pyro blasted a stream of fire at the wall and made the dark energy creating it puff away.

The Shadowmare snarled then charged for Pyro with its hooves powered up. The red unicorn kept his hooves lit up as well prepared for close combat. When it was in range, the Shadowmare threw a punch but it was merely blocked. As were a few others it threw. After blocking one more, he threw his right fiery hoof into the stomach of the unicorn. It doubled over and that allowed Pyro to throw a hard uppercut into its face. The force of that one sent the dark pony off its hooves and on its back.

Immediately though it bounced back up, which caught the stallion of fire off guard. With it’s back hooves now powered up as well, the unicorn Shadowmare jumped and lunged its back leg into Pyro. He was sent careening into a wall cracking it a bet near a window, causing Twilight and the other to cringe. As he slid back to the ground, his yellow eyes opened up to see it get closer. Then his eyes viewed the same Shadowmare getting hit from the side with a large blast of magenta magic. He didn’t even have to look to know who it was. He looked anyway and saw exactly what he though. Twilight was out there with her horn glowing brght.

“Twilight! What are you doing?” he shouted.

“You’re just as much my partner as I am yours!” Twilight answered.

Then she lowered her head down and launched another shot from her horn. Pyro mixed it up by shooting a fireball in there with her shot. The magical energy and his fire began to fuse together. Together they impacted into the unicorn Shadowmare and sent it flying back into the wall. Quickly, Pyro moved forward and pinned the Shadowmare against the wall.

“She will purge the world of the Alamantian plague. Just you wait.”

“She can try all she wants. She’ll fail. Just like you.”

He had had enough. And so did Twilight. With a gesture from Pyro, Twilight was given the okay to take this one. Her horn shone magenta and with a few more seconds, she released a charged shot of energy right at the head of the Shadowmare. Her aim was as sharp as her brilliant mind. The shot went right through the head of it and all it took was five more seconds for it to vaporize.

She then turned around and gave the all clear to the others. Shining Armor, Spike, Celestia, and Cadence came out from behind the doors and closed them. Celestia looked down at the two and smiled at them.

“Hitashi always spoke highly of you. Now I can see why. You are indeed as strong as he said you are.”

Pyro smiled and nodded to that. Then the princess looked down at the lavender mare.

“I see you and him are getting along famously. I’m quite impressed with you, Twilight. The two of you seem to make a good team.”

Both unicorns nodded with small smiles at the princess. Then Twilight remembered what had happened when she saw the wound on her partner.

“Pyro…your back.” She said a bit worried.

“It’s just a bruise. Don’t worry about it.” He insisted.

The sound of her older brother and his wife approaching was enough to make her do that. The former had his eyes locked on the red unicorn with his jaw half dropped.

“Who…who are you?” Shining Armor was barely able to find his voice.

There was no use hiding it now. The fire hot stallion turned around and told Shining Armor the truth.

“My name is Pyro of the Ember Tribe. I have been assigned by Princess Celestia to be Twilight Sparkle’s partner and bodyguard.”

“Ember Tribe?” Cadence repeated.

“Bodyguard?” That was the part that got to Shining Armor. “Is Twilight in some sort of trouble?”

There was a bit of a pause. Twilight and Pyro began to strain their brains thinking of what to do here.

“Well…yeah. Kinda.” Pyro answered.

“Kinda?” Shining Armor wasn’t pleased. “That’s not very enlightening.”

Twilight sighed. She was hoping to avoid this with her brother but that ship had sailed. She looked at her partner to see if he was okay with. He wasn’t. He could tell by the look on her face she wanted to spill. He shook his head in defiance.

“Pyro, he’s seen too much. Let’s just tell him.”

“Tell me what?! Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?!”

“Calm down, Shining Armor. Twilight tried to calm her brother. “Okay. Here’s the truth.”

“Twilight..” Pyro tried to stop her.

“He’s gonna find out sooner or later, Pyro. There’s no reason in hiding it now.”

Pyro sighed. His partner was right. If that little Shadowmare attack wasn’t an indicator that something was wrong, then what was? With a sigh, he gave in.

“Very well.”

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence sat in silence as Twilight and Pyro explained the situation to them with a little bit of help from Spike. It took a few minutes to explain the basics. Those being the prophecy, finding each other, and their current living situation. Finally they got to here.

“So that’s basically it. We’re working together to try and find out how to combine our elements so we can stop Nightmare Moon.” Twilight finished the story.

“But I thought you and your friends already defeated Nightmare back when you first used the Elements of Harmony.” Shining Armor stated.

“We thought the same too.” Spike corrected. “Princess Luna pretty much explained why that happened. But it still confuses me.”

“Wait a second.” Cadence stood up and approached them.

More specifically, she approached Pyro. He AND Shining Armor were getting tired of that. She had been staring at him funny all night and they didn’t have the slightest clue as to why.

“How could I have not seen it?” Cadence took a good look at the red unicorn. “I know you. You’re Hitashi Ma’s star student. You’re a fire mover!”

Pyro nodded confirming it all to be true.

“Alamantian?” Shining Armor mumbled. “You’re Alamantian?”

While they were storytelling, Pyro and Twilight somehow forgot to mention the country of where the six masters of nature were from.

“Born and raised in the ways of the flames.” He responded.

“All that stuff you said to me when we met…you lied to me!”

“No, Shining Armor. Not one word I said to you was false.”

“But you said…”

“What I said was that I’m visiting from the east, I’m Twilight’s friend, and I work with fire. Nothing more. I’m from Alamante which is east of here. I am indeed a friend of your sister. And as you can now plainly see, fire kinda runs through my veins.”

Arguing back was something that could not be achieved at this point. Pyro had a point. No lies were spoken. He just wasn’t really upfront with the captain as much as he probably should have been.

“I KNEW IT!”

Cadence was the one sho shouted that at an unnecessarily loud volume.

“I’ve seen you a lot of times before. I used to travel to your country frequently before the war broke out. Don’t you recognize me? My name is Cadence. I know who you are.”

“Look, I know you keep saying that but I honestly have no idea who YOU are.” Pyro once again said to her.

Cadence rubbed her chin trying to think of a way to jog this guy’s memories. She could only think of one way. It was relatively simple, but it was all she had to try.

“My full name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Does that ring any bells?”

Sighing, Pyro thought about the name in an attempt to humor her.

“Mi Amore Cadenza. Mi Amore Cadenza.” He mumbled.

Then something in his brain clicked. Memories from years ago came flashing back to him. In Alamante back when he was a little colt still in fire moving school, he recalled memories of a common visitor. A pink alicorn with a bow in her hair at the time and in her teenage years at least.

He then looked at Cadence knowing full on who she was.

“I do remember you.” He muttered. “You used to visit the Ember Tribe like all the time. I remember putting on solo fire moving shows for you whenever you visited.”

“That was you on the stage. I always thought it was a whole group of ponies doing that. I was quite surprised to find out it was just one mover.”

“I had a great teacher.” He said sadly still missing his master.

“Hold on.” Shining Armor talked to his wife. “You and him know each other?”

“It turns out we’re old friends.” Cadence confirmed it.

“You used to buy flowers from my mother’s hut.” It was all starting to come back to him.

“Yes.” Cadence confirmed. “Your mother’s floral knowledge knew no bounds. How is she?”

He froze hearing the question.

“Um…uh…well see the thing is…”

Lucky for him, his partner interrupted him.

“Um…Pyro? Not to intrude on you catching up with an old friend and all but…don’t you think we should find the others?” Twilight suggested.

“Wait a second. There’s more of you?” Shining Armor asked. “How many more?”

“Six. One for each element of nature.” Twilight answered her brother.

“Six.” Shining Armor’s tone was slowly beginning to change in hearing that. “There’s six Alamantians here. Just…dandy. Just what we need. More freaks running around.”

Faces dropped. Not one. But all of them in range of hearing those words.

“Um…excuse me?” Pyro felt need to ask.

Looking him dead in his gold yellow eyes, Shining Armor gave Pyro his real opinion of him.

“You heard me. You’re a freakshow. A circus act. You don’t belong here in this country. So why don’t go back to wherever it is you came from?”

Twilight and Cadence gasped slightly as they heard the white and blue stallion turn against Pyro just like that.

“I just saved your life, asshole!” Pyro raised his voice. “Let me get this straight. Because you now know I’m Alamantian, NOW you have a problem with me?”

“Shining Armor, that’s not fair!” Twilight wasn’t for it either. “Just a few minutes ago, you and him were laughing it up fine like you were old buddies!”

“That was before I knew what he REALLY was.” Shining Armor growled.

He didn’t seem to care that he was saying this in front of his wife and the ruler of Equestria. Then he remembered something else as he glared at his little sister.

“And you’re LIVING with him?” he snarled. “No way. I will NOT have it! Twilight, how could you?! I thought you were my sister!”

“Shining Armor, stop this!” Cadence shouted.

“No! I refuse to let my sister live anywhere near this fire hazard!” Angrily he pointed at Pyro. “You stay away from my sister you freak!”

He was indeed hurt. He thought he was making friends with Shining Armor. To hear him yell like that was painful. As much as he wanted to punch him in the face, set his mane on fire, beat the crap out of him in front of his own wife, he knew he couldn’t. If he did, it would only just make Shining Armor hate him even more. So he wisely chose to counteract with only words.

“You’re right. I’m a pyrokinetic freak. Compared to everypony here in this country, I’m just a walking circus act. But you know what? I don’t give a damn. I am what I am. I was born and raised Alamantian and I’m damn proud of it. You can hate me all you want. But you DON’T have to be mad at Twilight. She’s done nothing wrong.”

“And neither have you.” Celestia herself said to Pyro before directing her voice to Shining Armor. “I expected a more tolerant attitude from the captain of the entire royal guard. Pyro is living with Twilight upon my orders. While he is here, you will be respectful. Understood?”

Shining Armor looked away from Celestia in disbelief and shame. To hear the princess herself arranged for Twilight to be living with Pyro was hard on him. He was forced to say it now.

“Yes, your majesty. I understand.” He said sorely.

Twilight, Cadence, and Pyro could tell he wasn’t sincere. His snarl was still there. Twilight and Cadence were appalled by his behavior. Never had either of them known him to be prejudice in any way towards anything. To hear him object Pyro’s heritage in such a rude way, it was like they were looking at a completely different stallion. It was scary.

“Pyro! PYRO!”

His ear twitched upon hearing his name. Looking in the direction the sound came from, he saw a window. He walked over, looked down, and saw two of his friends running for the castle. They stopped in front of where Pyro was and looked up at him as Twilight poked her head out to see as well.

“Terra! Applejack! What’s wrong?” Twilight called.

Applejack braced herself as Terra prepared to make something happened. With a single stomp of a yellow hoof, the ground the two earth ponies stood on rose up on the form of a rocky pillar. It rose up enough to where Applejack and Terra could jump through the window of the castle. Which they did as soon as Terra stopped the pillar.

Twilight and Pyro were unfazed by the action performed. Celestia was in between. Cadence and Shining Armor were merely shocked.

“Wow.” Cadence was shocked in a good way though.

She smiled at Terra.

“An earth mover. An honor to meet you.”

Terra smiled back at Cadence then she looked at her brother.

“I like her.”

“Yeah she’s cool.” Pyro agreed. “So what’s up, Terra?”

“Trouble is what’s up. There’s…”

“Terra?”

Cadence interrupted Terra in mid sentence. Being a lover of Alamante and a frequent visitor, Cadence was more inclined with the country than a lot of other Equestrians were.

“Terra? As in…Princess Terra of the Geo Tribe?”

Terra groaned in being called princess again.

“Ugh. Yes that’s me. Well….used to be.”

Celestia was quite shocked to hear that as much as Cadence was. She already knew Terra was a powerful geokinetic but she felt so foolish to not recognize her name as Alamantian royalty.

“Chief Tamaishi is your father?” Celestia asked.

“That’s him.” Terra again groaned.

“But…does he even know you’re alive?” Cadence asked.

“Who cares about my father? He never gave a damn about me so I don’t give a damn about him.”

“Alright, enough!” Pyro raised his voice a bit to get his sister’s attention. “We’ll all get better acquainted with each other later. Now Terra, what’s going on?”

Terra and Applejack right there realized why they had run all the way to the castle in the first place.

“Shadowmares in the city. And a whole lot of em’.” Applejack answered. “There were about a hundred or so of em’ at the train station.”

“There are more of those things?” Cadence became horrified. “How many more?”

Before anyone could answer her, an explosion far away caught all of their ears. As a group, they all walked out to a nearby balcony that overlooked the whole city from a distance. There was smoke bellowing into the sky and the streets were filled with ponies running from their lives and black ponies near them.

“Sweet Agni fireballs.” Pyro muttered.

Celestia couldn’t help but feel a bit shocked that her city was again under attack like it was during the royal wedding. Shining Armor glared back at Pyro. Furious, he rushed at the red pony, forced him up against the wall, and pressed a hoof to his neck allowing no air to get in.

“What have you brought here?!” the white and blue stallion yelled right into his face.

“I…I didn’t bring…ACK!” Pyro wanted to answer but his current lack of oxygen was preventing him from doing so.

“Hey let him go, you jerk!” Terra shouted.

“Back off, dirtbag. Or you’re next.” Shining Armor threatened.

That was it. Insults were not necessary and that last one pushed Terra over the edge. While Twilight, Spike, Cadence, Celestia, and Applejack viewed the scene with shock, Terra kept her eye sight on Shining Armor.

Some unknown force yanked hard on Shining Armor and pulled him clear away from Pyro. As the red unicorn took some raspy deep breaths to get oxygen back into his lungs, Terra was busy doing something else.

She was standing bipedal and had her hooves pointed right at Shining Armor. With a few more motions, the armor he wore ripped off of his body, wrapped around his four hooves, and tied them all together into one big knot. Then a strip of metal that USED to be his helmet came over and wrapped around his horn making sure he could use no magic to get himself out.

Straining to move, Shining Armor squirmed on the ground failing to do so.

“Hey! Let me go!” Shining Armor shouted.

“Kiss my flank, asshole.” Was all Terra had to say to that.

“Terra! That’s my brother!” Twilight cried.

“Well your brother was strangling mine, Twilight.” Terra snapped. “I didn’t really see any other way that didn’t involve hurting him.”

“How the hay did you even do that? His armor is metal!” Twilight asked.

“I’ll explain later. Right now we have trouble.” Terra answered.

“She’s right.” Pyro was back up on his hooves. “Did you run in to any of the others on your way here?”

“No.” Applejack answered. “Terra and Ah just stepped off the train and there was a whole army of em’ waitin for us.”

“After we got away, we high tailed here to warn Princess Celestia. But apparently that’s no longer necessary.” Terra said.

“Oh what are we going to do? The others are still out in the city.” Twilight said very worried. “Not to mention every other pony living in Canterlot.”

“And seeing as how these Shadowmares can make copies of themselves, this may be a big problem.” Applejack added.

“Perhaps not.” Celestia lent her voice to share her opinion. “Something tells me if the Shadowmares wanted to destroy everything so mindlessly, they would be doing so. But from here, it looks more as if they are looking for something.”

“Us.” Twilight was quick to figure it out. “They’re looking for the elements.”

Celestia nodded confirming her student’s suspicions.

“That’s good. That’s very good.” Twilight went on.

“Say what now?” Applejack muttered. “How is ANY of that good? There’s a whole hoard of evil ponies out there and they’re comin’ for us and us alone.”

“Exactly, Applejack. Which means they’ll leave every other innocent pony in Canterlot alone. Unlike them, WE can actually fight them off.”

Applejack’s perspective changed. Twilight had a point. And she was thinking about everypony not just themselves. All in all it made sense.

“You think maybe Princess Luna can help us?” Terra asked. “She does seem to be the expert on these things.”

“Luna is out still bringing the full night to Equestria.” Celestia informed the former princess. “I estimate she won’t be back for a while.”

Celestia was hoping it would take Luna a bit more time than usual to finish the night. Being away from Canterlot was a lot safer right now.

“Well then I guess that plan is scratched.” Pyro said. “I’ll go on ahead and help get Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie back here to the castle. Once they’re all inside the walls, they’ll be safe and we can really start doing our thing.”

“Twi and Ah will stay here and help Terra hold em off.” Applejack insisted.

“Actually I think you and Twilight should…”

“No way.” Applejack cut him off. “We’re just as much involved in this as you are. We’re fightin’ alongside y’all whether ya like it or not.”

Her tone was dead serious. Strong and firm. Seeing as how he didn’t really have time to argue, Pyro shrugged.

“Fine. But be careful.”

Twilight and Applejack nodded as Pyro said one last thing to his sister.

“Hold the fort, Terra. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, Pyro rushed for the balcony.

“W-w-w-w-wait! Pyro what the hay are ya doin?!” Applejack cried.

She didn’t know but she was about to learn. Because without looking back, Pyro leapt over the balcony and started to dive straight for the ground. About halfway before he hit the surface, all four of his hooves lit up on fire and he began to make an excessive amount gush out from his rear ones. He then began to head for the ground even faster. Before he collided, he pulled his body upwards and he began to ascend to a higher altitude.

Shining Armor and Applejack couldn’t believe what they were seeing. In a streak of fire, Pyro flew deeper into the City of Canterlot.

“Uhhhh….” Applejack was at a loss for words.

“Yeah he can fly.”

“Somethin’ tells me Rainbow Dash ain’t gonna like that.”

Nature in Canterlot (Part 4)

I only own the six elementals and the plot. Enjoy.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 17: Nature in Canterlot (Part 4)

The city of Canterlot overrun with evil ponies. Had the events during the royal wedding not transpired in the past, this attack would have caused much more mental damage on the citizens then it did. The streets were becoming filled with shrieking ponies running for their lives and a large group of Shadowmares not far behind them.

Luckily for Canterlot, it wasn’t the city nor its citizens that they wanted. Up every street, in every store, through every door the Shadowmares looked for their targets. Those near the centermost ring of the city easily found them. The ponies of ice, kindness, laughter, and wind.

Right now those the group of three girls and one boy were working hard to fend off the Shadowmares trying to kill them. And there were a LOT. Whenever one got destroyed, two more popped up in its placed. It was rapidly growing tiring.

Blasts of darkness got countered by blasts of ice and air. And Pinkie, to Cryo’s genuine surprise, had her own weapon of sorts to use. Her party cannon.

“TAKE THAT! AND THAT! TAKE IT ALL YOU MISERABLE PARTY CRASHERS!”

Shot after another, the Shadowmares were blown back by the force of the cannon. It was no secret that Pinkie Pie was sore at the Shadowmares for nearly wrecking the welcome party she three for Cryo and the others. Only now it was clear just how sore she was. Typhoon didn’t think it was possible.

“Eet would seem you’re partner ees more capable of handling herself zen I first thought.”

“Pinkie might a big soft cupcake most of the time. But she can be tough as nails when she wants to be. Duck!”

Typhoon ducked down and Cryo shot a small blast of ice freezing the Shadowmare behind his sister. The pink pegasus got back up and swung her staff shattering the dark frozen pony. Then she turned again and swung horizontally releasing a blade of wind. It slammed into three oncoming Shadowmares and knocked them right flat on their backs. Fluttershy backed away fearfully as she watched Typhoon blow more air in another direction.

Cryo and Pinkie were working together to stop an incoming wave from getting too close. With the power of ice and the party cannon, they were holding up fairly well.

Suddenly, he heard a shriek. It was a female screaming but it wasn’t one of the three females he was near. It sounded too far away to be one of them. Looking around quickly for the voice’s producer, he finally spotted it when he thought about looking up. Dangling from a very high balcony, maybe six stories up, was a gray colored earth pony with a flat black mane and tail.

“Whoa dammit! Hang on!” he shouted to the mare.

Cryo began to run forward on all four hooves. Then it became his two rear ones. He threw his front hooves out and blasted a few bursts of ice at the ground. A thin path of ice formed and it extended with every small ice shot Cryo threw out. He began to skate on the path as it directed itself into the sky.

Up on the balcony, the grey mare was trying to pull herself up. She could not muster the strength to do so. Her friends were trying their hardest to get to her but the balcony was breaking enough without their weight on it.

“Hold on, Octavia!” a mare shouted.

“SOMEPONY HEEEEEELLLLP!” Octavia screamed.

It was a bad idea. She lost her grip and started to fall. A shriek escaped her mouth as she began her descent. A few seconds of falling later, she felt herself impact something. But it didn’t feel like the ground and she was still alive. She opened her eyes back up and saw that he was being carried bridal style by a white unicorn skating on an ongoing airborne ice path he was creating with his horn. The path sloped down and Cryo screeched to a halt to set Octavia down on her hooves.

Her eyes looked dead into his and she stood still.

“You okay?” he asked her.

“Uh-huh.” She murmured. “Thank you for saving me.”

“No problem. Now get out of here. Get somewhere safe.” Cryo advised.

Taking his advice, Octavia ran off hoping to find someplace the Shadowmares currently were not overflowing. All the while that left the four element ponies fighting off Shadowmares. Only problem was they were already starting to slow down.

“Zere’s too many of zem!” Typhoon called. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep up!”

“Heads up, guys!”

Once again, another voice came from above. The four of them, along with all of the incoming Shadowmares looked up and saw a red unicorn stallion with his hooves on fire coming down from the sky.

“Is that…?” Fluttershy was too shocked to see a flying unicorn she couldn’t finish.

“Yeah he can fly.” Typhoon cleared that up to her partner.

Pyro swiftly swooped down and gave a Shadowmare a hard fiery front kick with his back hoof as he landed, sending it flying through the other Shadowmares and crashing into a wall.. He stood back down on all fours and observed the Shadowmares around him. Then he saw a wall of ice raise in between him and the evil black ponies. Cryo was sealing the good guys inside an icy dome. When it was finished, Pyro began talking with his breath coming out of his mouth due to the cold walls of the dome.

“You guys too huh?” he asked.

“We were in the middle of an antique store. They just popped up out of nowhere.” Cryo explained.

“And more of them just keep coming.” Fluttershy whimpered. “There’s way too many of them to win now. We lost.”

“No way! We haven’t lost until our hearts stop beating.” Pyro was not gonna put up with negative behavior right now. “We can do this if we all work together. But you all have to get back to the castle.”

“The castle? But what about everypony else in Canterlot?” Cryo asked.

“We can’t just leave zem for ze Shadowmares.” Typhoon added.

“We’re not leaving them here. We’re luring them away.” Pyro corrected. “They don’t want hostages. The Shadowmares are after us and us alone. Wherever we go, they’ll follow.”

“Just like parasprites and a one pony marching band!” Pinkie Pie shouted joyfully.

“Uh..sure. Whatever.” Pyro shrugged. “Cryo, Typhoon, you know your jobs. As soon as this ice dome comes down, break for the castle.”

“What about you?” Fluttershy asked.

“I gotta find the others and tell them the same. Applejack and Terra are already there with Twilight. I just gotta find Agua and Rarity, along with Rainbow Dash and Gem.”

“Gem…my seester.” Typhoon murmured.

Pyro and Cryo heard her. They knew why she was so concerned. So did Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry, Ty. I’m sure Gem is perfectly plasma fresh.” Pinkie offered her comfort.

Confused but pleased, Typhoon kept her mind set on that being true. She nodded to Pyro telling him she was ready to go.

“Get ready to fly fast, Fluttershy.” Typhoon advised. “Once you see an opening in ze dome you go through and push your wings to zeir limit.”

“I can’t, Typhoon!” Fluttershy was now more scared. “I can’t fly when I’m this scared! What if they shoot me and hit me?”

“I won’t let zat happen! You know I won’t! I’ll be weeth you every second. I’ll never leave your side. I need you, Fluttershy!.”

“No you don’t. I’m scared, timid, and weak. I can’t do anything to help.” The yellow pegasus looked like she was about to start crying.

“Fluttershy…”

Typhoon didn’t want to see her partner like this. So she executed plan B. Fluttershy gave a yelp as the air got underneath her and started to swirl in the form of a sphere. She was laying on a floating spinning ball of air.

“You just hang on tight and trust me. We’re going to be fine.” Typhoon promised her.

Fluttershy nodded taking her word. Typhoon readied her wings for flight as Cryo prepared to take down the ice dome.

“Alright….get ready….”

Pyro stood bipedal and lit up his hooves front and back.

“Get set…”

Pinkie Pie got closer to Cryo after mysteriously making her party cannon disappear behind her back. Up top, two holes in roof of the dome were starting to open up. Shadowmares were trying to get through it.

“GO!”

Pyro, Typhoon, and Fluttershy took off. The two Alamantians blasted their respective elements out the hole to make their clean escape. Typhoon and Fluttershy went left and Pyro went right. The dome was now shattered and Pinkie was holding on to Cryo’s back as he took off on another path of ice.

A few blocks over in the downtown district were the ponies of water and generosity. On any other day, Agua would have laughed when he heard Rarity say she had been in a fight before. However, seeing her fight in the streets of Canterlot proved him wrong.

Rarity was very well skilled in martial arts. Bipedal stance and everything, she was throwing out punches and kicks like a professional. She didn’t know any offensive spells or anything of the sort. Her hooves were all the weapons she needed.

“Where the hell did you learn all that?” Agua yelled as he grabbed another Shadowmare with a water tentacle and threw it back.

“Agua, I have battled Nightmare Moon, Discord, and an army of changelings! Rainbow Dash taught me a spot of karate so I could defend myself!”

She ducked and uppercut another Shadowmare solidly. It was sent sprawling on its back. Agua shot a few small blasts of water taking out a few more. From the side though, he was caught off guard. A Shadowmare got in a clean shot and hit Agua’s side send him staggering away off balance. He was pinned up against the wall by said Shadowmare and had a hoof pressed to his head.

“I thought you were supposed to be tough.”

“We are.”

That was another voice. Pyro’s voice. His left hoof knocked into the Shadowmares face and sent it away. Agua was free to move again. Rarity was still trying to hold back as many as she can using her hooves and nothing else. She could send them back, but she couldn’t destroy them. Good thing that another one of the guys had shown up then.

Fire and water were blasted in separate directions to fend off the dark ponies. To wrap it up, Pyro and Agua stood side by side and threw out their hooves in unison. A stream of fire and another of water formed a helix together combining their hot and cooling touches. Their elements together made the Shadowmares vaporize upon impact. As the cloud of steam the flames and water created cleared, the three ponies were able to tell all the Shadowmares had been defeated.

“See what happens when we work together, Agua?” Pyro smirked.

“Whatever.” Agua said in denial. “What are you doing out here?”

“Relaying messages to everyone.” Pyro got to business. “Take Rarity and get her to the castle. It’s the safest place for her.”

“And the Shadowmares will follow us. Smart.” Agua commented.

“How many of them are there, Pyro?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know. Hundreds possibly.” Pyro’s hooves lit up. “However many there are, watch your back.”

With that, Pyro took to the skies once more as Rarity and Agua watched him go till he was out of view. Their path to the castle was blocked by another incoming group of Shadowmares. Quickly they had to come up with a plan B. Agua turned and noticed a nearby bridge crossing over one of the many canals in the city that came from the great Canterlot waterfalls. He dipped his hoof in and the water told him which direction it traveled and where it would lead him.

“This canal feeds directly into the castle moat. Rarity, hop on my back!”

She didn’t even care about getting wet. It was one of those rare occurrences. Not thinking twice about, she hopped on Agua’s back and locked her hooves around his torso. Agua then walked out into the middle of the canal and did his thing. First he raised his hooves to the air making the water he stood on raise up as well in the form of a wall. Then he looked straight forward and pointed his hooves in the same direction. The wall turned into a rushing wave on which he was no surfing the top of. It wasn’t the most conventional means of transportation, but it was the only one available at the time. Surfing the top of a wave. Rarity began to scream at the top of her lungs forgetting her mouth was right next to Agua’s ear.

“WILL YOU STOP THAT?!?! I’M TRYING TO FOCUS HERE!”

“SOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!” Rarity boomed into Agua’s ear one more time.

Back at the castle, the same balcony Pyro jumped off of before was now being used as a platform where Celestia and Twilight were shooting Shadowmares climbing up the castle walls which were crawling with them. Shining Armor would have been there as well and summoned the royal guard to help but he was still struggling to get free of his metal bindings. Cadence’s magic wasn’t strong enough to undo the damage the earth mover did.

Terra herself and her partner were not on the balcony. They were on the ground right beneath the balcony Celestia and Twilight stood on. Terra had a hammer made of rock in her hooves and was smashing every nearby Shadowmare. Applejack was using her hooves both front and back to clobber the dark ponies.

“There’s so many of them!” Twilight shouted as she shot a couple more to smoke. “Where the hay are the others?!”

“Just keep shooting, my faithful student.” Celestia firmly responded. “We must hold out until the rest of the elements arrive.”

Celestia’s gold glowing horn let loose several beams of bright yellow light that enveloped most of the Shadowmares crawling up her side of the wall. Shadowbolts started to fly in to make it even more difficult. After launching a few big rocks skyward, she took notice of a bright white stripe moving towards the castle. Knowing what it was she turned her head to the princess and Twilight.

“Up top! We have ice and laughter coming in from above!”

Twilight and Celestia looked up and saw a path of ice extended directly towards them. On top of it was Cryo and Pinkie Pie. Behind them was a squadron of Shadowbolts. Swerving from side to side allowed the two ponies on the balcony to shoot them down. They skated right above their heads and through the door that led onto the balcony. Once their hooves were back on the ground, both ponies riding the ice path stood on all fours again. Cadence had a smile on her face as she laid eyes on another Alamantian.

“Kindness and wind are right behind them!” Applejack called.

Laying down cover fire wasn’t necessary for Typhoon and Fluttershy. The pegasus of wind lowered herself and her partner onto the balcony in front of Celestia and Twilight. Then Typhoon stood on the balcony railing with her staff in her grip.

“Eet would seem you have a beet of an infestation problem.” She observed.

Cadenced walked away from her husband shortly to view aerokinetic out on the balcony.

“Yeah would you mind helping us with that?” Twilight asked.

In response, Typhoon first smirked at the lavender unicorn then looked straight down. She then began to move her staff around quite gracefully. The princess and her student both backed away to give her some space as they felt the breeze pass through their manes. The pink pegasus began to spin that wooden stick even faster. Then she held it horizontally over her head with one hoof, and quickly threw the same hoof down.

The wind blew straight down with strong force. The Shadowmares climbing the castle walls were blown off and vaporized when they hit the ground. Her technique being performed, Typhoon relaxed herself and hopped off the balcony railing.

“Impressive.” Celestia commented.

Typhoon gave a small nod and her staff floated in the air with her aerokinetic powers assisting her. She walked inside the castle alongside Fluttershy on all four hooves. She was met face to face with Cadence.

“Amazing.” The pink alicorn commented.

That one word told Typhoon this girl was okay. Cryo shared her opinion.

“My name ees, Typhoon.” The pink pegasus greeted. “And zis ees my brother, Cryo.”

“Pleasure.” Cryo gave a small nod to Cadence.

“Same.” Cadence reciprocated. “So let me ask you this. Should I be scared right now?”

“Of us, no.” Cryo stated. “But of the Shadowmares, well that’s for you to decide.”

“Well then I’m not scared.” Cadence said with a confident smile. ‘I got a good first impression from your fiery friend.”

The two Alamantians smiled knowing they were in good with another pony. Fluttershy and Pinkie smiled when they saw their partners grin.

“Water and generosity incoming!” Twilight drew their attention back.

Everyone followed her pointed hoof and saw the wave come in with two ponies riding the top of it. Agua carried his wave outside the canal and let it crash into the grassy ground right outside the front gate.. Rarity let go of him and collapsed on the grass happy to be on land again. But her little celebration was cut short when she found herself having to dodge Shadowmare shots.

Agua got back in front of her and began to use his water moving to block and counter the attacks.

“Rarity! Get inside the castle! GO!”

She didn’t need to be told twice. The guards immediately let her inside. Agua made short work of the remaining Shadowmares and joined his partner inside.

With no Shadowmares left to fight at the moment, Terra and Applejack retreated to the inside of the castle with the latter raising herself and her partner up to the balcony with an earth pillar. Once they were at level with the balcony, the two earth ponies jumped and ran inside the castle with Twilight. Celestia was the last to go inside and viewed Agua and Rarity coming in through the hallway and Agua laughing as he saw Shining Armor. He didn’t know who the guard was, he just found it funny that he was hogtied.

Before Celestia shut the door to the balcony, a hot orange flying object made its way inside and landed on all four hooves in front of his friends breathing deeply. Twilight approached him and rested a hoof on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” she asked him.

“Yeah.” Pyro answered back panting. “Just…flying…everywhere. Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah. We’re all cool.” Cryo answered his brother.

“Wait a second.” Princess Celestia noticed there were a couple of absences. “Where are Rainbow Dash and Gem?”

Finally everypony other then Pyro noticed when Celestia said it.

“I looked everywhere from above.” Pyro answered. “I searched every street of the city but I couldn’t find them. And the arena is destroyed.”

“So they’re either dead or still out there somewhere.” Agua said out loud.

A whimper came from Typhoon. Hearing Gem might be dead was too much for her. Her aerokinesis vanished and the wooden staff clunked the floor. Rarity picked it up with her unicorn magic and rubbed the pegasus’ shoulder while she glared at her partner.

“Oh don’t you worry, Typhoon. I’m sure they’re fine. Rainbow Dash will keep Gem safe.” She said trying to comfort the worried mare.

Typhoon calmed down just a tiny bit but enough to the point where she wasn’t shaking.

“Ty, you gotta try and find them.” Cryo said to his sister.

The pink winged mare knew what her icy brother was talking about. Sometimes she forgets exactly what all she can do with her telepathy. Gently, she placed a hoof to the side of her head. Her mind went into overdrive. Her telepathic signal spread throughout all of Canterlot in search of her younger sister and her partner. About half a minute passed but she couldn’t get a lock on them. Either they were moving too fast or their minds weren’t functioning anymore. She only prayed that second option wasn’t the case.

“What’s taking her so long?” Spike whispered.

“Canterlot is a big city. It takes a while for her mind to search it all.” Terra softly said back.

Spike nodded understand and watched Typhoon. Her eyelids fluttered a few times but never opened. A full minute went by and then suddenly her eyes shot wide open.

“Found zem! Zey are only one mile away from ze castle and closing fast!”

Cryo rushed for the balcony to see for himself with the others behind him. Shining Armor tried to crawl but couldn’t. The view overlooking the front of the castle provided a perfect view down the road that led to the fortress itself. Noise from afar began to be heard by all. Then they came. Turning onto the road were two streaks, one rainbow, the other bright electric purple. Right behind them were four Shadowbolts shooting at them from their mouths.

“Gem! Rainbow! Hurry up!” Rarity called.

Similar other shouts reached the ears of the two ponies on the run.

“You heard em’, Gem! Let’s go!” Rainbow put more energy into her wings.

Gem did the same with her plasma wheel she was surfing on. Immediately the two began to speed up but they didn’t gain an inch of distance away from their chasers. It was gonna be close.

“Rainbow! Ascend now!” Gem instructed.

Not in a mood to argue, Rainbow Dash pulled up until she was level with the balcony. Then she barrel rolled to avoid another shot.. On the ground, Gem focused her eyes not too far ahead at the ground. Right in front of her, a small ramp made of glowing plasma formed and her big wheel flew right off it. The ramp vanished and Gem turned around in the air. The plasma that made up her wheel started funneling into her hooves. When it was all there, She blasted out a strong beam of plasma and took out all four of the Shadowbolts.

The force of the blast threw the purple unicorn off balance and she began to spin out of control for the castle. Thankfully for her, She fell right into a spiraling sphere of air courtesy of Typhoon. After They all retreated back into the castle, Typhoon threw herself on the smaller unicorn.

Rainbow Dash looked at her partner with a sad face.

“Sorry your first Wonderbolts show got ruined, Gem.”

“It’s okay, Rainbow. Really it is. Just help get her off me. I can’t breathe.” Gem gasped.

Typhoon’s grip was indeed a tight one. Being the nearest, Rainbow Dash and Applejack put their hooves on her pink ones.

“S’alright, Ty. Gem is fine. Just ease up.” Applejack gently said.

Breathing more steadily and looking Gem over one last time, Typhoon let go of the young one and let her get some oxygen inside her. Cadence, smiling wide, approached her.

“A member of the Eneoji Tribe. It’s an honor to meet you.” Cadence warmly greeted.

“Former.” Gem corrected with a straight face.

Confusing, it was. Shining Armor didn’t hear it. He was too busy looking and noticing the girl’s size and how she was noticeably smaller then the rest.

“How old are you, kid?” he asked from behind.

Gem turned around quickly startled by the voice and almost laughed when she saw what she did. But she kept it inside barely.

“Thirteen.” She replied.

Shining Armor’s face dropped.

“No seriously. How old are you?”

“Thirteen.”

He was at a loss for words. He glared at Pyro.

“You dragged a thirteen year old into a fight of this magnitude?!” He was disgusted.

“Um…I’m gonna be 14 in a couple of weeks.” Gem mentioned.

“Don’t worry about him.” Agua waved Shining Armor off. “So what do we do now?”

That was directed towards his red hot brother.

“Alright. There’s plenty more of them coming I can bet you anything. Twilight I want you and the other harmony elements to-“

“Oh no you don’t.” Twilight jammed her hoof in Pyro’s chest. “There’s no way you’re going out there without us.”

Pyro sighed. He was hoping to avoid this.

“Look, Twilight. I understand you want to help us. But I’m supposed to protect you. Not bring you closer to danger.”

Twilight shook her head. She wasn’t gonna have it.

“You’re supposed to be my partner.” She responded with a firm hoof. “That means you and I both have the same responsibility to each other. You protect me, I protect you. That’s the way it works. You can argue with me all you want, Pyro. But like it or not, I’m going out there with you. And there is nothing you can do to stop me.”

Pyro froze in place. He wasn’t expecting Twilight to fight him on this so much. He was gonna argue back but then he took a second to think about who he was talking to. This group of six mares were the first to take on Nightmare Moon after Celestia did. They were the group who resealed Discord in his stone prison. And they were too the group who helped Canterlot remain intact while it was overrun with changelings. These six mares were definitely capable of handling their own. He looked away from his partner and to the rest.

“I suppose the rest of you share her feelings.” He assumed.

The nods from all of them confirmed his assumption to be true.

“Y’all may have powers that none of us will ever understand, but that doesn’t mean we’re just gonna let ya go this one alone.” Applejack said as she adjusted her hat.

“Yeah. Let us have some of the fun.” Rainbow Dash pressed her hooves together cracking them a bit.

“I still want payback for the crashed party.” Pinkie admitted.

“I may be a lady but that does not mean I am a pushover.” Rarity said frim as she ran a hoof through her mane.

“Well…we have done this before.” Fluttershy quietly said.

It was still enough for the big red stallion to hear.

“Then let’s go.”

“Wait a minute!” Shining Armor yelled before anyone left. “Aren’t you gonna let me outta here?”

He was asking Terra foremost because she was the one who put him in this situation to begin with. The yellow mare rubbed her chin to sell the act that she was actually thinking about it. She wasn’t at all.

“You insulted me and my brother over there, then you tried to strangle said brother. So forgive me if I’m not exactly 100 percent for letting you out.”

“DAMMIT! JUST LET ME GO!” he screamed and tried to free himself.

Terra pointed a hoof at Shining Armor and quickly pulled it back. The metal wrapped around the captive captain’s hooves and horn tightened making him yelp as they stung a bit.

“I’ll let you out when you learn to be nice.” Terra snapped.

“Princess, please! Surely you can let me go.” Shining Armor pleaded to get some support.

He found none with the princess.

“I think it is best if you remain how are you for a while for disobeying my wish to respect our Alamantian guests. Consider it a reminder to never do it again.”

He couldn’t believe it. Not even Celestia was backing him up. Even his own wife was taking their side. Everypony seemed to be turning on him and he did not like it at all.

“Shall we then?” Pyro held out his hoof for Twilight to grasp.

She did just that.

“Lets.” She replied.

A flash of flames later and she and Pyro were gone. Gem and Cryo followed suit with their respective partners in their respective elements. Agua and Rarity went for the balcony along with the other four mares. Using water from the moat, the stallion controlling it hopped on with Rarity and lowered himself down. Terra and AJ used the earth pillar that got them up there in the first place as their way down while Typhoon and Fluttershy simply used their wings. On their way down, Typhoon gripped her staff in her hooves again and Rarity let it out of her magical grip.

Once on the ground, all twelve ponies looked out ahead into the street leading to the castle. At the farthest edge seeable, a small cloud of black was beginning to form. A big one too. They were coming. A lot of them.

“Hold your ground, elements. We can’t let a single one inside.” Pyro advised. “Terra, would you care to start us off?”

“Pyro…” Terra stood up bipedal and cracked her neck. “It would be my genuine pleasure.”

Forward once more they looked as the cloud began to spark with some sort of energy. Then, as if a door had just been opened, tons of Shadowmares starting rushing out of the cloud and down the street for the castle. Hundreds of them, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorn ran and flew out screeching in search of their prey, the elements.

That was the signal for the rest of them to get ready. The other eleven elements prepared themselves for Terra to make the first strike then they would charge forward. There was only one problem. A few seconds went by, but Terra remained still in her bipedal stance.

“Uh…aren’t you…you know…gonna do something?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes. But not now.” Terra answered. “Just wait for the right time.”

Waiting wasn’t looking to be a good idea with a whole hoard of Shadowmares diving down on them. Every second that past meant a few meters gained and less time to act.

“Terra…” Pyro muttered.

“Not yet.”

The wave was getting closer.

“Terra…” Rarity took a step back.

“Wait for it.”

Streetlamps were getting knocked over as the Shadowmares crowded the road to the castle.

“T-Terra…” Fluttershy was hiding behind Typhoon.

“Almost.”

This was it. One more intersection and they were toast.

“TERRA!” That time everyone shouted the name except for the pony bearing it.

Finally she acted. With a single step forward and a few deep breaths, Terra raised her right hoof up to the sky, then slammed it into the ground. The impact sounded like a small explosion heard from a distance. As soon as she touched the earth, her geokinesis took play. She had created a wave out of the ground much like one of the ocean and sent it right for the oncoming hoard of Shadowmares.

The giant ground wave did as its creator expected. The entire front area of the Shadowmare hoard were sent flying into the air. Most of those already sporting wings were able to recover, but the earth ponies and unicorns poofed to smoke when they hit the ground. It didn’t solve the problem entire, but Terra’s attack did enough damage to dent the number originally there.

That was their cue to charge. On all fours once again, Terra darted forward along with the rest of the elements. A chunk of rock ripped from the ground in front of the yellow mare and shaped into that of a hammer. The hammer’s creator clenched it in her teeth and ran on with her partner now holding her rope in her mouth. When they were close enough, Terra took her hammer in her hooves and gave a strong swing. She clobbered a unicorn Shadowmare and sent it flying into many more before stopping. Applejack lashed out her rope and lassoed a Shadowbolt around the neck. Holding solid, Applejack jerked the rope and swung the Shadowbolt into a few grounded henchponies before slamming it to the ground.

While they were running, Twilight and Pyro were already shooting small shots at their enemies. When they were surrounded, Pyro stood up on his hind hooves and began to mix his flame powers with his expert martial arts. Twilight remained on all fours and put her horn into overdrive fending off the approaching foes.

Out of nowhere Pinkie armed and let loose the full power of her party cannon. Cryo had no idea what his partner was loading into that thing. But whatever it was, it wreaked havoc on the Shadowmares. Cryo himself was doing plenty damage with two ice sickles formed from his front hooves. Slashing, slicing, and dicing, he took out every Shadowmare that got near him.

Typhoon stayed close to Gem to make sure she was okay. Gem rolled her eyes and kept firing plasma shots from her hooves and horn. Rainbow Dash bucked and tackled her way through a large crowd of them showing her endurance and courage. Fluttershy was staying near her partner trying her best to not get hit. Typhoon used her staff to create various and deadly attacks with her element of wind. Each one did heavy damage to her targets.

The white mare of generosity and her partner were surprisingly working well together. Rarity’s graceful martial arts not only did its number on the Shadowmares but also gave her body an excellent workout. Agua was doing his damage with two giant water whips. Simple yet effective.

All the while, Celestia and Cadence viewed the fight from one of the giant windows of the castle. Soon enough, others who worked in the castle joined them. Chefs, janitors, medical staff, a few other guards finally came in and worked together to free Shining Armor from his bonds. He walked up to the side of his wife only to be met with a sharp glare. Then she looked away still sore with his behavior towards the six foreigners. The captain of the guard then looked out the window and saw his little sister shooting one Shadowmare after the other alongside her fire blasting partner.

A few of them got close and caused the two of them to back up a little bit. Doing that made them bump into Terra and Applejack. The former ducked a shot and waved her hoof upwards making a small semi circle wall rise up from the ground. The four of them crouched behind it like they were in the frontlines of an actual war.

“This is just like that mobster incident in Manehattan all over again, huh bro?” Terra chuckled as she creamed a Shadowmare with a thrown rock.

“You and I clearly have different thoughts about that experience, Terra.” Pyro replied.

He then stood straight up and threw out a long stream of fire waving his hoof left and right. The animal like screeches of the dark shadow ponies filled the air as Twilight looked strangely at her partner when he crouched back down.

“Mobsters?” she muttered.

“It’s a long story.” He answered.

“It was fun and you know it.” Terra chuckled.

Terra then punched the small wall and made it explode forward hitting most of the nearby henchponies in front of them. The two pairings split up and Terra formed two more rock hammers in her hooves much bigger than the first one she had. She smashed them both together at the heads and cave somewhat of a crazy smile.

“Come to mama, bitches.”

From the window above, Shining Armor looked at the mare and her two enormous weapons.

“That…..THAT is a princess?” he said observing the yellow earth mare. “Looks more like a warrior to me.”

*CRACK!*

Shining Armor winced as he viewed Terra brutally take out another Shadowmare.

“Make that a butcher.”

“Stop it right now.” Cadence snapped. “I don’t know what your problem is with them, but in all my years of dating you, I have NEVER seen you act prejudice towards anything or anyone. Now suddenly you meet six Alamantians and you’re a racist.”

“Cadence, I’m not a racist. I just don’t like how suddenly six Alamantians pop up out of nowhere and shortly after, Nightmare Moon comes back. It’s just too suspicious.”

“I know it seems weird but you have to trust them like I do. Your sister trusts them, the rulers of Equestria trust them, and seeing as how he saved your life not too long ago, I think he deserves yours.”

She played the “he saved your life” card. He was hoping she wouldn’t do that. He was gonna attempt to say something back but water splattering against the window startled them and brought their attention back to the fight outside. Agua was trying to take out some airborne Shadowbolts with small shots of water but the flyers were too fast for him. Seeing them, Typhoon spread her own wings and took them out herself by using some fancy flying combined with aerokinesis. She landed again next to Terra who was busy swinging a pair hammers around like a maniac.

“I’m already getting tired.” The wind mover said with a deep breath.

“Get some air in those lungs of yours and get blowin, Ty! These guys are duplicating by the second!”

Terra swung her right side hammer down and scraped the ground causing shards of rock and dirt to fly up and hit the oncoming unicorn Shadowmares coming for her. A few of them were lightly hit but it was just a little distraction so Terra could charge them. She used one of her hammers to vault herself over the one up front and landed on another one’s head. Then she caved that same head into the ground with a hammer. The second one she clobbered skyward and awkwardly smacked into the wall of the castle making it vaporize. Then Terra lashed at the third and final one with a sideways swing.

She made the wrong move. The unicorn Shadowmare easily ducked the attack and moved behind her while Terra regained her balance. With a dark blade, it slashed at her in an upwards motion armed with a blade. The tip of said blade dug into her left arm quite well.

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

The pain was enough to distract her so the Shadowmare could get in another hit. This time it was with a shot of dark energy right to the chest at point blank range. Terra went skidding on her back and tried to get back up but the unicorn Shadowmare that had inflicted pain on her stomped hard on her stomach with its hind hoof. A dark purple and black blade rose up above his head and it was ready to go through her skull.

However, Applejack acted quicker than the Shadowmare unicorn and rammed her own skull into it. It wasn’t enough to make the fake pony poof into smoke but the country girl wasn’t done yet. And neither was the black unicorn.

“Not bad…for a redneck hick.” It hissed.

Applejack growled and charged. She took a swing with one of her front hooves and it was easily evade. Then the unicorn Shadowmare swung his dark blade again and was able to slash a bit of Applejack’s back. She tried and succeeded to not cry out in pain. With her teeth clenched and eyes shut tight, she gave a loud grunt. Either way the pain was still there. Fast and strong with the Shadowmare still behind her, Applejack used her back hooves for their intended purpose and bucked it away. It skidded to a halt next to Terra who made short work of it by crushing it with yet another hammer made from the ground.

“Jackie.” When she leaned her head up, Terra saw the wound on her partner.. “Your back.”

“Don’t sweat it, Sugarcube, Ah’ve suffered worse injuries then this and STILL kept workin.” She assured. “How’s yer arm?”

“Stings but it’s nothing really.” Terra stomped her back hoof in a backwards motion and shot a rock pillar up from the ground behind her sending a sneaking Shadowmare skyward.

Suddenly, the whole atmosphere of the place seemed to be overrun with the screeches of the Shadowmares of all kinds. They weren’t getting hit but most of them seemed to be screaming like Pyro had set them all on fire at once.

“Hold on. What’s going on here?” the stallion of fire himself wondered.

Two seconds later, he got his answer. At least half of the horde of Shadowmares poofed into black smoke like they did when they were destroyed. But this time the smoke didn’t vanish. It all seemed to be funneling into one place up high in the sky. It swirled and turned like it was a big brewing pot. Then a loud roar emitted from the cloud making all twelve of the fighting ponies cover their ears.

“Wait.” From the window, Spike noticed something. “How come the others aren’t moving?”

Celestia looked closely to where Cadence was looking and took notice of what she was referring to. The other Shadowmares that were still there on the ground weren’t moving. It was like time stopped moving around them.

“Curious.” The princess of the sun commented.

The roar came again. This time the thing giving it had a form. The black smoke had turned into a giant serpent-like creature of giant proportions. It was black along the body with jagged purple streaks running up and down it. Five horns extended from its head in a star formation and the teeth were as sharp as the finest crafted blade in all Equestria. Menacing to behold, Fluttershy started shivering and hid behind Typhoon. Twilight used her sight to measure it had to be just a bit bigger then Spike when he became a full grown dragon.

“Oh holy shit.” Terra muttered.

Without any sign of a warning, the remaining Shadowmares screeched and resumed their attack, causing the elements to snap out of their trance and continue fighting as well. All the while they did their best to keep an eye on the serpent floating above them. It seemed to be looking at the castle. Then the inside of its mouth started to glow.

“It’s gonna blast the castle!” Agua shouted.

That was it. Celestia had to do something. She teleported outside the castle window and flew straight for the serpent with her horn charged up. A powerful golden beam brilliantly ejected from the tip of her horn and soared through the sky and hit the serpent right in the center of its body. It tore through the body of the creature and it began to evaporate.

Then it just seemed to stop vanishing. Instead it turned around and began to put itself back together. In a matter of seconds, the half of the body that had vaporized reappeared as good as new, shocking both the elements and Celestia herself. The serpent looked at Celestia then it spoke in Nightmare Moon’s voice.

“You are strong, Celestia. But I have grown strong in my absence.” She declared.

The serpent began to charge up the beam from its mouth again. Down below, Rainbow Dash was recovering from one of her wings being slashed by a Shadowbolt grounding her. After she punched it out, she groaned in pain as she noticed the serpent about to fire.

“Great! Now what!?” Rainbow turned to her young partner for an answer.

But she wasn’t there to give one. Looking around, Rainbow couldn’t spot Gem until she looked up.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” she yelled.

That got the attention of everypony else. Gem had teleported herself onto the tallest point of the castle that was also nearest to the serpent. She held out her front hooves and activated her horn making a large purple wall of plasma and magic to appear out on front of her. The wall’s size was large enough to cover a good portion of the castle. She didn’t need to cover the entire thing. She just needed to make a shield which was big enough to block the about to be fired blast.

Although it was a good plan, her five siblings seemed to be scared.

“GEM, DON’T DO IT!” Cryo yelled.

There was nothing any of them could do to stop her though. The shield was already in place and the serpent’s blast had been fired. Upon impact, Gem winced feeling the pressure build on her body. She began to push with all her might to try and keep her force field up. The beam that poured out of the Shadow beast’s mouth like an open faucet only seemed to get stronger.

Sparks began to fly off the shield’s walls from the inside. The sparks were aiming for their master. Being younger and less experienced with her element than the others were, Gem’s limits were clearly seen. Her own plasma was backfiring and hurting her in the process. Small bolts of plasma flew off the inside wall of the force field and hit Gem in a random part of her body. She knew she couldn’t keep it up much longer, but she had to keep going. If she dropped now, the castle would be toast. Trying to focus every bit of power she had, she screamed out of both determination and pain.

Finally having enough, the two stallions capable of getting off the ground took off. Typhoon went airborne as well. Pyro and Cryo shot small shots of flame and ice at the giant to get its attention. Typhoon did the same by flying in front of its face to confuse it. The tactic worked. The beast stopped shooting the beam and turned to chase the flying ponies.

When it was done, Gem dropped the shield, took a deep breath, and fell down unconscious. With the roof slanted, she began to slide down and fell off the side only to be quickly caught in the golden aura of the ruler of Equestria who had a very worried look to her as she examine the young one’s body. The backfiring plasma bruised her up good and a few of them were bleeding. She landed and wiped a bit of blood off the small unicorn’s mouth as Rainbow Dash rushed over and tried to nudge her awake while she floated in mid air.

“Not again.” Rainbow fearfully muttered. “Gem, wake up.”

There came no reply of any kind. Just uneven breathing signifying she was alive. The sound of growling made the cyan pegasus and Celestia whip around and see many Shadowmares start to close in on them.

“Give us the plasma girl. And we may let you live.” A unicorn one growled.

That didn’t faze the multi colored mare and princess on bit. With a snort, Rainbow stood up and posed herself ready to fight again.

“You wanna get to her, you gotta go through me.”

The Shadowmares just laughed.

“As you wish.” A Shadowbolt snarled.

In unison, all of them began to charge up their attacks. They were abruptly cut off when the ground below them cracked open and the earth Shadowmares and unicorns fell into the newly formed crevice. The Shadowbolts stayed above it thanks to their wings. Twilight made short work of them thanks to her magnificent magic. The crevice closed up and the geokinetic pony responsible for it came into view.

“You got guts, RD. I like that.” Terra muttered as she made another weapon rise from the ground made of rock.

This time it wasn’t a hammer. It was an axe with razor sharp edges.

“Always a pleasure, Princess.”

Laughing, Terra ran off to chop up more Shadowmares like they were food in a restaurant. Rainbow turned to Celestia still concerned for Gem.

“I’ll take care of Gem, Rainbow Dash. You get back out there.”

With a nod, the cyan mare flew back into battle and Celestia teleported back to where she was before in the castle. Cadence gasped upon seeing the hurt Gem in her magical grip. Gently, she put her down on her side and looked to a nurse who was in the room with her.

“Take her to the medical tower immediately. Leave no wound untreated.”

“Yes, your majesty.” The nurse bowed and used her own unicorn magic to carry Gem off.

“Thirteen.” Shining Armor muttered. “She’s just thirteen.”

“But yet she’s so brave.” Celestia admired that about the plasma mover.

With one element down, the pressure on the remaining elements had slightly increased. The three flying ones were straining their brains trying to figure out what to do. Their attacks just weren’t cutting it. Every time they landed what seemed to be a solid hit, the body regenerated.

“What do we do, Pyro?!” Cryo shouted to his brother.

“I have no idea!” Pyro yelled back. “There has to be a weakness somewhere! Find it!”

Pyro began to fly for the back of the creature with Cryo next to him.

“We can’t keep this up forever, dude.” He pointed out.

“I know I know.” The flying unicorn. “But everything, even us, has a weakness. We just gotta keep our eyes sharp and-“

“OH DAMN LOOKOUT!”

The ice mover’s loud voice made Pyro jerk his head in the other direction. The spikes on the back of the serpent’s back had extended out like tentacles and were now headed fright for the elements of fire and ice. Nicely they were both able to evade them for a few seconds and destroy some with their attacks. But right after Cryo got wrapped up in one and trapped, Pyro was quick to follow. They both tried to burn and freeze their way out but the tentacles binding them seemed to be invulnerable to the heat and cold. They were about to teleport themselves out. Before they could, both of them began to scream in pain from the dark energy being zapped into their bodies. From below, Twilight and Pinkie heard their screams and saw two little lights flashing from the ends of the two tentacles holding them.

“NO! CRYO!” Pinkie shouted.

“PYRO BREAK FREE!” Twilight added.

Their words did nothing. A few more seconds of dark energy being plunged into their bodies caused both of them to go out cold. Then the two tentacles threw them both downwards to the ground. Twilight tried to catch them but they were moving too fast and Typhoon was busy dodging her own array of tentacles to even notice that two of her brothers were falling.

It was too late. Both the unicorn stallions very hardly and loudly crashed into the ground. The impact formed craters around their bodies and small trails from said craters. Their bodies were stiff and very badly hurt.

Using a special blast of cake batter from her party cannon to stick a few more Shadowmares in place, Pinkie and Twilight broke free from the pack of them and approached their partners afraid of what had just happened.

“Pyro, respond.” Twilight gently nudged her partner hoping for something to happen.

“Cryo….Cryo are you okay?” Pinkie did the same with her white friend.

None of them received any sort of response, making their fear skyrocket in less than a second.

“No…nononononononono.” Twilight’s eyes and Pinkie’s filled up with tears as her lavender hoof moved to his neck.

She didn’t feel a pulse. She tried to administer to him and Cryo every healing spell she knew. It didn’t seem to do much good at this point. A few cuts stopped bleeding but none of the open wounds actually healed.

Celestia and her nearby subjects witnessed the entire thing. Fear was in the princesses eyes as she stared at Pyro’s and Cryo’s stiff forms. Then she witnessed her precious student fall on her belly and began to softly cry under the belief her partner was gone.

When she felt something on her head, she opened her eyes back up and looked upwards. She had no idea where it came from, but her element of magic tiara had appeared on her head. Pinkie’s neck began to glow a dim white then her necklace of laughter appeared adorned on the pink mare’s neck like usual. The charms of both elements glowed bright blue and magenta, respectively. Looking at their collapsed partners once more made them notice something. The two stallion’s cutie marks glowed white for a few seconds. They stopped at the same time the two elements of harmony ceased to shine.

Then they moved.

Well, tried to move would be more correct. Both the stallions were heard breathing and they started moaning feeling intense pain.

“Pyro?” Twilight was still having trouble believing this was happening.

“I can’t move.” He whispered. “Everything hurts.”

Pinkie put her face right in front of her own partner’s as her necklace and Twilight’s tiara disappeared.

“Cryo? Are you okay?” she asked hoping for appositive reply.

“No.” Cryo groaned back as his whole body throbbed in pain. “Agua. Get Agua over here.”

Without thinking twice, Pinkie rushed away from Cryo and immediately spotted Agua. Before he knew it, the blue stallion was picked up from the bottom and carried away from the fight. Needless to say, he wasn’t pleased with that.

“What the hell are you doing?! Put me down!” He yelled.

Pinkie did just that right in front of Agua’s two hurt brothers. Seeing them made him gasp a little bit.

“Holy shit. What the hell happened to you two?” he asked.

“Fell….hard.” Was all Pyro answered with.

“Agua you need to mizu-mend them. Fast.” Twilight informed.

“I’ll do what I can.” The water pony said. “Just cover me.”

Twilight and Pinkie followed Agua’s instructions and armed themselves. Shots from Twilight’s horn and Pinkie’s party cannon kept the Shadowmares at bay while Agua did his thing.

First her started with Pyro. He instructed his brother to hold his breath and through his pain Pyro followed the order. Then Agua did his work. Conjuring some water between his hooves, he then spread it all over his red brother’s body . Slowly, he began to wave his hooves back and forth like a wave. The tips of his hooves were covered with water and dimly glowing. The bubble Pyro was encased in did the same thing. Agua then moved in his hooves and began to rub Pyro’s body all over as gently as he could. After twenty five seconds, he threw the water off the red stallion and examined his work. For the most part, Agua succeeded. But he didn’t get all the way there.

Pyro tried to stand back up which he started out doing well, when he was almost fully up, his left side throbbed in pain and he gave a yelp.

“I did all I could.” Agua explained while he began the mizu-mending process on Cryo. “I stopped most of your cuts from bleeding and healed some completely, but some of the big ones I couldn’t get closed. And you’re gonna be sore everywhere for a while.”

“Not enough to stop me.” Pyro said as he walked away.

Just as Agua finished mending Cryo’s body, he rushed over to Pyro and grabbed him by the tail.

“Pyro, normally I don’t care about your safety because you can handle yourself pretty well. But you are severely injured. Right now your help would surely do us no good. Sit this one out. And that goes for you too, Frosty.” He finished at Cryo.

“But…Pinkie…” Cryo moaned.

“And Twilight…” Pyro added.

“Will be safe. I’ll take care of it.” Agua finished and looked over to his yellow sister. “Yo! Leaf lover! Hot head and Frosty need some protection!”

Terra shamefully responded to the nickname she was called. She would have gone over there and kicked his ass for it, but now was not the time. Seeing her two brothers made her realize Agua was right. She and Applejack rushed to assist them to cover while Agua rejoined the fight in between Twilight and Pinkie.

“The smaller ones aren’t the ones I’m worried about!” Twilight cried. “If Typhoon can’t stop that big serpent thing on her own, what are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know!” Agua shouted. “Just keep shooting! We’ll figure it out later! There’s just one and I think Ty has it covered!”

That was the moment everything seemed to stop happening. The remaining Shadowmares all froze in place and their bodies poofed into smoke just like the others did.

“Oh fuck I just jinxed it.” Agua slapped his head.

There were now two giant serpentine creatures hovering in the sky above the castle. Needless to say, at this point, fear was a valid emotion to feel. Some of them didn’t want to show it but all of them were feeling it.

Then something whizzed by the new serpents face in a small pink blur. It was Typhoon who was still trying to think of a plan to defeat them. So far she had nothing.

“She doesn’t think she can actually win against those things does she?” Shining Armor wondered. “All she has to work with is air.”

“You would be surprised what air can do.”

That voice made almost all the present ponies jump. Turing around, the workers of the castle bowed down to Princess Luna. With a flat face, she walked up to the window next to her sister.

“How are they doing?” she asked.

“Gem is in the medical tower. But they’re holding up.” Celestia answered. “And where have you been? Last I checked it didn’t take that long to bring forth the night.”

“I finished nearly half an hour ago.” Luna replied with a glance. “I’ve just been talking with a few old friends of ours about this situation.”

“Really? Who?” the eldest asked.

Luna stared down through the window at Agua. She watched him take out Shadowmares one by one with his hydrokinetic abilities. She took notice of the look he had on his face.

“Strong but not there yet.” She muttered.

“What was that?” even though it was barely audible, Celestia heard it.

“Agua is his name?” Luna went on. “His form is flawless and his movements are near perfection. But there’s so much more potential to his powers. If only he could realize it.”

“Luna, you never answered my question. Who were you talking with?”

Never mind the fact that she had no idea how Luna suddenly became an expert in hydrokinesis, Celestia still wanted to know what friends the moon goddess was referring to. She was about to give an answer, but another roar from the two giant serpents distracted her and the rest of them. Looking up, they saw Typhoon starting to climb high into the sky. Her tactic was to try and lead them up and away from everypony else so she could deal with them. Only downside was she still had no idea how to do that. She must have flown around those things’ bodies countless times and she still didn’t find a weakness.

She was now above the clouds and one of the serpents went ahead of her. Turning to the left she tried to lure them far away from the city but she never got the chance to try. The tail of the serpent ahead of her lashed out and smacked her across the head quite hard. She remained dizzy for a few seconds and tried to keep herself conscious but she just couldn’t do it. She went out and started to plummet to the ground. To add insult to injury in a sense, the other shadow serpent that just breached the cloud also smacked the pink pegasus with its tail making her fall faster.

When she breached the bottom side of the clouds, she was seem by everypony else.

“Oh no! Typhoon!” Rarity cried.

“I think she’s out cold!” Rainbow added

The rainbow maned pegasus started to fly for Typhoon to catch her. But she didn’t even get off the ground. She had forgotten her wing had been injured preventing her from taking off. Immediatley Agua went over and started to mizu-mend her as fast as he could.

Fluttershy remained stiff. She was scared timid. She had never felt more scared in her entire life than she had right now. As her partner got closer to the ground, all she did was stare.

Pyro, still hurt, was trying his best to stand up and fly to his sister’s rescue. But the pain in his body wouldn’t let him. Twilight was advising against it too. Celestia was about to open the door and soar to save Typhoon, but something stopped her.

Fluttershy had in a second broke out in tears, found her voice, and shouted at the top of her lungs.

“TYYYYYPHOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!”

Light. At the end of Fluttershy’s scream, light began to shine and it was coming from her neck. Her element of kindness necklace had appeared around her neck and the butterfly shaped charm was glowing white not it’s respective color like Pinkie’s and Twilight’s did. But white. Looking back up at the falling pegasus, they had noticed that her flank was also glowing bright white along the outline of her symbol mark.

Her eyes opened up. And they were glowing too.

Her wings opened back up and Typhoon leveled herself out. She then threw out her hooves to the sides. From below her, a flat whirlwind began to spin and she stood upon. Her strength rapidly returned and amplified gratuitously.

A few moments later, Fluttershy’s eyes and cutie marks began to glow white as well. So did the mark on her necklace.

“Fluttershy? Are you alright?” Twilight asked her noticing the glow.

The pegasus gave no answer. All she did was flatten her eyelids, spread her wings, and lift up into the air in the trail of her partner. She wasn’t flapping her wings though to ascend. When her hooves lifted from the ground, Twilight and the others nearby felt a strong breeze push up against them.

“Did she just…?” Applejack muttered.

As she rose up to Typhoon’s altitude, her position switched so her body was pointed straight for the sky and her head faced forward. Her front hooves were held out to their sides, and everypony from below could see a sphere of air surrounding her body. Two serpents and two mares to face them now floated in the sky.

One of them tried unleashing another giant dark beam. Typhoon acted quickly. She started to fly straight for the beam and blinding speed all the while the air around her began to spin rapidly almost looking like a spear and a comet made solely of wind. Right before she went down the throat of the giant snakelike creature, she pulled up sharply and drove herself through the skull. After she breached the head, the serpent began to cry out in pain. Then to everyone’s surprise, it completely evaporated and didn’t regenerate.

That left one more to take out. Typhoon stopped spinning and looked down at Fluttershy with a deadpan expression on her mouth. The remaining serpent roared loudly at the pastel yellow pegasus with glowing eyes. The roar surprisingly did absolutely nothing to Fluttershy. Staying right where she was in the air, she lifted up her front hooves and slowly began to wave them around in various motions. In front of her, a whirlwind began to spin.

The suspicions of her ground bound were confirmed. Fluttershy was using aerokinesis. She was born and raised in Equestria with Equestrian parents. Everypony knew that. But right here at this moment, she was using a power only known to be used in Alamante.

With a small yell of power and a push of her hooves forward, Fluttershy unleashed her attack. A large blast of air was sent right for the serpent and almost like a tentacle of sorts, the air was forced into the creature’s mouth. While the air was still gushing down into its throat, Fluttershy executed her next move and quickly moved her hooves to the sides. The shadow snake didn’t have a chance. The air Fluttershy forced inside its body evolved into a giant sphere of whirling wind that expanded from the inside until it ripped the serpent in half by making it grow big enough to the point where it just couldn’t fit anymore. The serpent dissolved.

And everyone else still on the ground had their jaws dropped. Even Celestia and Luna were in a state of shock.

“Did you see that just now?!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Um how could I miss it? It was only the most incredible wind moving I’ve ever seen!” Terra answered.

“And…it came from…Fluttershy.” Rarity was still having trouble processing that.

The wind had died down and the two pegasi looked at each other one last time before their eyes closed and they both passed out. Both of them began to fall this time. But Twilight was able to catch them with her magic and set them gently on the ground. As she did, their cutie marks stopped glowing and Flutterhy’s necklace of kindness and vanished.

“Ty? Ty come on girl! Wake up!” Terra lightly shook her sister.

“Fluttershy? Are you alright?” Rainbow Dash nudged her body.

There came no response from either of them. The yellow mare placed a hoof to her pink friend’s neck. She was relieved to feel her pulse. But she still wanted her to wake up.

She felt a hoof on her own. She looked and saw it was the orange hoof of her partner.

“It’s okay, Terra. Ah think she’s just exhausted.”

Twilight collapsed herself breathing deeply.

“I think it’s safe to say we’re ALL exhausted.” She stated.

It was true. Those who weren’t already lying on the ground were feeling a fair amount of fatigue themselves. Before them, Celestia appeared via teleportation and offered a hoof to help Twilight stand back up.

“We should get all of you to the medical tower.” Celestia advised. “Gem is already there.”

None of them argued with that. Although Agua stated he was perfectly fine, Rarity still wanted him to be checked out by a doctor so they could all be sure. Celestia helped Twilight carry Pyro and Cryo who were still very week and in need of immediate medical attention. Terra’s arm and Applejacks back needed to be looked at too. As well as Rainbow Dash’s wing. Agua forgot to finish mizu-mending it when he saw Typhoon begin to glow.

It was a long grueling battle. But it was won. All of them only hoped they could keep up the streak of victories.

Friends From Afar

I only own my OCs and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 18: Friends from Afar

The fight was won sure but this time the elements didn’t come out of it unscathed. Most of the elements sustained injuries. Some heavy, some minor. Over in the medical tower of Canterlot Castle, all of the elements of both harmony and nature were being treated. Gem, Typhoon, Fluttershy, Pyro, Cryo, and Applejack were in one room for their more serious wounds. The rest of them were in another one getting their lighter ones easily tended to. For Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Agua, all they needed were a few minutes of rest since they were lucky enough to not get hit. Rainbow Dash’s left wing was put into a bandage and she wasn’t gonna be flying for a few days to let it heal. As sore as it made her the pegasus couldn’t argue. Terra’s right front forearm now had a few stitches in it and was wrapped up in bandage tape like Rainbow’s wing.

While they rested, the six of them took a moment to think about what happened out there. They fought Shadowmares and found out what more they were capable of doing rather than just duplicating. Those serpents were monstrous and powerful. If certain things had not gone the way they did, the castle may have been obliterated along with everyone inside. Also there was the matter of the stallions of fire and ice almost losing their lives.

“How?” Twilight kept asking herself. “How did we do it?”

“Do what Twilight?” Pinkie asked being near enough to hear her.

Seeing as how Pinkie did the exact same thing she did tonight, Twilight spoke directly to her.

“How did we save them?” she wondered. “Pinkie, you saw them. Cryo and Pyro were hurt extremely. Nopony should have been able to survive that fall.”

Pinkie shuddered remembering that she almost lost her new friend.

“Just be happy they did. If Cryo died…” Her bottom lip quivered a tiny bit.

Terra, seeing the pink pony’s eyes starting to get wet, walked over and gave her something she looked like she really needed. A hug. It was a little strange to see someone as hard as Terra hug someone. Given the circumstances however, everypony in the room agreed it was the right thing to do. Pinkie placed her hooves on Terra’s back for a few short seconds before the mare of earth pulled away and looked into her eyes.

“Cryo is one tough icicle.” She assured the pink one. “Don’t worry about what could have happened. Just focus on what DID happen. And what DID happen is that somehow, you saved his life. Just like Twilight saved Pyro’s.”

She couldn’t argue with that. None of them could. Twilight and Pinkie still didn’t have a single clue as to what actually transpired. All they did know was that they saved their partners’ lives, and that somehow the elements of harmony played a role in that miracle. Twilight only prayed the reference guide to the elements of harmony she had back home in Ponyville would give her some clue.

Their thoughts on the matter were put on hold when the nurse tending to the six of them opened the door allowing guests to enter. Those guests were Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor with Spike on his back. The baby dragon leaped off of the white stallion’s back and jumped on Twilight hugging her happy she was okay.

“I was so worried.” He admitted. “But you were so awesome out there!”

“I have to agree with Spike.” Cadence approached and nuzzled her old friend. “I didn’t know you were all so good in a fight.”

“Oh why yes, your highness.” Rarity nodded to the pink alicorn. “I for one figured that after the fight with the changeling queen that precautions were needed to be taken. So I enrolled in a martial arts class.”

“Taught by me.” Rainbow added smiling and throwing a hoof around the unicorn’s back. “Am I a good teacher or what?”

“No need to boast, Rainbow. Your teachings speak for themselves.” Rarity insisted.

Shining Armor moved past the rest of them and went up to her sister for a hug. He hugged her, but she didn’t really give him one back. It confused him as to why but he soon got his answer when he pulled away and saw her glare.

“I’m still mad at you.” She murmured. “For how you acted earlier.”

She then looked over at Terra, then Agua, and then back at her brother.

“You had no reason to say those things.” she put it flat and simple.

“Twilight, I’m just concerned is all. And I don’t think we should talk about this here.” Shining Armor

“So what are you afraid to say something to our faces now?” Terra spat at him. “You seemed to have no problem doing that earlier with me and Pyro.”

“What exactly did he say?” Agua wondered since he wasn’t there to hear that conversation.

Terra whispered into the blue stallion’s ear her recollection of the nasty words Shining Armor shot her and Pyro. She also mentioned how the captain of the Canterlot guard tried to strangle him. That got Agua boiling mad and he glared sharply at him.

“You tried to choke my brother?” he hissed. “How would you like to be put on the bottom of the ocean? And I CAN make that happen.”

Shining Armor could tell by the look on Agua’s face and the shock of a few others in that room that this was not going to turn out well for him.

“Look, I admit that I went too far and I apologize.” He was fast to admit that. “But you withheld the truth from me. You knew that Nightmare Moon had returned and no one bothered to tell me.”

“We didn’t want to worry you, Shining Armor.” Twilight tried to reason with him.

“I’m the captain of the most elite guard in all of Equestria. It’s my job to be worried. If you had told me instead of shacking up with that fire mover, I could have had my troops stationed everywhere. We could have done something.”

“The only thing you would have done was send your soldiers outside to die.” Rainbow Dash stepped in here. “Those Shadowmares are tougher then a horde of dragons and then they all combined into those weird flying snake things. Not even Princess Celestia could destroy them. What makes you think you and the royal guard could have?”

The captain went silent unable to think of an answer.

“And I’m not, “shacking up” with him.” Twilight added. “His name is Pyro. He’s my friend. And he along with our other friends saved our lives tonight. Instead of insulting him, you should be thanking him.”

It was at that point Shining Armor did something that he hadn’t done since his spat with Twilight at his wedding rehearsal. He turned around and walked away from her. But before he went out the door, he said one more thing.

“Fine. You want to side with these elemental weirdos? Fine then. Don’t come crying to me when everything goes south. In my opinion they’re the reason Nightmare is back in the first place.”

With that, he left leaving everypony else there disgusted at his behavior. Cadence was at a loss for words and everything else. Going after him was out of the question because she liked Alamante. It was one thing to insult them but to blame them for Nightmare’s return, that was completely different.

“Wow. And I thought Agua was a jerk. Twilight your brother is like….a mega jerk.” Terra stated.

“How the hell did he even become captain of the guard to begin with?” Agua wondered.

Twilight shook her head.

“I don’t know who that was. But it couldn’t have been my brother.” Twilight replied to her. “Shining Armor has never been prejudice of anypony. I am so so SO sorry about what he said.”

“Does he truly believe you are responsible for Nightmare Moon’s return?” Princess Luna stepped forward. “If he does then he is more foolish than I could have ever imagined him to be.”

“He just needs to get his head screwed on straight, Aunt Luna.” Cadence assured the princess of the night. “And I’ll make sure it does. Even if I have to turn it with my bare hooves.”

“You’re speaking metaphorically right?” Rarity asked to be sure.

Cadence only shrugged as a nurse opened the door to the room and walked in to address the ponies occupying it.

“Pardon the interruption. But I thought you would be interested to know that some of your friends over in the other treatment room have woken up.”

Hearing that, Twilight and Pinkie jumped off their beds and on their hooves.

“May we see them?” Twilight asked politely

“Of course you can.” The nurse replied. “They’re right down the hall, third door on the right. But please try to be quiet. Not all of them are awake just yet.”

“Thank you very much.”

With that, Twilight walked out and headed to the other room with everypony else following her. It was a short walk down the hall before they reached the door to the correct room. Before they entered, another nurse, this one a dark yellow unicorn, opened it up and came out of the room. She looked to her left and took notice of the approaching group.

“Ah, Lady Sparkle. You came just in time.”

That name was something Twilight was called all the time in Canterlot by the high ranking officials and various others. After the elements of harmony were used to defeat Discord, the six mares bearing them were knighted by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, bestowing them all the title of “Lady”. Only Rarity seemed to enjoy being called that whenever she came around to Canterlot. The other five, including Twilight, didn’t really care.

“Well? Is everything going to be okay?” the lavender mare asked.

She was a bit scared of what news was about to come. Was Pyro still hurt? Internally bleeding maybe? Her nerves were wracking thinking of possible conclusions.

“Yes. Still to my surprise, everypony is going to make a full recovery.”

Hearing that made the six smaller ponies and Princess Cadence take a huge sigh of relief. Celestia and Luna remained still but they did smile happy to hear the news themselves.

“It’s astounding. It defies all knowledge I have of medical training.” The nurse went on. “I saw with my own eyes through the window the fall those two unicorn stallions took. They shouldn’t be amongst the living right now.”

“Then how ARE they alive?” Cadence asked.

“I don’t know, your highness.” The nurse said as she looked upwards. “I guess somepony up there must REALLY like them.”

Luna let her eyes go up to the ceiling as she smiled again and gave a small giggle.

“You may just be right about that assumption, nurse.” She murmured.

“Right.” The nurse waved it off thinking it was folly and went on. “Lady Applejack suffered a deep cut to her back and got several stitches taken to it. It’s still very much visible. Now she was very much against this…” she used her magic to reveal to them a small jar with a red cross on it. “…but please make sure she applies this salve to the wound at least three times a day generously. Do any of you live with her?”

“That would be me.” Terra raised her hoof.

The nurse nodded and levitated the jar to Terra and she grasped her hoof around it.

“She may put up a fight. But that salve will help speed up the healing process and prevent the wound from getting any sort of infection.” The nurse informed the yellow mare.

“I’ll rub this on her back even if I have to hold her down with her own lasso.” Terra assured as she tossed the jar to Spike. “Hold that for me.”

Spike shrugged and kept the jar in his claws since Terra needed all four of her hooves to walk and she was currently limping slightly on the one that got slashed.

“Okay, talk to me about Gem.” Rainbow Dash asked.

Getting back on track, the nurse flipped over a page on her clipboard and looked at Gem’s info.

“We did as the princess requested and did our best to treat every wound on her body. And there were quite a few. She’s a resilient one for being so small though. My guess is all of that energy firing back at her must have caused a lot of trauma to her body she just couldn’t handle it. That’s why she passed out. But she’s going to be fine. She just needs some rest and some time for her bruises to completely go away.”

Rainbow Dash nodded satisfied with knowing her partner was going to be okay. That only left two more. Probably the two most interesting mares of that night.

“What about Typhoon and Fluttershy? The two pegasi.” Rarity asked not hearing their status yet.

“Both of them are fine as well. No physical damage, no mental trauma, although the pink one DID register some abnormal brainwave activity. I was thinking about having her transferred to the hospital where they can run more thorough tests on her.”

“Actually that won’t be necessary.” Twilight did not want to let that happen. “Typhoon is a telepath. She can read other ponies’ minds. That was why your equipment spiked.”

As shocked as the nurse was to hear she was treating a telepath, she was quick to regain herself and get back on course with her information.

“Well then that is no longer necessary. Now I don’t know what caused them to go unconscious. Perhaps one of you can explain to me.”

Any of them could explain it to her. Agua beat them to the punch though.

“They were basically the big heroes tonight.” He gave his honest thoughts. “One minute Fluttershy was cowering behind a tree and Typhoon was falling from the sky. The next, their eyes and cutie marks are glowing and their unleashing power on a level I’ve never seen before. Fluttershy was moving wind. That’s the part that still has my brain hurting.”

They had to agree with him there. Seeing Fluttershy utilize aerokinesis, let alone in the way she did, was something that nopony in the history of the universe would ever think happen.

“After they defeated those giant shadow creatures, both of them just fell unconscious.” Agua finished.

“Can we please just see them?” Twilight asked growing impatient.

“Of course, milady.” The nurse stepped aside allowing them to enter.

They walked through the door to see only Applejack, Cryo, and Pyro awake. The two stallions had their lower bodies under the sheets of their beds while Applejack was lying down on top of hers on her belly. Immediately Twilight and Pinkie rushed to their respective partners to hug them. They warmly reciprocated the hugs slowly due to them still being very sore like Agua said they were gonna be.

“I’m so happy. You’re gonna be alright.” Twilight said.

“Yeah. Me too.” He groaned. “Sweet Agni fireballs I feel like I just got hit by a train.”

“Nope. The only thing we hit was the ground.” Cryo wheezed and rubbed his forehead. “Never realized how hard it was till now.”

“Well its mostly composed of rock so yeah. It’s hard.” Terra commented as she walked over and observed Applejack’s back. “Damn you got cut bad.”

“It’s nothin’.” Applejack stubbornly insisted. “And I ain’t puttin’ that salve on it either. Just the feelin’ of it makes my coat crawl.”

“Oh I’ll but this on your entire body of I have to, Jackie.” Terra flatly stated. “I don’t care if it makes you horny. You’re getting this stuff put on ya.”

Normally Applejack would have argued her tail off but in this case she found a reason to give up. Terra was a lot more aggressive then she was. She had no problem believing Terra would strap her to the ground just to put that medical goop on her back.

“Fine…just when it comes time to, try not to put too much on.”

“Now was that so hard?” Terra chuckled.

Applejack didn’t answer not wanting to do so. But then a moan drew their attention over to the bed on the right where Gem was lying down. She was beginning to stir around under her sheets. A few seconds later, one of her hooves went up to her face and rubbed her eyes before they opened and everyone saw the brown irises. She took a moment to set herself upright before she found herself getting hugged by hr cyan partner.

“I’m so happy you’re okay.” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Slowly, Gem returned the hug with only her left hoof. Her right one still had an ache to it. As happy as she was to be hugged by her friend, the purple unicorn of plasma still felt saddened by how much she had been hurt. Her face showed it, and Pinkie saw it.

“Are you alright?” she asked wanting to know why Gem was frowning.

Rainbow pulled away as to allow her partner to answer.

“Not really, Pinkie.” She began and gestured her hoof to her body. “Look at me. Look at all these bruises. They came from my own element. I’m supposed to be a pony who has absolute control over it. But no. The recoil got to me and I passed out. But I was on a roof. Who saved me from falling?”

“I did.” Celestia stepped forward. “Even though the plasma you created backfired on you, you still ended up saving the castle and everypony inside of it.”

“I’m happy I succeeded sure.” Gem went on. “But I should have more control than this.”

“You have progressed so much in the past three years, Gem.” Pyro tried to comfort her. “You’re coming along fine.”

His words didn’t do much help. Gem only frowned and hung her head down still ashamed that she couldn’t hold up the shield without getting hit by her own element. All of them were wondering what they could do to help her feel better.

Then Pinkie’s eyes went wide with a smile even wider.

“I know what will cheer you up!”

She dashed over to her bed and stood next to Rainbow Dash.

“Gem, you said your birthday is in a few weeks! I need to prepare you a birthday party!”

“A what?” Gem asked.

That was not at all the type of response Pinkie expected.

“A birthday party you, silly. And if you’re turning 14 that can only mean you’ve already had 13 of them!”

“Actually you’re off by 13.” Gem corrected. “I’ve never had a birthday party before.”

Pinkie looked as if she was about to die of shock.

“You’ve NEVER had a birthday party?” she squeaked. “But how?”

“I don’t see what you’re getting worked up for, Pinkie.” Terra said. “None of us have ever heard of birthday parties let alone have one.”

“Birthday’s just aren’t that special for Alamantians.” Agua added.

Pinkie’s jaw fell so far down it cracked through the floor and fell through the hole it made. Then to everyone’s shock, the same jaw came down on top of Pinkie’s own head.

“Wha….how the hell….what the fu…Cryo?” Agua just had no idea.

“Dude, just don’t ask. Asking is never good when it comes to her.” Cryo said almost as if he were warning his brother.

Twilight could personally vouch for that statement to be true with the whole Pinkie Sense fiasco. But she didn’t bring it up as to not get off topic. After Pinkie’s mouth un-stretched itself, Pinkie got closer to Gem.

“What…how could….never….birthday….AREN’T THAT SPECIAL?!?!?!?” That was what she had the most trouble with. “Birthdays are one of the most special things in all of Equestria!”

“With all due respect, Pinkie, we aren’t Equestrian.” Terra replied to the panicking pink mare. “We’re still learning how you guys do things here.”

“Well to summarize, as Pinkie said, birthdays are of course very important for us.” Applejack informed her partner. “Usually we celebrate them with a party.”

“And everyone gets the birthday boy or girl tons and tons of GIFTS!” Pinkie put a lot of emphasis on that last word.

“Gifts?” Gem muttered. “Never got one of those either.”

Gem’s story of her life back in Alamante wasn’t very much known yet. But to hear that she never got any gifts of any kind from anypony back home, that just didn’t settle right with the Equestrians of the group, especially Pinkie.

“Gem, now I just HAVE to throw you a birthday party! Your very first birthday party!”

“I don’t know, Pinkie. I don’t want you going through all that trouble for me.”

“Trouble? Uh, HELLO?! Throwing parties is what I was born to do! I throw them all the time! Come on, Gem. Please? Oh pretty pretty PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEE?????”

Her eyes went bubbly and her bottom lip began to tremble. Gem sighed upon seeing it. It only meant there wasn’t any way out. It was gonna happen either way whether she wanted it or not.

“Oh alright. Just…nothing too big. Okay?”

She was then surprise hugged by the pink mare whose smile beamed all the way from ear to ear.

“Oh this is gonna be the best first birthday party ever! I know you’re turning fourteen but still! First party!”

Her enthusiasm was enough to make Gem do what she had intended to make her do in the first place. Smile. Granted it was a small one and it was only there for a few seconds. But it was a genuine smile nonetheless.

“How are all of you doing?” Luna asked wondering about their wellbeing.

“All in all, princess, I think we’re gonna be okay.” Twilight answered. “We just need to allow our wounded friends some time to heal.”

Luna nodded accepting the answer.

“All of you fought bravely.” Celestia voiced her opinion. “I am truly grateful for your selflessness.”

“Don’t mention eet.”

That voice came from a french accent and there was only one pony there who spoke with that. All of them looked over and saw Typhoon was awake and clutching her head with one of her hooves. Fluttershy shortly followed her rapidly blinking her eyes as they adjusted to the light of the room. The initial reaction to both of them waking up was a silent one because of what they both did before going out cold. As they observed the faces of all the ponies looking at them, the two pegasi noticed they all had one thing in common. They looked confused, which only made them the same.

“Um…why are you all looking at us like that?” Fluttershy asked not liking to be the center of attention.

“Ees there something wrong?” Typhoon added.

Those questions made the confusion level rise up to eleven.

“Darling, don’t you remember?” Rarity asked.

“Remember what?” Fluttershy replied with.

They truly had no memory of what happened out there when the battle concluded. The two pegasi just stared at them wondering what in the world they were talking about. Did something happen? Did they even win? They weren’t even aware of how the battle finished folding out.

Stepping forward, Twilight used her magic to create a small screen in front of them projecting her memory of what happened nearly an hour ago. Through it, they clearly saw themselves and they were of course surprised by what their eyes beheld. Their eyes were both glowing along with their cutie marks and Fluttershy had her element of harmony necklace adorned on her neck. The real shocker was seeing Fluttershy utilize the air around her in a similar maybe even more powerful fashion than Typhoon did. After they saw themselves destroy the two giant shadow creatures, Twilight stopped using her horn and the screen vanished, leaving Fluttershy and Typhoon speechless. Gem was also surprised since she was out cold and missed that happening. But poor Fluttershy was more silent than she had ever been.

“I…I bu…wha…”

She sat there in her bed muttering random syllables trying to think of how something like this was even possible. She had Equestrian parents. She was raised in Equestria and lived there her whole life. At no point in her life was there any clue of her having aerokinesis.

“How ees thees possible?” Typhoon asked anypony hoping for some clarity.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Twilight answered. “But from what I saw, Fluttershy’s fear of seeing you die, Typhoon, somehow caused her element of kindness to react. It’s similar to how my element of magic and Pinkie’s element of laughter reacted to Pyro and Cryo. Only Fluttershy’s results were a lot stronger. My guess is somehow her element and yours somehow merged with each other for a long time allowing Fluttershy for a short time to use your powers.”

“It may be something emotional.” Gem decided to put her two cents in. “Fluttershy, when you saw Typhoon falling, what was going through your head?”

Fluttershy thought hard about that and had no trouble remembering. She turned to her pink partner and spoke directly to her.

“I had never been more frightened in all my life. Not because I was afraid of getting hurt or even worse, but because I didn’t want to see that happen to you. Typhoon I care about you so much. I don’t want to lose you. You’re like a sister to me. And I always wanted one.”

Typhoon was touched by Fluttershy’s words. To hear she considered her a sister nearly brought tears to her eyes. She got out of her bed and walked over to Fluttershy to give her a hug.

“Me too.” She muttered.

Fluttershy returned the hug and everyone else smiled seeing the site.

“Well I think we established one other thing tonight.” Cryo said. “Fluttershy, you’re not as weak as you claim yourself to be.”

Fluttershy stopped hugging Typhoon and looked at the icy stallion.

“Oh but Cryo, I don’t know how I did all that. I’m not even sure if I can do it again.” She said to him.

“Well it kinda happened to me and Twilight too.” Pinkie chirped. “Maybe it only works when we’re really really scared that our partners are gonna get really hurt.”

That was one opinion. But soon enough, everypony began to voice their own thoughts on the matter. Trauma inducement, a divine magical force, or just a stroke of luck. None of it mattered because they had no way of telling now without a battle to fight.

“Come.”

Then another voice came. But the only one who heard it was the pink pegasus of the group. She looked around to spot whom the voice belonged to but failed to do so. Everyone else was still talking and she knew what all of their voices sounded like.

“Come to me, Typhoon.”

“EVERYPONY, QUIET!”

In a split second the volume of the room dropped down to zero. A pin dropping could have been heard from a mile away.

“Ty? What is it?” Terra asked.

“Are you alright?” Celestia was concerned.

The look on Typhoon’s face made them all confused again. She was thinking of who was talking to her but knew whoever it was doing it via some sort of telepathy. So she decided to try it herself. Thinking about the voice alone, she tried talking to it.

“Who are you? And what do you want?”

She waited only for a second until she got a reply back.

“I am a friend. A very close one. And it is time we talked. Follow my voice. I will guide you. And Typhoon, bring your friends. All of them.”

The directions were being fed into her mind by whoever it was giving them. She knew where to go.

“Someone ees calling for us.” She told her friends.

“What? Who?” Rarity asked not believing it.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Cadence rubbed her ear.

“Whoever or whatever eet was, eet knew about my telepathy and used eet to talk to me. Eet told me where to go.”

Just like that, Typhoon began to walk out of the room. But Pyro got out of bed and grabbed her tail by the mouth before she got to the door. Quickly he spat it out.

“Are you sure we should just follow this voice? How do you know we can trust it?” he asked.

“I don’t.” Typhoon replied. “But eet wants to speak with us.”

“I’m not so sure about this.” Rainbow Dash took her turn to talk. “A voice just pops up in your head out of nowhere and we’re supposed to believe it just wants to talk with us.”

“Let us all go.”

Princess Luna was the one who said that. With surprised looks, the others gazed at her. She paid them no mind.

“I have a hunch I know who is calling to you, Typhoon. Let the voice guide you.”

With a nod, Typhoon proceeded out of the room and into the main hallway of the medical tower with everypony else on her tail. As they all walked, Twilight and Pinkie took notice that Pyro and Cryo were having a bit of trouble walking. It was no doubt that they were still in pain from their injuries. But she wanted to make it so walking wouldn’t be so much of a challenge. So she administered to both of them one of the stronger healing spells she knew. It didn’t fix any of their wounds, but it made the pain subside a great deal. It was only temporary but now taking steps didn’t cause them to wince.

Whatever was in Typhoon’s head led her out of the castle and into another part of Canterlot nearby. The Statue Gardens. Why the voice was leading them there, none of them had any clue. Except for Luna who still did not give Celestia any sort of reply to her questions which she wouldn’t stop asking. As they walked, the five other Alamantians without telepathy took a gander at the statues they passed. One that caught their interest was a figure that the elements of harmony and three princesses glared at. The figure of a draconequus. It was also the one that caught the Alamantians’ interest totally. But they also took notice of the nasty looks their partners were giving it.

“Are you okay?” Pyro asked Twilight.

“You remember that enemy I told you about? Discord?” Twilight said back to him.

“Yeah.”

“That’s him. The elements of harmony sealed him in stone.”

Now the interest spiked.

“THAT is Discord?” Cryo tilted his head. “Kinda funny lookin.”

“I lost count of how many different animal parts he has on his body.” Spike said.

“Still looks funky to me.” Gem agreed with Cryo.

“You should talk, Alamantian.”

That voice was heard. But not by all of them. Only by Typhoon. She was rubbing her head trying to focus on the first voice. She couldn’t because it had now been blocked by this second one. Using her telepathy she was able to easily find out where it was coming from. Discord was talking.

“Once I get out of this wretched stone dungeon, I shall wring you all by the throat and watch your faces turn blue!”

“You may find zat harder to do once you try.”

Discord was sealed in stone sure. But his thoughts and mind were still working like nothing happened. He was quite surprised to hear another voice speaking with him, let alone hear him.

“I zink he wants to speak with us.” Typhoon said out loud.

The pink pegasus telepathically spread out her power to the others so they could hear Discord’s voice. Needless to say they were quite surprised, and angry to know he could still think.

“Well well well. A telepathic Aero. Now this is intriguing.”

“What do you want, Discord?” Celestia snapped.

“Why my dear Celestia. Look at me. Even if I want something I don’t think I’m capable of getting it now aren’t I? I just wanted to say hello and ask how things have been. Any more enemies you forgot about slip under your nose recently?”

“That is none of your concern, you monster.” Luna spat at the statue.

Discord chuckled and decided to address the six other ponies he had never met before. But he knew who they were.

“Welcome to Equestria, Cryo. I do hope the sun hasn’t thawed you yet.”

Cryo stood still surprised at his name being said.

“How do you know who I am?” he asked.

“I know everything about you. Your past, your present, and how you left your little sister behind while there was a war going on? Now I don’t think that’s what a big brother does now is it?”

That comment made Cryo growl at the statue. The others just looked at him. For most of them, this was a new piece of information. They didn’t know Cryo had a little sister.

“You son of a…” he whispered.

“Ah. Well for those who are unaware, Cryo here has a little sister named Sierra. Cute little thing. I hope she hasn’t been hurt…or maybe worse. But how should I know? I’m only trapped in rock.”

That time Cryo didn’t growl. It only made him frown and feel a great amount of fear for his sister. That made Terra step forward.

“I suggest you keep that in mind considering I control it, you psycho.”

“Aaaahhhh. Princess Terrain of the Geo Tribe. So far from the palace. Doesn’t daddy worry about you?”

“You seem to think I actually give two fucks about my natural family. Which for your information, I don’t. What else ya got?”

“Oh really? Then am I correct to assume Dunehopper meant nothing to you as well?

That made Terra shut up. Her anger at Discord caused her to forget all about her brother. Applejack wrapped her hoof around her partner’s back and nuzzled her.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just tryin’ to mess with yer head.”

“Oh am I now? She said it herself she didn’t care for her family. So how was I supposed to know she actually cared for the one relative she will never EVER see again? It’s not my fault she said the wrong words.”

“Keep going and you’ll never say another word again.” Agua snarled.

“Ah. The water mover known as Agua. Such an enigma to even your closest friends. Well except for your little clam.”

Agua didn’t say a thing to him. The stone Discord kept going.

“Tell me something, Agua. Do people think you’re a jerk because you have no heart, or are you just too scared to tell them that it’s just broken?”

That did it. Agua rushed forward with an angry yell and formed two large water whips from his hooves, while everyone else just looked at him with questions forming in their heads. Through his deep breaths, the blue hydrokinetic growled.

“Keep going, you freak. I fucking DARE you!”

“Oh did I strike a nerve there? Well it just goes to show you kids that love can fire back in somepony’s face and leave you an emotionless shell. You have living proof right here in front of you.”

With a louder growl, Agua let one of his hooves draw back about to lash out a whip of water. Before he could, that same arm became surrounded in an orange magical aura. The big red stallion conjuring the spell stepped forward and rested a hoof on his back.

“Agua, calm down. He’s not worth it.”

One more deep breath left his lungs. His eyes closed and then his head hung down as he stood back down on all fours and the water he was controlling splashed to the ground. Silently, he returned to his partner’s side. However, Discord wasn’t finished.

“So you’re the great Pyro of the Ember Tribe. You’re an interesting one.”

“What makes you say that?” Pyro asked calmly.

“I find only two of the six Alamantians here interesting. You and you’re little sister, Gem. But let’s focus on you. Taught by Master Ma at age five, grew up, then you watched your mother die right in front of you. How tragic."

This was the first some of them were hearing about Pyro’s mother. Princess Cadence being one of them gasped a bit. She had known Pyro since before the war began because of her frequent visits to his home village, but she was until now not yet aware of the death of his mother. She was, like Pyro, a good friend to her.

“But if you want my opinion, which you probably don’t but I’m going to give anyway, I think that maybe if you had acted more quickly instead of running around all confused, you could have saved her. So in a way, your mother’s death is your fault.”

“That is enough, Discord!” Celestia had reached her limit. “Pyro, don’t listen to him!”

“Oh I think he should, Celestia. After all, it isn’t nice to keep people from the truth now is it? What say you, fire mover?”

All throughout the speech Discord gave, Pyro’s face remained emotionless. Something Discord wasn’t expecting to happen. He would have4 thought Pyro would have lost his temper and try to set him on fire. But he didn’t know how thorough this particular fire mover’s teaching were. With a deep breath through his nose, Pyro turned around and walked back to his friends.

“We’re wasting our time with him.” He said. “Let’s keep going.”

Typhoon nodded and prepared to sever the telepathic link.

“We will have our day in battle elements. Ta-ta!”

He was just as crazy as rumor thought him to be. That was just a taste of it though. The full experience would have been much worse. Typhoon, still ahead of the rest of them, focused her mind on finding the first voice she had been following before.

“You are nearly there, Typhoon. Just a bit closer. You are headed in the right direction.”

That was the right one. She began to walk in the same direction she had been going for a while now. As they walked, they began to converse.

“So…that was Discord.” Terra muttered. “Interesting.”

“Ah hope what he said didn’t get to ya.” Applejack said back.

“What me? Nah I’m okay.” The yellow mare said the next part a bit quieter. “But Agua I’m not really sure about.”

She was right to be concerned for him, which she had never truly been before. Agua’s expression remained angry. Enraged from the word’s Discord telepathically said to him. Rarity was also concerned for her partner but at the same time she was beginning to also feel sorry for him. She wasn’t an idiot. When Discord said that bit about his heart she knew right off the bat why Agua was the way he was. His angry reaction only proved her feelings to be true.

“Um…Agua?” She felt she needed to say something but she wasn’t entirely sure what. “Are you…okay?”

“I’m fine.” He murmured barely loud enough to hear. “Just don’t say anything.”

That part was more stern. Rarity predicted he would probably react that way. So she did the sensible thing and listened to him. She didn’t say another word for the rest of the walk. One minute later, Typhoon halted, making the rest of them stop.

“Ty? Why are we stopping?” Cryo asked.

She didn’t reply. The voice was still talking to her.

“Find your way inside, Typhoon. I await your arrival.”

Her attention came back and she looked ahead. She had finally realized where she was. They were at the great Canterlot Falls right where the water stops falling. All of them could feel the mist on their faces from the nearby pool.

“Why would the voice in your head lead you here?” Fluttershy wondered. “All that’s here is a waterfall.”

That had Typhoon stumped too. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. She tried calling the voice again but there came to reply.

Spike thought of something.

“Maybe there’s something behind it?” he wondered.

His adoptive mother/big sister objected that theory.

“Spike, this is the biggest waterfall in all of Equestria. With all the water that falls from above, it’s virtually impossible to get to the other side of it. Let alone trying to out-swim the current they create. Not even Rainbow Dash would be able to fly through that. It’s impossible”

“Not for me.”

Agua stepped forward and stood bipedal. Still feeling strong after that big fight, he waved his hooves while pointing them at the giant waterfall. His final movement was holding out his arms at full length. That made the gigantic wall of H2O split down the middle from the center point of the water’s descent. The cloud of mist still made them unable to see what was there behind the walls.

“Well okay.” Twilight said. “But we still can’t get there.”

“Oh please.”

Not it was Terra’s turn to act. She trotted straight for the pool of water with a confident smile on her face. Right as she reached the edge of the water, she stomped her left hoof and packed in a touch of geokinesis with it. After the ground rumbled a bit, a path of rock rose up from below the water leading right through the split in the waterfall. Terra walked out onto it.

“You guys stay here. I’ll check it out.”

They did just that as the earth mover walked father out on the path and soon she became unable to se through the giant cloud of mist. A couple minutes passed and she didn’t come back out. Applejack was about to go in there and look for her but then she saw her partner come back out with her whole body wet from all the water and mist.

“Guys! You gotta see this!” she called and went back behind the falls.

This time all of them followed her. A few at a time they all walked onto the path. But Rarity was hesitant.

“There’s too much mist! I refuse to let my mane get all frizzy! You just go on without me.” She insisted.

“Either you get your ass on this path or I’ll throw you in the pond. Either way, you’re getting wet.” Agua growled.

Rarity just growled right back at him and disapprovingly walked onto the path. But he didn’t go with them. He needed to keep the waterfall split so they could make it through.

“But how are you going to get through?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Unlike the rest of you, I actually CAN out-swim this current on my own. Just go. I’ll be right behind you.”

They understood. As soon as they were all through, Agua released his hold on the waterfall and dove into the pond. On the other side of the falls, most of them were shaking their bodies trying to dry themselves off. Pyro and Cryo didn’t really have that problem since every drop of water that touched them either turned to steam or froze. After that was over, they saw Terra looking forward at what she was telling them they all needed to see. .

It appeared to be the entrance to a cave. Looking into it, they saw that there was a staircase going down. From the looks of it, it went on for a while. Behind them, Agua came up from the water and joined them, also surprised to see the cave.

“We going down there?” he asked.

His answer was the tip of Twilight’s, Cadence’s, and Celestia’s horns lighting up with small orbs of light and Pyro conjuring a fireball in front of his face.

Then they all began to descend down into the cave with the four lights illuminating the steps in front of them.

“Uh…Typhoon?” Rarity had something to say. “Not that I’m questioning the voice in your head, but are you sure this is the right way?”

“It is.” Luna answered before Typhoon could. “You all are about so meet a few ponies who I think you’re all ready to.”

Celestia once again looked at her sister with suspicion.

“How could you possibly know that?” she asked.

“I told you I was talking with some old friends of ours, sister. Down here is where they are.”

That explained where Luna was in her absence. But it still didn’t explain who exactly she was talking to.

“Who are they?” Cadence asked curious.

As soon as she finished asking that, they reached the bottom of the staircase and saw an opening filled with light. As they entered, Celestia, Cadence, Twilight, and Pyro made their sources of light go away as they viewed the place where they now were.

They were in a large chamber. The ceiling went up to at least a hundred feet and the entire area was at least as big as the throne chamber and the waiting area outside the throne chamber in the castle put together. The light source dangled above them in the form of a rock formed chandelier. The light they could tell was magic but none of them had no clue where it was coming from. From both sides of the chamber, two spouts of water poured into a moat. On the side of the moat they weren’t on, were the biggest and most notable features of the place.

There were six giant statues of six majestic and regal looking alicorns wearing some form of armor and crowns similar to what the princesses wore. One the front’s of their chests each of them bore a mark. All of them could easily tell what the marks were because they were already seen on the flanks of the six Alamantians.

“These are the six elemental gods.” Pyro whispered in amazement.

Slowly they began to approach the statues. The six element movers spread out so they could look at their respective god or goddess, leaving the three princesses to observe from farther away.

“How is it I had no knowledge of this place while you did?” Celestia asked her younger sister.

“I shall explain in time.” Luna answered.

Celestia was really getting tired of her answer being delayed. But she still trusted her.

“Right now, I think one of them wants to speak with you.” The princess of the night said to the elements of both harmony and nature.

“And how exactly do they plan to talk to us?” Agua asked.

“Um…I zink were are about to find out.” Typhoon looked at Fluttershy’s neck.

Her element of kindness necklace had once again appeared on her neck and the butterfly charm was glowing in its pink color. Just when they thought it couldn’t get any weirder, a small symbol of wind like the one on her flank appeared upon Typhoon’s chest and glowed white. The pink butterfly and the white symbol of wind both shot out of their respective pony’s chest in a small beam that directed itself at the statue of the god of wind. That lasted for maybe two seconds.

After ten more of waiting, the eyes of the statue glowed white and a large vortex of wind surrounded it. Everypony shielded their eyes so no dust or dirt would irritate them.

“What is happening?!” Fluttershy shouted wanting to know what she did.

“Be calm, young one.”

That voice was familiar to only Typhoon. She recognized it as the same one that was inside her head not too long ago and led them all down there. This time everypony heard it. After taking a few seconds to think, the voice became familiar to Celestia too and she was starting to get a clue as to who Luna was referring to when she said “old friends.”

When the giant whirlwind died down, everypony opened their eyes back up and saw that the statue surrounded by it was gone. But the space it occupied wasn’t empty. In the place of the statue, there stood a pony. Not just any pony. What their eyes beheld was a tall dark grey alicorn a little bit taller than Celestia. His hooves, chest, and head had been adorned with a light silver armor with the headpiece resembling some sort of crown. On his flank, was a cute mark of two tornados forming a helix shape with each other. And on his back was a staff similar to the one Typhoon used in the recent battle. His mane and tail were not hair. It was just a bunch of flowing grey swishing wind. After his eyes stopped glowing white, everyone could see that they were dark blue. Celestia and Cadence stood there gaping, Luna only smiled, the elements of harmony and Spike stood there clueless, and the six Alamantians started to feel weak in their legs as their jaws all dropped to the floor.

They had just laid eyes on the one and only god of wind himself Aeolus.

Guidance of the Wind

I only own my OC’s and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 19: Guidance of the Wind

Fifteen ponies and one baby dragon stood before the great god of wind Aeolus. All of them stood frozen too shocked to even think about doing anything. The only exception was Luna who wore a slight smile on her face. Aeolus was also sporting a friendly grin as he looked down to his viewers. He mostly kept his eyesight pointed at Typhoon and Fluttershy.

Finally the pegasus of wind moved. Instead of her normal bipedal bow, she leaned down and bowed down to her god like all Equestrians do with Celestia and Luna. Her five siblings followed suit one at a time. Soon enough, Twilight got the hint and bowed down herself, causing Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow to bow in that exact order. Spike, who was still on Twilight’s back, let his head hang down too. Then finally, Cadence, Luna, and Celestia bowed down to the god of wind as a sign of respect.

“My lord, Aeolus.” Typhoon mumbled. “I am not worthy.”

Aeolus chuckled and stepped down from his place to rest a hoof on Typhoon’s shoulder.

“Rise up, young mare. You do not need to stand on formality with me.”

His voice was gentle and soothing. Typhoon opened her eyes and rose up to her hooves to view her god right in front of her. As the rest of them rose up on their hooves, their expressions were all the same. Save for one dark blue princess.

Celestia was at a loss. She took one step forward and then she smiled as she walked up to Aeolus and gave him a friendly hug.

“Aeolus, my old friend, it’s good to see you again after so many millennia.”

“And you as well, Celestia. I must say, you haven’t aged a bit. And you seem taller.” Aeolus said back to the princess.

Celestia giggled a small bit before she spoke to him again.

“It’s good to see your humor is still intact after a good 25,000 years.” As happy as she was to see her old friend again, the princess of the sun was still very confused. “But I don’t understand. How are you here? I thought you were forever bound to the spiritual realm.”

“I can answer that, sister.” Luna stepped forward and walked to Aeolus’ side. “But first, there are some things that must be said to our young friends here.”

She gestured to the smaller ponies behind them who were now more confused than they had ever been in their entire lives. Nodding, Celestia stepped back and allowed Aeolus and Luna to speak. The alicorn of wind went first.

“First off, let me say how honored I am to be in the presence of the new bearers of harmony.” He gave a small bow to the six mares. “As well as your recent new friends.”

“The honor is ours to be in your presence, Lord Aeolus.” Terra humbly said.

Even though Terra was an earth mover and not wind, it was customary for all Alamantians to refer to each god as “Lord” whenever addressing or speaking of them. It was a sign of respect between the six tribes before the war broke out.

“Now, Celestia, you want to know how and why I am here. Let us start with how.” The god then spoke to everypony. “You see my little ponies, long ago, and I mean long LOOOONG ago, there was nothing here like what you are used to seeing there were no real cities with big tall buildings or any sort of technology. All that existed was nature. Lush land as far as the eye could see and beyond that. And the eight of us gods, myself, my five fellow elementals, Celestia and Luna watched over it and its residents. It was a peaceful time. So you with me so far?”

All of them nodded.

“Good. So after a good 5,000 years, a change was needed to be made. You see, not all of us could remain in the physical world.”

“Wait. Now you lost me.” Agua interrupted. “What do you mean by physical world?”

Luna was prepared to answer this question. Which she did.

“There are two planes of existence known to exist. But the only one the ponies and other species of the world are aware of is the one we are in now. The physical world. The other one is where Aeolus here and the other five elemental gods now reside. The spiritual realm.”

“Quite right.” Aeolus confirmed. “You see, in the golden age, us gods used our magic to bring heat, rain, wind, snow, and other forms of weather and nature throughout the world. But soon, we realized that we were pouring too much magic into it and it was starting to grow unstable.”

“I remember now.” Celestia of course remembered. She was there after all. “Had we gone on using that much magic at once, the world we worked so hard to create would be destroyed. In fact our very existence in the world was helping to cause that. So there was only one thing we could do. Some of us had to leave the physical world forever.”

Twilight was having a hard time comprehending this. All of them were. It seemed to make no sense. They got the part about the nature and the land and all the magic being used but everything was too complicated. Seeing that they were very confused, Aeolus did his best to simplify.

“That brings us to the second world I told you about. The spiritual realm. It is the place where all gods, not just myself and my fellow elements, reside and watch over you ponies from afar. It is a pool of all knowledge and wisdom.”

“I do recall some small stories of that place.” Pyro spoke. “Master Ma told them when he was teaching me.”

Aeolus smiled once more directly at Pyro this time.

“So you are Pyro, the young ward of Hitashi. Agni has been watching you with great interest.”

Pyro bowed slightly again then looked over to the statue of his respective god of fire.

“Thank you.” He replied. “Is he by any chance going to be joining you here?”

“No. It will be just me you speak to.” Aeolus got back on track. “Any who, the spiritual realm is pretty much the divine center of the universe. But going there comes with a catch.”

“Once you enter, you can never leave.” Celestia had heard the legend. “Your life force becomes bound to the realm and if you leave, you perish. Now explain why you are here.”

Celestia was known greatly for her patience. However in this scenario, it was dwindling by the second due to her severe confusion. She wasn’t the only one. Everyone aside from Luna was wracking their brains trying to think. Typhoon was still in shock that her god was in front of her.

“Before I do, Celestia, I think it’s time the new bearers of harmony learned where their power came from.” Aeolus gestured towards the white alicorn.

She understood why. This was one thing she did know about and she thought it would be best to tell now.

“Very well.” She began to explain as everyone now looked upon her. “Twilight, aside from what you know about the elements of harmony, do you know how they first came to exist?”

That was a question the lavender mare was not expecting to be asked. She began to stutter thinking of something to say because she honestly didn’t have a solid answer. She just had her own theories of the matter.

“I don’t, your majesty. I just assumed you and Luna created them when you first fought Discord all those years ago.”

Celestia sighed and shook her head as Luna walked away from Aeolus and rejoined her sister at her side. She then spoke to Twilight.

“Oh Twilight, you are very far off. It is true my sister and I helped pour our power into the elements to empower them, but we are not their sole creators. If you want to meet one of the true masterminds behind the elements’ creation simply look behind you.”

She did just that along with the rest of her friends and looked upon Aeolus once more. Once they did, he nodded confirming what Luna said to be true.

“Wait what?” Cryo’s head began to hurt not only from the hard fall he took but also the confusion. “That doesn’t make sense. Aeolus is an elemental god. How could he have helped to create the elements of harmony?”

“I have to agree. God of wind. Elements of harmony. I’m sorry, Aunt Luna but that just doesn’t sit well.” Cadence agreed with the ice mover.

“It may sit however it wants with you but it’s the truth.” Celestia explained. “You see my little ponies, with six of the eight lords of the land leaving it meant that the world’s defenses would be drastically lowered. That’s why Discord never attacked us until after they left. Because with the power of nature gone, all he had to deal with was Luna and myself. But what he was unaware of was that before departing, Aeolus, along with his five elemental gods and goddesses left us a gift. They each took their greatest individual attribute and turned it into a weapon for my sister and I to carry. Aeolus used his kindness, Poseidon his generosity, Skaldi her laughter, Gaia her honestly, Agni his magic, and Cybelle her loyalty. Luna and I used our own magic over the sun and moon to energize them and they have proven useful ever since. After the creation of the elements, they left. And now here Aeolus stands before us not having aged a day.”

Aeolus chuckled at Celestia’s words as she herself gave a small giggle. Then she took a second to reflect back on what she just said. Her eyes widened a small bit and she looked into the eyes of her old aerokinetic friend.

“Now as I hear the words I just spoke, I think I now understand how it’s possible you are here.” She said.

“If that is so, would you care to explain?” the grey god asked.

The princess of the sun shook her head.

“No. I think it should come from you. Go on.” She insisted. “But only if you are ABSOLUTLEY sure your theory is correct.”

Aeolus nodded as once again, the twelve smaller ponies turned around and faced his front.

“Okay. So if binding yourself to this spirit realm or whatever means connecting your life force to it and you can never leave, then how come you’re here and not dying?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“You want the answer to that? Well here it is. Prepare yourselves.” Aeolus chuckled. “The reason I am standing here, right in front of you, is because of those two mares.”

He gestured his hoof to Typhoon, then Fluttershy.

“Us?” Fluttershy muttered. “What did we do?”

“Oh why my dear, you were born. And you carry with you my element of kindness just as Typhoon carries my power over the wind.”

“We pretty much got that already but what the hay does any of that have to do with you?” Applejack sternly asked.

“It is how we said we would return. We would one day see this world again but through different sets of eyes. Fluttershy and Typhoon are how I see, they are how I walk, how I breathe, how I now reside in this world without actually being here myself.”

Some pieces were starting to come together. But they still were having trouble piecing in the whole picture.

“I…I know I have always been a strong aerokinetic. Not to boast or anything but I’m still not understanding.” Typhoon muttered.

“Well…I suppose…I’ve sometimes been too kind…for my own good. Even before I became an element of harmony.” Fluttershy added.

“Oh but Fluttershy, just as Typhoon has always had the power of wind, you have always carried the element of kindness inside you, since the first second you were alive. It just took you a while to finally receive the full power that came with it.” Aeolus said to her.

They were still unable to decipher it. Frustrated, Aeolus wasted no more time and just flat out told them.

“Oh haven’t you figured it out yet? The two of you are both halves of me, reborn into this world as two separate entities.”

And just like a ton of bricks falling on their heads, it finally made sense.

“Fluttershy and Typhoon….are reincarnated from you?” Pyro nearly asked.

Aeolus flapped his wings and smiled at him.

“YES! YES! YES! Finally somepony else gets it! Yes Pyro you are correct. Fluttershy and Typhoon here do not simply carry powers similar to my own. They carry my powers exactly. My very essence flows through both of their veins. Fluttershy has my deep kindness and Typhoon moves the wind so gracefully just like the kindness can be sometimes. And if you thought that was a shocker, then get this. The rest of you, the other elements, you’re all reincarnated from your respective gods too. Harmony and nature alike! Learn to put them both together like my two little ponies did not too long ago in that battle and you will possess our power. The very power of the gods themselves.”

He could have been a bit gentler instead of the way he laid it on them. He seemed way too excited. Celestia and Luna were thinking the same and that they should have eased into it instead of just blurting it out in a lecture.

Slowly, Applejack walked away from the rest of the group and two statues over lay her haunches in front of the statue of Gaia. A few seconds later, Terra joined her and the others each looked upon their respective gods.

“Ah...Ah came from HER?” she muttered not believing it.

“We both did.” Terra whispered. You have the honesty. I got the earth.”

“This is so AWESOME!”

That little burst of excitement came from the cyan pegasus who was squeezing Gem and a tight hug.

“Gem do you know what this means?” she asked.

“Your already enormous ego just swelled up to gigantic proportions?” Gem replied.

“No! Well….yeah maybe. But that’s not the point!” the cyan pegasus seemed to be enjoying this a little too much. “Gem, you and me are goddesses! How cool is that?!”

“It actually sounds like a very big responsibility. One I don’t think we’re ready for.” Gem honestly responded.

Rainbow Dash scoffed as Pinkie Pie was hopping up and down also excited.

“Ooooohhhh! Does this mean we’re all gonna grow wings and horns?! Cause that would be super duper awesome! Then we could all fly around and use magic and do all sorts of cool things together. Oh! Cryo! You and I can create an epic snowball fight whenever we want! Even in the blazing summer! How cool would that be?! Cryo?.....Cryo are you okay?”

Cryo didn’t hear a single word his partner said. All he did was look up at the statue of Skaldi with a deadpan expression. Then he looked at his own flank to view his cutie mark. The symbol of ice. He knew from the second he got it that he was different. All six of them did. Most ponies in Alamante have cutie marks somewhat resembling fire or something else. Fireballs, twisters, whirlpools, things like that. Never before have there been ponies with the symbols of the elements themselves.

“I can’t be a god. That’s just way too much pressure and glory. I don’t want any of that.” The stallion of ice backed up.

“Me neither.” Applejack shared Cryo’s feelings. “Ah don’t wanna be some sorta goddess. Ah just wanna live mah life the way Ah’ve been livin’ it. Just as a normal pony workin’ on mah apple orchard.”

“With the occasional use of the elements of harmony to save the world.” Twilight added.

“Exactly.” Applejack responded.

Celestia looked pleadingly at the alicorn stallion.

“Aeolus, there has to be something you can do.” She spoke mostly in concern for Twilight. “These ponies although strong, you must see that they aren’t ready for that much of a change in their lives.”

She once again looked at Twilight who now had her head hung down. Pyro didn’t notice because he was looking up at the head of Agni’s statue. Then he heard a sob come from her. Then he looked at her and saw her eyes leaking.

“Twilight…why are you crying?” he murmured.

Sniffling, Twilight went over to Cadence and hugged her tight.

“Cadence I beg of you. PLEASE don’t tell Shining Armor about any of this. Please.”

That was why. She was terrified. She saw how Shining Armor treated her Alamantian friends. If he knew that Twilight was reincarnated from the god of fire that Pyro worshipped, she didn’t even want to think about what would happen. He might write her off as his sister or even worse.

Understanding her fear, Cadence hugged Twilight back and gently cradled her.

“You don’t need to worry, Twilight. I won’t tell him a thing.” She assured the young mare.

Twilight’s crying eased up, but she was still frightened of her brother now. Seeing that, Cadence looked up at the god of wind.

“You are one of the strongest beings to ever live. Can’t you just…take the power back?” she asked.

Frowning, Aeolus shook his head as the other elements grouped together again all curious to hear the answer.

“No. I’m afraid I can’t. What's done is done."

That was all he said on the matter. Sniffling, Twilight wiped her eyes and noticed Pyro looking at her with a sad look of his own.

"Twilight, I'm so sorry. I didn't know about any of this." he said.

The lavender mare walked up to her partner and gave him a gentle hug.

"It's not your fault, Pyro. None of this is your fault." After one more sniff, Twilight's eyes were dry. "And yes. This news is huge and it may take a while to process but as long as we all stay in this together, we should be fine. We just have to stay calm is all. And try to stay away from my brother as much as we can."

All of them agreed to that. With all twelve of them thinking as one, they were bound to come up with something. The four alicorns witnessing the event smiled at them.

"I see you have raised her well, Celestia." Aeolus commented.

"Perhaps." She replied. "But she is still young and has much to learn. I know she'll bloom into a great mare."

"Hold on a second." Terra had a thought. "May I ask a question?" she directed it towards Aeolus.

"Of course, my dear."

"Good. Now. You said that Discord, Nightmare Moon, and many other enemies of yours only attacked AFTER the six element gods left the physical world. Right?"

The wind god nodded.

"So....why weren't we born sooner?" the geokinetic had a good question. "I mean if there were big fights back in the day we could have made things easier."

Aeolus sighed understanding her curiosity. He knew the answer and explained.

“Because back in those days, my dear Terra, the world was in its medieval stage. Some ponies were still terrified at the notion of there being ponies with both wings and horns on a single body. The world just wasn’t ready to see six ponies who could use their minds alone to move the elements. So we devised a plan to make them ready. A way to ease the world into the idea of such power existing. It took a while but I think we succeeded. Would any of you care to take a guess of what that plan was?”

“Alamante.”

Gem didn’t even need a second to think. She was as smart as everypony claimed her to be.

“The country of Alamante itself. That was your plan. That meteor that gave us all our powers, you really did knock it into us on purpose. Didn’t you?”

Aeolus smiled at the young plasma elemental.

“Young Gem, your brain is indeed as Cybelle told me it was. Bright and always open to detail.”

Gem blushed and looked away. Taking a compliment from a god was almost too much for her.

“You are correct, Gem. We looked down from the spiritual realm and we saw the potential it had. We figured this was our chance to give the world back the power that had been lost for centuries. So we knocked that meteor off course and enchanted it with our elemental powers. All it needed was for somepony to touch it to activate it."

"We already owe Rocksteady so much." Agua remembered the history lesson Cryo gave.

"Yes. We had to ease our powers back into the world as slow and steady as we possibly could. Until finally we could begin our reincarnation process. With us gone, the six of us had to leave our talents in the bodies of others."

All of them nodded understanding. But then Aeolus said something else.

“Well ALMOST all of it was gone. Luna remained behind after all.”

And once again the confusion rushed back to them as Luna shot a nasty look at the god of wind.

“What? What did I say?” he asked oblivious.

“What do you mean by, ‘Luna remained behind’?” Rarity wondered.

Now he understood the nasty look the princess of the night was giving him. He was blabbing about something he most likely wasn’t supposed to blab about in the first place. It was still unclear as to what he was talking about.

“By the gusts of the highest peak, Luna! It’s only been 30,000 years! And she’s your sister! You swore to me in secret that you would tell her!”

“Tell me what?!” Celestia was finally starting to get fed up.

“Well…I um…oh to Tartarus with it all.”

Luna looked behind her at the small body of water running through the room. With a sigh, she slipped her hooves out of her shoes and walked barehooved into the small creek. After she took another deep breath, she stood bipedal in a perfect stance and looked at Celestia.

“Sister, I am so sorry I never told you this before. But I was afraid of what you would say.”

Finally Luna performed what she was referring to. She raised her hooves up out to the sides and two orbs of water rose up. Celestia gave a small gasp and looked at Luna’s horn. It wasn’t glowing which meant this wasn’t magic. She then looked down at Agua and saw that his eyes were just as wide as her own. Meaning that he wasn’t doing a thing.

Princess Luna was using hydrokinesis.

To show her talent more, the princess of the night swayed her hooves along with her whole body making it look like she was performing an elegant dance of some sort and the water was her partner. The two orbs turned into four small streams and they floated around the bodies and heads of the other ponies in front of her. Aeolus was the only one there smiling at her.

After she was done, Luna guided the water under her control back into the creek and walked back towards them with four wet hooves. Not wanting to ruin the insides of her shoes, Luna made them teleport out of sight and back to her chambers. Celestia still looked at her sister with an expression of shock.

“I have had this power my entire life.” She explained. “Poseidon wasn’t the only spirit of water. He kept the seas calm, and when I raised and lowered the moon every night, I did the same with the tides. And I still do it.”

They were all shocked of course. Out of all of them though, there were two who were more surprised than the rest. Celestia for only now figuring out a secret Luna has kept from her for many centuries, and Agua for realizing he was in the presence of maybe not his god Poseidon, but a real living goddess and master of water nonetheless.

“Why did you not tell me this?” Celestia asked her younger sibling.

“I had my reasons.”

“And those would be?”

“Um…I’m sorry to interrupt, but Typhoon and Fluttershy’s power can only keep me here for so long and I have just a few more things left to say. After that, you can say what you want.” Aeolus was serious.

Nodding to her friend, Luna walked to Celestia’s side and allowed Aeolus to speak. But Luna could tell by the look on her older sister's face that she had not heard the end of this.

“You must listen carefully my little ponies. I have come here not only to reveal to you what you are but also to convey a message from my brothers and sisters. The threat known as Nightmare Moon is powerful and there is only one way for you to defeat her. You must bring your respective elements of harmony and nature together just like they were back in the old times. Only then will you truly possess the power of the gods.”

“But how are we supposed to do that?” Twilight asked. “When Fluttershy and Typhoon put their power together, it was just a fluke. And none of us know how to put our elements together. Tell us how. Aeo..Lord Aeolus.”

She was quick to remember her respect for Alamantian culture. But the god of wind shook his head.

“I’m afraid I cannot do that. That is for you to discover yourselves. I must not interfere with you discovering your new talents.”

“But you’re a god. If anyone can help us surely it’s you. Please help us!” Fluttershy sounded as if she was begging.

“My young child,” Aeolus gently rested a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I would not have bestowed this power upon you and Typhoon if I didn’t think you were capable of handling it. Have faith in me. Have faith in your friends. Have faith in Typhoon. And most of all have faith in yourself. I have no doubt in my mind that you can uncover the secret. I understand that I may have just dropped a heavy burden on all of you, but your past experiences have proven to us that you are all strong enough to endure.”

It started off slow and began to pick up speed, but a whirlwind surrounded Aeolus and grew stronger. His wings spread out and he began to float upwards in between the statues of Agni and Skaldi.

“Wait! Where are you going?!” Typhoon cried and ran forward.

“My time in this realm has run out. I must return to the spiritual realm.” Her god answered.

“But…but I have so many more questions! I didn’t even ask you about my telepathy! I need to know where eet came from! LORD AEOLUS! WHAT AM I?!?!?!?!”

All she received was a small smile and a few more words.

“In time, Typhoon. In time.”

The wind spun to its strongest point making the god of wind no longer visible. Everypony shielded their eyes to protect them from the flying dirt. When they no longer felt the air pushing against their faces, they looked up once again to no longer see Aeolus in his physical form. He was now the giant statue again.

Typhoon’s head hung down and a tear ran down her cheek. Her partner approached and put a hoof around her back to soothe her.

“It’ll be okay, Typhoon." that was all she could think to say.

She didn't believe it herself but Typhoon gave Fluttershy a nod and walked back to her friends.

"You gonna be okay, sis?" Terra asked.

"Yeah. I'll be fine, Terra. Lets...let's just get out of here."

That was just what they did. After they reached the top of the staircase leading down into the chamber, Terra and Agua performed the same routine they used to get behind the giant waterfall. Agua split the fall in two down the middle and Terra made a path of ground rise up for all of them to walk on. After all of them were safely clear of the waterfall, Agua released his grip on it and swam underneath it.

After he crawled out of the water, Agua stood beside Rarity as they all talked.

"So what do we do now?" Cryo asked.

"I don't know." Pyro answered. "But right now, I think it would be best for all of us to get some rest. We had a pretty big day today."

That was something all of them could agree upon.

"Actually, Luna and I will be staying up for a while in my chambers." The princess of the sun shot a glare at Luna. "I think we have some things to talk about."

Luna looked away partially ashamed of herself. She did regret not telling Celestia about her power over water earlier but she didn't regret at all not telling her about her secret meetings with their old elemental friends. She was only able to communicate with one of them. And he told her to keep it a secret. Which she respected. But Celestia was right. Now was the time to talk.

Gem gave a yawn. It was also time for them to sleep.

"I'm beat. And I didn't mean to include a pun in that." the purple unicorn began to feel her eyes get heavy.

Cadence smiled and gestured forward.

"Follow me, I'll show all of you to your rooms for the night."

One walk to the castle later and everyone found themselves walking in different directions with their respective partners. They bid each other good night and walked off the a separate part of the castle. About thirty minutes later, Cadence walked to her wing of the place and saw that Shining Armor was asleep on the sofa. With a heavy sigh, she went to her bedroom and took off her shoes, neckwear, and crown.

She climbed into her bed that she usually shares with her beloved and looked out her window. Doing so, she took notice of a dim light coming from the left side of it. Curious to know where that was coming from, she threw the covers off herself and walked to the window. She saw something coming from the window where Twilight, Spike, and Pyro were sleeping. A familiar streak of fire came out of the open window and rested down on the roof of the same tower.

"What are you up to, old friend?"

The Talks

I only own my OCs and the plot. Enjoy.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 20: The Talks

The stars were glistening in the deep blackness of the night sky Luna had created. It was topped off with the brilliant white of the gibbous moon. Most of the city had gone off to sleep while a remaining few stayed awake. Some of those ponies were awake because they had jobs at night, others because they were struck with fear because of the night's events, but there was one who was awake because of a spell.

The celestial body of the night was a brilliant site to look at as the stallion of fire sat perched on top of the roof one of the castle towers like a bird. There he sat thinking about every single event that had transpired in the past hours. He met Twilight's brother and he turned out to be a big jerk, he and every friend he's made in the past three years got into a battle with Nightmare Moon's henchponies and nearly lost, Typhoon and Fluttershy harnessed the power of the gods, and to put the cherry on top of the big sundae of revelations, the twelve ponies harnessing the power of harmony and nature are told that they are the reincarnations of the six elemental gods split in two. All of this led the fire hot unicorn to ask himself and the universe one simple question.

Why?

Why did all of this happen? Why was there a war? Why was HE chosen to be a god along with his friends? Why did this burden have to be in their hooves and not somepony else? Why did fate deal him this set of cards? It was all too much for him to think about at one time. He had hoped that looking at the night sky would help him. It didn't do as much good as he thought it would. Breathing deep through his nose, he closed his eyes and focused on his mentor.

"Master, why didn't you tell me? Did you not know? Is it something else? Please, master I beg of you. Answer me!"

He didn't receive any reply. It frustrated him to no end. For year he had been in search of his master and now he needed him more than ever before. He needed his guidance, his wisdom, his knowledge. But for now, he was going to get none of that.

What he got was the sound of flapping. He could tell what it was. Wings. The pyrokinetic unicorn remained perfectly still as the flaps vanished and were replaced with small hoofsteps. When they got close enough, he acted.

Pyro quickly spun around and grabbed whoever was behind him and forced whoever it was on their back and readied his free hoof to blast a ball of fire in the face.

When he saw the pony he "subdued" was Princess Cadence, he jumped back completely ashamed of himself.

“Oh my goodness! Princess Cadence! I-I am so sorry! It’s just that I didn’t know it was you and I just…oh sweet Agni fireballs.”

“Calm down, Pyro. I’m not hurt. It’s okay.”

Pyro was quick to offer her a hoof to help her up. She took it and stood up on for hooves again as the stallion examined her body to make sure she truly was unharmed.

"Take it easy. I'm fine. Really I am." she assured him one more time.

Taking her word for it, Pyro relaxed and turned back around to look at the moon again. Only this time, Cadence walked up beside him on the right.

"May I join you?"

He turned his head slightly to his right so his right-side eye could view her. A small nod is what he used to answer her with and it made the princess of love smile and look upwards to the moon and stars with her old friend. She figured now was as good a time as any to ask him a few questions. Before she could think of what to ask first however, she recalled the earlier conversation they had with Discord. There was one detail she called to mind. That led to her first question.

“I don’t mean to intrude. But…is what Discord said true? About your mother I mean.”

With a deep and sad sigh, Pyro nodded his head.

“Yes. It’s true. She died right before I left home.”

A heavy sigh escaped her lungs as she heard the news confirmed. One of her old dear friends from Alamante was gone.

"Pyro, I am so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine what pain like that must feel like."

"Do yourself a favor and don't try to imagine it." he replied. "It doesn't help any."

"I bet." she murmured. "She was a great mare. She didn't deserve to die."

"Correct on both counts."

It was obvious to read him and know he was uncomfortable talking about his late mother. So she decided to try another question.

“So…why are you up here all alone? You should be asleep.”

She had no idea that question was in a way tied with her previous one. And Pyro was hoping she wouldn't bring it up. Explaining was too difficult for him sometimes and he didn't like a lot of people knowing. The only ones he knew were aware of his condition at the time were Typhoon, Twilight, and Spike. The others were clueless. But seeing as how this princess was an old friend of his and his mother's, he felt alright with her knowing.

"You see, your highness, I-"

"Cadence." She interrupted him. "Pyro, you are one of my oldest friends. You can just call me Cadence."

He nodded and respected her wish.

“Cadence, I haven’t been to sleep in three years. Literally.”

She was told everything. How his mother died, his immunity to magic sickness, and finally with the spell he used.

“You cast a spell on yourself so you would never have to sleep?

“I had to. I did it so I could protect everyone from myself. When I fall asleep, people get hurt. Ask Typhoon. She knows all about it.”

"But don't you think that's a little extreme? Why not go see a therapist or just talk with your siblings?"

"I put this spell on myself before I met Cryo, Terra, Agua, and Gem. I asked Typhoon to keep it a secret because I've tried talking to her about it. Many times. Every time I fall asleep I just have the same nightmare. Reliving my mother's death. Sometimes it's even worse. One time she just looked at me right before she died, and told me I wasn't quick enough. That somehow it was my fault. Just like Discord said. It was at that point I just gave up and kept the spell on. I haven't slept since."

"Well if that's true...then what do you do every night?"

"Exactly what I'm doing right now." Pyro replied. "I just sit up on some random rooftop and think. Most of the time I meditate on Master Ma to try and find him. But so far, nothing."

Cadence was looking at Pyro in a whole new way than she remembered from long ago. She wasn't sure if she liked it.

“What happened to that happy-go-lucky kid who I loved to visit back in a small Ember Tribe village?

“His life was destroyed. And he was reborn into what you see now.” was the answer.

"I don't know. I still think he's in there somewhere. You're just having a hard time letting him out. Maybe it's because you need somepony to love."

"I have those thank you. Some of them are hard to understand at times but that doesn't matter to me."

It was obvious who he was talking about.

“You love them all, don’t you?”

He managed to make another nod from his head.

“Yeah. I love all of them. They’ve become such big parts of my life now. I can’t imagine myself without them. It's like...we were all born apart for the sole purpose of finding each other."

He had matured so much since their last encounter. That was what Cadence was thinking. This was the same kid she remembered from years ago. He was just grown up and had a new sense of life and emotions. He grew up. He was forced to after he left home.

"I just hope we're all up for this."

That got Cadence a bit confused. She witnessed with her own eyes what Pyro and his friends did a couple hours ago with his fellow elementals. HE had no reason to doubt himself in her opinion.

"Why in the world would you think you're not up for this?" she asked eager to know.

He answered her as honestly as he possibly could.

“Cadence, I have done a lot of things and I mean a LOT of things. Not only with fire but…with magic and martial arts and other things. But this…being a god…I don’t think I’m ready for that. I don’t think any of us are ready for that. Surely Agni had to have made some sort of mistake.”

“Hey!”

Pyro jumped a bit after hearing that little bit of sound go into his ear a bit louder than usual. Cadence looked dead into his eyes.

“Now you listen to me, Pyro. I don’t ever again want to hear you doubt yourself.” She eased up. “It's no coincidence that you and Twilight came from Agni's essence. Both of you have so much great things in common. You and her are two of the greatest ponies I have ever known. Master Ma and Princess Celestia raised you two up so well and taught you invaluable lessons. If there's anyone capable of saving us from Nightmare Moon, it's you and her. Along with the other elements. I know it's true.

"And even though right now it may seem hard to process, I'm sure in time the idea of being his reincarnation will be welcomed into your mind. Your friends included. Some of them I would really like to get to know better like Terra and maybe Agua too. My point is, Pyro, your friends, both new and old, WILL prevail because you fight for the right reasons. Nightmare only craves worship and enslavement. You fight for true harmony."

She spoke words that had never been more true. As honest as they were Pyro still felt a little unsure about himself. But it helped to know Cadence was backing him up.

"And if you ever need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. That's where Twilight has a problem." the alicorn said with a giggle.

"Yeah I've noticed." Pyro chuckled himself. "She really is a bookworm, isn't she?"

"Oh yeah. Whenever I foalsat for her years ago, I had to drag her away from her books a few times to make her go outside."

As much fun as it would have been for Pyro to ask Cadence about Twilight in her childhood years, his mind was diverted when he felt a strong vibration come from his lower body. HIs stomach was growling and Cadence chuckled again hearing it.

"You must be hungry." she giggled.

"I suppose I am. I haven't really eaten that much today being in a fight and all."

Quickly, Cadence thought of a solution. She knew Canterlot very well and she knew there were still a few establishments open at this late hour.

"Come on. Let's go get some late dinner. My treat."

Generous of her it definitely was. Pyro had to admit that. But he didn't feel right about it.

"I don't know. Are you sure Shining Armor would be okay with that?"

Cadence groaned hearing the name.

"He's sound asleep and snoring like a lumberjack's chainsaw. He won't even know." She assured him. "Now come on, big guy. You need to eat and after going a few years without seeing each other, we have a lot to catch up on."

Her offer was accepted with a nod and a smile.

"If you insist. I think I'm strong enough to fly. Just lead the way."

"Follow me then."

Cadence spread her wings and leaped off the roof and into the air. Pyro's hooves lit up in flames and he rocketed himself up and after Cadence as she led him into Canterlot for a good meal. As they flew off, a pair of eyes coming from Cadence's window followed them until they were out of sight. Those eyes belonged to Shining Armor. With an angry look, he shut the curtains to the window and walked off.

Now while Cadence and Pyro were talking with each other, there was another conversation taking place all the way on the other side of the castle and inside it. Princess Celestia was preparing herself to sleep for the night and was nearly ready to do so. All that remained was for her to do one last task of the day. Talk to Luna.

"Your sister is outside, your highness." A pegasus guard informed her.

"Let her in."

The guard bowed and left the room. Not long after, Luna came in and closed the door behind her. Celestia stared at her sister with a flat expression finally ready to hear an explanation.

"Where to begin?" she asked.

"Sister, I know you must be confused about me right now."

"Confused is an understatement. Let's start at the beginning. How is it you were born with elemental powers?"

Luna took a breath and began to explain.

"Well to begin...I wasn't born with this power. It was given to me later in life." she started. "By Poseidon."

"Poseidon? He gave you his power over the water?"

"Yes. He made it possible for me to do what he can with the water. There was a season long ago where the seas got out of control."

Back then, the storms the natural weather created were what Poseidon had to keep track over. It was his duty to make sure the waters of the ocean remained calm.

"But Poseidon, even though powerful, was not strong enough to deal with it alone. So he bestowed upon me the power of hydrokinesis and gave me...um...I believe ponies these days call it, a 'crash course' on the matter."

Celestia nodded signaling her younger sister that she was following.

"After we calmed the seas together, he taught me all he knew in great detail on how to use my new power. And in time, it became my job to raise and lower the tides whenever I did the same with the moon."

"Okay. I understand that. What I don't understand is why you never told me about it." That was the part that bugged Celestia the most.

"Because I was afraid of what you might say." Luna spoke honestly. "You and I are sun and moon goddesses. I took on another role as a fellow elemental lord of water. Plus Poseidon and I were involved so I was-"

"You...and Poseidon...were involved...romantically?"

"Yes. In fact I told you about it long ago."

"I think I would remember something as important as my sister taking a romantic interest in somepony."

"Oh really? Well then allow me to remind you."

Luna had a lot to say.

“Tia, I DID tell you about it.” Luna again corrected her older sibling. “You may not remember it but I will never forget it. Poseidon and I came forth and told you everything about our relationship hoping to get your approval. We got no such thing from you though. Instead, all we received were glares from the other five elemental gods, and then I myself got a lecture about how stupid you thought I was to choose Poseidon over Aeolus.”

Celestia gasped not at her sister’s accusations but at herself. The memory of the moment Luna described started to piece itself back together in her head.

“You called me a naïve filly and forbade me from seeing Poseidon. But we didn’t stop meeting. We met under the water where we knew no one else would ever find us. Being able to breathe underneath the ocean does have its upsides.”

Celestia had to give Luna that one. Meeting in their own element made them undetectable. Clever plan.

"Was he...your lover?"

Now this was a big deal for Celestia. In all her years of living she had had a few romantic partners. But she hadn't ever done the deed before. There were a few private moments she had with herself but beyond that, she never had the chance to pursue a romantic interest and take it all the way to that level. Seeing as how she was a bit protective of her younger sister, she was hoping that her virginity was still intact. That hope was shattered when the answer came from Luna's mouth.

"Yes. He and I were indeed lovers."

Celestia found herself breathing more rapidly and her heart began to pump faster.

"I knew it. You're ashamed of me." Luna assumed.

"What? No! No, Luna I'm not ashamed of you at all. I'm just...surprised is all. How could you not tell me this?"

"After the way you reacted when you found out he and I were only seeing each other, how do you think you would have taken the news of me taking on a lover?"

The older alicorn fell silent.

"Tia, you have to understand. It wasn't just the physical part of the relationship we cherished. We also cherished each other. We were deeply in love with each other and we still are. After I raise the moon and tides every night I go by that chamber and speak with him. Even though we are separated by different a dimensional plane, our feelings for each other still burn. And I truly am sorry I never told you. I just hope you one day understand why I did what I did."

That was a heavy blow to Celestia. Sure it was hard to hear that Luna was involved that deeply with Poseidon. Hearing that they were in love with each other and still are was the big one. Love was a huge thing to experience. But she was sure of one thing. She owed her sister an apology.

"Luna, I may not have been the most supportive of your relationship back then and I'm still trying to process it right now as we speak. But I want you to know that I'm not like that anymore. That was a long time ago and we both have grown and learned in so many ways. Who you love now doesn't matter as long as you are happy. I'm so sorry I reacted that way towards you and I only hope you can forgive me."

The smile that spread across Luna's face was enough to signal Celestia that she was indeed forgiven. If that wasn't clarity enough, the hug she received from her sister two seconds later sure was.

"Thank you, sister."

"Thank you as well, Luna. And since you are more experienced in the field of dating than myself, if there ever comes a time, I shall ask you for a few pointers." Celestia said back with a wink.

Luna giggled at her sister's words. Love was one of the few subjects Luna knew more about than her wise older sister. She would take joy in relishing in that little fact. Now was not the time though. There was something else on Luna's mind that she needed to address to her sister.

"Tia, if it's alright with you, there is something that I would like to suggest."

Celestia was all ears.

"Go on."

With a nod, Luna resumed speaking.

"I was watching the elements of harmony fight alongside their new Alamantian companions tonight and I took notice of one of them in particular."

"Really? Who?" the eldest grew curious.

"The water mover, Agua. His power of the water is great. Definitely worthy to be called Poseidon's reincarnation. But I took notice of the way he moved the water. He was using only his muscle to do so. I believe I can help him with that. I want to take him on."

That last part wasn't understood by her older sister.

"What do you mean by...take him on?"

Luna realized what she said and wished she had worded it better.

"What I meant was, I want to take Agua on as a student in hydrokinesis."

Now that was easier to understand. Being a master of the water meant teaching it should be no problem. That was comprehendible. But it made Celestia wonder if Luna had another motive. It was because of who she was willing to teach.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Luna frowned.

"What? Why not?"

"Well...don't get me wrong, Luna. I think you would be a great teacher. It's just that...like you said. He is Poseidon's reincarnation. I just hope you are wanting to do this for the right reasons."

"And what reasons would I possibly have that would be considered wrong?"

"Well...I understand that you and Poseidon still see each other in that chamber. But he is still bound to the spiritual realm. You can't have any more physical relations with him."

Luna was taken aback by that statement and realized what Celestia was getting at.

"You believe the only reason I want to be his teacher is because I want to have sex again?!"

"Well...it crossed my mind yes."

"How dare you." the night goddess had never felt more insulted. "How DARE you! I'll have you know the only reason I am willing to do this is because I believe there is potential in him that can be reached with my guidance! I would never THINK about that kind of thing with him!"

"I know you wouldn't think about it, Luna. And your heart is in the right place. But sometimes things can happen when you don't even expect them to. I just hope you don't start to get those urges with him."

"Well you don't have to worry about me, sister. I handled myself fine with Poseidon without you knowing for centuries. And I can handle myself with Agua. Now if you don't mind, I have some other business to attend to. Goodnight, Celestia."

Nothing was left to be said and Luna exited her sister's chambers with a harder closing of the doors than usual. Celestia was left there a bit ashamed of herself for assuming Luna would try something like that with Agua, but she was still worried about her.

"Oh little sister, I do hope you know what you are doing. But regardless of my feelings, I wish you luck with your new student."

The white alicorn climbed into her bed and used one last bit of magic to turn out the lights. Her eyes grew heavy as her head rested on a pillow and soon enough, she was no longer conscious.

Out in the city, some of the restaurants still remained open. And out of one of them came Pyro and Cadence laughing like the old friends they were. It was just dinner they had together, but it was a fun dinner. They were sharing stories with each other and Cadence was telling one of a certain Grand Galloping Gala.

"So after Rarity gets covered in the cake, she just blows up in front of Blueblood and shakes herself clean getting him covered in the stuff. "

Pyro laughed imagining the scene in his head. After hearing what a pompous jerk Prince Blueblood was from Cadence's explanation, he found it easy to laugh at him getting humiliated at the biggest party in Equestria. As they continued to talk, they began to walk down the streets of Canterlot back to the castle.

"Then to finish it off, Fluttershy comes barging in chasing after all the castle animals screaming at them telling them to love her. That was when everypony finally just finally ran out of the castle thus ending the party. But oh boy what a party."

"Hehe. I bet. Shame I couldn't be there to see it myself."

"Yeah I wanted to ask you about that." Cadence said. "If you have been here for three years now, where have you been living before you met the harmony bearers?"

"When we first came to Equestria we passed through a few cities like Manehattan and Fillydelphia trying to find a cheap place to rent and settle down. But it was either the places were too small or we were unable to afford. So we ventured on until we found the Whitetail Woods right outside Ponyville. That was finally when we decided to make our own home. So we found this giant boulder and Gem, Cryo, and I placed some enchantments on it to make it bigger on the inside. Plus Typhoon, being an architecture enthusiast, drew us up a blueprint for it. That really helped. We each wanted our own rooms."

"Interesting." Cadenced commented on Typhoon's interest in architecture. "Is she interested at all in pursuing the subject as a career?"

"She's talked about it a few times but beyond that, I'm not sure." He shrugged.

All through dinner, Cadence had finally found the guy she remembered talking with back in Alamante. She didn't have to dig that deep to get to him. All it took were a few funny stories and a good meal. Suddenly they found themselves laughing at the past like nothing else even mattered anymore. It felt nice for Pyro to just let go of all of his worries like that. He would have to remind himself to do it more often.

As they got halfway back to the castle, the fire powered unicorn was taking in the sights of the city not ever seeing them before. He was too busy looking for his friends earlier to view them. Even when he was airborne. Cadence pointed out a few like the library Twilight and Spike used to live at before they moved to Ponyville. Luckily that part wasn't destroyed by the Shadowmares.

Then he took in one more sight when he stopped abruptly due to him bumping into something. He saw that it was a grey earth pony wearing a pink bowtie and pink music note cutie mark.

"Oh I'm sorry." Pyro spoke first. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's alright. Have a nice night." she bid him and began to walk past him.

"You too."

Before she completely passed him, she looked at his flank and noticed his mark. It was a black symbol similar to another one she saw earlier tonight.

“Wait."

That one word made Cadence and Pyro turn around to view the mare again

"You’re an Alamantian. Aren’t you?” she asked.

Pyro looked at the grey mare with a bit of nervousness for what would follow after his answer.

“Yeah.” He muttered. “What of it?”

“Would you by any chance happen to know of another one?” she began. “A stallion ice mover. Unicorn. White coat and light blue spikey mane?”

Both Pyro and Cadence were able to tell who she was talking about.

“You mean Cryo?”

“Yes! That’s his name.” they grey mare nearly shouted. “The next time you see him, would you be so kind to give him this?”

She reached into her saddle bags and took out a small envelope clenched in her teeth. Pyro got hold of it with his magic and looked at it. Clearly it was meant for Cryo only so he didn't open it out of respect.

“Uh…sure. May I ask why?”

"Let's just say I owe him." she answered.

He shrugged and kept a hold on the envelope.

"I'll make sure he gets it. Good night, miss."

Pyro and Cadence then began to walk off.

“One more thing.” She called. “Tell your friend, Octavia says thank you.”

That was obviously her own name.

"I'll give him the message." he assured her.

"Thank you so much. Goodnight sir. Your highness."

After she bowed, Octavia turned around and began to head home. Pyro and Cadence continued their trek back to the castle staring at the envelope the interesting mare just gave them.

"What do you think it is?" Pyro wondered.

"I dunno." Cadence replied. "But I think that's for Cryo to find out and for you to be there for."

He nodded in agreement and looked up to find that he and Cadence were already back at the castle.

"Well, thank you for dinner, Cadence. It was really cool catching up."

Cadence fully agreed feeling the same way.

"Let's not wait till the next time danger strikes to do it again. Agreed?"

"Agreed." he chuckled. "Sweet dreams, Cadence."

Pyro stood bipedal and leaped into the air allowing his flames to rocket him into the sky and back to the same place on the roof he was before. As he flew off, Cadence watching him until the fire was no longer seen.

"Till next time, my old friend."

The guards posted outside the front gate allowed her inside and a few minutes later, she was back in her wing of the castle and her husband was once again asleep on the couch. Walking past him and to the bedroom, she chuckled remembering her conversations with Pyro while eating dinner.

"So cute that he used to have a stalker. Hee hee!"

After that, she crawled into bed, put the covers over herself, and drifted off into a peaceful slumber. Tomorrow was but a dream away.

The next morning came around like any other would. The first thing that happened, the elements and their dragon companion all helped themselves to a breakfast buffet courtesy of the castle chefs and the personal request of Princess Celestia. Every single one of them was able to find something they could enjoy to chow down on. And the good news was, those who were wounded were feeling a lot better. Pyro and Cryo had full motion regained, Terra wasn't limping as much, Applejack's coat was still crawling from the feeling of Terra putting that salve on her. She was beginning to think the geokinetic may have liked doing it a bit too much.

While they were eating, Luna came down from her chambers and asked Agua to speak with her alone. Curious, Agua agreed and followed Luna into another room where nopony could hear them. Fifteen minutes later, Agua returned and resumed eating his meal all the while ignoring everyone's requests to tell him what Luna wanted. He only replied to each of them with the word, "Later" and left it at that.

After breakfast, all of them headed off to catch the 9 AM train back to Ponyville. They were joined by Celestia and Luna who wished to see them off. The train was about to leave and the elements all had a car reserved for just them.

"Well again, I can't even begin to express my thanks for your heroism yesterday." Celestia said to them with a smile.

"Eh it was just all in a day's work for us, your highness." Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"If ya ever need us to do it again, just give us a holler." Terra added.

That earned her a giggle from the princess of the sun.

"I'll be sure to do that, Terra." she assured her. "Just don't be too hard on that hoof and let it heal."

"Will do." The yellow mare promised.

The train conductor called all aboard and the ponies all gave their bows. The harmony bearers in their traditional way and the Alamantians in their bipedal fashion. Celestia and Luna both bowed back to them in the Alamantian way and wished them good-bye as they boarded the train. The doors sealed shut and the train began to move out of the station and gain speed as it headed back to Ponyville.

With the front business class car all to themselves, the group of thirteen were free to converse about whatever they so desired without anypony interrupting them.

"Well that was one of the more interesting visits home I've ever experienced." Spike said as he took a bit out of a complimentary apple. "Wouldn't you say, Twilight?"

"That and more." the unicorn replied. "A fight along with figuring out that all of us are reincarnated from the six elemental gods. Quite the visit home. Oh boy. What are my mother and father going to think when they find out I'm a god, let alone living with a boy?"

"I thought you told me last night your parents would probably be a bit more understanding than Shining Armor." Pyro spoke to his partner.

"No no no. You don't understand. My parents have always pounded me with questions about my love life whenever I come to visit them. When they find out I have you living in my house with me, I'll never hear the end of their questions? Are you dating? Do you love him? Are you a real mare now?"

That last one was the one that got to Pyro.

"They wouldn't actually assume that. Would they?"

"Have you ever met the parents of a teenage girl who has a boyfriend, let alone a friend who happens to be a boy?" Twilight looked at the fire lover strangely.

Pyro had indeed not been in that sort of situation. Some customs of Equestria still puzzled him, including how parents interact with their children and how protective they are.

"Okay I'll take your word for it."

"Thank you." She then looked over to her partner's elemental opposite. "Alright you. Spill. What did Luna want to talk to you about?"

Agua looked at her with a deadpan look like he didn't really care. Then he found that everyone was looking at him wanting to know the answer. Seeing as how he had stringed them along for long enough, he told them.

"She wants to be my teacher."

That was the last thing any of them expected to hear.

"Princess Luna pulled me aside and told me she wants to teach me more about hydrokinesis. She says there's untold power I could unlock if I take her guidance."

They were still having trouble registering it.

"You? A personal student? To Princess Luna?" Rarity repeated it.

"Congratulations. You can hear me when I'm right next to you." Agua said with obvious sarcasm. "Yes. She does. And for the life of me I don't know why."

"I don't think any of us do." Terra had to say something. "I mean, you're an asshole. Who would want to WILLINGLY spend time with you...by themselves?!"

"Well to this day I wonder why you guys still hang around me." Agua came back.

Terra fell silent as did the rest of them seeing he had a point.

"The sad part is girls always swoon when he walks by." Rarity told them all. "I've noticed that and I've found it to be a bit ridiculous."

"Oh I'm hot and you know it." Agua said to her.

"Oh you wish."

“Oh! That reminds me.”

That third "oh" came from Pyro who used his magic to make an envelope appear out of nowhere. Then he turned to his frosty brother.

“I was out last night and I ran into somepony who said she knew you, Cryo. She wanted me to give you this. And she wanted me to say…uh…oh yeah. Octavia says thank you.”

He moved the envelope closer to Cryo so he could take hold of it which he did.

"What were you doin' out last night?" Applejack asked.

Pyro lied when he answered.

"Just couldn't sleep. Needed to clear my head."

Applejack shrugged accepting the answer. Then she looked over to Cryo who had just opened up the envelope and pulled a small paper with a note written on it out of said envelope.

“Oooooohhhhhh! What's it say what's it say what’s it say?” Pinkie Pie bounced.

Three years was plenty of time for Cryo to learn how to read and speak the language Equestrian's spoke. He learned it in a few months. Using those skills, he read aloud the note.

“You saved my life last night and I am forever grateful. Now I feel I must return the favor somehow. So I was wondering if you would like to get together with me the specified date below at The Rose Petal restaurant. I’d like to treat you to dinner."

A loud gasp escaped from Rarity's mouth. Then it was followed by some heavy breathing.

"Are...you having an orgasm?" Agua asked her.

Rarity shoved Agua out of the way and knocked him on the floor as he walked over to Cryo.

"The Rose Petal restaurant? Are you serious? Like really are you serious? That's what is says?"

"Uh...yeah. It's right here." Cryo showed Rarity the note.

Rarity read the note and squealed in sheer delight.

“What is the Rose Petal restaurant?” Gem wondered.

“Why it's only the most fancy restaurant in all of Canterlot. Maybe even in all of Equestria. It's nearly impossible to get a reservation for that place.” Rarity said with sparkles in her eyes.

“Even Shining Armor hasn’t been able to get a reservation there. And he’s Captain of the Royal Guard.” Twilight added.

“A fact that STILL astounds me.” Agua mumbled.

“Not now, Agua.” Pyro waved him off.

"Hey I want to know how he got there too." Terra shared Agua's feelings. "No offense, Twilight, but your brother really gave off a crappy first impression."

Twilight herself groaned still unhappy with her older sibling.

"I know and I am so sorry about that. I never in my life thought my brother would be prejudice towards you guys."

"Wait. Your brother hates Alamantians?"

Typhoon wasn't awake to hear what Shining Armor had to say nor was she in the same room. Cryo and Gem also were unaware of this fact.

"For what reason could your brother have to hate us? Did we do something to heem?" the pink pegasus asked.

"No. You didn't do anything to him, Typhoon. None of you did. It's just...well I don't know what it is."

"Alright everypony shut up!" Applejack shouted. "Cryo, please finish the note."

"Thank you." Cryo went on with his note. "When you get to the door, simply mention my name to the clerk and he or she will take care of the rest. Meet me there at 5:30 PM at the specified date. Hope to see you soon.

Sincerely,

Octavia.”

“Octavia?” Rarity repeated the name. “Well that explains how you got the reservation. Octavia’s ensemble plays at that restaurant nearly all the time.”

“Ensemble?” Cryo asked.

“She plays the cello for the most famous classical music band in all of Equestria.” Rarity explained.

“Really?” Cryo smiled at that.

He liked learning this mare was another music lover like he was. Although from the explanation Rarity just gave him it was now highly unlikely she would even be interested in his type of tunes. But nonetheless he was willing to give it a shot.

"Well I'll be a phoenix laying an egg.” Pyro said impressed. “Cryo here has a date!”

“Oh come on, hothead.” Cryo denied it. “She’s just returning the favor. It’s not a date.”

“Really?” Agua began to speak. “I think it’s time we went over the date requirement checklist.”

“Oh come on, Agua. Not the DRC.” Cryo stressed.

“Oh give me this one, dude!” Agua nearly shouted. "This is the first time we actually get to use it!"

Cry groaned knowing Agua wasn't going to let up.

"Fine. Get on with it."

Smiling, the blue stallion asked a question to his brother.

“Point number one: Is the pony offering the date a member of the opposite gender?”

“Yes.”

“Point number two: Will the date be after 5:00 PM/during or after the sunset?” Terra took her turn.

“Yes.”

“Point number three: Do you intend to pay for any part of this date?” Even Gem knew of the list.

“Well…I hadn’t really thought about that. But seeing as how I like to be polite, yes I do. I did a few favors for the Cakes and they gave me a small bit of money.”

“Alright. Point number four: Do you see yourself having a friendship or something more with this girl?” Agua asked.

“What? Dude, I don't even know her. If it comes around to that, I’ll let you know. Right now I just wanna have dinner with her.”

It was an acceptable answer in Agua's eyes. Then came the final question.

“Okay. Last but not least. Point number five: Is she hot?”

Cryo groaned.

"Yes she is very cute. Grey coat, even darker mane, and she wears a little bowtie around her neck. Kinda classy."

"She wears a bowtie? Huh. Well that's kinda weird." Terra noted.

Cryo ignored his sister's comment as he realized how he answered all those questions and found out his brother was telling the truth. This wasn't just returning the favor.

"Oh by Skaldi's snowy mane." Cryo sounded a bit excited. "I have a date."

And less than a second later, he became horrified.

"And I have absolutely nothing to wear. If this is the nicest joint in Equestria, I gotta get me some clothes!"

He suddenly found a silvery white hoof wrapped around his back and belonging to a certain fashionista.

"Cryo, don't you worry about a thing! I am going to make sure you have the best getup for this date that I have ever put together!"

"Um...Rarity...I've been in your shop." Cryo said. "And not to question your expertise or anything. But have you ever designed clothes for guys?"

"Why whatever do you mean? I've designed plenty of outfits for Spike and I am quite proud of them." Rarity said back.

"Okay let me rephrase that. Have you ever designed clothes for stallions?"

That was when Rarity fell silent as she realized Cryo had a point. Spike was a baby dragon with a crush on her. He would have accepted any type of outfit she made for him even it was humiliating for him to wear in public. This was a whole new level for her. She had only made outfits for mares. But she was determined to not let that stop her.

"No, Cryo. I have not. But either way, it would be my honor to design you an outfit to wear for your very first date."

A smile came to the icy pony's face and he graciously accepted the offer. Gem got up and excused herself to use the bathroom as Rarity began going over the basics for her newest project.

"Alright, Cryo. Don't you worry about a thing. This will be totally free of charge. But I'll need you to come by my house soon so I can take your measurements."

"Sure thing." Cryo nodded.

"Oh this is so exciting!" Pinkie was bouncing up and down. "Cryo has his first date, I'm gonna start planning Gem's first birthday party, it's all gonna be so awesome!"

"What day do you plan to have the party?" Fluttershy asked.

"On her actual birthday of course!" Pinkie answered. "And I think it's safe to say you're ALL invited!"

"Sweet! Party on excellent!" Terra was stoked for the party.

Pyro chuckled as he looked down at the note to view it himself. Then he frowned when he noticed something at the bottom that Cryo overlooked.

"Uh...Cryo?" he got his brother's attention. "THIS is the day she wants to get together with you?"

"Well yeah. It's right there isn't it? What's up?" Cryo wondered why Pyro sounded a bit nervous.

"Well buddy...it looks like there might be one small problem."

"Yeah? What?"

"The day she put for you to go on the date...that's Gem's birthday."

Glass shattered around him and everyone frowned realizing this. Cryo took the note back and looked at it again to make sure it was correct. Unfortunately it was and now he was in a pickle. If Cryo chose to go on the date with Octavia, it would mean missing Gem's birthday party.

"What are you going to do?" Fluttershy asked.

"I...I don't know." Cryo responded.

"Cryo, I don't intend to sound mean, but you have to go on the date. This could be romance." Rarity supported this mainly because of her want to design Cryo's getup.

"Yeah but Gem is family." was what Cryo came back with. "I just don't want to hurt her by missing this."

"It's alright, Cryo."

That came from Gem herself who just got back from the restroom.

"My birthday has passed twice with all of us together and we never celebrated it. I won't mind if you go on your date."

"Gem...are you sure? Because if it means just the tiniest shred to you, I won't go." Cryo was firm on his word.

"It doesn't." Gem insisted. "Go on your date and have fun with this girl. Do that for me okay?"

Cryo knew Gem very well. And he could easily tell by her tone and face that it did mean something to her. But she kept pushing him to go with Octavia.

"Well...alright, Gem. If that's really what you want."

"It is."

"Great! Let me draw up some designs!" Rarity went off to find some paper and something to write with.

Gem took her seat once more and looked out the window as the train sped along the ground. Rainbow Dash floated down next to her.

"You sure you're okay with Cryo not coming to your party?" she asked.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Gem responded.

Rainbow made the mistake of not asking anything beyond that. And she also failed to notice that on the side of Gem's face that she couldn't see, a single tear slipped out of her eye.

Author's Note

Wow I can't believe I updated again already. Hehe. Well here ya go guys!

don't forget to follow these guys on tumblr! .

Till next time peeps! Oh yeah! Today is actually MY birthday! lol!

A Day of Firsts (Part 1)

I only own my OC's and the plot. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 21: A Day of Firsts (Part 1)

Two weeks went by since the Canterlot incident and life returned to normal. Well, not entirely normal. The elements were still coping with the recent bomb dropped on them that they were reincarnated from gods. Plus they still needed to heal up from their injuries. Applejack hated that salve she got from the doctor with a burning passion but it was helping her big wound safe from infection. Over the time, Gem's many wounds had begun to vanish and everypony hoped all of them would be gone by the time her birthday came around. Cryo and Pyro were walking again finally without assistance from healing spells. But if all that stuff wasn't enough to deal with, they were getting pounded on almost every day now by members of the press requesting interviews for the paper. And not just the Ponyville Express, the Manehattan Times wanted in, the Fillydelphia Bee, Canterlot Chronicles, it seems news of the recent Alamantian additions to the country had become rapidly known about in a shorter amount of time than they had anticipated. Even though that was true, all six of them still strongly remembered Pyro's words from the start of this and did their best to blend in with normal life as much as possible.

Also during those two weeks, two big days for two Alamantians were being prepared for. Pinkie Pie was pulling out all the stocks to make Gem's first birthday party a night she will never forget and had a list of ponies to send invitations to going all the way down the staircase of Surgarcube Corner. Over in Carousel Boutique, Rarity was busy putting fabric choices together to try and come up with the perfect outfit for Cryo to wear on his very first date in all his sixteen years of existence. She wanted to create something that matched Cryo's well built physique and also reflected upon his power over ice. It also had to be formal because of this date's location. Not only was it in Canterlot, but also the Rose Petal which was the fanciest of fancy restaurants in possibly all of Equestria.

The only time Rarity took a break from designing her first male outfit was to put her thoughts and heart into a dress she was creating as her birthday present for Gem. She would reveal on the special day to everypony with Gem being the first to view its beauty of course. That was something everyone had to focus on; it wasn’t the dress, but it was getting Gem a gift. This was a new thing for the Alamantians because they had never gotten each other a single gift before. Plus they had zero money to spend. So their reliance was on their partners for this. Cryo had his already taken care of. The pair of earrings he got for her in Canterlot. Rainbow Dash has gotten Gem's gift first out of all of them knowing exactly what she would like.

Shortly after Agua had picked up his gift for his youngest sister, he received a package from Princess Luna via magic teleportation. It was a note telling him to study up and a couple of old Alamantian books on hydrokinesis. When Twilight first saw them she was immediately fascinated with them and begged Agua to lend whatever ones he wasn't reading at the time to her. She literally begged. Knowing that she would probably never let up or be devastated if he said no, Agua gave in and said yes. There were about five books in total in good weight and thickness. So Twilight took four home with her as Agua began to read the first one wondering why Luna wasn't teaching him directly yet.

Finally, the big day came. First thing Rainbow Dash did in the morning was wake up, rise up from her bed, and zip into Gem's room to bid her,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Gem nearly went through the roof of the house and landed back on the fluff of cloud she used as a bed. She clutched her chest and was breathing rapidly.

"Don't you ever do that again." she pleaded with her partner.

Giggling, Rainbow helped Gem get up.

"Aw don't be scared, Gem. It's just your birthday. And this is the very first time you get to celebrate it. Not just with friends, but ever! Now as Pinkie Pie would say, come on and smile!"

Gem managed a little one. It wasn't much but it bought Rainbow over.

"Now let's go to Rarity's house and see if she's finished with Cryo's clothes."

After she saw her nod, Rainbow walked ahead of Gem and the unicorn gave a frown knowing Rainbow wouldn't see it. The pegasus floated down with her wings and Gem made a staircase out of plasma she walked all the way to the ground. It was then only a short walk to Rarity's house. Rainbow didn't even bother to knock. She just opened the door and walked in assuming Rarity was home. She was right but that really didn't make it any less rude.

"Yo Rarity! Where are you?!" She called.

"Upstairs, Rainbow! Do NOT come up here until I say you can!" the fashionista called from her studio on the second floor.

"She's really been focused." Pinkie bounced over and greeted her two friends and hugged Gem very very tightly. "Happy birthday, Gem!"

Gem groaned a bit in pain when Pinkie grasped and squeezed. She heard and felt something crack in her back as well and her ability to take in air was cut back.

"Okay, Pinkie. Thank you. Please put me down. I kinda wanna live to see this day through."

Pinkie dropped her down to the floor and bounced over to RD.

"Finally somepony else came! It's just been me and Mr. Grumpy Water over there for nearly an hour."

She gestured behind her and Rainbow finally noticed Agua was in there with them and not even paying attention. He didn't even bother to say hello. He was too busy reading a book Luna sent him.

"Has he even moved?" Rainbow whispered.

"Not since I've been here." Pinkie replied. "He's just kept his nose buried in that book. It's like he's Twilight or something."

"Oh please." Rainbow softly spoke a reply. "If he was like Twilight in any way, we would all be doomed."

"You do know I'm right here and therefore capable of hearing you, right?" Agua finally spoke.

Rainbow and Pinkie were startled to hear him talk. He seemed so into his book they thought he wasn't paying attention. Seeing as how he was now, Rainbow Dash walked up to him to talk.

"Say, Agua, Gem is here. Don't you have something to say to her?"

Agua for the first time in an hour looked up from his book but only for a second to look at his youngest sister.

"Hi."

And just like that his eyesight returned to the words on the pages. Rainbow wasn't satisfied.

"No. I meant do you have anything to say to her regarding this VERY DAY?"

For a second time, Agua looked at Gem with the same expression.

"Oh yeah. Happy birthday."

The unicorn nodded.

"Thank you, Agua."

With a nod from his own head, Agua got back to reading intensely as the three mares also occupying the room with him sat around and chatted. While they talked, everypony else in their social group began to show up eager to see the outfit. They talked for what seemed like a good twenty minutes before sounds from above interrupted them.

"Ow! Rarity, not so tight!"

"Cryo, do you want to look good for Octavia or not?"

"Of course I do! But I kinda wanna live to see her too!"

"Oh ha ha, very funny. Just stand still for one more minute."

She wasn't kidding. It took one more minute on the dot before the designer finally came downstairs. Her mane was a mess, there were bags under her eyes, even her coat fur was going everywhere.

Her friends looked at her with concern, and a bit of fear because she looked a bit scary.

"Uh...Rarity, when was the last time you slept?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh sleep? How silly! Fluttershy, when you are in the zone, sleeping is NOT a priority! I must stay focused! I've been drinking coffee for the past three days!"

That made the level of concern rise up to eleven.

"You've been drinking coffee for three days straight without a wink of sleep?" Twilight asked. "Rarity, that isn't very healthy."

"Oh don't be so silly, Twilight! I've never felt more alive in my life! I feel like I could probably go for weeks without sleep. Have you ever tried this coffee I got? It's FANTASTIC! Just simply fantastic! I say if I ever find the stallion or mare who invented it, I will kiss him or her!"

She wasn't done rambling. Her mouth was running at a pace that made Pinkie Pie's look slow.

"Would you mind if I execute a tactic guaranteed to snap her out of it?" Terra asked the entire group.

All of them nodded their heads giving Terra the green light. Nodding, the yellow mare walked up to Rarity and stood right in front of her.

"Oh hello, Terra! You look good today! But you know what? I can make you look better! All I need to do is just trim your mane a bit, adjust your headband back a ways, and-"

"Snap out of it you psychopath!"

*SMACK!*

Terra's right hoof made its way roughly across Rarity's left cheek. Hearing the sound made Agua finally lose his concentration and walk away from the book. He looked at his partner and noticed a bright red mark on the left side of her muzzle which she was tenderly rubbing. She also looked into Terra's eyes quite shocked at what she had done but had no problem understanding why.

"Um...thank you, Terra. I suppose I needed that." she murmured.

"Suppose?" Applejack laughed. "Sugarcube, you were actin' crazier than Twilight was with the whole Smartypants thing."

Everypony laughed at the reminder of that little incident. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy all told their partners about that day. Pyro however was not informed on the matter.

"Wait. What Smartypants thing? What is that?" he asked curious to know what everypony found so humorous.

"Oh you should have been there, Pyro!" Pinkie bounced. "Okay, so one day Twilight is freaking out over a letter to Celestia and then she decided to-"

"Homina homina homina HOMINA!" Twilight yelled forcing Pinkie's mouth to a halt. "Pinkie Pie, everyone else, I would very much appreciate if MY partner didn't know certain things about me. And if he respects that, which he does, then I don't see any reason why you shouldn't either."

Pyro nodded indeed respecting Twilight's wishes. But that didn't stop the rest of them chuckling and one of them from opening their mouth.

"You caused all of Ponyville to go into a riot over a doll." Gem began to laugh truly finding it hilarious.

That caused all the others aside from Twilight and Pyro to join her. But soon enough Twilight found herself standing alone as Pyro and Spike began to chuckle too. After the red stallion of fire saw the glare his partner was giving him, he immediately stopped himself and coughed to clear his voice.

"So uh...Rarity, how goes Cryo's outfit?" he asked trying to change the subject.

Rarity's eyes were filled with stars as she remembered why they were all there.

"Yes of course! I just finished it! He's wearing it right now and he looks just dashing. If he weren't already going on a date with Octavia there's a chance I would have asked him out when I saw how he looked upon completion."

After she said that, she rushed upstairs and came back down shortly with the stallion of ice right behind her sporting his new clothes.

His mane and tail remained the same. That wasn't the part anypony was looking at. He was wearing a tuxedo top on the front of his body styled to resemble his icy ways. It was colored a light teal blue a bit darker than his hair with both darker and lighter trim along the borders. It almost seemed fluffy on the inside like most winter fashions are. Around his neck was a white grey bowtie.

Everypony smiled in admiration of Rarity's exquisite work. The smile belonging to the birthday girl was a bit faked. Lucky for her nopony noticed one bit.

"Well well well, Cryo. You look sharp." Terra complimented his brother.

"Terra, my element is ice. I'm ALWAYS sharp." Cryo raised a his right hoof to get a feel for the clothes. "This is really comfortable, Rarity."

"That should show you never to doubt me, darling." Rarity replied. "Now, your date is in a matter of hours, take those clothes off, take them home, and do not go anywhere near them till it is time to leave."

"Okay fine." Cryo had something else to say. "I'll do that. But you go up to your room right now and get some sleep before Gem's party tonight. You seriously need it."

"But...but I can't!" Rarity complained. "I've had too much coffee to fall asleep!"

"I think I can help you with that." Twilight put a hoof around Rarity's back and started to walk her upstairs. "See you later, guys."

That was all that needed to be said and done. While Twilight put a spell on Rarity to fall asleep for at least six hours, everyone else left and headed on home while Pyro and Spike waited outside for Twilight to rejoin them.

While Rarity was snoozing, Cryo and Pinkie Pie were readying Sugarcube Corner for the birthday party. Streamers, banners, cupcakes, regular cake, and every other type of sweet that could have been thought of was served on a tray and placed on a table. One table remained empty for the pile of gifts Pinkie was absolutely certain the unicorn of plasma would receive.

After the six hours passed on Twilight's spell, Rarity awoke in her bed feeling more refreshed than she had in the past couple weeks. Her mane was a bit messy but that was easily remedied with a quick shower, a comb, and some hairspray. To top it off, she sprayed some perfume on her face. She then proceeded to her closet and pulled out her present to Gem. An exquisite black grass laced along the borders with purple shining gemstones and a matching necklace of a gem.

Down under the water of the backyard pond, Agua was having a little chat with his pet giant clam, Bobo about the possible future of the night.

"Now remember, Bobo, if I come back down here with a lady tonight..." he pointed at the clam to finish the sentence.

"Go to the other side of the pool to sleep." Bobo's deep voice replied.

"Good. And in the off chance I come down with two..."

"Press the button and start the camera. I got it."

There was a whole set up. Bobo could move himself through the water on his own which means he could set himself down on anything he wanted. Agua had a camera set up concealed behind a few bushes and shielded from water damage. There was a small button attached to a cord extending to a few feet away from the camera. And the lens itself was pointed right makeup of rocks and leaves Agua called his bed. All Bobo had to do was set himself down on the button and Agua would be able to relive whatever memories of that bed he wanted. The thought made him smile at his beloved pet.

"You are the most slammin' clam to ever exist. You know that?" he asked still grinning.

"Boy, you got that right!" Bobo fully agreed. "Now don't forget Gem's gift."

"Oh yeah, right."

Agua pushed himself to the other side of the pond and he glided right above the surface like a wingless pegasus. The way he swam was almost as graceful as flight itself. Lying on top of a small rock was a flat box a big enough to fit something slim or foldable inside.

"And be sure to tell her it's from me too." Bobo insisted.

Agua chuckled and smiled at the shelled creature.

"I'll be sure to, buddy. See ya in a few hours."

He grabbed the box and pushed himself up to the surface. As he breached the water and walked onto solid ground again, his body immediately went dry of all drops of H2O. Rarity was at the edge of the pond waiting for him with her gift to the birthday girl floating beside her in a blue field of magic. Together they started to walk to Sugarcube corner.

Over at the bakery, nopony had arrived yet and that was a good thing. Pinkie and the cakes were just nearly done with the decorations and food while Cryo was upstairs putting his suit back on for the second time in the day. When he reached the bottom step, the three main residents of the house noticed him.

"Alright. Uh...I guess I'll see you guys later tonight."

Mr. Cake chuckled as he took notice of Cryo's hesitation in the sentence.

"Nervous are we?" he asked.

Cryo sighed and adjusted his collar.

"Maybe just a little bit. I mean it's my very first date and all and I've never even interacted with another girl like this and...I'm totally freaking out here!"

Mrs. Cake, hearing what Cryo had said, dropped what she was doing and walked over to ease his mind.

"There there, Cryo. No need to panic. You're a good pony. And from what I've heard around, your date is a classy mare. Just stay calm and you'll be fine."

Her husband threw a hoof around Cryo's back in an effort similar to his love to calm him down.

"Son, you saved this girl's life. So right off the bat, she likes you on some level. Just play it cool and stay smooth."

As soon as he finished saying it, Mr. Cake realized how much of a pun his final sentence was.

"Cool and smooth." Cryo repeated. "Like ice. I can do that."

"Good. Now go off and have fun." the stallion of the house got back to his work.

Cryo, with a bit more confidence, headed for the door ready to head for the capital city ready for teleportation.

"Oh oh oh, wait! Cryo!"

He froze right outside the doorway and turned to his left to view his partner.

"Where's your gift for Gem?"

"It should be upstairs in my room. Little box wrapped in shiny purple paper. Can't miss it."

Pinkie nodded and headed back inside while Cryo stood right outside the door, looked towards Canterlot viewing it in the distance, took a deep breath, and teleported in the form of a big ball of ice and snow headed straight for the city.

Five more minutes later and the guest of honor had arrived along with a few more of their friends. Rarity being the first among them insisted Gem open her gift right now. Gem did so and gasped at the sight of the extravagant dress the seamstress put together. It was just her size and a perfect fit. Using her magic, Gem slipped it on to wear for the remainder of the party. Then she hugged Rarity who was more than happy to return it. Soon enough, the rest of the family was there and Pinkie declared the party to be officially underway as the place began to fill up with more ponies little by little as the minutes passed.

The party had just begun and the stallion of ice had arrived in Canterlot. To make sure he didn't cause a scene and attract attention, he ended up teleporting himself into an alley not far from the restaurant. After checking if the coast was clear to walk out, he did just that and his eye spotted the Rose Petal Cafe.

Just from viewing it from the outside Cryo could tell why it was known to be fancy. There were two stories of the establishment both of them having an outdoor area for eating and viewing the sunset. Along the outside fences and railings both above and below, they were covered with rosebushes full with red full bloomed roses. Cryo could smell them on approach. Delectable.

After he sniffed the pleasant aroma, he spotted a problem. The front door of the place had a red velvet rope blocking it, a royal unicorn guard standing on the left of the rope, a podium with an earth pony clerk on the right side of the rope, and a long line of ponies wanting to get into the restaurant behind the rope. The clerk was looking at a list of ponies' names on a clipboard to verify who was going in was who they said they were.

Normally Cryo's instinct would have told him to go to the back of the line and wait for his turn like a normal pony. But tonight something inside him made him think differently. It may have been the clock that showed it was exactly 5:30 when he looked at it. Showing up late never had been his style and he didn't want it to be now. He walked straight up to the podium and stood next to the couple already at the front of the line.

"Excuse me, but I really need to get in there like...right now." he pleaded.

The couple next to him glared a bit annoyed at his rude cut of the whole line. The podium pony didn't really think much too kindly of it either.

"I'm sorry, sir. But you're going to have to wait at the back of the line like everypony else."

Seeing as how that didn't work, Cryo decided to follow the tip left on his date's invitation.

"I was told to tell you that Octavia is expecting me."

That made the clerk’s head jerks back at Cryo with a surprised look.

"So YOU are Octavia's friend." he said. "My sincerest apologies, Mr. Cryo. You are right. Miss Octavia told me you were coming and is expecting you. Please go in."

The unicorn guard levitated the velvet rope out of Cryo's way allowing him access. Smiling, the white icy unicorn walked in and gasped as he viewed the inside the place.

If it wasn't a work of art from the outside, the interior of the place would have swayed anyone to think differently. There was a gorgeous chandelier above the front door and the rest of the place was decorated with smaller ones but just as pretty. Every table had a lit candle and a small bouquet with six or seven red roses. The inside balconies were just as if not a bit more fancier than the outside ones. To top it off, right there in the middle of the place was a large dance floor and a small stage for music to play from. For everypony in Canterlot, this place was just a high society restaurant. But on that night, for Cryo alone, it was heaven on Earth.

"And to think I believed the fanciest building in existence was the ice palace of the chief back home..." he muttered quietly to himself. "Now, where are ya?"

He looked left and right, up and down for Octavia. A big building like this left some challenge to find one individual pony, especially when most of them were moving around. That wasn't nearly enough to stop him. He found his date up on the second floor looking around not even noticing he was there yet. Slowly but surely, Cryo made his way up the staircase. The table was nearby. All he had to do was reach the top and the date was officially underway. One more deep breath is all he needed before he climbed those last few stairs.

"Cool and smooth. You got this, Cryo." He muttered to himself.

Standing tall, he reached the second floor and Octavia was quick to see him. She smiled and waved at him.

"Over here." she called.

Cryo smiled back and approached the table she was sitting at. When he took his seat they immediately did what anyone does on a first date. Open with humor.

"I half expected you to fly in on one of your flying ice roads." Octavia said with a smile.

"Nah, I only use those for when I want I really have to. Like say for example, saving somepony from falling on their head."

The cellist giggled and continued to smile at him after she stopped.

"I never got a chance to say thank you for that." her voice was a bit softer that time.

Cryo held up a hoof.

"It's nothing really. You don't have to thank me."

"Oh yes I do. Saving ones' life should be commended no matter how small the one saved may be. And that's exactly what I plan to do tonight. Order whatever you want."

There was already a menu placed in front of him. A cyan cloud appeared all around the laminated parchment and set itself upright in Cryo's field of vision. Most of the things on there he had no idea what they even were or if they were even edible. It was his Alamantian ways assisting with that. He hardly knew anything about Equestrian food other than the sweets knowledge he picked up from Sugarcube Corner.

A minute later, a stallion about Cryo's size levitating a notepad with unicorn magic walked over. He had a covered serving dish on his flank.

"Ah, good evening, Madam Octavia. I see we have company here tonight." the waiter gestured to Cryo.

"Yes we do, Silver Platter. Good evening to you as well." Octavia greeted.

"Thank you, ma'am. May I get you drinks to start you off?" he asked.

"Oh yes please. I'll have a glass of the house cabernet please."

"Of course. And you sir?" He turned to Cryo.

The stallion of ice turned the menu over and skimmed the available beverages. He hadn't heard of any of them and was willing to give them a shot.

"I'll have what she's having." He decided to start simple.

Silver Platter nodded and wrote it down on his little paper pad.

"And have you decided what you would like for your main course?"

Octavia again was the first to speak.

"Everything looks so delicious tonight. I think I may need an extra minute to make up my mind, Silver Platter."

"Of course, Madame." Silver Platter then looked to Cryo. "And you, sir?"

"Well...it all DOES look good like the lady said. But I have one question."

"And that would be?"

Cryo put down his menu and looked at his waiter with a smile.

"Does this place have any entrees that are meant to be served cold?"

Author's Note

More to come in the next one! So stay tuned. Oh and a little announcement!

This story that you read right here right now, is being turned into a fully playable flash game. Of course the story will have to be completed. I will be taking part in it as head overseer of the project and I will be Voice Acting the role of Pyro. Most roles have already been filled but we do have some openings left. If you are interested at all then please contact me via skype or however you want to. (Skype name: autoknight01) We're going all out on this. Animation, voice work, music, we could use all the help we can get. So give me a holler and don't forget to follow their blog!

An Evening of Firsts (Part 2)

I only own my OC's and the plot. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 22: An Evening of Firsts (Part 2)

It was a night Gem would never forget for as long as she remained alive: Her very first birthday party. Only thirty minutes passes since it started and there were already a considerable amount of guests there, with her friends and siblings, of course, being among them. They were also joined by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a few of their friends from school, Cheerilee, Bonbon and Lyra, the mayor, Derpy and some other brown pony with her going on and on about daleks, whatever those were, and a few various others. The house was packed and everypony seemed to be having a good time.

Food was being served, there was a stack of gifts for the birthday girl over on a table in the corner, and everyone had a smile on. Everyone that is, except ironically for the guest of honor herself. Sure, whenever somepony else looked at her she smiled back, but when not making eye contact with anyone, her frown resurfaced. Gem truly was grateful for the party and everything. She just wasn't really adapted to it yet. After those years spent in Alamante not even caring about her birthday, it was still confusing to her as to why Equestrians take them so seriously.

She was certainly dressed for the occasion. Once Rarity showed up, the silvery white unicorn strongly insisted that Gem open up the gift from her. She did just that and gaped at the stunning dress that was fashioned just for her. It was a perfect fit too. Gem had no idea how Rarity knew how big to make it but she cared not. Rarity used her magic to put it on her body for the occasion and warned her to not stain it. She promised to do so.

So after that transpired Gem went off the get a look around and a lay of the land. Everypony she passed by bid her a happy birthday and she bowed a bit to say think you to each one. Sooner than she expected though, she got bored and wanted to talk with someone. That's when she found her problems.

She didn't really know anypony there other than her friends and siblings. The rest of them were only there because it was a party and they know Pinkie throws good parties no matter what the occasion for them is. They really didn't care about who the guest of honor was. Although the mayor seemed a bit enthusiastic to be near her. That was mostly just due to the publicity she and the other elements were bringing to Ponyville.

Around the building, the other elements were scattered doing their own thing. Agua was scoping out the talent to try and find a mare worthy of taking back to the pond. Rarity was talking to some important clients of hers who tracked her to the party to speak business. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around too hyped up to stop moving no matter where she went. Every few minutes or so, she would stop when she got in view of Gem.

"Having fun?!" She would ask rather loudly.

"Yes, Pinkie. I'm enjoying it. Thank you." Gem answered for the ninth time.

"Oki Doki Loki!" With that she bounced off to find someone else to talk to.

When she was gone, Gem stopped faking her smile. It pained her to lie but she had to, so Pinkie wouldn't be upset. The truth is she wasn't really finding any joy in this party. All it was to her were a bunch of people standing around and talking about things that didn't concern her. She tried talking to them to try and befriend them but she was out of her age group here. It felt to her like she was a kid in a building full of grownups. Which if one were to put it in a numbers case, she kind of was.

With every bounce Pinkie saw everypony having a good time. Then sound of a hoof knocking on wood was heard from a distance away. The confectioner recognized it as the door knocking and stopped bouncing and walked over to the door to open it. On the other side stood a familiar pink alicorn.

"Oh yay, Princess Cadence! You made it!" Pinkie smiled at stood aside to allow the alicorn to some in.

"Hi, Pinkie Pie." Cadence greeted back as she walked in with Gem's gift in her magical grip. "Where should I put this?"

"Over there with the others." The pink earth mare pointed to the back.

Cadence spotted the table with the rest of the gifts and proceeded to set hers down at the base of the pile. It was small, about a few inches in length going both ways. After she powered down her horn, Cadence turned and saw Gem standing in front of her with Twilight and Pyro next to her.

"Oh hi, Gem. Happy birthday." She said with an enthusiastic smile.

"Thank you." Gem sweetly replied. "You didn't have to come but it makes me happy that you did."

"Oh of course I would come. It seems that everyone is here tonight." Cadence looked around and observed the room.

After that was said, the birthday girl turned her head away and frowned so no one else would see it.

"Well...almost everyone." she muttered to herself.

That was another problem she had with the party. She felt that there was one more face that should be there. The face of a familiar white unicorn she considered a brother. She told him and herself that it was fine he wasn't coming and was on a date but there was another part in her that just couldn't deal with it and thought the complete opposite. Call it jealousy, anger, or something else, but Gem's real birthday wish at the moment was Cryo being there to celebrate with her. She felt like he didn't care and that he chose a date with a hot girl over his own sister.

As much as she wanted to let her feelings known, she didn't want to feel as if she was just annoying the others with her feelings. So she did a good job at keeping them bottled up. A few seconds passed by until somepony else spoke.

"Hey wait a second. Where's Shinin' Armor?" Applejack asked noticing Cadence came through the door alone.

That was when everypony else in their group realized the alicorn of love was on her own. They thought for a second she would have dragged him in by the ear or something but no. All she came with was a gift. To surprise them once again, Cadence looked away as if she didn't really know how to answer.

"Shining Armor and I...decided not to attend this party together. He had to work late." She thought of the first thing that came to her mind.

She strongly hoped they wouldn't see through it. She got no such luck. It wasn't from Typhoon the telepath to her surprise. It was the stallion of water that spoke up.

"Wait a second."

Agua stepped in front of Cadence and started to look closely at her face.

"Let's see...eyes are red, bags under them, nostrils moist. You've been crying, haven't you?"

A small gasp escaped Cadence's mouth but nopony else heard it.

"What? No. No of course not. What makes you assume such a thing?"

Agua wasn't convinced. Her tone said it all. All he had to do was draw it out.

"Cadeeeeence." The blue stallion drew out her name telling her he wasn't fooled by the lie.

Just like that, Cadence's smile faded and the tears Agua were sure that existed started to resurface.

"Alright fine. I was. I've been crying ever since the trip here started. Happy now?"

It wasn't a matter of being happy, but Agua was pleased hearing he was right. However, he came back to reality fast and put on his emotionless face as he backed up away from the pink alicorn allowing Twilight to approach and hug her.

"Don't be sad, Cadence. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can help you out." She assured her old foalsitter.

"What's wrong anyway?" Pyro asked his old friend.

The tear output on her eyes increased a notch as the question from the red stallion hit her. She didn't want to explain but she knew she was going to sooner or later. Better to get it out now rather than much later. She only hoped that Twilight wouldn't be too affected by what she was about to hear. After all it did involve her beloved BBBFF.

She told them what really happened.

*2 hours ago*

Trouble in paradise wouldn't be the right words to describe it. More like just plain anger coming from both sides of the relationship. On one side there was Shining Armor and his still surprising hatred for the Alamantians, and then there was Cadence who thought he was being a straight up jerk.

Ever since the battle of Canterlot, Shining Armor had been doing a good job keeping his mouth shut and his thoughts bottled up. Recently however it became harder to do that. To be precise, it started exactly when both he and Cadence received mail from Pinkie Pie inviting them to Gem's birthday party three days before the party was going to take place. The gift was bought, wrapped, and everything. The captain of the guard kept his mouth shut until finally, right before Cadence was about to start getting ready, he opened up.

"We're not going."

Cadence was obviously surprised to hear him say that.

"What? Why not?" she asked.

"Because we're not." He sternly replied. "I don't want myself or you going anywhere near those element movers."

The alicorn groaned. Of all the times he had to start an argument, it had to be now when she was just about to get prepped for a fun party.

"Shining Armor, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I don't know what your problem is with them, but get over it. They saved all of our lives and we should be thankful."

"They're dangerous! What part of that don't you get?!"

"You don't know them!" Cadence was officially fed up. "True they can do things we could only dream of but they mean us no harm! I trust them!"

"Yeah. I should've known you'd side with them. Especially HIM."

The emphasis on that last word made Cadence scared for her husband.

"Oh no. Don't you dare. Please don't tell me..."

"I saw you with him that night." He snapped. "Then you both flew off to who knows where to do Celestia knows what."

"We were having dinner! That's it! He's on old friend of mine and we were just catching up!"

"And then what?!" The yelling had officially began. "You had dinner with him and then what happened?! Don't you dare lie to me!"

That was the breaking point. Cadence's eyes began to go wet and she turned away from her husband.

"If you are really going to stand there and make those kind of accusations towards me, then I guess your love for me isn't as strong as I once thought."

With that, she walked off to the bedroom with him close in tow slowly starting to regret the words he used.

"It's not that I don't love you. I just don't trust him. I don't know a thing about him then all of a sudden, he shows up and you start getting close to him. Forgive me if I start thinking he has an ulterior motive."

"I can't." she answered quickly. "I trust him with my life. He's one of my best friends."

His anger was at a boiling point. His trust for his wife was shaken and he could only point the blame at one out of the six individuals he had come to despise. The red stallion of fire.

"Fine. Then go to that party. But don't expect me to welcome you back with open arms."

Shaking her head, Cadence went into her closet and came out a few minutes later with a luggage case fully packed. Shining Armor kept adjusting his line of sight between it and his wife stunned by the actions she was taking.

"If this is how you truly feel about my choice of friends, then don't expect to welcome me back at all."

"Cadence, please don't do this. Don't side with them over me." He was pleading but the anger was still clearly heard. "How could you do this?"

"No, Shining Armor. How could YOU?" she snapped back. "I've known you for a very long time. But you are not being the stallion I love right now. And until I see him again, being as loving as accepting as I know him to be, don't expect to see me anytime soon."

If one looked close enough, they would probably see steam rising up from Shining Armor's head. He held back his own tears and turned his back to her.

"You wanna run to him? Fine then. Go be with your precious fire hazard. Don't expect me to chase after you."

Not another word was spoken after that. Cadence lifted up her suitcase, made it vanish, and walked out of there with her eyes closed. As soon as it was shut, she heard Shining Armor yelling on the other side and it sounded like something was breaking. She walked away from the door in tears and they didn't stop falling until she reached Ponyville.

Those being told the story stared upon Cadence with feelings of sorrow, anger, and many more all mixing. Sniffling, Cadence made the luggage case appear next to her to validate her story's truth. She walked out on Shining Armor.

"That son of a bitch." Terra growled.

"I don't mean to intrude but, Twilight would it be okay if I stayed with you and Pyro for a while?"

There was no thinking on the matter because in Twilight's mind, none was needed.

"Of course you can, Cadence. Take as much time as you need." Twilight hugged the alicorn tight and she reciprocated.

Pyro too approached and rested a comforting hoof on her shoulder to show his support.

"We'd be happy to have you." He added. "But what if he comes looking for you?"

"If he wants to talk to me, I'll gladly offer him the opportunity." Cadence answered. "But he's crazy if he just thinks I'm going to agree with him on what he thinks of all of you."

"I just don't get it." Twilight began to rub her chin in deep thought. "Shining Armor is one of the best stallions I've ever known. I don't know why but something is telling me there's something more to this whole thing?"

"Can't you just admit he's an ass and move on?" Terra asked.

"No!" Twilight shouted almost defensively. "My big brother has never been...an ass...in his whole life!" She hesitated not used to using such language. "There's gotta be something more to it. Something he's not telling us."

"Right....well when you figure that out, let me know. I'll be over there getting drunk."

A bit rude of her, but she cared not. Terra turned away from her friends and headed over to a cider table to get her drink on. Soon enough, Gem found herself standing alone again and afraid to talk to anypony else to try and make friends. A minute later, her cyan coated partner found her and wrapped a wing around her side.

"Hey there." Rainbow Dash smiled. "You havin' fun?"

"Uh...yeah. Yeah of course."

That was the first time that night somepony noticed Gem's discontent.

"Gem, what's wrong?" the pegasus asked. "Come on. You can tell me."

The young unicorn took a sigh of relief. She did want to vent a bit, she just wasn't sure she should. Now that she was being asked to, it was hard to say no.

"Well I guess things just aren't-"

"Hi, Rainbow Dash. Long time."

Gem was cut off by a voice she had never heard before but Rainbow Dash had a few times. The daredevil flyer smiled upon seeing a yellow pegasus with a fire orange mane standing in front of her. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was. But since Gem WAS a genius and was living with the Wonderbolts' number one fan, she deduced the yellow mare's identity in less than a second.

"Name's Spitfire." She greeted herself to Gem. "I heard this was a party for one of the Alamantians. Heard about them. Especially since one of them is owed a favor from the Wonderbolts."

She looked at Gem with a smirk as she said that last sentence.

"So you're the kid that saved us in Canterlot." Spitfire pointed out. "I just wanted to come by and say thanks for that."

Gem blushed in response to Spitfire's gratitude.

"It was nothing, really."

"Oh don't be so modest, Gem! You were awesome!" Rainbow slapped her on the back.

"Gem, huh?" Spitfire now had the name in her head. "That's a nice name. Simple, easy to remember, and says a lot."

Gem blushed and turned her head away with a small smile.

"The other Wonderbolts send you all of their thanks, Gem. Hope to see ya at another show sometime in the future."

With that, Spitfire turned away and headed off to one of the refreshment tables to indulge in some treats. Rainbow Dash had her eye on her the entire time not even blinking. The captain of the Wonderbolts was at the party, and Rainbow was in tight with the pony that saved her in Canterlot. If she ever was to have a chance to talk her way into a shot at the Wonderbolts, this was it and the time to take it was now.

She had her eyes set on her goal and nothing else. She failed to notice that her partner was looking at her and had forgotten that they were talking before Spitfire came in.

"Well Rainbow, as I was saying-" the purple unicorn was interrupted when Rainbow Dash held a hoof up in front of her face.

"Not now, Gem. Destiny awaits."

She walked away. Gem at first couldn't believe it but Rainbow Dash walked away from her after she said she would listen to her rant. At first she readied her hoof to fire a small bolt of plasma into her flank to shock her into coming back, but she yielded with a sigh not willing to hurt her and went back to finding something else to do.

She didn't have to walk far to find somepony else. Typhoon and Fluttershy were at a nearby table examining some food plates. Not only did Pinkie Pie bake sweets for this party, but Gem's brothers and sisters came together to cook a few Alamantian recipes they knew their younger sister would love to eat. She did appreciate it.

"Hey you two. How's the food? I haven't tried much of it yet." She asked the two pegasi.

Both of them smiled at her as she came over.

"The cupcakes are good but I think I heard Pinkie Pie mention something about the Cutie Mark Crusaders helping out with muffins." Fluttershy winced as she said that.

Gem and Typhoon did too. Almost a month now they had been living in Ponyville. That was more than enough time they needed to become familiar with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their reputation all over town. They kinda felt sorry for Terra and Agua because they had to live with two of them. Granted with Agua he only sees Sweetie Belle after school and on weekends but for him it still counts.

"Yeah thanks for the heads up." Gem replied softly.

Typhoon didn't have to be telepathic to know that there was something troubling her little sister. Aside from Pyro, Gem was the one who Typhoon considered herself to be closest to and vice versa. They knew each other very well and very often talked to each other about things they aren't comfortable talking to the others about.

"Ees zere something troubling you, Gem?" Typhoon broke the ice. "I can see ze sadness een your eyes."

The unicorn sighed. She liked talking to Typhoon but most of the time she tried to avoid it. This was one of those times she didn't put that much effort into that.

"I guess you could say that." Gem began. "It's...I don't know. I guess I just-"

"Well this looks interesting."

Once again, Gem was cut off. This time by Fluttershy. She looked over to her in frustration but then both she and Typhoon became frightened when they saw what the buttery pegasus was looking at. Tiny pinkish red squares with toothpicks coming out the top. Fluttershy grabbed one and neared it to her mouth.

"Fluttershy, wait!" Typhoon tried to make a grab for it.

She was too late. The little square touched Fluttershy's tongue and went all the way into her mouth. She began to chew on it and Gem and Typhoon only winced with ever chomp her teeth took. Finally, she turned around and faced the two Alamantians trying their best to hide their concerned faces. Fluttershy became confused on the spot and waited until she swallowed her little treat before asking them the question.

"What's wrong?"

Being a telepath was very handy for Typhoon and those who knew she was a telepath. That meant the psychic could have a conversation with someone else inside their mind so no one else could hear them.

Gem and Typhoon immediately engaged in one of these mind chats the second Fluttershy asked them that question.

"Zere's no way I'm telling her what she just ate. Zis is your party. You do eet!"

"She's YOUR partner! You live with her! YOU tell her!"

"You do know what she does for a living right? Eet will kill her!"

"You were the one who noticed! Ty, I'm not telling her! I just wanted to talk with you and now THIS happens!"

"Gem, I'm really sorry about zat....I guess you're right. I'll tell her."

The telepathic conversation ended and Typhoon approached her pastel colored partner with very concerned eyes and a comforting smile. Almost as if someone had died or something.

"Fluttershy....zat treat you just ate...how was eet?"

Fluttershy shrugged and responded.

"Well...it was sort of chewy but juicy. Succulent even. I don't know what it was but it tasted really good."

That only made Typhoon worry even more about what she was about to say. She looked back at Gem with a scared face then looked back to Fluttershy.

"Um....Fluttershy......zose are cockatrice bits. You just ate meat."

Fluttershy's eyes had never been more wide in her entire life than they were at that very moment. A lover of all animals and never willing to see them hurt or worse, she was a big time vegetarian. The word "meat" was almost like blasphemy to her. And now she just took a bite of the food she considered to be forbidden and evil. To top it off, she let herself say out loud that she thought it was good.

Her whole body began to shake like she was shivering cold. Her mouth began to utter random unreadable syllables. And to finally top of the panic attack, she fell flat on her back twitching a bit in her hooves.

Typhoon smacked a hoof to her face and let it run downwards till it finally touched the ground again. She then decided to utilize her aerokinesis to form a sphere of swirling wind to pick the traumatized pegasus up off the ground.

"I'm sorry, Gem. But we will have to talk later. Right now I must see eef Fluttershy ees ever going to be alright."

Sighing, Gem let her head hang down but Typhoon didn't notice.

"Yeah. Go ahead."

Typhoon walked off with Fluttershy floating next to her. She went upstairs and Gem sighed turning around and viewing a brown stallion with an hourglass on his flank.

"Oh why hello there!" He greeted somewhat enthusiastically.

Gem didn't really smile back or even look at him.

"I don't suppose YOU wanna talk with me do you?" She grumbled.

"Oh I'm sorry little one. But I can't. The TARDIS seems to be acting up and I must tend to it. Ta-ta!"

He walked past the unicorn leaving her standing there confused beyond all reason.

"What...the hell....is a TARDIS?" she whispered to herself.

"Nopony knows. That doctor guy always rambles on about things no one else but Derpy over there seems to understand. But enough about him. Having fun here?"

Gem turned to view a pegasus pony behind a table with mugs of cider spread out on it. Her coat was almost the same cyan as Rainbow Dash's but her mane and tail were black and blue. Her cutie mark was a mug filled nearly to the brim with foaming cider. Her eyes were bright green.

"I'm sorry?" Gem didn't quite hear her the first time she spoke.

"I asked if you were having fun." The pegasus repeated herself. "I mean it's only your very first birthday party so I would assume you're having fun. But now that I see your face I think differently. So before we get into that, you want a mug of cider? I'll assume you want it virgin."

Gem became confused by this pegasus' words. She had heard of cider before but she didn't know what she meant by it being virgin.

"I want it what now?"

The pegasus giggled and explained.

"Cider can come in two ways. Hard or virgin. Hard means there's alcohol in it. Virgin means there's not."

"Oooohhhh." Gem now got a full understanding and accepted the offer. "Sure I'll take some."

There was already a mug filled and waiting for the young birthday girl. The pegasus slid it closer and the mug soon was bathed in an electric purple glow. The mug floated off the table and right up to Gem's mouth so she could take a swig. It tasted interesting. New and interesting. Like apple juice but with a bubbly kick to it.

"And to answer your question, I'm not having as much fun as I thought I would. Well...actually that's sort of a lie. I never really expected to have fun to begin with." Gem spoke her mind for the first time that night.

"Do yourself a favor and try to keep that confession away from Pinkie. She thinks she can handle the truth. But the last time somepony told her that one of her parties wasn't fun, poor girl locked herself away in her room for two weeks. Took her months to even think about planning another party again." The blue pegasus winced upon that memory.

"How long ago was that?" Gem asked.

"Uh...about five years ago." The pegasus replied. "And just to let ya know, the name is Moonshines. But everyone just calls me Moony. And you must be Gem the birthday mare."

The purple unicorn smiled slightly and nodded her head.

"You are correct."

Moonshines smiled and chugged some cider from her own mug like it was the elixir of life itself. She downed the entire mug in less than five seconds, then moved on to another one. Then a third one before Gem even got halfway done with her first mug. Then she reached five mugs and her words became slurred and barely understandable. That was when Applejack came over and got angry.

"Doggone it, Moonshines! What have Ah told ya?! If yer gonna serve cider at a party, ya can't drink it all for yourself!" the cowgirl angrily shouted.

"Oh, Appleracks, you gettin' angry over nothin." Moonshines was now fully inebriated as could easily be told. "I just had a glupple of casses. PFFFFFTTTTT! AHAHAHAHAHAA! Glupple of casses!"

"Um...Applejack?" Gem softly muttered.

"Later, Gem. I gotta deal with this one here." Applejack waved her off.

Applejack groaned and Gem soon found herself walking away so she wouldn't have to listen to the mare of honestly try to argue with a drunken pegasus.

She knew it would be from the start and the events of the night were only confirming it more. This party was nowhere near the level of fun Pinkie promised her it would be. All of her friends were too busy doing something else to even pay her one minute of attention. Rainbow Dash was standing near Spitfire trying to see if she would respond, Spitfire herself was talking to Rarity about a commission for a party she was going to attend soon in Manehattan after a show. Agua was busy trying to flirt with mares and trying to score some action. Pyro was trying his best to comfort Cadence while Twilight was still thinking about reasons her brother is against Alamantians. Spike was being hassled by the Cutie Mark Crusaders to help them with another escapade. So he kind of had a valid reason. Pinkie Pie was oblivious as usual, Typhoon was still upstairs watchiing Fluttershy, it was all a mess to her.

She officially had enough. All she wanted to do right now was to find the nearest one and make them listen to her no matter how much badgering she had to do to make it happen. Taking a swift look around, she wound up seeing that Terra was the closest one. She didn't appear to be doing anything at all. She was just standing by herself, sitting on her haunches, and meddling with front hooves.

With a sigh, Gem walked up to her yellow sister with full intent to have a full conversation with no interruptions.

"Um...Terra?"

"Not now, Gem." The yellow mare instantly waved her hoof at her.

That was the reaction she had been getting the whole time from everypony. Frankly she was getting tired of it.

"Terra, can I please talk to you?"

"In a few minutes. Come back later."

Gem was starting to get angry. Her growling was a clear sign of that.

"What are you doing that's so important you can't talk?" she snapped.

"None of your business. That's what it is."

"Can't you spare a few minutes? One even? I just want to-"

"Would you buzz off, Gem?! I don't give a crap! Just leave me alone, you brat!"

Faster than another syllable could be spoken, the whole party went silent. Typhoon froze on the staircase as her time was unfortunate. Terra turned back around to see Gem backing away from her with tears running from her eyes. Immediately realizing what she just did, the mare of earth tried to approach her extending out a hoof.

"Gem...I-"

She didn't finish her sentence because Gem cut her off by swatting her hoof away. The unicorn shook her head and started to head for the door. Before she reached it, Pinkie Pie ran after her.

"Gem, wait! Please!"

The pink confectioner was halted when she ran her nose into a plasma wall formed right behind Gem's tail. The one who summoned the wall turned around and looked at Pinkie with a bit of a glare.

"Next time I tell you I don't want a party, shut your damn mouth and listen to me."

That was all she had to say. She dropped the wall, tore the dress off her body along with the necklace, and ran out of Sugarcube Corner crying her eyes out leaving everypony there feeling nothing but guilt. Nopony more than the elements themselves and Cadence. Terra had begun to bang her head against the wall while shouting a single word in between thuds.

"STUPID STUPID STUPID!" She finally stopped when Applejack came over and yanked her away from the wall, but there was already a good sized crack in it thanks to her hard skull. "How could I have done that to her? All she wanted was for me to spend some time with her at her own party, and I told her to buzz off. What kind of sister am I?!"

Terra looked as if she was about to start crying too. But that ceased when Pyro came over and nuzzled her.

"You're not the only one to blame. We all are." he gestured to his friends and adoptive siblings.

"He's right." Rainbow Dash admitted it. "I was just so desperate to hang out with Spitfire I forgot Gem was even here."

Cadence too felt some of the blame was hers to share.

"Coming here was a bad idea. I shouldn't have dumped all my problems on you guys. I should have just waited for Twilight to come back to the library and just talk to her."

"No. No, Cadence it wasn't a bad idea. Gem loved that you came but what she didn't like was being ignored at her own party by her own friends and siblings." Twilight tried to comfort the alicorn of love.

"Wait. What was Terra doing that made her yell at Gem?" Spike asked as he came over and hopped on Pyro's back.

Terra turned her head away ashamed of what she was about to say.

"I was thinking about leaving to go get my bong." She said with a cracking voice. "All she wanted to do was talk with me and all I could think about was having a puff. I just lashed out at her for no reason and...now look what I did."

A few sniffles later from the mare of earth and she found herself being nuzzled again, this time by her partner.

"It's alright, sugarcube. She tried to talk with me too but Ah just told her to go away." Applejack sadly said.

"We all had stupid excuses for not spending time with her." Rarity muttered. "Agua was too busy trying to find a girl to take home, I was entranced with Spitfire wanting a new getup, Applejack was arguing with Moonshines about the cider, oh my stars we were all just...awful."

If that wasn't enough to make them all feel bad, then what was said next certainly did.

"We are no better zen ze Eneoji Tribe." Typhoon muttered.

That stopped all thinking from the six bearers of harmony and Cadence.

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked curious to know more about her partner.

"Come with us." Pyro began to head for the staircase.

Everypony followed him leaving the other ponies outside their group downstairs to continue the party somewhat. Once they were in Pinkie's bedroom, Pyro closed the door, put a locking spell on it, then soundproofed it so no sound could get out. Fluttershy, who was already in there sound asleep, was woken up by her partner and filled in on what was happening. Finally, Pyro turned around to face his friends as Spike hopped off his back and joined them.

"Rainbow Dash, I apologize. There's something we should have told you about Gem before she began living with you." he said.

Typhoon, Agua, and Terra nodded agreeing with him.

"And that would be?" she asked wanting them to get on with it.

"Have you guys ever wondered why Gem never wants to talk about home?" Terra started.

The harmony bearers and Cadence all shook their heads.

"Well..." Pyro picked it up. "It's because she lived a very tormented life. You all know how she is younger than us and has trouble controlling her powers sometimes? Back home, those traits made her life a living Tartarus. You see, when Gem got her cutie mark, the chief of the entire tribe started putting so much pressure on her. Chief Niiharu was brutal. She started conducting tests on Gem to build her up but Gem couldn't take it. Whenever she failed one of the tests, she was beaten. Savagely."

"We saw it happen before we actually met her. It was just horrible." Agua murmured loud enough to hear.

It was horrible to just hear the story in the other seven ponies' opinions. Gem had just turned fourteen and that meant she only had to be ten or eleven when those experiments were going on. To take a beating like that so young in front of her entire village, it had to have broke her heart every day.

"The day we arrived at the Eneoji Tribe to search for her and take us with her, we saw what they were doing. She was strapped down against her will to a slab like she was a lab rat. She got all sorts of "endurance tests" performed before she was let go. Unfortunately, the tests didn't go well because Gem passed out. When she was brought to, Niiharu just began to beat the crap out of her. Her own mother and father wouldn't even do anything because they feared the chief's wrath." Agua explained.

"So...WE did something instead." Terra talked now. "You see, Niiharu was fed up with not getting anywhere with Gem. She was about to kill her."

"But before she could, we revealed ourselves and defended her. We saved her life and blocked ze chief from delivering ze final blow. She nearly attacked us before she saw our marks and realized we were Gem's equal." Typhoon took her turn to talk. "She tried to tell us Gem was her property and she would never let her leave. So...we did something zat we probably shouldn't have done een ze first place...but we didn't see any other option at ze time."

"And what exactly did you do?" Fluttershy asked.

Ten seconds and each of the four present elementals rubbing the back of their heads later, the one in charge of water answered her question.

"Pyro and Cryo used a couple healing spells on Gem to recharge her...then all six of us attacked Niiharu at once catching her off guard."

Twilight and Cadence were the ones who were the most taken aback by that. Cadence was already familiar with Alamantian culture and Twilight had been doing extensive reading on the subject. There was one chief for each tribal territory to rule over all the villages that were in it. And those chiefs were considered to be royalty. To attack royalty to Equestria is the equivalent of signing your own death warrant.

"Once we knocked Chief Niiharu off her hooves, we all huddled together and teleported as far away from Eneoji territory as we could. Then we ran for it. The rest I think you know." Pyro finished.

They indeed did. It took about another full minute or so until somepony finally said something to respond to the story.

"Gem...that sweet little thing...beaten?" Rarity put her hoof over her mouth.

"That just can't be. Why would anypony do something like to somepony so young and fragile?" Cadence wondered.

"Chief Niiharu has no heart and strives only for domination and power. She saw Gem only as a tool to make it happen." Terra replied.

"Oh poor Gem." Fluttershy whispered. "She had no friends? Not one?"

Typhoon sadly shook her head. "No. She lived een isolation under Niiharu's orders."

"I feel horrible." Pinkie looked like she was near tears. "She kept saying she didn't want a party but I just kept pushing it. If I hadn't thrown her one she wouldn't be sad right now."

"No. Don't you dare say that." Agua was surprisingly the one to object to that. "Pinkie, you love to make ponies smile. You've failed every time with me but let's not go there. The point is, this party you threw for Gem is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her."

Pinkie sniffled and rubbed her left eye dry of an impending tear.

"Yeah, I mean even though she wasn't spending time with us, this party itself was one hell of a gesture. One she's never even seen before." Terra agreed.

Rainbow Dash was silent. She was wondering why her partner never told this information. She naturally thought it was just something painful for her that she didn't want to bring up again. But she thought Gem trusted her. Then she began to fully realize what she had done. Gem grew up with no friends. And when Rainbow left her to try to talk with Spitfire, she left Gem alone. That was what really got her. She betrayed her element and ditched her friend to practically drool over somepony who was pretty much paying no attention to her.

"But what do we do we do now?" Spike wondered. "She ran out of here crying and she was really upset."

"Well then we just have to go and bring her back." Pyro stated. "And this time, we're gonna do this the right way."

He turned his head to Cadence.

"No more crying," He then looked at Applejack

",no more yelling," Twilight looked into his eyes next.

",no more thinking," The blue stallion of water received a look after her.

",no more seducing," Finally, Pyro glanced at Fluttershy.

",and no more freaking out just because you had a small bite of meat. Get over it. It's delicious to us."

All of them nodded agreeing. Though Fluttershy sort of wanted to speak out against Pyro saying meat was bad but remembered where he came from, the ponies ate it on a regular basis. So she kept quiet and nodded too respecting him. They then followed Pinkie Pie as she led them outside the bakery.

"Where could she have gone?" Cadence asked anypony as she looked around.

"Hold on." Typhoon put a hoof to her head and closed her eyes.

A few seconds later, her telepathy had a lock on Gem.

"Zere." The pink pegasus pointed her hoof upwards to the only house floating above the ground.

Rainbow Dash's cloud house. Rainbow darted ahead of them flapping her wings as fast as she could. Everypony else just walked in her trail.

"Boy I sure hope Cryo is having a better night then we are." Rarity muttered.

Author's Note

Moonshines is NOT my character. She belongs to a friend of mine. Anywho. See ya in the next chapter.

A Night of Firsts (Part 3)

I only own my OC's and the plot. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 23: A Night of Firsts (Part 3)

Things in Ponyville weren't going exactly all that swimmingly. In Canterlot, however, it was the total opposite. The sun had just set over the western horizon and the stars were just beginning to show with the light dimming in the sky. Over in the Rose Petal cafe, Cryo and Octavia were having a ball. The small stage on the ground floor now had a small band of instruments playing together. One acoustic guitarist, a soft drummer, a saxophone playing unicorn, and a bass player. On the dance floor, a few couples were swaying to the melody the combined instruments created.

Cryo, being a natural meat eater like the rest of his Alamantian siblings, was a bit disappointed to find that they didn't serve anything meat related in the restaurant. But he figured it was probably for the best. He didn't want to scare this girl off by digging in to a pile of dead and cooked flesh. So he decided on a meal that seemed spectacular and tasted just the same. A spaghetti squash garnished with garlic. Octavia thought he made a good choice saying she had had it before and thought it was delicious. She ordered sweet potato and peanut soup. When their food came, Cryo was surprised to see Octavia could hold a spoon in her hoof with ease. When he asked about, she answered it was because of her cello playing ability. It took her years to master holding up her cello bow and thus doing so, she found holding other things a single hoof to be easy.

As they ate, the two conversed about various topics getting to know each other better. Cryo learned Octavia graduated at the top of her class at the Canterlot Musical Academy a year ago. She's a maestro behind her cello and hops to one day be a part of the royal symphony. Octavia was actually quite surprised to know the general background of Cryo's home life. Born in a small town in the Frost Tribe called Sunofureku. It translates to "snowflake" in the Equestrian language. A small village as the name would suggest. He grew up in poverty. The lowest class ever thought possible in Alamante. He and his father had to work overtime day and night to make sure he and his family stayed fed. Then his father went off to fight in the war and died a year later. So all the work went to him. He barely had time to just do the things he loved. It killed him to leave but his mother told him to.

Soon after Octavia said she was sorry for what happened to Cryo's father, the two began to smile and laugh again. Their meals were thoroughly enjoyed with each bite and every word said to each other either informative or something to laugh at as a first date should be.

"How's your food?" Octavia asked.

"Oh it's delicious." Cryo replied. "Here you wanna try?"

A bit of his squash was ripped off when it became enveloped in a cyan coat of light. It floated close to Octavia and shed grabbed it with her fork to put it in her mouth. Her eyes widened a bit taken back by the taste.

"Oh my." She smiled. "That is REALLY good."

"I know right? How is yours?"

"Simply delectable." She answered as she stirred the contents of her bowl with her spoon a bit. "But I don't care about the food really. I just love being here and sitting at this specific spot."

That confused the frosty pony as he looked down at the table. Almost as if by reflex, he questioned the nature of it.

"So let me ask you this then. Out of all the tables here, what makes this one so special?"

Octavia smiled a tad and told her date the story behind the table.

"The first time I came here was when I was a little filly. My father had taken me and my mother here for my birthday and we sat at this very table. Before our food came I was already entranced by the sheer beauty of this place. But then I noticed something else. The music. This spot right here is the acoustic sweetspot of the Rose Petal. If you stay silent, you'll be able to hear every single instrument being played from a distance and think it's right in front of you. Go ahead."

The bright white unicorn began to breathe a lot softer as he followed Octavia's guidance. His eyes were closed and his ears were open to the sound and it flowed into them. He could hear the mixing of every instrument being played give off perfect notes of pitch and sound. The melody was entrancing. He almost felt like getting up right there and dancing around. He controlled himself though and opened up his eyes again to see Octavia smiling at him.

"That's amazing."

"Yes. It really is. It's a marvel of architecture." Octavia commented on the building.

"Agreed with ya there. I feel like I could get up and start dancing right now."

That got Octavia interested.

"You dance?"

The stallion smirked at his date.

"In various styles. Some would say I'm kinda good."

"Well you'll have to show me sometime tonight. There's a perfectly good dance floor right down there."

The pair of cyan eyes glanced down at the floor where the few couples were dancing slowly with their partners. He chuckled.

"Promise."

The two chuckled then went back to eating. As he glanced over to his date every minute or so, he always saw her smiling at him. There was no way he thought he could screw this up. And he was doing a very good job. He was charming, smooth, said the right things, made her smile, and he was a perfect gentlecolt throughout the entire date.

Suddenly he felt something jab at his side. He didn't know what it was, only that it came from inside his tuxedo's inside pocket. Octavia was looking away at the time so he peeked inside his jacked and pulled out the mystery item. It was a small box wrapped in electric purple paper an had a small black ribbon. Seeing it made him gasp in horror. It was his birthday gift to Gem. He thought he left it on the table in his room at Sugarcube Corner. But apparently his mind was mistaken and he had it stashed in his pocket the whole time.

Seeing the box now in his pocket, Cryo sighed and rubbed his head, which his date saw.

"Is there something troubling you?" Octavia asked easily able to tell by the look on his face that there was.

"Well...yeah. Kind of." he answered.

"What is it?"

This was one subject that Cryo didn't want to come up in fear of dampening the mood.

"It's...it's nothing. Just forget about it."

"No no. It isn't healthy to keep things bottles up. Now go on. What's wrong?"

He sighed. It was unavoidable now that she was insisting. He took a deep breath and told her the honest truth.

"Okay here it is. Today is my little sister's birthday and I chose to come here instead of going to her party."

This was new information for Octavia. All throughout the date Cryo forgot to mention the ponies he considered to be his family members.

"You have a sister?"

NOW he remembered.

"Yeah. Her name is Gem. She's from the Eneoji Tribe."

"The tribe of plasma? But how can she be your sister then?"

"Well, she's not related to me by blood. None of my siblings are."

"None of? How many do you have?"

"Five. Two brothers, three sisters. We all come from one of the six different tribes of Alamante. Today is my youngest sibling, Gem's, birthday."

Octavia took a few moments to let all the information process into her mind.

"And what made you decided to come here?" she asked.

"Well....I don't know.....she said it was alright...."

He began to stutter just shooting out random syllables from his mouth. Then he looked back down in his pocket to view the shining purple box. The light that shone on it made it resemble the element his younger sister controlled. He knew just by the look on her face that she wanted him to be there at the party. He kept looking back and forth between it and Octavia trying so desperately to think of something to say. But he couldn't.

"Oh....I am so sorry."

While that was going on in Canterlot, the group over in Ponyville had their own problem to deal with. The problem being finding Gem, herself. After the walking on cloud spell was successfully cast on the other earth ponies and unicorns, they all walked into Rainbow Dash's home. Those who hadn't been in it before took a small glance around before Rainbow led them all down through the hall of the house and stopped in front of the room that Gem had taken up as her own.

"The ground's all cushy." Terra bounced up and down a few times to let her hooves feel the clouds mush beneath them. "It's.......weird."

"Not now, Terra. We're here for a reason." Twilight reminded the mare of earth.

Twilight decided to approach first. As she got nearer to the door, she began to hear a sound coming from the other side of it. When she pressed her ear up to said door, she was able to decipher what it was. The sound was a girl sobbing. And since there was nopony else around, it had to be her.

“Gem?”

There came no answer. After ten more seconds, Cadence gave it a shot.

"Gem....sweetie, are you in there?"

Finally, her cracked voice sounded.

“Go..*sniff*..go away, guys. Just leave me alone.”

“Gem, please come out.” Twilight asked almost as if she were begging. “We’re sorry, okay? We had no idea what we were putting you through.”

"You think saying sorry is enough?" Gem's voice began to raise. "Birthdays are something to be celebrated, something special, I saw none of what you told me to be true today. It was all just a lie wasn't it?"

"No! Gem, none of it was a lie!" Applejack shouted. "We were really set on making this a day you remember for the rest of yer life!"

"Oh I'll remember it alright. Like I remember it back home in my tribe!"

That was a big blow to them. They knew Gem had a rough past in Alamante. Hearing that they made her feel worse than she did back home just about killed them.

"Gem...we know about your past. Pyro and the others told us." Cadence spoke again. "It was awful what you had to go through growing up. But we would never do anything intentionally to make you remember any of it. We wanted today to be a happy day for you."

"Well guess what? You FAILED! MISERABLY!" she shouted. "Every single one of you failed! Twilight wouldn't stop thinking about her jackass brother, Cadence wouldn't stop bitching about him, Pyro was too busy comforting her, should I go on? Okay lets! Applejack got into a fight with a drunk mare and that went nowhere, Agua was too busy hitting on girls to care about anything else, but then again he's always an ass so he doesn't surprise me."

It was a rare occurrence, but Agua actually hung his head down in shame for being pointed out on his fault. Gem had a reason to rant on everypony outside that door. She went through all of them and their reasons then there were only two more.

"And then there was Rainbow Dash. She said she would listen but then a Wonderbolt walks through the door. She started drooling like a dog and following her around like one too. I wanted so badly to just blast her ass through the wall! Element of loyalty my flank!"

Rainbow Dash felt like she was being stabbed with a thousand knives at once as soon as she heard those words. The truth really was harsh this time. She had gone against her very element at a time when her friend very much needed her, and she did so for an effort that turned out to be in vain.

"And then there's Cryo...."

This was where all of their confusion reached a high level. She was the one who sanctioned the date so what did she have to complain about?

"But....you told him to go on the date. You said it was okay." Rarity spoke through the door.

"I lied, alright?! Of course I wanted him to be at the party! But I couldn't say that! I couldn't be selfish like that! It was his very first date! How could I be cruel and deny him that?!"

That only made her cry even harder.

"Gem....do you really think Cryo wouldn't listen to you if you said it bothered you?" Terra asked. "You know Cryo just as well as I do. He ALWAYS puts others thoughts before his own."

"Well....."

The purple unicorn didn't know how to respond to that. If anything it made her feel a tad worse for thinking so incorrectly about her brother.

"I don't know.....it was my own fault I guess." She muttered. "But whatever. I hope he has fun."

"Gem, ees zere anything else bothering you? Please just come out and talk to our faces." Typhoon begged.

"I can't. I can't come out." she sobbed in response. "This day is already too screwed up as it is. If I come out it will only get worse. Please just go."

"Stop thinking that way." Applejack said. "It was our fault. We shoulda spent time with you at that party."

"No....I shouldn't have thrown it in the first place." Pinkie let her own head hang down now. "She was right. I should have just listened to her."

"We told you. Your heart was in the right place and she DID like it. It just didn't go as planned." Terra assured Pinkie.

It was beginning to seem hopeless. Every argument they had to try and make her feel better only ended up making her feel worse and worse.

"Geez and I thought Rarity was a drama queen." Spike said a bit too loudly.

His volume ended up earning him a strike to the back of the head courtesy of Agua.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Spike shouted at the blue stallion.

"We're trying to make her feel better so she'll come out. Not insult her you idiot!" he shouted back at the dragon.

"Hey hey hey." Twilight stuck her hoof in Agua's face. "You do NOT hit the dragon or call the dragon an idiot! If anything I'M the only one here allowed to do that!"

"Yeah! Wait wha?" Spike looked at his mother figure with confusion.

"Enough of this." Pyro hardly had to raise his voice in order to make them stop. He then turned to the door. "What do we do now?" he asked anypony.

"Oh the poor thing. I feel just awful." Fluttershy let her head hang. "I guess I shouldn't have freaked out as much."

"I feel awful." That was the line of the day so far. Everypony felt like all of their efforts were to be in vain. Rainbow Dash wasn't about to walk out of there leaving her partner distraught. She walked up to the door and began to speak.

"Gem, you don't have to talk alright? Just listen. You of all ponies know that I've made TONS of mistakes. I've told you about every single one of them. Well today, I made the biggest mistake I've probably ever made in my entire life. I was disloyal. I betrayed the element that I'm supposed to represent. When I saw Spitfire come to the party, I bailed on you to try and hang out with her. Well it turns out that didn't go so well because she was too busy having a chat about stupid dresses with Rarity. Then I did something even stupider. I forgot about you until I saw you leave the party in tears. When I saw you...I just broke, Gem. I wanted to run after you screaming and begging you to forgive me. All I want, what I REALLY want more than to be a Wonderbolt right now, is to see you happy again. Especially today. You're probably the...no. You ARE the only pony who is cooler than me. And today everypony should know it. Please, Gem. I swear my loyalty to you will be the strongest ever known in Equestria. Just....please. Come out."

That was all she had to say. The multi colored pegasus stood still and silent waiting to hear of there would be a noise coming from the other side of the door. Seconds passed until two full minutes went by. Not a single sound was heard and all of them turned to leave.

"Well...we tried." Agua muttered. "What now?"

"Now.....we leave I guess." Spike replied. "I don't think there's much else we can do at this point."

He was right. They tried all they could to make her come out. One by one they all turned to leave Rainbow's house while she herself said one more thing to the door.

"I....I really wanted to make this place your home. I just want you to know that."

Still sad but not sure what else to do, Rainbow Dash turned to follow her friends out of the house to leave Gem alone.

"Home?"

As soon as her voice traveled into everyone's eardrums, they ceased movement forward immediately and turned around to see her peaking her head out the door.

"Like...a REAL home?"

Rainbow smiled sincerely.

"Of course. You live here now. I mean if it's cool with you, this could be your new home."

Home. Something Gem never really felt she had her entire life even back in Alamante. She never felt welcome anywhere so she never considered anyplace to be a real place to call it before. That to her was one of the greatest gifts she had ever gotten. A place to call a true home. It just took her a while to realize it.

"Well....I guess...I could give you guys another shot."

Smiles began to break out among the group as Gem finally let her entire body come out of the doorway. Once the door behind her was shut, she found herself in a tight hug courtesy of her partner.

She soon found herself surrounded once again by her friends and adoptive siblings as they all silently enjoyed the sight of seeing Gem hugging Rainbow Dash back. Right after Rainbow was finished hugging her, Gem was immediately hugged again by Terra who was sniffling and succeeding in keeping tears back.

"I'm sorry I called you a brat." She instantly apologized.

"It's okay, Terra. I forgive you"

Her conscience cleared, Terra backed off and allowed everypony else to get closer.

"So you ready to get back to yer party now?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah. I think I am."

Nodding, all of them headed for the door.

"But first, tell me this."

Once again, they all stopped in their tracks and turned around to hear Gem speak.

"Tell me why. Why do Equestrian's celebrate each other's birthdays? I just want to know why."

Twilight decided to answer that one as she looked the younger unicorn in the eye.

"In all honesty, Gem, I don't really know exactly why they are celebrated to begin with. But I formulated my own opinion as the years went by. I see birthday celebrations...as a sign of friendship. One of the biggest signs I've ever seen. It's when one day comes around every year, and everypony close to you makes sure they do everything they can to make you feel like the most special and important pony in the world, just for that day. We just...forgot about that."

"There were so many things happening at once and we let it all jus get in our way of doing what we should have done. Put aside our problems and just spent some time with you." Rarity added.

"Well let's just make sure to get take two right. Okay?" Gem asked.

Every single one of them nodded in response.

"We promise." Pinkie Pie smiled. "Now let's go PARTY!"

That was the intended action for all of them now. They just wanted to go back to the bakery, and have fun with the birthday girl and the other guests there. However when they got there, they found Sugarcube Corner to be void of ponies.

"They all LEFT?!" she cried. "Why?! Why would they leave?!"

"Well they saw the guest of honor leave and then a large group of other ponies leave not long after. My guess is they were just following our lead thinking the party was over." Spike explained.

The dragon's words had logic. But Pinkie wouldn't have it.

"I'm gonna go get everypony back here!"

"No."

That one word is what made Pinkie Pie stop advancing to the door. Usually it wouldn't have been enough to stop her, but seeing as how it was coming from Gem, it made her halt.

"But Gem..."

"Pinkie, it's okay. Really it is. You guys have gone so far out of your way to make this day so great for me. I don't need a big crowd so long as I have all of you."

All of their hearts began to warm up hearing that. Even with an empty party room Gem was happy. Now that she had her family and friends with her she didn't care who else was there.

"Well....what do we do now?" Agua wondered.

"Let's see, there's a birthday cake we have to start eating, tons of presents to open up, lots of music to play and dance to, games to play, what do you guys wanna do first?" Pinkie bounced around as she asked the question.

There were indeed a lot of options for Gem to choose from. But she didn't want to do any of those.

"Can...can I just talk for a second?"

"Of course, honey." Cadence replied.

Gem nodded then stood in front of them to speak.

"I'm sorry I ran out of the party. But I think I know why I did. Not because Terra yelled at me. Rather I guess I was just a little freaked out by all of this. I've never had something this good happen to me in my entire life. All this work put together and all those presents bought, just for me. But it scared me because.....we're in the middle of big fight you guys. With a psycho villain who wants to kill us. I just....I love you guys so much for doing this. You guys are the first real family I've ever had. This party made me realize just how important you are to me. All of you. So....I guess what I'm trying to say here is, what I SHOULD'VE said back when this party first got planned.....thank you."

She then looked over to the pink mare who came up with the idea of the party.

"Especially you, Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie bounced right over and gave her a bone crushing hug. Literally. Pinkie's hug was very tight and a few pops were heard coming from Gem's back and her face went into an expression that showed pain.

"Oh sweet Cybelle! Getheroffgetheroffgetheroff!"

Rarity went over and grabbed Gem while Typhoon got hold of Pinkie.

"Pinkie, hon, you are sort of crushing her from ze inside." Typhoon grabbed Pinkie's hooves and started to pry her loose while Rarity pulled on Gem.

Once she was free, Gem took in a deep breath and violently jerked her body up. That made a few bones in her back crack back into place.

"Oh no. I missed it already?"

That was a voice none of them were expecting to hear that night. But they were correct in guessing who it was. They turned and saw Cryo walking through the door still wearing the clothes from his date.

"Cryo? What are you doing here?" Twilight wondered. "We weren't expecting to see you back so soon."

"Yeah what happened to your date?" Terra added.

Cryo strangely smiled.

"I uh...I walked out. I told Octavia I was sorry but I had to be here tonight. So I left my share of the check and left."

None of them were expecting him to be there. But more than ever they never expected him to just walk out on a pony he was on a date with.

"Yeah so chances are there won't be a future with me and her." the stallion of ice added.

"But Cryo, it was your very first date." Gem told him.

That made him smile directly at Gem.

"And this is YOUR very first birthday party. And I wouldn't miss it for a date with the most beautiful mare in the world. You're my sister and today is about you. Not me or anypony else."

Gem was about to start crying again. Then Cryo's horn was covered in a cyan aura and a small wrapped box floated out of his pocket and in front of Gem's face. The glow surrounding the box changed from cyan to electric purple as Gem took hold of it and began to unwrap it. After she got through the paper, she opened the box and saw what was inside. It was a pair of light blue hoop earrings to which Gem gasped at.

"Cryo...these are just like the ones I used to wear...back home." The tears were starting to break the dams of her eyes.

A hearty laugh escaped his mouth and the earrings floated out of the box and up to the young unicorn's ears. The holes from her previous ones from years ago were still there. So it was easy for Cryo to gently insert them into her ears. Soon enough, the magical grip was released and the hoops dangled from her ears. Rarity walked up so she could get a closer look.

"Oh my stars, Gem. Those are beautiful!"

The newly christened fourteen year old gently tapped the right side earring with her hoof and giggled. She realized what Twilight said was true. Gem truly felt like she was the most special girl in the world.

"Just do me a small favor." Cryo started. "The next time I do something that bothers you or makes you upset, just come out and tell me. Okay? I'm your brother. I'll listen to you."

Gem bit her bottom lip as she began to feel guilty for ever thinking the tiniest bit less of her brother. Especially Cryo. Terra was right. He was always the most attentive of the three males of the group and the one who loves to make joy out of anything he does. Why wouldn't he be willing to listen to his sister talk about what's troubling her. She couldn't think of an answer to it. She was only able to get out one word.

"Okay." Then she turned around and looked at Rainbow. "I've never felt more special in my whole life."

The cyan pegasus chuckled.

“Happy birthday, Gem.”

That was it. She was so happy she couldn’t hold it in anymore. Gem threw herself on Rainbow Dash and hugged her tighter than anything the pegasus ever felt before. One second later, Gem was bawling again.

"Oh come on, Gem. Please don't start crying again." Rainbow pleaded not wanting to get her shoulder soaked.

Gem stopped sobbing long enough to speak clearly.

"Rainbow, these are happy tears. I couldn't stop them even if I wanted to. So just let them fall alright?"

Her weeping of euphoria continued as Rainbow smiled and gently returned the hug. Soon, she found Cryo and Pinkie wrapping their arms around the two pegasi. Then Typhoon and Fluttershy, followed by Applejack and Terra, then Twilight, Pyro, Spike, and Cadence. Rarity had to drag Agua over to be a part of it, but he was on the outer rim of the group hug. Grumbling and looking away, he put up his arms and let them rest on the other ponies making it look like he was at least trying to attempt it.

"Well I must say, this is quite a sight to walk into."

That voice was brand new to all of them except for three. Cryo gasped upon hearing it and swiftly turned around to the door. Just walking through it was the gray mare he was not too long ago sharing dinner with.

Quickly as they could, the group all did their best to get back on their hooves so the stallion of ice could speak. Gem wiped her eyes dry as soon as she was free from the bottom of the pile.

"Octavia? What are...wait. How did you get here so fast?" Cryo wondered.

"I have a friend studying teleportation in Celestia's school. After you left I went to him and asked him to send me here."

She approached him making herself no less than a body's length away from him.

"You see, I have had a lot of dates in my past. And nopony has ever run out on me before in the middle of dinner."

The frosty unicorn sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Look, I'm sorry I left like that. But this is where I needed to be tonight."

Octavia held a hoof up to his face to stop him from going on. Then she took her turn to speak.

"It's alright, Cryo. I understand. Really I do. I don't have any brothers or sisters myself but if I did I would have probably done the same thing."

The cellist moved past Cryo then walked to Gem.

"Your brother is a very caring stallion. Happy birthday, Miss Gem."

A wide smile from ear to ear came across the birthday girl's face.

"I like her." She said to Cryo.

Cryo chuckled as his date looked back at him.

"Besides. It was only the first date, right?" she said.

"Well yeah I suppose you...wait." It took a few seconds for the words to register into his brain but soon enough he got it. "FIRST date?"

Octavia then blushed as the next round of words came from her mouth.

"Well, we didn't really have a chance to talk that much. But from what I did learn of you tonight, Cryo, is that you are one of the most caring stallions I have ever met. And I would very much like to get to know you a lot better."

It felt like all the pieces of one big jigsaw puzzle were just walling into place in perfect sync for Cryo and Gem.

"And let's not forget. You owe me a dance, mister." the grey mare laughed.

Cryo didn't know it at the time, but he was at the moment smiling bigger than he had ever smiled before in his life. It made Octavia giggle seeing him in such glee.

"Am I smiling big right now?" Cryo asked through his teeth.

"Yes. Yes you are." Octavia answered still giggling.

"Does it look creepy?" He was being serious

"Actually yes it does. Dial it back a bit."

He followed her instructions exactly.

"There. That's good." Octavia then looked around. "Well...this isn't much of a party anymore is it?"

"Yeah. What are we supposed to do now?" Agua wondered.

Gem looked at Octavia and Cryo with a smirk.

"Well....you two can still have that dance."

The two of them looked at her not really getting her words.

"Gem, are you sure?" Cryo asked.

"Of course I'm sure. I told you to go on the date in the first place. It wouldn't be right if you don't finish it." The pony of plasma reasoned.

"But there's not even any music playing." Octavia observed.

"Oh I can fix that." Cryo looked over to his red brother. "Pyro....would you mind?"

Only Pyro knew what Cryo was talking about. The red stallion grumbled a bit, then smiled at his adoptive brother.

"For you, anything."

Pyro walked away from the rest of the group and over to a crate Pinkie had pulled out. It was Cryo's record stash. The red stallion browsed through each record until he found one that would seem to fit the mood Cryo and Octavia would want for a first dance.

"What's he doing?" Twilight had no idea what her partner was up to.

"Watch and listen to zis." Typhoon replied.

The music kicked on and blasted through the speaker of the record player. The speakers that Vinyl Scratch had left behind amplified the sound into a level of sound that swirled around them. Cryo immediately let it fill him as his body prepared to make its moves.

A mixture of jazz instruments were heard as Pyro was seen standing bipedal near a microphone on a stand. Cryo stood on his hind legs as well and offered Octavia a hoof. Slowly she took it and the white unicorn led her away and into the more open center of the room as Pyro began to sing.

*BGM: Sway; By Michael Buble*

When marimba rhythms start to play
Dance with me, make me sway
Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more

Pyro's singing voice was a new experience for Twilight and the other elementals of harmony. The stallion of flames himself never thought that much of it. But to the others it was a shame he didn't. His singing was spectacular.

Right before the second verse started up, Octavia was pulled forward and upwards towards Cryo. His fee hoof wrapped around her waist and Octavia's did the same with his. Then their four hind legs began to move together.

Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me

Octavia was surprised by Cryo's talent. She didn't know that many ponies that know how to dance in the bipedal fashion let alone let along in the expert style Cryo was utilizing.

Other dancers may be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have that magic technique
When we sway I go weak

Pinkie Pie made her way over to the light switches. After a few flicks, the lights were dimmed and two spotlights somehow shone on the dancing couple and the singing stallion.

I can hear the sound of violins
Long before, it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now

The lyrics took a brief pause and Cryo and Octavia began to speed up their pace a little bit doing more advanced moves. Octavia was astonished in a good way. She loved to dance like this and longed to meet somepony that could partake in the style with her. And here he was in all of his icy glory. Being a mare raised in Canterlot, she was taught in all classy styles of pretty much everything.

All the other ponies began to move their bodies a bit entranced by the music as well. Spike was looking at Pyro who was very much into his own vocal performance as Cryo and Octavia were into their physical one. His eyes were closed and he was moving his head around completely unaware that other ponies were watching him. When he opened his eyes, he locked onto to Cryo and Octavia and began to once again sing for them.

Other dancers may be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have the magic technique
When we sway I go weak

I can hear the sound of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now

"Wow he's good." Rarity whispered to Applejack.

"Who? Cryo or Pyro?" the farmer whispered back.

"I was referring to both of them."

When marimba rhythms start to play
Dance with me, make me sway
Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more

Another brief pause came for both the lyrics and the music this time. Cryo had Octavia frozen in a pose where she was bending back and her eyes were pointed to the ceiling. Once the music returned, Pyro's voice and the tune went up into a slightly higher pitch.

Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me

Swaying was not all the two dancers were doing. It was like poetry in motion taking place in a bakery. Even Mr. and Mrs. Cake peeked out from the kitchen door to get a look.

"Atta boy, Cryo. Smooth." Mr. Cake whispered.

Cryo decided right there to add his own little touch to it. He froze a small portion of the ground as Octavia swung one of her back legs up and rested in his shoulder. Then the stallion lifted her up and they began to spin.

When marimbas start to plaaaaaaaaaaaaay
Hold me close, make me swaaaaaaaaaaay
Like an ocean hugs the shoooooooooore
Hold me close, sway me moooooooooore

The girls aside from his sibling all couldn't help but swoon a bit and feel a little jealous of Octavia when they saw Cryo perform that little technique. Her leg came back down and the two of them began to wrap it up as did Pyro with the words.

Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me

In the final notes of the song, Octavia took both of her back legs off the ground and wrapped them around Cryo's waist. Then she held onto his shoulder with one hoof as Cryo dipped her to go along with the move. Then a few seconds passed before a roaring applause came.

That was when everypony realized that all the guests from the party had returned and were now stomping their hooves to the ground applauding Cryo's and Octavia's performance. Pinkie Pie hopped next to Cryo and used the microphone.

"Wait. What are you all doing here? I thought you ponies all left!" she said with an amplified voice.

"Well we DID." Bonbon replied. "But then we heard the music and wanted to find out what it was."

"And well....here we are." Lyra gestured her hoof out to all the ponies. "So are we gonna have a party or what?"

"I think that's up to her." Pyro pointed to Gem.

Now all eyes were directed to the young purple unicorn as she smiled genuinely to all of them.

"Heck yeah we're havin' a party! C'mon! Let's kick this up!"

Once again, the ponies all cheered in approval and the music immediately started up again when Cryo put on another record, this one labeled, "How We Do". The music started up and most of the ponies bobbed their heads to the beat of it. From there, the party resumed where it picked up. This time it really was a party. All of the gifts Gem received range from books, to trinkets, and even stuff she found entrancing. Her siblings and their partners really nailed it though. They all got her science related stuff to help her with her experiments. Twilight went even so far as to find an old Alamantian novel written in Equestrian language. It was written by one of the great scientific pioneers that hailed from the Eneoji tribe like she did.

Then there came another tradition the Alamantians all had to learn. Pinkie Pie and the Cakes wheeled out a cake decorated in purple icing with black lacing around it. On top of it was Gem's cutie mark. After Twilight explained what to do, Pyro waved his hoof and lit up the 14 candles sticking out of the top. Then the entire party sang a small song to her with only four lines.

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Geeeeeeem
Happy birthday to you!

In her head, Gem thought of the thing she desired most in the world at that very moment.

"I wish my family will be together forever."

With that she blew out the candles in a single blow and Pinkie sliced into it beginning to serve out slices to the party. Good times, good food, good company, and a lot of good pictures. Gem's favorite was the final one of the night when the whole group all huddled together in front of a camera. Octavia prepped the settings on it.

"Alright everypony ready?" Octavia said to the group.

"Almost." Gem replied. "We need you to get in here with us."

Octavia, and the rest of the group was taken by surprise with that line from Gem's mouth.

"Gem..." Cryo started. "What are you doing? What if she and I don't end up going far?"

"Well what if you do?" was all Gem replied with.

None of them could figure out how to even respond to that. Smiling, Cryo waved a hoof to Octavia.

"Uh...yeah sure get in here!"

Octavia smiled and put the camera on timer so she could get in. She stood next to Cryo and thought of a little idea. Right as the camera flashed, she kissed his cheek to make sure that memory would never die. It was such a great night she didn't even care if she went further with Cryo. All she cared about was that because of him, she was treated to a memorable night that she will undoubtedly never forget.

A couple hours later, the party truly did end and everypony began to go home. Soon enough, it was only The Alamantians, the elements of harmony, Cadence, Spike, and Octavia who remained. She and Cryo stood at the door while everypony else cleaned the place up and pretended not to listen to them talk.

"Well this certainly was an....interesting night. Wouldn't you say?" Cryo chuckled.

"Interesting? My ensemble is never going to believe this." Octavia laughed as well with her response.

"You heading back to Canterlot tonight?" the stallion considerately asked.

"No. I'll catch a train in the morning. A friend of mine, Vinyl is going to let me stay with her."

Cryo nodded. He knew who she was talking about. Vinyl Scratch, the town DJ and music enthusiast just like he was.

"Well that's good to hear." He said.

Before he knew it, he found himself looking into her purple eyes and she was staring right into his icy cyan ones. It took them two more minutes to realize just what they were doing. Once they did both of them blushed and looked away from one another.

"So uh.....wanna do this again sometime?" Cryo finally managed to get out.

Still blushing furiously, Octavia waited for the right moment when Cryo's face was pointed right at her, then she leaned forward, closed her eyes, and connected her lips to his. As soon as Cryo felt something on his mouth and saw that it was her own, his eyes went wider then a set of dinner plates and his face turned even more red than Pyro's entire coat. The kiss lasted for barely even two seconds but it was enough to make his heart increase speed like crazy.

When Octavia looked at him and saw his facial expression, she couldn't help but giggle.

"You can consider that a definite "yes."

With those words, she turned and exited Sugarcube Corner while Cryo was left standing there still in complete shock over what happened.

"Uh dude? You alright?" Agua waved a hoof in front of his face.

The stallion of ice finally snapped back into reality. But his face was still intensely red.

"Y-yes. Yeah! I'm more than fine! I'm incredible!"

Agua chuckled.

"Well that's good to know. Right now, I gotta go. I have a couple things to take care of." He said.

Cryo looked at him confused.

"What business?"

His answer to that question came when two pegasus mares of similar coat and mane colors approached Agua from both sides. Both of them seemed to have grayish blue coats and cyan colored manes. The one with the cutie mark of three dragonflies was a bit lighter in tone and had a straighter mane and tail. There was also a pink bow on top of her head. The other one had a shooting start emblazoned on her flank and had a more spikier manestyle. Both of them looked at Agua with mischievous smirks.

"Ready to go?" they both asked in unison.

Agua couldn't help but flash a smile at Cryo who was rolling his eyes and sighing.

"Of course, ladies." He replied.

The three of them left leaving Cryo to watch him leave as the others all joined him to watch them walk towards Rarity's house. Rarity herself shuddered hoping that she wouldn't have to hear them while she attempted to sleep.

"Man, how is it Agua always takes home one if not two ladies?" Cryo wondered.

"Dude, why do you even care? You have a girlfriend now." Spike reminded the icy stallion.

He had shortly forgotten about that little detail. Remembering it made him smile once more.

"Yeah. Yeah! The dragon is right! I have a girlfriend!"

"Woo-hoo! Shout it to the world, Cryo!" Terra cried.

"I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!!!!"

That was as loud as Cryo's voice could possibly get and hearing it made everyone near him jump startled by it. Terra was rubbing the inside of her ears the best she could with her hoof.

"Dude, I was just kidding."

"Well I wasn't! I'm so happy right now I don't care if Canterlot hears me!"

The yellow mare chuckled and wrapped her arm around Cryo's back and looked off in the direction Octavia walked.

"I will say this, bro. You and Octy sure looked cool on that dance floor."

The frosty uncorn chuckled himself and patted Terra's hoof.

"Cool and smooth." He muttered.

With that, they all went inside to help clean up the mess from the party. If they had looked up, they would have seen the all too familiar catlike eyes of their enemy leering down from above.

"How disgustingly sweet. It makes me want you hurl all over this wretched town."

Through the roof of the bakery, she witnessed the twelve ponies of her adversarial relationship working together to sweep the floors and do other tasks to clean the place up.

"They are becoming stronger. If they unlock the power of the gods, all I have worked to achieve will be for nothing. I must act swiftly if I am to ensure my victory. But how?"

Nightmare was called a lot of thing. Crazy, scary, demented, the list goes on. But the word stupid was never on that list. She was no fool. If she told herself she would find a way to make sure she won, she would stop at nothing to formulate the best possible plan to make it happen. She then looked back to Canterlot where in her mind she began to laugh wickedly. Then she looked up at a nearby mountain whose peak went higher than the rest.

"Let's see how they handle this."

She vanished into the night and left the elements to enjoy their fun while they could. She was driven to make sure it didn't last.

The Oncoming Storm

Alright you guys know the drill. I only own my OC's and the plot of this story, everything else belongs to Hasbro, yadda yadda yadda. Either way ENJOY!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 24: The Oncoming Storm

*Ponyville; Town Hall; 11:30 AM*

"Gem! Twilight! Reinforce the barrier, they're starting to break through!" Pyro shouted.

Twilight's and Gem's horns both lit up again and shone intensely. Their combined efforts made the shield surrounding town hall just a little bit stronger to keep the enemies out. Afterwards, both of them collapsed to the ground barely finding the strength to stand back up.

"Pyro, we can't keep this up much longer without Cadence!" Twilight cried as she rubbed her head.

"I know, I know. Just don't give up! I'll think of something!"

"Well, you better think fast, brother!" Typhoon shouted. "Zose frozen freaks look really nasty!"

Pyro's brain was being put to the test here. Town hall was filled with scared ponies and they were all starting to become doubtful of he and his siblings' abilities to protect them; that is never a good sign. He was distracted from that for a while as Terra and Applejack returned from the basement.

"Any better?" he asked them.

"No. If anything, she's worse." Terra sadly replied.

"Her cold is a really bad one. Ah don't think she's gonna be able to use her protection magic with a fever that high." Applejack added.

A loud smack echoed through the building when his own red and orange tipped hoof smacked into his face.

"Oh, that's just wonderful. We have a building filled with almost half of Ponyville's population, a freak blizzard threatening to freeze us all to death, Cadence is sick, four of the elements are missing, and the snow outside is literally coming alive and trying to kill us. Is there anything else I forgot to mention?!"

"Yeah, there is actually. We just ran out of food." Rainbow Dash added.

"LOVELY!"

It was all happening so fast and everything was quickly taking a turn for the worse. Now it wouldn't be long before the snow beasts broke through the shield. Worried, he looked out the window and through the wind and snow to view the mountain of the highest peak.

"Cryo, Pinkie......where are you?"

*96 hours earlier; One week after Gem's birthday*

The noses of everypony living in Ponyville were filled with delight as they breathed in the fresh air of the warm sunny day. The weather team had it easy today. All that had to be done was put a light amount of cloud overhead and let the sun take care of the rest. With such a light workload, Rainbow Dash could take half the day off to work on her flying. That meant her partner was needed to take down notes. The last thing the weather team leader had to do for the day was sign off on a delivery of rainclouds from the Cloudsdale factory for next week's shower.

As soon as her name was signed on that parchment, Rainbow took off like a shot for the library, excited to get to work on some new tricks. Sooner than soon, the library came into view and she saw two ponies standing on the balcony rail doing a meditation exercise. Those two were Pyro and Cadence. Rainbow stopped right in front of them and startled them both with her greeting.

"Hi guys!"

She didn't really just calmly say it as much as she did shout it. The volume of her voice caused Cadence and Pyro to lose their balance and fall off the rail and back onto the balcony floor. Cadence chuckled but Pyro looked up at Rainbow with a slight glare.

"Rainbow Dash, how many times have I asked you not to do that while I'm meditating?" he asked.

"Boy, I lost count, Pyro." She answered honestly. "Where's Gem?"

The reason she was asking him was the young purple unicorn had a new hobby. She loved doing science experiments and the best place for her to do that right now without her own lab was at the library with Twilight. So, Twilight offered to let her help for it seemed beneficial on both ends; Twilight got somepony to help her out with some of her less magic involved experiments and Gem got to do what she loved to do all day.

"She's inside with Twilight doing an experiment." The red stallion answered. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we were doing something before you interrupted."

"Oh! Right, sorry! Don't mind me!" Rainbow said apologetically.

She then let herself land and knocked on the door. Someone purple did answer it but it wasn't a pony. It was the dragon of the house.

"Hey, Spike. How's it hangin’?" The pegasus greeted.

"It's almost a nightmare here." Spike spoke his true thoughts. "Gem has been here doing weird science stuff all day and its driving me crazy! So many big words I don't understand going back and forth, it's almost like Twilight copied herself!"

Rainbow Dash laughed at seeing the baby dragon in so much confusion.

"Hey, it could be worse, Spike. Pyro could have told Gem to be Twilight's partner instead of mine." She giggled.

"Remind me to hug him for not doing so." Spike groaned. "She's down in the basement."

Rainbow Dash nodded and trotted inside past Spike and headed to the basement door. Halfway down the stairs she saw her partner standing next to Twilight both of them wearing goggles over their eyes. Rainbow originally thought Twilight was the one telling Gem what to do. When she got within hearing range however, she found it to be the opposite and Gem was instructing Twilight.

"So you're saying that this solution will cause the mixture here to react?" The solution Twilight was referring to was a test tube filled with a shiny silver fluid while the mixture was a flask filled halfway with a bubbling green fluid.

"Positive. But no more than one drop." Gem instructed as she looked at the green fluid. "This stuff is highly volatile. More than a tiny drop could blow up the entire house."

"W-w-w-w-w-what?" Rainbow made her presence known in a way she was not proud of.

The two unicorns noticed her stutter and turned around, both smiling to see her.

"Oh! Hi there, Rainbow. If you're going to be down here then you'll need a pair of these." Twilight explained as she levitated a pair of safety goggles over to Rainbow's head and put them on for her.

"Uh....thanks. Gem, did you say, 'blow up the entire house'?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, that. Come on down here. You gotta see this." Gem gestured with her hoof.

"I'm good up here, thanks." Rainbow replied, not willing to admit she was scared.

"Whatever." Gem went on. "Anyways, Twilight and I put together a chemical mixture here with the main ingredient being magnesium."

That last word was one Rainbow Dash was not familiar with.

"Magnesi-what now?"

Both the unicorns rolled their eyes and Twilight decided to explain.

"Magnesium, Rainbow Dash. It's a common metal substance that is used in the making of fireworks and other pyrotechnical things."

Then Gem chimed back in again eager to explain exactly what they were doing.

"What we've done is mixed a few chemical mixtures with a small amount of magnesium dust." She gestured to the test tube with the silver fluid. " Now, this is a catalyst that should bring on an interesting and yet totally cool reaction."

She and Twilight both backed up a few steps and Gem levitated the test tube over the opening of the flask. She had to get it right with the dosage. More than one drop and boom went the library. Slowly, the test tube tilted over and the silver fluid began to creep closer and closer to the tiny spout. Twilight grabbed hold of a rag with her magic and used it to wipe Gem's forehead free of the sweat coming from it. The electric purple glow from her horn stayed steady and her breaths were taken in deep.

"Gotta hold steady...."

The test tube slowly tipped once again as the very edge of the catalystic fluid neared the opening of the tube. Finally, with the gentlest nudge, a single drop fell from the tube and into the bubbling green pool in the flask.

Gem immediately pulled the test tube away from the area as soon as the drop was inside. All Twilight, Rainbow, and she had to do now was wait for something to happen. A minute went by though and nothing really seemed to change. The green stuff was bubbling the same way with no observable difference.

"But...I don't understand it." Gem took a look at the book she and Twilight were using for a guide. "Didn't we do everything right?"

Twilight put her head next to Gem's and looked at the pages.

"I thought we did. I did the calculations and measurements for that catalyst five times over before actually mixing it. What did we do wrong?"

"Um...girls?" Rainbow muttered.

"Did we miss something? Did we not put enough magnesium in the main solution?" Gem wondered

"Girls?"

"We put MORE than enough of that dust in there. With that catalyst it should have given off at least a measly spark." Twilight responded.

"Girls, I think you should..."

"Then why is nothing happening? All of this should be..."

"Would you just look already?!"

Rainbow finally raised her voice up into the point of a shout. The two unicorns first looked back at her and then to where her hoof was pointing. The green in the flask was beginning to bubble more rapidly and smoke was starting to pour out.

"Oohhh.....here we go." Gem smiled.

The smoke slowed down a bit and then something else flew out of the flask opening. It looked like a blue colored spark. Then it was followed by another spark, this one red. Then, green, then white, then purple, orange, and suddenly a whole array of sparks flew out of the bottle and seemed to explode when they reached halfway between the floor and the ceiling. Twilight, Gem, and Rainbow all smiled seeing the result.

"That's awesome! It's like a firework show in a bottle!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"That was the point." Twilight began. "Princess Celestia sent us the original formula for this project and we found that it was flawed. The princess asked in her letter if I would try to correct it. And with Gem's help, I did. Thanks a lot, Gem."

"It was my pleasure. Let's send the princess a letter back saying we have the complete formula." Gem suggested.

Twilight nodded, agreeing with the idea but first she, Gem, and Rainbow stayed down there for a few more minutes enjoying the show the experiment gave them. It died down after five minutes. After the two unicorns cleaned up, they headed back upstairs where Spike wrote down what Twilight said onto a letterhead and rolled it up along with Gem's and her formula notes. With a puff of his fire breath, the letter was burnt into a flying cloud of ash and made its way out the window towards Canterlot.

"Hm...I wonder if Pyro can do that too." Spike thought out loud.

"Doubtful. He may be a manipulator of fire but I think your flames are different than his." Twilight answered.

Spike shrugged and decided to go take a nap after he declared himself on break.

"Alright then. Gem, you ready to head out to the field?" Rainbow asked her partner.

"We'll have to stop by the house first so I can pick up my blackboard."

That was one of her birthday gifts from Fluttershy, along with a box of chalk sticks. She was ecstatic to receive it and hugged the pegasus in thanks.

"Alright, let's hit it then." Rainbow headed out the door and Gem followed her but not before waving at her fellow unicorn.

"Thanks for the experiment, Twilight. I had fun."

"It was my pleasure, Gem. I have a few more to do in the next few days if you want to help me out." Twilight said back.

"I'd love to. Count on it!"

Then she left in tow of her partner, leaving Twilight alone for a few seconds before the door of the door of the library knocked again. She didn't know who else it could be but decided to go and see for herself. When she reached the door, she met the dark azure eyes of her fashion loving friend.

"Oh! Hi, Rarity. What brings you by?" Twilight greeted as she stepped aside, allowing Rarity to come in.

Rarity walked in and explained her presence there.

"I came to ask if you had a bottle or two of hairspray that I could borrow." She started. "I'm going to need it for the weekend in Canterlot."

Twilight remembered now. After Agua finished reading those books sent by Princess Luna, she sent him a letter requesting that he come to Canterlot for a few days to begin his lessons. He originally intended to go on his own, however when he saw the look in Rarity's eyes at the mention of the name, "Canterlot", he soon found there was no way out and that he HAD to invite her otherwise the look would be in his head all the time. So, reluctantly, he invited her to come along for the trip. After he had popped his ears following the squeal Rarity released, he went to Fluttershy and respectfully asked if she would watch over Bobo while he was gone. She was happy to accept the clam into her home for a few days. Typhoon was standing next to her at the time and both took note of this; it was one of the very rare occurrences where Agua actually said, "Thank you."

So with Bobo in a tank filled with water and Opalescence in a basket, the partners of generosity and water dropped off their pets with the mares of wind and kindness for the weekend. Now all they had to do was go back to the boutique and finish packing. And that is what led Rarity to the library.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that." Twilight chuckled. "A whole weekend alone with just you and Agua? Good luck."

Rarity giggled right back at the statement, knowing all too well what being near Agua on a regular basis was like.

"I won't be seeing much of him, thankfully. He'll be too occupied with Princess Luna to spend any time with me." Rarity said with a smile. "Now about that hairspray."

"Did someone say, hairspray?"

That voice came from the top of the staircase where the purple and green scaled assistant of the library was starting to come down with a can of hairspray grasped in his hand.

"I thought you were asleep." His mother figure commented.

"I was, but then I heard Rarity come in. How could I sleep through that?"

Twilight rolled his eyes at Spike's persistence but smiled anyway. As did Rarity before her eyes beamed with an idea.

"Would you mind if I took Spike with me too?" she asked Twilight. "I'm going to be stocking up for the shop and a set of claws like his would be very helpful."

Spike's smile reached both edges of his face as he and Rarity together looked at Twilight for approval.

"I guess some time away from the library wouldn't be too hard for me." Twilight said. "I can ask Pyro to fill in for you."

"You're gonna ask me to do what now?"

Once again, the voice came from the top of the staircase as the stallion using it walked down with Cadence behind him.

"Spike's gonna go with Rarity and Agua to Canterlot for the weekend. You don't mind taking over for Spike while he's gone do you?" Twilight asked.

"I guess I can. After all, you are letting me live here for free." Pyro replied. "It's the least I can do."

"Great! It's all settled then!" Rarity excitedly burst out as she took the hairspray from Spike's hand and into her magical grip. "Spike, pack a bag and meet Agua and I at the train station in an hour."

"You got it, Rarity!"

With a final nod, Rarity made her way out the door to finish packing her things and to make a list of all the supplies she would need to purchase while away. That left Spike to go and pack his things while Twilight, Pyro, and Cadence all sat down for a minute to share a cup of tea. They conversed about a few small things until Spike came down with a bag packed for himself, mostly with gemstones to munch on.

"You behave yourself, Spike." Twilight told him as he headed for the door.

Spike was about to open it up before he thought of something. He looked back at Cadence and Twilight with a frown and approached them.

"Um....is there anything you want me to say to Shining Armor in case I see him?" he asked.

Both the girls frowned upon hearing the name.

"Tell him that if he wants to talk, he can come here because I'm sure not running to him." Cadence confidently said.

"I don't really have anything, Spike. Just keep the secret about me being the reincarnation of a god. Okay?" Twilight asked.

"You got it. Have a fun weekend you guys."

Finally, Spike headed out the door and began to trek to the train station. Along the way, he passed by Pinkie Pie who was carrying a saddlebag filled with all sorts of baking materials and ingredients.

"Hiya, Spike! Where ya headed?" she asked, chipper as always.

"To the train station. I'm going to Canterlot. Uh....." He then looked around Pinkie a bit confused. "Where's Cryo? He's usually always with you isn't he?"

"Oh he's back at the bakery helping Mr. and Mrs. Cake out with a few things. Today's a busy day so we needed an extra pair of hooves. Though Cryo is a unicorn so we got an extra pair of hooves and a horn all in one."

"Well okay. Tell him I said hi when you get back." Spike requested.

"Oki Doki Loki, Spike! Have fun in Canterlot!" With that, Pinkie bounced back to the bakery.

Upon entering the door of Sugarcube Corner, she looked to her right and saw Cryo was using levitation magic to work a couple of spray bottles filled with cleaner to clean the windows and the tables of the establishment at the same time. The cakes were in the back doing their thing and hustling as fast as they could to get things done. She went to them first to drop off the baking things they needed.

"Here you go, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Everything on the list is right here." Pinkie dropped her saddlebags on a cleared table.

"Thank you so much, Pinkie." Mr. Cake said with a smile. "Now would you mind helping us? We're backed up here."

"I'm on it! Tell me what to do!" Pinkie said enthusiastic to help.

Hours passed by and everything was going smoothly. Ponyville was functioning perfectly normal as it should be.

When the clock hit 4 PM, the train that left from Ponyville carrying Agua, Rarity, and Spike, pulled into the Canterlot station. After they got out of the train, they headed for the castle where the letter said they would be staying for the duration of their trip.

Upon reaching the front gate, the guards let them pass through to the inside where an aide of the princesses told the trio where exactly in the castle they would be staying. Once they reached the place, they set their bags down and noticed a problem. There were only two beds. Rarity looked over to Agua then gestured her eyes down to Spike. The stallion of water noticed this act and seemed oddly repulsed by it.

"Um....no." he said flat and simple.

The two ponies went into another room to talk while Spike shrugged and began to dig into his duffel bag filled with gemstones. Not far away from him, the partners of water and generosity were having another one of their infamous arguments. They were arguing about who should be the one to share a bed with Spike. Agua said Rarity should since Spike has a crush on her and he probably dreams of being in bed with her every night. It wasn't the thought that revolted her. She had more respect than that. What offended her was how Agua used the line in a perverted way.

The argument Rarity used as to why Agua should share the bed was that he is a boy and a lady needs her privacy in a bed be it her own or another. Agua waved it off as a lame excuse and accused her of just being selfish, something to which she was horribly offended by being the element of generosity and all.

As offended as she was, she knew shortly into the conversation that Agua wasn't going to budge on his position lightly. It was going to have to take something much stronger to make him sway his thoughts. As disgusted as she was with herself for having to resort to such a low means of negotiation, she saw no other alternative for that bed.

"If you let me have the bed, I'll introduce and talk you up to any three mares you want in Ponyville."

Just like that, Agua had given Rarity her undivided attention.

"Really now?" he raised an eyebrow not believing her for a second. "Make it seven."

"Four."

"Six."

"Four is my final offer. Take it or leave it?"

Agua grumbled not quite satisfied with four. But he took the offer anyway and shook Rarity's hoof to seal the deal. After that, Rarity dropped the news on Spike that he would be sharing a sleeping space with Agua, which was something to which the dragon sort of feared for two reasons. One: He didn't like the stallion, and two: he knew very well the kind of dreams he had because he had heard him talk about them right in front of him.

The nights were gonna be long for the next few days.

Four hours later, they were all treated to dinner that was completely free. A group of chefs from the castle kitchen had brought up an entire buffet spread for them along with a note from Princess Luna which Spike read out loud before eating anything.

"Agua, eat healthy tonight and get to sleep at a reasonable hour. We start your lessons tomorrow at the crack of dawn. I will be expecting you in the throne room at 5:30 AM.

Princess Luna."

"5:30 AM?! What am I, a rooster?" Agua complained.

"Oh stop your whining." Rarity muttered as she dug into some salad. "If I were you I'd be appreciative of the lessons she's offering."

"I am nothing BUT appreciative for Luna's offer." He replied. "But come on! I need to get more sleep than that!"

"Well then maybe you should just go to sleep after you finish eating. Get as much rest as you can, ya know?" Spike suggested.

Rarity made sure she swallowed her food before speaking again.

"Spike has a good point now, Agua. I think you should listen to him."

He groaned as he usually did whenever someone said something he didn't like to hear or thought was just plain stupidity. But with a gander at the clock, he saw that they were unfortunately right. If he was to have any chance at getting enough sleep, he needed to hit the hay right after he finished and force himself to sleep.

So after he finished his dinner, he got himself cleaned up and refreshed and headed for his bed.

"I still can't believe I have to do this. I should really...huh?"

He diverted his walking direction to the window and peeked outside turning his head in every which direction as if he was looking for something. That got his partner and their dragon companion very confused.

"Agua, what is it?" Spike wondered.

He waited twenty seconds before he got a response.

"I....I don't know."

He said it softly then slowly walked to his bed and got inside of it with Spike facing away from him and Agua the same. When Rarity climbed into her bed, all three of them bid each other goodnight and they all headed off to sleep when the unicorn turned out the light.

*Ponyville; Sugarcube Corner; 10:05 PM*

Business was good for the bakery that day. Plenty of money, plenty of customers, plenty of food made. After the shop closed, normal life, or at least as normal as it could be for the ponies that lived there, continued on as usual. Pinkie Pie had fun with the twins until it was time for them to go to bed, Mr. Cake chatted with Cryo about guy stuff but mostly concentrated on the growing romance with him and Octavia, and Mrs. Cake smiled every time Cryo offered to help with any mundane task that needed to be done around the place.

Then it came to be late with the moon overhead and the stars all glistening. That meant it was time for them all to turn in for the night and prepare for the next day to come.

"You ready to hit it, Cryo?" Pinkie asked as she came downstairs wearing a nightcap on her head.

She got no answer and instead viewed the rear end of her partner's body. His head was looking outside with a flat expression. Those two cyan irises were pointed to the sky.

"Cryo?" Pinkie tried again. "You okay?"

She tapped his shoulder.

"Huh?" Then he realized she was there. "Oh, yeah I'm fine, Pinkie."

"What were you lookin' at?" she asked truly wanting to know.

He honestly didn't have an answer for her. He just looked at her and flashed an assuring smile.

"It was nothing. I was just seeing things is all. Guess I had too many free samples from the back today." He chuckled. "Come on let's get some rest. I'm exhausted."

Pinkie could have sworn he was hiding something at the time but when he smiled and told her it was fine, her worries went away and she bounced back upstairs with her partner right behind her. But he took one last look out the window with a confused expression.

"I know I felt SOMETHING. What was it?"

*Golden Oaks Library; 10:15 PM*

As much fun as it was to help Twilight around the library as an assistant all day, Pyro was immensely relieved when the library finally closed for the day and he was done. It wasn't hard for him in anyway. It was just so boring and dull. He didn't dare tell it to Twilight but it was probably the most boring thing he had ever done. He almost wanted to ask if he could take some of the books she never reads anymore or thought were bad and take them outside to use for target practice just to put some light back in his day.

Twilight on the other hand was oblivious to her partner's boredom and had an absolute ball with him as a temporary assistant. That was another factor as to how Pyro got through the day: seeing how much it made Twilight happy. Sure he was no replacement for Spike but the fact that he was a stallion that produced flame from his body made it seem sort of similar in her eyes.

While Cadence was staying with them, she was offered the spare bed Twilight kept in storage in case of sleepovers. Never mind the fact that Cadence was staying there because of Shining Armor being in a bit of a misunderstanding mood, she and Twilight made themselves happy by thinking of it as just one long lasting sleepover.

"Oh, this is just like when you were a filly and I used to fall asleep when we were reading together. I never can remember now who was reading to who." Cadence giggled at the thought.

"Haha. Those were fun days." Twilight laughed back. "Pyro! We're headed off to bed. Feel free to do....whatever it is you do while we sleep."

She turned to face him when she talked only to find that he seemed to be looking out the window as if he were in some sort of trance.

"Pyro?" Cadence tried to get his attention.

"Hm? Oh, what is it?" that time he heard her.

"We uh...we said we're going to bed." Twilight repeated. "You okay there?"

"Uh...yeah. Yeah I'm okay. I just......I sensed something out there."

Now it got to the point where the two mares got interested in what he was saying.

"What was it?" the pink alicorn spoke first.

"I'm not sure." Was what he responded with before he turned around and headed for the basement door.

"Aren't you going to go out tonight?" Twilight asked.

"Not tonight. I'm just gonna stay inside and meditate down in the basement."

Now they definitely knew something was up. Every night Pyro had been in Ponyville, ever since he got there, which was a little over a month now, he had gone out in the night while everypony else slept. To hear him say he was staying inside was a real attention grabber. A change in habit that big was a clear indicator of suspicion.

"Pyro, I want you to be honest with us. What did you sense?" Twilight hoped he would provide a clear answer this time.

She didn't get it.

"I told you, I'm not sure. It was...vague, and it seemed to be coming from far away. I can't tell you what I sensed, Twilight, because I honestly don't have a clue as to what it was."

"Do you think maybe it was Nightmare Moon?" Cadence suggested.

"I don't know. But I do know this; because whatever it was I sensed out there...it felt strange...and cold."

He looked up to the mares one more time before heading down to the basement.

"I know this sounds strange, but put some extra blankets over your beds tonight." He requested.

"What? Why?" Twilight asked curious to his behavior.

"Please, girls. Just do it. For me." He asked again softly.

He sounded concerned. And for someone who fought off a hoard of Shadowmares with fire shooting out of his body, that's never a good sign.

"Okay, we'll do it." Cadence assured him.

The red unicorn smiled at them and bid them goodnight before he went down to the basement and closed the door behind him.

"Ooooookaaaaaay. That was new from him." Twilight said out loud. "What was up with that?"

"I don't know." Cadence replied concerned about not only what Pyro could have sensed but also Pyro himself. "But we shouldn't take his word for granted. Let's go find some blankets."

Twilight nodded and proceeded upstairs to her bedroom and went into the closet to pull out a couple extra blankets for herself and Cadence. They then climbed into bed and turned off the lights with themselves all bundled up. Cadence fell asleep a few minutes before Twilight, who was looking out her window to the moon as her eyes grew heavy.

"We'll get you soon, Nightmare Moon." She quietly murmured as her eyelids began to come down on her.

As they did, Twilight thought she saw something that seemed to float down from the sky but she paid it no mind, thinking it was just something her blurry vision had created. Then her vision went black as she drifted off into dreamland. But had she kept her eyes open for just a tad longer, she would have seen that something DID fall from the sky.

It was a snowflake.

Author's Note

Don't forget to comment and I'll see you all next chapter! :)

Lessons with Luna

I only own my OC ponies and the plot of this here fic. Everything else belongs to Hasbro and da Faust. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 26: Lessons with Luna

*Blizzard Day 1; Canterlot Castle; 5:05 AM*

The sky still had some stars shining in the sky. Everyone in Canterlot was sound asleep save for a select few. None of them had any idea of what was going on down below in Ponyville. At this current time, Ponyville itself was still asleep and they didn't know either.

Rarity was happily slumbering in her own bed with a mask over her eyes while Spike and Agua slept in the other bed with their backs turned to each other. Neither of them liked the situation one bit, nor did they seem to like each other in the same amount. But then again, with Agua that kind of reaction was the norm.

A knock at their door is what awoke them to the new morning which technically had yet to begin since the sun still wasn't up. Agua's eyes opened and viewed the clock to read five after five in the morning. He groaned wanting to go back to sweet blissful sleep but the knocking on the door continued. To make matters even worse, the voice on the other side was calling for one pony.

"Mr. Agua? Her majesty ordered a wake-up call for you." A maid from outside called.

The blue stallion groaned upon hearing his name and the news of the call.

"Oh of course she did." He yawned.

He had to slump out of bed and walk to the door eighty percent asleep and open it too tired to use his water moving to make a hand to open the door with. Once he did get it open, he saw not only the maid, but a few of the castle kitchen staff standing before him with a few trays of fresh food made just for him. The maid also had a note in the pocket of her uniform. Once they saw the not so joyous look on Agua, all of them began to regret even going near the door.

"What....do you want?" the pony of water mumbled out.

"Um.....Princess Luna ordered us to bring you some breakfast and to give you this." The maid pulled out the note and Agua took it as the kitchen ponies were allowed in to set the trays on a nearby table.

After they were free of their loads, the food staff made it a point to get out of the room as quickly and casual as possible without making it look like they were truly afraid of what a grumpy water mover would do to them. The maid however didn't show a sign that she was scared of Agua. More like she was sorry she woke him up.

"I hope you have an enjoyable-"

She got cut off when Agua took a step back and slammed the door in her face.

"....day."

Inside the room, Agua went to where the food platters were and sat his flank down in front of the table. He then opened up the folded note and read it.

"Agua,

This food should help you wake up and get energized for your lessons. Meet me in the hidden chamber behind the great Canterlot falls and don't be late.

Princess Luna."

The location was determined and Agua yawned again as he looked upon the platters of food now resting before him. There were various fruits, bread, and an interesting bowl of what appeared to be oatmeal but it was bubbling so he wasn't sure. After taking a taste, he determined that it actually was as he theorized and ate it along with an apple, a banana, a slice of bread, and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice that was also brought in. After he was finished with his breakfast, he felt some energy start to pile into him and he considered himself awake enough to take on whatever Luna could throw at him. He stood up, left the food where it was so Spike and Rarity could have some when they woke up, and then left the room.

The corridors of the castle seemed quiet in the early morning. The hydrokinetic stallion passed by a few guards who shot him mixed looks. He couldn't tell what they were thinking but he didn't really care. Along the way to the exit of the castle, he saw a door leading outside open, and the tall white alicorn of the sun standing on a balcony overlooking the dark horizon. Shrugging he began to resume his trek to the exit.

"Join me, Agua."

He only got a few steps in before Celestia called to him. Agua wasn't sure what she wanted and he didn't want to be late to meet Luna, but that didn't stop him from going out there anyway and standing next to the princess.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked as he too gazed out beyond the streets of Canterlot.

"Your sister may be a telepath, but I just have a knack of knowing the steps of somepony. Even yours." The princess replied.

"Impressive considering the fact that neither of us know each other." Agua had to give Celestia her props on that one.

The tall white alicorn took a glance to the smaller stallion then gazed back to the landscape.

"In a way, I already do know you a bit. I was friends with Poseidon and you were reborn from him."

For a little bit, Agua had forgotten about that bombshell. Being the reincarnation of the god he always prayed to at night. He was one of the few in the group who took the news rather well. Rarity took some time to get used to it and some of the others still were trying to comprehend the situation.

"Weird." Was all the blue stallion had to say.

Celestia on the other hand had a few more things on her mind she wished to address Agua on.

"I take it you were on your way to meet my sister for your training?"

"That's correct, your highness." He confirmed. "Though I'm not sure what it is she wants to teach me. I'm already an experienced water mover. I used to teach it back home in my village."

"I know my sister. If she says she can teach you something, than she knows something you obviously don't. Be wise and listen to her."

"You don't have to inform me of that, princess. I'll do my best to follow your sister's teachings."

"Good to hear." She said with a smile.

Agua was about to turn and resume his way to Luna, but then he felt something in his skin that he couldn't ignore. Looking out into the streets of Canterlot, he saw nothing that could have brought it on.

"Does it feel colder to you?" he asked the princess.

The sun goddess turned her head and looked down to him a bit confused.

"I don't feel cold." She replied. "Are you feeling okay, Agua?"

There was no doubt in Agua's mind that he was perfectly fine. There was something out there that was making the air colder but for some reason he was the only one around who could feel it.

"I'm fine, princess. I should be going."

With that, he turned around to leave but he stopped before he took a step forward seeing a guard in the doorway. That guard being the captain himself looking at Agua with a light glare. Light as it was he still had a glare that read he clearly didn't like being near the Alamantian.

"Shining Armor." Agua muttered his name.

"Water mover." He mumbled back.

Celestia turned her head to view the two stallions just stare at each other for a good thirty seconds without a single sound made. Then Shining Armor turned and walked away from them both not wanting to say anything in front of the princess again.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" The sarcasm in Agua's voice was obvious.

Celestia let a sigh escape her lungs as she turned her body around.

"Go on to my sister, Agua. I must prepare to raise the sun."

That was the last thing she said to him before she walked off in the opposite direction Agua was headed. He made his way out the castle and through the statue gardens before coming across the giant waterfall that concealed the ancient chamber of the gods behind it. As he swam under the fall, he began to think of Shining Armor of all ponies. He seemed to be more calm than the other times they interacted. Then again Agua himself never really talked personally to Shining Armor before so he really didn't know. He was just going by what he heard from the others' experience.

As he breached the surface of the water and started down the stairs, he brushed the excess water off his body and prepared himself for what was ahead down in that chamber. As he entered, he looked around and saw right in the middle of the secret area stood Princess Luna wearing no crown, no neck jewelry, and no shoes on her hooves. Because she wanted to feel closer to nature during these lessons, she decided to bear no article that made her seem like royalty.

"Welcome, Agua." The princess of the night greeted him with a smile. "So glad you could make it."

Agua bowed to her not in his Alamantian way, but rather the way Equestrians do it. He extended his front legs out, leaned his body down, and hung his head.

"I apologize for the delay, Lady Luna."

That little line took Luna aback. In all her years she had never been called that title before.

"Did you just call me, 'Lady'?"

"Well yes. You are a goddess of water. Therefore it is only fitting that I call you by the title I call all of the elemental gods."

That was able to make Luna giggle a bit before she approached Agua and placed a hood on his back.

"You do not need to be so formal with me. For you, I am not a goddess that you pray to. I am simply your teacher."

A bit at ease now, the stallion of water stood up straight and looked into her eyes to continue talking.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that actually."

"Oh? And what is it you wish to ask?"

"Well I was too shocked from when you said you wanted me to be your student that I couldn't collect myself quick enough to ask. But here I am now and here it is. Why do you want to teach me?"

Luna knew sooner or later that question would come. In fact she was surprised Agua didn't ask it the moment she offered to teach him. But now as good a time as any to tell him the true reason behind her action.

"Because I believe there is level of potential in you and I wish to help you realize it. You are a skilled water mover, Agua. And like the god you were born from, you are extremely powerful. The only other water movers I have seen with power near your level are unicorns. And they require magical aid to help get them there. You are an earth pony and you require no such help."

Agua's ego was beginning to swell. Getting praised by a princess was just gravy to him.

"However," But it turned out Luna wasn't done talking quite yet. "During the battle a couple weeks ago, I took notice of the way you were using your power. Although strong, it is flawed."

The swelling died down after he heard that.

"How is it flawed? With all due respect your majesty, I have been moving water for a very long time and I am very strong. I don't see how it can be flawed."

"We will get to the error in your form soon enough, my student." Luna wouldn't say it, but it was sort of fun for her to call someone her student. Especially in a subject such as this. "But for now, let us begin."

Agua nodded and Luna and he walked to the center of the room where one of the small streams flowed through the ground of the chamber.

"Before we begin, I want you to get a good feel for the water here." Luna instructed.

Agua knew a lot about water. But never in his teachings or lessons before had he ever heard of getting a feel for the water.

"Um....I'm not quite sure I understand, your highness. Water is water. It's all the same. I don't think I need to get a good feel for it."

Luna shook her head.

"How wrong you are." She began. "Water is an ever changing element. It may look the same but it never is. In order to move it the best you can, you must be familiar with it. Let it flow around your hooves so you can feel it. And let IT feel YOU."

So many new phrases being put into his ears. Already Agua was beginning to question whether these lessons were a good idea or not. But he was smart enough to know not to judge things by their first appearance.

"And how do I let it feel me?" he asked the princess.

"Just close your eyes and let everything else wash away from your head. Think about nothing but the stream flowing through your hooves. Let it speak to you, let it tell you how it wants to be used, and then listen to it."

His teal eyes closed, Agua did his best to let the stream flowing by his hooves be the only thing he was concentrating on. His stubbornness however was getting in the way of him doing that. For him, it was just water. The element he was born to control and manipulate. To him it didn't have feelings and it was all susceptible to his hydrokinesis. Hearing it could feel him was too weird for him.

Hard as he tried, he found no way to do what Luna instructed him to because he had no understanding of it. He waited a few minutes in the same pose until Luna instructed him to stop. After he opened his eyes, he saw Luna sanding there with her horn glowing and a flash of light from behind him. When the light vanished, Agua saw that where the flash took place now stood a large circular bulls eye target made of stone resting upon a stone pedestal. It's diameter was about one foot. Luna backed away to give her student some room. He wasn't quite sure what to do. Was he supposed to use a certain type of attack?

"What exactly do you want me to do? Just hit it?" he asked.

"Yes but more than that. I want you to destroy it." Luna replied.

Agua smirked. NOW it was getting interesting.

"As you wish, princess."

The stallion wasted no time in standing bipedal and turning on his hyrdrokinesis. A large column of water rose up from behind him and with a strong overhead swing motion with both his arms, that column turned into a huge stream that flew over his head, at the stone target, and caused it to obliterate upon contact. Satisfied with his work, Agua stood back down on all fours carrying the same smirk from before.

"Next lesson." He cockily stated.

Luna stood next to him observing the rising dust from the now destroyed target.

"That was a lot of power." She commented.

"Why thank you." The stallion responded.

"It WASN'T a compliment." Luna's tone was stern to make sure she got it through.

And she did alright. Agua stopped smiling and looked at his teacher with nothing but confusion as she proceeded to talk more.

"Was it really necessary to use that much strength to destroy one small target?" she asked.

"Well I suppose I could have used a bit of a weaker attack. But it wouldn't have been as fun." That was seriously what Agua used to answer with.

Luna sighed and stepped forward.

"And THAT, Agua, is your flaw. You use too much strength in your water moving when you could do just as much damage with simpler attacks. Have you ever heard the phrase, 'Less is more'?"

Agua scoffed.

"I have and I don't really listen to it."

"Well now would be a good time to start." The princess began. "Agua, I took notice of this when you were attacking those Shadowmares. Your attacks on them, although effective, did not require a level of power so strong to defeat them. You put so much strength into destroying such feeble opponents, you wear out quickly. The point of these lessons is to teach you how to inflict just as much damage and possibly more with less amount of power being used in your attacks. Attack me."

Those last two words took the stallion a bit by surprise.

"Um.....excuse me?"

"You heard me. Come at me with you strongest attack." She repeated making it clear that she was serious.

"Princess.....I don't want to hurt you." Agua said not willing to follow the order.

"That won't be a problem I can assure you of that."

Hesitant as he was, that line put Agua's thoughts to the test. She was so confident she would be fine almost as if she didn't think he was that strong to inflict any damage on here.

"You want it, you got it. Just don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Two more streams of water spiraled around Agua's bipedal standing body and then conjoined in front of him to form an orb about twice the size of a bowling ball. Agua then threw out his arms and launched a high pressure jet of water right for Princess Luna. Smirking, the dark blue alicorn jumped to the left avoiding the hard stream and created her offensive. She launched a blast of water from the stream no bigger than the amount that could fit in a small glass and it collided with the side of Agua's face making him lose concentration on his own attack. He then felt his hind right hoof be tugged at. Then he was yanked over Luna's head by the alicorn herself who had a grip on Agua's hoof with a small strand of water like a whip. The stallion collided into one of the big stone pillars supporting the ceiling of the chamber and thudded down to the ground in quite a bit of pain.

The back of his head and his lower back were the two areas where the pain was most intense, after a quick spell from Luna's horn enveloped his body, the pain vanished and Agua was able to pick himself back up to look at his teacher.

"You DID warn me." Luna playfully mocked before she got serious. "You launched a full powered attack at me and yet I was able to subdue you with the amount of water that you could find in a pitcher at a nice restaurant. Do you know how?"

"Because you caught me off guard." Agua answered.

"Wrong. Like I said, sometimes less is more. Agua, you don't have to use such charged up moves all the time. Powering them up gives your enemy time to strike at you and if you manage to launch it, it can be harder to control and redirect."

Agua never wanted to admit it but Luna was right. Once he saw her jump out of the way, he did his best to change the direction in which his water jet was shooting but it was near impossible to move. Stopping the attack altogether and trying again with a smaller scale one would have been a better way to go but he didn't think of it.

"So here's what we are going to do." Luna's horn glowed again and another object flashed into view right next to her. This object being a glass water pitcher. She scooped some water into it and set it down as she instructed Agua further. "Attack me again, but only using the water out of this pitcher. If I even see a single drop more come from these streams, I'll know."

"Wha...but...ugh....FINE!"

A bit shocking that he charged so quickly, it still didn't startle Luna enough to the point where she was off her guard. Agua wasn't just trying to follow the lesson plan, he was trying with all his might to get the better of her for his own satisfaction. Every single drop of water that was in the pitcher flew out and covered Agua's right front hoof. He then threw it her in the form of a punch to which Luna easily evaded.

The water split from his right hoof and covered his left one like a pair of boxing gloves at Agua continued to throw out martial arts techniques at the princess, which, to his complete surprise, she was countering with no problem at all.

"What? Did you think hydrokinesis is the only skill I possess? Poseidon was kind enough to teach me other things as well. I think you refer to it as, Nami Hadō?"

¬Agua let loose a small gasp once he heard that. Nami Hadō was and still is the most advanced form of Hydro Tribe martial arts. It translates from Alamantian to Equestrian as "wave motion". This style of movement revolved around moving like the waves from the sea, never ceasing in movement, and always graceful and strong.

Being too distracted by Luna's revelation, Agua was once again over powered by the princess which she threw a punch into his stomach. As he staggered back, he found his face connected with Luna's hind hoof in the form of a powerful sidekick. He splashed into the water creek once again throbbing in pain.

A few strained breaths later, Agua limped out of the creek while Luna healed him again and refilled the glass pitcher.

"Try again."

And he did try. Many, many, MANY times. Every time he came at her lunging with the water from the pitcher with full intent to lay a solid hit on her but he never could. It ended all the same with Luna knocking him down, healing him, and refilling that glass pitcher for him to make another attempt.

By the time attempt number thirty had come and failed like the others. Agua lied there in the creek breathing through the pain and trying to think of a way to outwit this alicorn. As he felt his wounds heal up, he stood again and looked to the pitcher once again filled.

"How come I keep beating you?" Luna asked him.

Agua cracked his neck before answering.

"Because you aren't letting me use more water than that pitcher." The stallion replied.

"That is a poor excuse." She wasn't going to have it. "Your skills are without a doubt extraordinary. But they require a lot of fine tuning before they are to be anywhere near perfection. You attack me with no focus, no goal, all you ever think about is landing a hit but what to do after that, you don't know. You don't plan ahead. That is why you don't have a strategy on how to beat me."

Agua actually growled upon hearing this. To him, Luna was just asking for it.

"Do you wish to try again?" She smirked. "At this rate it's only a matter of time before I break one of your bones."

As she expected, he came at her once again on two legs throwing punches and kicks like a madpony. Except this time he didn't take any water with him. Easily, Luna blocked his attacks with her own very well bipedal stance and knocked him back. He charged again and made a swipe for her hind legs. Seeing that made Luna jump up and over Agua's head with her wings at full extension. When she landed, her wings folded in and she advanced on Agua striking him on the back and pinning him up against one of the stone pillars on his front side.

"Another failed strategy." She confidently said.

A chuckle was what escaped Agua's mouth leaving Luna confused a bit.

"You sure?" he mumbled.

Suddenly, Luna felt something on her left hind leg and looked down to see there was a strand of water coming from Agua's left front hoof and wrapped around hers. Smirking, Agua made his move and slammed the back of his head into Luna's nose. After she gave a small cry of pain, she lost her balance and fell backwards on her back. Then Agua harshly gave a yank on the short whip of fluid and threw Luna into the same pillar he was just pinned to.

She slid down the pillar on her back now taking her turn to be in pain. She pressed a hoof to her nose to check if she was bleeding. She was. The spots of red on her hoof confirmed it. Swiftly, Agua made a spot of water rush from the creek and cover Luna's nose. The water glowed a bit and the pain running through the alicorn's nose eased up and when the water was tossed away, the bleeding had stopped. After Agua mizu-mended the rest of Luna's body, she stood up and smiled at him with a nod.

"Well done, Agua. Fooling me into that position was a clever idea."

Agua smiled back a bit and offered her a hoof to stand up. She took it and with one hoist, she stood back on all fours again.

"Thank you, your highness." The stallion replied.

"We've been here for a couple of hours. Let's take a small break and get back to it." The princess suggested.

Agua agreed to that idea and was directed over to a table Luna had waiting for them ever since he got there. Set on the table was a kettle of tea which the princess of the night used her magic to heat up. Once they both were served a cup of the beverage, they began to talk.

"So....tell me, Agua. A question that I have wanted to ask since I first met you. Why are you......um....the way you are? I mean I want to ask..."

"You want to know why I'm a jerk."

Luna was trying to avoid using the term but apparently the jerk himself didn't mind.

"Yes. If it's not too much trouble."

With a sigh, Agua spoke to give Luna a bit of clarity.

"To be honest, your highness, I'm not comfortable talking about it." He answered. "But.....if you must know, what Discord said was right. Contrary to most people's beliefs, I DO have a heart. It's just broken. Years ago in Alamante, I had a girlfriend and......she screwed me up bad. But she opened my eyes to something, princess. Love doesn't exist. It's just a sham."

Luna's cup clinked to the table as she dropped it from her magical grip. Her eyes, wide and surprised from Agua's last statement.

"What? How can you say such a thing?" she almost sounded like she was begging for an answer.

And boy did Agua have one.

"Because, princess, if love exists, than I would be happily married to the mare I considered to be the girl of my dreams. If love exists, she wouldn't have ripped out my heart through my chest and stomped on it with her hoof. If love is real, than she wouldn't have agreed to marry me, go through MONTHS of vigorous planning for a wedding ceremony, show up for said wedding, walk halfway up the aisle, AND THEN TURN AROUND AND RUN AWAY!"

The cup Agua had clenched in his hoof shattered out of his anger and the tea dripped down his hoof and onto the wooden table. His chest heaved in and out with the heavy breaths he took while Luna breathed a bit nervous of the stallion in front of her. She backed away a few inches in hopes of not having to endure more of his yelling. Luckily for her with another deep breath, Agua spoke in a normal tone again.

"So you see, Lady Luna, that's why love is just a big sham to me. If it wasn't, I'd be happily married to my childhood friend and nowhere near any of the others. Why couldn't I have that life? Why couldn't she have just gotten some courage?" he growled.

Luna sighed and scooched herself closer to the table as she conjured up another cup for Agua to drink out of.

"That I don't know, Agua. But I do know this. Love is certainly not a sham. It is very VERY real. It's the most powerful feeling a living creature can have for another. I myself have felt love and I still do with the very god that you came from. Don't take what happened to you as a sign that love isn't real, Agua. Maybe it was just a sign that you two weren't meant to be."

"I don't know.................I don't think love is for me. Not anymore at least." The stallion of water sadly admitted.

Luna was having a hard time figuring out how to counter Agua's argument. He had a sound reasoning for not believing in love at all. Being left at the altar and watching the girl run out, it sounded like the equivalent of having a knife stuck in your chest, and then having it twisted around for fun. As much as she wanted to help Agua feel better, everything she thought of always led her back to the notion of staying out of something so personal to him.

"Why don't we go take a walk and clear our heads?" She suggested.

Again, Agua took a liking to the idea and both of them proceeded up the staircase and swam under the waterfall. Both of their eyes had to adjust to the sunshine a bit before they were able to see clearly.

"It's colder." Was the first thing Agua said when he walked onto ground from the river. "It's definitely colder."

"Agua.....look." Luna said as she looked down to where Ponyville was.

Agua turned his head and widened his eyes once more at what he saw. Ponyville, the whole dang town, was covered in thick dark grey clouds. And to make things even more confusing, there seemed to be a border of white around the town signifying it was snowing. Hoofsteps were heard coming from the left and it turned out to be Rarity and Spike who had gone looking for him as soon as they woke up and saw for themselves what was happening from the balcony view on the castle.

"Why are there clouds everywhere....and...is that snow?" the fashionista started.

"Rainbow Dash must have really screwed up the weather." Agua was quick to assume. "See, this is why it's better to just let nature take care of the weather."

"First off, I oppose that notion and I shall explain why later." Rarity started. "Second, that storm seems a bit too large to come from the weather factory."

Rarity didn't have that much experience when it came to weather. In fact, she didn't have a single minute of experience. But she did know a few things from hearing Rainbow Dash talk about her work some of the times the group was all together and that tour she took of the weather factory a while back ago let her soak in some knowledge.

Then just like that, Agua's eyes went wide as he remembered back to last night and a few hours ago on the balcony with Celestia. He sensed something moving, and then it felt colder.

"The water." He whispered before speaking aloud. "That's what I must have sensed last night. All the water in those clouds forming the snow. I felt it moving."

Spike seemed a bit angry once he heard that.

"If you were able to sense this how come you didn't warn us?!" he shouted.

"I told you last night, I wasn't sure what it was I felt." Agua snapped back. "Even this morning I wasn't sure. Now it's too late to do anything."

"We have to get back there!" Spike cried. "Twilight and the others need us!"

Luna sadly approached the dragon not liking herself what she was about to say.

"I'm sorry, Spike. But I don't believe we can get there." She began. "I too sense these storm clouds. They are....not natural. Something is very wrong. I do not thinking returning to Ponyville is the best course of action for you right now.

Indeed saddened by her words, Spike went to his knees helpless by the fact that he couldn't reach home.

"But....but Twilight...."

"She'll be alright, Spike." Rarity assured him. "Don't forget, Pyro is with her. As are the others."

"Hopefully this cold isn't too much for Pyro to handle." Agua commented. "Not to mention trying to keep a scared town under control."

"Let us go speak with my sister. Perhaps she can help us with this conundrum." Luna said.

That was the best plan any of them could think of. Celestia had wisdom far beyond the bounds of the average pony. If anyone could think of a plan to make the snow clear, it was her. Without hesitation, Luna gave off another burst of her horn and teleported herself, Agua, Rarity, and Spike to the castle.

The only thing they could do now was pray.

Author's Note

This chapter has not gone through editing yet due to a slight delay with the editors. I just wanted to get it posted for now for you guys and the editing shall come later.

Remember to follow and ask questions.

Escalation

I only own the OC's as seen in this story and the plot of it. Everything else belongs to Hasbro. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 27: Escalation

*Blizzard day one; Ponyville; 3:30 PM*

Hours had gone by since Cryo left to begin his hike up the mountain. In that time, the snowfall had gotten worse and much heavier than it had been. The work Pyro and Cryo did in the morning to clear the streets was pretty much for nothing now as more snow piled on much more than before. Ponies that hadn't left their houses were officially trapped inside while others couldn't even reach their homes anymore. The lucky few that could get out found themselves harboring a few of the unlucky stranded ones. The ones stuck outside had to work fast to get somewhere indoors or away from the cold or else they would freeze.

At the current moment, the snow was coming down hard and very few ponies were still in the streets. Three of them were Pyro, Gem, and Typhoon all using their respective elementals powers to try and keep the snow as best they could under control but they were soon finding that damn near impossible to do. It was coming down faster than they could move a single pile of it. With Pyro's burning, Typhoon's blowing, and Gem's plasma plowing, their work together seemed to be all for not.

Inside Sugarcube Corner, The Cakes, Twilight, Cadence, Rose, Applejack, Terra, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were doing their best to stay warm; all but one of them actually. The Cakes and Twilight had built a strong fire in the fireplace and everypony was gathered around it except for Pinkie Pie. She just stayed by the window shaking and looking out into the cold hoping to see her partner in the snow. He wasn't though. She knew exactly where she was and she wanted nothing more than to be right there with him.

"Pinkie, dearie, come over here with us, please. You're shivering." Mrs. Cake sounded like she was begging.

It didn't seem like Pinkie even heard her. So Terra walked over to her and decided to give it a whack.

"It's okay, Pinkie. I know you're worried about Cryo. But he's gonna be fine. You know how strong he is. He's going to come back. I promise." She did her best to sound as reassuring as she possibly could.

And that wasn't easy for her seeing as how it's not usually what she does. Her tough and brutally honest personality took a quick break and it was honestly tough for her to do that.

"He's out there all alone though...." Pinkie just could get her mind off that fact. "What if something happens? What if he gets hurt, or worse?"

"Something happen to Cryo? No way. See this?" The mare of earth gestured to the window and what was outside it. "This is his element. Natural or not, it's snow and ice. If anything, I think whatever is causing this storm should be scared out of its mind right now. Because when Cryo gets up there, he's gonna take it out. And when he comes back, you can have another one of your parties for him."

That seemed to get Pinkie to smile a bit.

"Yeah. A "Great job at kicking the storm in the butt" party." Pinkie giggled.

It also seemed to get a few laughs out of the others too. In those laughs, Cadence had coughed a few times and was able to hide it before the laughter died back down to silence.

"Come on now, Pinkie. Get yer caboose over here and get it warm." Applejack said with a tone more demanding than requesting.

With a sigh showing her breath, Pinkie complied this time and walked over to the fireplace sitting between Rainbow Dash and Cadence. Her front hooves extended forward to the fire and she began to feel heat return to her body.

"I know you feel useless right now, Pinkie. But the best thing we can do for Cryo right now is to stay here and get warm. He won't like it if he comes home and one of us isn't here." Cadence reasoned.

She was right. Cryo was coming back and he expected everyone to be alright. The best thing Pinkie could do was make sure that happened.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty useless too right now." Terra spoke again. "Pyro, Gem and Ty are all out there trying to help and I can't do crap because this snow is too thick."

That was an unfortunate limitation for Terra's powers. She can only move earth if either she is touching it with her own hooves, she can see it, or it is blocked by a thin layer of something. The layer of snow outside was way too thick for her to do anything. So she was stuck inside with the others and she hated every bit of it.

"It's alright, Terra." Her partner rubbed her shoulder. "Yer still a powerhouse but ya just gotta take it easy this time around."

After Terra grumbled, she looked back at the fire and noticed that it was starting to grow. Being around their new friends for long enough now, they knew what that meant.

"Pyro is coming." Twilight said as she turned to view the front door.

And sure enough, she was right. The front door opened up letting in some cold air and snow as Typhoon, Gem, and Pyro all got through it as quickly as they could. Typhoon and Gem were bundled up while Pyro only wore a scarf and jacket. The snow that was on him was melting just by touching him.

"Sweet mother of Cybelle, it's freezing outside!" Gem shouted as she took off the snow goggles Pinkie Pie lent her.

Pyro and Typhoon shook the snow off their own bodies as the others approached them. Rose was the one who was standing closest to Pyro.

"So how went the clearing?" she asked.

That got her sighs from all three of them.

"We didn't even put a dent in it." Pyro said with regret.

"Eet's coming down to hard. No matter what we do, eet just comes right back." Typhoon added.

"Nothing works." Gem sadly admitted. "It looks like we're just gonna have to wait this out. We're all completely useless in this case."

Just when the session of the self pity seemed like it was about to commence, a knock came from the door drawing everypony's attention.

"Anyone wanna bet on how many icicles are hanging from the body of whoever is out there?" Terra suggested out of sheer boredom.

"Not now, Terra." Pyro turned on his horn and opened the door revealing a grey stallion wearing a black necktie and a white snow coat.

"Who the hell are you?" Terra asked a bit rudely.

"I'm an assistant to the mayor and she has requested that you come to town hall immediately."

"What? In this? Are you insane?" Rainbow Dash cried gesturing to the outside.

"Can't unicorns shield themselves?" The stallion asked. "The mayor wants all of you. Now."

With that, the stallion turned around and headed outside. With a groan, everypony began to stand up and put on their warm clothes and boots. Even Mr. and Mrs. Cake bundled themselves and the babies up not wanting to be away from the elementals at a time like this.

When they were all set to go, Twilight cast a force field orb surrounding them all and Pyro kept a flame above their heads as a source of heat. It was quite a way to walk from Sugarcube Corner to town hall and they had to do it in piles of un-groomed snow. As they made the trek, Pinkie looked out and over to the mountains. All she could think about was Cryo. Was he okay? Was he hungry? Lonely? Scared? All the questions regarding his safety or wellbeing went running through her head and they wouldn't slow down.

As they reached town hall, Twilight and Pyro put a cease to their work and the flame and force field vanished. The door to the building was only barely able to open so they had to go in one at a time and a lot of snow piled in with them leaving a stack of it almost as big as a pony. Once they were all inside, all of them shook themselves off and The Cakes checked to see if the babies were unharmed. They were perfectly fine; a bit cold, but fine altogether.

"The mayor is upstairs on the second floor." The aide said.

As he proceeded up the staircase, the others followed. Soon, they found themselves in front of the door leading into the mayor's office. Mr. and Mrs. Cake decided to stay outside so they could comfort their children. The others proceeded to enter the office and Mayor Mare looked up from her desk to look at them.

"Twilight Sparkle. Princess Cadence." She acknowledged. "Alamantians."

The four present element movers nodded in response. The mayor looked at all of them with what appeared to be a deadpan expression.

"I need a full rundown of the situation now." She demanded.

The lavender unicorn stepped forward to give her just that.

"This blizzard isn't a weather team mishap, mayor." Twilight started off. "We have reason to believe there is something at the top of Mount Blackmane causing this."

All the mayor did was nod before speaking again.

"I see. Now where is your ice mover friend....Cryo?"

"He's hiking up the mountain as we speak trying to reach the top. Hopefully he gets there soon and puts an end to this cold." Twilight answered.

That answer didn't seem to make the mayor any less tense.

"So a freak blizzard happens and your ice mover just so happens to be the one who goes to fix it. Interesting."

It was very clear what she was insinuating. None of them could believe she was though.

"Oh come on now, mayor. Don't tell us you think this is his fault too!" Applejack said a bit cross.

"I'm not saying it is. I'm just saying it sounds suspicious." The mayor replied.

Pyro stepped forward now with the full intent to speak his own mind.

"Whatever reason you have to blame Cryo for this, forget about it. I can tell you right here right now that he is not responsible for a single flake of snow outside."

"He's telling the truth, mayor." Now Cadence talked. "Cryo isn't even capable of doing something on this sort of scale. Strong as he is I don't think he is THAT strong."

They mayor took a few seconds to fully think about what she was being told. The only pony that had a chance to actually bring about a shred of help was climbing the country's tallest mountain in hopes of neutralizing the storm completely. It wasn't very comforting to hear and she hated to admit it at the moment, but she had to put all of her faith into the lone ice mover.

"How am I supposed to keep this town under control at a time like this?" She asked any of them. "I'm supposed to be the one in charge of that job. Yet you lot seem to have better luck doing that than I do at times. Especially in times like this."

Rose stepped forward sporting a comforting expression.

"Don't beat yourself up, mayor. We still have faith in you. By "we" I mean Ponyville." She said.

That did little to ease the mayor's head but it did get her to smile a bit.

"Thank you, Rose." She stood up and walked to the window. "But we still need to find a way to keep this town calm. There are a lot of ponies still outside and they need to get indoors before the cold gets to them."

The orange mare of honesty joined the mayor and looked down at the snow. Quite a few ponies were still outside trying to conquer the wind and snow.

"Maybe they could come here." Applejack suggested. "They might not be able to reach their homes but this place could act as a shelter."

"But I hardly think the food I have stored in this place would be enough to serve them all." The mayor argued and turned back to Pyro. "Isn't there anything you can do about this?"

The red stallion shook his head.

"I'm sorry, mayor. I tried. It's just coming down too fast for me to do anything about."

The mayor sighed and turned around once again looking outside. Then all of them heard a small gasp. Their ears led them to the source and the source was Typhoon who had a hoof to her head. And now it had been long enough for everypony to know what that meant. She sensed something.

"What is it?" Cadence asked.

"Zere ees something downstairs." The telepath replied. "I'm not sure what though......eet's strange."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Every single head whipped to the door as that shriek rang through their ears.

"Mrs. Cake?" Typhoon ran out and looked down from the indoor balcony.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were down there but they weren't alone. They were backing away from a white looking pony who was growling at them and snapping too. Typhoon jumped down from the balcony and landed nicely on her hind legs in between the white attacker and the Cakes.

"Back off!" She cried as she shot a small blast of wind to throw the pony back.

That however was not the result she ended up observing. Instead of getting blown back like normal ponies do, this one instead split into many pieces and splattered on the floor in small piles. Curious and confused, Typhoon slowly approached one of the pieces as the others looked down from the second floor.

"What....what was that?" Mrs. Cake asked shivering not out of cold but fear.

In order to answer, Typhoon needed to feel it. And she did. She pressed her hoof down on top of the tiny white pile of unknown material and she immediately felt a chill and moisture.

"Eet's....eet's snow."

"Is that what you sensed?" Gem asked from the second floor.

"I think so." The pink pegasus backed away. "But...how ees eet possible?"

Before anyone could think of an answer, the small piles of snow began to come together and join together. Four legs formed, a head, and then two glowing blue eyes with catlike irises. It started to approach Typhoon and the Cakes again. The two babies began to wail.

Typhoon was about to charge but then her read brother jumped down in front of her.

"Sorry pal. Winter isn't coming early."

With a punching potion, Pyro let loose a short range stream of his element that began to make the snowpony scream upon impact. He was sure to not make the flames travel farther than past the walking hunk of snow so he wouldn't set the whole place on fire. The white pony screamed for a few more seconds before it completely melted away into a puddle of water on the floor. Afterwards, Pyro kept the fire one for just a bit longer making the water evaporate.

After the fire stopped coming from his hoof, he set it down and looked outside. That was just one small pile of snow that came from the same blanket that was covering the town. All of the others came downstairs and Terra tried to do her best to help calm the Cakes and the babies down along with Typhoon and Fluttershy.

"Living snow. That's a new one." Twilight commented.

"Ze eyes.....eet looked like zose of a Shadowmare." Typhoon said.

Concern grew for everypony as the attention was now focused on her.

"Wait. Shadowmare? You mean like those creepy black ponies that attacked us at that party?" Rose shivered.

She still clearly remembered the welcome party that was thrown a month ago for the six foreigners. The images of the black henchponies still ran through her head faster than Rainbow could fly.

"Unfortunately." Rainbow replied to the florist. "Ty, are you SURE it was a Shadowmare?"

"Absolutely. Ze thought patterns were very similar. Ze snow make up just altered eet." Typhoon answered.

It made enough sense to them without knowing everything. But it made the situation ten times worse.

"If this was just one bit of snow from the outside...." Cadence said in fear. "Does that mean...?"

"I'm afraid eet does." Typhoon again clarified. "Nopony outside ees safe."

"Or inside by the looks of it." The mayor put in her opinion. "Let's hope nopony got any of this snow inside their homes."

"Well Pinkie, it sure looks like your pardner picked one heck of a time to leave." Applejack said to her pink friend.

But the response that came back was silence. The cowgirl looked around for Pinkie and all of them soon followed her lead but what they found disturbed them greatly.

Pinkie wasn't there.

"Where the hell is Pinkie?!" Terra shouted.

"She was with us when we came here." Mrs. Cake swore.

"Didn't she come inside with us? I was next to her when we did." Applejack also sounded like she knew it was true.

"Actually zat was me." Typhoon waved her hoof being.

Applejack shrugged. Typhoon was pink too. She had forgotten that for a brief moment. They all began to think Pinkie was just pulling a prank or something to lighten the mood. Suddenly Gem got hit with a big bag of realization.

"Was anyone watching her when Twilight let the force field down?" she asked.

The silence she heard from around the room was a big fat "no". That confirmed her theory. The second Twilight let the shield down and they all started to pile inside town hall, Pinkie made a break for it.

"Why would she ditch us?" Rainbow wondered. "Where could she have gone that was more safe than being with us?"

Now it was Twilight's turn to get a sack of enlightenment smacked in her face.

"When times like these come around, Rainbow Dash, where do you feel most safe?" she asked.

"Well that's easy. With you guys. But mostly with....." The pegasus' eyes widened as she got what Twilight was inferring. ".....with Gem."

With her partner. That was the main answer. Every single heart sank when they came to understand exactly what she had done. With a look of dread and fear, Pyro looked out the window at through the fog and snow he gazed upon the base of Mount Blackmane shaking his head in denial.

"No......no. Even SHE has more sense than that.....doesn't she?" he asked anyone.

"Have you even MET Pinkie Pie?!" Rainbow Dash cried. "That pony goes back and forth between crazy and sane all the time!"

"Well...sure but come on. Going out in something like this...." He gestured to the outside. "That's just psychotic."

"How far do you think she's gotten by now?" Terra asked her partner.

"Knowin' Pinkie Pie, Ah'd say she's probably halfway to the mountain by now." The cowgirl replied.

Their hope was diminishing every single second and no new piece of information did anything to help them. Neither did the next sentence that came from Pyro's mouth.

"Then she's on her own."

Every single pair of eyes turned to him.

"You....you're just going to leave her out there?!" Mrs. Cake shouted. "You have fire running through you! You can go get her!"

"I can't!" Pyro shouted back. "She's too far away now and I wouldn't be able to keep my body heat up long enough to find her. The only one who can help her now is Cryo. I can't even fly through this because it’s so rough."

Mrs. Cake plopped down on her haunches at the thought of Pinkie out in this all by herself. The party planner was like a non-blood daughter to her and the thought of her freezing to death broke her heart. Mr. Cake did what he could and rested a hoof on her back trying to comfort her.

"It's okay, honey. Cryo will find her." Even he didn't fully buy that line.

If their problems weren't bad enough already with how high they were stacked, they were about to get a boatload more. And it all started with a shriek. It came from outside and everypony rushed to the nearest window they could find. All around the building, there were ponies outside and they were all being attacked by a pony made of snow and snarling.

Rose spotted her sisters Daisy and Lily backing away in fright and Applejack was able to spot her little sister and the two other crusaders by her side. Various others stood outside too cold and too scared to move and that left the elements with one thing to do. All of them other than Fluttershy went for the door and burst outside not even thinking about their jackets and other things.

Terra and Applejack ran for the crusaders and got there in time. Terra rammed her head into one and Applejack jumped in front of another one bucking it to pieces.

"Applejack! Terra!" Applebloom cried surprised to see them.

"You three fillies git yer flanks into town hall pronto!" Applejack commanded.

"Don't need to tell us twice!" Scootaloo bolted for the hall with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom on her tail.

Pyro and Twilight used their combined power to clear the way for Daisy and Lily to get to the building safely and into Rose's death hug. Rainbow Dash and gem helped get Vinyl Scratch, Thunderlane, and a few other ponies free of the snow terror and they retreated.

There was one more pony to save. A brown unicorn stallion with a light green mane who was scared out of his mind. That fear mixed with confusion when he saw a blast of wind tear the pony of snow in front of him to pieces. Then he saw the source of the blast. A pink pegasus.

"Hurry! Get eenside town hall!" she cried.

Taking a few seconds to get his mobility back, the stallion nodded and made a break for it. Typhoon stayed by his side and kept his path clear. More snowponies formed up behind them and began to give chase. Once the two of them were inside, the door behind them slammed shut and the snowponies began to bang on the door. With a small act of magic, Twilight locked it.

Everypony began to gather into a group in the center of the room as the windows began to break from the snowponies banging against the glass. Shrieks of various ponies rang through as the elements and Cadence tried to think of something. Luckily Cadence was able to quick enough. She looked to Typhoon and told her what to do. Then she walked over to Twilight and Gem telling them something too. Liking the plan, the pink pegasus nodded and flew up a few meters with her front legs extended out.

Outside, the wind around town hall began to spin in a perfect circle around the building. After letting it gain speed. Typhoon gave it a push. The twister she formed expanded and pushed all the snowponies back and the snow around the building in a one foot range.

"Twilight, Gem, now!" Cadence cried as she fired up her horn.

A beam of blue, magenta, and electric purple energy all shot up and phased through the ceiling and combined together a meter above the top of the building. The energy combined and formed together to create a force field around the building to where the snow stopped.

"That shield is powerful. They aren't getting in." Twilight said confidently.

"Yeah but....now we can't get out." Terra was quick to find the downside.

And it was the downside that everypony heard and focused mostly on. All of them began to panic.

"Everypony please! Calm down!" The mayor shouted. "We have enough food and survival equipment stored in the basement of this building. We should be able to get through this but we all have to remain calm. Now please. Everypony gather yourselves. We are safe here."

"But....but what about our friends? What about our families?" Thunderlane shouted.

"They'll be fine." Cadence answered. "These snowponies seem to be fixated on this building. So the others will be...”

Cadence stopped what she was saying as she roughly coughed into her leg. Hearing that made Twilight approach her.

"Cadence..." She pressed a hoof to the princess' forehead. "Cadence you're starting to feel warm."

"What? No. Your hoof is probably just a little numb from the snow. Twilight. I assure you I am fine." The alicorn was confident of what she was saying.

Twilight was unsure and was pretty sure of what she felt. She just had to keep an eye on Cadence for a while. Shrugging, she walked back to her partner who was currently looking out the window and at the herd of snowponies outside the force field.

"What do we do now, Pyro?" She asked.

"Now.....we wait it out." He looked out the window to Mount Blackmane. "And pray to the gods that Cryo and Pinkie somehow find us a way out of this."

"And let's hope SHE finds HIM before she freezes to death." Rainbow added.

The mayor began to head for the basement to fetch some supplies while everypony else began to ramble in fear and panic of what was happening. The elements were just thinking of their friends. Agua and Rarity, Spike, Cryo, and now they had to worry about Pinkie Pie out on her own in the freezing cold blizzard that show zero signs of letting up anytime soon. Twilight let out a sigh.

"It's going to be a very long night."

Author's Note

As always thanks for reading and I'll see ya next chapter!

Getting Colder

I only own the Alamantians and the plot of this story. Everything else belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 28: Getting Colder

*Blizzard Day 2; 8:30 AM; Mount Blackmane*

Rough was understatement. In the mind of the pony hiking up the mountain, it felt like the snow coming down was actually trying to push him off the mountain like it knew what he was trying to do. For Cryo, that just put the idea in his head that there WAs something up there that wasn't supposed to be found. It only made him press on harder.

He took shelter in the night in a small igloo he made underneath a rock formation that extended out giving him a roof away from the snow. Inside the tiny igloo, he made a bed for himself and was able to relax and eat. His strength replenished, he woke up early before the sun came up and resumed his trek. The snow was getting worse as he got higher up the mountain just as he had predicted. And that meant it was probably getting worse down in Ponyville too. Which also meant the ice mover had to move faster if he was to have any chance of saving his friends and family.

After he packed up his things, he shattered the igloo he created and formed two ice hooks on his front legs to climb up the rocky mountainside that was too steep to let any snow attach to it and stay there. Then it was more slopes of snow that he could easily walk through.

As he walked, his mind was racing with the thoughts and worries of all his friends and family. Mostly he was thinking about Pinkie Pie. He saw the look on his face when he left. She wanted so badly to come with him. But he knew he couldn't let her do that for her own protection. Even Pinkie has her limits and prolonged exposure to extreme cold is one of them. And thinking about the cold made his mind wander all the way back home to the Frost Tribe. The image of a little filly around the age of four entered his head. Then he saw himself playing with that filly in the snow covered ground of his home village. The memories made him smile and a tear froze to his face. He then wiped it off and continued on letting the images of that girl fill his head.

Getting through the upcoming fog was going to be the tough part. He saw what those clouds did to Rainbow Dash and Pyro when they tried to fly through them. Cryo only hoped he wouldn't get the same treatment, because if he did, then this hike was pretty much in vain. He was very determined though to make sure that wouldn't be the case. Even if those clouds tried shocking him he would get past it. He had to. For them.

It was all on him and he knew it.

*Ponyville; Town Hall; 10:45 AM*

The force field was holding strong and it seemed like a miracle to its casters that it was. Luckily there was just enough blankets for everypony to be the least bit comfortable through the night. Pyro elected himself to stay up to keep an eye on the snowponies. It was obvious to few of them why he did that but nopony else argued and drifted off to sleep.

When morning came around, the food rationing began. Some ponies argued but that was to be expected. Some claimed they needed more and other ponies claimed that was crap and demanded they get their fair share. Lucky for the mayor, there was one pony there who had enough muscle to keep everyone at bay. A pony by the name of Terra.

"Listen up people! We don't have a lot of food to go around so what we DO have is going to be divided up equally! If you have any complaints, or you think you should get more than others, please consult me and I will do my part and tell you to shut the hell up take what you get! Thank you and enjoy your tiny breakfast!"

Speeches from her seemed to do the trick when getting everypony to shut their mouths and behave like civilized adults was needed. Even though there were some children around like the crusaders. Unfortunately for them, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were stranded in there too. Diamond's father was escorting them around town when the snowponies attacked. Thanks to Rainbow Dash and Gem, they were able to make it to town hall, much to the displeasure of Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.

The dividing up of the food was the hard part. Luckily there was a genius there to do the math. Gem's brain was able to crunch the numbers and therefore determine how much food each pony gets at a time in the most conservative way. By her calculations, the food stored in the building would be enough to last them all a few days. Four days at maximum.

Lucky for the Cakes, the mayor had thought ahead in case of this very dilemma. Being the caring pony she is, when she stored all the emergency food and supplies in the building, she took care to also add baby necessities in the off chance that babies were included in the group. Turns out it was a good plan.

Breakfast was eaten without a hitch but Twilight had taken notice of one of the ponies there not looking so well. That pony was Cadence. She knew right from when she felt her forehead last night that the alicorn was warm. Her denial just made Twilight forget about it and focus on other matters. But this morning however it was kind of hard to miss. Her face had all the signs. There were bags under her eyes, and the eyes themselves along with her cheeks and nose, were all bright red. And she was beginning to constantly cough and sneeze.

"Cadence, you don't look so good." Twilight said to her as she walked over.

"What do you mean, Twilight?" She replied in complete denial.

It was hard to sell though with her stuffy nose kind of impeding her normal speaking voice.

"I feel perfectly fi..ihh...heh...HATCHOO!"

At the exact same time that sneeze was released, Applejack saw the force field outside start to fuzz like it was starting to lose its strength. That's exactly what it was doing. One of its casters was growing weaker and therefore so was the field.

Cadence slumped to the ground and buried her face into her hooves.

"Oh, I can't believe I'm sick." She complained. "The last time I was anything CLOSE to it was back when I was still foalsitting Twilight."

The red stallion of fire walked over and rested a hoof on her shoulder.

"Even princesses get a cold every once in a while." Pyro reasoned.

"Easy for you to say." The alicorn sniffled. "You couldn't get this cold from me even if you tried."

"True but that just means I'm the only logical choice to tend to you. No offense, but one pony here is sick enough. And...." A look of fear came into his eyes as he glanced over to his pink pegasus sister and then back at Cadence. "If Typhoon starts sneezing, there is a good chance we might be safer outside."

Cadence took her turn to glance at the wind mover with a shared expression of dread. Mostly she had her eyes fixed on Typhoon's nose as if it were a deadly weapon. She then looked to Fluttershy who approached alongside Pyro when he did.

"Fluttershy, do your best to make sure Typhoon stays as far away from me as possible. She is the last pony here I want to get sick." She gave those instructions to Fluttershy in a manner as if everypony's lives depended on it.

Curious and confused, Fluttershy responded to the princess with a questioning look.

"Why is that so important?" she asked genuinely not understanding.

After sharing glances with one another, Pyro, Twilight, and Cadence all looked at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, have you ever seen a wind mover sneeze?" Cadence asked.

"Well....no honestly." The pegasus was telling the truth. "Whenever she told me she had to she just ran outside to do it. I just thought she was just too embarrassed to do it in front of me. Why? Is there something else?"

Clearly this was about to be a helpful hint for the poor bearer of kindness. Pyro decided to be the one to tell.

"Fluttershy, Typhoon is a wind mover. Probably the most powerful one I have ever seen. And when somepony sneezes, air is expelled out of them at a speed of nearly 100 miles an hour in a short burst. Now, consider Typhoon. She has the power to control wind. And when a wind mover sneezes, they temporarily lose control and when that happens to Typhoon.....she well.....becomes an actual typhoon."

The information was successfully transferred. Fluttershy's wide and fearful eyes confirmed it. Slowly, her head turned over to view her partner talking with some ponies who were desperate to get an understanding for what was going on. Now she knew why she always ran out of the house when she said she had to sneeze. And that also explained the slight breezes she felt a few seconds after she ran out the door. She couldn't believe it took her this long to realize it. Now it just seemed so obvious.

"Um....you g-got it. I'll uh...make sure Typhoon and you...don't get close." With that, Fluttershy walked away as Twilight found a box of tissues and held a clean one up to Cadence's nose.

While Cadence blew her nose, Twilight and Pyro just watched Fluttershy walk away slowly and trembling a bit.

"Okay. Maybe telling her wasn't the brightest of ideas." Pyro admitted.

Before Twilight could add something in, Applejack came between her and her partner.

"Twilight, did ya see what happened? The shield got all fuzzy. Ah think it's startin' to get weaker."

The cowgirl made sure she kept her voice down so she wouldn't alert anypony else near her.

"It IS getting weaker." Twilight acknowledged. "Because Princess Cadence is sick. Her share of the force field's energy is weakening along with her."

Applejack looked down and noticed Cadence's sickly look finally. Now she understood.

"Well then maybe she shouldn't be using magic right now. Ah mean, won't your magic and Gem's be enough to keep those snow freaks out?" she asked Twilight.

"That isn't necessary, Applejack." Cadence insisted. "It's just some sniffles and sneezes. I can keep up my part of the shield."

"Are you sure about that?" Pyro was hesitant to believe her. "I'm only concerned about you, Cadence. I don't want your condition getting worse because of this."

"I think it's obvious that my alicorn magic has its perks to it. Just trust me, alright? I'll be fine."

A large round of heavy coughs are what followed after Cadence said that. With every heave of her lungs, the force field outside flickered a bit. When she stopped, so did the shield.

That little burst made Pyro eye her with a ton of skepticism. But unexpectedly, he sighed and replied with this.

"Alright fine. But I'm keeping a close eye on you." He stated firmly. "The second I think you are unable to keep the shield up you're dropping it and I'm taking over."

Cadence sighed. To her it was better than nothing.

"Very well." She muttered.

Pyro nodded and went in search of something to keep the princess warm while everypony else just kept on doing what they were doing, which was just stand around inside town hall and try to keep themselves occupied while trying not to worry about the vicious army of living snowponies outside the force field.

Some found it easy to do that. Like the cutie mark crusaders. Those three fillies had all of their faith put in Cryo and it showed because they were making up new plans for how to get their cutie marks after the storm passes.

Other ponies however did not have such luck in getting a break. For example, the brown stallion that Typhoon saved earlier. He didn't really seem to be all that social because he just sat by himself with nopony even talking to him. When he took off his snow clothes, it was revealed that his cutie mark was very interesting. It was a pictograph of a bowl that seemed to be filled up with little pink hearts.

Seeing it made Typhoon wonder. So she did what any other curious pony would do. She walked up to him and spoke.

"Hello zere. I don't know eef you recall but-"

"You're the pony who saved me yesterday." The stallion cut her off before she could finish but he didn't turn to look at her. "I remember. I recognize your accent."

Typhoon giggled when she heard that.

"Some sharp ears you have." She noted.

She then took notice that the stallion turned around hanging his head down even more. Clearly joking around even in the lightest of sense wasn't a good idea right now.

"Hey hey, eet's going to be alright. My name ees Typhoon. And what ees your name?"

The brown unicorn turned back to look into her eyes a bit eased up.

"It's....it's Bran. Everyone calls me Bran."

"Okay, Bran. I want you to just remain calm and trust me when I say zis. Everything ees going to be fine."

"Yeah? How do you know?"

"Because I know my brother, Cryo. And I know zat when he sees something zat needs to be done, zere ees no stopping heem."

With a heavy sigh, Bran turned to look Typhoon in the eye.

"Can you promise me we'll get out of this?"

Confidently, she smiled and nodded.

"Absolutely. Cryo will get us free."

That did seem to ease Bran's mind a bit. He smiled a tad at the mare and she looked out to the snow which was still piling up.

"Cryo, hurry up! We can't last een here forever!"

*Canterlot Castle; Royal Dining Room; 2:00 PM*

Tension was high inside and outside the castle. As soon as news of the storm hit Canterlot, a lot of the ponies began to pile outside the castle demanding an explanation from the princesses. They didn't let up even though they were told many times by their advisors that they did not have a clue as to what the cause of the snowstorm was.

Princess Celestia and Luna were working overtime to try and think of something to say to the citizens of Canterlot to put their mind at ease. It was easier said than done though. They had to make sure their address to the people got through without there being any other suspicions. They knew chances were high that some of the people would start blaming the Alamantians for this. Ever since the battle of Canterlot, their presence was known. So the idea Pyro had of blending in when everyone first met was pretty much out the window now. They were known in the Ponyville and Canterlot areas and it was spreading fast. Already complaints and letters of fear were being sent to the princess. Letters containing things like, "The Alamantians are a threat" or "They will kill us all". The Princesses had to be extremely careful here.

Over in the dining room of the castle sat Agua, Rarity, and Spike all trying their best to enjoy a complimentary lunch courtesy of their royal highnesses. The food, though very much enjoyable and delicious, did little to ease their minds. All of them were too worried about their friends back home. Agua was the only one refusing to show it though being the stallion he is. Rarity was only thinking of one pony in particular though. Sweetie Belle. She only prayed that she stayed inside and not even think about trying to get a cutie mark in snow playing or whatever she may do. Spike was mostly worried about Twilight and how he wished he could be there with her. After a while, they were joined by the co-rulers of Equestria both of them sporting solemn faces.

"Any luck?" Rarity asked them.

Both of them shook their heads. Back in their chambers, they were doing more than trying to come up with a speech.

"We haven't been able to get any word from Ponyville. Everypony residing there is trapped inside its borders." Celestia informed them.

"Perhaps...." Luna looked in Agua's direction. "....perhaps there is a way for your sister to communicate with us."

It was obvious which sister she was referring to.

"Typhoon's telepathy may be strong but it's still developing. Even with all her strength she wouldn't be able to expand her mind all the way here. Especially with a signal cutter as strong as that."

Their hearts were all beginning to sink. Every chance they took seemed to get shot down by this accursed storm. And if that wasn't enough to get them weary, then this sure was. It seemed like ever since the storm was first noticed from Canterlot, the clouds above the town were getting bigger and therefore closer to the city. That was not a good sign.

Shining Armor entered the room with a couple of guards by his side as he gave his report to the princesses.

"More ponies are beginning to gather at the front gate, your highnesses." He began. "With the way they're going it shouldn't be long before they start to riot."

Both of them groaned.

"This is ridiculous." Luna muttered. "All this panic over a snowstorm. Can we not just tell them it's a weather team misdirection and leave it at that?"

"Luna, you know as well as I do that we can't do that." Celestia said sharply. "Lying to the public to quell their panic is a form of politics I refuse to lower myself to."

"I do understand, my sister. But our options are dwindling already. No matter how we try to explain it to them, one of them is bound to still believe that the ice mover, Cryo, is at fault. And you know as well as I do that where there is one spark, a fire is soon to ignite."

"There has to be SOMETHING you can say that won't make Cryo look so vicious." Rarity sounded like she was pleading with them. "I know him. He's the most kindhearted stallion I've ever met. If those snobs outside even try to say one word of slander against his name, I'll pummel them all into paste."

Agua, as well as Spike, Shining Armor, the princesses, and even Rarity herself was shocked to hear those words come out of her mouth. The only one who was shocked and smiling at the same time, was Agua.

"Hey, we're agreeing on stuff." He said with a smile. "If you go in to kick some snob-flank, count me in."

"My pleasure." The fashionista held out her hoof and Agua bumped it.

Rude threats to the people aside, Luna and Celestia found it rather pleasing to see Rarity and Agua in a rare moment of then actually enjoying being close to each other. Shining Armor was different story entirely.

"I still say we should just throw him out and give them what they want."

And again, he was saying it out loud, in front of the princess, and the Alamantian he was intentionally trying to insult. He wasn't done either.

"They think an Alamantian did this, why not just give them one and get it over with?"

"You would do best to hold thy tongue, Shining Armor." Luna coldly replied. "This Alamantian you see before you is my student AND my friend. I will not allow anypony, not even himself, to surrender to those ponies."

"Shining Armor, I am appalled." Rarity took her turn. "You have seen for yourself what these ponies have done. You have no reason whatsoever to hold anything against them. Why do you despise them?"

"Because I know exactly what they are capable of." Shining Armor snapped back. "Whether or not you decide to believe it, these ponies are dangerous. It's not safe for you to be anywhere near them."

"Yet your wife seems perfectly content with us."

Out of all the ponies who could have chosen to pick a fight with this guy, Agua was the worst one of them all to attempt it. Yet when he stood up out of his seat and began to approach him, nopony tried to stop him.

Because as much as they knew Agua was going to be rough in his words, they also knew he was going to hold nothing back unlike the others.

"I don't get you, captain. Twilight holds you in such high regard yet upon introduction you treat us with nothing but hatred and disgust. Usually, I'd just brush it off. I've grown used to hearing the name of Alamante disgraced by rich snobs and other punks. But with you, I just can't let it go."

"Oh yeah? And why is that?" Shining Armor kept his narrow eyes on Agua as the water move began to pace around while talking.

"Because I know there's a motive. Trust me, I know anger and hate good enough to know that there is always a flaming motive fueling it. Knowledge like that comes when you've gone through some of the stuff I have."

Celestia and Luna sat down on their rears as they let Agua go on.

"But what is your motive? You have never been prejudice by what your sister said. Cadence is in full agreement. So your motive can't be just simple dislike for Alamante. No, that would be too easy. Uneasy because of our abilities? Nah.....that's too easy as well."

"You're wasting your time." The unicorn stallion snapped. "Play psychoanalyst all you want. I have been protecting this castle and the princesses long before you came into the picture. I don't need six ponies with superpowers coming in and trying to prove that they're better than me!"

"What? I never once claimed to be better than...."

It clicked. Just like that, the pieces all came together. With that one line from Shining Armor, Agua had looked at him with a brand new opinion of the captain. Much sooner than expected as well.

"Sweet Poseidon's beard." He began. "You don't hate us because we're Alamantian. You hate us....because you're jealous."

Jealous was not the word that he was expected to use at all. Princess Luna thought it was going to be more along the lines of an insult as did Rarity and Spike. But no. He went with jealous.

"What? He's jealous of you? Come on, that makes no sense." Spike said.

Agua shook his head at the dragon.

"It all makes perfect sense, Spike." He then turned back to the stallion he was talking to. "I know what happened at your wedding, Shining Armor. Fell under the queen changeling's mind spell and was therefore rendered useless until Cadence snapped you out of it. But here's the thing. Even though you managed to save Canterlot and everypony residing in it........you were still ashamed of yourself. True you were the hero but you were also the puppet who let his guard down. The main pawn in the queen's grand scheme. And to this day it still burns you up that you allowed that to happen."

Shining Armor snarled.

"That is NOT true! Everypony screws up every once in a while! I've come to terms with that!"

"Have you really?" Agua responded.

Immediately, Shining Armor shut up.

"You are a pony with a heavy responsibility, Shining Armor. You lead the most elite team of soldiers this country has to offer. The safety that country AND it's rulers also rests on your shoulders. That is a great burden to bear. I'm willing to bet just knowing that you failed on a magnitude so large like that still eats at your brain even to this day."

Wanting to test his theory out, Agua turned back to the two princesses.

"Princess Luna and Celestia, after the wedding was there any increase in activity coming from the esteemed captain here?"

The two present alicorns needed not to think about it.

"Yes. Very much so. If anything his weariness and protectiveness of the castle doubled if not tripled by the first week he returned from his honeymoon." Celestia answered.

"More guards were stationed in more places and extra security surrounded us on the clock." Luna also noticed it.

Nodding, Agua turned around now focused on the couple of guard ponies Shining Armor brought with him.

"And you two guards, upon your captain's return to duty, was your training ever made harder?"

The two guards didn't answer him. They didn't even blink an eye in his direction.

"Guards," Luna addressed them. "I am ordering you to answer his question."

After they heard that, the two guards moved their heads to look at Agua. The one on the right answered first.

"Yes. Our training time doubled as well as our combat practice." Then the guard on the left spoke.

"Drills extended, exercises made tougher, it was rough."

Everypony was looking at Agua completely in shock that he was actually on to something and making sense.

"And now with this new threat coming in, you don't want to stand out of the way and let us deal with it because you think you have something to prove and you can't let anypony detour you. So you've been working hard on trying to make everyone believe we're dangerous.....and therefore sent off."

Thinking of something to say to defend himself was the farthest idea from Shining Armor's mind. All that could flow through his head at the time was seething rage as the two alicorn's, Rarity, Spike, and even his own two guards alongside him looked at him with concern and a bit of confusion.

"Captain.....is that true?" One of the soldiers asked.

No verbal response was given. Instead, Shining Armor leaned down growling at Agua and his horn began to light up. Though all the others in the room started to back away from him, Agua held his ground.

"Just know this, Shining Armor. If you come at me with the intent to fight, I won't stand here like a statue and let you pummel me. No. I WILL fight back and I will not restrain myself in any way."

The stare-down went on for at least thirty more seconds, both stallions looking eager to strike one another with everything they had in them. Shining Armor wanted so badly to show this ass of an Alamantian some real manners. And Agua, though under orders from Pyro not to, wanted to beat Shining Armor's supposedly racist flank into the ground.

Oddly enough, Shining Armor was the one who backed down first. He let loose a sigh, deactivated his horn, and then turned to walk away from him without a word. The two other guards followed him and then there were five.

"I think you nailed him." Spike said to Agua with a nod.

"It would seem his reason for disliking you was somewhat valid after all." Luna commented.

"But also selfish." Celestia added. "Being cruel to somepony just so he could take the glory is hardly a reason to act the way he did."

"With all due respect, your highness, the changeling queen bested you too." Rarity was a bit scared to say that at first. "I do remember there being some ponies saying that were not strong enough to be our ruler if you could be defeated so easily. If there was anything you could do to restore their faith in you, would you not take that chance?"

As much as the princess of the sun wanted to disagree, she found herself surprisingly unable to. Because Rarity was completely right. After Queen Chrysalis managed to beat her in a duel, a lot of ponies declared she wasn't fit to carry out her duties as princess. It was a big blow to have lost the support of so many ponies. And they had reason to.

But however, Celestia did not crave revenge or anything like that. It was not very much later after the protests began when those who still sided with her began to sway the others to keep to the

"I would be lying if I said there isn't a part of me that doesn't want to return the favor." Celestia admitted. "But either way, what's done is done. I do think Agua's words somehow got through to him though."

"Let's hope so."

Agua muttered those words as he looked out the window and saw Ponyville down in the distance covered in storm clouds. He was joined by everyone else in the room with him. The small town was under a heavy siege of ice and snow and they were trapped outside it.

"Cryo may not have been the one to start this but I have a strong feeling he'll be the pony to find the solution." Celestia voiced her opinion.

"Most likely." Agua nodded.

"Do you think he'll be able to?" Spike asked.

"Never tell him I said this," The water mover began ",but Cryo is a very strong pony. Perhaps even stronger than me. If anypony can find a way out of this, its him."

Luna looked at Agua confused.

"Why would you not want us to tell him you said that?" She wanted a straight answer.

"Oh that's just Agua. Never willing to let the world know he has a heart." Rarity giggled.

Luna knew differently that Agua did indeed have a heart. But it was as of a little over three years ago, shattered into pieces. She kept her word to her student and never told a soul about his reveal. Though it secretly pained her to know that someone like Agua was broken so badly. Underneath all the gruff, he was a good pony. He didn't deserve to be hurt like that.

Wanting to get their minds off of the concern of their friends, all of them decided to engage in other activity.

"Come, Agua. We have more training to do." Luna gestured to the door.

The blue stallion nodded and walked with Luna out the door heading for the chamber of the gods.

"Spike, we do have some more materials to fetch in the city." Rarity said to her little friend.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go outside with all those protesters around?" the baby dragon was nervous.

"I will handle that problem, Spike." Celestia assured him. "You two go on and try to enjoy yourselves the best you can."

The two of them left with a simple nod and Celestia went back to work on her own trying to think of the right thing to say to the protestor group growing outside the front gate. It wasn't going to be easy though. It was hard enough with her sister beside her and their minds working together. She decided to consol with another.

She went to her chambers, closed the windows and blocked the lights with the curtains, lit some candles, and sat on her haunches in the center of her room breathing steadily with her eyes closed and front hooves brought together at her chest.

"Celestia, why do you call on me?"

"Great worry and concern fills my little ponies heads, old friend. I am here to ask for your guidance."

"I am aware of what you speak of. I see Ponyville from where I am right now. Houses are up to their center in snow."

"The people are starting to think one of the reincarnations, Cryo, is responsible for this catastrophe. I need to find some way to convince them otherwise."

"Hmmm.......perhaps it is best to simply let them be for now."

"Don't address them? But they are demanding an explanation. If I don't say something they may become violent."

"With all due respect, Princess, the citizens of Canterlot don't seem like the violent type. They look afraid to even get a single stain on their coat let alone shed blood."

Celestia couldn't help but giggle at that a little.

"A good point indeed, but I still feel that something must be said."

"Something will be said. Just not with words. When Cryo finishes his journey, the answer Canterlot seeks will be seen."

"So I was correct. Cryo IS working to stop this storm."

"Yes. His trek began early yesterday. But I feel I must inform you that somepony took after him quite recklessly."

"Who did?"

"It would seem one of your element bearers. Laughter I believe is the one she holds."

Celestia paused and opened her eyes gasping a tad. Quickly she closed her eyes to resume the conversation.

"Are you absolutely sure that it was Pinkie Pie?"

"Indeed. Her bond to Cryo is strong. Maybe too strong for her own good."

"There is nothing you can do to help them?"

"I cannot interfere yet, Celestia. You know that. For his sake."

"I assume Cryo is not the one you are talking about right now. So tell me this, do you really care about him as much as he claims to care about you?"

There was a slight pause before the answer came from the stallion being spoken to.

"Pyro is like the son I never had. Every time I saw him in distress these past years, I wanted nothing more than to help him."

"Then why not simply reveal yourself to him and put his mind at ease?"

"Because in order for the mind to be at peak, sometimes a drive is needed. He needs that drive more than he needs me."

"I hope for your sake, and his, you are right. I shall leave you for now."

"Heed my advice, Celestia. And good luck."

With that, Celestia opened her eyes and a guard entered her chambers.

"Your highness, the people outside await your address." He said.

The advice she was given was sound. She shook her head slightly and looked to the guard.

"The ponies outside will not be hearing from me." The guard looked at her with surprise. "Not until the problem in Ponyville has been settled or the true cause has been revealed."

"But...but your highness, they are threatening to get violent."

"I can assure you that is simply a weak bluff. If they make the threat one more time, call them out on it."

Still very unsure, the guard nonetheless complied with his orders and left the princess alone in her quarters. Using her magic, she whisked out the flames on the candles and opened up the curtains allowing her sunlight to shine in again. A sigh escaped her lungs as she walked to the window and looked down upon the group gathering at the front gate. Then her gaze redirected to the sky.

"Good luck to you as well, Hitashi."

Author's Note

This chapter has not undergone editing yet but it will be done soon. So please try not to let any grammatical errors you catch get to you. See ya next chapter.

Freezing Point

I only own the Alamantians and the plot of this story. Everything else belongs to Hasbro. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 29: Freezing Point

*Blizzard day 2; Mount Blackmane; 5:00 PM*

Being able to see his hoof in front of his face would have been the clearest thing Cryo was able to see all day. But even that was hard to manage as the snowfall only got worse and worse with every step he took farther up the mountain. He was also going through the clouds that zapped Pyro and Rainbow Dash before so fog was also getting to him.

He wished right now he could be back in Sugarcube Corner enjoying some frozen treats with his friends. Dancing with Pinkie Pie, playing with the twins, he would take any of that over this dreadful mission. He mentally cursed himself every time he thought those kinds of things because he knew he took it upon himself to do this. He volunteered.

He halted when he came to a wall of frozen rock too steep to walk up. It wasn't exactly smooth. Both sharp and dull rock formations made the surface quite course. That was perfect for Cryo because that meant he could climb it easy. He stood bipedal preparing to move.

Using his powers, he formed to giant hooks made of ice starting from the middle of his front looks outward. He then threw one hook forward and started to increase in altitude. He stopped short though when a noise was heard. It was quite odd that he was able to hear anything with all the snow and wind blowing into his face. But he definitely heard a rustle in the trees. He jumped off the wall and took a look around the nearby area.

"Hello? Is anypony there?"

The icy stallion turned around in all directions. There was nothing but white wherever he turned. With a heavy sigh, he rolled his eyes and looked back the way he was heading climbing a bit more.

"What am I saying? Of course there's nopony up here. There's probably nothing even alive up here. Hell I'd give anything to have some company up here with me. It sure beats talking to myself like I'm going crazy. My own voice is getting kind of boring."

The rustle came again. But this time, after it subsided, a growl came in the same direction as the rustle making Cryo stop once more.

"Okay.....that wasn't my voice."

Needing to know what it was, and seeing as how he wasn't very far up the wall, he jumped down and tried his best to use his powers to redirect the snow around so he could see the least bit better. It seemed to work but not all that much due to the fog. The growling came to his ears again and he tried to find the direction it came from.

"Show yourself!" he shouted.

He soon wished he hadn't made that request. In the direction the growl came from. Two red glowing eyes shone. And as they got closer, a shape was seen in the form of a wolf. But it was entirely white and three times larger than a normal sized wolf. Cryo couldn't tell what it truly was so he assumed it was just a coat of fur. Slowly, he began to back away from the creature as it growled some more.

"Um.....easy there."

He was not yet aware of what was fully happening down in Ponyville so he didn't know about the snow creatures. The growling from the wolf became louder and more fierce as a full roar came from it. Cryo armed himself with a blade of ice on his right front hoof.

"I don't like doing things like this. But I have a schedule to keep."

With no hesitation, he charged for the wolf with his blade ready to strike. The wolf lunged for Cryo as well and the pony was the first to act. He jumped up high enough to evade the wolf's attack and landed on its back driving his blade into it. Usually, a howl of pain was heard whenever something like that happened. Nothing came from the wolf.

While Cryo stayed there confused as to why that thing wasn't in pain, it gave the wolf time to buck the stallion off his back. Quickly, he got back up and prepared another blade on the same arm as the wolf charged him again. Jumping to the left, Cryo readied his hind legs and bucked the creature into a nearby tree. Then he turned back around and looked at it as it began to get back up.

"What gives? Why wouldn't Twilight tell me what to expect when coming up here?" After he asked himself that, his brain began to do the math.

He felt the impact on his hooves when he bucked it and it felt just like snow. Not fur and skin. Which meant one obvious thing.

"That thing isn't natural. Somepony REALLY doesn't want me to reach the top of this mountain."

His attention was now paid fully to the wolf as it regained its pose and got ready to lunge at the white and cyan stallion once again.

"I've had just about enough of you!"

The wolf went for him again and this time, Cryo didn't have a blade but a hammer made of thick solid ice. As soon as the wolf leaped at him with its mouth open, the stallion took a strong swing. It was a direct hit and the wolf shattered into bits. Now done with his work, he began to head for the wall. Right before he formed his hooks again, he heard something. It sounded like a roar similar to the one the snow wolf gave off. But it was far in the distance down the mountain. There seemed to be a few of them emanating at the same time.

Cryo knew that they were too far away to be concerned about. That only just raised another question. What were they doing down there and not farther up the mountain where he was trying to kill him.

Unless......he wasn't alone. And there was only one pony he knew crazy enough to follow him. As his eyes widened with horror, he began to slide down the mountain on a path of ice.

" Please don't let it be her. Please don't let it be her. Please don't let it be her!"

His wish was something that couldn't be granted. Less than a minute later, he arrived to where the source of those roars came from. There were three snow wolves and they were all closing in on somepony covered in thick clothing to shield herself from the cold. The visible curly tail gave it away.

It was Pinkie Pie.

"No....no no no!"

He landed in front of Pinkie armed with another ice hammer and the wolves momentarily ceased their advanced.

"Pinkie, what in Skaldi's name are you doing here?!" he shouted angrily.

He didn't receive an answer. He turned his head around slightly to catch a glimpse of her and saw that she wasn't standing up. Pinkie was lying down on her front side and through her snow goggles it was seen that her eyes were closed.

"Pinkie?" he muttered now more afraid than mad.

His attention was turned back to the wolves when all three of the jumped for him. He had to think smart here. Swiftly, he grabbed Pinkie and jumped out of the way of the wolves. He rushed to the tree line and set Pinkie down by a thick trunk of a tree then rushed back to the wolves ice blade ready to go. One of the wolves made a leap and Cryo ducked down and slid underneath the wolf and sliced it in half while sliding. The second one was taken care of via decapitation and the third one was torn apart with an array of spikes thrown at it.

After seeing that the beasts were gone, Cryo rushed to his weakened partner who was now officially shivering like crazy. He picked the mare up in his arms and held her close scared out of his mind.

"C'mon, Pinkie. Stay with me."

Saying that wasn't going to do any good. He had to get Pinkie Pie warm and fast. Looking around frantically, he searched for anything that could act as a shelter from all of this cold. His prayers were answered when he looked and found a small cave in the side of the mountain. He rushed for it carrying Pinkie along with him and used his magic to check for any life inside the cave. It was empty to his luck. He set the shivering Pinkie down and quickly went outside the cave again to go fetch some wood to start a fire with. He came back swiftly with a pile good enough to last through the night.

Using his magic to spark the pile he stacked up, the fire roared to life and he set Pinkie near it to warm her up. He then searched through her bags and found a blanket that was a little wit but still good enough to wrap the mare up in. After she was bundled up, He sat next to her in and watched the flames come off the wood popping every so often.

It took a good while but Pinkie finally woke up still shivering but much less than before. It was obvious though that the all the cold she was exposed to had given her a fever. The first thing she saw brought a smile to her face recognizing the white stallion that she called her partner.

"Cryo.....you're alright." She weakly said.

With a sigh, Cryo looked down at her.

"I wish I could say the same about you." He sadly replied. "Had you been out there for a second longer, you probably would have died."

He walked to the entrance of the cave and created a wall of ice blocking any snow and any more cold from getting in. Afterwards, he walked back to Pinkie and sat down with his back turned to her.

"Why did you have to follow me, Pinkie?" He asked begging for an answer. "Why couldn't you have just stayed home where it's safe?"

She coughed a few times before answering.

"I had to find you. We're...partners."

"That doesn't you mean you had to risk your life like this." He snapped trying to sound less angry than he actually was. "What you did was unnecessary, reckless, and.....just plain stupid. I thought you had more sense than that."

Pinkie Pie felt both hurt and stupid and the same time. She knew she shouldn't have gone after him but she just couldn't help herself. She wanted to be near him all the time. It was almost unhealthy. But this didn't sound like the fun Cryo she knew. It's like part of him wasn't there anymore.

"Why did you have to be just like her?"

Confused was something Pinkie hardly ever was. That line was one of the few things that ever got her all the way confused. She thought she had Cryo figured out by this point but it turns out she was wrong. There were things he never told her.

"Like who?" she asked.

His fate was sealed as soon as he spoke that comment. Something he had wished to not tell until later was now about to be forced out of him because of one screw up. Regretfully, he turned around looked into the eyes of his partner.

"Remember what Discord said about me having a little sister?"

Pinkie nodded.

"I thought he just said that to just mess with your head like he did with me and the others before." She replied.

Cryo shook his head.

"No. He was telling the truth." He began. "I DO have a sister. Her name is Sierra just like he said."

It was here where Cryo began to talk in a way where Pinkie couldn't determine if he was happy or sad.

"When I first learned I was going to be a brother, I wasn't sure how I would like it. But then she was born....and I couldn't stop smiling every time I looked at her. She was like this little light that never stopped shining no matter how dark things got for me. Even when my family was in trouble with low food or something else, she would always make us smile. It was like her gift to the world or something. Nopony could explain it.

"As she started to get bigger, she and I grew closer. So close in fact that whenever I went somewhere, she always tried to follow me. It was so cute. No matter where I went she wanted to be near me. That meant the world to me. To know what it feels like to have somepony look up to you on such a large scale. It's one of the most rewarding things in the world."

A chuckle escaped his mouth before it turned into a frown.

"Then one day........she pulled the same stunt you did." His voice sounded full of regret. "I was taking a hike up a nearby mountain one day with some of my friends because we were going to race down it. But almost halfway up, I turned back and saw that Sierra was following me. And it wasn't safe for a foal her age. That's when the unthinkable happened. An avalanche out of nowhere. Had I been a second late in reaching her, she would have died. She almost lost her life because she couldn't stand to be apart from me."

Pinkie could see now what her partner was talking about. There was indeed a similarity between her and Cryo's sister by what his explanation brought to light.

""Pinkie, you're an awesome friend to me and I am happy for that. But there are times when you remind me so much of my sister, it hurts. It hurts so bad. And now you pulled this stunt. The same one she did that almost cost her own life. It......it's just too much sometimes."

That right there was when Pinkie fully realized why Cryo was in pain. It had been over three years since he last saw Sierra. She was trapped in a war-zone along with his mother. His father was killed in action when the war first broke out and that made it even harder for him to leave.

The sound of something deflating was heard. Cryo turned his head back to Pinkie and saw that her mane had lost all of its curls and gone perfectly straight. And her bright pink coat had lost some of its brightness it seemed.

"Cryo..." She coughed a few more times. "I'm sorry I remind you of her. I....I never wanted to hurt you."

The sniffles that followed were what Cryo thought to be just her sickness setting in more. Then his brain thought differently when he heard a whimper. He turned around and what he saw broke his heart.

Pinkie was crying.

Seeing her face hidden away in her arms and her eyes leaking tears was enough to make Cryo curse himself for using the words he did. He blatantly told one of his best friends that she hurts him constantly by acting like his sister. Now he had done it to her. Pinkie Pie was hurt. On top of all the cold and the illness, she was now hurt emotionally as well. And it was all his fault.

He raised a hoof gently in her direction. Before he set it down on her back, he heard a deep inhale and then a soft exhale. She had fallen asleep. Great. Before he could apologize she had gone dead to the world. With a sigh and a step in her direction, he rested his hoof on her warm forehead and ran it through her mane a bit.

"Pinkie..............I'm so sorry."

His muzzle lowered down and he gently tapped his lips to her pink forehead. After that, he looked to the entrance he had frozen shut and sat down staring at it. Just because Pinkie was there with him now didn't mean his mission had changed. He didn't have a choice. Whether or not she was sick, she was going to have to leave in the morning if they were ever going to have any hope of reaching the top of the mountain.

Hours passed and Pinkie was still out. Cryo began to feel his eyes grow heavy as well. He couldn't keep it up any longer. He threw a few more logs into the fire pit and then fetched a blanket from Pinkie's saddle bags. At first he was just going to put it over her own body and go sleep on his own. But he thought differently right before he did. He laid down beside her and threw the blanket over both of them with his magic. It wasn't necessary for him to keep warm but he figured the least he could do for hurting her was stay by her side all through the night. Sure enough, that's what he did. As soon as he closed his eyes, he was off to dream land just like she was.

*Blizzard day 2; Ponyville; Town Hall; 9:30 PM*

Things weren't exactly on the right side for the elements. Since the morning, their situation had escalated from bad to worse. Cadence was officially down for the count with a nasty cold and she had to give up her share of power in the force field making Pyro sub for her. She was confined to the mayor's office so nopony else would risk catching her cold. Even with that precaution taken, that wasn't fully stopping it. The freezing temperature was starting to effect on a few others as well. A few coughs here some sneezes there, it wouldn't be long before all of them were sick. Pyro was doing the best he could to keep everyone warm but having to do that and sustain the force field with Twilight and Gem was a difficult task.

The health was just one issue. The other was the big one happening outside. The level of snow was rising and was now one fourth of the way up the force field. If it kept up, then it wouldn't be long before the whole building was underneath snow. Also, the higher the snow rose up, the harder it got for the three unicorns to hold up the shield because more and more snow AND ponies made of snow were pounding down on it.

Gem herself seemed busy with her own thing. Most of the time, she was sitting at the window looking up at the clouds and it appeared that she was doing some sort of math equations. For whatever reason she was doing them, nopony knew. Twilight went over to look at the math, but after looking at it, her brain began to ache. The equations Gem had written up were very advanced. Much more advanced then she had ever seen before. And that was saying something. Yet Gem and her fourteen year old brain were deducing them and more without a hitch. That impressed Twilight very much so.

"Where did you learn how to do this?" she asked the young unicorn. "This stuff is very advanced. Even for me."

Gem did answer but she didn't mover her eyesight away from her work to do it.

"Fourteen years I've been alive. And during most of them I spent every second of free time I had reading textbooks and learning parchments. When you're forced to be shunned by everypony around you, you tend to have a lot of free time on your hooves."

Twilight was all too familiar with that. The only difference in her case was that she chose to not interact with other ponies herself instead of the other way around.

"I wasn't aware Alamante taught mathematics this advanced." Twilight said as she looked to the equations again.

"They don't." Gem answered. "When we first came here, I didn't have a lot of stuff to read." She then smiled as she looked over to Pyro who was at the time talking with Applejack and Terra. "The guys though, whenever they went out and made money, they always set some aside to get me more up to date books."

"Just for you?" Twilight murmured as she looked over to Pyro now sporting the same smile as Gem. "That's so sweet."

"They're all good guys." Gem nodded and got back to her work.

Twilight agreed and watched as Gem created a small purple glowing screen with her plasma power and formed numbers on it like it was a chalkboard of pure plasma and magic. With waves of her hooves, Gem made the numbers and symbols switch positions. Twilight was astounded. Gem was seeing the math in her head and making it actually solve itself in front of her eyes. It was amazing seeing that get done.

"Good golly." Applebloom walked over and stood next to Twilight. "Look at 'er go."

She was soon joined by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

"She's like some sort of machine." Scootaloo joked. "You think maybe her brain is like all mechanized like in some of those books we read in school?"

"Oh don't be silly." Sweetie Belle responded. "She's just way smarter than us. Think maybe she can help you with math?"

That question was directed to Scootaloo who seemed to take some bit of offense.

"Are you saying I'm bad at math?" she snapped at Sweetie Belle.

Applebloom answered before Sweetie Belle could.

"Have you SEEN you grade in math?"

"Um...girls?" Twilight stopped it before it could get louder. "I think Gem really needs to concentrate right now."

"Actually, not anymore. Because I'm done." Gem turned around as the numbers of plasma all vanished and everything was on paper now. "Twilight would you mind getting everyone over here please?"

That was done very quickly. The present elements grouped together for Gem to speak to them and the crusaders were sent away.

"So what's up, Gem?" Rainbow Dash asked her partner.

"To put it simply, I've been keeping an eye on the storm and I've noticed that while the clouds begin to pour out more snow by the hour, they are also starting to spread and in a certain direction."

"Oh.....my." Fluttershy did not like the sound of that.

"I've been doing the math for a while now and I have come to the conclusion that it won't be long before this storm reaches Canterlot. After that it will get to Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and so on."

The fear and dread was obvious in her voice. Similar feelings went into all the others as soon as they heard what was happening.

"So....how long should it be before Canterlot gets hit?" Pyro asked not sure if he wanted to hear the answer or not.

It was however too late for that now. Gem opened her mouth to give the information as her papers floated around her head via magic grip.

"If my calculations are correct, the storm should reach the borders of Canterlot...............by tomorrow morning."

That wasn't a lot of time. And none of them had any idea about the delay Cryo now had to deal with. This was going to be very close. Pyro's head turned when he felt a hoof on his shoulder. It belonged to Rose.

"Are you okay? You all seem stressed." She said.

Pyro nodded despite the information he just heard.

"Yeah. Everything's fine." He told her.

The florist invited him to share dinner with her and he decided to say yes to it. The others dispersed as well shortly after. Twilight headed upstairs to go check on Cadence but on her way up, her mind was on Canterlot. The princesses, Agua, Rarity, Shining Armor, and Spike. They were all in danger and whether or not they knew it was a mystery. Either way, fearing for their safety over her own was all she could do. Fearing for safety was all anyone could do at this point. And not only their own.

"Do you think Pinkie Pie caught up to Cryo?" Applejack wondered.

"I sure hope so. If she hasn't by now......well I don't think I need to go on." Terra put it flat and simple.

She indeed didn't have to go on. Of all the things Pinkie could have done this was probably the most foolish act any of them had ever seen her do. Well they didn't see her do it to be technical but they knew what she had done. Typhoon tried searching for her with her telepathy but her range was highly disturbed by the storm.

Cryo and Pinkie Pie were now their only chance for survival. If only the others knew they were both alive, it would have maybe put their minds at ease some. For what little worth it was at the moment.

Tomorrow was going to be the day of reckoning. And just like the previous night, it was going to be a long one.

Author's Note

Alright so I made a few edits and I took it down because I feel that I posted a little early. Also, news. I plan to go back soon and rewrite some of the earlier chapters because my GOD they were horrible and definitely need to be overhauled. As always, see ya next chapter and don't forget to follow the tumblr.

Ice and Laughter

I only own my OC's and the plot. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 30: Ice and Laughter

*Blizzard Day 3; Mount Blackmane; 8:00 AM*

All night she slept. Through every minute of it, all Pinkie's head had going through it was Cryo and nothing else. The fact that he had been hurt by her actions was more than enough to put her in an extreme state of depression. She felt she deserved to feel like this as well. When he said that she was like her little sister and it put her in pain because of it, that was the big blow to her. When she woke up, she didn't expect to see what she saw.

She was underneath a blanket and Cryo was sleeping right next to her. Peacefully it seemed too. She didn't have a clue why. She thought he was mad at her. So why was he cuddled up next to her?

His eyes opened up and he sat up to stretch before she thought of the answer. Slowly, the ice pony began to gather his things and pack them in his bags ready to move again. Pinkie on the other hoof just stayed lying there on the ground sure that he was still mad at her. Then he looked at her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

No anger, no sadness, no nothing. She couldn't tell if he was still mad or not.

"I'm...alright." She answered.

Cryo walked over and placed a hoof to her forehead.

"Well you still have a slight fever." He said gently. "But your eyes aren't red or puffy anymore. That's good."

He took away his hoof and looked back at the icy seal he made at the cave entrance last night. It was still there and there were no sounds heard from the other side. He figured the snow creatures decided to not bother and wait until he and Pinkie awoke to try and get in.

Upon seeing him look to the seal, Pinkie knew what it meant. Cryo had to resume his journey and get all the way up the mountain by today.

"I guess I should try to get back home when you head back up again." She sadly said.

Hearing it, Cryo turned around and looked into her eyes with seriousness.

"No. You're coming with me." He said.

Her own eyes turned back to him upon realizing that he was indeed, being serious.

"What...but why? All I'm going to do is just get in the way."

"If you stay here, you'll be a sitting duck for all the creatures that we will most likely run into. You need to be kept safe and the only way to do that is if you are near me. I know you're still sick but do you think you can make it?"

Pinkie couldn't believe it. Cryo was actually going to bring her along. But it still saddened her to know that he was under the gun and he felt as if he had no choice but to bring her along now. She was just extra weight he needed to carry.

But either way, she needed to make sure she wouldn't be a burden. She stood up as fast and best she could to appear strong even though she was still kind of sick.

"But what if I just get more sick then I am right now?" she asked a bit concerned about that.

"I can redirect the cold away from you as best I can. I can't leave you behind, Pinkie." He answered.

That was able to let her mind be at a bit more ease. With little confidence but enough to make her go on, she looked at him again.

"Then let's go." She said.

It was enough for Cryo to buy though. Before they left, he went into his stuff and pulled out some food for him and her to share. When they were finished, Cryo used his magic to pack everything back up into their bags and placed them on their backs. They then walked to the icy door of the cave and the stallion looked to his partner one more time.

"Stay close to me whatever you do." He said firmly.

She didn't need to be told twice. That was the whole reason she made the trek to begin with. To be close to him. She nodded and Cryo did so in response. Then he waved his hoof and the ice sealing the cave bean to vanish. With a look outside, they noticed that it wasn't snowing and the wind was barely blowing. There was still a chill to nip at Pinkie's nose and plenty of snow to walk through but still, the weather at the moment confused them.

They didn't have time to think about it right now. Cryo went out first to check for any monsters made of snow and found none to his surprise. He was still on guard though, knowing they could appear at any minute. Pinkie followed him out and their journey resumed up the mountain. They couldn't see it through the fog, but they were nearly there.

*Canterlot; Castle Dining Room; 9:00 AM*

The chefs of the castle were known for their precision cooking and fine etiquette with food. The royal sisters were taken aback almost every morning, afternoon, and night with every taste that touched their tongues. And they had been so again this morning. Rarity and Spike had joined them to delightfully share the divine tastes with them. The water mover was the only one missing from the group.

"These hash browns are simply exquisite." Rarity just had to comment.

"I'm glad you enjoy them, Rarity." Luna replied with a smile. "Our chefs drive themselves to nothing less than perfection."

"Well whichever of them dug up these gems is aces in my book." Spike said as he chewed up his own serving of various jewels.

Celestia let loose a single giggle at the young drake's antics.

"Freshly heated topaz. I hear it's a favorite of yours from Twilight." The solar princess said.

"Oh yeah. You bet." Spike took another bite.

It all seemed to be going like it was just a normal day. Everything was fine. Then a set of four blue hooves came into the room with them. He didn't walk to the table to sit down. Rather he walked to the window facing south, and sat down as he stared at the town he had come to know as his temporary home.

Luna was the first one to address him.

"Nice of you to join us, Agua. Come and eat. You need your strength for your upcoming lesson today."

The words reached the water mover but he didn't budge from his spot. All he did was keep in his place and stare out the window looking down at Ponyville nearly all the way covered by a blanket of snow.

"Agua, did you hear me?" The blue princess tried again.

"I did." Agua finally responded. "I'm just ignoring you."

Considering how much respect Agua seemed to show Luna before, this was not any sort of way they would have thought he would speak to her in. He wasn't being the gentlecolt and humble student as he had been whenever he was in her presence. He was just.......being Agua.

"Is something the matter?" Celestia asked the stallion.

"No. Nothing's wrong, your highness. Other than the fact that all of our friends in Ponyville are trapped underneath a blanket of snow down there and the chances of them even surviving this dwindle with every second that passes by. So forgive me if my mind isn't really focused on eating or learning more water moving right now."

With a growl, he turned his head back to the window and continued his gaze. Celestia sighed knowing how he felt.

"Agua, I'm sorry. I know you are worried about them. Trust me, I am too. But there isn't anything we can do for them right now. I know it's hard but we just have to believe they can get themselves out of this."

"How could they possibly get themselves out of this?" Agua snapped his head back to her with a glare. "The entire town is almost buried in snow with no chances of letting up, Cryo is the only chance they have and he's probably not strong enough to move all of that, and to make matters worse, the storm is almost here to Canterlot and the people outside are starting to get angrier. How the hell is Cryo supposed to stop all this by himself?"

"He's not by himself."

That little line from the princess of the sun earned her the stares of everyone in the room. She immediately regretted saying it just to calm Agua down some.

"How do you know there's someone with him?" Rarity asked.

Celestia didn't have a choice but to give them some sort of answer without giving the whole thing away.

"A reliable source told me he saw Cryo begin to walk up Mount Blackmane two days ago with Pinkie Pie not far behind him."

Now the concern was not on who it was Celestia was talking to, but rather the safety of their pink friend.

"Pinkie followed him?!" Rarity gasped. "How....how could she attempt something so foolish?!"

"Was she close enough to where Cryo would be able to sense her presence?" Luna asked hoping for a positive response.

"I am unsure. But if they are together right now, then it is probably for the better." Celestia reasoned.

"Yeah. That sounds much better. Let the most childish of the bunch hike up a mountain blazing with ice because she has mild separation anxiety. So much better." Agua was giving no cares in the world where his sarcasm went right now.

Rarity couldn't help but feel that he was insulting Pinkie Pie in the process of that speech.

"Are you saying Pinkie is childish?" she snapped at her partner.

"Oh are you JUST seeing that?" Agua responded. "That mare is so immature and wacky at times, I'm surprised she's the age she is."

"She just likes to make sure everyone is having fun all the time! Is that so wrong?" Rarity began to shout.

"And when she sees that ONE pony isn't enjoying himself, she goes depressed. Like FULL ON depressed. I'm sorry but THAT is childish to me."

"That ONE pony is always YOU!" Rarity got up and shoved a hoof at his nose.

"Well I don't like parties! Live with it!"

"I live with YOU! And that is bad enough!"

"Oh and like YOU are a breeze to live with?! The mare who has a mental breakdown if she screws up a button on an outfit! I mean by Poseidon's beard! How annoying can you get?!"

"At least I'm not out every night to try and divulge in debauchery with every female in eyesight! Don't you have standards?!"

"I DO ACTUALLY! I’D NEVER WITH YOU!"

"THE FEELING IS MUTUAL!"

"SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That third voice was courtesy of Princess Luna who decided to take the cap off of the Royal Canterlot Voice for a bit. The entire castle shook at the sheer volume of her vocal chords. Celestia even had to pop her ears since she was right next to her. Spike dove underneath the table and took his plate of gems with him in fear of their safety over his own.

Angrily, Luna got up out of her seat and marched over to the two partners with a glare that probably by measurement, would have been enough to even freeze Cryo in his tracks.

"Listen to both of you! Is THIS how the bearers of generosity and water always act?!" she shouted.

"Uhhh...." Spike poked his head out. "Pretty much, yes. They clash about a lot of things."

"Well the clashing seems to be even more childish then Agua claims Pinkie Pie to be." She resumed her glare at the two. "I do not know what causes you to bicker so much, but let me remind you of who you two are. You are Rarity, the bearer of the element of generosity. And you are Agua, the chosen one of water. Both of you come from the essence of Poseidon, one of the greatest minds to ever walk this planet. I will not stand idly by and watch you two bicker over nothing like a couple of foals arguing over a bottle.

"The two of you obviously share an abundance of differences but deep down you are each the same. Both of you care only about the safety and well being of your friends and loved ones and you would give anything, even your own bodies to make sure nothing dreadful becomes of them. Is that not true?"

All of them stood in silence for a couple of minutes before one of the two ponies in question broke the silence.

"Of course it's true." Agua mumbled.

"You know it is for me." Rarity came back as well.

Luna let loose a breath.

"Very well. Then stop this pointless bickering and try to find more relations to each other than that. Unless you do that, you will never win this battle and you will never be able to unlock the power that dwells deep within you."

They knew the power of which Luna was referring to. The power of Poseidon himself.

"Yes....I do." Rarity sat down on her haunches. "Thank you for reminding me that I was born from an immortal water god alicorn."

The expression of disbelief at her origins started to crawl back up her spine. One of her hooves began to rub at her head as it began to ache.

"Just relax. You aren't moving water yet." It was at that moment Agua did something he was sort of known for. Change from a jerk to a friend. "But......I've seen you move around in your martial arts knowledge. If you want....I could teach you some water moving forms I know...just to be ready....up to you of course."

He didn't make eye contact with the mare he was rooming with while he made that statement. Though that hardly seemed to matter. The size of Rarity's smile would have probably been that big no matter where he was looking at the time.

"You'd....really do that?" she asked.

"Well sure." Agua replied. "If you're gonna be a water mover, you're gonna need to learn how to move your body first."

The smile remained in her face while she nodded.

"I would like that.......thank you, Agua." She muttered.

"Don't mention it." The water mover turned around and looked back at the window. "I guess I can eat and worry at the same time."

Rarity led him over to the table and he took a look at the various foods that were presented on the table. Using his water moving, her grabbed some utensils with tendrils made of his respective element. He began to eat just as a ruckus from outside began to turn up in volume.

"Is that crowd still outside?" Spike turned around to look down at the castle gate where the large group of ponies demanding Celestia's address to them.

"Unfortunately, yes." Celestia answered. "They are not very thrilled with me refusing to show myself."

"Well why don't you?" Agua asked.

"Because I have something that not a single pony down there does." She turned to Agua as she gave her reply. "Faith in your brother."

Luna nodded in complete agreement.

"In time they will see with their own eyes you mean no harm and they will hopefully leave it at that." She put in her own two bits.

"I hope so." That was all Rarity could say on the matter as the rest of them continues to eat.

*Ponyville; Town Hall; 10:00 AM*

The situation for the ponies down in Ponyville was only getting worse and worse with every hour that passed. The power had gone out all through the town last night while everypony slept, so the heater was now officially out of commission. Everypony had to put on the warm clothing they had before to stay that way, and the snow had not let up, letting at least three quarters of the force field surrounding town hall get buried in white powder. Hope was beginning to dwindle.

The emergency food supply was already beginning to dwindle and the ponies were getting hostile. The elements had to keep the peace but it wasn't very easy to do. With less food meant more unhappy ponies and more unhappy ponies meant anger and a lot of other negative emotions being thrown in all directions. It was mostly thanks partly to Pyro's words of calming wisdom and a bigger part from Terra's hollow threats of pain that order was kept and nopony really did get hurt.

That wasn't to stop their worry though. No, it was far from it, actually. And in all fairness they had a right to be with the way the cards were being dealt. With nothing but a force field powered by three unicorns holding back the snow, chances of them escaping were dwindling.

All everypony could do was just look out the window and watch as the creatures made of snow pounded away at the force field trying to get in. Scootaloo was one of these ponies. All she did throughout most of her time was just stay there in the window looking up at where the surface of the snow is in worry. Her idol flyer noticed this and decided to try and cheer her up.

"Heya, squirt." Rainbow greeted as if nothing was wrong. "You alright?"

"Is that even a question?" The young filly replied. "I'm scared, Rainbow Dash. What if.....what if this is it for us?"

"Hey." One of her hooves turned Scootaloo's head so they were looking into each other's eyes. "We have two ponies working on this. Two very strong and very good ponies. They'll come through for us. Just have faith, okay kid?"

All Scootaloo did was give a nod in the toughest look she could muster and then turn back to the window, resuming what she was doing to begin with. Satisfied, Rainbow walked away and sat behind the purple unicorn she called "partner", who was at the time talking with Terra.

"It's hard to tell somepony to keep faith when you're beginning to lose it yourself." She commented.

"Yeah well try losing it slower. We need to remain together for all that we are." Terra replied.

"I really hope the others are okay." Gem said worried. "Cryo should be up the mountain by now..."

"If Pinkie Pie didn't slow him down." Rainbow seemed to growl when she said that. "I still can't believe she went after him. How could she be so stupid?"

"Maybe she was doing what she thought was right." Pyro was the one to answer that as he walked over with Twilight by his side.

Of course Rainbow thought those words to be just ridiculous.

"How is going out into a blizzard of unstable proportions anything close to being right?" She demanded an answer from the red stallion.

"Only she can answer that fully. And I trust she will when she and Cryo succeed in their mission." He seemed WAY too calm about it all.

"Well it's nice to know YOUR faith is still as strong as ever." Rainbow walked off.

Pyro followed her movements for a bit before looking at his yellow geokinetic sister with concern.

"How is Cadence?" Both he and Twilight wanted to hear that report.

With a disappointed look and a sigh, she told them.

"Not a lot better. Jackie and Fluttershy are tending to her now but she's not doing so good."

Those were the results he was anticipating. Cadence was an alicorn and alicorns don't get sick very often. But when they do, they get hit hard. Twilight was well aware of this fact after living in the same building as the princess for many years. But neither she nor Gem knew how to treat it.

"Well....just keep doing what you're doing. There's no possible way she could get any worse than she is now." Twilight reasoned.

"Let's hope so." With that, Terra walked off to find something else to do.

That was pretty much all they could do: talk, give status updates, and hope for the best. Time was a resource they didn't have anymore and the pressure was weighing all on the shoulders of Pinkie and Cryo.

Pyro sat alone on the second floor looking out the window to the rising surface of snow with nothing but a look of unreadable emotion.

"Pyro?"

His first show of emotion came when he heard his name. Turning around to the left, he saw Rose there approaching him and sitting down next to him.

"It's awful isn't it?" she mumbled.

He only nodded and sighed in response. She glanced at him but swiftly returned her gaze to out the window.

"You know....back when I was a filly, I used to hate winter with a passion. It always made the flowers I tried to grow wither and die. It got me so frustrated. I tried so hard to keep them alive but the cold always got to them. It wasn't until months later that my parents told me that the flowers I was trying to raise were the wrong type. I felt so silly."

She giggled. Once he heard the sound enter his ears, Pyro's yellow eyes redirected to look at her.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"Because....it's a silly story that makes me forget about my problems....like the one we're all in now. Don't you have any of those from your past?"

She just had to ask about his past. Not directly but still, the word "past" got to him. The only memories he could ever conjure up were the unpleasant ones. Nothing about his past that was remotely good could hardly be remembered.

"Not a lot." He said sadly.

Rose only nodded but she wasn't done talking.

"Pyro.....please tell me we're going to be alright. You don't have to mean it or anything just.....tell me everything is going to be alright. I just need to hear it."

She was desperate and scared. Pyro could tell that easily. Without even thinking about it, he reached over and grabbed her right front hoof with his left one and held it tight, something to which Rose madly blushed.

"We WILL get out of this alright, Rose. I give you my word of honor."

She wasn't sure if it was the hoof holding or his firm tone of voice but whatever it was, it sure made Rose feel a whole lot better about the situation she was in. The two of them just sat there on their haunches just staring out the window at a wall of snow. And Rose couldn't stop blushing. Though if she were to look close enough at Pyro's face, she probably would have been able to notice that he was blushing like crazy too.

*Mount Blackmane; 11:00 AM*

He was a little dragged down because of Pinkie Pie but within a few hours time, they both got there. They had reached the top of Mount Blackmane. It wasn't the most pointy of mountain tops. It was more of a flat top at least wide enough to support a small cottage. They had encountered a few monsters on their trek, but they were easily defeated. They had at least just a hundred meters left to go in the snow and fog before they got up there.

"We're almost there, Pinkie! How ya holdin' up?!" The stallion shouted.

He received no answer other than a heavy round of coughs. No doubt Pinkie was getting worse from all this exposure to the weather. He picked the pink pony up with his magic and placed her over his back as he kept walking.

"We're gonna do it, Pinkie. We're close to the top now." Cryo kept talking as he walked, carrying all the weight on his back. "And when we do, we're gonna go back down the hill and WHOA!"

His face planted into the snow after he tripped over something. Pinkie was quick to get off him so he could stand back up. Turning back, he saw what he tripped over. A bar of metal sticking out of the ground like a tree root.

"What the..."

He ran a hoof over the metal bar and dug a bit into the snow to see if it went on. It did. And that meant there was more to see.

"Cryo...shouldn't we get going? Something doesn't feel right." Pinkie requested.

It wasn't the cold or the sickness she was referring to. It was something else. Cryo felt it too. That's why he had to say no.

"Pinkie, get behind me. There's something underneath the snow. I gotta see what."

Nodding without question, Pinkie walked behind her partner as he leaned over and dug his front legs into the snow. After a few seconds of charging up his power over ice, he spread his two legs out rapidly and a large portion of the snow in front of him flew off to both sides revealing what was underneath the snow to me an array of metal bars charged with magic in the shape of a cage.

Inside that cage was something that made Pinkie jump on to Cryo's back and latch on for dear life. What she had just laid eyes on was a creature in the form of a horse like body. It was a pale white and its eyes were somewhat glowing. It was also growling. Cryo gasped when he saw it.

"It's a windigo....but why is it here.....on a mountain near Ponyville?"

"Just forget about it!" Pinkie fearfully shouted. "Windigos are really mean creatures that only feed off distrust and hate towards other ponies!"

"They are also creatures that I show my utmost respect to. For this creature is a member of the species that are considered to be the very first ice movers." Cryo replied.

This was new information for Pinkie Pie.

"The first ice movers?" she repeated.

Cryo nodded and began to explain.

"Ponies weren't the first creatures in existence with power over ice. The very first ponies to wield this power sought out help from other creatures. The only ones with such a power were the windigos. Sensing the cold from within them, the beasts of ice showed the ponies the ways of ice moving. And from there, we allowed it to evolve into the technique it is now."

"So your tribe is friends with windigos. But listen to it! It's growling and it wants to eat us and have us live in its belly forever!" Pinkie cried still freaking out.

She tried to pull him away but instead she found herself easily overpowered and trapped within his own telekinetic grip and her body was enveloped in a cyan field.

"No...........it's in pain."

That correction from Cryo's mouth made Pinkie halt all movement and look at him with nothing but skepticism as he put her back down.

"What? How do you know that?"

"Because it said so."

He said nothing else as he walked past the head of the creature to inspect the rest of its body. Everything seemed to check out until he saw the underside of its chest. There was a giant hole right in the center of its chest. The stallion looked inside and saw a very big problem. There was a hole in this thing's chest right over where the heart should be.

But there was no heart.

"Okay....that's creepy." The ice pony commented before looking up to the windigo's face. "You just sit tight. I'm gonna get you out of here."

The windigo growled in response and Cryo ran full speed up the mountain with Pinkie floating next to him in a field of magic.

"That explains some things." Cryo noted. "A windigo is the only thing in this world that can produce cold of this kind on its own. But there was nothing to provoke it. Why is it doing this?"

"And where was its heart?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Shouldn't it be....not alive?"

Cryo didn't answer because he didn't have one himself. He only kept going until finally, his three day jaunt had come to an end as he reached his destination: the top of Mount Blackmane. Once he stepped hoof on the flat ground, he set Pinkie down and looked around. The only thing there to see was a very old, very small, and very worn down old house.

Confused, the two ponies approached the door of the place and Cryo ran a hoof over it.

"An old shack. What a place to hide a magical storm's power source." He said.

The door was unlocked and he opened it up. It was just a big shack with only four walls. In the center of the place was an object. A huge glowing light blue object on top of a pedestal. The glow it gave off was eerie and very very cold.

"Wh.....what is that, Cryo?"

"It's the heart." Cryo angrily informed her. "Ripped out of its chest and used as a power source for this storm."

The two of them looked around the chamber they were in. Energy seemed to be filling it and it was indeed originating from that beating heart.

"Nightmare must have captured this windigo and forced it into this. Making it feel nothing but anger and rage and powering the blizzard."

Pinkie looked at the sight disgusted. It was sick, twisted, and cruel. Right up Nightmare Moon's alley. Granted windigos weren't exactly the most friendly of creatures and Celestia knows they have caused enough trouble in the years of their known existence. But subjecting one to this kind of misery, this torture......no living thing should have to go through that.

"We have to get it free." She stated. "We need to put its heart back in its body."

Without even giving it a second thought, she rushed for the heart not yet sure on how she was going to make this whole thing go.

"Pinkie no!" Cryo shouted trying to catch her.

He was too late and when she was close enough, the heart gave off a reaction. A bolt of unknown energy shot out from it and hit Pinkie Pie and sent her through the wall of the shack nearly unconscious. Horrified, Cryo rushed to her and cradled her in his front legs.

"Pinkie....please be alright."

Slowly, her head turned up to him and her eyes weakly attempted to stay open.

"Cryo.....

"Just like Sierra....always running into things without even giving any thought."

She thought she was gonna cry right then and there knowing she hurt Cryo again. But her thoughts were cut off when out of the shack came a pair of glowing eyes easily recognizable.

"AHAHAHAHAAAAA! A brave hike you took, Cryo. I commend you for that. But your efforts are in vain. Nothing can stop this storm from spreading now! The heart of a windigo filled with nothing but hate and anger is the ultimate battery! You and your little pink friend have front row seats to the beginning of Equestria's ice age! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

The windigo's heart began to pulse with more energy and Cryo could feel what it was doing. More energy to power the storm was pouring out of it at an exponential rate. The windigo down the mountain from them began to howl and roar in complete agony as its life energy began to dwindle. The eyes vanished as Cryo clutched himself to Pinkie as tight as he could.

"I.....have failed."

*Ponyville; 11:35 AM*

"Something really bad is happening here!" Rainbow Dash cried.

Right she was. Not even a minute had passed since activity from the snow creatures outside had spiked up dramatically. More and more beasts had been created and they were pounding on the shield making it more and more heavier for the three unicorns sustaining it. It wasn't long before it started to actually crack.

Pyro, Twilight, and Gem all brought a hoof to their heads and yelped in pain while the other citizens of Ponyville began to panic.

"Gem! Twilight! Reinforce the barrier, they're starting to break through!" Pyro shouted.

"Pyro, we can't keep this up much longer without Cadence!" Twilight cried as she rubbed her head.

"I know, I know. Just don't give up! I'll think of something!"

"Well, you better think fast, brother!" Typhoon shouted. "Zose frozen freaks look really nasty!"

"Any better?" he asked them.

"No. If anything, she's worse." Terra sadly replied.

"Her cold is a really bad one. Ah don't think she's gonna be able to use her protection magic with a fever that high." Applejack added.

A loud smack echoed through the building when his own red and orange tipped hoof smacked into his face.

"Yeah, there is actually. We just ran out of food." Rainbow Dash added.

"LOVELY!"

"Cryo, Pinkie......where are you?"

Asking questions wasn't going to do him any good now. He had to act. The shield was beginning to crack and the force on it was too great. He needed to get it to let up somehow so they could think of a plan. There was only one way to do that.

Without thinking twice, he bolted to the door

"Pyro, stop! Get back here!" Twilight tried to chase after him.

But he was already out the door and with a quick teleport, he was on the other side of the shield in the cold. His body heat was sustained for now but he knew it wasn't going to be long before it began to give out. He didn't have any other choice though. The pressure on the force field needed to be relieved if there was to be any hope at all.

The snowponies all started to slowly advance on him as soon as they realized he was there.

"Is this a stupid idea? Yes. But is there any other way? No. So bring it on you walking hunks of powder!"

His hooves caught aflame as he took his bipedal stance and charged for the nearest snowpony. One punch was all it took for that one to bust apart into a pile of snow back on the ground. But he noticed his hoof that he used to punch with was cold. The fire had already gone out. All of this cold snow and wind coming down on him, along with impacting these enemies made of snow itself wasn't bringing him a lot of favors.

He figured so long as the shield stayed up and the snowponies were being lead away from it, he was doing his job. So he kept fighting them off using his martial arts and pyrokinesis to ward them off for as long as possible.

"Is he insane?" Rose asked from the inside. "He can't take them all."

"He's warding them away from the shield." Gem observed. "That must be what he intends."

"We need to think of something fast....or we're all done for." Rainbow said in fear.

As Pyro continued to fight his life away out there in the cold, that was what he and everyone else in that building was thinking.

*Mount Blackmane; 11:45 AM*

All Cryo could do was sit there and watch as he, his friends, and his family became buried in a land of ice and snow. He couldn't believe it. Everything he had come to love since he started living at Sugarcube Corner was about to be demolished and even worse, the princesses would be so ashamed and disappointed in him.

Then his mind went to another. Sierra. What would she say if she saw him like this. He knew what she would be. Sad and disappointed.

"Sierra....I'm so sorry........I can't believe I let this happen."

Pinkie was still there in his grip and her sickness was starting to bring her into unconsciousness. But she kept fighting to stay awake for Cryo's sake tired of seeing him like this.

"Cryo....all you've ever told me about Sierra are the bad unlucky times you had with her. But.....weren't there any good times? Any that made you smile...or laugh?"

Cryo sighed and looked at his partner saddened.

"What good would that possibly do for me? If anything it will probably just make me hurt more."

"That's just silly." Pinkie coughed. "Come on, Cryo. Just once. Tell me one funny story about your little sister. Are you going to stand there and honestly try to tell me there isn't one good memory you have with her?"

That was something he just couldn't argue with. Of course there were times when his little sister did bring some concern and fear to Cryo. But that wasn't all his relationship with Sierra was.

"Of course I have good memories. I mean there was this one time when she was just a foal, she was about to start walking and I was so excited to see her do it. She ended up going only one step before she lost balance and fell into a bowl of food. Oh you should have seen how adorable she looked."

He chuckled. Something he hadn't done ever since this whole journey started. He cracked a smile and gave off a small laugh.

"Whoa....where did that come from?" he asked himself.

Pinkie just smiled and did her best to sit back up on her own.

"See? Just because right now things seem bad, it doesn't mean you can't laugh altogether, Cryo. You just need to keep happiness close to your heart and fight so you can keep laughing forever and ever. And I'm sure wherever Sierra is, if she saw you right now, she would think you are the coolest big brother to ever live, and she was the luckiest sister in the world."

He finally saw how he had been for the past hours. How stupid he was. How much of a stubborn pony he could be. He only viewed the negative memories of his sister because they plagued him so. But he never once thought to think of the positive ones to give him light and strength. Not a single time. As soon as he realized it all of them began to re-emerge from his subconscious. Sierra being born, her first steps, the fun times they played together in the snow, learning to use her ice power, there were so many. Cryo's face began to smile wider and wider. As each memory began to warm his icy heart.

"Oh Pinkie.......thank you." Not even caring about the job he had to do, Cryo hugged his partner.

She hugged back and then the two of them began to do something together. Something they had needed to do for days but only now really had the chance to.

They both began to laugh.

Back in Ponyville, they had officially hit rock bottom. Pyro was on the ground too weak and too cold to move. The shield was cracking more and more, Cadence couldn't help them, and everypony was now in a full blown panic. Yelling, screaming, and light violence was the only thing filling that building now.

All the fillies and colts were next to Cheerilee who was also trapped with them trying to think of words to ease them. But alas she came up with none. All she could do was just hope with them as it began to go out the window.

"That's it....Ah can't believe it." Applejack let her head hang. "........it's over."

All of them thought so as well.

Terra just kept her eyes staring at the top of the snow that was lying against the shield. Her eyes going up and down looking at the top and bottom of it. Snow, nothing but snow, and then there was even more snow at the top that was.....

......starting to fly up and away from the shield in various large chunks all around it.

"What the......girls....you might wanna take a look at this."

Applejack joined her partners side and looked up seeing what the mare of earth saw.

"Aw great. NOW what are they doin' out there?" She assumed this was more work of the enchanted snow.

That theory was questioned though when Typhoon put her hoof to her head and spoke.

"Zere ees something out zere.....something.......familiar."

That last word was not the word everypony was expecting her to say. Powerful, maybe but familiar? All it did was make Applejack and Terra scan the outside even further to look for what was causing this. Typhoon kept on using her telepathy to try and find the source as the snow kept on rising. The more snow that got out of the shield’s way, the clearer her mind was able to see things outside. The force field itself was now free of pressure because the first layer of snow around it had been lifted away.

"Look! Who is that?" Rainbow Dash looked out and pointed.

Out the window they all looked and saw two silhouettes of pony shape moving about throughout the blizzard. They didn't appear to be attacking the snow ponies. They looked as if they were just moving around like a couple of dancing partners on their hind legs. But they weren't embracing each other. They were just moving around and waving their front hooves around.

"Wait......" Looking closer, Twilight was able to see something odd about the ponies.

Their eyes and cutie marks were shining.

"Could it be...?" The mare of magic muttered.

They could see it clearly now and the images brought back memories of the fight in Canterlot. Only now it was happening to two different ponies. Cryo's and Pinkie's eyes and cutie marks were glowing bright white together and Pinkie's element of laughter necklace was around her neck, the balloon shaped charming glowing its respective blue.

The two of them were standing bipedal, waving their front legs, and were both moving about in what seemed to be a rehearsed formation. Both of them were doing it in perfect sync with one another. With every wave of their hooves, more and more of the snow and ice began to budge from its place, breaking the thick blanket across Ponyville up into parts and lifting it into the sky. Seeing the door was clear to open up, the shield, after three days, finally came down. Gem opened up the door and walked outside as the snow resumed rising up to the sky.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed her and soon all the others after. Nothing but astounded faces and dropped jaws were seen as the ponies of Ponyville gazed at the snow and then at the two ponies moving it. Nopony however could have been more surprised than Mr. and Mrs. Cake. The young pink mare they had taken in like a daughter was right in front of them, glowing in her eyes and flank and using her mind to lift up impossible amounts of snow.

"Pinkie!" Pound Cake shouted.

"C-cwyyo!" Pumpkin Cake reached out a hoof for the stallion.

With every motion of their hooves and every step those two took, Pinkie and Cryo lifted up more and more snow from the floor of the town. Sooner than everypony thought, they got to the houses which were already buried and freed them from their captivity of ice. The other elements were just looking at this while thinking moving that much snow had to be stressful on Cryo's and Pinkie's bodies. But they just went on moving it in their little dancelike pattern as if it was nothing at all.

Twilight looked away from the two of them for a brief second and then rushed over to Pyro once she saw him fall to the ground. He through the snow as it broke up into pieces and hit the dirt slightly weakened. With his partner’s help, he got back up and looked over to his brother and his own partner.

"Do I know how to pick teams or what?" He chuckled.

Even though the most amazing thing in any world Twilight had ever seen was happening right in front of her, she couldn't help but return the laugh with one of her own. Everypony else just continued to stand there and gawk as the town began to lose more of its blanket of thick snow. As the residential houses got uncovered, the front doors opened up and the ponies living in them came outside, looking up wondering what in Celestia's name was going on.

Before they knew it, Cryo and Pinkie had lifted up the entire field of snow above the town.

"This impure snow...must be eradicated."

Those words came from both Pinkie and Cryo speaking in sync with each other. Then as if what they were already doing wasn't enough to put Ponyville into a state of shock, the two acting heroes decided to put something else into play. From the tip of Cryo's horn and from one of Pinkie's hooves, another source of white light began to shine. After a matter of moments to charge up, that light blasted out of both of their respective appendages and into the floating mass of snow in the form of a beam. The beam itself lasted for maybe a second or two but its effects were clearly seen.

From the center of the snow outward, it began to dissolve. Not melt. Dissolve entirely away from existence along with the storm clouds that poured the snow down in the first place. A minute later, the work was done and the ponies of Ponyville couldn't have been happier to see Celestia's sun in the clear blue sky again. Their cheers and yells of happiness and relief signified it. Soon though, their attention returned to the two ponies who made it all happen.

Their eyes and cutie marks stopped glowing but Pinkie's element of laughter necklace remained attached to her. Once they stood back down on all fours, a huge wave of dizziness and disorientation overtook them both. They were about to fall down on their sides before Fluttershy caught Cryo and Typhoon made Pinkie balance back out.

"Easy zere, you two. Just breathe. Eet takes a lot out of you, I know."

"Maybe we should get them some water." Fluttershy suggested.

The two pegasi spoke from experience being the only other ones of the group to glow like that so far.

"Water.....would be nice." Cryo mumbled before he opened his eyes back up and looked at Pinkie.

After her own eyelids fluttered open, she turned her head left to see the white unicorn smiling at her.

"Pinkie......thank you so much for following me." He said.

It was at that moment, Pinkie Pie did was she was best known for. She smiled a great big smile and went over to Cryo latching onto him for a hug. The stallion of ice happily reciprocated as the citizens of Ponyville continued to stare at them. While the two hugged, the others saw that from both of their chest, more glowing came. Pinkie's element of laughter gemstone was shining and a small light from Cryo's chest was glimmering too. Once the two of them opened their eyes and saw it, they backed away from each other confused.

Once they were apart, the two shining lights from each of them shot out of their bodies and into the sky above them colliding with each other. From the two lights put together, a shape formed. The shape of a pony. When it died down, the present Alamantians were in shock. The pony lowered itself down to the ground on its bright powder blue wings. Shoes made of solid and enchanted ice touched the dirt and the pony opened up her eyes below her magnificent horn while her snowy white mane and tail waved in the passing breeze.

The five Alamantians, Cryo especially, fell down into a bow.

"Lady Skaldi." The ice mover mumbled. "Words cannot express how honored I am."

Once that name was heard, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all bowed to her as well. Seeing that it was an alicorn present and she was wearing some sort of icy crown on her head, the rest of Ponyville bowed too, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon reluctantly.

The goddess of ice herself, Skaldi, stood before them. She looked down and smiled at her two disciples of white and pink as they stood back up.

"You two have done extraordinary." She said in a soft and calm voice. "I am very proud of both of you."

Pinkie, needless to say, was ecstatic. And hopped on the goddess hugging her.

"Oooohhhhh! You're Skaldi! I was born with part of you inside me right?! Give it to me straight. Am I gonna grow wings? And a horn! Oh! Will I get to move ice again?!"

Skaldi giggled as Pinkie calmed down.

"There will come a day where you and your friends will be able to do more than you could ever think possible, Pinkie Pie. But until that day comes, I need you and Cryo to do something."

"Anything, m'lady." The unicorn stallion swore.

With a soft smile and glance between her two disciples, Skaldi spoke her request.

"Always stay together. You need each other much more than you know."

The two ponies that came from that goddess before them looked at each other sharing the same considerate smile before they looked back up at her.

"Always, Lady Skaldi." Cryo muttered.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie Pie placed a hoof over her closed right eye.

Skaldi nodded, approving their answers. Her attention was then diverted when she heard a harsh cough and sneeze exit town hall. Cadence was being helped out by Roseluck and that Bran stallion Typhoon befriended. She looked horrible. Her eyes, bloodshot red just like her nose; bags under her eyes that looked like they could carry a load of groceries; and her mane was such a frazzled disaster, Rarity would have had a panic attack if she saw it.

The goddess of ice walked in between her two children bearing her essence and made her way to the cold wrought princess of love. The other ponies of Ponyville parted once she approached, allowing her a clear path. Once she was right there in front of Cadence, her horn shone in a brilliant white and she lowered it down to touch the tip of her head. The spell Skaldi casted overtook Cadence's entire body and once it died down, the love princess's appearance was once again in her regal form.

Her nose was no longer red, the whites of her eyes were white and nothing more, and her mane was straightened out again. Also, her royal crown, neckwear, and shoes were back on her. Bran and Rose stepped back awestruck that the goddess of a gold element was able to do such a thing.

Upon seeing who it was in front of her, Cadence took her own turn to bow.

"Formality is not needed here, young Cadence." Skaldi said to her.

"But it is respectful to show to somepony such as you, Lady Skaldi. I am honored just like I was with Aeolus." Cadence replied back.

Skaldi gave a hearty laugh as her whole body began to glow. She turned and walked back to Cryo and Pinkie speaking only to them and making sure nopony else that wasn't supposed to hear it did not.

"You have taken one giant leap closer to defeating the enemy. You are all nearly there. Just stay with each other and guide one another, and you will succeed."

The glowing intensified on her body as she began to disappear.

"Until the next time."

With those words, her body was gone and Pinkie's element of harmony vanished off her neck. All the ponies in Ponyville then walked off more than ready to resume their lives peacefully. The pink mare then turned to Cryo, remembering something.

"Cryo, what about the windigo? Did we ever help it?"

Cryo looked to the now clearly visible Mount Blackmane just in time to see something large take off for the sky with three smaller objects following it. He smiled and began to explain.

"In more ways than one. Nightmare caught that windigo from the arctic north and forced it into powering the storm. To make things even heavier, she caught the windigo's pups and held them hostage. There isn't a rage or fear stronger on this planet than a mother concerned for her kids' safety."

The other elements joined him at Cryo's side as they watched the windigos all fly away back to the arctic north.

"Amazing." Typhoon muttered.

"Cryo, you and Pinkie kicked ass!" Terra gave her brother an affectionate punch to his shoulder.

Everyone was alright with it. but there were two ponies however, who stood in their place with their twin babies. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were staring at Cryo and Pinkie with their jaws dropped halfway to the ground.

"Um....maybe we should take them home and explain a few things." Cryo suggested.

"Yeah." Pinkie walked over to the cakes and began to walk them home with her partner at her side. "We'll talk to the rest of you later."

The rest of them nodded and they too started to walk. All of them headed for the library and walked inside. Twilight was relieved to see it was still standing on nothing on the inside had been damaged in the least.

"Well....two down. Four more sets to go." Terra looked to Applejack. "Hey, maybe we'll glow next!"

"Ha ha ha. Maybe." Applejack finally found her smile.

Once they all sat down to rest for a bit, the door opened up again and in rushed the two partners of water and generosity. Spike however sprinted in and jumped on Twilight.

"TWILIGHT! I'm so glad you're okay!" Spike hugged her tighter than ever.

Knowing how scared he must have been, Twilight returned the hug.

"It's good to see you too, Spike."

Agua and Rarity were brought up to speed on what the others had to go through while they were in Canterlot the whole time. The ending made them see Cryo and Pinkie in a new way. Rarity just smirked at Agua.

"Told you she's strong." She muttered.

Agua rolled his eyes and didn't reply. But then he decided to spill on what he found out information wise in the castle.

"Guys...get this. I think I know why Shining Armor hates us."

All of them, especially Cadence were interested to hear that. As soon as Agua told them, none of them could believe it.

"Jealous? Him? Of US?" Gem just couldn't comprehend it. "What do we have to be jealous of?"

"You mean other than elemental powers beyond anything Equestria has ever seen before?" Rainbow Dash commented.

"Okay there's that but other than that we got nothing."

"I think there's a lot more to it than that. And I for one want to find out what it is." Agua said.

Pyro stood up and nodded to his brother.

"I agree, Agua. It's time we had a little talk with the esteemed captain."

Author's Note

Alright. Sorry it took so damn long. But here's the next chapter. And if you're wanting a visual for Skaldi, then merely copy and paste the URL below.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/01ef519847b432c0f92264b79b8e44b2/tumblr_miauaamUfU1rcox80o2_1280.png

Also, the first chapter has been completely rewritten so go check it out of you wanna. Thanks and see yall in the next chap.

A Much Needed Chat

I only own my OC's and the plot. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 31: A Much Needed Chat

It had been two days since the trouble in Ponyville was quelled by Cryo and Pinkie Pie. In Canterlot, the outraged ponies demanding Celestia to speak finally got what they asked for. The Princess of the Sun told them the problem had been solved by the very pony they all thought was behind causing it in the first place. Of course not all of them were very accepting of that and thought of it just as an excuse. Celestia simply replied that they may feel about it however they so desire but the words she had spoken were nothing less than the absolute truth. The real problem was trying to think of a good explanation for the disaster to begin with.

She couldn't tell anypony that Nightmare Moon was back, as that would only cause panic in the streets. With all the recent attacks, it was hard enough trying to keep order. As much as she hated being dishonest with anypony, she, Luna, and their advisors both agreed that keeping them all in the dark for a bit longer was the best route to go. So when questioned further about Cryo's involvement, both the princesses came back saying what they had said before. Cryo was not the problem, but rather was the pony (alongside Pinkie Pie) responsible for not only saving the town from being buried in snow, but also every single pony trapped inside their homes. Thankfully it was enough to tide them over for now, but both the alicorns knew that even though Nightmare's plan was thwarted, plenty of seeds of discontent and uneasiness had been planted.

Down in the small town itself, it seemed things were smoothly getting back on track. Nopony there held anything against Cryo save for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. According to Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, their two bullies came into school the next day saying Cryo and Pinkie were too slow and should have been able to go faster. It was obvious to everypony that they just didn't want to show the Alamantian any respect.

Speaking of Cryo, he and Pinkie were faced with the highly uncomfortable task of spilling the beans to Mr. and Mrs. Cake about the whole situation. They spared no detail. The Cakes were brought up to speed about Nightmare Moon, the story of the gods, how both the young ponies were reborn from one goddess, and everything in between. Needless to say, by the end of the story, the two baker ponies found themselves unable to speak for at least three and a half hours. They came back down from their bedroom saying that they thought no less whatsoever of Pinkie and Cryo. The two of them were happy to hear that but they both knew that it was going to take a bit more time to get fully accustomed to it.

As for everypony else, things seemed to be going well again as life once again picked up. Back in Canterlot, there was still one stallion out of the bunch who's thoughts were racing around faster than Rainbow Dash could fly. Shining Armor had hardly said a word ever since his little chat with Agua. All he ever spoke were orders to his troops and that was about it.

On the third night since the blizzard was cleared, Shining Armor relieved himself for the night and headed to his room in the Canterlot Castle. Stationed at his door were two identical grey unicorn guards. As he got closer, the left side guard's horn flared to life and the door handles to the captain's quarters became alit in the same color hue. The doors opened up and Shining Armor walked inside followed by his two guards. They closed the door behind them while Shining Armor used his own magic to take off his armor and set it down on a rack made for the set of metal.

"That will be all, soldiers. Go back to your post." The captain said.

"Yes sir." One of the guards responded. "Though, captain, if I may, I was hoping to ask you something."

This wasn't like their normal behavior at all. Shining Armor knew these two guards a tad better than others since they were the ones always outside his door. They hardly ever spoke to him other than sit reps and such.

"Yes what is it?" Shining Armor decided to listen.

"We heard about what that water mover said to you. We were just curious to know if it was true." The other guard spoke.

Shining Armor became a bit tense at that moment. This was indeed not normal for these two guards. None of his guards ever asked him about matters such as this. Something was off.

"Well, cadet, why the sudden interest in my personal thoughts?"

"Uhh...just, talk around the others is all, sir. We got curious." The first guard replied.

It seemed the higher ranked stallion was onto them...whatever he thought he was onto.

"You two have never asked me about my personal life before." He said to them.

Before they could say anything else, Shining Armor did a short teleportation behind one of the guards and tried to strike him in the back of the head. He wasn't expecting a dodge to his attack, but that's what happened. The guard evaded the strike in a fashion Shining Armor didn't remember ever teaching in combat practice, and then he found himself pinned up against the door in a bipedal stance. The guard's nose was only millimeters away from his own.

"Relax, Shining Armor. If we were here to hurt you, we would've already done it."

From the tip of the guard's nose, a small ray of light shone and dimly began to go up into his face. As it traveled up to his forehead, his coat began to change from grey to a slightly darkened red and the mane and tail turned from a very light blue to a bright red and streaked orange.

After he released Shining Armor from his pin, Pyro stepped back and did a short teleportation. His body went a couple feet but the armor he was wearing did not. It clanged together in a small pile on the ground. Then the second unicorn guard began to shed his disguise and then he teleported like Pyro did letting his armor drop.

Cryo then circled around and looked at Shining Armor with a nervous sort of look. Shining Armor on the other hoof was stunned.

"H-how did you do that?" He asked.

"Cryo and I can't get magic sickness. And if you were raised Alamantian, you would find a shapeshifting spell to be easy." Pyro answered.

"We thought if we knocked you would've just slammed the door." Cryo added.

It was a valid point, and Shining Armor knew he was most likely correct. Had they just knocked on his door and he opened it up to see them, he would have just closed it. But there was one little thing that got him concerned.

"Where are the two guards that were supposed to be stationed there?" he demanded to know thinking something bad had happened to them.

"We just told them under disguise that you had relieved them of duty for the night and we were assigned to their shift." Pyro answered.

The captain was able to take a great sigh of relief knowing his two guards were alright. But he was still annoyed to see two of the Alamantians had taken their place.

"Why are you here?"

"We wish to talk and nothing more." The fire mover said with pure honesty. "Agua told me about the small exchange you and him had during the whole storm fiasco."

After now knowing the reason why he was there, Shining Armor didn't dare to look at him.

"..........what about it?"

"I just want to know if it's true and if it is, why?" Pyro answered his question with a question.

"Shining Armor, are you really.....JEALOUS of us?" Cryo then took his turn to ask something.

The royal unicorn still didn't turn back to look at their faces. He should have known better than to think it would have stopped there with just Agua. But still, even after all of that, he held his position.

"Why do you think it's any business of yours?" He asked them.

"It probably isn't but that's not the point. The point is, everypony, especially your wife, is very concerned about you. Even us. Sure we think you're....kind of a jerk at this point, but we're still genuinely concerned for you." Cryo explained.

"I find that hard to swallow."

"Yeah well swallow it because it's the truth." Pyro said.

"Get out of my chambers." Shining Armor sounded like he was threatening them.

It did very little to nothing in terms of intimidation.

"Not until we finally get what your deal is with us." Cryo said firmly. "You've been acting so abnormally it's starting to look like you got swapped out with a changeling this time. Shining Armor, please just tell us. What is your deal with us?"

"I can't tell you." Shining Armor growled.

"Why not?" Pyro angrily shouted.

"BECAUSE WHAT YOUR BROTHER SAID IS TRUE! I FAILED!"

All sound in that room ceased to be as the two Alamantians looked at the captain with quite a bit of surprise. Not at the fact that he truly was jealous of them but because he was starting to actually talk to them.

And he was not finished. With a deep sigh, he knew he now had to let it loose. Out it all came.

"I'm the one stallion in charge of leading the entire Canterlot guard, the most elite military unit in all Equestria. It was my job during the wedding to make sure anything that wasn't supposed to happen didn't occur. And what did I do? I was so blind to see that the love of my life, the kindest mare I have ever met, was being so opposite. She was rude, blunt, everything that Cadence isn't. I let Equestria down and....I let her down too.

"When I first heard you tell us that Nightmare Moon was back, I saw that as my chance to finally redeem myself for the massive failure I let happen. But....I felt and still do feel that I need to deal with it to regain something that I think you two are familiar with. I need my honor. I lost it the moment I spoke my first words to the changeling queen under disguise.

".....I completely failed my country, I failed in the line of duty, and....I failed the love of my life."

It wasn't hard for the two Alamantian brothers to see where he was coming from. It had to be a huge weight of pressure Shining Armor was under during that time and chances are he wasn't always one hundred percent most of the time. He had to order every single troop around, supervise preparations, not to mention keep that giant force field suspended around the entire city. It was easy to see things from his point of view.

But even after looking at things that way, there were things the captain was overlooking in terms of how harsh he was being on himself. Sure most of it fell to him but there were other branches on the group of friends that some of the blame needed to fall upon.

"Shining Armor...you can't put all the blame for that day on yourself. Everypony was busy during that time. Not even Celestia nor Luna could see what a poor imitation the queen was doing of Cadence. So it wasn't just you that screwed up. Everyone was at fault." Cryo said in an attempt to help him get his head higher.

"Twilight wasn't." Shining Armor went on. "Twiley was the only one who was able to see that Cadence was acting weird. And when she tried to call her out on it, I yelled at her and defended a bug.....a monster."

"You didn't know she was a monster at the time, Shining Armor. And in your defense, Twilight, although right in the end, had put you in an impossible situation. She was making you choose between her and your future wife. Had I been in your place I would have been in a pickle too." Pyro added.

"Hell, every guy would've been caught in that same pickle. I know I surely would have." Cryo spoke again. "We're not so different from each other, Shining Armor. You made mistakes that any other pony in this world, even us, could have made."

"Not so different. Heh. What a laugh." That was the only part Shining Armor seemed to hear.

"Why is that a laugh?" Pyro asked. "We DO share similarities, Shining Armor. Like you, we want to protect this land from Nightmare Moon and keep this country safe."

"Yeah.....but the difference is....you can actually pull it off. I can't."

Pyro took one step closer.

"Come on, Shining Armor, would you just-"

"Will you stop talking to me like you and I are equal?" Finally, Shining Armor turned around to look at the two stallions face to face. "You don't think I saw you and the others fight that night here? I watched every move you all made. You outclassed me in every way. Even without your powers you made me look like I took training from a low level security guard at a fashion show. Even the little plasma one could probably kick my flank back to Ponyville."

"That isn't true." Pyro's voice went stern.

"IT IS TRUE!" Now the captain was yelling. "Cut the act, Pyro! The six of you have powers and abilities beyond all Equestrian normality! The two of you right here can't even get magic sickness! So don't you dare stand there and tell me that we're alike! We are NOTHING alike!"

With that, Shining Armor stormed off to his bedroom and slammed the door. In most other circumstances, Pyro and Cryo would have taken this as their cue to leave and try again some other time. But this was not the case here. The words that were screamed at them just now if anything made them even more aware of what Shining Armor was feeling right now. He was jealous, but there was also another feeling that crept up his spine.

The two brothers of opposite elements glanced at each other and nodded. They then marched towards his bedroom door, opened it up, and saw the captain staring out the window.

"She needs you." Was what Cryo said upon first stepping hoof into the room.

"W-what?" Shining Armor was both surprised he said that and that they didn't leave.

"I know that look, Shining Armor. Once you saw what we could do, you didn't just feel jealous. You felt....useless. Obsolete. No longer needed." The icy stallion was determined to make this guy see things differently on this night. "But you're wrong. You are so so SOOOO wrong. You are so much more needed than you realize."

Once again, Shining Armor turned around to look at the two of them but this time he was confused and looking like he wasn't buying the speech.

"Yeah? Like where?"

"Well for one, Cadence needs you." Pyro took his turn again.

Immediately after hearing that, Shining Armor's look of doubt vanished and was replaced with one that looked like his brain just got woken up with a sack of bricks.

"She needs you to be the love of her life, the stallion she can always hold on to whenever she's feeling sad, or lonely, or scared. Twilight needs you to be her BBBFF again. Cute. The princesses need you to be the strong soldier you are. All of Equestria needs you to be the dependable captain of the guard, the strong stallion ready to lead his soldiers into battle no matter how reckless. And......we...us six Alamantians....we need you too." Pyro concluded.

"Wha....." Now Shining's face was one of confusion. "In what possible way do YOU need ME?"

"We need you because even if you are in a serious place of doubt right now, you are still strong. VERY strong. And we could use your help as our ally in the battles that are yet to come. We sure as hell could have used your power in the Canterlot fight." Pyro said again.

The more they talked, the more his brain began to fill with more sense of realization at what could have happened had he played his cards another way.

"You......you're saying that if I had just asked to go out there with you......you would have let me?"

The moment after he asked that question was the first time Pyro smiled at him since the day they met.

"Shining Armor, after what Twilight had said about you the days before you and I met, I would have been honored to fight alongside you."

It didn't take long for Cryo's mouth to do exactly what Pyro's did.

"It would still honor us if you would join us in the battles that lie in the future. With everything Nightmare Moon is throwing at us, we could use all the help we can get."

The captain once again turned around and poked his nose out the window looking up into the night sky. He started to think about every interaction he had with the Alamantians not counting the time with Pyro when he didn't know he WAS Alamantian. All the yelling, the angry words, the racist insults, they could have all been avoided had he just told them he wanted to be out there with them in the face of danger alongside his sister and her friends.

Then there was Cadence. He let his anger get the best of him and he jeopardized his marriage because of it. She walked out on him crying her eyes out and he just stood there and let her. All at once, the feelings of regret, sorrow, and sadness flowed into his mind and he didn't dare let the two stallions behind him see the tears dropping from his eyes.

"Thank you for coming here to talk to me." Softly his voice spoke to them. "I still have a lot of things I need to think about though. Can you please leave?"

It didn't seem like a lot from him at the moment. However over the course of their whole talk, a whole dump of information and revelations were just put in front of the two Alamantians. For now, it was enough.

"Thank you for your time, Shining Armor." Cryo muttered.

After that, he and Pyro turned around, and walked out of the captain's quarters. While the door closed, the two of them made their way not to the front door of the castle to leave, but rather to the throne room. Along the way they both thought hard about the reaction Shining Armor gave. They could tell he was sorry but for whatever reason he just wasn't ready to say it yet. They didn't think much about it. They only focused on walking to another part of the castle.

The door to the throne room opened up and in they walked to see not only Princess Luna, but also Celestia, their four other siblings, Cadence, Spike, and of course the six mares they have grown close to since meeting them.

Cadence stepped forward first, a look of nervousness and impatience in her eyes.

"Well? How did it go? Was any progress made?" she asked.

"I think so." Cryo replied a bit unsure in his tone. "He finally spoke to us about what was troubling him but not much else was said after that."

"I think he's just ashamed now, and to be fair, I think he has a right to be after everything we just heard. It’s not like we're happy he is though." The red stallion added.

"We know, Pyro. None of us are happy he is like this." Princess Celestia said to soothe his mind.

"Tell us in detail what was said between the three of you." Luna requested.

Surely enough, the two unicorn stallions did in as much detail as they possibly could. Every word that came out of all three of their mouths was repeated again in front of all of their friends and the royalty running the country. When they were done, they waited if anyone had anything to say.

"He's ashamed for the wedding incident as are we." Luna spoke for herself and Celestia. "The changeling queen did indeed do a poor impersonation of our niece."

"We all wish we woulda just slowed down a tad and seen it." Applejack muttered.

"Well there's nothing that can be done about it now. It's dead in the past." Terra added. "Just admit you screwed up bigtime and move on."

"Oh we have, Terra." Rarity assured her.

"Well now we just have to wait for Twilight's big brother to come out and say he's sorry." Pinkie Pie said with a big smile.

"No, Pinkie." Cryo was against it. "I wanna hear him say it too but we've done all we can tonight. All we can do now is just catch a train back to Ponyville and just wait it out."

All of them agreed that was the logical thing to do. Before they did, Fluttershy turned to Cadence and asked her a question.

"Do you want to stay, Cadence?"

After hearing the results of the talk with Shining Armor, Cadence had been thinking about the answer to that question very hard. Shining Armor was indeed sorry but he was still defiant to say it. There wasn't much she felt she needed to think about after that.

"No. I stand by my word. Until he comes to me, I'm not coming back."

Her answer was given with confidence.

"We should go, zen. Ze train leaves een twenty minutes." Typhoon found that out spanning out her telepathy on a stallion working at the train station.

"Yeah......" Twilight seemed a bit saddened Shining Armor didn't come with them into the room. "Come on, we don't want to miss the train."

All of them bid farewell to the princesses with a bow and then made their way out of the throne room. Rainbow Dash spoke as they walked.

"And just for the record, I have seen Gem fight and I've seen her practice too. She could totally take Twilight's brother in a fight."

Gem was not as appreciative of the attempted compliment as Rainbow Dash would have thought her to be. If anything she felt a tad embarrassed and the tiny blush on her face confirmed it. Also there was a hint of lacking confidence.

"I....I wouldn't want to fight him..." She softly said as the door opened.

"Oh I know that." Rainbow caught on to her tone. "I'm just saying if it ever happened, you could take him."

Agua chuckled.

"I wanna fight him one day. He seems built enough to take a beating from me and walk away."

His ivory unicorn partner looked at him with confusion.

"I honestly can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult." She commented.

"It's both. It's a complisult. A compliment and an insult all rolled into one." Agua clarified.

While he and Rarity started arguing about that being a real word, Celestia bid Luna good night and left the throne room herself leaving her younger sibling in charge for the night. A matter of minutes and a few hellos from the night guards later, she found herself back in her chambers.

She shed her body of her royal attire and prepared her bed for her to enter. But right before she walked to the mattress, something began to materialize outside her window. A puff of black and purple smoke and from that cloud came two unfortunately familiar eyes.

"Well, hello my dear Celestia. How long has it been since you and I spoke directly? 1002 years? Much too long hasn't it been?"

Celestia's horn immediately began charging up in a bright yellow glow.

"Put yourself at ease. I am not here to fight. You and that Pyro character are always so tense."

That did nothing to make Celestia any less tense than she was at the moment. Her horn remained powered up and ready to fire upon command.

"What do you want?" the solar princess growled.

"I am here to merely to talk. You see, your precious element bearers and the six Alamantians you have allowed to live here have been valiant in their attempts to thwart my every move. And so far they have been successful. But no more. As amusing as it was I have grown tired of this little game. So here is what is going to happen.

"I am going to unleash everything. And I mean every little ounce of power I have in one swoop across this entire country. Nothing will be missed in the wake. Every single building, every flower, every living thing both pony and not, will simply cease to be."

Celestia had dealt with Nightmare Moon before. Granted it was Luna in the shell but this was still Nightmare Moon. She could tell the mare of the moon wasn't lying and she knew very much that she could destroy everything if she so chose to. The glowing in her horn finally stopped.

"Although you can prevent it all from happening. If you follow my one demand." Nightmare said.

"And that demand would be?"

"Simple. Take those six Alamantians, put them on a boat or whatever, and send them away to wherever."

Now Celestia in her day had heard some incredible and sometimes stupid threats. This one fell into the category of stupid sounding.

"If I send those six young ponies away, that just means your chances of taking this country over increase dramatically. Tell me why I would do it."

"Because you know I could do everything I told you I would do. And you know how I would start? With every loved one of the elements, all of their friends outside each other, their mothers, fathers, siblings, and then they would learn it was you who had the power to prevent it all but stopped it. And I wonder how they would react to it. I wonder how all of Equestria would react to all the murders and pain after all that."

Celestia wanted nothing more than to throttle this puff of smoke and send her back to the moon for another thousand years. But all she could do at the moment was growl.

"Take some time to think. But you only have three days. Spend them wisely."

With that, Nightmare vanished and Celestia shut the windows. There was now one more chore she had to do before she headed off to sleep. All the windows and curtains were shut, the candles around the center of her room were lit up, and she sat down on her haunches with her front hooves brought together at her chest. When her eyes closed, she immediately let her focus go to her center.

"Hitashi, we must speak."

She had to wait for a few minutes to get a response. But the old pony's voice came to her head.

"I apologize. I needed to find someplace quiet for this. Why do you call me so suddenly?"

"Do you recall that plan you and I spoke of?"

"Yes...what about it?"

"......I'm afraid there is going to be a drastic change."

The Choice

Alright my friends. We're in the final arc of the story now. So get cozy in whatever seat you are in while reading this, and enjoy. I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 32 - The Choice

Two more days passed by quickly after that night in Canterlot, and they weren’t very eventful. Life carried on, Cryo and Pinkie still got a few hoof bumps from the town citizens for the blizzard thing, Pyro kept helping Twilight out in the library, making Spike's job easier, Terra helped out on the farm, and so on.

Agua was even true to his word and took Rarity aside a couple hours out of the day to teach her basic water moving stances and some basic moves. Since she was already experienced in karate thanks to Rainbow Dash's teachings, the fashionista had little to no trouble at all standing on her hind legs in a bipedal stance. To Agua's surprise, Rarity caught on quite fast. Her motions were graceful, accurate, and precise. Had she been glowing or something, she would've been a serious threat with water.

That night, Rarity decided to host a dinner party at her house and invited everyone in their main circle to attend. She didn't receive a single no. Pyro and Terra even volunteered to bring some Alamantian stuff to make the meal more interesting. The ivory unicorn was thrilled to try it even though she was aware some of it would be meat.

As the dusk came about the town, they all started to show up. Pyro, Twilight, Cadence, and Spike were first because the young drake was asked to assist with the cooking and Pyro had brought his main side dish. A bowl of super hot sauce. Rarity was a bit nervous to ask why it was called "super". Sweetie Belle however couldn't wait to give it a shot. She was at her sister's house while their mother and father went out of town to Trottingham for a couple of days. And at her request, Rarity allowed the other two crusaders to attend the dinner.

Everything was set to be a pleasant night.

Around 6:00 PM, everyone aside from Applejack, Terra, and Applebloom had arrived at Rarity's house and they had begun to chit chat.

"This is actually quite nice. This is just what we need after a blizzard of gigantic proportions and the revelation of Shining Armor's true feelings." Rarity commented.

"Oh oui beaucoup." Typhoon agreed in French. "And ze smell from ze kitchen ees delightful."

Rarity always loved hearing compliments of any sort.

"Oh I am absolutely positive you and the others are all going to love this meal, Typhoon. And I'm sure the side dishes all of you brought will only make it more divine."

"Rarity, are you sure you're going to be okay with eating meat?" Cadence asked.

Upon realizing there was a good chance that would happen, Agua's mouth turned up into a smirk and he gazed at his ivory partner.

"Oh that I need to see." He said.

"Hush you." Rarity jabbed a hoof his direction before turning to the princess. "To answer your question, it's true eating meat is something I myself thought I would never even THINK about attempting. But like everypony else, ever since meeting our new Alamantian guests, trying new things has indeed crossed my mind. And putting some meat inside my mouth and tasting it is one of those experiences. Oh! I need to go check on dinner."

As she walked back to the kitchen, Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of Agua with his mouth open almost like he was about to say something. But then he turned to look at the princess, closed his jaw, and began to take a few breathes like he was calming himself down.

Rainbow could easily tell what was on his mind. She smiled and tried not to laugh herself.

"You wanted to make a double entendre about Rarity putting meat in her mouth didn't you?" She asked.

"She and Cadence threw it right in front of me!" He shouted.

That earned him giggles from everypony other than Twilight and Fluttershy. Fluttershy because of obvious reasons, her shyness. And Twilight because she didn't have a clue what Rainbow and Agua were talking about. She was still in the process of learning what double entendres and sexual terms and puns were but she was getting better.

In an attempt to change the subject, Gem took a breath of air in through her nose and the aroma from the kitchen to fill her nostrils up with the pleasant smell and bring a smile to her face.

"Mmmmmm. That smells so good." She observed. "I can't wait till it's done."

"Me neither." Scootaloo piped up who was right in between the plasma mover and Rainbow Dash the entire time. "And I bet desert is gonna be even better."

"Who's in charge of bringing desert anyway?" Cryo asked.

"Applejack volunteered." Twilight replied. "She said she had a few new types of apple flavored desserts for us to taste test and this was as good a time as any for us to do it."

"I'm up for some apple sweetness." Pyro said. "She always did say she had a variety of treats. Never got around to trying them."

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all smiled at him.

"Well then tonight is your lucky night, Pyro! Applejack's apple treats are so good they rival Sugarcube Corner's very best cake!" Pinkie explained.

"And they make some pretty good cakes." Cryo agreed.

Everypony agreed to that right as the doorbell rang.

"Ah! Zat must be zem now. I'll get eet."

The accented Alamantian fluttered over to the door and opened it up to view not her sister and her orange cowgirl partner. In front of her instead stood a tall set of four legs leading up to the body of Princess Celestia. A couple of pegasus guards stood on both sides of the front door to Carousel Boutique

"Y-your highness." Typhoon was genuinely startled and bowed to her. "What are you doing here?"

All Celestia seemed to do for a good fifteen to twenty seconds was just look dead into Typhoon's eyes. Then she finally responded to the greeting she was given.

"I am sorry to disturb you and your friends at the moment, Typhoon. But there is a pressing matter that I must speak with all of you about. May I come in?"

"Um..yes. Yes of course, your highness." The pink pegasus opened the door up all the way and allowed Celestia to walk in.

She walked by Typhoon's side into the living room where everypony else immediately went into a bow upon seeing who it was. Rarity who walked out of the kitchen a few seconds later also bowed down to her ruler, extremely humbled to have the highest of royalty inside her home. When all of them retook their original positions, the questions began to pour out.

"Aunt Celestia....not that we aren't happy to see you. But what are you doing here? Is something wrong?" Cadence asked.

"Actually, Princess Cadence, there IS something wrong. I must speak with you and the elementals...alone."

The "alone" at the end of that sentence was emphasized and her eyesight turned to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo when she said it. Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at each other for a brief moment and nodded thinking the same thing. Then they turned to look at Agua who had an idea.

"Hey Sweetie Belle, think you and Scootaloo can feed Bobo for me?" he asked them.

The two of them looked more excited to do that than Agua had anticipated.

"You want us to feed your giant clam?" Sweetie Belle said with sparkling eyes.

"Think we'll get our cutie marks in marine biology?" Scootaloo's own eyes looked very determined.

"Yeah sure whatever. His food is under the sink. Now get." Agua couldn't care less.

The two fillies raced out of the room and Rarity closed the door behind them making sure they couldn't hear. She then turned back around to face her country's ruler.

"Is everything okay, your majesty?" Pyro was looking at her face and noticed a fair bit of uneasiness in her eyes. "You seem troubled."

The tall white alicorn took a breath before she opened her mouth to speak her reply.

"On the night you and Cryo went to talk with Shining Armor, something happened after you left. I was alone in my quarters and Nightmare Moon appeared outside my window in smoke form. She told me-"

"Nightmare? Why didn't you send for us?" Agua asked.

"I am capable of holding my own in a fight, Agua." She got back on track. "Besides, she wasn't there to fight. She merely came to threaten me."

"With what?" Twilight wondered.

Celestia let another load of air escape her lungs. There was a heavy load of information about to come their way.

"She told me she would not hesitate to destroy everything in a single wave of destruction if I followed her one demand. That demand.....is to remove the six Alamantians from Equestrian soil and send them home."

The gazes that were already on the princess grew more serious as those last words slipped out of her mouth.

"And obviously you're not going to do it." Rarity confidently said.

That confidence however began to lower once she saw a tiny bit of sadness creep onto Celestia's face. There was no reason for her to be sad about this. Unless....

"You.....you're NOT going to do it.....are you?" She repeated.

All of the twelve beings in Celestia’s gaze were looking back at her hoping she was about to say she was going to come up with a plan to counter Nightmare Moon that didn't involve booting out the six foreigners. They waited a whole minute and a half before anything came out of her mouth again. The tone she used right off the bat revealed to them her answer.

"You all must understand. I have no-"

"Skaldi's mane....you are!" Cryo interrupted horror clear in his voice. "You're throwing us out of the country!"

"Cryo, I-"

"WHAT?!" Pinkie Pie was the one who interrupted this time as she latched on to Cryo. "You can't make Cryo leave! You just can't!"

"Princess, please tell me this isn't what you are planning to do!" Twilight cried.

No change in emotion came to the princess' face.

"It is the only way, my student. I wish there was another."

Twilight's heart began to crack. The unfairness of this was too immense. All that work with Pyro and the others, the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it, it couldn't have just lead up to this. To be all for nothing.

"So that's it?!" Agua stood up and began to yell. "You get one threat and decide to boot us out?!"

"It wasn't just that one threat." Celestia replied. "The citizens of Canterlot are starting to riot, Agua. Cryo saving Ponyville from the blizzard wasn't enough to buy all of them over. A lot of them are threatening to get violent."

Usually in cases like this, the harmony bearers wouldn't speak up against Celestia in matters like this. But this time, all of them, even Fluttershy, found a reason to do so.

"Oh that makes it SO much better!" Rainbow shouted with clear sarcasm. "A few snobs start to complain about them and you actually take their side?"

"Rainbow Dash, this is not about taking sides."

"You sure could have fooled us." Cryo snapped while he tried to make Pinkie let go of him.

"I assure you I am not taking sides in this. If anything I am on your side and forever will be. But what is happening up there in Canterlot, it's a spark. One tiny spark is all an uncontrollable wildfire needs to be born."

"That still doesn't cut it for us!" Agua shouted again. "You're still pussying out!"

Without any warning at all, the door opened up before any of them could say anything else. Through the door walked Terra and Applejack, the latter carrying her younger sister on her back while Terra had a couple of saddlebags with the aforementioned desserts inside.

Immediately upon seeing her princess in front of her, Applejack bowed down and Applebloom followed suit with her head. When they stood back up, their excitement for dinner died down as they looked around and noticed the general tone of the room.

"Wait..........what's going on? Did somepony die or something?" Terra asked.

"The princess has decided in her so called wisdom to throw the six of us out of Equestria." Agua said with clear anger.

His emotions were matched by the mare of earth not even a second later. She directed right at the princess with cold eyes.

"You're deporting us?!" She shouted with fury. "For Gaia's sake why?!"

"Because she pussied out and decided to give in to Nightmare Moon's threat to destroy everything if we don't leave." Agua growled.

"Agua, that's enough!" Twilight shouted at the blue stallion because of his rude words.

"No! I'm not holding anything back here! She's being a coward!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this but Agua is right!" Terra agreed with the blue stallion. "This is just sheer stupidity!"

"Princess, please! You can't do this!" Rainbow shouted standing firmly next to her young partner. "You can't make them leave!"

Her timing couldn't have been worse. Right as Rainbow starting saying that last line, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked back into the house and heard her. The two of them didn't even care Princess Celestia was there.

"Gem's leaving? But.....why?" Scootaloo asked the alicorn.

"Agua may be a jerk but I don't want him to go." Sweetie Belle sadly admitted.

"Ah don't want Terra to go away! This ain't fair!" Applebloom hopped off her sister's back and ran off.

Applejack turned around and gave chase after her sister. Terra remained behind still glaring coldly at Celestia. The princess was basically surrounded by various pairs of sad, angry, and confused eyes. She wanted so badly for things to be different right now but circumstances were just too messed up for that. This was the way it had to be and there was no other way around this.

"I'm sorry but this is the way it has to be. The six of you must leave."

Terra only growled more as the ground around her began to crack open.

"And what if I say no?" she growled as the handle of an earthen hammer began to rise up beside her.

Twilight wanted nothing more than to get in between the princess of the sun and the former princess of the Geo Tribe and tell the latter to step off. This case had her unsure of what to do. On one side, the earth mover looked pretty damned serious about taking that hammer and going right for Celestia with it, nothing held back. On the other side, Princess Celestia was doing something Twilight thought she would never see her do. She was giving up and forcing her friends to leave the country. She didn't know which side to take.

Nopony was sure of which side to take in this potential disaster. Nopony that is except for one certain unicorn stallion who calmly walked in between Terra and Celestia looking right at the former.

"Then you'll have to answer to me."

Every single set of eyes transitioned to Pyro with utter shock as he faced Terra as if ready to defend Celestia. Terra herself just stood there nearly petrified as the rock that made her hammer shattered into a pile of pebbles at her hooves.

"Wha.....Pyro. How could you? Why?"

The stallion made zero changes in his face signaling Terra and the others that he was dead serious about his position. Something to which none of them could believe.

"If this is what the princess believes will better protect her country, then we will abide by her request."

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR BURNING MIND?!?!" Agua got right up in his face and yelled at full volume. "YOU OF ALL PEOPLE THINK WE SHOULD JUST PACK UP OUR SHIT AND GO?!?!?!"

"We have been given our orders and we will follow them, Agua. If you wish to challenge me on this, then by all means..." Pyro's eyesight redirected right into Agua's own gaze as he finished his sentence. "....bring it on."

Now it was looking like a battle between fire and water was about to erupt. Rarity was now afraid for two things. The Alamantians being forced to leave, and those two stallions doing some serious damage to her home with their powers. They stared into each other's eyes seemingly ready to fight for what seemed like forever, nopony having the nerve to actually get in between them.

Ultimately, Agua ended up being the one to back off. He could take Pyro but that look in his eyes meant one thing and one thing only. There was no changing his mind about this. Something that the blue stallion just could not believe. Once he backed off, Pyro turned his head back to the princess.

"When do we leave?"

Celestia let her head hang as she gave her answer.

"Tomorrow morning. Early."

"That soon?" Twilight looked like she was near tears. "But......but that's barely enough time to say goodbye...."

The princess turned to walk out the door and left on one line.

"I'm sorry."

With that, she was out the door and it closed behind her because of her magic. The dinner was cancelled right there on the spot and everypony left Carousel Boutique aside from Rarity, Agua, and Sweetie Belle. Once everypony was back at home, the six supernatural guests began to pack up what little belongings they had for their journey away.

On a scale of tame to hysterical over this, the six harmony bearers were all experiencing different levels of it all. The highest one on that scale was the town's librarian. At Golden Oaks Library, Pyro was down in the basement putting his assorted things into a small saddlebag by using a shrinking spell. While he calmly did that, Twilight was right behind him pacing frantically and letting a pile of words spill from her mouth.

"This can't happen. Celestia knows that this isn't acceptable in the least bit. Not one tiny bit. I mean this is just pure insanity. I've never heard of anything like this. She's giving up. Throwing in the towel. Admitting defeat. That just isn't like her at all. We need to find out what it is that's really going on and....Pyro will you please stop packing?!"

"No, Twilight. Just stop it." He answered. "This is what's going to happen. Me and my siblings are leaving. That's all there is to it."

For the second time today, Twilight looked upon a pony swearing she was looking at a clone who was doing a poor job of impersonating him. It was almost like a flashback of the wedding in Canterlot. But the difference was the stallion in front of her was no clone. It was the same Pyro.

"Pyro.....why are you going along with this so easily? Don't you care? Everything we worked so hard for, all those fights, being trapped in a blizzard, and putting me through all those times where I thought you were gonna die....doesn't any of that mean anything to you?"

"Of course it does, Twilight. I'd be an idiot if it didn't."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?!"

The stallion cringed. A lot of times he was void of emotion and for good reason. Even here Twilight was under the assumption he was deadpan. She knew there was a reason for his emotional distance but she thought there were times where he could show it. But alas, Pyro ceased using his horn and turned to look at her, his top eyelids and his mouth straight flat, no little sign of emotion in sight.

"Twilight, I don't want to go. I really don't. But Princess Celestia is scared and she has a right to be. The rest of us need to leave because that is what we were ordered to do. If this is what Celestia believes is best for her country, then I shall meet her request with nothing but honor."

Twilight's eyes began to brim with tears.

"But what about....what about me? Does your honor involve leaving a friend in sadness? Pyro, back in Canterlot I had to watch you almost die. I know at that time we hadn't known each other very long but the thought of never seeing you again....it really hurt me. Deeply. And now you and the princess are making me feel that all over again. Only this time it's worse because....you're CHOOSING to leave!"

Right there, the dams that held back the water in Twilight's eyes broke and she started sobbing right there in front of her partner. Finally, Pyro's eyes softened up and his mouth made a frown when he saw her do it. Slowly, he extended a hoof to try and rub her back but before he could, she teleported away and his hoof only hit air before it went back to the ground. Silently, he blinked his eye and let small tear roll down his face. Halfway down, it grew hot and evaporated off him in a cloud of steam barely even visible to the eye. He mouthed the words, "I'm sorry" and turned back to pack his things.

Upstairs, Twilight appeared in her bedroom and threw herself on top of her bed sinking her head into the pillow as her body convulsed with every sob that escaped. Meanwhile on the first floor, Spike and Cadence heard the entire conversation from the basement doorway. All it did was make them frown as well. It was even worse once the crying began to bleed through the cracks of Twilight's bedroom door. For Spike, one of the hardest things he'd ever needed to endure was having to listen to her weep. Cadence sighed hearing it herself.

"I know how hard this is for her." She said as she looked back down the staircase. "Twilight has done a great job making friends ever since Celestia sent her here. But this is the first time she's ever had to truly say good-bye to one."

"This isn't fair in the least bit." Spike replied before looking up to the pink alicorn. "Cadence, you're a princess too. Isn't there ANYTHING you can say to Celestia to convince her to let them all stay?"

Cadence sighed and walked over to the couch to sit down on.

"I really wish there was, Spike. But the fact is, I'm not a princess that rules over Equestria. I don't have any real power when it comes to law and other related business here. I just watch over my aunts' shoulders and learn."

That only made Spike frown even more.

"So in other words....there's absolutely nothing we can do other than just stand by and watch as our new friends leave Equestria."

Cadence sadly nodded and expelled another sigh.

"I'm afraid that is the case."

Spike's head hung down as he sat next to Cadence now filled with solely sadness.

"I just hope the others are taking it at least a little better than Twilight is." Spike added.

That in a way was true. In some cases the waterworks still came but for most of them, they were fine. But the overall tone of the events transpiring, could easily be identified as upset, depressing, and overall, sad. And why wouldn't it be? They may not have been together for very long but they were together long enough to develop close bonds with their partners. Close bonds. Deep bonds. Personal bonds.

Tomorrow was going to be one of the most difficult days of their lives.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long! See ya hopefully a lot sooner!

Saying Goodbye

And continuing on. I only.s I us own my OC's and the plot. Enjoy.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 33: Saying Goodbye

Whoever said saying goodbye was easy obviously had no heart inside their body. That was the only thought that ran through the minds of the six bearers of harmony as they awoke early to a still darkened sky. It was only half past three in the morning when their doors were knocked on by the members of Luna's guard. Bat ponies in similarly grey shades wearing blue armor stood outside each residence while the foreign ponies walked out of their temporary homes and into a carriage each hooked up to another pair of lunar guards. Once the Alamantians, their possessions, and their partners were in the carriages, they were off to Canterlot.

The trip lasted a couple of hours if not a few minutes longer. One carriage at a time arrived in front of the castle where Princess Celestia and Luna awaited them. The first ones to arrive were Twilight and Pyro. Alongside them were Cadence and Spike. Not too long after they had landed, the others showed up as well. The last ones to do so were Terra and Applejack. The thing most noticeable about Terra when everypony saw her was her face was totally green. Applejack hopped out of the carriage quite swiftly in fear of getting in the way of the earth mover's mouth. Princess Luna walked to the poor yellow mare and her horn glowed as she cast a spell to cure severe nausea. Once it had worked, Terra's normal shade of yellow returned to her and she hopped out of the carriage.

"I hate flying so much." She grumbled.

After that, she rejoined the group at Applejack's side and all twelve ponies looked to the solar Princess with flat mouths and frowns.

"I understand that this is unsettling for you." She addressed all twelve of them..

"Understatement of the millennium." Agua snapped.

"Agua, don't make this harder than it already is." Pyro shot back at him.

Agua grumbled and looked away from everypony else as Celestia continued.

"I know you all must have some ill feelings towards me right now and you have every right to. But I still want you to know how grateful I am for your cooperation no matter how shaky it may be."

No response came to her that time. She just looked to her left and gestured down the road.

"Please follow me." She instructed as she began to walk.

Everypony did follow her and they left the castle heading east towards the border of the city. As they walked through the streets, they saw nopony in sight. Cryo in his case really wished they hadn't taken that particular street because a certain pony lived there in her apartment building which was just recently completed with renovations from the last time all six Alamantians were in the city.

And just as his luck would have it, that mare happened to be awake fetching herself a glass of water at the very moment they passed by her home. She heard the hoofsteps outside her window and walked over to open it and peer through the curtains. Octavia smiled seeing her boyfriend and even though it was still late, she wanted to go say hi. She threw on a robe and headed to her door.

Meanwhile down in the street, the ice mover was trying his best to make everypony else move at a quicker pace.

"Hey what's with you? Are you in such a hurry to leave us behind?" Pinkie asked a bit sternly.

Stern was a tone Cryo had yet to become familiar with when it came to Pinkie Pie. He was a bit surprised to hear it but nevertheless he still wanted to get off that street.

"No no no it's not that, Pinkie, I swear." He told the truth.

"Well then what troubles you?" Princess Luna asked him.

Before he could answer, all of them heard a door opening a standing in the doorway was a grey cello player pony. One by one, starting with Cryo, every single head turned to look at her but she only looked at her boyfriend.

"Cryo. I wish you had told me you were coming to Canterlot before now. I would have set aside some time for us."

"Uuuuuhhhhhhh....." The ice mover struggled to find words to respond with.

Cryo had remembered to pack his things just fine. But there was one crucial thing he absolutely forgot to do. Tell his girlfriend he was leaving.

"Are you alright?" Octavia then noticed the bags hovering next to him. "Are you staying in town for a while?"

He didn't have any choice now. The others went on ahead at Cryo's request so he could tell Octavia everything. It didn't take long to explain what was happening and she seemed content with it all until she asked the last question. She asked when he would be coming back.

"Um......."

He was hoping to come up with a lie or something but he just couldn't do it. If he had learned anything about being a boyfriend in the short time he was one he learned that being honest with your mare comes before anything else.

"I'm not, Octavia." He finally answered and her facial expression changed. "Princess Celestia is deporting me and my other siblings out of Equestria. We can't come back."

That expression that fell onto her was easily identified as fear, shock, and disbelief all rolled into one.

"D-deporting you? But whatever for? What did you do? Did you break any laws?"

"No, I didn't do anything, Octavia. It's just...a lot of things have been happening. Very bad things. A lot of ponies think myself and my siblings are responsible but we're not."

"Well then why are you leaving? If there isn't any reason for you leaving then why do you have those bags?"

"Because she made her choice and I can't go against it. Otherwise it will just make things worse. Please you have to understand..."

"But......but what about us? Does this mean you and I....are through?"

That question made Cryo's heart feel like a knife had gone straight through it. He was clueless on how to answer but he knew what the answer had to be. He stepped forward and hugged the mare ever so gently and then backed away with the saddest look he had ever been seen with.

"I am so sorry, Octavia."

Those were his final words before turning away from her and walking back to the others, leaving Octavia there in the doorway just starting to cry. Once she shut the door, Cryo looked up from the ground and noticed that everypony else had stopped to wait for him.

He didn't like it.

"Was it really necessary for you to watch that?" He grumbled.

He received no reply and they just kept on their way. Once they reached the edge of the city, they came upon an airship dock with a decently sized ship with two decks, upper and lower. It didn't seem to have a name plastered on the side or anywhere nor was there any paint anywhere on the body of the craft. It looked like it was just recently finished in construction.

"This airship will be your transport. Once you cross out of the Equestrian border, the magic lock I have placed on the steering will release and you will be free to steer it wherever you wish." Celestia explained.

"Except for back here." Agua growled at her.

The princess of the sun looked down at the water mover again saddened in her face.

"You have every right to be angry with me, Agua. But please-"

"Angry is an understatement. Right now I downright despise every cell on your body."

Celestia sighed looking at the water mover wishing there was something she could say to make him ease up. She knew even attempting it would be a vain effort though.

"I must agree with what your brother said earlier, Agua. This is difficult enough. I beg of you to not make it more so."

All Agua did was growl and looked back to the ship.

"Where the hell are we supposed to go anyway? There aren't any known islands in between here and Alamante." The water mover reminded everyone.

"We'll decide on our direction once we get clear of the border." Pyro said.

Just as he said that, one of Celestia's unicorn guards walked over carrying a large trunk with a lock on it. Celestia took it herself in her grasp and passed it to Pyro.

"This chest contains items that will benefit you on your journey. A map, compass, some blankets, and other things." She explained.

The fire mover nodded and ignited his horn into a fiery orange glow which then enveloped the chest as he grabbed it. He thanked her and then the hardest part of the whole thing came.

Saying goodbye.

Each pony turned to their respective partner unsure of how to even begin the process. The three princess decided that this was something that called for privacy so they backed off. One of them turned around and began to fly away completely not wanting to see anymore. That one alicorn was Luna. Hearing her wings flap, Celestia turned around and called to her.

“Luna? Where are you going?”

“Aunt Luna, aren’t you going to say goodbye to them?” Cadence asked.

“No!” Luna shouted at both of them startling the two. She landed a few meters away and faced them. “What you’re doing sister, it’s a mistake. And I will NOT be a part of it any longer.”

Celestia approached her sister before she had the chance to take off again.

“Luna, I know you do not approve of this. But there is nothing I can do. The ponies are scared. This is the only way.”

Luna shot a glare at her older sister upon hearing those words come from her.

“That is the most cowardly thing I have ever heard you say.”

It wasn't just the words themselves that made Celestia take a step back. It was icy tone it was said in mixed with a low growl.

“If you really think someone as vile as Nightmare Moon can be trusted to keep her word, then you are the biggest fool I have ever seen.”

"What choice do I have, dear sister? This is the one and only way to ensure a better chance of victory."

"Now you are just repeating yourself." Luna spat again. "I am done discussing your stupidity, sister. I have already bid Agua and the others my farewell. And now I bid it to you."

Luna took off the ground again and there was nothing Celestia could do to bring her back. Cadence couldn't think of anything to say to Celestia that would help her feel better. In truth, she agreed with Luna. She agreed that this was a stupid decision. She just didn't have the courage to speak against it. There wasn't anything else to do now but watch as the six Alamantians bid their partners farewell.

Terra and Applejack stood at the base of the entrance ramp to the airship looking back and forth between each other and the ship itself.

"Well......this sure isn't how I thought I'd be saying goodbye, Jackie."

The farmer mare looked back into the eyes of her partner trying to hide her sadness but failing to do so.

"Yeah. Me too....but....who knows? Maybe we'll see each other again someday. Maybe really soon." She tried to sound positive and reassuring but the doubt in her tone was visible to anypony.

"Well....you never know..." the earth mover muttered.

A few seconds went by until the two of them hugged each other not wanting to let go.

"You take care of yerself, alright, Terra?"

"Aside from the occasional puff, you got it."

Applejack made sure Terra packed all of her smoking equipment not wanting to let Applebloom stumble across it. Although she never cared for Terra's decision to smoke, the orange mare chuckled knowing she would miss her antics, high or not.

Cryo could only wish his goodbye with Pinkie was as easy as it was with his sister. Pinkie was grabbing onto him hard as if her hooves were bars of steel unable to bend free. Tears were streaming freely down her face as she made no attempt to cover up her emotion like most ponies were.

"Cryo, please don't go!" she wailed.

Hugging her back, Cryo's voice came back clearly saddened.

"I don't want to go, Pinkie. I want to stay with you in Ponyville, I want to keep dating Octavia, I want to be around for all of the awesome parties I know you're gonna throw in the future......but this is how it has to be. I don't want it to be like that anymore than you do...I don't know what else to say."

A few sobs came from Pinkie as her grip tightened and Cryo began to struggle for an air intake.

"But it's not fair! We're supposed to stay together! Skaldi said so!"

The only thing Cryo could do was sigh and keep apologizing. He couldn't think of anything else to say as Pinkie kept crying.

Rarity and Agua seemed to be having the most unemotional farewell which to everypony was no surprise. For the longest time all they did was stand there before finally trying to talk.

Agua had left something behind at Rarity's house intentionally. He had all his things, but his beloved pet clam was still in the pond he dug behind Rarity's home. The reason behind this was Agua felt that Bobo would have a better home with Rarity and it would be better than just lugging him all around the world to who knows where never knowing if they'll have another home as good as that one again.

Between the two ponies who were partnered together, they were still unsure of what to say to each other at a time like this. Both of them struggled to find words to come out of their mouths but whenever one of them tried to while he was packing, nothing came out. This was the last chance to try.

"Um....Agua....." Rarity went first. "I'm........I'll take good care of Bobo for you....."

Agua nodded and smiled being reminded of his gargantuan pet.

"Thanks....I know he'll be happier at your place. Just make sure to feed him right, okay?"

"Yes...quite right....I will...."

Agua opened his mouth to say something but before he could utter a syllable, Rarity threw herself at Agua and crushed him in a hug of her own. The water mover was hesitant of course but one of his own forelegs found itself wrapping around Rarity's back softly patting it.

"Maybe if we see each other again....you won't be such a jerk." Rarity muttered.

Agua chuckled at the thought.

"I make no promises."

At first glance, it seemed as if Rainbow and Gem were having the same problem as Rarity and Agua. They just stood there not talking. However, Rainbow broke the silence sooner than expected.

"This totally sucks. We still had so many more awesome things to do together. I bought tickets for another Wonderbolts show to make up for the one that got ruined in Canterlot. I was gonna surprise you with them...but you know...here we are."

"Y-yeah." Gem murmured back. "That was really nice of you, Rainbow....too bad I won't be able to go....maybe you can take Scootaloo. Cybelle knows she'd love to go anywhere with you."

Rainbow let out a few chuckles knowing Scootaloo well enough for Gem's words to be true.

"Yeah. She's a cool little filly." The word "cool" made the pegasus think of what more to say. "I meant what I said before, Gem. You will always be the one and only pony who is cooler than me. No lie."

It always brought some tears of joy to Gem's eyes whenever somepony told her she was good at something or just downright cool. It never made her not smile to hear somepony thought she was worth something.

"Rainbow Dash.....thank you..." She sniffled a bit. "I'm gonna miss you so much."

She stepped forward and hugged the taller pony in front of her without hesitation. Not caring about her rough exterior image, Rainbow didn't hesitate either in hugging her back.

"I'm gonna miss you too."

As they parted the hug, Rainbow began to make sure Gem had everything making sure she didn't leave anything behind. Fluttershy did the same thing to Typhoon going over every little thing to try and make her stay longer as subtle as she could. But then, like most of the others, they fell into a silence for a while until it was broken.

Fluttershy barely got out one word on her own.

"Typhoon......"

The owner of that name merely looked to her with a gentle upturned mouth.

"Eet's okay, Fluttershy. You don't have to say anything."

That little line made Fluttershy smile a tiny bit.

"I never did...you always know how I feel." She replied.

The aerokinetic let loose a giggle.

"Can't help eet."

Like the others before them, the two mares engaged in a soft, gentle hug.

"Now you take care of yourself, okay? Wherever you go, make sure to eat, drink water, and most of all....be safe."

Typhoon giggled again at her friend's caring attitude.

"Of course I will, Fluttershy."

It did seem all of them were going about things nice and peacefully. Though there are a lot of times where there is an odd pony out. Those two were the ponies of fire and magic. Over with Pyro, Spike, and Twilight, the latter was still fuming about the situation.

"This isn't fair....this just isn't fair and you're still going along with it. You know that if you leave it only gives Nightmare that much more of an advantage over us."

Both Spike and Pyro had been listening to her talk about this nonstop the entire trip to Canterlot. The groan coming from the dragon couldn't have been any more of a clear signal that he was fed up with it all. Not that he was wanting Pyro to leave. Spike just wanted Twilight to stop ranting about it just for one minute.

"Twilight, I know that. Believe me, I do." Pyro said back. "But if we go against Princess Celestia's orders it will cause more problems than we already have. The ponies of not only Canterlot but other cities too will get wind of us and grow afraid. They'll think we're against Equestria or something like that."

"But you're not! You're part of the hope that Equestria NEEDS in order to survive! Without you and the others what chance do we have of defeating her?!"

"There is still a chance you can win, Twilight. You just need to keep your heads strong. The elements of harmony themselves are still very powerful and can still win. Have faith."

As encouraging as he was trying to be, even Pyro himself knew that those words were doing very little in accomplishing their goal. The next words out of Twilight's mouth confirmed it.

"What's your plan here, Pyro?" She asked. "I know you. I haven't been your friend for as long as the harmony bearers but I still know you well enough. There's something going on here. There just has to be. You once told me that nothing would stop you from destroying Nightmare Moon yet here you are giving in to her demands. What is your plan? Please just tell me."

A somber expression on his face, Pyro hung his head down and expelled a sigh.

“There isn’t any plan, Twilight.” He sadly said. “I have tried to think of something. But the princess has spoken. There is nothing more I can do for you except wish you luck. From here on out, this fight is your own. I have been retired.”

"But....I....I don't...." Her eyes slammed shut trying to force back the tears but they leaked through anyway. "I....I d-don't want you to go..."

The stallion of fire closed the gap between him and his partner by embracing her in a hug as she began to softly weep into his chest.

"I know, Twilight." He gently murmured. "I don't want to leave you either. Being your friend and having you in my life is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I will always cherish the time we spent together, both good and bad."

Twilight was trying hard to make herself less emotional so she could say something back to him but before she could, a guard walked up to them.

"Mister Pyro, it's time for you to go." He said firmly.

Pyro nodded to the guard and gently nudged Twilight off him. He couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt go through him when he looked into her eyes which were still brimmed with tears. He raised a hoof to her face and gently wiped it dry himself. Then he took a look downwards to the dragon.

"You take care of her, okay, Spike?" he requested.

"Yeah. You can count on me." The young drake looked up at his friend with a smile. "Good luck out there, Pyro."

With a final nod, Pyro got his things with his magic, then turned away from the two of them walking to the entry ramp to the airship alongside his five siblings. Pinkie Pie wanted to desperately to just rush up that ramp and pull them all down demanding that they not leave.

"WAIT!"

She was beaten to it though. That voice belonged to Shining Armor who seemed to be out of breath. The six Alamantians froze on the ramp and turned around quite surprised to see the stallion had come.

"Why are you here, Shining Armor?" Pyro asked.

The captain of the guard rubbed the back of his head before he looked to Typhoon. He then took a step towards her before firing up his horn. In a flash of magenta near his head, a long wooden object appeared in front of them.

Typhoon immediately recognized it as the Aero Tribe staff she "borrowed" from that store during the Canterlot fight.

"I spent the past two days searching for this.....I thought it would be a good start for a peace offering....guess it's too late now...."

Typhoon walked forward to the stallion. Anypony looking at her was unable to tell if she was mad to see him or surprised to see the staff. She captured the wooden weapon in an aerokinetic grip and smiled at Shining Armor to his surprise.

"Eet's never too late to say you're sorry, Shining Armor. Merci beaucoup."

Shining Armor sighed. He was happy to see Typhoon accepted it but he still needed to say something.

"I wish that were so, Miss Typhoon. Your brothers were right about me. I didn't really hate any of you. I was just jealous of you and I shouldn't have. All six of you are amazing ponies and what you all did for Equestria deserves nothing but my own and everypony else's respect. I mistreated you for no reason...and I did the same to my wife."

On that last sentence he turned around to look at his wife.

"Cadence, I'm so sorry for everything I said. Especially to you. I was a jerk and it kills me that I hurt you. You were just being a good friend to them and I blew up at you out of nothing but my blind stupidity. Can.....can you forgive me?"

Those words were the ones Cadence had been waiting on for a long time. Finally hearing them ring through her ears made her leap at Shining Armor and embrace him in a tight hug, immediately which the stallion reciprocated.

"Of course I forgive you." She whispered to him. "I love you."

"I love you too." Cadence returned the favor.

Sadness for the Alamantians leaving aside, everypony present had to admit they were happy to see the two ponies reconcile. He wasn't done apologizing yet. There was still his younger sibling he needed to speak to. Gently he pulled away from his beloved alicorn bride and walked over to Twilight.

"Listen Twiley....I-"

He didn't get another word in before Twilight threw herself onto him in a tight hug.

"I forgive you, BBBFF."

It was as simple as that and Shining Armor was happy it was. His hoof patted her back and he turned back to the Alamantians again.

"I'm sorry I never took the chance to get to know the six of you better....maybe one day we will."

The six cosmic siblings all shared glances with one another before looking back to the captain. Five out of six of them sporting reassuring smiles in his direction, the odd pony out being the stallion of water.

"Yeah....just....don't be an ass." Agua responded.

"Hopefully we'll be able to take you up on that offer." Terra added.

Typhoon rejoined her siblings upon the ramp and they resumed their way up it. Pyro remained behind for a few more seconds to take one last look at not only his partner, but the many friends he made while living with her.

“We WILL see each other again. Someday."

Twilight took a single step forward.

"You promise?"

Before he turned around to walk to the airship door, the stallion gave his lavender friend a half smile and three words to go with it.

"Word of honor."

With that said, his face returned to its normal expression of unidentifiable emotion and flatness. He along with his five cosmic siblings walked up the ramp to the entrance and then they were inside the ship. Once the door was sealed shut, Celestia's horn ignited into a bright golden yellow glow as she cast a spell onto the airship. The engine of the craft powered on and it began to lift off the ground and float away from Canterlot out over the forest below the cliff side city.

As it got farther away from them, the six mares of harmony could only now watch as it, along with their friends flew farther away from them. Princess Celestia went alongside her student in hopes of comforting her.

"I know this is hard for you and your friends.....but in time, you will see that this was the right choice."

Out of the six of them, none of them believed it. They all disagreed with this choice the moment they realized Celestia was serious about it.

“Princess, I love you like a mother.....but this is something I can’t agree with you on.” Twilight said.

"This ain't the right choice. Sendin' them away isn't gonna make things easier at all. Ah don't know why you think it will." Applejack added.

A glow in the night sky before them made everypony divert their attention away from the ship. In the direction they now faced, two cyan catlike eyes shone out at them.

"Well well well. I see you decided to give in to my demand. I must admit I didn't think you actually would."

"So what does this mean now?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "What's the point of you demanding the princess to deport them."

"Oh that's actually quite simple." Nightmare was quick to respond. "I've been working on a spell that takes weeks to charge up, and now I have an easy shot."

Nopony had a clue what she meant. There wasn't any known spell that takes such a long time prepare. That only made them think as to what kind of spell it could have been. However, when Spike saw something out of the corner of his eye, his thoughts were put on hold.

"Look!" he pointed back to the ship.

Everypony followed his claw and noticed what he was looking at but it was too far away to identify. Twilight's horn immediately flared to life as she conjured up a telescopic spell that produced a screen in front of them and zoomed in on the airship. The ship was fine but up above it, the night sky looked like it was starting to warp. From the warp, dark bluish-black energy began to form and swirled around. Twilight's eyes widened already knowing what was about to happen.

"NO! YOU CAN'T!" she cried.

Celestia took to the sky like a shot with Cadence behind her, flying straight for the ship, horns armed and ready. Their wings flapped roughly pushing themselves to the limit to try and reach it in time to surround it with a force field and block the oncoming blast. If only they had taken off just a second earlier.

The dark energy finished charging and rained down upon the aircraft in a destructive wide beam with a dark blue glow. That color soon changed to a fiery orange once the ship exploded and fell to the ground in scraps. Celestia and Cadence were thrown backwards off balance by the force of the blow. They both managed to get themselves upright with their wings again only to look down upon the blazing wreck with nothing but fear for its passengers.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Celestia and Cadence heard that wail and instantly knew it was Twilight. Once she deduced it, the princess of the sun not only feared for the lives of the six Alamantians. She instantly feared having to face the six harmony bearers now that they had just been proven correct in their assumption. Putting the Alamantians on that ship was a big mistake.

The two alicorns landed beside each other right as everypony else showed up sprinting. The six mares, Spike, and Shining Armor who had brought along quite a few of his troops. Seeing the scale of the wreck, the captain gave his commands to the guards.

"Put out these fires then sweep the area! Dig through the debris! Find them as fast as possible!"

"YESSIR!" All the guards shouted.

The entire squadron, the six harmony bearers, Cadence, and Celestia all ran into the crash site searching the site for the six ponies who were on board the ship. A few of the unicorn guards, Shining Armor included, put their horns to use in dousing the flames in and around the crash site to make sure it didn't spread.

Rocks were turned, heavy scraps were lifted, everypony was putting 110 percent into finding those six ponies and making sure they were still alive. Pinkie Pie was digging faster than any miner anypony had ever seen. Twilight was not only lifting rocks but also blasting some of the heavier ones because she didn't want to waste any time asking another unicorn for help. Applejack was bucking whatever was in her way out of it, not really caring what direction it was sent in. Rarity, though hating to get dirty, put those feelings aside greatly fearing for her blue partner's life. Fluttershy was known to move fast in case of emergencies and this was one of them. Her body was moving at least five times its normal speed desperate to unearth somepony. The same thing applied to Rainbow Dash. Minutes passed until finally Cadence called out.

"OVER HERE! I FOUND GEM!"

Rainbow Dash zipped away from where she was and nearly tackled Cadence out of the way. Gem was there and half her body was covered in debris. The half that was seen showed severe wounds and fresh blood. Her eyes were just barely open and now looking up at the cyan pegasus who was trying her best to not cry.

"Gem, don't you quit on me!" She wailed as she tried her best to get the rest of the debris off her small purple body. "We can get you healed! You're going to be alright just stay with me!"

Gem didn't respond at all. She just lied there unmoving, barely able to keep her eyelids from closing all the way. The tension on her body eased up when Rainbow finally got the last big chunk of destroyed airship off the lower half of her frame. Then she returned to looking at her young partner in the face.

"Gem, can you stand?....please stand...move, blink, do something! Just.....don't just lie there...." She pleaded.

The others stopped their search for a short while and stood behind Rainbow glancing down at the young unicorn begging for her to be alright inside just as Rainbow was on the outside.

Those thoughts intensified greatly when her eyelids closed and she expelled every last bit of air out of her lungs. Rainbow Dash, viewing it in front of her, began to panic.

"No.........nononononono! Gem, don't you dare do this!" Rainbow frantically looked back and forth between Gem and her own neck hoping for something to happen. "Come on come on! Why isn't my stupid element showing up?! COME ON YOU DAMNED NECKLACE! APPEAR ALREADY!"

No matter how many times she screamed and pleaded, nothing happened. It took two more minutes for her screaming "wake up" and nudging her body until she stopped only to realize the horrible truth. Gem was indeed no more.

".....no.....Gem.....please......wake up......."

Rainbow Dash's eyes slammed shut trying so very hard to hold back the oncoming waterfalls about to burst from them. Her eyelids leaked horribly though. She grabbed Gem's body and clutched it to her own not wanting to let go. Once the others saw that happening in front of their eyes, they froze in fear that they would probably do the same thing if their own partners were found in the rubble.

Twilight tried to take a step forward. As she did, her hoof lightly impacted with something that didn't feel like a rock. She looked down and saw the tip a red cracked horn sticking out of the rubble. Immediately her own eyes began to water up upon seeing the appendage. Hoping his physique was much more durable then Gem's to survive the explosion, Twilight immediately began to move rocks out of the way to get to Pyro's body. However, she only needed to move one. Once the first rock was moved away from the horn, it fell showing the base, revealing it to have been snapped clean off from Pyro's head. A very light gasp escaped her lungs right before she broke down herself clutching the broken appendage in her grip similar to how Rainbow had Gem.

The emotions of all six of the harmonious mares seemed to be in sync with one another. All of them were thinking the same things. They felt rage at Nightmare for executing them with a cheap shot, they were extremely upset with the fact that Princess Celestia ordered this to happen. Most of all though, they felt the most upset they had ever felt in their entire lives once they realized that they would never see the faces of those six Alamantians alive ever again. Once that thought rang through their heads, part of them broke. What sounded to them like a balloon popping really turned out to be Pinkie's mane and tail losing its curly form and going perfectly straight. Her coat color had also lost its bubbly brightness. It fit considering she had also lost every bit of hope she carried for seeing Cryo again.

While one of the medical troopers gave Celestia a quick look-over in case of frag injuries from the explosion, another guard walked over to her removing his helmet and bowing his head not out of respect, but sorrow.

"We found the other five, your majesty.....I'm sorry, but they're all gone."

The princess hung her head down, eyes closed and disappointed in herself for being too slow to get to them in time.

"Bring all of their bodies back to the castle. Take the skies so nopony else sees." She softly commanded.

The guard nodded and proceeded to follow the orders given to him and relayed them to his fellow soldiers. A unicorn guard slowly approached Rainbow Dash fully expecting her not to waiver her hold on the body she held to her own. His horn flared to life in a silver aura that soon covered the purple corpse as well. As soon as she felt Gem's body begin to get tugged away, Rainbow's eyes shot open thinking briefly she was alive. Once she saw what was really happening, she jerked her away breaking the telekinetic grasp on her.

"No! Don't you touch her!" She screamed and tightened her grip like a mother holding onto its child.

"Lady Rainbow....I'm sorry. But I have my orders." The guard responded.

"Your orders be damned! Orders are the reason she's dead! Just leave her alone!"

"Lady Rainbow, please. I don't want to just take her from you."

She still refused to relinquish the body. Rainbow Dash only spread her swings and launched into the air hovering above the guard and making sure he was farther away from her. Her tears lightly darkened the ground below her in a light sprinkle. The other five harmony bearers couldn't think of anything to say to Rainbow to make her let go. If it was any of them in the same position with one of their partners, they would have most likely done the exact same thing.

When Rainbow heard the gently flapping of another pair of wings, she hoped it would be Fluttershy to back her up. When she opened her eyes, she saw wings belonged to Cadence and she was looking at the cyan pegasus with a look of sadness almost matching Rainbow's.

"Rainbow Dash....I'm sorry. But there isn't anything you can do for her now." The alicorn of love said with nothing but regret. "Let go."

Once Cadence's words went into Rainbow's ears, her sobbing returned. Her grip on Gem slightly loosened up and the unicorn guard below took hold of the body again. This time Rainbow didn't fight it and let her float down and away. She then latched onto Cadence trying so hard to stop crying but failing miserably.

"She was fourteen........SHE WAS ONLY FOURTEEN!"

Once all six of them were completely unburied, they were covered with sheets brought from the castle and placed onto a cart latched to a pair of pegasus guards. Before they took off, Pyro's horn was placed inside with them by Twilight herself. After that, the pegasi took off for the castle as soon as the bodies were secured to the cart, leaving the others there to grieve.

They huddled together only gazing at the crash site not speaking a word. Celestia tried to approach the seven of them. Her hoofsteps were easily heard and they all turned their heads to give the solar princess an ice cold glare. Twilight, in deep breaths, spoke.

"You......you sent them to that ship......you killed them........."

Then Rainbow Dash joined her.

"Fourteen....just fourteen..." she muttered.

"What am Ah supposed to tell mah little sister? She loved Terra!" Applejack cried.

"He may have been unpleasant at times but I didn't want to watch him die!" Rarity shouted.

"BRING HIM BACK!" Pinkie was hysterical. "I WANT TO SEE CRYO! BRING HIM BACK HERE!"

Applejack and Rarity had to hold her back from lashing out at Celestia, something which surprised them all. Fluttershy had absolutely nothing to say. She was still in shock from seeing the corpse of her friend she was rendered motionless. She actually needed help to get into the huddle they were in right now.

"Please, my little ponies, you must-"

"We ain't listenin' to anything you have to say anymore." Applejack growled. "You already killed our six friends. Are ya gonna say somethin' that'll get the rest of us dead too?"

"I would do nothing of the sort!" Celestia responded quite surprised at what was just said to her. "What happened to them was tragic and completely unforeseen. I didn't want this anymore than any of you did. I'm sorry."

"You're...sorry?" Twilight's voice had lowered into a very angry growl. "You gave us a lecture on how sending them away would be the best thing, and it ended up killing them! SORRY IS NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH!"

Celestia took a step away from her once her voice got to that level.

"Twilight....."

"Don't you dare say another word to us." She growled. "Don't ever talk to me, again. Girls.....let's just go home."

"Twiley...." Shining Armor put a hoof to his sister's back. "Are you sure? You can stay with me if you want to."

"No, Shining Armor." Twilight refused the offer. "I need to be back in Ponyville....and away from her."

She looked right into Celestia's eye with pure cold anger on those last words. Shining Armor and Cadence both agreed that it was probably for the best that they leave. The two of them and Celestia escorted the group to the train station and bid them goodbye. Celestia of course said nothing knowing it wouldn't have been a good idea to.

She turned away to walk back to the castle seconds before the train pulled out of the station to begin its journey back to Ponyville. The entire walk, she couldn't shake the image of Twilight's hateful gaze out of her head. Her favorite student, her adoptive daughter, had called her a murderer right to her face. And Celestia knew with all her heart that she deserved it.

"I am so sorry, my dearest Twilight."

Once the doors to the castle closed with her on the inside, Celestia retreated to her chambers.

"But I do not regret my actions one bit."

Grieving

I only own my OC's and the plot of this story. Everything else belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 34: Grieving

A week had gone by in Equestria since the dreadful day of the exploding airship. The news spread like wildfire from one edge of the country to the other. The reaction was pretty much what was anticipated. Very few were saddened, most other cities like Manehatten or Applewood didn't really care because they had no idea who the Alamantians were in the first place, and as for the majority of Canterlot, they smiled at the news, happy they were gone. Some of its residents, such as Octavia, Shining Armor, and the princesses, were disgusted by that.

Of course, Ponyville was the one town who was inflicted with a heavy dose of despair and bereft once word got to them.

Once Applejack returned home and told her family the news, they were heartbroken. Applebloom couldn't stop crying for losing her friend, Big Mac was more silent than usual, and Granny Smith wasn't very chipper at all, which was a very rare thing for her. She did ask Applejack if she was alright. The orange mare said nothing and turned around to go back to work on the farm. Seven days straight and she had barely said a word. Her face was emotionless and deadpan the entire time. It was obvious to everyone what she was attempting to do.

The speed and attitude Rainbow Dash was so renowned for had vanished all but completely. Her fellow pegasi on the weather force had noticed a considerable drop in productivity on her end when it came to doing her job. She was slow, not very motivated, and she hardly yelled at anypony like she used to. Even the lazy stallion, Thunderlane was getting off easy with her. Everypony in the weather team had seen the headlines so they didn't dare ask her what was up. Because there was one thing the ponies of the weather team knew. If Rainbow Dash wasn't going fast, something very bad happened.

Pinkie Pie was the one who showed her emotions the most. Her dim coat and flat mane were a sign to everypony that something terrible had happened. She had lost someone close to her. The last time she had shown this kind of behavior was when she was under the impression that her friends didn't want to be her friends anymore. The Cakes could barely get a word out of her. She only ever came down from her room to eat dinner and even then she kept completely silent and ate slower than the rest of them. By the time the Cakes were done with their meal, Pinkie wasn't even halfway there yet. Those facts was barely even scraping the surface on the list of things different about her.

Breaking the news to Bobo was probably one of the most difficult things Rarity ever thought she would have to do in her life. Of course, the giant clam was devastated by the loss of his best friend in the world and hardly ever spoke anymore. Then came Sweetie Belle. It wasn't surprising that Sweetie was shocked and saddened by the news but the degree of how sad she was DID shock her a bit. When she asked the filly why she was that sad, Sweetie told her a new fact that Rarity had been oblivious to in the entire time Agua had been living in the house with them. Sweetie Belle of course would often go crusading with her friends and once a day sometimes more, they always ended up back at the boutique in search of the water mover asking him to heal their wounds so they could go on crusading. Even if he was in the middle of doing something else, he always took time for them to make sure they were okay. Once again, Rarity was surprised by the level of nice Agua could be even though his exterior clearly was that of a jerk. If anything though, it only made her feel worse about him being dead.

Fluttershy was of course known for being quiet but now just hearing her speak a single syllable seemed rare. She only ever came out of her house if she needed to buy groceries for herself or her animal friends. Being outside most of the time wasn't a huge help for her. Whenever she felt a breeze pass against her body, she would always begin to slightly hope that maybe, just maybe, it was Typhoon conjuring it up trying to signal her. Every time she turned her body to check, the pink pegasus she had grown to care for like an adoptive sister was never there to be seen. All the animals under her care had grown to feel sad as well even though they didn't know what they were sad about. Fluttershy's own grief was just starting to rub off on them. Even on Angel bunny who now spent every waking minute by her side trying to make her smile like doing a little dance or something. The butter cream mare would just simply nod, and give a small compliment to the rabbit. But that was it.

As for Twilight, the first thing she did when she arrived back to the library was put a sign on the door that read in all capital letters, "CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE". The windows and doors were all shut, barely any light was allowed to shine through the cracks. Then she locked herself inside her bedroom and refused to come out. That left Spike in charge of the household chores on his own. He saw the same thing but that didn't stop him from attending to everything Twilight needed whether she asked for it or not. He went shopping for food, cleaned the entire house, cooked all of Twilight's meals for her, and so much more. Twilight didn't lift a single hoof to assist him. She had completely sealed herself inside her house away from the rest of the world. Not only was she sad about Pyro, she was fuming mad at Princess Celestia. She had tried to send Twilight a few letters in an attempt to communicate but there was never a response written. Twilight would just throw the letters into her lit fireplace and let them burn as if she never got them.

It was one of the toughest time periods the harmony bearers ever had the displeasure of going through. There were others feeling grief. Such as Rose from the flower shop who cried a bit after learning of their demise. Specifically about Pyro though. The Cake family had to put on smiles for their customers but everypony could tell they were fake. It was well known that Cryo lived with them during his time in Ponyville and that he got to know the Cake family very well.

Scootaloo was sad herself though it was in a slightly different fashion. She was upset over the Alamantians sure but mostly she felt bad because every single one of her closest friends were devastated and she couldn't think of a single thing to try and help them. And if that wasn't enough, the emotional turmoil she had been seeing had made its way to the schoolhouse in not only her friends. But also her teacher.

The bell for morning class to begin rang as usual calling the students into the building. Once they took their seats, Cheerilee turned around to face her class.

"Everypony take your seats and class will begin." Cheerilee said in a somber tone.

All week long the class had noticed an obvious drop in the cheeriness and pep of Cheerilee's voice as she taught them. Most of them knew why but none of them really thought it was their place to ask and confirm it.

"Miss Cheerilee? Have you been sad this past week because of the Alamantians?"

That changed when Silver Spoon asked that question. Taking a deep sigh, Cheerilee looked at the grey filly and nodded.

"Yes, Silver Spoon. I am sad about them. I got to know a few of them over the time they were here with us and it pains me to know they are gone."

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle let their heads hang down, their eyes pointed only at the wooden surface of their desks.

"And I know some of you were closer to them than I was and I can only say....I'm sorry for your loss."

The two of them looked up from their desks ever so slightly thinking that maybe this day wouldn't be as bad then the previous ones.

Then a certain pink filly wearing a metallic head ornament opened her mouth.

"I really don't see what the big deal is here. The six of them were just an accident waiting to happen with those freakish powers of theirs."

That was considered to be low on her scale of mean. But for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, they were in no mood to hear even on slightest bit of it.

"No they weren't!" Applebloom kept her voice at a level where it couldn't be considered shouting. "The six of them helped to PREVENT accidents!"

"Do we have to keep reminding you over and over again that at their welcoming party they not only fought off those evil black ponies but also SAVED YOUR LIFE?" Sweetie Belle added in. "If it weren't for them, you wouldn't be here!"

"If they also hadn't come here in the first place, my life wouldn't have been threatened at all. We're better off without them."

Diamond was not relenting one bit. It only made the two bereft crusaders angrier and angrier. To add on, the teacher mare wasn't all that thrilled either.

"Diamond, that is quite enough on this subject." She sternly said hoping the filly would get the point.

"Miss Cheerilee, I'm just voicing my opinion here. I don't think it was the right move to even allow those six ponies to live here. Look at what's happened since they arrived. I was almost killed by a group of black shadow things, Canterlot was attacked, and most recently, a freak snowstorm in hot weather. They were nothing but trouble." Diamond explained.

"They were also the ones to put their lives on the line to stop all that or have you forgotten? They were heroes!" Scootaloo shouted at her.

"They were trouble magnets, dodo bird." Diamond added on an insult to her reply. "And now we're rid of them forever. It's probably the best thing that's happened around here in a long time." She then turned around to look at Applebloom and Sweetie Belle who were sitting next to each other. "They were just trying to use us. They were never really your friends."

"Diamond, come on. They've had enough." Even Silver Spoon was trying to stop this.

"Oh come on, Silver Spoon. What are those two wimps gonna do?"

Two blood curdling screams came from behind her as a response. The pink filly barely had time to turn around before Applebloom and Sweetie Belle tackled her out of her seat and began to wrestle on the ground.

"TAKE IT BACK!" Applebloom screamed.

"RIGHT NOW!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Get off me, blank flanks!" Diamond yelled as she struggled to move.

Applebloom was three seconds away from slugging her right across the cheek. She even raised up a hoof to do it too. Before she could let it fly, it was caught in the grasp of her teacher who was now staring at them like her eyes had knives in them. Slowly, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom got up off of Diamond Tiara and the latter regained her position on her four hooves.

"This kind of behavior is completely inexcusable." The teacher icily said. "Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, you two go home. You are suspended from school for today for fighting."

On any other day and with normal circumstances, those two fillies would have dropped to their bellies begging for Cheerilee to not go through with the sentence. However, that isn't what happened. Instead the two of them gathered their things and walked out of the schoolhouse while Scootaloo just watched them. Diamond Tiara smirked thinking she had won.

"Ha! Serves you two losers right!"

"And as for you, Diamond Tiara,"

The pink filly's ears drooped down once she got it into her head that she was about to be punished herself.

"You are suspended for the rest of this week. Not only that, but I am sending a note home with you inviting your father to come and have a talk with me. I trust that he will receive it and I will know if he doesn't."

Diamond rapidly turned her head to look at Cheerilee completely aghast by what she just heard.

"Wha...what?! You're suspending me for a week while those two just got off with one day?! But they jumped ME!"

"They may have started a physical fight but even you could see that they were already in pain from losing ponies who were close to them. To take that pain and twist it around and torment them with it....it's cruel. You egged them on. So the punishment is fair and it stands. My decision is final."

"But that isn't fair! None of this is fair!" the filly yelled.

Despite her student's raise in vocal volume, Cheerilee found no need to raise her own. All she did was keep her gaze on Diamond Tiara and make sure she knew that she wasn't letting up.

"Diamond Tiara, one week of suspension is my lowest punishment for you right now. One more outburst like that and it will be extended for another week and so on. Do I make myself clear?"

Finally, the mental note was written down in her mind. With a single nod of her head, Cheerilee turned away to write the note for her father down on a little notepad. She tore the paper off the pad and held it down to Diamond for her to grab as the filly gathered her things and began to head out the door snatching the note in her path. Before she exited to the outside, Cheerilee said one last thing.

"Remember that those six Alamantians were friends of mine as well. Try to keep that in mind the next time you decide to mouth off about them when I can hear you."

With that said and done, Diamond Tiara took off home.

When Applebloom arrived home, Applejack was in the dining room polishing the big table everypony eats at. The orchards didn't need to be worked on that day so she was helping Granny to tidy up the house. Obviously she was surprised to see her little sister home from school early. When she questioned it and got the answer, she was not at all pleased and showed the first bit of emotion in a week. The emotion in show here was obviously one of anger.

"You got suspended from school for FIGHTIN?!"

Applebloom only nodded as a response to her older sibling and then the orange mare went on.

"What in tarnation coulda POSSIBLY possessed you to do somethin' as stupid as that?! Who did ya even get in a fight with?!"

"....Diamond Tiara."

Even though broiling mad right now, Applejack wasn't at all surprised when she heard the name of the victim.

"And just what did she say about you that made ya go all plum loco on her?" she asked still growling.

"She didn't say anything about me."

This point is where Applejack began to become just a tad less angry and a bit more confused.

"So....Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo were insulted?"

"No." the filly answered.

"Well then who the hay did she mouth off about that made you wanna start hittin' her?!"

For the first time in days now, the word that Applejack was hoping she wouldn't hear for a long time came through her younger sister's lips.

"Terra."

Hearing it alone made her head explode with all sorts of feelings, mostly anger, sadness, confusion, and a whole boatload of others. Even though she was a mess inside, she still tried to keep herself as calm as she could and kept a firm expression on her face.

"What?" she asked.

"Diamond Tiara startled sayin bad things about her. Things that just weren't true. Ah...Ah got angry...so Ah jumped on her with Sweetie Belle...."

"Wait wait wait. You AND Sweetie Belle? Ah thought Diamond Tiara only said rotten things about....her."

Even after hearing it, she still didn't have the guts to say it herself. Applebloom took notice of it and sighed a little to herself before responding.

"She was sayin bad stuff about all of em. Then she turned around and shot at me and Sweetie Belle because she knew we were livin with Terra and Agua."

Applejack took a hoof to her temple and rubbed it firmly before speaking once more still sore on the subject.

"Applebloom, school is not the right place nor the right time to be havin those kinds of feelins."

The result of her words on her sister was definitely not the one Applejack was expecting. Applebloom's face went sour and eyes of anger and grief brimming with tears stared icily at the orange mare.

"Well when IS the right time, Applejack?! Tell me! Exactly what time of day should Ah be sad about a friend of ours dyin?!"

"Little missy you better watch yer tone." Applejack snapped.

"NO!" Applebloom snapped right back at her. "If watchin mah tone means Ah'm not allowed to grieve for Terra and the others, than Ah won't do it! Ah'm not gonna be like YOU!"

"What in the sam heck is that supposed mean?!"

"What do ya THINK it means? Ya think we all around here haven't noticed how you've been actin' lately? All ya do is work, work, work, then work some more! Without even so much as a single word!"

From upstairs, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were both listening into the heated argument.

"Should we get in the middle of this?" Granny Smith questioned her grandson.

"Nope." Big Mac replied as he went back to listening.

Granny agreed hoping Applebloom's yelling would somehow break through to Applejack.

"What do ya want me to do, Applebloom?! Tell me!! What do YOU think Ah should do?!" The mare shouted thinking there wouldn't be a straight answer.

After a few seconds of breathing, Applebloom, still leaking fresh tears, looked to her big sister and gave her the straight answer she, like this argument, didn't see coming.

"Cry."

Her tone dramatically softened, that was the one word Applebloom came back with. The anger in Applejack's expression nearly completely went away after hearing it.

"W-what?"

"Applejack...Terra was a good friend to everyone here...she was to me, Granny Smith,...Big Mac was kinda scared of her but she still liked him."

Big Mac just rolled his eyes and leaned his head out a little bit more.

"But...you were the closest pony to her out of all of us....and ya haven't cried once. Why?"

Applejack's mind was scrambling to find an answer that sounded logical and not at all emotionless to her sister but she was failing to accomplish it. The lock she had placed on the door to her emotions was starting to crack and her face was a clear sign of it as her eyes changed from angry and slowly grew sadder as the realization of the truth began to at last dawn on her.

"What do you want me to say, AB? That...Ah have horrible dreams at night reliving the moment Ah watched her ship blow up? That Ah...that Ah probably coulda saved her if Ah had probably dug her out faster or...heck maybe not let er get on board in the first place?!"

Applebloom easily took notice of the fresh teardrops beginning to leak from her sister's eyes and fall to the floor.

"You want me to say that Ah'm miserable?! That every time Ah even look at a rock or so much the ground itself it makes me think of her?! Well it does! She was one of mah best friends and now Ah'm never gonna see her face again! And....and...and..if I start c-c-cryin'...then Ah..might never stop! YAAAAAAAH!"

She raised her hooves and in a state of grief induced fury, she slammed them down on the dining room table and completely demolished it with one vertical strike. At first Applebloom was frightened thinking her older sister was about to go on a destructive rampage but her next actions showed her quite differently.

Applejack collapsed sobbing hysterically in a curled up ball on the ground letting the tears fall in torrents. She was finally showing her grief just as Applebloom had wanted. Like everypony wanted. Granny Smith and Big Mac hurried down the staircase and into the dining room as quickly as they could to pick up the mare into one big tight family hug as the water continued to gush from Applejack's eyes.

While all this was going on, on the other side of town at Carousel Boutique, Rarity was giving Sweetie Belle a lecture of her own. It was a lot shorter and softer than the argument Applebloom and Applejack got into. Both the girls were sad about the loss of their friend and they were both open about it. The talk ended with Sweetie Belle promising to not ever get into a fight at school again and Rarity would tell their mother and father to go easy on the filly with their punishment. After they hugged, Sweetie Belle went to go get a pouch of Bobo's food which was stored under the sink. She selected one of the many more left and walked out to the pond.

"Here's your food, Bobo." She said as she poured the pouch containing the microorganisms into the pond of the crustacean.

No movement came from the creature as usual and Sweetie just turned to walk away.

"Thanks."

For the first time in a whole week, Bobo's deep voice rang through the water of that pony-made pond causing the filly to halt in her advance to the house and turn back to the water.

"I like feeding you, Bobo. No need to say thanks." She said with a small grin.

"Not about that." The clam corrected her. "For standing up for Agua's honor. The window was open so I heard."

Sweetie Belle turned back and walked to the shoreline of the pond to chat with the pet.

"She had it coming for a while anyway." Sweetie Belle murmured. "The things she said I usually just let them slide but I was just in no mood to try and tolerate her anymore. I attacked her.....and it honestly felt...kinda good."

"Kinda sounds like something Agua would say." Bobo commented.

Sweetie Belle let out a soft giggle seeing that Bobo was right. She did sound a little like Agua right there.

"So....how's Rarity?" the clam asked.

That made the filly sigh.

"Not good. She was able to finish all the orders she had but she hasn't taken any new commissions. It's really starting to make some customers mad."

"Well...it's to be expected. Rarity and Agua may not have been the most conventional but they were friends. This is proof of it."

Sweetie Belle gave the clam a nod and stood back up.

"I'm gonna go get some of my homework done before my parents find out I got suspended."

The clam bid her farewell for now and then went back to doing his normal activity of slowly roaming around his pond habitat.

Not too far away from there, two of the ponies were unexpectedly heading towards the same place. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were going to the library for two different reasons. Fluttershy was bringing Twilight some special food for Twilight's pet owl, Owlowicious. Pinkie Pie, who still had her mane and tail as flat as a board, was just walking around as silent as she has ever been. The two of them each rounded a separate corner and ended up bumping into each other.

"Oh....hi, Fluttershy." Pinkie softly spoke.

"Hello, Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy said back in the same manner.

The two of them continued walking alongside each other unsure of what to say to each other. The only sound that was brought to their ears was the sound of their hooves clopping against the dirt road. They didn't speak because they knew how the other was feeling. Though there was one thing that was different between the two. A secret that had not been shared by one of them to any of the ponies in their circle of friends.

It was by chance that the one carrying that secret broke the ice to speak first.

"You miss her like crazy, don't you?" Pinkie said to her friend.

Fluttershy sighed before her mouth expelled actual words.

"More than I thought I would. I mean....Pinkie...you and I are the only ones who were able to actually connect our elements to them.....do you remember how it felt?"

Pinkie knew what she was talking about. Fluttershy and herself were the only ones in the circle of six who somehow brought their powers together with their partners and ended up unlocking the power of the gods. Pinkie Pie felt it and she could never get the feeling out of her head. During that snowstorm, when she and Cryo began to glow and use their newly unlocked powers to save the town from being buried in white, she felt like she could do anything at all. It wasn't just the power that made her feel that way. It was the fact that it was through her bond with Cryo that made it possible that made it what it was.

All the joy, all the laughing, every smile, every bit of fun that she and him ever had together was enough to convince Pinkie that whenever he was around, she felt nothing could stand in their way, almost like they were an invincible duo.

"I do....it was unbelievable." For the first time in a while, Pinkie was able to form the smallest smile on her face. "It felt like he and I were one pony."

Fluttershy gave the pink mare a small nod.

"That's exactly how I felt with Typhoon in Canterlot. Like her mind and body just....melded with mine like a perfect connection."

"Yeah....it was amazing....HE was amazing.....he was brave....funny.....so full of life and joy and smiles...."

Hearing Pinkie talk that made Fluttershy only realize something that made the fact of their deaths even more painful.

"Oh my goodness....Pinkie....you started to feel stronger for him....and you never....Oh Pinkie I am so so sorry...."

The pegasus latched herself to Pinkie Pie in a tight hug as the two began to softly weep again for their late friends. Fluttershy felt a tad foolish for not seeing it before. After the blizzard, Pinkie and Cryo were rarely seen apart from each other. In fact, Pinkie had gotten a lot closer with the stallion than she usually had been. She always made sure to keep him happy, smiling, laughing, and overall a happy pony. But there was always a little hint that everypony was oblivious to. Cryo was seeing Octavia and whenever she showed up on a date, Pinkie's tone turned a little less joyful. It meant one thing. Pinkie was jealous of Octavia because she had the ice mover for herself.

"Now...I'll never be able to tell him....Octavia's heartbroken.....and...." Pinkie couldn't think of anything else to say.

Fluttershy only gave her apologies to her friend over and over again unable to think of any other words to comfort her. It was only when they arrived at the library that they spoke new words. The door was knocked on by Fluttershy calling for Twilight. The unicorn was not the one who answered them. The door opened to reveal instead, her assistant with bags under his eyes, the whites were mostly red, he was breathing heavily, in simpler terms, the poor dragon looked like hell. Both mares outside the entrance took one swig of the sight and gasped.

"Spike! You look absolutely horrible! What have you been doing?!" Fluttershy rushed to his side and began to examine him completely dismissing the main reason she was there.

"I've uh...I've been busy taking care of Twilight. She needs me right now."

His voice was raspy and obviously worn from exhaustion along with the rest of his small sized body. Pinkie followed Fluttershy inside as the caretaker helped the drake over to the couch nearby and made him lie down to rest. The pegasus put a pillow under his head, a blanket over his body, and got him a glass of water to go along with it.

"Here. Drink up." She commanded.

The glass tilted up and Spike didn't stop drinking the water from the glass until every last drop was completely gone. The water did its work for what little it could do and eased the soreness and dryness in his throat so the rasp in his voice was just a tad gone.

"Spike...why are you doing this?" Pinkie softly asked him. "Do you even sleep at night?"

"Sometimes....most of the time I stay awake until Twilight falls asleep. Then I rest for a bit before she wakes up again, then it's back to it."

"You just tend to Twilight for hours on end, without taking a break?" Fluttershy was appalled. "Spike, you can't do that!"

"Spike can't do what?"

Twilight was coming downstairs from her bedroom, her view of Spike blocked by the back of the couch. But she clearly saw Fluttershy staring daggers at her and a depressed Pinkie glancing back at forth between the purple dragon and the purple unicorn descending the staircase. Twilight had a similar look on her similar to Spike's. Unkempt. Once she neared the other two ponies in the room, they were able to notice an odor coming from her, clearly showing she had not bathed in days.

Once Twilight got around the couch and saw who was on it, along with the state he was in, she gasped like Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie did and stepped back.

"Spike....what have you....."

Fluttershy was about ready to chew Twilight out for not noticing all week long what Spike's health had been. Pinkie Pie however, saw this as more of a private conversation to be had and went out the door taking Fluttershy with her.

The door closed, it was now just Twilight, Spike, and Owlowicious who was now pecking at the bag of food left there by Fluttershy. The unicorn took a step closer to her companion to get a better look at him.

"Spike...."

"You don't have to say anything, Twilight. It's okay....I've been okay."

"Have you looked at yourself?!" the unicorn cried. "You're NOT okay! You're exhausted, hungry, and worn, Spike! You're not well at all. You need to rest."

"I can't."

Everypony knew Spike the dragon took his duties seriously but this was the most serious he's ever seemed in his entire life. Usually whenever he's beat and tired he just complains about going to bed. Now it's a total flip of that.

"What do you mean you can't? Spike you need to get your energy back. You can't do that while still working."

"I need to take care of you."

"No you don't! Why are you saying this?!"

"Because I told him I would! Remember?!"

Twilight's attitude changed to stumped.

"W....what do you mean....you told him you would?"

All week, Spike had to endure hearing the heartbreaking sound of Twilight crying over the loss of the red stallion. Now it was Spike's turn to have tears in his eyes as he looked up at her to explain.

"The day he left, right before he got on the ship, don't you remember what he and I said to each other? He asked me to take care of you and I promised him I would. I have to keep my promise, Twilight. I have to. Pyro was an honorable pony. You and I both know that. I...I need to honor the promise I made to him. I....didn't exactly say it...but I gave him....my...word of honor."

Those three words. Just like that, the image of his dark red face briefly replaced Spike's as the words echoed in her head constantly reminding her of the friend she lost too early.

"Spike.....we can't do this anymore."

Twilight also knew that Spike's work meant a lot to him. However, she was able to tell when Spike was avoiding something. More so in this case because he was avoiding the same thing she was trying to avoid but epically failing at it.

"We can't just keep trying to go on with life like it never happened. We saw it happen....I held his dismembered horn in my hooves.....he's dead, Spike. All we have left of him is his voice in our heads."

The voice indeed. It never shut up in hers or the drake's mind.

"You're not the only wreck here. I'm an absolute mess....every night when I try to go to sleep I still feel like I can hear him on the roof walking around...just doing his thing. Every time I go up there to look for him, he isn't there. Of course he isn't there.

"I've just been so busy trying to keep my mind off of him and the others.....that I made a stupid mistake. I was accidentally keeping my mind off of you too, Spike.....I let you get like this...I'm so....so horrible...."

Twilight fell to her stomach and put her hooves to her eyes soaking them while Spike crawled down from the couch and hugged her as tight as he could in his weakened state.

"We'll take care of each other....we're family....." he muttered.

Her hooves wrapped around his back pulling him closer to her body into a hug. She and Spike then, together, cried for the fire mover.

While the grieving continued in Ponyville, similar feelings were being shared all the way up in the Canterlot Castle. Night had fallen onto the land once again and Celestia had retired to her quarters for the night. It was no secret to anypony that she herself was feeling a great amount of agony over the loss of not only the Alamantians' lives, but also the trust and respect of her most faithful pupil along with the other five bearers of harmony. It was to be expected. All they had been through together, the fights, the tears and blood shed, and now the six ponies were gone, stripped away from their friends for a petty reason.

Luna, like the others, mourned as well. She had missed them all dearly but there was one she favored. Agua, her student. She had looked forward to having a personal student for her own to teach and guide and way too soon he was taken away from her. All the teaching she did felt like it was for nothing now.

Raising the moon went smoothly for the night princess. After she finished she had some time to kill before her duties had to occupy her. So she headed for her sister's room. The guards posted outside allowed her in and she closed the door behind her after she went inside. Once she was in, she saw her sister lying on her bed not under the covers, her regalia completely removed and adorned on a stand neatly next to her bed.

“Sister?”

“Leave me be, Luna.” Celestia requested.

The request was denied.

“Tia, just talk to me.”

“There’s nothing for me to say. Other then you were right. Are you here to say I told you so?”

"No. I only wanted to check on you. You have not shown your face to the public or to me in quite some time."

"Are you surprised by this?" The sun princess turned her face to gaze at Luna. “All six of the element bearers have turned on me.” She said with depression. “And they have every right to. I acted with such cowardice. I was foolish enough to really believe Nightmare Moon would keep her end of the deal. Now I maybe cost us the only hope we had to survive. I should have listened to you Luna.”

“The elements of harmony are still powerful.” Luna added. “They still might be able to do it alone.”

"And what if they are not?" The solar princess snapped. "If our enemy is able to withstand the elements' power then not only am I responsible for handing over Equestria on a silver platter, but also the deaths of our six young ponies will have been in vain."

Luna released a sigh still unsure if she was to use her next words or not. But eventually they came out.

"Celestia.....this may sound cruel.....but their deaths are already in vain."

She was right. It was cruel.

"They had no reason to die. They did not die for any cause. They died because you gave into the pressure. They are dead now because you were foolish enough to believe the words that came out of Nightmare Moon's mouth."

"Are these words meant to somehow comfort me, Luna?"

"No. They are not. They are meant to carry truth. You and I both know that mistakes are the most common way of learning new lessons."

"I am aware of that. But Luna, this was a mistake that never should have been made by me in the first place. I'm so much better than that.....I learned to never give in long ago and I forgot it. It's a disgrace for me....to forget such an important fact about myself. It caused six amazing ponies to lose their lives. I can never forgive myself for that."

Luna was starting to think coming here to try and talk to her sister may not have been the wisest of moves. Bottled up inside her, she herself was still furious at Celestia for making the call to deport them in the first place. But that didn't mean she wanted to see her elder sister in so much internal agony.

"Perhaps one day, redemption shall come for you, my sister. Rest easy. I must attend to my role."

With that, Luna turned to leave. Once the door was closed, Celestia locked it and wiped away her tears and sighed somewhat as if she was relieved.

"Pretending to be sad has never been harder for me." She muttered. "I just hope when everything is set into motion, she along with the others, will come to forgive me for what I have done."

Author's Note

I feel that I didn't do my best with this chapter....

The Battle of Ponyville (Part 2)

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 36: The Battle of Ponyville (Part 2)

While the fight began to brew down in Ponyville, Princess Celestia and Luna were in Canterlot Castle explaining the situation to the citizens of the town with as much detail as she possible. Needless to be said, but everypony in that castle were surprised to hear that the six Alamantians were indeed alive and well. Once the news hit their little ears, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all beamed and cheered happy for their friends not being dead and rushed to the window yelling them all good luck and to kick Nightmare Moon's flank.

While most ponies were happy to hear of the turn of events and the shift in the balance of power, there were still of course a few lone ponies that had a little less joy in them. One of those ponies being the princess of the night, who still wanted an explanation from Celestia, apparently knowing the whole time that they weren't deceased. Once the white alicorn finished her speech to her little ponies, Luna pulled her aside and demanded that she spill.

"Luna, please. Now is not the best time. We need to keep these ponies calm." She tried to reason wanting to focus on more pressing matters.

"I believe they have been quelled enough by your words alone, sister." Luna shot back. "Now it is time for you to do the same with me. You knew that they were alive the entire time, didn't you?"

A single nod came from Celestia.

"And the whole thing that happened, all the way back to when you told the Alamantians they had to leave Equestria, it was all a scheme?"

Another nod.

"To what end? What was the purpose? Why have everypony go through so much pain? Your own protégé lashed out at you and shut you out. Why sister? Just...why...and how?"

Celestia sighed expecting this kind of reaction from Luna. She knew her younger sister was happy to see the ponies still alive but she truly despised being deceived in such a large manner. The crowd in the throne room seemed to be under control enough for her to spend some time alone with her sister. She figured now would be as good a time as any to start explaining. She took a deep breath, looked her sister right in the eyes, and began to talk.

"It happened like this."

*Ponyville*

While the truth and details of the plan began to come forth, the group of thirteen ponies stood ready to fight off another hoard of Shadowmares. The mission of these shadows was simple. Stall the elements for long enough to give their master time to completely heal herself. The opposing team's objective: plow through the Shadowmares and get to Nightmare before she finishes the process. It sure wasn't going to be easy but they felt ready and strong enough to do it.

“Cryo, Ty, go for it.” Pyro commanded.

With those words, the two mentioned ponies bolted away from the group and towards the oncoming horde of bad guys.

“I’ve always wanted to try this move out with you!” Cryo said to his sister excited.

As he said that, his two front hooves became covered in snow and he began to stand bipedal, moving his forelegs around charging up his attack. Typhoon rolled her eyes knowing how Cryo can be excited at the wrong times and began to spin in midair, a whirlwind conjuring up around her body. Two seconds later, they launched their combined technique. Typhoon let loose a powerful cyclone directed right for the Shadowmares and Cryo shot a blast of snowy energy right into the cyclone creating a blizzard storm attack.

Snow, ice, and wind pelted the Shadowmares as they came into contact with it, causing a fair amount of the group to vaporize defeated. A group of Shadowbolt fliers flew over the blizzard blast and dive straight for the two Alamantians. Seeing them come made Cryo and Typhoon cease their dual attack and draw their weapons once more. Typhoon flew right for the flying shadows and began to swing her bow with perfect technique as a melee weapon. She was soon joined in the airborne brawl by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Rainbow wasted no time in gritting her teeth and punching the everloving snot out of every Shadowbolt that got near her. Fluttershy was more in favor of dodging every attack thrown at her. Which she was surprisingly good at. The Shadowbolts pretty much were hitting themselves with all the evading she was doing. Cryo was joined on the ground by the rest of his allies and they all jumped head on into the Shadowmares. Weapons were swinging, hooves were being thrown, magic was fired, and it was a brawl on a scale never before imagined.

Terra, while slashing Shadowmares big and small alike with her clawed gauntlets, couldn't help but notice that every spare second Applejack got, she glared at her with her eyes full of ice. Agua and Gem as well were starting to sense a bit of hostility towards them coming from their own partners. Of course they had a reason to be angry. They had gone 8 days thinking that their good friends had died in a very violent way and also uncovered what they thought was their dead bodies. Rainbow even watched as the fake Gem died in her arms. The cyan pegasus was more angry and hurt than thrilled when she saw a standing plasma mover in front of her.

"So what's the plan here?!" Shining Armor shouted as he kept blasting shadow creatures with his magic. "The six of you were in hiding out wherever you were for over a week! You had to have thought of something!"

That question did little to slow down their fighting speed, but it did make the Alamantians a bit nervous with their answer. Why? Because...

"On top of trapping her in this dome, we don't have one!" the ice mover answered bashing his right tonfa atop the head of a Shadowbolt.

The reaction to the answer was of course as expected. Not only did Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity shoot glares to their respective partners, but Twilight, Fluttershy, Shining Armor and Pinkie as well gave annoyed looks to the foreign ponies for the lack of a true strategy.

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Twilight cried. "Just keep beating these things up?!"

"Until we find some sort of weakness to Nightmare Moon....yeah pretty much!" Agua cried slicing a shadowmare in half with his axe.

Twilight groaned herself frustrated blasted Shadowmares back and forth. 8 days hiding out and they came back with no plan of any kind. Just what the hell were they doing during those 8 days other than the small idea of trapping her with the barrier spell?

"Well y'all better start thinkin' harder! Cause we can't fight ferever!" Applejack shouted.

The country mare then ducked a blast from a nearby airborne shadowbolt and whipped out her lasso. She tossed it perfectly and caught hold of the flier like a fish and swung around in a circle before slamming it down to the ground making it vaporize.

Shining Armor was doing his best to keep his head at the problem at hand and work alongside his friends to try and formulate a proper plan, but something still ate away at him.

"How did you survive?!" He shouted.

It was obvious that question was directed to the six Alamantians.

"Now is really not the best time for long explanations, Shining Armor!" Pyro answered him.

"Now may be the only time!" The captain yelled once more.

He did have a point. With all the shots flying and attacks being thrown, there was a good chance not all of them would be alive at the end of this to tell them what they did. But of course the attacks would also make it hard to explain. They would have to slow down time in order to give them a suitable explanation.

Swinging his spade around slashing up shadowbeast after shadowbeast, Pyro came up with an idea. Talking would be too much of a time waster, but showing them using one of his sisters could take a lot less time.

"Typhoon! Get over here!" he called.

The mare of wind was busy jamming in arrow into the eye socket of a shadowbeast with the taken shape of an ursa minor. By the time it dissolved, she heard Pyro's voice travel into her ears and took off like a shot with Fluttershy close behind her. The demure mare trailing her partner was having no problem keeping up with the speedy pink pegasus wanting to stay as close to her as she can at all times for safety.

When Typhoon landed, Pyro quickly explained to her a plan and nodded agreeing to it, whatever it was. Fluttershy couldn't make out what they were saying over all the noise. The Shadowmares were beginning to surround them all in a circle as the other five Alamantians stood at the border holding them off. They urged their partners to back up and stand near Typhoon in the center. Shining Armor joined them at the request of the telepath herself since he was the one who asked.

When they were all close enough together, Terra jumped up and slammed both of her front legs to the ground causing the ground to push away all the Shadowmares in the vicinity who couldn't fly thanks to her power.

"NOW TYPHOON!" she shouted.

All at once, Typhoon took a deep breath and pressed a hoof to the side of her head as her mind connected to the six mares and Shining Armor. All seven of them felt as if part of their bodies was falling asleep as they started to lose their vision in a cloud of white. Soon enough it came back to them but they were no longer in the middle of a battlefield. There were inside Carousel Boutique. And in the living room they saw themselves and their partners sitting around and enjoying each other's company. As odd as it was to look at themselves, they were easily able to recognize this. This was the day Celestia came and told them the Alamantians had to leave. Typhoon was transferring her telepathy to replay this day's memories to them from her perspective.

From beside them another image of Typhoon herself appeared next to them to help explain.

"You recognize zis day, non?" She asked looking to them. Seeing them all nod, she continued talking. "Zis ees where everything was set eento motion."

A knock on the door came and the Typhoon from back then got up to answer it to see Celestia there. Now they all remember that the two of them were just standing there looking at each other for some time before Celestia asked be let in.

"Were you two having a staring contest?" Pinkie asked.

"Non, Pinkie." Typhoon answered. "She and I were talking."

Before they knew it, two more voices filled their heads. One of them being the past Typhoon and the other belonging to Princess Celestia.

"Typhoon, I need you to hear me right now. Do not speak, just listen."

It was pretty genius when Twilight thought about it. Using Typhoon's telepathy to have a conversation without anypony else knowing is a golden tactic.

"Um....oui, your highness."

"After having counsel given to me by an old friend of mine, he and I have come up with a plan that may just give Nightmare Moon the sense of security she needs to finally reveal her whole self in physical form. In order for this plan to be successful I need you and your Alamantian siblings to go along with everything I am about to say. Tell only them of this conversation, but do not tell your partners. I hate to deceive them like this, but they must be kept in the dark. Now do you understand?"

They all saw the past image of Typhoon giving the princess a light and barely noticeable nod before she opened the door up all the way to let her come in. After witnessing that, Applejack's anger could only rise. She glared icicles to the mare of wind next to her almost wanting to slug her.

"It goes back that far?!" she demanded. "Y'all lied to us for that long?!"

The others didn't think it was even possible for Applejack to get more angry than she already was at this point. But the next thing Typhoon did proved them wrong.

She shushed Applejack.

She turned to the farmer mare, went "Shhh." and turned back as if she didn't hear a word she said. Fire was now in the already livid Applejack's eyes as she raised a foreleg to clock her right across the jaw. When she felt her hoof being held back, she turned around more than ready to redirect her strike. That feeling immediately died when she saw two deep teal eyes looking into her own with a very stern expression.

As much as she wanted to hit Typhoon, Applejack knew she would get such an earful from Fluttershy that would feel worse than ten strikes if she went through with hitting the pony she considered an adoptive sister. So for her sake, she set herself back down and motioned for Typhoon to keep going.

The scene around them then seemed to dissolve away and rematerialize into something different. The sky was night, all twelve of them were now standing at the bottom of a boarding ramp to a modified airship. They were now re-living the moment the Alamantians boarded the ship and Celestia was giving them a case full of supplies.

"You see what Princess Celestia gave us zere?" Typhoon pointed to the chest.

"Yes." Twilight answered. "She said it was full of supplies to help make your trip easier."

"Een some way, zat wasn't really a lie."

Typhoon made the image blurry to all of them again and it reformed to show all six Alamantians on the airship behind closed doors. As soon as it was latched shut, their faces, most of them feigning sadness and anger, all faded away as they looked to the chest.

"Come on. We don't have much time." Pyro said and used his magic to open the chest.

Inside there were was only one thing. It looked like it was some sort of glass cube. It was glowing a dim yellow as something inside the cube pulsed.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Terra asked.

"It better. If it doesn't we're sunk." Gem answered her.

All six of them took off a bit of their mane and then placed it atop the cube. The cube upon being touched by the hairs began to react. They all sank into the cube's surface as if they were absorbed. Once they were gone, it grew brighter in its glow and floated out of its place in the chest. With multiple colors radiating out of it like a rainbow, the cube then fired six individual beams to the ground at six different points around it. From the ground up, the beams seemed to be constructing something. As they got further away from the ground the six mares and Shining Armor saw that the cube's magic was forming six bodies. When the process was complete, six perfect visual representations of the Alamantians stood before the real ones, all of them wearing deadpan looks with their eyes only halfway open.

Cryo walked over and waved a hoof in front of his own clone's face to try and spur a reaction. Nothing happened. The clone just stood there, unable to sense anything around us.

"Well....they look exactly like us." The stallion of ice commented.

"And that's all they need to do." Agua added. "Now hurry up. We only have seconds."

The three unicorns all came together and used their magic together in one conjoined spell to form a portal in front of them. A round gateway appeared rimmed with brilliant gold, cyan, and brown colored magic. The ship began to rock. Nightmare was about to launch her attack on the ship. One at a time, all six of them jumped through the portal and it closed behind them, leaving the six clones of themselves behind to take the hit.

"The bodies we found.....they weren't you?" Shining Armor asked still not fully believing it.

Typhoon shook her head.

"Ze cube zat ze princess gave us was a very powerful spell. Zey were just clones. Zey looked like us but zey had no mind or souls of zeir own."

As tactically brilliant as it was, it still didn't sit right with the others.

"You created copies of yourself....just so you could kill them?" Twilight muttered.

"Eet wasn't ideal."

"NONE of this was ideal!" Rainbow yelled at the pegasus. "You could have let us in on this! You could have told us everything!"

A heavy sigh was released from Typhoon's mental projection of herself. She looked at the ponies she called her friends with nothing but regret on her face.

"Eef you had known we weren't truly dead, Nightmare Moon would have been able to find out through your behavior. When somepony close to you dies, eet's easy to tell whether your feelings of grief are genuine or fake. I'm sorry. I truly am sorry for all ze pain zat my siblings and I made you go through. But we had no other plan. Eef zere was another, believe me we would have gone weeth eet."

Those words did little to nothing to soothe them all of their mixed feelings towards her and the others. Applejack was still fuming, steam could almost be seen exiting her ears. She swore as soon as this was over she was going to bop every single one of them upside the head and then some for what they had to go through.

"Wait so.....after you escaped the ship, where did you go? Where were you hiding?" Shining Armor asked.

That was a fair question. One more time, the scene around them began to blur and warp into something else. They were now standing in a familiar spot within the Everfree Forest. In front of them they now saw the hut belonging to their friend Zecora.

"Ze night before we left while Applejack was sleeping, Terra snuck out of Sweet Apple Acres underground and filled her aunt een on what was happening. Once we were zere, all we could do was lay low and train ourselves for what was coming."

This was all Shining Armor needed to hear. Like everypony else, he was hurt, betrayed, and angered by their lie. The only difference was he could understand a bit why they felt they needed to do it. The only way Nightmare Moon would reveal herself was if she thought she had an easy shot at victory. With the Alamantians believed to be truly dead by everypony around them, even their most cherished loved ones, what better opportunity than that? The Elements of Harmony wouldn't be at full capacity, and their powerful friends wouldn't be present. Being the captain of the guard, he could understand how a strategy like that would work, but he was still completely off put by their lie.

"If that's all you have for us to see, let's return to the fight." He requested.

The others agreed with him and Typhoon complied. She briefly warned them to be ready for a bit of lightheadedness when they come back to reality then their vision went white.

One by one, all eight of them came opened up their eyes and looked around seeing the others struggling to keep the Shadowmares at bay while Typhoon mentally explained their survival. When their vision stopped being blurry, they wasted no time in re-joining their friends in the fight for their town.

Rainbow Dash's mind however wasn't focused on fighting right now. She wanted an explanation not from Typhoon, but rather her own partner. After quickly spotting her, she flew up behind her and snatched her away from the ground and flew off to a nearby rooftop landing on it and setting her down. Gem turned around about ready to slash her swords thinking it was another Shadowbolt that caught her. When she saw who it really was and the look she was sporting on her face, Gem shrank down like a scared little filly.

"R-rainbow.....now isn't the best time." She muttered hoping to avoid this.

She should have known better that Rainbow Dash does not back down so easily. The glare that met with her own eyes actually made her step back a bit afraid of what might come. Knowing this would take a few minutes, a brown glowing force field was constructed around them by the use of her magic.

"Like Shining Armor said before, now may be the only time. So you tell me right now, Gem. Why? How could you do this to me? To all of us! I thought you were my friend! I thought you were supposed to represent loyalty alongside me! But this?! What you did without letting any of us in on it?! I held you when you died, Gem!"

The pegasus didn't notice from the heat of her anger, but tears were once again leaking down her face. Gem's own eyes began to water as the tirade went on.

"I cradled that fake you and felt it take its last breath thinking that I had just lost someone I cared about! Do you have any idea how much that screwed me up?! How it screwed all of us up?! None of us wanted to go outside let alone do anything else! Twilight completely rejected the princess from her life, Pinkie's mane did that weird deflating thing it does, Applejack refused to feel anything at all for a while, Rarity cried every time she saw a drop of water, and Fluttershy had to be pushed out of the house by her animal friends for air, and ME! I cried for you, Gem! I cried myself to sleep for 7 nights!

"But now here you are alive and well and I SHOULD be happy to see that you're alright! I want to be! I really do! But I can't! All I feel is just a huge ball of anger wadding up inside because of what you did and I feel like there's nothing that can make it go away! All because you didn't want to let us in on this!"

That last bit was the sentence that finally got a reaction out of Gem. Rainbow, now panting a bit from her tirade, watched her young partner look gaze into her eyes, her own beginning to fill with a mixture of hurt, and anger.

"You think I didn't want to tell you?!" Gem cried back. "Rainbow I wanted so badly to tell you. I BEGGED with Princess Celestia to at least tell one other pony about this. And I wanted that other pony to be you! But....she just wouldn't have it. She told us that the circle had to remain as small as possible. And that your genuine reactions to our fake deaths would convince Nightmare that we were truly gone."

"That doesn't excuse anything!" The pegasus interrupted.

"I know it doesn't. I'm not trying to excuse myself. I know my actions were despicable, Rainbow Dash. Every step I took towards the ship knowing what was about to happen, I wanted so badly to just spill and tell you everything......but.....as horrible and twisted as Celestia's plan was.....I can't deny that it had benefit. We drew Nightmare out. We have a chance to beat her. And now we can do it without any civilian casualties."

Rainbow Dash perked her head up a bit. What was Gem getting at?

"If I hadn't gone along with the plan....none of us would be safe. I will forever feel horrible for what I did to you and the others Rainbow but I had no choice. It was either refuse and put everypony else at risk, or lie the most horrible of lies and give us, the only ponies who can stop her, a chance to do it with nopony else in the crossfire. I chose what I believed to be the lesser of two evils."

Rainbow still wanted to be mad at Gem but she couldn't be. Not at full capacity anyway.

Gem may not have been at her most loyal towards Rainbow Dash, but she was being loyal to everypony else. She was thinking of everypony in Equestria's safety instead of the feelings of just one pony. Loyalty isn't bound to just a small circle of friends you trust. It can go so far beyond that. Making the choice to not risk the lives of everypony else when it could be unnecessary. It's true and obvious to everypony that the lie they told was incredibly hurtful, but now Rainbow had a much more clear picture of why she did it. Gem was still loyal to her. She was loyal to all of Equestria. Why else would she do it?

"I....I understand if you want me to leave if we win.....I guess some things aren't easily-GAH!"

Gem's sentence was cut off once she felt the full force of Rainbow Dash hugging her in a tight embrace she didn't even think the pegasus was capable of doing.

"R-rainbow....what?"

"I should have done this back before we started this fight like Twilight did with Pyro." The pegasus began. "Part of me is still mad and that part is gonna be there for a while. But....I guess I realize now how much it must have hurt YOU to do what you did...and I get why you did it too....I'm just sorry it took me til now to realize it.....You must have been really stuck to make a decision like that."

Now Gem found her hooves slowly making their way around Rainbow's back, stopping right below her wings.

"I WAS stuck.....but it doesn't change the fact that I chose."

"You're right. It doesn't. But the choice was made and there's nothing anypony can do about it. It's in the past. Can you just promise me that next time I'll be given more a heads up?"

Gem couldn't believe it. Even after all she did, all she put her through, Rainbow Dash was...forgiving her? She couldn't stop asking herself, why?

"I promise you.....I will never do anything like this to anypony ever again.....I care about you way too much to even think about it."

Rainbow Dash then tightened her grip ever so lightly around the pony she was now more than glad to once again call her partner. She had gotten her wish. She was still angry but she was now happy at the same time just to be with Gem again, the one pony she said was cooler than she was.

"Welcome home, Gem." the pegasus muttered.

That was it. That was the plasma mare's breaking point. Her eyes closed as she sank her head into Rainbow's chest, beginning to sob out of happiness at the true reunion with her partner. Not even the shattering of her force field was enough to make the two of them part their embrace. And as the Shadowmares began to close the gap on them, neither they, nor the two ponies took notice that their cutie marks were beginning to glow.

*Canterlot*

"You mean to tell me the bodies that were recovered from the crash site were merely imperfect copies of them?"

Luna had just sat through an explanation of her own without visual aids from her older sister. Her reaction to knowing the truth was no different to those of the mares of harmony. Surprise, hurt, anger, and betrayal all brewed together in her head. She had always believed that that Celestia was a living embodiment of the traits that were the elements of harmony together. She had to be in order for them to all work for her. But this giant deception, it had to violate at least three of them. Honesty, loyalty, and kindness.

"Was there really no other way? Surely there had to be."

"A plan was in formation but we were forced to make improvisations. The result was the events that played out." Celestia replied to her sister as she looked out the window seeing Ponyville in the distance. "I know what my actions have brought against me. Twilight is furious with me, and she will quite possibly be even more so once this is all over with."

"To be fair she deserves to be. The one mare she trusted like an adoptive mother made her believe a group of new friends were violently killed."

Luna was easily able to take notice of the small flinch her sister gave at the comment. The pony of the sun knew what she was getting into when she agreed to this. She just didn't take fully into account the amount of effort she would have to use in order to attain forgiveness, if not from Twilight than at least one of her other friends.

"Sister I did not mean to be so harsh." Luna said softly.

"No no. You have every right to be as harsh as you please." The princess replied. "Twilight Sparkle and her friends were not the only ones I deceived. You were just as much lied to by me as they were."

"There will indeed be a sore spot for a while because of that lie. But for the most part, it is overlooked knowing that they are still with us." Luna smirked. "I had fun teaching my student."

"It was quite amusing to hear of your lessons with him." Celestia actually managed to let out a single giggle before returning her attention back down to Ponyville. "Don't worry. You will be able to teach him more."

"You are so sure?" the night princess asked. "This fight could very well kill them."

"They may despise me right now. But I have faith in all of them." Celestia said back. "All of them are powerful. Together they could be unstoppable, granted they are able to access their hidden power."

Their gaze remained out the window staring down to the valley, the protection field Celestia put up glowing bright enough to see from Canterlot. They could now only imagine what was going on inside of it.

"Hopefully they do." Luna said.

*Ponyville*

"Gah! How many of these things are there?!" Agua shouted.

It seemed that no matter how many of them the ponies destroyed, they just kept coming. No end of them seemed to be anywhere in sight. Nightmare Moon was still locked away in her healing process so she couldn't make more. But still the amount she left them with seemed infinite. And they could only do so many attacks on so many Shadowmares.

"Just keep beatin' em! They can't keep comin' ferever!" Applejack yelled back.

With her rope, she lassoed one Shadowbolt nearby and swung it down making it impact with a pack of two oncoming unicorn Shadowmares. Another unicorn was about to strike her from behind but it was beheaded from a slash made by Terra and her clawed gauntlets. Before it fully vaporized, the mare of earth spun and gave it a fast kick to the head, causing the head alone to fly off the body and into the face of a Shadowmare that was about to attack Fluttershy. With a motion of her front legs, the claws from Terra's gauntlets detached and flew off, three at a time, into the heads of six more oncoming enemies, causing them to vaporize. She then used her metal moving to call the claws back to her and re-attach at her gauntlets, extended and ready to strike once more.

It did very little to make a dent in the mass of enemies approaching. Elements were being thrown all around, arrows being fired, magic being shot, and blades slashing left and right, they were dropping fast, but not fast enough. All at once a huge wave began to charge for all of them. They all stopped in their tracks however when a series of lightning bolts fell from the sky seemingly blocking their path. More and more rained down hitting nothing but the ground creating a wall of lightning between the good guys and the storm of fake shadow ponies. Twilight looked up thinking Rainbow Dash got her hooves on some storm clouds to use as weapons. There were clouds, but Rainbow wasn't up there pounding them. Then she looked at the lightning itself when she finally caught onto something: The lightning was purple.

The only thing that could make that certain phenomenon, was a plasma mover. She and the others turned back once more expecting to see Gem utilizing her power. What they saw instead was not only Gem conjuring the lightning, but Rainbow Dash too, had her hooves to the air, the clouds above her crackling with plasma. Cryo, Pinkie, Typhoon, and Fluttershy all smiled a bit when they saw that, like their own previous experiences, Rainbow Dash and Gem were glowing in their eyes and their cutie marks, and the element of loyalty necklace around Rainbow’s neck also had a familiar shine.

The true power of loyalty and plasma was being unleashed.

Walking together to the front of the group, the storm clouds followed above them. The Shadowmares cared not for the sight in front of them. They had no minds of their own to know what fear was. The fact that there were two glowing mares in front of them harnessing the power of a god made no difference to them. All they knew was they had to kill them.

"TEAR THEM DOWN, YOU TWO!" Agua shouted.

"ZAP EM GOOD!" Pinkie Pie followed.

They didn't need to be told twice or once for that matter. The Shadowmares made the first move and started to charge at the two supercharged mares ready to kill. Rainbow was the one who made the next move. She threw her forelegs down summoning the power hiding within those storm clouds to come down. Purple bolts of plasma hailed down like rain itself pelting the dark creatures instantaneously destroying them like they were nothing but bugs. While Rainbow had the front wave occupied, Gem took it upon herself to clear the back. She rushed forward and dove, her element surrounding her entire body as a construct of a very familiar train engine car formed and started to pummel through the massive pack at full speed. When she reached the back of the wave and came into the clear, the construct around her fade and she landed back on her hooves. Eyes still glowing fiercely, she raises her hooves to the sky and two more bolts of plasma came to her hooves forming another plasma construct. Pinkie Pie took joy in seeing that her influence has gotten to Gem somewhat, for the constructs that she created with her charged power, were a pair of giant cannons in the shape of her familiar party cannon.

Both cannons floated above Gem's head and spread out to the side as the rear pack of Shadowmares started to advance on her. The barrels of the cannons began to glow and mere seconds later, two powerful focused beams of plasma shot out of them and began to mow down the Shadowmares as they came closer. Not a single one was able to break past the beams. As the group began to rapidly thin, Gem and Rainbow decided it was time to bring this to an end. The party cannon constructs faded away and the young unicorn raised her hooves up to the sky commanding more plasma to come down from the storm clouds and funnel into her hooves. Rainbow Dash did the same thing, no longer using her newfound power to create a lightning storm. Two thick bolts of plasma struck her hooves and stayed connected allowing her to draw more power in. The two partners then stopped charging at the time and began to focus their charged energy between their hooves. Each of them created a large purple orb the size of a bowling ball. After expanding a few more inches in diameter, they both unleashed their attack. Two gigantic beams of plasma fired from both sides and slammed into each other, creating two walls of energy that no Shadowmare was capable of escaping before they collided.

As the beams died down, area between Gem and Rainbow could be clearly seen as devoid of anything created by dark energy. The others just kept staring at the two of them awestruck at the amazing power they just threw out. As Gem rejoined Rainbow Dash, the two of them closed their eyes and began to fall over, exhausted. They were caught by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who were both familiar with the tired feeling these two were going through.

“Easy, Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy advised with her soft voice.

“Just relax there, Gem. It takes a lot out of you we know.” Pinkie said as she helped Gem lay down.

As the two partners of loyalty and plasma lied down on the ground to take a breather, Rainbow’s necklace began to glow again and Gem’ chest began to shine with the outline of the symbol of plasma.

“Huh? What’s happening now?” Shining Armor asked being completely unfamiliar with this.

Twilight mentally smacked herself for forgetting to lay one crucial detail down for her brother. But now was as good a time as any to just….drop it.

“Yeah. Um…Shining Armor? There’s something I may have let slip my mind.”

Before she could even finish, the two glowing symbols shout out of their respective chests and twirled around in the air before colliding with each other. Just like it did with Pinkie and Cryo after the blizzard, a shape formed from the light. The shape of an alicorn. The figure touched the ground with all four hooves. The light faded and her form could be fully seen. If it weren’t for her glowing purple mane waving, they all would have thought they were looking at Nightmare Moon. Her coat was just as black the dark alicorns. The inner feathers of her gorgeous wings had purple gemstones adorned upon them. The regalia she wore upon her hooves, chest, and head were brilliant silver with more amethyst gemstones embedded into them. Her bright purple eyes shone like jewels themselves.

As soon as Gem saw who it was, she immediately stood back up and bowed down to her, followed by her five siblings, then the elements of harmony, and then finally Shining Armor after Twilight nudged him.

“My lady, Cybelle.” Gem muttered.

The goddess of plasma herself was among them thanks to the newfound connection between harmony and nature. Shining Armor, not being aware of who she really was, stopped bowing and looked up to this new alicorn he had never laid eyes on before.

“Okay….who are you? Where did you come from? What’s going on here?” He asked not really caring if it was Cybelle who answered or not.

“At ease, Captain Shining Armor.” Cybelle spoke, in a firm yet gentle voice. “I am no threat to you.”

“Well then what the hay is going on? Why were Rainbow Dash and Gem just glowing?” he asked again.

Twilight groaned. She might as well just get it out of the way.

“Well you see, Shining Armor, myself, my friends, all twelve of us are….well….we um…”

She knew she was on a time crunch, but yet she still had trouble letting the words come out of her mouth.

“You’re what?” Shining was getting impatient.

“The twelve of us are each one half of the reincarnation of six ancient elemental gods from thousands of years ago.” Agua spoke, he himself too getting impatient very fast. “Gem and Rainbow make up both halves of Lady Cybelle here.”

The water mover gestured to Cybelle who then nodded confirming Agua’s words to be nothing but the unvarnished truth. Shining Armor couldn’t believe. He just looked around at each pony around him now only wondering what sort of power they had flowing through their veins. Then he came around to his little sister once again. Twilight Sparkle, his little Twiley, was reincarnated from an ancient god?

“Perhaps now is not the best time for this conversation.” Cybelle said. “All of you have come so far and you are now so near Nightmare Moon’s defeat. And now half of you have unlocked your hidden power.”

“Yes yes they unlocked it but how do they make it come at will?” Rarity asked desperate to know.

Twilight felt the same way.

“She has a point, Lady Cybelle. In a battle like this, having every possible advantage at our disposal would be a huge help to us.”

“Plus it was fun being all glowy! I wanna do it again!” Pinkie jumped.

Cybelle took a giggle herself at seeing Pinkie’s antics.

“Skaldi was right. You are quite peppy.” She said.

Their conversation was interrupted when a bright line shone not too far away from them. It took them only a second to figure out what it was, and every single pony there, minus Cybelle, mentally slapped themselves for forgetting one crucial detail. Nightmare Moon was healing, she was vulnerable, and they had completely put that aside to chat with Cybelle, who was beginning to fade away.

“H-hey! Wait!” Rainbow Dash cried. “Don’t go! Stay and help us!”

The goddess of plasma only looked at her multi colored reincarnation with a look of sorrow.

“I’m afraid I do not have the energy to do that, Rainbow Dash. This battle is to be yours and yours alone. Be strong and do not give up.”

“Really?! That’s all ya got fer us?!” Applejack shouted not very satisfied.

Cybelle never answered her. Her entire form faded away and soon everypony was distracted by a familiar sound. The sound of hooves trampling.

“Oh….you have…” Shining Armor started

“…got to be….” Rarity added.

“…fucking….” Agua went next.

“…kiddin’ me.” Applejack was the one to finish it off.

All of them were thinking the same thing as yet another stampede of Shadowmares came charging around the corner right towards them. They had officially been sent back to square one.

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy fearfully asked.

Thinking fast was all everypony was doing. More Shadowmares were gonna keep coming at them so long as Nightmare was able to create them. For that problem only one solution could be seen. The crescent end of Pyro's spade ignited in flames and blasted a couple of fireballs at the heads of two oncoming Shadowmares before he turned and shouted to his team.

“The rest of you stay here and keep the Shadowmares busy as best you can. Twilight, you're with me. We're gonna take care of Nightmare.”

“What?!” Twilight didn’t like the idea of leaving her friends and older brother. “But Pyro-“

“Twilight, trust me.”

He had a look in his eye. A look that Twilight easily read as “I know what I’m doing.” The mare of magic, being desperate for any sort of plan, decided to take it.

“Let’s go then.”

Pyro took his spade into his magical grip and ran in Nightmare’s direction on all four hooves with his partner next to him.

“Wait! The two of you can't face her alone!” Shining Armor shouted.

“We have to try, Shining Armor!" Twilight cried back as the two unicorns turned a corner.

She and her partner turned a corner and got out of their sight while everyone kept on screaming for them to come back. Before they could chase after them, the new Shadowmares closed the gap and it was back to the brawl.

“There’s no way they can fight Nightmare Moon on their own and win! We all need to do it together!” Rarity cried

“We all need to BEAT her together!” Typhoon shouted as she shot a huge burst of air at some more Shadowmares. “I do not think zey eentend to defeat her just yet."

"She's right." Shining Armor now caught on. "They're gonna buy us some time to get rid of these things!"

"Then it will just be her." Rainbow had the idea. "Then let's keep the pressure on em'!"

As the fight in the center of the town began to intensify once more, Twilight and Pyro ran through down the streets of the town getting closer to where they left Nightmare Moon.

"Please tell me you jumped into THIS situation with some sort of plan." Twilight said.

As Pyro slowed down to a trot, he looked to his partner and spoke.

"This is just a guess, but I think the spell Nightmare casts to create the Shadowmares takes quite a bit of concentration. If you and I can keep her occupied long enough for the others to tear the rest down, all which will be left is Nightmare herself."

"And then it will be all twelve of us against her. She won't have a chance."

"That's the idea."

It may not have been much, but it was the most solid plan he or she could think of. The prophecy stated that all twelve elements had to join together to beat her. If two of them could buy time for the other ten to join them, then it would be worth the struggle.

“You fought her before. Is she tough?” Pyro asked.

“Well she’s…”

Twilight was going to answer but then she remembered something. The last time she fought Nightmare Moon, nothing really dramatic happened. At least in the terms of a battle. They only charged at each other once and that was pretty much it. Then her friends came in and the harmony blast expelled her from Princess Luna. So she gave him the only answer she could.

“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never been in a physical brawl with her before. This is gonna be something totally new.”

“Oh that’s just great.” Pyro groaned. “If I knew what kind of fighting style she used that would’ve helped.”

“Maybe but there’s just something else we need to know, Pyro.”

“Huh? What?”

“Luna said it herself. Nightmare Moon is an entity all on her own, but she can’t take on a physical form without a willing host. So if it isn’t Princess Luna this time then who is under the helmet?”

Pyro hadn’t even considered that for a second. He was so bent on just defeating Nightmare he didn’t give a single thought as to who she had possessed this time around. Underneath that black shell there was a pony in there. But who could it have been? There were only a hoof-full ponies in the world with enough power to rival that of her previous host.

“I don’t know how we can figure that out.” He admitted. “Perhaps once the elements merge, the shell will be broken and we’ll see.”

Again, it wasn’t much. However, seeing as how they weren’t in any sort of position to stop and think for a long period of time, making up theories as they went along was the best alternative.

“You ready?”

Twilight looked to his partner than forward to where they left Nightmare Moon, who was no longer there. She couldn’t be that far away though. With a determined nod, she answered.

“Let’s do it.”

The stallion of fire nodded back and both of them proceeded to walk out into the open. They only waited for a moment before Pyro raised his voice and shouted.

“Nightmare Moon! We are here! Alone! We call on you to face us!”

They had to wait a few more seconds, but sure enough his call was answered. Hearing the voice from not too far away, she flew over and landed a few building lengths away from them, cracking the ground around her. With a sick smirk, she pointed it at the two ponies challenging her.

“You are bold. I’ll give the two of you that. But you have been quite the annoyance along with your band of siblings. Not to mention you’re foolish in challenging me alone. I’m sure your brothers and sisters would agree with me.”

“Ones' actions do not define foolishness.” Pyro said back. “Rather it is the intentions behind those actions in which the true fool is revealed.”

"Spoken like a true old geezer." She laughed. "Just like your precious master."

"If you've done something with him, you better-!"

"Oh shut up." Nightmare cut Twilight off. "If I had found him before you had a chance to, I would have just killed him and already bragged about it."

Both unicorns growled at her wanting to advance and get this started before more damage could be done to the town. Pyro reached for his spade while Twilight began to charge a spell.

"At least I'm able to make do with the thousands that have been lost in Alamante."

Both of them ceased their actions as soon as they heard that sentence come out.

“I’m sorry….what?” Twilight had no other words.

Pyro couldn’t talk at all. Nightmare however, had a lot to say.

“You heard me. You think the Alamantians started that war on their own? They had help. From me.” She said with a proud smirk.

She was lying. She had to be. There was no other explanation. It was just some ploy to get into their heads to get them off their guards.

“There’s no way you could have brought the war in Alamante. When it started, you were still serving your one thousand year imprisonment with Princess Luna on the moon.” Twilight stated.

“Oh right. That.” Nightmare waved her hoof as if it didn't mean anything... “Allow me to clarify something. Its true Celestia banished me in that boring rock for a thousand years. But she didn’t however manage to get ALL of me.”

Now this was the part that caught Twilight’s full attention.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Pyro growled.

Nightmare went into explanatory mode. Seeing as how she was about to kill the two of them, she may as well indulge them, for what good it would do them.

“Do you really think I was foolish enough to not foresee Celestia coming for me with the Elements of Harmony? After Luna and I merged a millennium ago, I knew it was only a matter of time before she tried to attack me to get her precious sister back. So I took precautions.”

Both partners of magic and fire kept quiet letting Nightmare go on, wanting to hear every bit of what she had to say.

“I separated a small portion of my life force from my body and preserved it in the night sky using my dark magic. That small part stayed here on the planet while I was banished to the moon. For a thousand years that portion of me floated around the planet with the moon searching for a suitable new host. One more powerful than Luna could ever be.”

“So you knew Twilight and her friends would defeat you when you came back. Looks like somepony has a confidence problem.”

“Oh believe me, boy. I didn’t ever expect that nerd you call a partner to make friends on her own. That was merely a fluke.”

“Don’t you say a word against Twilight.” Pyro sounded angry. "She beat you once before with just five friends at her side. Now she has twice as much and then some."

Twilight was about to tell Pyro to dial back on his praise, but Nightmare spoke yet again before she had a chance to.

"It matters not how many friends you or her have. I’ll destroy you all either way. And then I shall take my forces to your homeland to take the next step in my conquest of this world.”

“But why?” Pyro demanded. “What do you have against Alamante?”

"Oh nothing. Alamante has done absolutely nothing to me. Your home just happens to possess something I strongly desire. Conquering Equestria is merely a stepping stone to acquiring it."

"And that is?"

Nightmare was genuinely surprised by his question. Did he, an Alamantian, really not know what she was talking about?

“Do you have any idea what kind of power lies within the soil of your home country? That meteor that hit the ground a millennia ago and gave your ancestors their powers enriched the entire country’s land with an energy source more powerful than anything ever imaginable. Even the Elements of Harmony themselves are simple flashlight batteries when compared to it. It lies at the very place where the meteor crashed into the ground. For a thousand years I have pondered ways on how to get my hooves on it when I escaped from the moon. With magic like that, I will be invincible.”

Pyro did know what she was talking about halfway through her talk. When Alamante was first officially founded, the crater site where the meteor had impacted was covered with a brilliant temple designed and built by the geo tribe. The temple is at the very center of the country bearing the name, "Chushin Yoso", meaning "Central Element" in the Alamantian tongue. He always was curious if the structure was hiding something away inside. Now it looks like he just got his suspicions confirmed.

“Why not just try and take it yourself?” Twilight asked curious.

“Oh I’m sure you would just love that.” Nightmare spat. “As powerful as I am, I would not stand a chance against the entire country of Alamante with their freakish abilities over the elements. So then I finally thought of a brilliant plan. Why fight them all…when I can make them fight each other? All I needed to do was just put enough of my influence into the ears of the tribal chiefs. Whisper a few words into their dreams. Make them all believe that they were superior enough to rule the entire country on their own. One element to rule the rest."

The stallion froze. He had heard those words before. Years ago when the war was on the brink of starting. All the tribes' chiefs were shouting the phrase to civilians saying that it was for the best that the country have a more central ruler, and that their element should be the one sitting on the throne. It was scary to see as a child but he had hoped that they would see they were wrong. His hopes were soon dashed when the declaration of all out war between all six tribes was heard throughout the land.

“The only reason they believe they should be fighting is because I convinced them to. How easy it was molding their brains into that of killers."

Her words were meant to get to him. They did their job well. Pyro strained himself to remember his training and keep himself calm. Though at this particular point it was becoming harder to do that.

“It WAS you. You’re the reason so many ponies, so many of my own friends, have perished in this war. Terra’s brother, Cryo’s father….my mother.”

A tear threatened to escape his eye but he held it back.

"Awww. Did somepony kill your precious mommy? Well tough luck, ember. If it makes you feel any better you'll be reunited with her real soon."

She knew he was levelheaded. Twilight really did. But even she knew that everypony had a limit to how much they could take on a certain thing. That twitch she just saw from the corner her partner's mouth got her thinking that he was nearing the edge of his. After one more twitch, the fire mover closed his eyes, and took a long sigh before opening them up, locked in a narrow gaze at the dark alicorn.

“I have no doubt in my mind that there will come a day when I leave this life." He said. “But as long as I still stand here breathing, I’ll do my best to keep Equestria, and the rest of the world, safe from psychos like you. I think I’m gonna start by tearing off your head.”

He had enough with the banter. Eager to defeat the dark alicorn, Pyro stood bipedal and gripped his weapon once more, both the sun and crescent moon ends of it lighting up in flames through his channeled power. Twilight remained on all fours and leaned into a ready position with her horn lit up and ready to cast. Intimidation came not to Nightmare but rather a few laughs.

“You two really think you have a chance against me?” she cockily said. “The Elements of Harmony did nothing to me! Not even both the royal princesses could touch me with their combined power! What could possibly make you believe the two of YOU can?!”

“Call it a hunch." Twilight growled back. "We may not have completely destroyed you the first time around but this time we make sure you NEVER come back."

"You fools! You may not be the same mare you were back when we had our first encounter but I too am not the same pony from then! I am stronger than ever before! And yet here you stand ready to throw your own lives in a pointless fight against me!”

The two didn’t back down. Their eyesight just locked with each other’s. Nightmare had a point. This fight could kill them and everypony else they love along with them. But they already knew that going in. Determined to put her in her place and defeat her for the last time, they nodded confidently to each other and stared the dark alicorn down again. Gripping his weapon tighter, Pyro spoke.

“If laying down our own lives means the people of Equestria will be safe from harm, then you bet we’re willing to do it! Now put em’ up! Or are you too scared to fight us hoof to hoof?”

It was almost too rich for Nightmare she had to hold back her laughter. These two, this little insignificant stallion of the Ember tribe, and the shut away bookworm were challenging her. What chance did they have? They hadn't even unlocked the power of Agni. Yet here they were challenging her like they had even the slightest chance at victory. Still though, with all the world conquering she had on her schedule, what better way to get warmed up for it than to spar with and kill both halves of a god's reincarnation?

With a dark glow of her horn and a spell radiating out of it, Nightmare stood bipedal the same way Pyro did and held out her left foreleg. A weapon's hilt materialized in her grasp and then the weapon itself formed. A dark purplish black broadsword shining with a sickly bright purple aura formed from the bottom of the blade to an upward curved tip.

“Come and meet your end, disciples of Agni."

Author's Note

Hopefully it takes me less than a years time to get the next one out. I only own my own OC's and the plot of this here story. Enjoy everyone! And thank you to all my editors who have helped me along with this.

The Battle of Ponyville (Part 3)

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 37: The Battle of Ponyville (Part 3)

All three soon-to-be combatants remained still in their stances waiting for whoever would make the first move. Twilight’s horn crackled with magic, Pyro’s spade grew red from the heat of the flames engulfing it, and Nightmare Moon’s smirk grew wider. None of them knew who would be the one to draw first blood.

Quickly running out of patience, Nightmare was the one to move first with her eye on the one she considered to be the most of a hindrance.

“Cover me.” Pyro murmured.

Twilight nodded back to him. Since he was more skilled in fighting, he would take care of her up close and personal and she would provide cover fire from as many angles as she possibly could. Staff in hoof Pyro began to charge towards Nightmare making the gap close faster.

With a lunge forward, Nightmare prepared her blade to swing as she ran bipedal to the Ember stallion. It wasn't until he saw the blade's first movement downwards that he moved. The crescent blade of his staff caught the shadow sword successfully blocking her strike. When he moved it away, Nightmare swung again and it was blocked a second time, this time by the spade end. Pyro then took an offensive swing of his own towards her stomach with the crescent again and Nightmare just barely avoided it.

Sparks flew from both blades as they clashed over and over again. As Pyro made a jab with the spade, Nightmare parried it with her blade and then gave the fire mover a harsh kick in his center, making him stagger back off balance. Her chance to follow up with another slash was thwarted when Twilight began to charge forward herself, her horn firing various shots of magic. A few of them hit but the dark alicorn was able to deflect most of them with her sword of darkness. When Twilight neared, she swung at the unicorn but she immediately teleported out of sight and re-appeared behind her. Another full powered blast from her horn hit directly into Nightmare’s back causing her to let out a small cry of pain. It was barely an annoyance to her. She turned around glaring at Twilight.

“Once I’m done with you, I will personally drop your head at Celestia’s hooves.”

Clenching her teeth, Twilight did her best to keep her fear bottled down her throat. Her horn began to charge again but Nightmare beat her to the punch. A blast of dark magic shot out from her horn much faster than Twilight was anticipating and it sent her flying back and skidding across the dirt.

“Uuuugghhh….” She groaned in pain.

Cackling, Nightmare began to walk over, her blade rising over her head. She then noticed that everything around her seemed to be growing brighter. It wasn’t until she felt the heat on her back that she turned around and threw up a force field blocking the massive torrent of fire headed in her direction. Pyro was back on his hooves, and all four of them were ablaze as he held his weapon. The Alamantian once again closed the gap to engage in close combat.

As she recovered, Twilight’s gaze found itself being drawn to her partner. The force of his attacks, the strength he packed with every swing. For the first time since they had met, Twilight was now getting a full demonstration of an unrestrained Pyro. Unlike back in Canterlot, he was unleashing every ounce of power he had to throw at Nightmare Moon. It was visible not only in physical attacks but also his pyrokinetic ones too.

Every time Pyro unleashed any of his elemental power towards his opponent, it gushed out of him like an open hydrant, illuminating the street in an orange glow. She could tell by his face. He wasn’t just looking to protect Equestria like she was. He was angry. Angry for his home country and the war that Nightmare started. He wanted to avenge every drop of blood that was spilt for no reason. And he was dead set in making sure that hers would be the next to spill.

As Nightmare was occupied with Pyro, Twilight got back up and her horn flared to life once more. Multiple shots of back impacted her from behind causing her movements to become sloppy and giving Pyro an opening. Rushing forward, he stuck the crescent end of his staff into the ground and used it to fault towards Nightmare Moon. His rear hooves were still ablaze and the amount of power Pyro was now using increased. Both of his hind hooves impacted into Nightmares chest and a small shockwave of flames burst out of the impact as she was sent sprawling away and past Twilight, skidding across the dirt.

It did a bit of damage but not enough to keep her down for more than a second or two. As soon as she stopped sliding on the ground, Nightmare rose back up to her hooves, her blade still glowing in that sickly dark aura and now looking even more ready to tear its victims apart one limb at a time.

“Are we even hurting her?” Twilight wondered out loud.

She and her partner had dished out quite a bit of power upon the dark alicorn and she didn’t even look like she was fazed at all.

“Sure doesn’t look like it!” Pyro called back.

Swinging her blade around lightly, Nightmare stepped forward cackling more and more.

“I told you two dunces! Your power is useless against me! Just give up and I may make your deaths quick!”

The two partners of fire and magic leaned down ready to engage her once more. But inside their heads they were both asking themselves the same question. If Nightmare Moon wasn’t even being hurt or the least bit affected by their assault, how long would they be able to hold out against her before their friends arrived to even out the odds?

Back in town square, the Shadowmare herd was thinning but it didn’t seem to be doing so fast enough. Shining Armor, even as a captain, couldn’t believe how fast this battle turned up in scale. He was trained for combat, but certainly not for this. As squad of three Shadowbolts began to nosedive towards him, they all blasted shots of dark energy at the captain. Luckily he noticed in time and threw up a magical construct of a shield in front of his face. Thinking quickly, he angled the shield as each blast hit so it deflected off and hit a Shadowmare that was on the ground. Then when the three fliers closed in, he entrapped them in a force field then abruptly made it shrink down to the size of a dodge ball, crushing them inside and thus evaporating.

“Nice shield work, Cap!” Terra called from the side.

“Thanks!” he called back as he dodged a few more blasts. This may not have been a situation he was expecting, but his training had one purpose. To serve and protect Equestria. And that is exactly what he planned to do here. “How are you holding up?!”

“Best I can! Just like the rest of us!”

The mare of earth was truthful in that statement. Each pony was putting their all into this fight. Though there was one mare Terra could tell was overexerting herself out of anger. Being right next to Applejack the entire time, she could easily tell just by how loud she was grunting from her kicks that she was putting too much strength into them.

“Jackie, you have to calm down. These things don’t take much to kill. You’re just gonna tire yourself out.”

“You just shut up! Ah aint got nothing to say to ya!”

Once again, Terra tried to say something to Applejack, and she was met with hostility. On any other day, the geokinetic wouldn’t prod at it too much but given their current position, now wasn’t really the best time for them to be on separate pages.

“Well that’s certainly not true.” Her left side gauntlet plowed through another Shadowmare’s head. “Just let it out. It’s not gonna hurt me or anything. Just be honest.”

“ARE YOU BUCKIN’ SERIOUS!?!?!”

A nerve had officially been struck. With every negative emotion that could be felt at once, and with bloodshot eyes, Applejack plowed her hoof through the head of a Shadowmare in her way and began to march over to Terra. Every enraged stomp was strong enough to crack the ground.

“You. Of all ponies. Do NOT! TELL ME! TO BE HONEST!”

Terra was sure it could never happen, but for the first time ever, she was legitimately afraid of her partner as she closed the gap between them. They were now nose to nose and she could feel the breaths that came out of her nostrils in huffs.

“You have NO idea what honesty means, do ya Terra? Ah trusted ya. We all trusted ya. Mah whole FAMILY trusted ya and look what ya went and did. Ya lied the worst of lies to us. Makin’ all of us think you were dead? How could ya even THINK of doing something so horrible?”

“Jackie, I-“

“Don’t call me that! Ya don’t deserve to! Friends do not lie to each other, Terra! It doesn’t matter what yer reasoning was for it! Did ya even think for a second what your “deaths” did to all of us? We were broken beyond repair! Ah cried for ya! Ah actually cried for ya!”

And she was beginning to do so again as another Shadowmare come up from behind her. It was quickly disposed of thanks to a pillar of the ground rising up and impaling in through the chest.

“Ah care about ya but right now Ah really wish Ah didn’t. That’s how much this hurts, Terra. So please. Ah’m beggin ya to just answer me why. Why in all of Equestria did ya think that this would be okay? Why didn’t ya tell me about this?”

She waited for an answer. Time seemed to just slow down as she waited. A Shadowbolt tried coming in from above to attack but Applejack’s hind legs rose up and bucked it into vapor as soon as it was within range ending that failed assault. Then finally, Terra gave her an answer.

“If I had told you about any of this, would you have promised to not tell anypony about it?”

“Wha?” Applejack felt even more offended. Why would she even ask that? “What kind of question is that?! Of course I woulda promised!”

“And there you go. That’s why I said nothing.”

The anger was still there, but now her face morphed from angry into one of absolute confusion.

“What do you mean?”

She wasted no time answering.

“Applejack, what you said was right. Lying to your friends about getting killed is one of the worst lies anypony can tell. There was no chance I was gonna let you be a part of that lie. If I did, who knows what could have happened to the element of honesty? It could have failed or just stopped working altogether. Having to lie to your friends about us to protect us? I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk corrupting your element for us. Granted I don’t really know how the elements of harmony work but either way I just couldn’t take that chance, no matter how much I wanted to. And trust me when I say this, Jackie. I wanted to. So badly.”

Being the carrier for the element of honesty, Applejack had a gift for telling when other ponies were lying or not. Even though she was still angry, she was starting to ease back when she realized Terra was being honest and sincere with every word she spoke. Applejack took a moment to think. Back when Discord turned her into a liar, her element did in fact cease to function. Was that how it worked? She wasn’t a liar by any definition but was she really not allowed to lie at all in order for her element of harmony to keep working?

"Also, let's be fair, Jackie. If you DID know, you totally would have blown it."

It was here at this point where Applejack’s anger level began to rise up again.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?!"

She angrily bucked a Shadowmare into vapor as she shouted that.

"What do you think it means? You're a crappy liar. Everypony knows it. “

“What?! That is not true!”

“Oh really?”

With another Shadowmare in a headlock, Terra turned around to address everypony else.

“Hey everypony! If I were to say. ‘world’s crappiest liar’, who would I be referring to?!”

“Applejack!”

One by one everypony there sounded off Applejack’s name, making the farmer mare stutter trying to find something to say. She found nothing but a blush on her face. Even Shining Armor knew it. Even the Alamantians who WEREN’T her partner knew it.

“Am I really that bad?” She wondered aloud.

“C’mon, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie appeared next to her friend. “Back on my birthday last year, you remember when you tried convincing me that everypony in the barn was doing construction? I may have been mad and thought you were all abandoning me at the time but I totally knew you were lying.”

With that, Pinkie returned to her partner’s side leaving Applejack with her own who was in the process of twisting the same Shadowmare’s neck causing it to evaporate. She knew that being so honest also meant that lying wasn’t easy. But she had lied before for the sake of a good surprise. But she didn’t think she was that bad. Now she was getting concrete proof that she was not only bad, but apparently horrible at the act. She understood. She was a liability.

“Ah……don’t get me wrong Ah’m still mad at ya….” She started. “But….I guess I can kinda see why y’all did what ya did.”

As she set back down on four hooves, Terra began to smile at her friend beginning to soften up again.

“So does that mean….?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Applejack raised a hoof. “What you did was still wrong on every level.”

“And I’m willing to make it up to you on those levels and more. Just so long as I can keep you as my friend.”

Finally, for the first time in what seemed like forever to her, Applejack’s mouth turned up into the faintest of smiles. Seeing that happen made Terra’s own smile grow to a level she didn’t think she could reach. She was being forgiven. Maybe not all at once but she was being forgiven.

“You can start by helpin’ us beat these things and gettin’ our home back.” She said as she raised a hoof to the earth mover.

Eager to get fighting more, Terra brought her hoof to her partner’s and bumped it.

“Let’s get crackin. Literally.”

The two of them chuckled unaware that their cutie marks were slowly starting to turn a bright white.

While this whole talk was happening,

Over with Rarity, she was near Agua beating the Shadowmares with her own brand of graceful martial arts. Every time her partner entered her view though, he was met with a cold stare. And quite frankly, he was getting tired of it.

“I get it, alright!?” He shouted as he drove his axe through the head of a Shadowbolt. “You’re pissed! You have every right to be! But could you stop looking at me like that?!”

“You don’t get it do you?!” the mare of generosity shouted back. “All this time I knew you were a jerk and I know you do despicable things! But I always believed you had a limit! That we….I was the limit! You said back in Canterlot that you wished you and I could have a relationship that the others have with their partners and then you went and pulled this stunt! How am I supposed to even trust you anymore?! I don’t even remember how I trusted you at all to begin with!”

Violently, Agua snapped another Shadowmare’s neck as her words reached his ears. He knew why other ponies couldn’t trust him. He’s lied a lot, for less than respectable reasons. But to hear that his own partner didn’t trust him anymore hit him a lot harder than he expected it to. He opened his mouth to say “I’m sorry” but he quickly realized that doing that would just get him even more of a tongue lashing.

“I wasn’t lying when I said that in Canterlot.” The stallion of water said as he sliced another one. “Believe me or not but I meant it and I still do.”

“Your words don’t have any weight to me anymore.” Rarity snapped. “Show, don’t tell.”

It was something to work toward, but he accepted the challenge. Angrily, he gripped his axe and started to put extra strength into his attacks, mowing down each and every Shadowmare that dared get near him and Rarity.

The fashionista kept glancing over to him, noticing the grunts he made with each strike. They were filled with frustration. But she didn’t care. What she said was how she felt and he needed to hear every last bit of it.

With every slash the stallion of water took, one or two Shadowmares were in his way and they were slashed to vapor. Like his partner, he too glanced back at Rarity every so often, watching her hold her own. But then he noticed the Shadowmares were starting to group up not far from her. And they were charging up.

Six Shadowmares were glowing. Seemingly charging up an attack but instead, they were fusing together to form an even greater beast. When the fusion was complete, the creature now stood in the form of a mutated buffalo. From the horns on its head, another blast of dark energy began to charge. And right as Rarity noticed the creature was there, it fired.

Rarity’s eyes shrunk to mere pinpricks as she watched the blasts get closer. Time seemed to slow down into extreme slow motion while the glow of the dark energy grew brighter against her face. Before they hit, she could have sworn she saw a hint of blue out of the left side of her peripherals before she was violently shoved to the ground. Her body collided with nothing but dirt as the blasts hit a new target.

Not wasting any time, Rarity shot right back up to her hooves and advanced upon the Shadowmares that dared attack her. With a few swift yet violent motions, she made them all vaporize and looked to where she stood before she was pushed. Where her hooves were, there was now just an axe lying on the ground. And not far from that spot, there was the house that belonged to the resident florists of Ponyville, which now had a stallion sized hole in the wall.

Picking the axe up, Rarity rushed to the flower house and jumped through the hole gasping to see her partner on the ground bruised, bleeding, and groaning in pain. Rushing in and not thinking about staining her coat, she rushed over to Agua and pressed her hooves into his wound trying to make the bleeding stop.

“Oh no….uh…why…..you….you…you idiot! Why would you do something like that?!”

Wincing, the blue stallion of water rose up a bit while Rarity kept the pressure on him. He spoke in a low soft tone.

“You’re the one who said show, don’t tell. Well how’s that?”

She wanted to slap him right across his dumb blue face right then and there but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. He DID just jump in and take what could have been a fatal blow for her in an act of selflessness.

“You’re right about me. I’m a jerk and I do despicable things. But there is one thing you’re wrong about.”

He paused to groan in pain. The few seconds that passed while he did felt like several minutes to Rarity as she wanted to hear what it possibly was she was wrong about.

“I DO have a limit…..it’s you.”

“W….what?”

“I don’t know what it is about you, Rarity. For the most part I still see you as an overdramatic mare who whines about everything dirty.”

Rarity’s eyes rolled. If this was supposed to be an apology it did not have a very good start.

“But…..I do care about you. More than I thought I would ever be able to. I don’t know what it is about you but…you just being my friend…..makes me want to be better. I hated going along with this stupid plan. Every…ugh….every minute I wanted to punch something just for doing it….for hurting you.”

He started to sit up but Rarity kept a hoof down on his chest, advising him to keep still.

“You can not believe me all you want. But it’s the truth, Rarity…..word of honor.”

She didn’t want to. She wanted to keep believing this stallion was just a piece of garbage who lied to her. But she couldn’t. Not after that little act of selflessness he just performed and took a deadly hit for her. Rarity was no Applejack but she could tell. Agua was being sincere.

“Oh, Agua….”

With tears in her eyes, Rarity threw her arms around her partner and hugged him tight. As Agua put his own around her back and patted it softly, neither of them noticed an odd dim light coming from their flanks.

Nightmare was pressing hard. Though she had to color herself impressed with the two unicorns. She did not expect them to be as powerful as they were, without unlocking the power of Agni yet. She had to give them credit, they were both taught well by their mentors. But it was time to teach them what real power was.

As Pyro came in for another slash with his spade, the dark alicorn raised up her blade and blocked it yet again, but this time, the two weapons locked. The sickly dark glow of Nightmare’s sword and the burning light of fire and Pyro’s spade both began to intensify as they began to try and push the other back. Twilight teleported to the side and tried to fire another blast of magic at Nightmare, but it was easily deflected with a force field. She then gave a harsh push forward sending Pyro back and off balance, giving Nightmare the perfect opportunity to strike. Which she did with a harsh punch to his stomach, sending him sprawling on the ground at Twilights hooves. His weapon now lied in the dirt.

Before either of them could do anything else, they both felt their bodies tense up as they were caught in the telekinetic grip of Nightmare Moon. Both of them rose up off the ground unable to move as Nightmare drew closer to them, laughing smugly.

“It just goes to show you I guess. What they teach you in school nowadays just isn’t enough to take on the real world with.”

That jab was aimed at Twilight. How dare she insult her teachings! Celestia herself taught her all the best spells!

Then she turned to look at Pyro.

“Poor little ember.” She growled. “Your father left you. Your mother killed. No other relatives to love you. You’re all alone.”

Loud growls escaped his mouth as he tried to force her hoof off his chest and get free. How much he wanted to shove another punch right into her jaw. Twilight was feeling a mutual anger for their opponent as she too struggled against her restraints. But a mere few seconds later, she stopped.

“Now, how shall I….what? What are you smiling at?”

Smiling? Pyro wasn’t smiling. He looked to the left and saw that Twilight was though. But why?

“I suggest you turn around.” The mare of magic kept her smirk as she spoke.

Thinking it was just a trick, Nightmare almost didn’t do it. But what could they do in her grasp? She turned around and what she saw made her do a double take. Pyro couldn’t believe it himself once he saw what Twilight did. Not far away from them, there stood Terra, Applejack, Rarity, and Agua. All four of them looking more ready to fight than they had ever been in their lives.

And all four of them were glowing in their eyes and cutie marks.

“WHAT?!?!”

Not just one pair, but two pairs of ponies at once had discovered their true power. Terra and Applejack were glaring down Nightmare Moon with the ground beneath their hooves sensing her movement, and an assortment of large rock chunks hovering above their heads.

Rarity pointed her hoof towards the water tower which could be seen from a distance. Slowly, it began to rumble from the inside. A second later, the water within burst out the side and flew in a giant stream over the buildings of Ponyville and gathered above her own and Agua’s heads.

“Take her down, you guys!” Pyro called.

“Don’t worry about us! Just get her!” Twilight added.

They didn’t even need to be told. Applejack made the first move. She charged forward than jumped up, slamming her hooves into the ground, and literally cracking it open. A series of pillars erupted from the ground at her command, heading in a straight line towards Nightmare. Spreading her wings, Nightmare took to the air and released Twilight and Pyro, whom immediately got out of the way. Now in the air, Terra unleashed the barrage of stones she had in her own grasp at the dark alicorn. Each one was a direct hit, knocking Nightmare back.

Then it came Rarity’s turn. With her grasp on the massive amount of water, she gracefully whirled her arms and unleashed a harsh high pressure torrent right for Nightmare. Like the earth before her, it was a hit. Nightmare was pushed back down to the ground where Applejack was waiting. She and Terra both raised their hooves to the sky and began to call upon all the loose ground and rock around them. The rocks answered their call and before long, the two of them each had a gigantic hammer made of earth in their grasp. The heads of which were about the size of a small house.

As the hammers began to come down, Agua was doing his part. The water he still had a grip on, he began to make it swirl. Faster. Faster. And faster until it was almost as fast as a tornado. As the hammer heads got closer, Agua and Rarity both brought that swirling water down upon Nightmares body at the same time the hammers collided, created a loud boom that was heard for miles.

When the dust cleared, there stood Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy with their partners and Shining Armor, looking at the gaping crater that was just created. The battlefield now completely void of Shadowmares. And not far from there, the four ponies responsible for creating it lied motionless on the ground, no longer glowing.

As they began to come to, their friends all helped them back up to their hooves.

“Oh….oh wow….so…did we just..?” Terra asked her partner.

“Ah think we did. So that was the power of Gaia.” Applejack answered.

“And you two must have unlocked Poseidon! Awesome!” Rainbow beamed as she helped Rarity up.

“Yes we did….” Rarity looked over to the crater. “But was it enough?”

That was a question all of them wanted an answer to. There didn’t seem to be any noise or anything coming from the crater. Was that it? Was that all they needed to end this? The answer came two seconds sooner. And they didn’t like it.

A harsh screech came from the crater and out of it shot a very angry Nightmare Moon. She looked battered but she was still alive.

“Oh come ON!” Agua shouted. “What do we have to do to kill you?!”

“And here I thought you read that stupid prophecy.” Nightmare taunted.

Like before with Twilight and Pyro, Nightmares horn ignited and she grabbed all of them before they had a chance to move with her telekinesis. They couldn’t move their limbs, they couldn’t use magic, they were all helpless.

“I have had enough fun with all of you. The time has come for me to put an end to that stupid prophecy once and for all.” As her blade of darkness formed yet again, she marched over to Twilight, holding it ready to slash. “You will be the first to go.”

“NO! TWILIGHT!” Shining Armor began to uselessly squirm.

“You stay away from her!” Rainbow shouted.

“Nightmare Moon, don’t you dare try!” Pyro threw an empty threat.

Their words fell on deaf ears. This was it. Twilight was going to die and she had to accept it. She couldn’t though. All she could do was shut her eyes in absolute fear as the sword came down.

Only to impact a pillar of rock that rose up in front of the unicorn.

“What?”

Immediately all eyes turned to Terra. But she looked just as clueless as the rest of them did.

“Hey don’t look at me! I didn’t do that!”

“Then….who did?” Fluttershy wondered.

That was another question they all wanted an answer to. As Nightmare rose her blade to try and strike again, she felt her arms being tugged back by what the others all saw as a whip made of plasma. Instead of coming from Gem, it was coming upon a new figure. This one wearing a dark brown cloak, hiding its face from view with the hood. But how was it wielding plasma?

With another harsh yank, the figure pulled Nightmare away from Twilight and rose its front legs and a familiar style of martial arts.

“I do not know who you are, fool. But if you value your life, I suggest you stay out of my way.”

She raised her blade yet again to strike but she stopped herself when she saw the hooded figure make a move. With a step forward, he swayed his front legs and with the motion, came light. From the left side, the light came from the flames that now engulfed his hoof. And his right side hoof became encased in crystalline water.

“He can move fire and ice too!?!?!” Cryo shouted.

“Who is this guy?!” Shining Armor asked anypony.

No one had an answer. As the figure dodged Nightmare’s attacks, it moved in closer and threw out a jab and a cross, shooting out a single shot of fire and ice, each shot making their mark on her neck. It then stomped the ground and made a punching motion again, sending a pillar of earth right into her center causing her to fly backwards and skid on the ground.

That hit was enough to break Nightmare’s concentration and the thirteen ponies were free. As they all landed on their hooves, they approached this hooded figure.

“Thanks for your help. But who are you?” Twilight asked.

“And how are you doing zis?!” Typhoon added on frantically. “You’re moving more zen one element! Are you Alamantian?”

“Calm yourself, Typhoon. We don’t have much time for explanation.”

The figure spoke. And out of the thirteen there only six tensed up at hearing the voice. The six Alamantians looked at this figure now with a pretty good idea of who it was. Eager to know and confirm it, Pyro stepped forward to get a better look.

“I’ve searched for so long…..is it….is it really you?”

As if to answer, the figure moved for the hood of his cloak and removed it from his head, revealing the face of an elderly dark red stallion sporting gray hair and a long beard growing from his chin. A chunk of his left ear was also missing, seemingly chopped off.

It was confirmed. There he was. The other reason the Alamantians had come to Equestria was standing right in front of them. And after hearing Pyro ask him that question mere seconds ago, the Elements of Harmony knew as well.

“Master.”

They were looking into the eyes of Master Ma.

Author's Note

I own nothing but my OCs and the plot of this story. MLP and its official characters are all owned by Hasbro, DHX, and Lauren Faust

The Battle of Ponyville (Part 4)

I know its practically been forever but I’m still here dammit! I only own my OC’s and the plot of this here story. Everything else is property of Hasbro and Lauren Faust! Enjoy and don’t forget to comment below!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 38 – The Battle of Ponyville (Part 4)

There he was. Right in front of them. Like some miracle sent from the gods themselves, Master Hitashi Ma had finally shown his face to his student and his family. After so many years, his looks hadn’t changed one bit. He was still wearing that same raggedy old cloak. His long beard looked like it hadn’t been touched in quite a while. The wrinkles on his face obviously showed his age. He looked almost as old as Granny Smith, which caused Applejack to wonder how this old stallion was so energized.

Inside, Pyro was beaming. But in the presence of his master, he showed nothing but formality. He stood bipedal and put his hooves together, bowing to the elder stallion. His other five siblings followed suit, having their own respect for him. Shining Armor and the Elements of Harmony just stood there gawking at the elderly pony not even sure of what to say. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were just reeling that this old pony just saved them from Nightmare Moon. From the look of his face, he looked to be just as old as Granny Smith, if not older than that. If he’s so old than how is he so strong?

“My master.” The fire mover said.

“We’re so happy to see you again, Master Ma.” Cryo added.

“And I you.” Master Ma said back as he looked to the elements of harmony. “Ahhhh Miss Sparkle. It really is quite lovely to meet you and your friends. I had hoped it would have been under less dire circumstances.”

Twilight just stood here extending a hoof out to the master of her partner.

“It’s a great pleasure to finally meet you as well.” She said quickly before she noticed something he said to her. “Wait a minute. How do you know who I am?”

“I know quite a bit more than you think, young one.” The elder stallion replied. “I keep in touch every so often with your teacher to chat. She speaks quite highly of you.”

Pyro opened his mouth.

“And no I never told her where I was.” Master Ma stopped him. “Even to the highest of authorities I worked hard to make sure my location was kept a guarded secret.”

“But Master all I wish is to know why. If you were here the whole time, why not help us?”

“I could not get in your way, Pyro. I had taught you nearly everything I could. But after the death of your mother, you were set in your mind, convinced you were alone in the world. I told you to seek out the other five symbol carriers to show you that you were indeed not. And I had hoped along the path in your journey, you would bond over your similarities and much more. Were my hopes misplaced?”

All of this sounded like a very familiar story. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Shining Armor all continued to look back and forth between Pyro and Twilight. The two partners of Agni seemed to have more in common than they had believed.

“Wow…..that’s….almost scary how similar that is to how you met us.” Applejack said to the unicorn.

“Yeah……” Twilight could barely speak.

“Uh oh.” Cryo muttered. “Everypony, watch out. She’s getting back up.”

And just like that all of them had remembered where they were. In the middle of a battle with the dark alicorn that threatened to tear their home apart. Slower than she would’ve preferred, Nightmare got back onto four hooves scowling at the pile of ponies that dared stand in her way. Twelve of the reincarnations alone were annoying. Having the royal captain there was just gravy. But now in comes Master Ma with his unique abilities. All fourteen ponies stared down at the alicorn, ready for anything. This was going to make things difficult. Though no match for her alone, she knew as a group they were no laughing matter. She had to split them up. She looked around for anything. Anything she could use against them. Then she saw it. She saw something that could turn the battle in her favor. With a cocky smirk, she looked to the group, her horn glowing.

“Tell me, Miss Sparkle. Are you entirely sure that you have evacuated the entire town?”

To Twilight and everypony else this seemed like a stupid question.

“What-ofcourse we did!” Rarity shouted with emphasis on the “course”.

“This town is empty, Nightmare Moon. It’s just you and us. Though that will soon change. Believe me.” Agua growled.

“Actually water boy, that’s the one thing you and I can agree one. But let me ask you one more question.” At this, her smirk just grew. “When did the lights in that tree turn on?”

Lights? Tree? What was she talking about? It had to be some sort of stupid trick just to take their guard down. When she turned her head to the right to look, some of the others followed. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy actually. And when they saw what Nightmare saw, they gasped.

“What? What is it?”

Then Twilight turned to look and like the others, she gasped. What she saw was her home at the Golden Oaks Library. And the lights were turned on inside.

“So, there IS somepony else here. It looks like you forgot one.” Nightmare Moon taunted.

“Twilight what is she talking about?” Pyro asked. “Luna and Celestia said they got everypony.”

“They did…..” Twilight was at a loss. She couldn’t believe she could be this stupid. “Every……pony.”

She put a bit more oomph on the last “pony” she spoke. As if to mean there was something else there. Then it slowly dawned on every single one of them. The six elements of harmony gave an order to someone before they all charged out into the streets.

"Spike, I want you to go down to the basement, lock the door, and stay there until we come get you. Things are about to get very dangerous."

“That means there’s somepony, or someTHING rather, left to save.” Her horn had grown brighter. Now with everypony looking at the library this was her chance.

With a loud yell, she threw her head forward and cast a spell. Out of her horn, a creature began to form. Another Shadowmare, but this time it was gonna be a big one. Master Ma rushed forward to try and stop her but then another flash and wave of power emanated and knocked the stallion back. The creature had emerged. In the shape of an Ursa Major but only a fraction of the size, though still gigantic, the shadow ursa major roared its first roar and looked to its master for orders.

“Destroy that library. And all who dwell inside it.”

Like an obedient slave, the ursa headed off in the direction of the tree.

“NO! SPIKEY WIKEY!” Rarity cried out in fear.

“GO!” Master Ma barked to all of them. “Save your friend!”

“No need to tell us twice!” Rainbow Dash shouted back. “C’mon! We gotta save Spike!”

They all sprinted like mad towards the ursa save for one. Pyro remained behind, wishing to stay beside his master. But that wish was quickly dispatched.

“You go and help your friends, Pyro. I will deal with Nightmare Moon.” Master Ma commanded.

“By yourself? Master, you can’t!” the red unicorn said back.

“I have to agree with your student, old timer.” Nightmare taunted. “With your weathered age I highly doubt you are-“

*THUD*

She was cut off with reflexes abnormal for a pony of this sort of age, Master Ma slammed his hoof into the ground and upon contact, the ground in front of Nightmare Moon cracked open and pillar of rock shot out, impacting her chest. Sprawling across the ground, Nightmare was then stopped by a strong gust of wind which propelled her back to the elderly stallion who was now charging her on all fours. When he was in range, he leapt using another bout of wind under his rear hooves while his front ones were spread out. The water puddles from the streets began to ripple before they answered their summons and flew to the stallion in midair. The water hit his hooves and formed a tight rope around Nightmare’s neck as he got close enough and then pulled. He pulled hard and swung Nightmare down harshly into the ground before jumping back and taking a fighting stance on his two back hooves.

Pyro couldn’t move. This was impossible. It had to be. His jaw was nearly hitting the floor after that little display of power from his master.

“Master….you…you’re a….wha?”

“I am sorry I never told you.” Master Ma said. “But I am what is called a hexibus, Pyro.”

“A hexibus?” Pyro repeated. “I thought they were just a legend.”

“They are very real, Pyro. I will tell you about it later. Right now Spike needs you. Now go!”

He stood there trying to make his muscles move but could not find the power to do it. On one hoof he knew he was right but on the other, he just found out his master, who he once thought was just a non-mover, it turns out he can move all six of them without even breaking a sweat. There were so many questions racing around in his head he couldn’t see clearly enough to realize what was even going on anymore.

"Do as I say, Pyro!"

Though the loud voice of his demanding master seemed to do the trick.

"Y-yes, Master."

With that, Pyro dashed off after his friends and that only left the elder Alamantian and the dark alicorn to stare each other down, the latter getting back up to her hooves, snarling.

“I have heard stories about you. Master Hitashi Ma. Hails from the Ember Tribe of old and was granted the powers of all six elements at a young age. It will be an absolute pleasure to not only destroy the elements of harmony, but also you.”

Master Ma’s hooves dug deeper into the ground.

“Do not assume that I intend to simply let that happen, Nightmare.” He said back calmly.

“I would expect nothing less.”

Then they charged.

The giant shadow ursa was closing in on its target. The Golden Oaks library was sitting right in front of it, just waiting to be hit with an attack. While the thing had a goal to accomplish, it was constantly being pushed back every little bit by the ponies that stood in its way. A lasso made its way around the right leg of the creature and it was pulled harshly back stopping its movement forward. It looked back to see two earth ponies, one yellow, and the other one orange, both pulling at it.

While Applejack and Terra had it in place, the others got to work on trying to hit it. Shining Armor and Twilight both used their magic to blast the thing with the strongest energy bolts they could conjure from the front side. Rainbow’s punches and kicks were full of effort but they had no effect on the shadow ursa’s thick head. Then the Almantians all took their turn, save for Terra who was still with Applejack holding the rope. One by one, all of them unleashed the strongest blast they had of their respective element. Pyro lit up his hooves and flew up to meet the creature at its center and then threw out his two front hooves. Torrents of flames gushed out of his hooves and made the ursa roar upon contact.

When he was done, Cryo came skating in on a path of ice with Pinkie Pie holding on tight around his back. At the end of his path, Cryo made a ramp and both he and Pinkie jumped off. With her party cannon firmly in her grasp, Cryo took hold as well in mid air and started to channel his power through it. Then the cannon fired and along with a bunch of party goods, confetti, and cake batter, they all froze on contact covering the thing’s entire chest with ice.

As they both made their way clear of it on a new ice path, Typhoon took her turn, using her wind moving to carry Agua and Gem at her sides. When she was in range, the blasted them each ahead of her with a strong gust to attack. Agua went first. With some water he gathered from the ground, he gave a cry of power as he flung it towards the creature with every ounce of strength he could. It impacted the ice covering its chest and broke through, causing the ursa to step back. As Rarity caught him with her magic, Gem took her own turn. Focusing hard on bringing her power forth and hoping to not cause herself any harm in the process, she launched her attack and hit the ursa on the head with a heavy bolt of plasma. A few bolts came back in her direction but her partner was fast enough to catch her and get her out of the way before they hit.

Then it came Typhoon’s turn to finish it while it was dazed from the plasma strike. Raising her hooves to the floor, she gathered the air around her body and called upon it. Slowly it began to whirl around her body and became focused in between her front hooves. After she took a bit more time to charge it, she unleashed it. And a heavy torrent of wind blasted out and hit the fake ursa in its center, sending it sliding back and falling down onto its own back side.

“WOOO-WEEEE! Ah think we got it!” Applejack cried victoriously as the dust cleared from the impact.

But they hadn’t. As hard as they had hit it, the shadow ursa was still intact. And now it was getting back up with its gazed still focused on the library.

“Nope! We didn’t!” Shining Armor shouted. “Damn what does it take to destroy this thing?! All the other ones poofed with barely any effort!”

“It’s bound to give out at some point if we keep on hitting it.” Cryo said as he touched back to the ground with Pinkie.

Twilight was in a state of panic. Right now this thing only had one goal: destroy the library. And Spike was still inside.

“I’m going to get Spike out!” Twilight cried and turned heading for the front door.

She burst through it and looked around. The front room was empty. While the others back outside kept trying to attack the ursa, she looked all around the upper levels of the library and found no sign of her number one assistant. Then she went down to the basement hoping to find him where she had told him to stay. And sure enough, when the door opened up, there he was on the other side, curled up into a ball underneath one of her research tables.

“Spike!”

“T-twilight?”

As soon as they saw each other, the two of them embraced tightly for a brief second before the lavender unicorn stared at him with a small glare.

“I told you to stay down here. Why did you go upstairs?”

“I didn’t hear anything for a while so I thought it was all over but then I heard all the explosions. Then….I saw them through the window.”

When he said the last part of that sentence, Twilight could tell right away who he was talking about.

“Is it true, Twilight? Pyro, Terra, Agua, they’re all alive?”

Now a smile grazed her face as she looked down at the dragon and replied with a small nod.

“Yes. It was all just a plan to force Nightmare Moon into a position where we can beat her once and for all.”

“Is it working?” he asked wanting to know.

That was a lot more complicated a question then Twilight initially thought it would be. The fight was still going on and it was entirely unclear who was winning.

“I don’t know. But Spike, we have to get you out of here. There’s a giant monster Nightmare Moon created and it’s bent on destroying the library.”

“Okay. I don’t wanna be anywhere near that mess. So where am I gonna go?”

And just like that, Twilight smacked herself both figuratively AND literally for forgetting one crucial detail for getting Spike somewhere safe. The field surrounding Ponyville rendered all forms of escape impossible. They were trapped.

“Um….uh……”

Twilight was in a panic. Then she heard a loud boom outside which only caused her to panic even more. There had to be something. Just something that would work.

“Twilight?”

“I don’t know! Ponyville is locked down and nothing or nopony can get out of it now! If only the princesses…….wait. THAT’S IT!”

The whole room turned upside down with a flash of her horn in search of two specific items. With luck there was s scroll and quill pen down there. Writing with haste, she began to write a letter.

*CANTERLOT*

The main hall of Canterlot Castle was still filled with ponies who wanted answers. When they had first arrived, Celestia had briefly explained the situation to calm them down. IT had worked but now that a few minutes had gone by, they wanted details. And now Princess Celestia was fully ready to give them what they so desired. She sat in her throne was as calm a demeanor as she could present and began to address her subjects.

“The threat in Ponyville is being taken care of I promise you. Not only are the Elements of Harmony down there, along with a very capable royal guard captain, but the six Alamantians who had recently been residing there are also fighting against Nightmare Moon.”

The entire hall erupted into a mix of confusion, joy, and rage at heard this news.

“But your highness!” A certain gray cellist pony raised her hoof. “The Alamantians were announced dead. How is it they are alive now?”

Bowing her head, Celestia spoke.

“My little pony, the Alamantians and I had a plan in motion in order to lure Nightmare Moon out into the open to give us a clear shot. In order for that plan to work, we needed to fake their deaths to convince Nightmare she had the advantage. So they were never really dead as you believed. But rather part of a strategy that will give us a chance to win.”

Octavia was both overjoyed and enraged at this. In the time span of only a few seconds it felt like she was constantly going back and forth between two. She may not have been sure how to feel but she did know one thing. If he was successful, Cryo and she were going to have a long talk about the lie he told her.

“So you lied to everypony?! Even the elements of harmony?!” Another pony called out.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Open up the room for a few questions to be answered and try to maybe put some concerns ahead. Celestia didn’t take into account that some answers may be misconstrued and spread throughout the public. She had to make sure the words that exited her mouth next would put her in a good light.

“To be perfectly clear, yes. I did lie. I lied to my ever so faithful student which caused her to look at me with a stare that I will never forget. I hurt her.”

A few of the townsponies such as Roseluck and Cheerilee frowned a bit more thinking about that.

“I hurt the other elements as well because of this. They may never look at me the same way again after all of the pain I put them through. But what’s done is done. Our new Alamantian friends are down there in Ponyville along with seven other brave ponies, all of them putting their lives on the line to save this world from an evil being which has very much overstayed her welcome.”

“How do we know they can do it?! What if they aren’t strong enough?!”A stallion cried.

“I detest such a notion!” Luna said a bit louder then she probably should have as she joined her sister. “The elements of harmony have proven time and time again that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with. Combine that with the strength and abilities over nature the Alamantians possess and anypony would be a fool to cross paths with them.”

“My sister is right.” Celestia nodded. “The power of friendship and magic are what fuels the elements of harmony. In their time here, however short it has been, the element bearers and the Alamantians have proven that their newfound bonds are nothing short of incredible. As long as all of them are together we can-”

The solar princess was cut off when a scroll materialized in front of her face and dropped to her hooves. The look she and her sister shared was one of confusion. There was only one way a scroll came to her in that fashion. With haste, Celestia grabbed the scroll with her magic and unraveled it to read the entry inside. When she was finished, she turned to her sister, speaking so that only the two of them could hear.

“I will remain here and continue talking to them, dear sister. I need you to go back to Ponyville. Spike was accidentally left behind. Go to Ponyville, grab him, and return immediately.”

Nodding, Luna went off and out of sight without a word. When there was no other eyes locked onto her, her horn began to glow and a white hole in space tore open in front of her.

*PONYVILLE*

“Please let them get it. Please let them get it. Please let them get it.”

Twilight kept muttering that over and over while she held Spike close to her. The loud noises from outside making her more and more anxious and worried, hoping her friends could hold them off. Various booms and cracks of thunder sounded off as one attack after another shook the place causing various items to fall off the shelves and tables down in the basement.

Spike was being held tightly through all of this by the unicorn of magic. Inside she was mentally slapping herself over and over again wondering how she had been so stupid as to forget Spike was still inside the house. What kind of pony does that to a being that she considers her number one assistant on top of being her friend?

Those thoughts, though strong, were put on hold the moment she saw a blue flash of magic right before her eyes, momentarily blinding both her and the drake. Before her now stood the princess of the night, looking down upon the two with an unreadable expression. A portal back to Canterlot castle stood right behind her glowing in a swirling vortex of light. Twilight took a huge sigh of relief upon the sight of the alicorn before her. Her head then turned to her assistant.

“Spike, go with Luna. You’ll be safer there.”

“But….but what about you?” He asked back still nervous about the whole thing.

“Worry not, young Spike.” Luna rested a hoof on his shoulder. “The situation is perfectly handled in hers and the others hooves.”

It wasn’t a lot to comfort the drake but it seemed to do the trick. With one last hug and bid of good luck, Spike hopped through the portal.

*CANTERLOT*

Whoever said pleasing the masses was easy, Celestia felt like slugging that pony right now. As she kept that little fantasy buried deep in her mind, she continued to try her hardest to answer the questions of the Ponyville residents currently cramped up in her throne room, as well as keep them calm. But in only a few more seconds, her sister would return to help her. Just a matter of moments now, she thought. In the corner of her eye she saw another flash of light, signaling a magical arrival. Turning her head, she noticed Spike come into view.

Just Spike. Nopony else was with him.

Excusing herself once more, she sat up from her throne and approached the baby dragon with concern and worry filling her up like a cup to a faucet.

“Where is Luna?” She immediately asked.

The question was so direct Spike quite wasn’t sure how to answer. He just hopped in the portal and expected to Luna to follow him. Instead it vanished before anypony else could follow.

“Um….well…..you see…..uh….” Spike stammered to think of any answer that could please the princess of the sun but ultimately failed.

That only confirmed her worries even more. She rushed to the window and looked down the mountain to view Ponyville covered in their magical containment field.

“Luna………..what are you doing?”

*PONYVILLE*

“Princess Luna………..what are you doing?”

Luna had just closed the portal right after Spike hopped into it. The action left Twilight stunned. Just what was the lunar princess up to?

“Twilight Sparkle,” She started as she turned back around, removing her regalia from her body. “I have been waiting for this chance for a very long time.”

Again, all that did was confuse the poor unicorn.

Back outside things were not going so well. Shining Armor and the others were struggling to keep the shadow beast at bay and away from the library. While deeper in the town, Master Ma had his own chore to deal with keeping Nightmare Moon busy. It was difficult to say who had the harder task to deal with. On one hoof, giant shadow beast. On the other, psycho alicorn bent on world domination. And Master Ma, even with the power of all six elements at his command, was having a hard time keeping up with her.

He slid back on the ground, shielding himself from a blast of dark magic using a plasma shield construct. When the shot died down, so did his shield. He didn’t show any signs of weakness. He refused to in the eyes of this pony.

“You are a bigger fool than those kids.” Nightmare said. “You have the power of all six elements. You can just destroy me right here right now. Yet you don’t.”

Master Ma skated forward on a path of ice and jumped when he created a ramp. When he was airborne, he spun around and threw his hooves in Nightmare’s direction. A strong gust of wind overtook her balance and sent her sliding across the ground.

“The gods did not give me these powers so I could defeat you, Nightmare. That is not my purpose. My purpose is to watch over the twelve chosen ones. To make sure they were trained enough and ready to fight you.”

"Well then let's give the kiddies a little test then, shall we?" Standing back up, Nightmare Moon turned back to her made up ursa major. “My creature! Forget the library! Kill the ponies! All of them!”

And just like that it shifted. The ursa stopped trying to break for the tree and turned right around, roaring at the puny ponies in front of it.

“Oh that’s not what you want.” Terra muttered.

“SPLIT UP!!” Shining Armor yelled.

And split up they did. All thirteen of them ran off in different directions to avoid the huge fist the shadow ursa was bring down upon them. The ground in front of the library was now indented with a huge crater in front of the door. Up in the sky, Pyro and Rainbow Dash were looking for any sort of weakness this thing could have had. And so far they had come up with nothing.

“RRRRGGGHH! What are we supposed to do?! Nothing works on this thing! We tried burning it, zapping it, and it’s still going!” Rainbow called to the flying unicorn.

“Not even my spade is sharp enough to pierce that thing.” Pyro commented back to her. “There has to be some sort of weakness.”

That really came to the shock of all of them. That this ursa made of shadows was too hard to be pierced. Usually their bladed weapons just sliced right through the normal Shadowmares. Even Cryo’s tonfa, made entirely of blunt wood, were enough to make them burst. But this was nothing.

That’s when an idea hit Rainbow Dash. The blades worked because the Shadowmares were smaller. And if this thing was a giant……

Looking down, her eyes immediately found the yellow pony of the earth hurdling rocks as if they were as light as cupcakes.

“Pyro! We gotta get it to fall down!”

“What?!”

The red unicorn must have thought he had heard something nuts. Did she just say-

“We have to make it fall flat on its face!”

“And possibly the library too! Are you insane?!”

“Pyro, please! You gotta trust me on this! I have an idea!”

Ever since coming to Ponyville Pyro’s interaction with Rainbow Dash was very limited. Because of that he knew very little about her. This “idea” she had in her head was not helping him see her in a good light. Causing the beast to fall and possibly damage anything or anypony around it? What was she thinking?

He was about to object her plan but then he heard the sounds of his siblings and friends down below struggling to keep away from it. It was stomping on the ground trying to squash the earth ponies and unicorns like bugs. And it was swatting at the air trying to take out Typhoon and Fluttershy. Then he saw Twilight, his partner just exiting the library to rejoin the fight, blasting magical bolts of energy at the ursa trying to push it back.

They couldn’t keep this up forever. Looking back to Dash, he sighed, then nodded.

“What do we do?”

All she did was smirk. And Pyro suddenly grew a lot more nervous.

Down on the ground, yelling was had. So much yelling between all of them to try and figure something out. None of them had any clue how to stop this thing. Cryo had tried freezing its feet to the ground but it was easily broken. Agua tried whipping it in its “Special region” But this beast did not have any such packaging.

“What are we supposed to do?!” Applejack cried. “We can’t keep dodging ferever!”

Pinkie wanted to answer, but all she did was look up and gasp at what she saw.

“INCOMING!”

Even though they didn’t have a lot of time to stand still, the others still managed to follow her hoof pointing to the sky. Underneath the white glowing dome, were two streaks bee lining right for them. One a rainbow, and one fire.

“Pyro? Rainbow?” Gem wondered.

“What are they doing?” Fluttershy muttered.

Hearing that made her nearby partner wonder that herself. The telepathic mare briefly dived into their heads and quickly found their plan. It was crazy, but maybe just enough to actually kill this thing.

“Terra! Get ready!” Typhoon called to her sister.

“Wait. What?!” Terra shouted back. “Ty! What’s going on?!”

There was no response. Just the sounds of two fast flying ponies zooming over her head and headed right for the giant ursa’s legs. The thud could be heard when they both made impact and it sounded painful to the both of them. Though almost literally head splitting, it was enough to do what they set out for. The shadow ursa wobbled and then began to fall forwards, right towards Terra.

“SPIKES, TERRA! SPIKES!!!!”

The call of her wind moving sister reached her ears just in time. As it began to speed up in its descent, Terra looked back up at the ursa with a smirk and dug all four of her hooves into the dirt. Then she launched herself forward and ran. All the while she began to yell, gathering every bit of her geokinetic power she could spare without the aid of her goddess. When the time seemed right, she jumped.

She jumped high crying out in power as she came back down and slammed her two front legs down into the ground with all her might. It sounded like a bomb was set off right in front of her as the earth cracked at her hooves. Not even a second had passed before her power rose up, quite literally. Two gigantic cone shaped spikes with sharp points erupted from the dirt and stood almost as tall as the library tree itself.

The moment those spikes shot up, they hit their target. The ursa fell right onto them, impaling it before it could even reach the ground. For a brief moment, it rested there. Stuck in its position with the two giant spikes lodged inside it. Then like every shadow beast, it vaporized into a puff of black smoke before vanishing for good.

With the beast now gone for good, Terra used her power again to make the spikes sink back down and smooth the ground over again as if they were never there to begin with.

“Whew…..that was….a lot….”

The mare of earth panted heavily as she fell off balance a bit. Applejack was quick to support her though and joined the others in complimenting her show of power just now. Pyro and Rainbow meanwhile were recollecting themselves and rubbing their heads after they had just rammed into the beast’s legs. They were about to join their friends but another boom drew their attention away. A splash of water could be seen rising into the air above the rooftops along with a wave of dark energy.

“Master.” The fiery unicorn muttered.

“Go. We’ll catch up to you.” Rainbow Dash pretty much ordered.

With a nod, Pyro turned and ran back into the streets of Ponyville to rejoin his master.

Minutes ago while the shadow ursa was still being dealt with Master Ma had his hooves full fighting with the alicorn of darkness. While in combat, he was not only trying to attack Nightmare, but also doing his best to ensure the buildings around him received minimal damage. And that was easier said than done. The attacks were launched with such ferocity, deflecting them or containing them was a struggle. And then he had to ensure his own attacks landed their target every single time. Otherwise who knows what he may hit. Some innocent pony’s home or business. It was a stalemate that he couldn’t stand up to forever and he knew it. In a confined space, against an enemy who cared nothing about the destruction of everything around her, the odds were not in his favor.

But that never stopped him before. In his old age, Master Ma had seen quite a few things, fought against bigger enemies. He was confident in his abilities and stood once more in a fighting stance ready to face the nightmare herself.

“Why don’t you give it up already?” Nightmare goaded. “You must surely know by now your fighting is useless. It’s only a matter of time before Equestria, AND your home, is subjugated underneath my hooves.”

“That time will never come to pass.” Master Ma growled as one of his hooves lit on fire. “You may have everypony else fooled with that Nightmare Moon guise but I know the truth.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed at the old stallion. There was no way.

“I know your name underneath that shell. And I know what you did to your own people.”

How? That was the question being asked inside Nightmare’s head. How could he have possibly known that secret? She had worked hard to ensure nopony ever saw a glimpse of her true form. Like the fire on the tip of her opponent’s hoof, her temper grew hotter.

“Well then I guess I’ll just have to bury you along with that secret.”

Her horn flared to life once more and she prepared to launch yet another devastating blast. And once again Master Ma was getting ready to intercept it with another counterattack. A blast of blue magic coming from seemingly nowhere and hitting Nightmare in the side, knocking her through the front door of the nearby Quills and Sofas shop, was not the counterattack he was planning.

The fire on his hoof tip now extinguished, the hexibus looked around and saw the magic’s owner walking out from the shadows and into clear view, with a satisfied smirk on her face. That smirk changed to immense surprise when she turned and saw the pony that Nightmare was fighting. The elder stallion shared a similar expression as he felt like he had seen her for the first time in a thousand years.

“Luna?”

“Is….is that you, Hitashi?”

Slowly the two ponies approached each other; still keeping their eyes deadlocked on the other, until there was no more than a hoof length apart.

“It IS you, Hitashi.” Luna seemed on the verge of tears.

“Luna, my friend. You have gotten quite a bit taller since I last saw you.” The elderly stallion jested.

“Ha! I wish I could say the same about you.” She quipped back.

“How touching.”

The third voice made them remember just where they were as they turned to the busted door.

“Now may not be the time for a tearful moment.” Master Ma advised.

Nodding in agreement, Luna arranged herself and glared at her former self coming out of that door.

“Well, well, well. Princess Luna. What a reunion this is.”

Luna said nothing. She just continued glaring at the entity that was once her own self with a burning rage.

“What? Jealous of my power now? You should be. My new partner and I have achieved a level of power you could only dream of.”

The taunting went on, and all Luna did was stand there, staring at the pony of nightmares with narrow eyes. This was her chance. She never thought an opportunity like this would come but her she was. A chance to fight Nightmare Moon herself, and make right for her own past evil deeds.

“Dreams are my territory, Nightmare Moon.” The lunar alicorn said. “And I will help ensure my subjects will forever dream peacefully by getting rid of you.”

Standing on her hind hooves, Luna’s front legs waved gracefully as she used her hydrokinesis to summon enough groupings of water from the nearby creak to flow to her. Two large columns gathered around her drawn together hooves before she threw them out, creating two large tendrils of water floating above the ground.

The sight did nothing to intimidate the nightmare pony. Instead she laughed again and used her dark magic to summon yet another large blade forged by shadows.

“Killing you on top of these others will be the best dessert ever.” She mocked.

And just like that it all re-commenced with the odds as two on one. Luna was the first to strike, using her abilities to lash her right side water tendril at the dark alicorn. Nightmare had hopped out of the way and tried to take to the sky but Luna’s left tendril would not allow her. It wrapped around her hind hooves and pulled back with a solid hold. This gave Master Ma an easy shot as he swiftly charged up some plasma energy and unleashed it on a powerful bolt of lightning. Nightmare just barely reacted in time to throw a shield spell up to block the bolt but was not fast enough to avoid, nor block the pillar of ground that erupted right underneath her and nailed her in the stomach. Using the momentum from the hit, Luna swung her hoof, still holding Nightmare with her water tendril, and slammed Nightmare into the ground once. Then again. And a third time for good measure.

After the third one, Luna lashed out her other tendril which was still hanging free on her hoof but it was slashed into mist by the dark alicorn’s shadow blade, being held and swung by her magical grip. Luna tried to pull back with her left hoof but Nightmare’s blade slashed at her center, causing the alicorn of the moon to dodge it and lose her grip on her counterpart. While she was offbalance, Nightmare threw another slash but it was blocked by a small pillar of rock that erupted from the ground in front her. Master Ma then came in and performed a roundhouse kick on the pillar, causing a section of it to break away and fly towards Nightmare. At such close range, the dark pony had no time to dodge. That one block of rock hit her square in the stomach causing her to double over. While bent down, another column of ground burst out from the surface and nailed her right in the head. She was sent skyward and the princess followed with her wings. A vortex of wind began to swirl around Master Ma’s lower body as the controlled current began to carry the elder fighter up into the sky to follow the two alicorns.

A few out of control somersaults later, Nightmare spread her wings and gained control over herself, hovering in the air above the houses of Ponyville. She looked in one direction and saw Luna there with her wings flapping and a column of water above her head ready at waiting. In the other direction there was Master Ma being held aloft by a controlled whirlwind/ his left hoof was alit with flames, and the other was sparking with plasma.

“You two can put up a good fight. You’re only delaying the inevitable.” The dark alicorn said as she began to summon more dark magic through her horn.

She got no response in words from her two opponents. Rather they just stayed in their places, waiting for her to make a move. Nightmare was doing the same. It was the basic rule of fighting. Never try to be the one to make the first move. That thought was sent away as she felt her back becoming hotter. Turning around she tried to react but the red stallion of fire had closed in on her too fast. With a front flip and his rear hooves extended, Pyro slammed then into the top of Nightmare’s head, sending her careening downwards towards the streets of Ponyville, where she collided harshly.

“The shadow ursa has been taken care of, master.” He said to the elder stallion. “The others are en route to help.”

“Well done, Pyro.” Master Ma nodded. “With all of you together, the time has come to end this.”

“Then let us end it quickly.” Luna agreed. “My sister and I can only hold off on raising the sun for so lo-GYUH!”

Her sentence was interrupted when a tendril of dark magic shot up from the ground and wrapped around Luna’s body.

“Your highness!” Pyro tried to move in to help.

Instead he got caught in his own tendril and Master Ma was not far behind. At once, all three of them were pulled down to the ground by Nightmare who was rising from her spot on the ground with an angry look that could kill. Luna thudded harshly into the ground and was immediately knocked unconscious. Master Ma too hit the surface hard but still held onto being awake, groaning in pain. The only one who didn’t make ground was Pyro. Nightmare had enough. Since he was one of the ponies so crucial in ending her, he would be the first to go.

Pyro tried to use his horn to teleport himself out, but another tendril lashed out and caught the appendage on his head, stopping the flow of magic. He was trapped. All he could do was squirm against the grip of the dark tendrils which did absolutely nothing. From the distance, Nightmare got back up to her hooves all the way and formed a series of five small spikes with her dark magic. All of them pointed right at the young unicorn.

“Goodbye.”

With that one word, Nightmare waved her hooves and sent the spikes flying towards Pyro at blinding speed. The red unicorn stallion closed his eyes not wanting to feel the cold breath of death at such a young age like so many back home.

3…..2…..1

The spikes pierced the stallion’s skin and went all the way through his chest and stomach. Blood ran down his body and dripped into a buddle beneath his hooves. With his lungs now punctured, he could only gasp for air. The other elements gasped in horror at the sight.

But Pyro felt no pain. When he opened up his eyes and looked down at himself, he found that he was fine. When he looked up, he began to choke.

He was greeted to the sight of his master, struggling to breathe and blood leaking out of his mouth. All three spikes were wedged into his body like it was some kind of cruel execution. Immediately silent tears began to fall from Pyro’s eyes as he watched the life of his mentor leave his body as his blood spilled out of his veins.

“My purpose…has been served.” The old pony breathed out his last words.

“No…” Pyro barely was able to say anything.

Nightmare groaned in disgust. The old pony had made her miss her intended target. With a wave of her hoof, the spikes in Master Ma’s body vanished and Nightmare threw him aside like he was a piece of trash. His student’s eyes followed as more tears streamed down his cheeks in silent disbelief. Thudding unceremoniously into the dirt, the hexibus rolled onto his back, his eyes wide open and looking skyward.

“Please…..not again.” He murmured.

His pleas had fallen on deaf ears. Master Ma laid there in his spot on the street and let the blood pour out of his body as he took his final exhale. His chest heaved one final time and then he lay there. Absolutely still and his eyes still open. Only now they were devoid of any life. All the while Pyro’s tear output had maxed out as he forced to watch his mentor in his final painful moments.

“MASTEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

His voice carried throughout the whole town, allowing everypony else closing in on their location to hear him, and a certain telepathic pegasus to grasp her head in pain. Not only did she hear his actual yell, but also the cries in his mind.

“What the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash wondered.

“It sounded like Pyro!” Gem answered her partner. “He must be hurt!”

As they turned the last corner, all of them prepared to fight again as they saw Pyro being held aloft by Nightmare Moon’s magic.

“Well then let’s get in there and-”

With a loud uncharacteristic gasp, Terra slid to a stop as her eyes caught the vision of a body nearby bleeding into the street of Ponyville.

“Terra? What’s wrong with ya?” Applejack asked, concerned for the sudden change in her partner’s attitude.

When she didn’t answer, Applejack, and everypony else around her followed her gaze and upon seeing what she saw, they too had the same reaction: pure terror and disbelief.

“By Poseidon’s beard. No.” Agua whispered.

Just muttering the world no or anything at this point wouldn’t do anything. Typhoon used to telepathy to search for any sort of brainwave activity within the still stallion but found no trace. Her eyes began to leak with tears, as did Gem’s Terra’s and Cryo’s. Agua was trying his best to hold them back but it looked like he was failing.

The harmony bearers, having never faced a casualty before in their adventures, were speechless. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Nopony was supposed to die. They were just supposed to defeat the bad guy and then go home like the other times before. Right? Why was this time so different?

“This can’t be happenin’.” Applejack muttered.

“He’s….he’s dead? No…no he can’t be right? He’s just faking. Like you guys were! Right?!” Rainbow Dash frantically asked.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!”

Immediately their attention was drawn back the pony currently being held by Nightmare Moon. And now it looked like she was struggling to do so as small bouts of fire were beginning to erupt around the wailing stallion’s body.

“Pyro?!” Twilight cried out for her partner but got no reply.

“What….is this?!” Nightmare shouted.

Nopony could answer her but one. And that one pink pegasus’ pupils shrank down to mere pinpricks as a memory from years ago began to playback inside her head. That scream. That pain. That sheer agony. She had heard it once before. It could only mean one thing. It was about to get very, very, VERY hot.

“EVERYPONY RUN!!!!!”

“What wha-?”

The captain of the guard couldn’t even finish before Typhoon chomped down on his tail and dragged him to a nearby gap between two buildings. The other ponies soon followed but they were confused beyond belief. Not to mention still saddened and terrified by the loss of Master Ma.

“Why are we hiding?!” Rarity shouted at Typhoon.

“YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”

“Zat’s why.” She replied fearfully as she looked around the corner at her struggling brother.

“Wait look!” Shining Armor pointed.

They all followed his hoof and they saw something they had seen twice before already this night. Pyro’s cutie mark was beginning to glow white, as well as his eyes.

“Alright! He’s glowing! This is what we need right now, right?!” Pinkie shouted triumphantly.

“No!” Typhoon shouted back. “Something ees very wrong.”

Twilight too had to agree. It was only Pyro who was glowing. How come she wasn’t too? And why did it look like Pyro’s entire body was starting to become surrounded in flames?

“I’ve felt zis pain from heem before…..een hees deepest and darkest memory.” The telepath warned with dread.

It was right here Twilight went stiff. She knew what memory she was referring to. And only then did it make sense. Right here, right then and there, that deep dark memory, he had just been forced to go through it all over again. Pyro’s emotions were running wild like the element he’s supposed to control. But at this moment, he had absolutely none of it.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Everypony brought their hooves to their eyes and Nightmare lost her grip on the stallion as from his body, an explosion erupted and a gigantic pillar of fire screamed into the sky.

The Battle of Ponyville (Part 5)

I only own my OC’s and the plot. ENJOY!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 39: The Battle of Ponyville (Part 5)

It all seemed to happen so fast that nopony could register what was happening until it was too late to prevent it. Cinders were flying over every rooftop in town threatening to set the buildings ablaze. They were the only things that could escape the massive combination of force field magic and plasma construct shielding to keep the roaring pillar of fire from spreading into the streets. Shining Armor, Twilight, and Gem were all three straining to try and push it back.

The other ponies were all backed into a gap in between a pair of buildings as they tried their best to think. Right now their ally and/or brother was out there in the center of that giant pillar of fire, and he was the sole cause of it. The Equestrians had been told before the dangers of an Alamantian going out of control could do, but to actually be right there near it happening, it was frightening to say the least.

As much as they wanted to stay away from that literal hot mess, now was not the time for something like this to happen. Nightmare Moon was still out there doing Celestia knows what and Princess Luna was knocked out cold. They needed to reel Pyro in.

“What the hay is happenin’ to him?!” Applejack cried, not even daring to poke her nose out from the alley way in fear of it getting burned off her face.

“To sum it up in simple terms, Pyro’s powers have gone one hundred percent out of control.” Gem replied while straining to keep her shield construct up.

Even with the combined force field spells of Twilight and Shining Armor backing her up, Gem had surmised that no shield would be able to hold out forever against the unrestrained power of a godly reincarnation. That only made her even more scared than she already was; remembering who the cause of this was. Pyro was always the strong one. The rock. The calm one. To see him in this state was all too alien for even her brain to comprehend.

“Isn’t there any way we can get him to calm back down?!” Rainbow Dash shouted in search of any answer. “I’m sorry about what happened to your master but Nightmare Moon is still out there!”

“I still can’t believe Nightmare was able to get him.” Cryo suddenly began to grow afraid now. “Of all ponies it had to be Master Ma.”

“Cryo! Snap out of it!” The cyan pegasus shouted to the ice mover. “We can’t think about that right now!”

“Well I can’t help it, Dash! Look around you! None of us can!” The white unicorn angrily gestured to the other ponies behind him.

Not only she, but Applejack followed Cryo’s pointing and they clearly saw what the snow pony was talking about. Typhoon was up against the wall of one of the buildings trying to hold back her tears and steady her frightened breathing. Both hooves were clutched to her head as if somepony was yelling into her ears. Her partner was no help. Seeing Master Ma’s body made Fluttershy see just how real this fight had gotten. They had saved the world twice before this. From Nightmare Moon once before and from Discord. But neither of them ever tried to physically harm anypony. Not like this. This was just a whole new level.

It wasn’t any better with Rarity and Agua. The big blue stallion was grinding his teeth, pounding at the side of the wall. Meanwhile is partner was lying down on the ground. Both of her forelegs were tugging her mane as she tried to get a grasp on what she just saw and what was happening.

Terra’s hard shell had been cracked. The last time Applejack had seen her partner cry was at their welcoming party. When Terra had talked about her late brother, that was the moment she felt she and her partner truly made a connection with how much they value family. Now here she was again with her eyes about to let loose a fresh set of tears.

Pinkie Pie’s mane had deflated down to the point where it was as straight as a smoothed sheet of wood. It wasn’t just seeing Master Ma lying in a puddle of his own blood that made her nearly catatonic. It was the scream she heard come from Pyro right before he unleashed his full uncontrolled power. It was so full of anguish. Packed with despair, sadness, grief, and almost every other negative emotion that had, does, and ever would exist. The party pony didn’t think it was even possible for such a level of negativity to be reached. Yet here she was proven wrong. And by nopony else than the one stallion who actively worked to not show emotion.

Twilight, Gem, and Shining Armor didn’t have the luxury of grieving or feeling sad at all due to them holding the shield up. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both felt they had to save it for a later time. The former approached first. She hated seeing her partner cry the first time, and she wasn’t going to have it now. Standing in front of the sniffling earth mover, she brought a hoof to her face and turned Terra’s head so her red eyes locked with her partner’s green ones.

“Terra, ya gotta listen to me. All y’all gotta listen.” She started. “Ah know. Alright? Ah know how hard it is to lose somepony. Especially right in front of ya. Ah’m sorry about yer master. Ah’m sure he meant a lot to y’all. And Ah want ya to feel sad and grieve fer him ‘cause that’s what yer supposed to do. But Rainbow Dash is right. We can’t.” She stomped her hoof down. “Not now at least.”

The mentioned pegasus came in and hovered by her friend’s side. As she did, Agua had stopped his pounding on the wall and slightly turned his head to listen.

“We can’t think about what just happened. We have to think about what WILL happen if we don’t get back in gear. Nightmare Moon is still out there and I bet you anything she’s gonna use this chance to cause some real damage. And speaking of real damage, we also have to calm Pyro down.”

“And do you have any idea how to do that?”

The question came from the all blue earth stallion who put his hoof back down to the ground and turned around to face the two mares of honestly and loyalty. His face caused the two of them to slightly back away. Both of his eyes had fresh tears running out of them and the scowl he had seemed to burn right through them. For every slow step he took towards them, they backed up in tandem.

“Pyro…..our leader…..has literally become a never ending explosion. The power of Agni is causing that and none of us know how to willingly call upon our own godly power to counter it. So unless either of you have a plan of action ready to go right here and now, I strongly suggest that you two shut. Your damn. Mouths.”

That final word ended with the stallion of water showing all of his angrily grit teeth. His chest was clearly seen going in and out as his angry breathing was heard to all. The two mares just couldn’t understand it. Agua was usually the one who was more than ready to fight. To hear him like this was odd to say the least.

It looked like he was going to say something else to them but an ivory colored hoof on his shoulder stopped him. Turning his head, Agua saw his partner standing there, her own expression not changed at all.

“I know you’re angry.” Rarity muttered. “And I know you’re scared too. But snapping at them isn’t going to help us.”

“Then what do we do?” Terra finally spoke to answer. “We DID have a plan and now it’s completely gone to crap. Master Ma….”

She choked back a sob as she went on.

“…Master Ma is dead. And Pyro’s not going to recover from it so easily.”

“All he ever talked about since we first arrived here years ago, was finding him.” Cryo added on.

“His mind must be an absolute crazyfest right now.” Pinkie Pie voiced her thought.

“Oh eet ees.” Typhoon agreed. “I can hear heem.”

That got everypony’s attention as they turned to her. Even Fluttershy looked up to her partner who was still grasping her head with both hooves.

“Hees mind ees screaming. Eet’s like he’s right next to me yelling eento my ears and I can’t stop heem. I’ve been trying to block eet but he ees too unstable to do so.”

That’s when Twilight took a sharp gasp. An idea just came to her head. Judging by what the psychic pegasus had just said, it was probably crazy, had little to no chance of working, and crazy again.

“Typhoon, I need you to get me inside Pyro’s mind!”

Just like that, Twilight found herself on the receiving end of everypony’s eyesight. Even Shining Armor and Gem looked at her with the same expression as everypony else. Stunned bewilderment. The pony who was being requested to do this deed took a step forward. Her hooves dropped from her head and on the floor again.

“I….I’m sorry, Twilight. But….deed you just say-”

“You heard me! Use your telepathy and put me in Pyro’s head! We can’t help him out here but maybe we can do it in there!”

To the other Equestrians it sounded like it made sense. To try and calm Pyro down from the inside. But the Alamantians, the ponies who actually knew more about what telepathic connections entail thanks to their sister, they thought differently.

“Twilight, eet’s not zat easy!” Typhoon cried trying to convince her. “To dive eento hees mind while eet’s een zis current state, eet’s dangerous! Eet could destroy us! Êtes-vous fou?”

“It’s too risky!” Cryo argued back. “If this is what Pyro is doing here, just imagine what’s going on inside his mind! A place where there are no rules!”

The dangers did seem to outweigh the positives of this plan, but the lavender unicorn was not in a place to care right now.

“If you or anypony else here has a better idea, I’d love to hear it Typhoon!” She cried. “Gem, Shining Armor and I can’t hold up this shield forever! If we don’t do this, then all of Ponyville might be reduced to nothing but ash!”

“But…Twilight eet’s-”

“Do it, Typhoon.”

The pegasus of wind froze when she heard that voice. The voice of her partner. Turning her head, she saw Fluttershy was back on her own hooves now and approaching her fellow reincarnation.

“The risks don’t matter right now. Our home is in jeopardy and you’re the only one who can do what you do. If there’s any chance of calming him down, it’s with your power.”

“But Fluttershy,”

“No buts.” Fluttershy cut her off again. “Please Typhoon. It’s the only idea we have.”

“And probably the only one we’re going to get too.” Shining Armor added on. “I don’t like the idea of Twilight diving into his mind like that but we don’t have any other choice. We have to do it and we have to do it now.”

She was outnumbered here. Taking a sigh, the telepath relented.

“Alright. But zere’s another problem.” She said. “From zis distance I can’t form a stable enough connection for both of our minds to hees.”

As fascinated as she was with Typhoon delving deeper into how her telepathy works, Twilight grew slightly more afraid of this plan because of what that detail entailed.

“So you’re saying….we have to get closer to Pyro?” She hesitated to ask.

“Eef we want zis to work, oui. We do.”

Looking back, all of them saw that huge wall of fire. And now Twilight was just told that she had to walk through it in order for this plan of hers to have any chance at working. She wanted to wrack her brain to try and think of something else but there was no time. Expelling a sigh, she turned to her brother and the plasma mover next to her.

“Do you think you two can handle keeping the flames back on your own?” She asked.

“It’s gonna take some effort but I think we can manage.” Shining Armor replied, grunting as he pushed back on the battling flames.

“But it’s not going to be easy. You’re gonna have to work fast.” Gem answered completely unsure of herself.

“I’ll try.” Twilight’s spell readjusted and a spherical force field formed around her and Typhoon.

“Ohhhhhhhhhh please be careful you two!” Fluttershy cried out.

“We will! Promise!” Typhoon called back to her partner.

“Here we go!”

Twilight’s shield began to lift off the ground, carrying herself and Typhoon inside it. Slowly, she phased through the wall that made up Shining Armor and Gem’s force field and was brought all the way into the roaring fire. Nothing could be seen. No houses, no sky, not even the ground beneath their hooves was visible. There was just fire.

“Which way do we go?!” Twilight asked her guide.

Even though she couldn’t connect to him from this distance, Typhoon could still sense her brother. Meaning she was going to have to play navigator through all these flames.

“He’s zat way!” She pointed her hoof to the left. “Just follow my hoof and go straight ahead!”

Nodding, Twilight began to move the force field in the direction Typhoon told her to go. As se hovered through the burning air, she felt the force of these flames try and push her back but she fought through it. She had no idea fire could even have such a harsh push.

The sound of wood crackling and the whooshing noise the flames naturally made were caught in both mares’ ears. No doubt some of the nearby buildings were caught in Pyro’s out of control blaze. That only made Twilight pick up the pace in moving herself and Typhoon through it all.

It was only a few more seconds before she saw something shining through the fire.

“Typhoon, look!”

Twilight took her turn to point and through the flames Typhoon could make out just what the unicorn was seeing. A pair of glowing eyes. A few meters closer and they heard a new sound. Screaming. It was definitely from their closing target. It broke Twilight’s heart to hear her partner cry out in such pain and agony. She almost wanted to cry with him. Then she broke through one more wall of fire and a few tears did leak out of her eyes upon seeing what she saw.

Pyro was hunched over, crying out as if he were actually being hurt by his own power. Through his screams, tears were leaking out of his eyes and evaporating into steam only seconds afterwards. From multiple spots on his body, his legs, his back, his mane and tail, flames were gushing out of him like an open hydrant and swirling around in a vortex to create the fiery storm that was currently burning away at Ponyville.

“Brother…..”

Typhoon had a hoof up to her mouth, taking in the sight. After all the years she had known Pyro she had only experienced this once before. And back then it was nowhere near as bad as this time. Landing back on the ground, Twilight thought it a good idea to keep the field going at their hooves too. The ground was way too hot to stand on now. They stood atop the magical shield now only mere yards away from the screaming stallion.

Both of them wiped their tears away as they got ready to perform the deed. But first Twilight needed to take a little more insurance. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, her horn flashed even brighter than it already was as she poured more magic into the shield around her and her friend. After a few moments, she let loose a sigh in exhaustion and completely shut off her horn. Typhoon gasped in fear thinking the shield was going to drop but strangely, it didn’t.

“I reinforced the force field to self sustain for as long as it could.” Twilight explained through her pants. “But with all of this, it’s only going to last for at most a few minutes.”

“Zen zere’s no time to lose.”

After letting loose a deep breath. Typhoon brought one of her hooves up to Twilight’s head and softly pressed it into her left side.

“Alright. Zis ees eet.” The telepath said nervously. “Pyro’s consciousness ees unstable so be prepared for anything een zere.”

Closing her eyes, Typhoon began to work her own unique power. Her mind began to reach out like a spider stringing a web. Despite the difficulty it was to set up a link, she was able to connect herself and Twilight’s mind to Pyro’s. Now they just had to dive in.

“Here we go, Twilight. Un….”

As the pegasus began to count, Twilight’s breathing began to become irregular. No doubt she was nervous. She had never done anything of this sort before.

“Deux….”

Magical knowhow, she was a wiz at. But to separate her mind from her body and dive into someone else’s, one second away from doing it, absolutely terrified her.

“TRES!”

Typhoon expelled a lot of air through her nose as she concentrated hard to complete the mental connection. Her hoof pressed harder into Twilight’s head and the unicorn took in a shocked gasp feeling the pegasus truly use her power on her. It was by far the weirdest sensation she had ever felt and it was only in an instant. It was like her entire body had fallen asleep at the exact same time. Then her brain felt that only a hundred fold. She couldn’t think at all.

Then everything went dark.

An Elemental Prophecy

Alright, here is the first chapter's rewrite. I hope you enjoy it. I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 1: The Elemental Prophecy

Peaceful times were never anything foreign to the land of Equestria. Sure there were scuffles with villains and threats from time to time but for the most part, everypony's lives were filled with nothing but fresh air, good times, and overall, great life.

The sun brought by Celestia hung in the sky radiant as ever and warm to the coat. The weather team was scheduled for just a few clouds in the sky for shade and that was about it for them. They were given a half day off meaning they could leave at lunch time. The pony responsible for giving that order, the cyan captain herself, flew out of there at high speed with only one destination in mind. Golden Oaks Library.

Landing on the front porch, she knocked on the door and soon enough, a purple and green scaled dragon opened the door and smiled upon seeing who it was.

"Hey, Spike. Is Twilight almost ready to go? The others should be here soon for the picnic." The pegasus greeted him.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash. Come on in. She's packing up a few more things while I get some more of the food packed."

Spike opened the door up all the way for her and went back to the kitchen. Upon entering the library, Rainbow Dash kicked the door to the library shut with her rear leg and went over to the shelf to check out some of the other adventure book series Twilight had recommended after the whole Daring Do fiasco. While she looked, the door was knocked on again and seeing as how there was no one else answering, Rainbow hovered over and opened it up revealing the other four ponies in her main circle of friends to be at the door.

"Well howdy, RD. Where's Twilight?" Applejack asked as she walked in alongside Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.

"Right here." Twilight was the one to answer that as she walked down the staircase with her saddlebags on her back. "I'm almost set to go. Spike should be out soon."

"Hello, Twilight." Fluttershy reached into her own saddlebags and pulled out a book. "I might as well return it while I'm here."

"Oh thanks, Fluttershy." Twilight levitated the book out of Fluttershy's grip just as Spike came out with a picnic basket full of food.

"We're out of herbs for the tea." He informed them.

Twilight rubbed her chin thinking of a solution to that problem.

"Let's just stop by Zecora's real fast before we head out. Does that sound good with the rest of you?"

They all nodded and then Twilight gave Spike the book from Fluttershy and instructed him to put it back on the shelf before they left. He walked over to the proper section and walked a bit up a ladder to find a small space in between two other books but when he tried to put the book in his hand into said space, he found it to be too big to fit. That didn't stop from still trying to put it there.

"Spike, if it won't fit then just set it down somewhere and we'll find a place for it when we get back." Twilight said wanting to go.

"Just a second. I can do it." Spike said still straining.

He was able to wedge it in between the two books but now it was stuck. So Spike improvised. He leaned back and threw all his weight into his arms and gave the book one big shove. It went in all the way but it caused Spike to lose his balance on the ladder and fall off. He hit the ground with a thud.

Rainbow Dash hovered over chuckling a bit from watching the whole thing.

"Hehe...you alright, Spike?" she asked containing her laughter.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He replied as he sat back up and rubbed his head. "Stupid ladder."

"Why would a ladder be stupid?" Pinkie Pie wondered as she bounced over to check on the drake as well. "It's not like a ladder can think....or can it?"

She eyed ladder suspiciously.

"I got my eye on you, bub." She said in a warning tone.

Spike was now all the way back to his feet.

"Well now we can.....wha?"

He stopped himself from talking when he was turning back around to view the rest of the ponies still by the door. His eye caught the wall of the library that was bare of a shelf holding books right next to the shelf he jammed that one book into. There seemed to be some sort of opening into it. Like a small door. Confused, he slowly walked over and saw that it indeed was a small door. Rainbow and Pinkie noticed it too and stood on both sides of him.

"Whoa......Twilight did you know about this?" Rainbow asked.

After walking over to see for herself, Twilight found herself just as surprised as they were.

"No....what is that?" she asked everyone and herself.

Wanting to figure it out, Spike pushed the door all the way revealing nothing more than a small storage space that was filled mostly with cobwebs and dust. However, there was one item in there. Pulling it out and blowing the dust off it, Spike and the others saw what it was.

"Congratulations. You found another book in a library." Rainbow said not very enthused by the results.

Rarity walked over and looked at the item over Spike's shoulder at the cover of the book. On the cover there wasn't a title. It instead had six odd looking symbols on the front each of them with its own color. One in orange, another in white, then blue, lavender, cyan, and brown.

Spike opened up the book hoping the title was inside. That only lead to more confusion. The words weren't words. Maybe they were but he couldn't tell. Every line in those pages were lined with strange looking symbols that he couldn't understand.

"This must be a foreign book." Rarity reasoned. "Twilight, can you read it?"

The lavender mare took the book out of Spike's claws and held it up to her face studying the pages immensely but coming up with nothing.

"No....I can't." she answered.

"Can we just go to Zecora's and get the tea stuff already?" Rainbow Dash asked anxious to go. "It's just a book with funny words that no one can read."

All of them agreed to that idea but Twilight kept the book with her. It took a while to make Fluttershy move at the edge of the forest but Rainbow Dash pushed her in and from there she was able to walk on her own. Spike found comfort on Applejack's back while he snacked on a few turquoise stones.

"You think Zecora has the tea herbs we're looking for?" Fluttershy asked any of them.

"Darling, Zecora is always stocked up on tea herbs. Why just last week she let me sample this rare one from a faraway land." Rarity closed her eyes and smiles fondly remembering that taste. "Oh it was simply marvelous."

"Well if she has more of it, be sure to ask." Applejack requested before she looked to Twilight. "And speakin' of things from faraway lands, why are you still tryin' to read that thing? It ain't in Equestrian."

"I know but I just can't look away from it." Twilight replied. "A whole book in my library completely unread by me. Yet here I stand not being able to read it because of a language barrier. I knew I should have learned more languages back when I was in Canterlot."

"Are you telling me Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns doesn't teach other languages? Because I find that hard to believe." Rarity said.

"Of course they give language classes in that school, Rarity. I was just so wrapped up in learning magic I never bothered to learn." Twilight answered.

All of them laughed a bit knowing how into something Twilight could get. Especially when it came to magic. A minute later they came to Zecora's hut and Twilight put the book in her saddlebags. Applejack knocked on the door a few times before a familiar voice sounded from within.

"It's open."

Seeing it as a sign to enter, Rarity used her magic and turned the knob on the door. Inside the hut there stood the familiar zebra all of them were happy to be befriended with. She wasn't brewing any potions or remedies though. It looked as if she was packing.

She turned around and smiled once she saw who it was inside her home with her.

"Hello all my pony friends. What brings you out here at mid day's end?"

"We're sorry if we disturbed you, Zecora. But the rest of us are going on a picnic today and we were wondering if you had an herbs for some tea." Twilight explained.

The zebra was more than willing to help them out. She gestured over to a small shelf that had plenty of assorted leaves and herbs used for tea and labeled to tell which ones were which. They decided to take a pack of jasmine leaves. Before they left, they took notice again that Zecora was packing stuff.

"What's with all the packin', Zecora? You headin' somewhere?" Applejack asked.

Zecora turned around and nodded. She explained to them in her signature rhyme that she was going to leave for a short while and return to her homeland for a short vacation to get reacquainted with old friends. She then went on to say that her friends' timing was most opportune. She asked the six of them if they would look after her house while she was gone. They were more than willing to help out.

"Sure we can watch your hut while you're away. Shouldn't be too hard, right?" Rainbow Dash said.

After Zecora thanked them and left them a spare key to the front door, they turned to leave. Before they could reach the door, the drake on Twilight's back thought of something.

"Hey Twilight." Spike whispered. "That book. Zecora knows plenty of things that aren't Equestrian.. Maybe she knows what it is."

It was as good a guess as any. Zecora was from another land and was probably well travelled. IT was worth a shot to ask. Twilight turned around and addressed Zecora again.

"Zecora, just before we came here, I found this book in my library." She showed the zebra the strange book. "But I can't figure out what it is because it's in a different language. Do you know what it says or even what language it is?"

She levitated the book closer to Zecora's face so she could get a better look. The six symbols on the cover were enough to surprise the black striped equine. That was a clear indicator to the librarian that she did know what it was.

"Please do not mind my closer look, but where exactly did you find this book?"

"It was hidden away. Spike fell down from a ladder while he was putting another book away and his impact opened up this secret storage space I never even knew was there. That only thing inside it was that." She gestured to the levitating book. "But I can't read it because it isn't Equestrian."

To that, the zebra gave a small giggle.

"You are the mare who knows magic so well. Have you not yet learned a translation spell?"

Twilight may not have learned how to speak different tongues, but she DID know how to use magic to translate them. She smacked a hoof to her head as that information came back to her after a few moments of completely forgetting it.

The book got closer to her horn as it began to shine an even brighter shade of magenta. The six symbols on the cover of the book remain unchanged. Inside was a whole other story. When Twilight was done casting, she opened up the book and saw now that the words printed on the pages were now in perfect Equestrian. She looked to page one and saw the title.

The History of Alamante

"Alamante?" Fluttershy looked at that last word confused. "What's....Alamante?"

That was a question Twilight could actually answer.

"It's a whole other country east of Equestria. I learned where it was in geography classes, but I didn't read that much on the place itself."

Zecora then spoke again.

"It is also the country where I am from. It is a tribal land..." Her face shrunk to a frown as she turned around and placed another item in her luggage case. "....but much danger has come."

"Danger? Whatever danger are you talking about?" Twilight asked genuinely caring.

However, it was not information Zecora was willing to talk about yet. She turned around to look at them wearing a new smile.

"Do not worry yourself, Twilight. I'm sure in short time, it will be alright."

It was as much as they were going to get out of her for the time being. After they bid Zecora a safe trip, the group of seven left the house and Twilight kept her nose buried in that book even more now that she could read the words printed on the pages.

"This is incredible." She said giddy to learn. "The Alamantians today have access to a wide world of magic I've never even stepped hoof in. And....wait...what?"

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"Let me start from the beginning." Twilight began to read from the book. "Co-founded by the zebras of the nation in the fifth hundred year of Celestia's and Luna's rule over Equestria, the country of Alamante got its name for the astounding power all the locals of the country possess. Six tribal territories divide the country into six equal shares of land and each tribe possesses the ability to manipulate and control one of the six elements of nature."

"The elements of nature?" Rainbow Dash was confused. "What are those?"

Twilight answered when she read on.

"The six elements of nature, earth, wind, fire, ice, plasma, and water are each tribe's respective main resource. Using their powers over these elements, the Alamantians have created a society and culture based on their respective elements and use their abilities for simple tasks or military and warrior use."

The unicorn kept walking stunned as she let the knowledge of this soak into her head.

"Wow....such power. To control one of those six elements, it must be a real gift." She said in wonder.

"You know I would be more awesome than I am now if I had wind power!" Rainbow began to let it go to her head. "If I was able to control the wind, just imagine how much faster I'd be able to go! The Wonderbolts wouldn't have any choice BUT to let me on the team! They might even make me a captain right there on the spot!"

"Hold yer horses there, Rainbow." Applejack stopped her. "Don't get too excited about that. Yer not one of those...Alamantians like Twilight said. None of us are. But....if we're just talkin' in "what ifs" here, than I wouldn't mind wonderin' what it would be like to control earth. Just think how much work I could get done in a mere minute."

As they walked on through the forest, they all chatted about what element they would like to control. Rarity would have liked to been ice, Fluttershy would have preferred water because its calm and gentle most of the time, Twilight thought plasma was an interesting subject itself to look up, and everypony panicked a bit when they heard Pinkie Pie say she would have liked to be a fire pony. With her antics she probably would burn down the whole town. At least that's what they all thought.

It was funny to think about a bit. Twilight quickly resumed to reading as she walked and turned the page. When she did, something slipped out of the book and fell to her hoof. Looking down, she saw that it was a sealed envelope.

"Huh? What's this?" She picked up the envelope and opened it up revealing a folded up piece of parchment inside.

"It's a letter." Spike noted. "But....who wrote it? Twilight?"

"I didn't even know this book existed until half an hour ago. I didn't write this." She unfolded it. "But let's see who did."

The others all huddled around Twilight as she turned her attention away from the book and to this newfound note.

"To anypony who stumbles across this book,

I have a very big favor to ask of you. Chances are you are now the current resident of this cottage/library and therefore you finding this book was inevitable. Before I tell you of this favor, perhaps an explanation is in order.

I am a pony who hails from the Ember Tribe of Alamante. It, and all the tribes used to be such a peaceful place to reside and live. But nearly four years ago, the unthinkable happened. A few unexplainable events had occurred which resulted in all six tribes into arguing. The arguments led to a full scale war."

"A....a w-war?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Oh come now, Fluttershy. I'm sure it wasn't a big war. It's probably over already." Rarity assured her friend.

"Already, hundreds of lives have been lost and I fear that number continues to rise."

That line made them all shut up.

"Lives....lost?" Pinkie Pie couldn't believe it.

"How can that be? How come we ain't never heard of no war goin on?" Applejack asked.

"I.....I don't know." Twilight replied as she resumed reading the letter.

[[[null*](http://24.media.tumblr.com/8a4577d68fa02e8c0be6b4f418bbf757/tumblr_mpwofd3v2g1rcox80o6_1280.png)]*

"With all that has been lost, there is still hope. And that hope is here, in your country of Equestria. The book you know possess holds the passages of an ancient prophecy referring to six great heroes, each one hailing from one of the six tribes of Alamante. The favor I ask of you now, is to go and find them.

"If you accept my request, then here are some things to know. I came to this country only shortly before they did because I strongly believe that the real culprit behind starting the war has escaped to here. And I write this letter now just recently discovering where the six have been hiding away. The six of them reside inside a range called the White Tail Woods. But I do not know exactly where in the woods they are. It is up to you to find that out.

"They will be recognizable by their marks. They each bear the symbol of their respective element on their flanks, signifying that they truly are the chosen ones the prophecy speaks of. They used their great power to cross the ocean from their country to yours and they have been in exile ever since. The time has come for them to step back out into the world. Please heed my call, new keeper of the book and find them as soon as you can. They are Alamante's last hope for peace and if my hunch is correct, than they may be Equestria's last hope as well.

The elder,

Hitashi Ma

P.S. If you find one of them, ask for Pyro and mention my name. It will help you loads. Good luck."

After that reading was done, Twilight simply let the letter drop to the ground still trying to get a handle on what it was she just read. All of them were. It sounded absolutely crazy. A war they had no idea was going on, six ponies spoken of in a prophecy, elements of nature, last hope, it's like this guy was talking about the whole world coming to an end over six ponies

"Is...anyone else thinking whoever wrote this was on something?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Rainbow!" Applejack turned around with a glare. "We don't know anything about this....Hitashi Ma person. But all this talk of war and hope, it sounds too serious to all be made up."

"Are you saying we should actually just walk around all of Whitetail in search of six "special" ponies that we don't know even exist?"

"Yes! Ah think we should! If we can do this and help end a war where pain and sufferin' is goin' on, why shouldn't we do all we can to help?"

Rainbow was stuck there but it still sounded just too crazy for her to believe.

"I say we put it to a vote." Rarity reasoned logically.

The six others near her all agreed to that. With a nod, she resumed speaking.

"Whoever wants to just disregard this letter and continue on with our lives, raise your hoof."

One cyan hoof immediately went up, followed closely by one of Fluttershy's and then one of Spike's claws went above his head.

"Okay." Rarity spoke option number 2. "Whoever wishes to go by what this letter says and seek these ponies out, therefore bringing an entire country closer and closer to the end of a tragic civil war, where hundreds, maybe even thousands of ponies have died, than please.....raise your hoof."

Pinkie's, Applejack's, Twilight's, and Rarity's hooves all immediately went to the sky. And slowly, just like Rarity thought it would, Rainbow Dash's and Fluttershy's hooves joined them. Soon after that, Spike changed his vote too making it unanimous.

"Then its decided. Tomorrow we're going to Whitetail in search of these Alamantians." Twilight said with a firm hoof.

"Wait, Twilight. What about Zecora's house? Weren't we supposed to house sit?" Spike reminded her.

"Oh....umm...." She couldn't believe she was thinking about it, but her head transitioned from looking in between Applejack and Rarity. "Do you think maybe you can convince your little sisters to do it without breaking anything?"

Now all of them in that group knew just how unreliable those two fillies could be at times but right now there wasn't any other choice.

"Ah'll tell Applebloom a hundred times over to not lay a hoof on anything in that hut." Applejack said confidently.

"And I shall do the same with Sweetie Belle." Rarity agreed. "Now then, I do believe we scheduled a lovely picnic for today. And I say we should go about and enjoy it."

That was a point to which they all agreed. Twilight closed the book promising herself to read it later to find this prophecy the letter told of.

The picnic was indeed one to enjoy and the food Spike prepared was delicious. While they were eating, they decided the plan out their hike through the woods. Applejack threw out the idea of making the hike an all out camping trip. They would pack up all the supplies they needed for at least a four day long trip and search as much of the woods they could together not splitting up.

Rarity was the only one who rejected the plan not wanting to spend all that time on the outside without proper utilities. But seeing as how she was outnumbered six to one, she didn't have any choice. She accepted to her regret and after the picnic was over, all of them went back to their own houses to pack up their things and get ready for the trip which started tomorrow officially.

They knew it was risky, but they didn't care. It was going to get them involved in a war that was probably none of their business to begin. The letter's words rang in their heads though that Equestria might be in danger as well. So they had to find these ponies so they could hopefully get some answers as to what was going on.

They were about to get so much more than just answers.

Author's Note

Okay. This is the first chapter of the rewrite. First and foremost, the elementals' cutie marks have been redesigned into what you see in the links below.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8a4577d68fa02e8c0be6b4f418bbf757/tumblr_mpwofd3v2g1rcox80o6_1280.png (Pyro)
http://i.imgur.com/hkFvcr5.png (Typhoon)
http://i.imgur.com/uzGKsnV.png (Agua)
http://24.media.tumblr.com/36845fac93dcca12091c5ee0c61ae70f/tumblr_mpwofd3v2g1rcox80o4_1280.png (Cryo)
http://24.media.tumblr.com/acfaac09de98a23e31aabf6d4dda76b0/tumblr_mpwofd3v2g1rcox80o5_1280.png (Gem)
http://i.imgur.com/7ivLKFK.png (Terra)

Further rewrites are coming so keep your eyes sharp.

Seven Days After

I only own my OC's and the plot. Sorry not everypony was in this chapter.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 11: Seven Days After

A whole week had gone by since the party at Sugarcube Corner. In said time, life resumed to what everypony considered normality. Everypony that is except for the elementals of both harmony and nature. Over the past seven days, the knowledge passed between the two groups has grown quite a bit. Each pony and his or her partner learned more and more about each other with each passing hour.

With the knowledge came more respect for each other’s culture. After Rarity saw Agua use his water powers to heal Gem’s wound, she started to warm up a little bit to him seeing that there was a nice guy in there. Even Agua had grown used to living with a fashion guru. Not completely but he was getting there. Rarity gets a little frustrated every now and then when she tries to ask him about stallion clothing. Agua waves off the subject saying he’s never worn a single article of clothing in his entire life. He did feel a huge wave of relief wash over him when Sweetie Belle left to go back to her parent’s house. Now he had the room all to himself. The only problem was that it was already decorated with the things Sweetie Belle keeps there. So Agua came up with another idea of living accommodations and secretly got to work on it.

Rainbow Dash and Gem had grown much closer since the latter saved the former’s life at the party. Rainbow felt she was indebted to Gem for her heroism and always brought it up. It made Gem feel a bit embarrassed. Gem assured her multicolored partner that it was nothing at all, but Rainbow would not have that. So as an act of gratitude, she worked her hooves off and got two tickets to a Wonderbolts airshow that would take place in a few days. Gem gladly took Rainbow up on the offer. The unicorn of plasma was almost in tears when Rainbow gave her the ticket. She was so happy she made another friend all on her own.

Cryo and Pinkie were having absolutely no problems with each other whatsoever. Moves Like Jagger had gotten Pinkie into a dancing fever. And she felt the only one to bring her fever down was Cryo by asking him for lessons to dance like he can. The stallion of ice happily obliged. Aside from that and even after the attack, the Cakes were still happy to have him staying there. That made Cryo very pleased.

Twilight had gotten much more comfortable with the boy living in her basement. She still has her worries about him considering how he never sleeps because of his mother’s death. Other than that, the two unicorns have learned much more about the other’s culture than they could have asked for. Pyro was even gracious enough to teach Twilight a few simple Alamantian spells.

Fluttershy and Typhoon also seemed to get along much more than they had in the start. Typhoon kept her word and kept her telepathy out of Fluttershy’s mind. There do come the few instances where Typhoon wants to read her mind, but she restrains herself out of respect. Not only that, but thanks to her telepathy, Typhoon’s great with animals. That came as a huge relief to Fluttershy. Because her partner now works with her in taking care of the animals. Even Angel the bunny has taken a liking to the psychic Alamantian.

As for Applejack and Terra, those two also felt a lot closer than the first night they spent together. After Terra poured her heart out to Applejack at the party, AJ knew right there she could trust her. Nopony would spill out their emotions like that if there wasn’t trust present. And Terra felt good knowing she had a friend to confide in right near her. She never even went into full detail about her late brother with Pyro or any of the others. Applejack was a special case. She didn’t know why. But she concluded that Applejack being the element of honesty had something to do with it. The water pipe was no longer a problem for the farm mare either. Terra only used it once a week and did it away from other ponies.

Celestia’s sun rising powers always brought a bright and beautiful morning to Equestria. This day, the pegasus ponies had a sunny day planned and it would be like that for the rest of the week.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, the rooster’s call had brought everypony inside the barn out of their slumber. Terra rose up from her bed and gave a yawn and stretch. When she descended down the stairs, she saw the Apple family down there waiting for her so they could all eat breakfast together.

“Well good mornin’, Miss Terra.” Applebloom greeted the yellow houseguest.

Terra sighed upon hearing the prefix to her name.

“Appleboom, I told you, there’s no need for you to call me Miss. Just Terra is fine. In fact, I prefer it.”

“Ah just thought it would be more suitable considerin’ yer a princess and all.” Applebloom said.

“If you recall a week ago when I first met you, I said I hated my life as a princess.”

Applebloom gave it a second but she did indeed remember Terra saying she was not fond of her life of royalty.

“If you say so, Terra.” Applebloom corrected herself. “Now come on and git over here. Ah’m starvin.”

Terra giggled a little bit and made her way over to the table and sat next to Applejack and Big Mac on her other side. Applejack had made them all a yummy fruit salad with the main fruit being apples of course. Terra was a sucker for it and instantly fell in love with the recipe as soon as the first bite touched her taste buds.

After breakfast, everypony went off to work. Almost all of them anyway. It was Saturday so Applebloom had today and the next day off from school to goof off. Terra wanted to help out, but she had a problem with hitting trees. Or anything that grew out of the ground. She felt that trees are part of the earth and hitting them is wrong. She Applejack thought it would be best if Terra didn’t buck apples with her. But the geokinetic pony didn’t want to feel like dead weight. So she was on cart duty. She latched herself up to the hauling cart and brought loads of apples from the farm to the barn and back again.

A few hours later, it was break time. Terra walked into Big Macintosh and her hormones went insane upon seeing his big buff body. When it comes to guys, Terra can’t control herself. She goes for her prey without any warning.

Slowly, she approached him with a very devious smirk.

“How’s it hangin there, hot stuff?”

Big Mac froze in place with a startled expression on his face. Terra’s eyes met his somewhat fearful ones.

“So…hows about you and I go somewhere and…..see what happens?”

The red stallion hoped to Celestia she was just kidding. But his hopes seemed to be fruitless when she placed a hoof on his chest and rubbed slowly and in a circular motion.

“Uh……well……..Ah…uh…..”

Seeing his face made Terra burst out into a fit of laughter.

“Oh come on, big guy! I’m just messin’ with ya! You should see the look on your face. It’s priceless! Oh hold on! I can show you!”

Terra waved her left front hoof conjuring up a chunk of rock from the ground. The surface was flat and Terra waved her hoof a few times. With those waves, etches appeared on the surface of the rock in the shape of Big Macintosh’s face. The expression she drew him with looked exactly like the face he had when Terra spoke to him.

“See? Priceless!” Terra laughed. “Oh you crack me up, Big Mac.”

With that said, Terra dropped the rock and walked away. Big Mac and Applejack approached the rock to view themselves.

“Well….it does look like the face you had.” Applejack admitted with a giggle.

“AJ….she scares me.” Big Macintosh muttered.

“Aw get over it, bro.” Applejack insisted. “She’s just pokin’ a little fun at you is all.”

“It’s not just that.” Big Mac got serious. “There’s something yer not tellin’ me, AJ. First Terra shows up and the next day, those strange black ponies try to kill them. Now you tell me right now. What the hay is goin’ on with you and her?”

“There is nothin’ goin’ on, Big Mac!” Applejack nearly shouted. “Nothin’ you need to worry about, anyway.”

“Ah am worried, AJ. Ah don’t think it’s the best thing if we keep Terra around for much longer.”

Applejack was surprised. Never in all her years did her older brother disapprove of anypony.

“Big Mac, keeping Terra around is the reason we’re all alive to tell about that party. Had she and the others hadn’t been there, we’d all probably be dead.”

“The way she came here is too suspicious, AJ. One day you go into the woods for a campin’ trip with yer friends. And the next day you bring home an Alamantian and say outta nowhere she’s gonna live with us. Then the day after THAT one, we nearly killed by black ponies. Too suspicious.”

Applejack was already fed up with him.

“Say what you want, Macintosh. Ah know you know Ah’m right.”

“Ah’m sorry, Applejack. But Ah’m only concerned for you. Ah want her out. Now.”

His tone was dead serious as were his words. His brotherly extinct was at a high level. After what he saw at the party a week ago, his trust in Terra diminished little by little with each passing day. He thought she was nothing but a bait for danger and it would better if she was nowhere near the Apple family.

That did it. Applejack could take the suspiciousness. But now he was flat out saying Terra had to go. She was not gonna have her older brother lecturing her like he was her father. With an angry eye, she adjusted her hat and glared at him.

“Now you listen here. Ah’m not gonna tell ya what’s goin’ on but Ah will say this. Those black ponies back at the party, they ain’t done comin’. The reason Terra is here is because she’s mah guardian. She’s protectin’ me. In fact, she’s protectin’ our whole family. So whether you like it or not, Macintosh, Terra ain’t goin’ nowhere and that’s that.”

“But AJ…”

“Ah’m not gonna listen to another word, Big Mac! Terra’s stickin’ around! So get used to it!”

With that, she stormed off. Every stomp to the ground raised a small cloud of dust. Big Mac wanted to keep talking but her mind was already set on keeping Terra here. As uncomfortable as he was, he had no choice now but to take his sister’s word for it and trust Terra a bit more.

Speaking of Terra, when she walked away from Big Mac, she engaged with another conversation with Applebloom. The little filly caught her when the older mare tried to walk off the grounds of the farm.

“Uhhh…where you goin?”

Terra stopped on her hooves and turned around to look into the young filly’s eyes.

“I’m heading out to the most open area I can find where nopony else will be.”

That made Applebloom a little bit concerned. Then Terra spoke again.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where I can find a place like that, would you?”

The little filly began to think about a place that fit the criteria Terra wanted. She quickly came up with an honest answer.

“Right outside Ponyville is just a wide open area. Nothin’ is out there except for a trail leading to the town and the dirt that makes it.”

That was all Terra needed to hear. She quickly began to walk in the direction Applebloom was pointing in her description. Not knowing what was going on, the young filly followed her.

“Wait. Why do you wanna go out there?” she asked the Alamantian.

Terra kept walking but she talked at the same time.

“Because I need a wide open space for myself so I can practice using my powers.”

Applebloom got confused hearing her use the word “practice”.

“Whadaya mean practice? Ah’ve seen you use your powers. You don’t need practice.”

Kids. The yellow earth pony thought she might think that.

“Just having these powers and using them in small doses isn’t enough, kid. I have to practice using them every day to make sure I’m in peak shape one hundred percent all the time. Also I need to practice to keep my powers under control.”

Applebloom did seem to understand. But she was still curious as to what Terra would do.

“Can Ah come watch you practice?”

Applejack heard the question being nearby.

“Applebloom, Ah really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Sure. She can come.”

Applejack looked at her partner with a bit of shock.

“What?” Terra went on. “It’s not dangerous or anything. You just gotta stay at a safe distance from me. I don’t want you to get crushed by an out of control boulder. Not saying that I would lose control of a huge boulder but you get my point.”

The orange cowgirl felt better with Terra’s reassurance. Staying far enough away from her seemed easy enough. So seeing as how she was on break, she decided to accompany them. They walked off with Big Mac watching them shaking his head. A short ten minutes later, the three ponies arrived at the most open part on the outskirts of Ponyville. Just like Applebloom said, nothing but a path to the town surrounded by rocks and dirt.

Terra considered it a slice of heaven.

“Okay. Now go over there and enjoy the show.” Terra pointed to a random direction.

Applejack and her little sister followed the direction and got behind a good sized rock for cover. That left Terra alone to prepare her body to perform her earth moving.

While they waited for her to start, Applejack and Applebloom turned around and noticed something. Rather somepony. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, along with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Gem, were all approaching.

“What are ya doin’ here?” Applebloom asked.

“We came to the farm looking for you.” Sweetie Belle answered. “Big Mac said you and Applejack came out here with Terra.”

“It’s a beautiful day, Applebloom. Let’s go crusading before it’s shot.” Scootaloo insisted.

“In a minute.” Applebloom said before turning back around. “Ah wanna see Terra practice.”

“Terra?” Rainbow Dash repeated.

The cyan pegasus peeked around the rock and saw Terra a good distance away. Not close enough to see facial expressions but close enough to know it was her by coat and mane color alone.

Applebloom had a pair of binoculars with her and looked through them to get a closer look at Terra. Gem, confused, walked up to the filly.

“Why do you have binoculars?” she asked.

“Terra said Ah have to stay far away so Ah don’t get hurt. The only way Ah can see her is with these.”

Gem gave an innocent laugh at the filly and lowered the binoculars with a gentle hoof gesture

“Here. I have a telescope spell.”

Gem’s horn glowed electric purple and she focused her eyesight on Terra. Then a circle shaped screen big enough for the group of girls to see. What they saw was Terra. She was just standing there.

“What is she waiting for?” Rarity wondered.

“Just watch.” Gem responded knowing what was about to happen.

All eyes were on the magical screen Gem had created. Terra seemed to be doing nothing at all. Mistaken was what they were.

Terra was focusing hard on her element. Through her hooves she sensed every bit of terrain that was around her and what the name of each rock was.

With one last deep breath, Terra stood bipedal and slowly brought her front hooves together.

“As sturdy as its soil.” She mumbled.

Opening her eyes, she looked at the ground a few yards away from where she stood. She then leaned over into a martial arts stance and pointed her left hoof right where she was looking. When she raised her hoof up, a large chunk of the rocky ground ripped from the surface and floated in front of her.

Here, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and the three Cutie Mark Crusaders were getting their very first full view of Terra using her power to full potential. And she was only practicing.

Focusing on the one chunk she rose from the ground, Terra tossed it up and towards herself, spun around, jumped up and gracefully kicked it into the sky and away from Ponyville. It landed about three hundred yards away from her. But she wasn’t paying attention to it anymore. She already had her geokinesis pointed on another chunk of rock. She made seven more rise from the ground and rotate and around her in a spiral formation.

As she did all this, her bodily motions followed the rocks. Her arms waved, her body swayed to and fro, she spun around, it was like the mares watching her from the distance were viewing art in motion. Terra then stomped the ground with her hind hooves. With each stomp, even more chunks of rock rose from the ground and floated around her.

She then stopped moving her body except for her front arms which slowly moved in a circular way. The rocks she hard floating around her began to form from a spiral to a ring above her head. Then Terra punched her right hoof straight up. That sent the ring of rocks rocketing into the air. When they were high enough to no longer be seen, they must have collided with each other because all of them obliterated into dust like a firework.

While she began to do something else, from the distance, Gem’s telescope spell was proving to be most effective as she, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and the CMC were all blown away at what Terra could do with the ground.

The girls didn’t notice it, but Big Macintosh had walked up behind them staring at them all not knowing what the hay was going on.

“Uh…what are y’all lookin’ at?”

Rarity put her hoof on Big Mac’s cheek and turned it in the direction all of them were looking. Soon the red stallion grew the same look and spoke no other words.

Terra had formed a snake of rock and dirt and hade it flowing all around her in the sky. Then she directed it to the ground and it dug its way through the dirt. It then came up and back down again. Up and down up and down. After doing that a few times, she brought the snake back up from the surface fully and then made something else happened right under her hooves.

The ground beneath her began to rise up in the form of a rocky pillar. It elevated up to about twenty feet in height. Then she jumped off it and made another pillar raise up from the ground right where she jumped. She didn’t even descend a single inch. A few more body waves was all it took for her to raise two more pillars of equal height. As she jumped to one, one of the boulders she was moving flew at her. She punched at it and it obliterated. She did the same thing with another one when she jumped to the other pillar she made.

Terra then redirected every ounce of power she had on those remaining rocks she had floating around her in the form of a flying snake. All the rocks came together in one big clump. There Terra put her powers to the real test. Her geokinetic mind began to concentrate hard on the giant group of rocks both big and small. Slowly but surely, the rocks all began to grind into one another. Dust fell from them and to the ground. Terra’s hard focus did its job. She fused all the smaller rocks into one big round boulder as wide as the Sweet Apple Acres barn itself. She gently lowered it to the ground where it stayed.

Her mind then redirected to the pillar she was currently standing on. The top portion broke off into a thin platform of rock and rose up into the air above the giant boulder. Rainbow Dash found that amazing because in a way, Terra was flying.

When she was right over the rock, Terra jumped off the platform and landed right at the tippity top of it. A few deep breaths and hoof motions later, Terra brought down her right hoof hard into the surface of the boulder. The giant rock began to crack and the edges began to break off. Then a lot of pieces shattered from the boulder and a cloud of dust rose up. When the dust cleared, everypony saw what she did. The boulder was no more. But there was another pillar. Straight vertical line, with one horizontal line near the top, and a longer horizontal line at the very bottom resembling her cutie mark and the symbol for her element.

While that happened, Applejack, and the other present ponies there all marveled at Terra’s strength. The first time viewing it for themselves it was for most of them. Gem had seen it before. Big Macintosh couldn’t believe it. He was extra surprised because of the accusation he made about her just prior to going out there and seeing Terra do all that.

Terra jumped all the way down from the pillar and landed nicely on her hooves without any pain at all. Upon connecting with the ground, she gave a simple wave of her hoof and the pillar that made the makeshift statue of her cutie mark broke into a million pieces. A cloud of dust rose from the rocks as they piled on top of one another.

“Ah yeah. That’s the stuff.” She murmured.

As she walked away from her work, Terra looked to her side and saw the group of ponies on the ledge watching her. Gem disengaged her viewing spell while Terra changed her direction of walking to them. With a smirk, Applejack leaned her head towards her brother.

“Feel better about havin’ her stay?” she whispered.

After seeing what he just saw one pony do, Big Macintosh was at a loss for words. He immediately regretted every bad word he said about her to Applejack. If this mare had that much power when she was only practicing, than she would no doubt have any trouble protecting them when it came right down to it.

It was the Shadowmares that still frightened him though.

“Fine. She stays.” He muttered back.

Applejack smiled with satisfaction. Big Mac was okay with her staying. Not one hundred percent but enough to let her stay.

When Terra retreated to where Applejack and Applebloom were, she was surprised to see the other girls there along with Big Mac.”

“That….was…..awesome!” Scootaloo shouted.

“That was mighty impressive there, Miss Terra.” Big Macintosh complimented.

“Well thank you.” Terra responded. “Although back home, it’s nothing special.”

“Nothing special?” Sweetie Belle sounded surprised. “How was THAT nothing special? That’s the most super special thing I’ve ever seen anypony do!”

“It’s not special because in my country, everypony can do it.” Terra reminded them. “At least in my Geo tribe that is.”

They had forgotten that. Terra was from a land where her powers were the most common thing to see.

“And to think, I thought rocks had no real purpose.” Rarity commented.

Chuckling, Terra levitated a small rock and held it over her raised right hoof.

“For me, rocks are my source of power along with the ground itself.” She said right before she dropped the floating rock. “Hold up. I’m here with Applejack. Rainbow’s here with Gem. So…that leaves you, Rarity. Where’s Agua?”

“Oh who knows?” Rarity answered. “One minute he’s right there next to me in the linen store, the next he’s gone from sight altogether.”

“I’m sorry but, did you REALLY expect a guy like Agua to enjoy being in a clothing store?” Terra asked.

The fashionista indeed felt a little bit stupid bringing him along with her to a store where they sell fabric and nothing else. She should have known he would have bailed.

“I guess it was inevitable.” Rarity commented. “Remind me smack Pyro upside the head the next time I see him. After all, HE was the one who paired me with that insufferable jerk.”

“Agua’s a jerk alright. But even I have to admit, the things he can do with water are very impressive. Just wait. You’ll see it one of these days.”

“I just fear it will be the last thing I ever see.” Rarity commented. “It hasn’t been the easiest week of my life living with him.”

“Hey. I lived with him for three straight YEARS. And he hates me a lot more than he hates you. Trust me on that.” Terra assured the fashionista.

“So I take it you’ve been thrilled to be away from him.” Rarity assumed.

“Indeed I have.” Terra confirmed with a wide smile. “And don’t blame Pyro for this.”

“Why not? He was the one who assigned us our partners.” Rarity whined. “He seemed to only get five out of six right.”

Rainbow let out a chuckle herself and talked.

“Rarity, look. I used to feel the same way about Gem here. I thought she and I were totally incompatible and Pyro screwed up in pairing us together.”

That line made Gem nearly start crying.

“You…..you don’t like me?” she said with her voice cracking.

Rainbow Dash immediately waved a hoof at her unicorn partner.

“Calm down, Gem. Let me finish.” Then she re-directed over to Rarity. “That’s how I felt at first. But then the next day at that party, Gem put herself on the line to save me and took a hit meant for me. That made me feel differently. Pyro didn’t make any mistake. Gem was clearly supposed to be my partner from the start. I’ve never seen anyone be THAT loyal to a friend.”

Rainbow mentioned her own element of loyalty. As she put a hoof around Gem’s back, the purple unicorn of plasma still had her eyes wet. But now she was smiling happy Rainbow felt that way of her.

“Well Ah guess you two gals do go good together.” Applejack commented. “Kinda like me an’ Terra. She’s just as honest as Ah am.”

Terra only nodded in response.

“If only Agua could have a little bit of generosity I’d be satisfied.” Rarity muttered under her breath. “Well, I supposed I better head back to the boutique and see if he went there. I’d rather have him there than out terrifying all of Ponyville. Sweetie Belle, have fun with your friends.”

With that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders rushed off to do their own thing. And seeing as how they had nothing better to do at the time, Applejack, Terra, Rainbow Dash, and Gem decided to walk with Rarity. Big Mac simply returned to the farm.

It took a few minutes and a good exercising walk, but they all got back to the boutique. Once inside, the four mares saw no blue stallion that was the pony of water.

“I guess he’s just out and about.” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“Oh well.” Rarity humphed. “It’s probably better. I need to get some work done and I tend to work better when I know my house is empty.”

“Uh…..Terra?” Gem muttered. “How are you doing that?”

Terra made a confused face as she looked at her purple sister.

“Doing what? I’m just standing here.”

“Well…..”

Gem pointed to a nearby window where all the girls now looked. Every few seconds interval, a pile of dirt flew passed the window. Everypony in the boutique looked at the pony of earth wanting an explanation.

“Hey that’s not me. I swear.” Terra defended as she put up a hoof.

Wanting to know just what was going on out there, Rarity rushed out the back door of her house and nearly screamed upon sight.

Agua was in the backyard deep in a wide pit he recently dug with a shovel. The hole was about the size of a very large swimming pool but much deeper.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack said shocked herself.

Hearing her made Agua stop what he was doing. He climbed out of the pit and viewed the group of girls in front of him with most of his fur covered in dirt and mud.

“Hello, Applejack. Rainbow Dash, Gem, Rarity, hippy.” Agua greeted them with a smirk on that last one.

Terra snarled.

“Asshole.”

Before the two ponies of water and earth could begin to get into their wordplay like usual, Rarity spoke first.

“Agua….what….have you done?” she was still shocked enough to the point where she could barely talk.

“Well, I’d like to think of it as home improvement.” Agua said as he glanced back at the hole.

“YOU’RE DIGGING A HOLE IN MY BACKYARD!”

“Very good. You can see. Why don’t you give me weather report?”

Agua’s sarcasm knows no bounds. It made Rarity quite annoyed. Using her magic, she pulled the shovel out of Agua’s hooves. But it turned out to be too late. Agua had just finished using it and no longer required it.

“What do you think you’re doing digging a hole back here without my permission?” Rarity growled.

“What are you? My mother?” Agua snapped. “So I decided dig a hole. So what?”

“This is MY house! If anything gets dug up around here, it doesn’t happen unless I SAY it can!” she screamed. “AND WHY ARE YOU DIGGING A HOLE?!?!?!?”

“Because I can’t take your little sister’s room anymore.” Agua finally gave his explanation. “I refuse to sleep in a room that is surrounded by dolls and pained pink. So Bobo and I decided it would be best if we got our own room. But seeing as how there are no empty ones left in the house, we decided to make our own out here. It was really Bobo’s idea. And it was good one.”

“I don’t care if it was yours or your giant stupid clam’s idea!” Rarity shrieked. “What possessed EITHER of you to think this would be okay with me?!”

Agua answered quicker than Rarity expected him to.

“Well let’s see. I’m staying here giving you 24 hour security from evil ponies who wanna kill us. So I think I deserve to have a little something to myself. I’m getting me a new bedroom.”

“How could you have even dug a hole this big in just a few hours?” Rarity asked.

Agua gave a look at Rarity. A look that said, “Are you freakin kidding me?”

“I’ve been digging back here for days. I can’t believe it took you this long to notice.” Agua corrected.

Terra confirmed that. She was able to sense through her hooves the dirt Agua had been digging through. By her estimation, he had been taking that shovel to the ground for three days and seventeen hours on the dot. He had even put sea rocks at the bottom and even a few plants to make it look good.

Then it came time for Agua to put the finishing touch on his new room. He took one step back from the hole then stood bipedal. With a few graceful motions from his front hooves, those same hooves became energized with his watery power. He motioned his hooves forward over his head. Then a huge stream of water appeared from behind his back, flew over his head, and into the hole.

After only three seconds, the hole was filled. But the water was all dirty. Agua had a quick remedy for that. Still in his hind hoof stance, he moved his front ones as if he were picking something up. In fact he was. As his hooves got higher, all the water in the hole raised up and out of it. The ball of water then slowly moved to the left. And with a light shake of the hoof from Agua, all the dirt in the water ball just fell out of it. Then he placed it back in the hole.

This time, no dirt got into the water. It was perfectly clear. The leaves from the plants underwater swayed with the current whichever way it went.

After going inside for a quick moment, Agua returned outside with Bobo’s tank and the giant clam himself inside it. Using his hydrokinesis one more time, he lifted Bobo out of his tank by moving the water around the giant clam. At a couple hundred pounds, Bobo was a load. But Agua could handle it.

“So is this our new room, Agua?” Bobo asked in his super deep voice.

Nopony except for Agua was really used to hearing the clam talk.

“Yep. This is for you and me, buddy.” Agua lowered his pet into the pond and released his grip.

Then the blue stallion dove in the water after his clam and began to swim around gracefully. He could stay under there forever since he could breathe underwater.

Rarity began to steam. While she did, Terra approached her.

“Well….at least he’s not INSIDE your house.”

That didn’t get the humorous response she was hoping for. Instead, Rarity slowly tilted her head so she was glaring right at Terra with a look so icy it could have frozen Cryo. With a small hint of fear in that look, Terra backed off.

“I’ll just smack Pyro for you when I see him again.”

“Yes. You do that.” Rarity said in a low tone.

The rest of that day went by without anymore hassles or problems. And Rarity had to admit. The pond Agua made did in fact look kind of nice. The ponies who came in her shop all saw it and complimented her thinking she was the one who did it.

The next day rolled around pretty quickly. And with a new day comes more lessons.

Into the Wild White Yonder

Alright people here we go. The elemental ponies are the only things I own here. MLP: FiM belongs to Hasbro and da Faust. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 25: Into the Wild White Yonder

*Ponyville; Golden Oaks Library; 7:30 AM*

The moment Twilight exited her dream that she conjured up in her mind, she mumbled like anypony normally would, partly because she was tired and didn't want to get up, and partly because she liked the dream she was having and didn't want it to end just yet. Either way, she knew there was work to be done in the library today and she and Pyro had to get right to it. She threw the covers off and shivered at the chill the morning gave off.

It took her ten more seconds to realize that there shouldn't even be a chill.

She shivered again and then took one of the blankets off her bed to wrap it around her body. Once she felt warm enough she looked outside the door in her room that led to the outside balcony. Pyro and Cadence were already out there. Twilight opened up the door to speak to them.

"Hey what's going on out here?"

She didn't get any answer. Neither of the ponies she addressed didn't even move their heads to look at her.

"Cadence? Pyro? What's wrong?"

This time she got an answer. Cadence turned her head to look at the young mare and what Twilight saw was an expression that was mixed with confusion, fear, and a smidge of anger.

"Twilight....we have a problem."

"A big problem." Pyro added without moving

The first moment she stepped outside, Twilight shivered again and tightened the blanket around her. Then she stood in between Cadence and Pyro to look at what they were. It was kind of easy to spot. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened at the sight.

"....What?"

All of Ponyville was covered in a blanket of snow and the sky was full of grey clouds that seemed to go on forever. Almost every door of every building and house in town was blocked by the white slush. Most doors opened inwards so when the doors first opened up, a pile of snow came rushing in and there was a mess to clean up. For the few ponies whose doors opened outwards, they didn't have much better luck. They couldn't even open up their doors at all because of all the snow piling up against it.

Twilight stood there dumbfounded then took a look at the calendar. It was only the middle of October. She knew for a fact the weather team didn't schedule snow for at least late November at the earliest.

"I....I knew sensed something but I never thought for the life of me it was this!" Pyro exclaimed.

Twilight shifted her line of sight from the snow to her partner.

"This is what you sensed?" she almost shouted. "Why didn't you warn us?"

"I told you last night. I wasn't sure what it was what I sensed. By the time I figured it out, it was too late." He replied.

She hated to admit he had a point because she wanted to keep yelling. She was so confused and aggravated she felt she needed to yell to get herself back under control again. However she soon calculated that yelling wouldn't help as much to get rid of the snow. So she just took a few deep breaths to calm herself down as best she could.

"Please tell me random blizzards in early autumn are normal for this town." Pyro pleaded.

"Sorry, Pyro. No such luck." Twilight answered. "I don't know what could have caused this."

"Well there are a number of possibilities." Pyro responded. "Perhaps something went wrong in the weather planning here?"

"If that is the case, then Rainbow Dash needs to be informed of this now." Cadence suggested. "Pyro, let's head for her house."

"Right behind ya."

Cadence took off with her wings spread then Pyro turned to Twilight.

"Go find the others and make sure they are alright." He instructed.

"On it." She confidently replied.

The red unicorn nodded and jumped off the balcony to fall halfway down the tree before his four hooves lit up in flames and he took to the sky after Cadence. As he got farther away, Twilight headed back inside and threw the blanket off her body so she could put on some warm clothes for the unexpected chilly weather. A bright purple jacket, a white and pink striped scarf, and four yellow boots later and Twilight was out the door rushing to the nearest house that belonged to one of her friends. She decided to check on Fluttershy first.

She ran as fast as she could but the terrain made her go a tad slower with all the sinking her hooves did in the snow. But in a matter of minutes, she saw Fluttershy's house in the distance and the blonde maned Alamantian she was housing was outside doing her best to clear the area around the house free of snow with her aerokinesis.

Typhoon was dressed in nothing but a simple yellow scarf she borrowed from Fluttershy and made sure to keep her bare hooves off the snow so she stayed hovering in the air. When Twilight got within speaking range, Typhoon spun around once and waved her front hooves up creating a swirling orb of wind that blew away some of the snow but captured a good chunk of it inside. She then gave a push and sent the sphere away from the house before it dissipated.

"Fluttershy ees eenside, Twilight." Typhoon addressed the unicorn telepathically detecting her presence.

"I know. But this is all just weird. I'm sure you sensed this happening like Pyro did." Twilight replied.

That got Typhoon's attention. She turned around in the air and looked down at the unicorn with interest.

"What do you mean, 'sensed like Pyro?'" she asked.

Twilight found it odd right there that Typhoon didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"Well, last night before I went to bed, Pyro was looking out the window and told me that he sensed something. Turns out it was this." Twilight answered. "Are you telling me you didn't sense it either?"

"No. Not at all. Somehow zis storm evaded my telepathy." Typhoon sounded a bit upset not knowing beforehoof this would happen.

Twilight's brain was running in all sorts of directions trying to figure this out. Somehow her partner was able to detect something was amiss last night, and yet Typhoon, the pony who could invade anypony's mind without them even knowing it, didn't have a clue. The puzzle pieces only seemed to get farther apart and change shapes whenever they felt like it.

Remembering why she was there in the first place, Twilight headed for the front door of Fluttershy's cottage with Typhoon trailing her. When the front door was opened, the two of them saw that the entire house was filled to the brim with Fluttershy's animal friends who were all huddled in to escape from the storm. Most of them were panicking and the yellow pegasus herself was trying her best to keep them all as calm as possible.

"Oh um...please just...everyone stay calm....it's just a little snow....in the middle of October. Oh what is going on?!" she cried to herself.

"We're gonna find that out one way or the other, Fluttershy." Twilight said making her presence known to the owner of the cottage.

She looked and rushed over to her and Typhoon in a split second.

"Twilight! Oh thank goodness. I need Pyro's help to get some of the snow clear of my house.

Twilight gave an awkward smile and rubbed the back of her head as she chuckled nervously.

"Um....about that." She started. "Pyro....isn't here with me."

That seemed to get Fluttershy even more worried.

"Then what are we going to do about all this snow?" she begged for an answer.

"I don't know, Fluttershy. I just don't know. But we need to get out of here and talk with all the others so we can figure out some shred of a plan."

"But what about Agua?" That question came from Bobo who's tank was up against the wall. "What if the storm got to where he's at?"

Twilight looked over to the clam feeling a bit odd talking to him.

"Don't worry, Bobo. From what I could tell on my way over here, only Ponyville is affected. I'm sure Agua is fine."

"I sure hope so. I don't wanna be a lone clam."

"You aren't going to be a lone clam, Bobo." Typhoon assured the creature. "Even if Agua was trapped een zis storm, he's too stubborn to let eet kill heem."

"I guess..." It did little to ease his mind but it was going to have to do for now.

Fluttershy told her animal friends to behave and stay warm while she was out. Then she threw on her warmest winter outfit and lent Typhoon a spare set of boots, a jacket, and a scarf. With all of them ready for the snow, they were off back to town.

When they got there, they saw a lot of the ponies of the town outside and very angry. The weather team was getting their ears howled into by angry ponies blaming them for the weather. Twilight, Typhoon, and Fluttershy all felt sorry for the poor pegasi for having to put up with the loud voices of the angry confused citizens. They had to figure out what was happening fast before the town tore itself apart in anger, confusion, and fear.

The three of them decided asking Rainbow Dash about it might be a good place to start. That way they would at least be able to determine if this was really the weather team's fault or not. On their way there though, they ran into their orange farmer friend and the yellow mare that swore to protect her. Terra was just trying to keep Applejack calm but that didn't seem to be going very well.

"Twilight?! Where is she?! I got a bone to pick with her!" She yelled.

"What is it, Applejack?" Twilight asked not sure who she was talking about.

"What is it? What it is Twilight, is a dang blizzard! It's freezin' over mah entire crop! Now where is Rainbow Dash?! Ah gotta knock some sense into her and that blasted pea-brained weather team o'hers!"

"Try to calm yourself, Applejack." Typhoon calmly said. "At ze moment, we are not sure zat ze weather team ees to blame for zis blizzard."

"Well then who or what else could it possibly be?!" the farm mare shouted frustrated enough as it was.

"We're never gonna find that out with you yelling. Just calm down, Jackie."

She growled a few more times in her breaths before she seemed to release her anger and stood up straight with as close of a relaxed face as she could get.

"Alright. Ah'm calm. Ah'm just mad because now mah entire orchard is probably ruined. Ah was only able to get a few good apples off the trees. The rest of em' are spoiled." She gestured to the saddlebags on her back that was filled to the brim with red apples.

Right after she said that, she received a snowball right to the side of her head, as did all the others standing near her. Once they all shook off the snow, they looked in the direction the orbs were thrown and saw they were courtesy of none other than Pinkie Pie.

"How awesome is this?!" She cried as she rolled in the snow.

"Pinkie Pie, this is not awesome. It's....freaky." Twilight replied.

"Yeah, no kidding."

That third voice was the pegasus nearly everypony in town was looking for at the time. Rainbow Dash landed in the snow with Cadence next to her and Gem running up by her side.

"I've spoken with every single pegasus on the weather team. No one will fess up to causing this." She said a bit cross. "Aaaahhhhh! Why is this happening?!"

"We'll figure it out, Rainbow. Just try to stay calm." Twilight said right before she noticed something. "Where's Pyro?" She turned to Cadence to ask that.

The pink alicorn of love pointed to the right.

"He’s over there with Cryo trying to clear the streets."

Indeed they were. The brothers of fire and ice were doing everything they possibly could to get the streets at least down to a level to walk on safely. The blanket of snow that covered the town wasn't exactly a smooth one. It was a tad high and was very coarse in texture if looked at from a high aerial view, so they were doing what they could to at least make it look presentable. It would take too much strength and power that neither of them possessed to get rid of it entirely. Pyro used his fire power to simply burn and melt the snow in the streets away until it looked like a plow went through it and groomed it. Cryo was giving his muscles a work out as he simply picked up the ice and moved it into a bigger pile so Pyro could burn it down into nothing but a steaming puddle.

Their cleanup work did little to ease the minds of the citizens, but it didn't stop them. Too many ponies were trapped in their homes and panicking so the two stallions made getting them free their first priority. At the end of one road with houses on both sides and all of the doors blocked by snow, Cryo stood there bipedal and wearing no sort of winter clothing whatsoever. With his body keeping him cold from the inside, he didn't need it.

He threw out his arms to the side and the snow seemed to crack right in front of him going horizontally. Then he gave a push forward and the snow seemed to roll up like a paper rolling into a scroll. With a lot of heavy pushing and straining muscles, Cryo began to roll up the snow in the street like a newspaper. Luckily for him he chose a shorter street than the rest to try this trick on. It seemed to work but moving that much snow at one time took a lot out of him in too short of time. But he managed to reach the end of the street and the doors of that street were finally able to open. Cryo turned back and the street was clear of most of the snow, but now the snow he had moved was all clumped together in one big cylinder that he couldn't even move if he put all his strength into it.

"Yo Pyro! Got another one for ya!" He called.

As if on cue, Pyro came flying in from above one of the house and landed beside his brother and gazed upon the giant snow cylinder.

"I got this."

At first it didn't seem like Pyro did much. All he did was run up to the cylinder and punch it in his biped form. But the ponies watching soon saw the giant stack of snow he stuck his hoof into grow smaller. That's when they realized what he was doing. He was melting it from the inside my sending an abundant amount of heat into the center of it. The water it melted into stayed hot enough to not freeze up back into a big clump of ice until it flowed far away enough to where nopony would slip over it. Shortly, the snow stack had completely melted and Pyro took off the ground again hovering in front of Cryo.

"Keep going, brother. We've almost got the streets clear." He said before he took off over the line of houses and vanished.

"Easy for you to say." Cryo huffed not caring Pyro didn't hear him. "All you do is shoot at it. I actually have to MOVE it."

He took another breath, stretched out a bit, and went off to get another street clear. While he made his way there, he ran into Vinyl Scratch and she began to trot next to him. Since they both had an interest in music, not to mention the fact that he was dating her best friend, they actually found it easy to strike up conversation. But now was not one of the times.

"Sup, Cryo?! How's it hanging?" She greeted the stallion unusually chipper than most of the ponies.

"Uh...not so well right now, Vinyl." He honestly said.

Vinyl didn't like the sound of that and immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was relationship troubles.

"What? Aw come on, Cryo! Don't be like that! I mean sure, Octy can be kinda wound up sometimes but she's a good pony! So she plays slow and boring cello music that no one moves to. It's no reason to have a spat with her. Or is it because of that odd habit she has where she counts how many strokes she takes when she washes herself with soap in the shower? Because if it is..."

"Vinyl!" Cryo finally raised his voice to stop her. "As.....interested as I may be now to know what you are talking about with that shower thing, let me just tell you right now that nothing is wrong with me and Octavia. She and I are perfectly and one hundred percent okay."

"Oh...." her puzzled look was a sight to behold. "Then.....why is it not hanging so well?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the freak blizzard and all the snow around you." Cry replied.

That moment was when Vinyl pulled her dark shades out of the way of her eyes and saw all the ground was indeed white like he said it was.

"Oh. Well how about that? It snowed." She chirped.

"You're telling me you noticed that JUST NOW?" Cryo asked not really believing it.

"Eh, the shades make everything look different." The DJ pointed to her trademark sunglasses. "So what made it snow? Weather team buck up big time or something?"

"That's pretty much the million bit question, Vinyl." Cryo stopped walked when he found himself in front of another snow filled street and stood in his biped stance again. "Now if you will please excuse me, I have streets to clear."

With a few strokes of his hoof, the snow began to come off the streets and lay on the ground away from it. Vinyl shrugged and walked away back to her house. Along the way she spotted Pyro trying to figure out how to clear his own street in front of him without the aid of his icy brother.

"Hmm...I suppose I could just burn it off one chunk at a time." He suggested to himself.

"PYRO!"

That was the shriek of a female's voice. It wasn't one of his friends but it was a voice Pyro found familiar. He turned to one the closest house on the right and saw that it was the flower shop. And one of the three girls living there was having a hard time opening her door.

"Huh? Rose!"

"Pyro, what's going on?! Why can't I open my door? Why is there snow everywhere?!"

"Just close the door and stand back. I'll get you all out!"

After he shouted, Rose did as she was told and closed the door while Pyro thought up a new tactic for clearing the snow from this street. He stood bipedal and closed his eyes as he slowly raised up his two front hooves now sparking embers off them.

He took a small leap forward and with a cry of strength from his lungs, he threw his front hooves forward and launched a giant stream of fire down the length of the street. After a few more seconds and letting the flames gush out of his arms, Pyro retracted them ceasing the flow of fire. He then looked upon his work. It wasn't enough to make the snow entirely melt, but it did melt enough to the point where it looked like a groomed street again. Steam rose up in a few areas of the road still hot from the burn. And without all that snow blocking the doors, they could all be opened up easily allowing the citizens to be released outside, although at the moment they were all totally clueless as to where it was safer to be right now. Inside or outside?

It was a good question that none of them, not even the elements themselves could seem to answer, as none of them knowing what the cause of this was. Overnight snow of this magnitude was nothing short of abnormal. The reason why it was all happening had to be discovered quick if there was to be any hope of saving the town from being buried in a blanket of white.

Rose gave her door another push and this time it was able to open with no wall of snow to block it. As it opened, her front porch was cleared of most of the snow and she looked around for Pyro. But he was already gone to find more snow to clear. She threw on a red jacket and some boots and headed out in search of him despite her sisters' tries to make her stay.

Over with the others, they were still standing in the same place trying to figure this whole thing out which still was as easy as it had been so far.

"A sudden change in the temperature such as this is highly unlikely anywhere in the world. So what could possibly possess this kind of power?" Gem wondered.

That was the question of the day it seemed. And no matter how many times it got asked, they seemed to get nowhere near closer to solving that mystery. While the girls thought, Pyro and Cryo made their way by doing their best to plow the streets free of most if not all snow.

"What I want to know is how only those two could sense it while the rest of you couldn't." Rainbow said to the elemental mares

"It must be because of their bodies." Twilight was the one who theorized first. "Out of all of them, fire and ice are the most temperature sensitive. I suppose if any of us were to sense something about the climate had changed, they would be the first to know."

It did make sense and it did seem like the logical explanation for it. But it didn't help them answer the questions that really needed to be answered. Where was this blizzard coming from, what was giving it its power, and how were they supposed to stop it?

Pyro and Cryo walked up to them finally clearing enough of the town of snow so ponies could walk around again. They were breathing heavily, a tad worn from all the work they just did.

"Maybe if I can fly up past the clouds, we'll see where this storm is coming from." Rainbow wasted no time and headed straight for the sky.

"I'm goin' too." Pyro stood bipedal and leapt off the ground with his fiery hooves pushing higher.

It seemed like a good plan. Above the clouds, Rainbow and Pyro would get a better view of anything and there for possibly see what was making all this happen. As the two ponies got higher and closer to the clouds, the others in the group stayed on the ground and kept their eyes on them. Finally it seemed that the pair got to the clouds. But soon they found something was definitely wrong.

Pyro and Rainbow Dash never breached the clouds. As soon as they touched them, lightning poured out of the clouds and funneled into both of their bodies causing them to yell out in pain. Down below, they were starting to fear for the safety of the two up there. Then their fear turned into panic when they saw them fall out of the sky.

"RAINBOW DASH! NO!" Gem cried.

"PYRO, PULL UP!" Terra screamed next to her sister.

There wasn't anything else that could be done about it. A few seconds later, the lightning stopped zapping the two ponies and they began to fall too weak to try flying at the moment. Before Typhoon and Fluttershy could take off to catch them, Cryo ran forward on all fours then converted to a bipedal motion partway there. He then took a small leap forward and moved his two front hooves in a strong upwards motion.

The snow not far in front of him rose up quickly and abruptly almost as if something had exploded underneath it. It continued to rise and swirl around until it reached the height of town hall. The was when the stallion of ice made the snow stay in its place for her had formed a giant spiral slide that caught both his brother and the rainbow maned pegasus. The two of them reached the bottom in less than a minute and landed in the snow with Rainbow Dash lying on top of Pyro. Standing on all fours again, Cryo waved his hoof and the slide he made disintegrated all into single flakes. He then went over to the dazed flyers and helped them stand up as the others joined him by his side.

"What in tarnation happened ta you two up there?" Applejack asked.

"I...I don't know." Rainbow replied while she rubbed her aching head. "The clouds just zapped us with lightning. Snow clouds aren't supposed to have lightning in them."

"Which means this storm is without a doubt not the work of a weather pony, but something big and very powerful." Pyro added with a crack of his back.

Suddenly the stallion of fire met the green eyes of the girl he shared breakfast with a while back ago. Rose pushed her way through and gazed upon him with a concerned look.

"I saw you fall. Are you alright?" she asked.

"For the most part." He replied. "What about you? Are you and your sisters okay?" Pyro asked.

"Yeah we're fine but I think we should probably head inside now." Rose suggested.

"Why is that?" Terra wondered.

"Well uh....it's just......um....." The red maned earth pony didn't want to voice her reason but it didn't stop her. "Some ponies are starting to think he did this."

As she said that, her hoof pointed to Cryo who was taken aback by the accusation.

"You don't honestly believe that I would do something like this. Do you?"

"No, of course I don't. But I heard some other pegasi from the weather team say they think you lost control of your powers and this blizzard is the result."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "There's no way this is Cryo's fault!"

"Tell that to my sisters." Rose shamefully said. "Look, ponies are really freaked out and scared. I think that's why they are blaming him."

"That's a really crappy reason to blame him if you ask me." Terra stated the obvious.

"Crappy or not, let's get eenside before a mob comes for heem or something." Typhoon suggested.

A good idea it was. Plus it was warmer inside any building than it was outside in the snow. All of them, including Rose, headed for the nearest one. Sugarcube Corner. After they were all inside, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were brought up to speed and then once again, discussing the storm itself came up. Gem rubbed her chin as she looked out the window and up to the clouds.

"Okay. First let's establish what we already know here." She began. "This snowstorm isn't natural which means something is forcing a change in the climate here."

"And it can't be coming from within the town, otherwise Cryo and I probably would have been able to sense it much sooner than we did." Pyro added.

"The weather team isn't to blame for it." Twilight also pointed out.

"And those clouds are packing a punch." Rainbow finished. "So......what do we do?"

"We find out where the cause of this storm is, and we take it out." Terra replied.

"And just how are we supposed to do that, Terra? It's not like we can just ask the snow what's makin' it fall." Applejack argued still stern about her orchard.

It was a long shot but it was the only theory Twilight could think of. She turned to the stallion of ice.

"Cryo, do you think you can track where the source of this storm is?" she asked.

"Well....I can try." He answered unsure.

He took a step outside and dug his hoof into the snow. If it was on the ground here, then chances are it was spread across most of the area surrounding Ponyville as well. He started to use his cryokinesis to get a lay of how much snow there was and where it seemed to get larger in amount. After a few minutes, he seemed to get a lock and he opened his eyes. He dashed upstairs in the bakery.

"Cryo! Wait!" Pinkie called after him.

Everypony followed him to Pinkie's bedroom and he went to the window.

"There! It's coming from up there!"

His cyan tipped hoof was pointing straight out the window and a tad upwards. It was barely visible but they all could make out the shape of a mountain just beyond the Whitetail Woods.

"Mount Blackmane." Cadence gasped at the sight. "The tallest mountain in Equestria."

"Not counting the one Canterlot is built into." Twilight added. "If there was ever to be a hidden source for a freak blizzard, that DOES seem like the logical place to put it."

"Why's that?" Terra asked curious.

"It's simple." Gem replied. "The higher the source, the bigger a radius of ground it can cover."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we have to get up there to see what the source is." Rainbow Dash was eager to get flying.

However there was a number of things the cyan pegasus had not considered.

"Hold your horses, pardner." Applejack made her calm down. "The snow is comin' down pretty hard and it seems to be extremely intense near the mountain. There's no way we'd be able to get all the way up there. You'd have to be a walkin' snowpony to do that."

"Well then it's a good thing we have one of those, Jackie."

Terra pointed her hoof to the pony whose cutie mark stood for ice itself. Cryo was the obvious choice and he of course saw no way out of it. He then examined the mountain and how harder the storm was near it then it was away from it.

"My guess is the closer to the source you are, the worse the blizzard is." Cryo theorized. "I'm not gonna be able to teleport up there without seeing where I'm going. The best I'll be able to manage is starting at the base of the mountain and walking up it."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow shouted and stood in front of Cryo's face. "You're supposed to be one of the more reasonable elements here! You can't walk through that blizzard!"

"My body is built to withstand extreme cold like this. I'm the only one here who actually CAN walk through it."

"I sure as hell can't go. I'd only be able to keep my body heat sustained for so long until I start to succumb to the frost." Pyro added.

"Alright, then. We have a game plan." Twilight said. "Cryo's gonna brave the storm and hike up Mount Blackmane to find out what's making all of this happen. And while he's doing that, the rest of us will stay here and try to keep Ponyville from having an all out panic attack." She then spoke to Cryo directly. "Walking up the entire mountain should take at least three days at minimum. You'll need to move as fast as you can."

"As fast as my hooves will allow me." Cryo nodded. "I should get going then."

Not long after he said that, a party blower extended into one of his ears and oddly out the other. Then he looked and saw the pony who blew on it all dressed in snow attire. A jacket, boots, scarf, hat, pants, and even pink ski goggles. For accessory, there were a few balloons tied around her waist.

"Alllllllright! Let's get going, Cryo! I'm all set!"

The reactions she got to her enthusiasm to go were not the ones Pinkie were expecting, especially from Cryo. He looked at her with a serious face and flatly told her the opposite.

"Sorry, Pinkie. But like the others, you're sitting this one out. I'm going alone."

The balloons tied to her deflated as the pink mare frowned.

"Alone? But.....but Cryo, we're partners. We're supposed to do things together." Pinkie argued.

Cryo wasted no time in arguing back.

"We ARE partners, but it's my job to keep you safe, Pinkie. And taking you with me isn't safe for you. I'll be okay inside that storm but even with all I've seen you do, you won't last long. You heard what Twilight said. It will take me no less than three days to hike up that mountain. That long exposed to a blizzard, you wouldn't survive. You're staying here and that's final. I'm not letting you risk your life just because you think it will be fun to hike in a nasty snowstorm."

Neither pinkie nor any of the others wanted to accept the fact that only one of them could go, but they had no choice. They were literally out of their element this time. The stallion of ice was the only one who had a chance here and that chance had to be taken or else Ponyville would be cold for a very long time.

"Well....at least take some food from this place." Pinkie muttered. "Three days on a mountain by yourself, you're bound to get hungry sooner or later."

Cryo smiled at his partner and nodded wanting to make her satisfied in whatever way he could as long as it didn't involve endangering her. He agreed to the food upon thinking that it would indeed be a good idea to pack along things to eat for a three day voyage up a mountain. So after explaining to the cakes what was going to happen, Mr. Cake lent Cryo a spare saddlebag and began to fill it up with food. He put in packed pastries, cupcakes, muffins, and a few other frozen foods from the freezer for him. Applejack was even kind enough to give him a few of the apples she had taken from the farm.

The only think he would need up there was a pair of goggles. Rainbow Dash didn't like to part with them, put she dashed back to her house and lent Cryo her flying goggles. Before Cryo took them in his magic aura, Rainbow pulled them back.

"You better bring them back!" she shouted at him and clutched the goggles to her chest as if a mother was parting from a child.

Cryo chuckled to the pegasus and smiled to assure her.

"I promise I'll be back."

Rainbow nodded and held out her hoof carrying the eyewear. With his bags packed and the goggles now over his eyes, Cryo opened the door and threw out his arm forming the start of an ice path headed straight out the door.

"Cryo....please be careful." Fluttershy said.

"Bon voyage, mon frére." Typhoon added.

"Cryo what yer doin' is really brave." Applejack warmly noted.

Everypony else there, the elements, Cadence, even Mr. and Mrs. Cake all said their goodbyes to Cryo and bid him good luck.

"Keep warm you guys. And stay safe."

With that, he darted out the door and hopped on his path of ice as he made it extend up and turned it towards Mount Blackmane. As he skated off, his brother, sisters, and friends all watched him go until he was out of sight.

"It's all on him now." Rose muttered as she looked to Pyro. "Are you sure he can do it?"

"Positive." He answered with no hesitation. "Cryo won't let us down."

"I hope so." That came from Pinkie Pie as she kept looking on in the direction that her partner went. "Cryo....please come back."

Soon after she said that, snow began to fall from the clouds again in a light sprinkle. And as Cryo got closer to the mountain, he saw that it indeed was getting stronger the closer he got. He directed his ice path downwards and stopped it right at the base of Mount Blackmane. In front of him stood a sign that read, "Mount Blackmane. Proceed to hike at your own risk."

Cryo scoffed not threatened at all by the sign. He adjusted the goggles over his eyes and looked up the mountain, half of it out of sight thanks to the clouds.

"Three days. Let's get to it."

He took his first steps past the sign and began his trek. He only hoped he would be fast enough to get up there before Ponyville became completely in snow.

Author's Note

That's all for now. See ya next time and don't forget to comment and or follow us on tumblr!

The Battle of Ponyville (Part 1)

Again I only own my OC's and the plot of this story. Everything else belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Enjoy!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 35: The Battle of Ponyville (Part 1)

It had been eight days since the Almantians had been killed, and everypony's condition seemed to get worse everyday. Spike was the only exception and that was only because Twilight forced him to take a day off. That rest did wonders for his mind and body but anypony who looked could still tell he was hurting.

The clock had just struck midnight and Twilight was still up, unable to sleep. She was still thinking that somehow, Pyro was still maybe on the roof just looking out into the town watching over it. However every time that thought worked its way to the front of her mind. The harsh reality was he was now watching over the town from up above where nopony could reach him, or the other five of his fellow element movers. It always brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes.

Next to her bed, Spike was sawing logs while Owlowiscious was perched near a window looking out at the stars. The avian creature began to give out a few "hoots" once his eyes caught something approaching the house. Twilight was worried he would wake Spike so she trotted over to hush the bird, when another noise stopped her in her tracks. Someone was ringing the doorbell. She spared Spike a glance as she headed for the door he had quieted down and started to stir she thought he might have woken up. Only for a loud snore to sound off behind her letting her know he was still out like a light.

Once she made it downstairs she opened the door only to find herself staring at her friends.

"What are you all doing here?" she asked. "Don't you know how late it is?"

"We know what time it is." Rainbow Dash was the one to answer. "We all just bumped into each other and we weren't sure where to go or what to do...so we came here."

twilight stared at them with a deadpan expression.

"Wait you all expect me to believe that....all five of you couldn't sleep....decided to go for a walk...and then bumped into each other....if that is a coincidence then it's one BIG coincidence."

None of the others could think of anything to say to that mostly because she was right. The chances of all five of them not being able to fall asleep, all of them getting the idea to take a walk, come together with each other, and then decide to go to Twilight's, it seemed just too perfect a setup for something. Whatever it was, Twilight just couldn't put her hoof on it.

"Well...coincidence or not, come on in."

She stepped aside allowing clear passage for the five to enter the library. All of them made their way to the living room and Twilight headed off to the kitchen to make them a batch of tea. When she returned, there hadn't been a word exchanged between any of them. Because they were waiting for her.

"There is something we need to talk about though. All six of us." Rarity started. "Just because Agua and the others are.....gone," She winced at the word. ", it doesn't change the fact that Nightmare Moon is still out there and wanting to take over."

This subject of conversation was coming sooner or later and they all knew it. Over a week of near silence with one another wasn't going to stop it. Rarity was right though. Even though their team had gone down from twelve back to its original six, they were still the last line of defense for Equestria.

"And when she does strike again, what the hay do you suggest we do about it?" Applejack asked not knowing the answer herself. "Don't you remember what that ol' book said? It said that harmony and nature were supposed to come together to beat Nightmare. Well the nature part of that combo ain't here anymore."

"You don't have to keep saying it, AJ. We know it and we don't need to keep being reminded of it!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

Applejack started to get angry at the raise in vocals and glared at the cyan pegasus.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, please settle down." Twilight addressed her friends. "It's been over week since we all talked to each other, and I know it hasn't been easy for any of us. I've been acting one way, I'm sure all of you have been acting your own ways because of your feelings. But Rarity has a point. Right now, we need to discuss a plan of action for when Nightmare does come. And she will come."

"What's the point of planning?" Pinkie muttered depressed. "It doesn't matter what we do. Without our partners, nothing will work."

This was the general tone of anything that exited Pinkie's mouth the past days. Sadness and truth together in every sentence. Even though it was true, Twilight was straining her brain to find some way around it.

"We're going to have to try SOMETHING, Pinkie." Twilight reasoned. "The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful magical weapons in Equestria. We can't give up yet."

"What about the princesses?" Rarity asked. "Maybe they can help."

Twilight scowled at the word, "princess". Still angry at Celestia for her decision, she shot Rarity her look which made the unicorn quickly regret bringing them up.

"The princess has helped enough in this matter. Wouldn't you agree?" She growled.

Rarity didn't dare say another word in fear of pushing Twilight over the edge. She herself had never seen the unicorn do such a thing before but in this state, neither, her nor anypony else wanted to risk it.

"So that's our plan? Just go at 'er with the elements of harmony and just hope it's enough?" Applejack asked.

Calming down, Twilight turned to her country friend and nodded.

"Yes. That's the plan." She confirmed.

That was not the right thing to say in Applejack's eyes.

"Ehh....pardon me fer sayin' this, Twilight. But you gotta be buckin' kiddin me!" She yelled. "If that's really all we got in our brains when it comes to strategy, then we're just done for!"

Hearing that was the last thing she wanted to hear. In the back of Twilight's head, she knew Applejack was right. Going in with just the elements of harmony hoping for a repeat performance was pretty much the only thing her mind could come up with. And even she knew that the chances of it working were a long shot.

"But.." She stammered "..the elements still might be able to-"

"SCREW THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!" Rainbow Dash screamed and stood up. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE ELEMENTS ANYMORE! ALL I CARE ABOUT IS TRYING TO MAKE NIGHTMARE MOON SUFFER! BUCK WHOEVER IS BEING POSSESSED BY HER! LET'S JUST ALL GET SOME KNIVES OR SOMETHING AND RUN HER THROUGH! LET'S REALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM AND JUST BUCKING KILL HER!"

The other five ponies only found themselves able to stare at the pegasus more than surprised at the words that were violently expelled out of her mouth. Spike now stood unnoticed at the top of the staircase. Applejack's earlier yelling had woke him up and he thought it was just a dream. Hearing Rainbow scream was enough to convince him he was awake. Though he was kind of glad she did scream. Had she not he would have gone downstairs and told them to keep it down. Though after rainbows outburst, he quickly reconsidered and simply decided to head back to his bed and look around for his earplugs.

Rainbow was breathing heavily after her speech like she had just finished flying a race or something. Though something was happening with her. She just didn't notice it. Throughout the entire speech, through all the screaming and getting everypony startled, not to mention waking a few of the neighbors, Rainbow finally noticed something when she felt a small droplet of liquid hit her hoof. It was right then she realized that without even knowing it, she had been crying. Once she knew it, her expression changed from angry to confused.

"Wha....w-why....huh...?" She looked to her five friends hoping one of them could answer.

All five of them answered when they stood up and hugged the mare simultaneously. Normally Rainbow would have tried to shove them off but to her surprise, she didn't fight back.

"It's okay, Rainbow." Fluttershy whispered.

"You want revenge. We get it." Twilight added.

"Heck we all wanna see her suffer for what she did." Applejack nuzzled her friend.

"But killing her? That....that just wouldn't be right." Pinkie sadly admitted.

"Bringing about her death would be giving her the easy way out. She deserves nothing of the sort." Rarity reasoned.

Rainbow couldn't help but agree with them all and hugged them back.

"I just......she was just fourteen, girls........" Her eyes were leaking tears but in no way did she want to start sobbing.

Nothing more was said as they continued to hug the mare. Seconds later, the lights all went out throughout the house. Then the next house over lost their lights. Then the next, then the next, and so on until even all the nightclubs lost all power. Most of the houses already had their lights out because a lot of the town was still sleeping. Up above in the cloudy skies, the clouds themselves began to reform as dark energy began to pour into them.

Then the laugh rang.

The laugh of Nightmare Moon was sounded off so loud it woke up the entire town from its slumber and stopped whatever activity the night ponies were doing. Those who were inside went to their windows and looked out of them in fear. Those who were already outside needed to only look up as the once peaceful clouds above Ponyville began to swirl in a circle now pitch black. Above it, there she was. Nightmare Moon had showed herself in full form since the first fight at the construction site.

“MY PUNY SUBJECTS! THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO BOW DOWN TO ME AS YOUR NEW RULER! LOOK AS YOU MAY BUT THERE IS NOPONY COMING TO SAVE YOU! NOR IS THERE ANYPONY WHO CAN SAVE YOU!”

Just like that, nearly the entire population ran out into the streets screaming their heads off and panicking as they tried to run for safety. Then Nightmare spoke again but this time she was addressing six ponies in particular.

"YOU HAVE HAD YOUR TIME TO GRIEVE AS I HAVE ALLOWED! BUT NOW YOUR TIME IS UP! FOR UPON THIS NIGHT, I, NIGHTMARE MOON, SHALL CLAIM ALL OF EQUESTRIA IN MY NAME, STARTING WITH PONYVILLE! JUST TRY TO STOP ME NOW! WAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"

The six mares stood up and looked towards the front door.

"What do we do?" Rarity asked afraid. "We don't have a chance."

"Wrong." Twilight took a step forward. "We have one chance."

Just like in Canterlot, the element of magic crown appeared upon the top of Twilight's head.

"Girls, I know things seem horribly bleak. That doesn't matter to me though. We still have to try and stop her. The Elements of Harmony are powerful and if focused enough, it could be enough to vanquish Nightmare Moon just like last time."

"But, Twilight, this ain't like last time. Nightmare is a whole heap of a lot more powerful now. There's no guarantee that the elements alone are enough to beat her." Applejack said with the utmost worry.

"I've never been so scared before....." Fluttershy murmured.

"The whole world is going to be covered in sad black forever." Pinkie groaned.

"It can't be done with just us six, Twilight......not this time I'm afraid." Rarity finished.

Twilight could not believe the sight in front of her eyes. Everypony was throwing in the towel before they had a chance to even start. She knew out of all ponies that her friends had their moments where they backed out of things. But to see them here, to see the Elements of Harmony too afraid to do their duty, she was wishing that this was all just a bad dream.

"So freakin what if we can't?"

Then Rainbow Dash said that. He joined Twilight by her side and her element of loyalty necklace sparked into existence around her neck.

"If we can't beat her, then we can't. It's that easy. But girls we can't just roll over and give up. We have to fight. Not for Equestria, not for the princesses, not even for ourselves. We have to go out there and fight for them. For our friends. For Gem, Terra, Cryo.....all of them. We have to give her a fight otherwise it just means that they died for nothing. And I absolutely refuse to insult them like that."

Twilight, even though knowing what was happening right now, smiled at her pegasus friend then looked to the other four.

"Rainbow is right. If we just stay inside and wait for Nightmare Moon to come for us without any opposition....then we were never really their friends at all."

Collectively, they all seemed to sigh defeated by logic and of course, their still grieving minds.

"Yer right, Twi. You too, Rainbow. This is our town." Applejack joined them as her element of honesty necklace appeared around her neck. "Ah sure as hell ain't lettin' her stake a flag into it without a fight.”

The mare of magic nodded to the country mare then looked to the others.

“And as for the rest of you?”

Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy knew at this point there wasn't any other choice at this point in the game. The ivory unicorn stepped in first stating that she wasn't going to let anything happen to them on her watch. That made her element of generosity come shining forth on her body. Fluttershy and Pinkie finished it together both of them thinking of the time they joined their partners in a godlike bond. Their respective necklaces glowed into physical matter around their necks.

"Spike," Twilight called for her assistant and younger brother figure and he came down. "I want you to go down to the basement, lock the door, and stay there until we come get you. Things are about to get very dangerous."

Spike jumped onto Twilight and tightly hugged her. A gesture to which the mare reciprocated.

"I love you. Be careful." He whispered.

"I love you too, Spike. We all will."

With that, Spike did as he was told and went to the basement locking the door behind him. Once more, Twilight turned to look at her team.

"Then let's go and fight."

The door swung open and all six mares dashed out the door and towards the source of darkness where the shadowmares were coming from.

"Before we try and go for Nightmare, we need to try and make sure everypony in Ponyville is safe!" Twilight shouted.

Rainbow Dash was about to agree, then she looked up and behind her when she heard a series of pegasus wings flapping.

"We don't have to! We got backup coming in!" she shouted at Twilight.

All six of them stopped and turned around to see squads of royal guard soldiers, both solar and lunar, flying in armored up and armed with weapons. Unicorns and earth pony guards were being hauled in via transport carts attached to a few carrier pegasi guards. They all landed near the entrance to the town and they were met there by the mane 6. Shining Armor made his way to the front of his troops to get s situation report from his sister.

Before he could get one, a bright light from above shone down upon the group and the three princesses all emerged from it and floated down to the ground with the assistance of their wings. None of them seemed to be wearing any sort of battle armor. Only their normal regalia. Upon seeing the solar princess in front of her, Twilight, along with all five of her friends, scowled at her.

“I’m still mad at you.” She growled. "Don't you think for a second that's changed just cause some time has gone by."

The white alicorn looked sadly to her student and nodded.

"I never expected otherwise, Twilight Sparkle. You and your friends have every right to despise me for my actions."

"But that however must be put aside for now." Luna said as she stepped forward. "Friends or not, we are all still allies against Nightmare Moon and we must act and fight as such."

There were no arguments in the night princess's words. The group of six were still plenty angry at Celestia for pretty much condemning their friends. Like it or not though, they were still on the same side in the fight.

"Twilight, what do you need me to do?" Shining Armor asked.

"I need you to evacuate Ponyville as fast as you can. While you do that, we'll go for Nightmare. Hopefully we can end this here and now." She wasted no time in answering.

Hearing that response was all Shining Armor needed. He turned away from his little sister and back to his garrison of troops.

"Alright here's the sitrep. Nightmare Moon is in Ponyville right now about ready to lay waste to it. Your mission is to evacuate every single pony in that town and get them to safety out of there. Now I’m not gonna lie to you, troops. Nightmare Moon is a very dangerous and powerful being. If you choose to go in there, there is a chance that you may not come back out. Your orders are as follows. If you see Nightmare Moon, do not engage with her. Focus on your mission to evacuate the civilians. As soldiers it is our duty to risk our own lives for the safety of those who need protection. And we will perform our duty! Is that clear?!”

“YES SIR!” Every single troop shouted in unison.

“Then get your flanks moving!” Shining Armor gave the command.

Immediately it was followed, squads of troops rushed to the city intent on saving everypony in it. While they did that, The harmony bearers, Princess Celestia and Luna, and Shining Armor started to head straight for the center of town, where Nightmare Moon was waiting.

All throughout town, ponies ran and screamed through the streets while trying to make their way to safety wherever it is they thought it would be. Big Mac had to let Granny Smith ride on top of his back because she was in no shape to even attempt to run as fast as he could. Applebloom was right behind him and keeping the pace.

“Big Mac! Ah’m scared!” she cried to her big brother.

“I know ya are, Applebloom! Just keep on runnin!” Big Mac instructed.

“To where?! These things are everywhere!” she yelled.

Big Mac had to admit she had a point. There were shadows everywhere blocking nearly every path out of town. He had to think of something quick. He was responsible for both Granny Smith and Applebloom right now while Applejack had to stick with the other elements.

"Just stay close!" he shouted back to her. "We'll get outta here! We just gotta-"

He was cut off when he heard the filly give out a loud shriek and came to an abrupt halt almost throwing Granny Smith off his back. He turned around and both Mac and his grandmother to see Applebloom caught in the grip of one of those shadow creatures. It looked like a pony only there were tentacles lashing out from its back.

"APPLEBLOOM!" Big Mac bolted back to try and get her.

He was blocked by two more of those same creatures. The one that had Applebloom ran off with her screaming her brother's name while Big Mac tried to move one inch closer to her but ultimately failed to do so. Enraged, the stallion turned around and gave both of them a hard buck as if he was trying to break a whole row of trees with one strike. His two legs connected with both of them and sent them flying quite a ways back doing a hefty bit of damage. With that done, Big Mac resumed his running and tried to find Applebloom. Only she and the creature who had her had already disappeared.

Meanwhile back with the six bearers, they made their way all through the streets of Ponyville until finally, right near Town Hall in the center of the village, there hovered the entity of darkness with a cruel smirk as she listened to the ponies all scream in terror.

"That's it, my little ponies. Run. Scream. It won't matter what you do now. Soon this town will be mine! It will make a great foundation for my new shadow legion! First I will conquer Equestria! And then....ALAMANTE! MWWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!"

"NIGHTMARE MOON!"

Not surprised in the least to hear that voice, Nightmare looked down to see Twilight standing at the front of the group looking confident as ever. The others did their best to try and look the least bit intimidating. Some pulled it off, and some, Pinkie and Fluttershy in this case, did not. Rainbow, Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack were at least scowling. Pinkie and Fluttershy however were both still sad and terrified. Respectively of course.

"Oh how amusing." Nightmare began to descend on them. "The student of Celestia still tries to make a stand."

"We're not going to let you take our town!" Rainbow screamed.

"Oh is that right?" the alicorn asked still giggling. "Well let's see. I was able to kill the six godly avatars without barely lifting a hoof. Exactly how do you think you can stop me?"

She was smiling, she was laughing while she said it. She proudly expressed that she killed them like it was for sport or something. It made something in Rainbow just snap and fly straight for her.

"I'LL BUCKING KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO GEM!!!!"

There was a little bit of surprise on both ends seeing Rainbow go crazy like that. Nightmare shook if off easily and dodged the pegasus with a short range teleport and caught hold of her rail. She swung Rainbow around then through her back towards her friends. Rarity caught her just in time using her magic before she hit the ground.

"Rainbow Dash, please calm down." Rarity tried to soothe her. "We can't afford to have these kinds of emotions right now."

"She's right." Twilight agreed. "Come on girls. Lets power up these elements."

Nightmare didn't move an inch.

"Oh this I just have to see."

"Wait...you're....not gonna try and stop us?" Pinkie asked totally confused.

"And why would I? I think it's plainly obvious to everypony that the six of you feel nothing but grief and anger towards me. With only those kinds of feelings running through your heads, how do you even plan to activate your precious elements?"

She had them at a silence. They knew the dark alicorn had a point. With their current emotional state, they could conjure their elements to appear on their bodies, but getting them to activate was another story.

"We'll show you how, right here!" Twilight cried.

As she did, her element of magic jewel began to glow. With determination burning in her heart, she turned back to her friends.

“Girls listen! I know how you all feel right now. Believe me. I’m sad too. But we can still feel sad and win. Don’t think about them being dead. Just think about the good times we shared with them! All the times we laughed together and enjoyed being around each other. Every smile, every meal shared, every day and night we spent alongside them and learning more about them. Girls........this fight is for them....and them alone."

Twilight's horn wasn't the only source of magic out there. The words she spilled out of her mouth seemed to work as the five of her friends took them to heart. They were starting to think less about their gruesome death and a lot more about what happened while they were alive. Gem's birthday party, meeting the princesses, meeting each other, fighting alongside each other, every single memory replayed in all of their heads like a home movie. Even the times Rarity got infuriated with Agua now seemed to make her giggle.

Pinkie Pie's mane began to slowly curl back up into its normal poofy state but was not all the way there. Her hair though played no part in her element of harmony which now, along with all the rest, was now starting to glow. The light shining from all six jewelry pieces combined to form a radiant shine of pure white making Nightmare take a step back and shield her eyes from the shine. Every Shadowmare nearby was instantly dissolved into nothing.

Six pairs of eyes then all lost their irises and glowed white too. Then came the part Nightmare wasn't looking forward too. The rainbow colored beam that had done her in twice now had once again formed and blasted right at her. Like before, the rainbow swirled around her as it began to block anypony from viewing her. The glowing in the harmony bearers’ eyes died down as she vanished behind the rainbow wall. Seeing it made them feel pretty good about themselves.

“Aw yeah! Take that, Nightmare!” Rainbow boasted.

“Oh I did, fool. Quite well actually.”

Hearing her voice respond made them all lose whatever hope they had. The rainbow that made up the harmony blast was now swirling around Nightmare who was waving her hooves with the rainbow’s movements.

“But…..but how?” Fluttershy squeaked.

Nightmare heard Fluttershy even though she was barely audible.

“What is it you had believed? That I would be stupid enough to not learn from my past mistakes? After being subdued to the same tools of my defeat twice?” Nightmare said as the rainbow she had control over formed into a sphere and turned as black as death itself.

“The Elements of Harmony are now mere pea shooters when used on me!"

Then Nightmare did something she had wanted to do for a long time. She struck back at them using their own attack. The black sphere had changed form into that of a dark energy blast aimed right for the group of six.

All six got hit with it. They got hit hard. Not just physically. As they all thudded to the ground together in a mess pile, they could literally feel their hearts break as it dawned on them that the ponies that they had just a few seconds ago claimed to fight for had officially died for nothing.

Not far from them, Princess Celestia and Luna watched the scene with nothing but horrified shock as Equestria's most powerful line of defense was just seen to be useless on this foe. Shining Armor and his brigade too had seen and the former now feared for his sister's life.

"Sister...this cannot be possible...." Luna was at a loss for words. "The Elements of Harmony are the strongest magic Equestria has."

"It has become quite clear, my dear Luna, that the elements themselves are not going to be enough to stop Nightmare Moon this time."

Both alicorns took flight, horns charging up. Simultaneously, they fired off deadly beams of magic in Nightmare's direction. Snapping her head their way, Nightmare's horn glowed brightly and cast out a force field surrounding her body. The dual spells fired by the royal sisters made contact with the barrier but did very little to damage it, again, much to their surprise. Nothing was working. The elements got thrown back at the bearers' faces, and the combined power of both of Equestria rulers did absolutely nothing.

Before they could try another spell, both of them found themselves trapped in the tendrils of shadowbeasts made from Nightmare's henchponies combining again. They were brought down to near ground level and Nightmare, who was now laughing like crazy in triumph, approached them.

"Oh this is just too good to be true." She boasted. "First I redirect the harmony blast back at the six who fired it at me, and now I have both you and your precious little sister right here in my clutches."

Luna was growling something furiously and jerking her body in every direction wanting to badly to cause physical harm to the being she once was. Her restraints wouldn't give however and she was stuck to hear her taunts. Meanwhile back down on the ground, the harmony bearers start to painfully get back up to their hooves as their minds raced to find another plan

“If...if the elements of harmony can't hurt no anymore......." Applejack started.

"Then what do we do now?" Rarity finished.

As usual, the five of them turned to Twilight for an answer. The mare was now slumped down on her haunches with her head hanging all the way down. What she had just seen was something she thought impossible. The princesses were overpowered, the elements of harmony were ineffective, and there was nowhere else to turn, no more tricks, no plan B.

"We do nothing."

Those three words were her answer to Rarity's question.

"Face it girls…...we’re doomed. We can’t do this…..she’s won.”

There was nothing left to be said after that because they sadly knew that she was right. They failed. Miserably. Nightmare, who was enjoying seeing the personal student of Princess Celestia admit defeat, decided to bring their lives to an end. A large portion of Shadowmares from around the town all came at Nightmare’s call and began to melt their bodies into one big puff of black smoke that only grew larger with every Shadowmare that added their own essence to it. As that took place, the others who were not adding onto it remained still giving the guards and Shining Armor a better chance at taking a few of them out. Which they did. But soon enough, they regained movement and they were back where they started. Overwhelmed. Even Shining Armor with all his combat spells and training could barely stand his ground. Then he found himself trapped as two Shadowmares behind him combined their own bodies together to form a larger version of a unicorn Shadowmare but this one had tentacles coming out of its back. They enwrapped the captain of the guard and then calmly walked with him in its grasp to where his younger sister and friends were. He saw that there were more of the tentacle Shadowmares carrying various loved ones and friends of the group of six. Applebloom was caught, the Cakes, minus their twin babies who had been carried off by a friend, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Nightmare herself then appeared above them, hovering with her wings spread.

“Well, this wasn’t as much of a challenge as I was anticipating. I must say Twilight Sparkle, I’m rather disappointed with you and your friends that this is all you have to offer me. Another rainbow show like before and it did nothing.” She began to smugly grin in victory. “The first time you took me out was with a bright blast that really hurt. Allow me to return the favor!”

The group of shadowy henchponies that Nightmare had ordered to fuse showed its new form. There was now a shadow beast towering taller than the town hall building and in the form of a deformed dragon with two heads. With a mighty roar, it showed how threatening it was as its soundwaves pierced the eardrums of everypony within range of hearing it. Then it focused its attention on the harmony bearers at its feet.

The six of them huddled together as the shadow beast began to gather energy forming from its mouth to charge up its attack.

"TWILIGHT! GET AWAY!" Shining Armor screamed.

"APPLEJACK, GET UP AND RUN!" Applebloom cried for her sister to move.

“PINKIE PIE! MOVE! NOW!” Mrs. Cake yelled as Mr. Cake struggled to get free.

She didn't move. None of them did. Accepting their defeat, the six of them hung their heads down not wanting to watch their inevitable demise come forth.

Still unable to move, Shining Armor, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, the Cakes, and Scootaloo struggled as much as they could to free themselves but were unable to achieve the feat. Aside from the sound of the energy giving off a humming sound as it grew more intense and charged up, hardly another sound could be heard to the harmonious ponies as they drowned them out hearing nothing but their last breaths.

One of Pinkie's ear's twitched as she heard something else. She just couldn't tell what it was. The shadow beast as well heard the sound and looked around while still charging up his attack. The charging though was cut off when the sound intensified and the object making it revealed itself. A long spinning object surrounded by a powerful energy field of yellow colored magic flew in from behind the beast and cut its way right through the back of its neck and out the front side of it. The attack that the beast had been charging fizzled away and shortly after, so did it, leaving Nightmare Moon angry and confused as to what just happened.

The object that did the beast in struck the ground in front of the group of six. Looking at it, the group saw that the object was that of a strange looking staff. The grip was long and crafted from thick strong wood. At the ends were two metal blades. One in the shape of a horizontal crescent, and the other end’s looked like that of an odd shovel. Everypony who saw it immediately began to look around for anypony who could have thrown the weapon but found nopony in sight. Rainbow Dash got up and approached the blade looking it over.

"Cool..." She reached a hoof for the handle intent on pulling it out of the ground.

Inches away from the grip, she jerked away. The cause of that was a white blur coming from her left and swiping the spade from her reach before it swiftly glided along the ground and circled around twirling the staff-like weapon as it headed for the tentacled Shadowmares. They didn’t even have a chance. With movement faster then their eyes could see, the spade end of the staff slashed through them down the line and one by one they all dissolved letting loose their captives.

Once Nightmare Moon had saw that the weapon belonged to this figure, she ordered immediately a squad of Shadowmares to take it out. Instead of running away, the figure darted straight for the squad and jumped, spade swinging fiercely.

At Nightmare’s command, more shadowmares began to charge for the bearers of harmony along with their loved ones as well. Sooner than expected though, they found their path to them blocked by another figure draped in white. This one armed with a custom built longbow and a quiver filled with arrows was strapped to its back. The squad of shadowmares still charged and one single arrow was drawn from the quiver. Tied to the head of the arrow was a small white pellet. The white figure pulled back on the draw strong and aimed for the ground near where the shadowmares were and fired. When it hit the ground, the pellet on the arrow exploded into a huge cloud of white smoke. The figure then jumped in to join the shadowmares.

From the cloud, there came sounds of hooves colliding with bodies, whimpers and growls, and also the screams of shadowmares. When the smoke cleared a matter of seconds later, the white figure was once again seen but it was the only one standing up. Every single shadowmare around her was on the ground letting their last seconds of existence pass by. All at once, they all evaporated and the white figure carrying the bow made its way to group and stood armed with another arrow as if to be their shield. The six mares got back up on their hooves as their loved ones embraced them, not taking their eyes off of this arrow firing being.

Nightmare Moon, who was still hovering above them, was starting to get angry. The other one carrying the spade weapon was still going at it with the first group that she had created. Her horn flared up again and created another squad of her shadowy minions. These ones fewer in numbers but at least 5 times the size and in the shape of manticores.

"She can make shadow manticores too?!" Rarity cried.

The figure drew another arrow from the quiver and drew it back ready to fire. As the five dark manticores approached, they were hit from the side, by a third white figure. This one was also armed but with a halberd style axe. The blade of that axe chopped cleanly through the neck of the first one on the left. As it evaporated, the wielder jumped over the second left one as the archer shot that one down with a double arrow shot to both of its eyes. That halberd then made a repeat performance to the center manticore cutting its head off. Two more arrows were launched from that bow drilling into the fourth one's cranium. The fifth one was actually able to dodge both the axe wielder and the archer's shots. It slashed its tail into the axe swinger's body sending it back away and swatted at the arrows shot at it.

The archer did not reach for another arrow. It instead ran straight for the beast on two hooves and slid on the ground going underneath the belly right when it lunged for her. It caught on to its tail and used it to swing up and onto the head of the faux manticore and drove an arrow through its nonexistent skull like a knife thus making it evaporate like the others.

"She does make manticores and various other creatures." The white figure's voice was distorted heavily. "But she doesn't make good ones."

As the figure ran off to join its spade wielding comrade, the one carrying the halberd axe approached them joined by two others. One of them had a pair of dual wooden tonfa and the other's front legs were outfitted with metal gauntlets with retractable claw-like blades. The axe holder looked at Rarity for a second before speaking, also with a very distorted voice.

"Get your friends and family to safety."

The unicorn turned back to see her younger sister frozen in place along with the other loved ones of her friends. She had no idea who this figure was. None of them did. But they were holding their own. That meant that maybe there was still some hope. Desperate to grab onto that hope, Rarity nodded towards the figure and rushed over to Sweetie Belle and Applejack joined her to see if Applebloom was okay.

"Sweetie, you and your friends have to get out of here, now."

There was no argument from Sweetie Belle or any of the other crusaders. Shining Armor called over a squad of his troops and ordered them to escort the civilians out of the city. They followed the order immediately as more Shadowmares began to fall in. The way out for the group of civilians was now blocked entirely by Shadowmares. The dark ponies began to approach, but then they were halted as three more white figure rushed in becoming an obstacle between them and the civilians. Each of them were armed. One had dual wooden tonfa batons, the one in the middle unsheathed a pair of butterfly swords, and the one on the right threw out its arms unleashing three metal claws attached to her gauntlets.

The one carrying the swords looked back to eye Applejack and, like the others, spoke with that same distortion.

"Take another way out. We'll cover you."

Applejack couldn't tell if the figure speaking to her was even a male or female pony but that wasn't her top priority right now. Taking the words to heart, she and Rarity redirected the civilians down a different street while those three figures launched into the horde of Shadowmares, weapons swinging like crazy.

Just outside town, most of Ponyville's citizens were standing there and looking at their beloved village in fear for what was about to happen to it. Their thoughts changed when they all looked up and saw both princesses flying down towards them, horns charging up. They landed in front of their Ponyville subjects then turned to face each other, connecting the tips of their horns. A spark emanated from the touch and took on the form of a circle shaped window that showed the exterior of Canterlot Castle. Calmly as she could, Luna spoke.

"This is a portal that leads directly to the castle gates. All of you go in now. You'll be safe there."

"But....but what about, Ponyville?" The mayor asked frantically.

"I can assure you Mayor Mare, Ponyville is not going anywhere." Celestia assured her. "Now please. Go in."

With an exasperated exhale, Mayor Mare followed the command of her rulers and jumped into the portal, followed a few at time by her fellow ponies. Once they ponies reached the other side of the gate, they looked to the front entrance of the castle and saw Princess Cadence exiting the castle to address them hoping to try and calm them down. It wasn't going to be easy.

"Please, hear me! I know you're scared. But I can assure you that the situation down in Ponyville will be handled!"

And of course, as she expected, nopony there bought it. They all began to rabble. Through their mixed chatter, Cadence could still hear the loudest of them.

"Are you seriously believing that?!"

"That is Nightmare Moon down there!!!"

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

"SILENCE!"

To hear the princess of love speak in the royal Canterlot voice was one of the most rare events ever thought of. But either way, Cadence's loud volume was able to bring the panicking to a halt at least in terms of volume.

"Everypony, please, calm down. I'm scared too. My husband is down there fighting against her and so are my friends. While they are, I will do my best to keep you protected. Now please. Go inside the castle and wait there."

The doors opened up and as calmly as the princess of love and the lunar guards could keep them, the entire population of Ponyville began to enter the castle. Once they were all inside, Cadence took one last gander at the town below before proceeding inside herself.

"Please be careful, Shining Armor." She wished in fear.

Back down in the town, the figures in white were doing quite the fair job in holding off the Shadowmares. Rarity, having an eye for detail, began watching the one carrying the halberd axe seeing something in his movements.

"No it isn't." She muttered. "It's simply not."

Her attention was diverted when a Shadowmare came screaming from the left and began to swing at her. Gracefully, the fashionista got up in a bipedal form and dodged the wild strikes. When one was thrown to the right side of her head, she blocked it with her right side hoof and threw a punch to the nose with her left. It hit dead on and that started a chain of even more spot on hits from Rarity's martial arts skills. When it was weak enough, Rarity's last sidekick was enough to make it dissolve.

"Your fighting technique is impressive."

That voice came from Princess Luna who had just returned from the evacuation outside of town along with her sister. The six harmony bearers approached them as the last of the Shadowmares around were being taken care of by the figure with the spade. That same figure soon joined the group and looked up to Celestia.

"Is the town secure?" it asked her.

"The entire town has been evacuated to Canterlot Castle. It's only us here now."

"Good. Now we can focus-"

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The figure barely turned himself around in time to block the strike from the enraged spirit of darkness that threw it. His spade blocked a swing from a sword made entirely of shadows. Then she pulled it back to swing at the figure again, and again, and again, with every swing being deflected with speed and skill to match her own weapon skills.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE COME FOR THIS?!!? WHO ARE YOU TO TRY AND STOP ME IF THE PRINCESSES NOR ELEMENTS OF HARMONY CAN STOP ME?! TELL ME!!!! WHO ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

She jumped backwards and flapped her wings hovering above the ground as her horn charged up and fired a powerful blast of dark magic down to the figure. At first it seemed like it was fully enveloped by the blast. But when it cleared, a force field was seen covering the figure.

In a familiar shade of orange magic.

As the shield died down, the figure moved its hoof up to the hood of the robe and threw it back off its head revealing a pair of yellow eyes. Seeing those two eyes made Nightmare's anger, ambition, and confidence came to a screeching halt. Everypony else who saw the head, they just went silent in utter shock as they found themselves unable to accept that it was real.

Those eyes, that head, and that mane of brilliant red and orange, belonged to the stallion of fire.

"No.....impossible......I killed you! Your body was discovered!" Nightmare shouted.

The unicorn twirled his staff and let the spade end rest on the ground while his free hoof reached to the robe and pulled it off his body. He tossed it aside and let it crumple to the ground next to him.

"Let me ask you, Nightmare Moon. Did you really think killing us would be that easy?"

The dark alicorn was never given a chance to finish. From underneath the ground Nightmare was directly above, a familiar mare of earth came shooting out of it ramming her rock covered hoof into Nightmare's gut and sending her even more skyward. She spread her wings to keep herself from going out of control more than she had but she soon realized she wasn't alone in the air. The wind all around her began to go erratic. Bolts of lightning began to form in the clouds above but they were not of Nightmare's work. No. These bolts were bright purple.

The clouds above began to turn and funnel down into twister. With every flash of light that came from the tornado, the shadows of two more ponies could be seen inside. They came down at Nightmare at full speed ramming into her side sending her back towards the ground without control. She regained control before she hit the ground and was now hovering above the rooftops trying to shake off the pain and figure out just what the buck was going on.

Her attention was diverted when a fire hydrant on the ground burst open from the top. The gallons of water gushing out of it began to swirl around her in a slow moving vortex. Looking around the circular wall, Nightmare spotted one figure swiftly swimming around in the vortex in the same direction it was spinning. And then the second figure, who was now unhooded, showed his face.

The white unicorn of ice was staying still in the vortex thanks to his brother’s work. He was breathing from a reed made of ice going into his mouth and seeing from a pair of goggles he also made with his icy powers extending out of the water. Spotting Nightmare and seeing her still recuperating, Cryo made his strike. Even with his movements restrained by that much water, he still was able to make strong enough motions with his hooves to freeze chunks of water and send them flying at the dark alicorn. Each chunk pelted Nightmare right on target one after the other. While the ice shards kept her occupied, the blue pony within his element made his own strike. A large column of water formed from the vortex and aimed straight down slamming into Nightmare’s back. A large splash formed when Agua’s attack forced her to crash into the ground, leaving her in a crater very much weakened.

As she lay in her crash site, Agua and Cryo's hooves returned to the ground not far and they were joined by the rest of their siblings. First Pyro, then Typhoon landed with Gem on her back, and finally Terra joined the group. Behind them, the elements of harmony looked at their backs unable to find words to leave their mouth. They were alive. They saw the ship blow up, they found their bodies, but here they were. Breathing. Fighting. Like none of it even happened.

"So....did we get her?" Terra asked as she looked at the downed alicorn.

Not a second later did she get a reply. Nightmare's eyes shot straight open and a shockwave of dark energy sent the six of them sprawling backwards. All six Alamantians easily re-adjusted themselves to land on their hooves unscathed to watch their foe rise up into the air surrounded by a dark blue bubble of unbreakable matter.

"She's regenerating." Pyro muttered as he turned to his youngest sibling. "We've only got a matter of minutes. Gem did you-?"

"Everything's in place. We're set to go." She said with an affirmative nod.

It was then that all six Alamantians turned to look at the regal alicorn of the sun who looked not at all surprised to see they were alive and well.

"I think that's your cue, your highness." Agua said.

"Indeed it is."

Her wings carried Celestia up above the roofs of Ponyville and her horn began to shine bright golden yellow like the body of heat she raised and set every day. Her eyes closed as she concentrated hard on the spell she was casting. If her eyes were open, she would have seen twinkles of light come from the perimeter of Ponyville all coming into brightness one by one around the town in a perfect circle. A few seconds more of charging up and the spell was cast as a white glowing orb of magic became fully charged at the tip of her horn. That orb turned into a beam of light that was sent straight up a ways and then split into multiple beams coming down like shooting stars straight for where those twinkles came from.

The beams came into contact with the source of those unknown lights, which turned out to be various identical looking glass scepters. In total, were 14 of them. On the top of each of these yard and a half long scepters were golden orbs to go with the spell Celestia had cast. Once the spell came into contact with those orbs, a force field began to form from each of them. They spread around the town merging with the fields formed from the other scepters and becoming one until the entire town was underneath a white glowing dome providing the town with quite the light source.

Her work done, Celestia landed quite proud of her work.

"What...." Twilight was trying to reel her mind back in from the shock of finding out her friends thought deceased were still alive and now this was piled onto it. "....what...."

"Calm yourself, Twilight. I know you are confused." Celestia said to her student.

"Confused?!" Rainbow seemed a bit ticked off. "Princess, what's going on?! How are they still alive?! What was that spell you just cast!?!"

"Rainbow Dash...."

Hearing that voice once more made Rainbow immediately turn herself around to face its owner. Gem was slowly approaching her.

"I...I know this is a lot to take in...but we'll explain everything when we can."

"Right now isn't the best time." Cryo agreed with his youngest sister. "We can all talk-GAH!"

Before he could continue he found himself tackled to the ground and struggling to breathe in the tightening grip of Pinkie Pie, whose mane, tail, and fur coat were now back to its full bright color and curliness.

"CRYO! YOU'RE ALIVE! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ALIVE!

Happy tears were spilling out of her eyes in fountains as she cried, overjoyed to be with her partner again. The ice mover was happy to see her too no doubt but the moment was a bit ruined by the fact that he was choking.

"Pinkie....Pinkie I'm happy to see you too but....can't breathe....need oxygen...."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack went over to Pinkie to help her off Cryo. He got up, picked his tonfa back up, and breathed, all the while smiling at his partner with happiness, but mostly sorrow.

"I know we have a lot of explaining to do but we promise we'll tell you all everything after this whole thing is done with." he said assuredly.

"Then we'll have a big party! A 'We kicked the snot out of Nightmare Moon slash Our Friends Are Alive" party!" Pinkie shouted, her enthusiasm and happiness seeming about ready to burst.

The ice mover couldn't help but laugh, even at this time.

"Pinkie, you know it." he chuckled.

Inappropriate timing it may have been, but it still brought a smile to everypony to see Pinkie back to her old self again. Twilight's mind quickly found something else to focus on as she gazed upwards to the force field surrounding the whole town.

"What is this? Some sort of shield spell?"

"Way more advanced than that." Gem explained. "It's a high level containment field. Designed for the purpose of keeping powerful enemies from leaving its perimeter. The scepters placed around Ponyville filter in an atmosphere that negates power to teleport out of it. But..."

That one word could make any sort of good news become bad in a way.

"It also means we can't teleport out either." Gem kept on explaining. "We can still teleport to different places INSIDE the field. But nopony, save for Princess Celestia and Luna, can leave.

"So we pretty much HAVE to beat Nightmare Moon now." Typhoon added. "Zis ees our only chance."

They all looked up to the containment field surrounding the town at the new information being brought to their attention. The magic floating around them generated by the shield was stripping them of their ability to teleport. Only the pony who cast the spell can be granted access in or out.

"My sister and I will trust this task to you and your siblings, Pyro." Celestia spoke for both alicorns.

Luna though was still wrapping her head around what was happening. She was there when the airship exploded. She saw all of them get dug up from the wreckage. She cried for them, mourned their deaths. And now here they were once more, alive and well....like it was nothing.

Agua turned to the water moving alicorn noticing that she was starting to get very annoyed and enraged at this deception. He wanted to explain, but Cryo was right. Now was not the time.

"Your highnesses, if you are to leave, you must do it now." the blue stallion said. "We have to kick a nightmarish ass."

Celestia agreed with a nod and turned around to form a portal with her magic that lead to the throne room of the castle. Luna moved only after hearing her elder sister call to her and both of them walked through the portal. There was only one pony left to leave. And that was Shining Armor. He bid them all luck and turned to leave.

"Wait."

Only to be stopped inches away from it by Pyro's request.

"What I said at the castle days ago, I meant it." He said firmly. "Shining Armor, it would be an honor to fight alongside you in this battle."

Surprised more than anything, the captain of the guard turned around to lock eyes once again with the red unicorn. Those yellow irises backed up what his mouth had just spout out. He was serious.

"You.....you want me to stay?" He asked to make sure he hadn't misheard.

Again, a nod was the answer before his voice joined into it.

"Yes. We may have our many differences but we both want the same thing. To beat her tonight. With your help I believe we can do it."

"We're gonna need every bit of help out hooves can get ahold of." Terra added.

A valid point indeed. This wasn't just a group of Shadowmares this time. This was Nightmare Moon herself. It was going to take a lot more strength and effort in order to come out victorious. Shining Armor couldn't see any other choice now. The portal closed and he turned his body fully in their direction.

"Let's do this."

Terra, Agua, and Cryo smirked hearing that. The mare of earth walked over to her partner and threw a hoof around her back.

"You ready to kick some ass, Jackie?"

An icy glare from the cowgirl was what Terra got first before she spoke.

"First we whoop them, and then Ah'll whoop all y'all Alamantians for lyin' to all of us."

Terra backed off not surprised by this reaction at all.

"Fair enough."

Growling, Applejack joined the others as they all turned to face on direction. Facing Nightmare Moon as she regenerated in her shield. She was right there. Seeing her only made the intensity and meaning of this fight come to their heads harshly. Do or die. That's what this was. They were going to have to fight her hoof to hoof and it was not going to be easy. No amount of training they could have taken could have possibly been enough to prepare them for this.

But none of those thoughts mattered. Only one did. There could only be one thought surging through all of their brains when it came down to this. That thought was one word. Win. Win and they live. Win and their home is safe. Win and they never have to see or hear from her EVER again. Win and they can hug and kiss their loved ones with joy once more.

Win was the only option tonight.

“Wait. Before we all go charging into a battle there’s something I have to do.”

Pyro looked oddly at his partner after she said that. Then he was taken by surprise. Twilight threw her hooves around Pyro and hugged him tightly and shed a single tear.

“I’m so happy you’re alive.” She said with a cracking voice. "I'm mad that you tricked us like this but I'm just happy to see you too."

Shining Armor looked at the sight with a bit of surprise. The way Twilight was hugging Pyro in the same fashion in which she hugs a member of her family.

Not the least bit curious as to why he was doing it, Pyro put a single hoof around his lavender partner.

“I'm glad to see you too.” he mumbled as they pulled away. “I promise you. Nopony here is going to die.”

“You really think you can make that happen?”

“Word of honor.”

Those three words again. Now that they have seen first hoof exactly how much keeping that word means to them, the bearers of harmony felt ready to entrust them with the whole world on their shoulders. That was good because that's pretty much what the stakes were here.

Nightmare Moon, still protected by a force field of her own, had regained enough power to create once more. Below her, a wall of shadow rose up and out of it like a doorway, spilled out tons of shadowmares charging right for the team. The feral noises grew louder with every step they took in their direction.

“What now, Pyro?” Twilight asked him.

“Now Twilight…..the battle begins.”

All six Alamantians stood bipedal and readied their weapons. Cryo twirled his tonfa around once and they became layered with ice. Terra threw out her front legs and let loose her claws from her gauntlets. Typhoon tightened her grip on her bow and drew back an arrow. Gem's twin butterfly swords began to spark as her element channeled through the blades. In one hoof, Agua held his axe. The other had became soaked in water and extended out to create a whip of the H2O. And lastly, Pyro gave his spade a spin over his head and both ends, the spade, and crescent, lit up in flames.

Their partners, now renewed with more hope for this battle, looked to them and their weapons almost as if they were looking at brand new ponies. Shining Armor cracked his neck and placed his helmet on his head, horn charging up.

"Do you really think we can do this?" Fluttershy looked to her own partner.

"I do not theenk, Fluttershy." She replied. "I KNOW we will be ze victors here."

They all sounded so sure. But the truth is the fate of this battle would only be determined with time. The hoard of Shadowmares only kept getting closer and closer with each second, and everypony in Canterlot could only sit and wait hoping that the outcome would be in Equestria's favor.

One way or another, this is going to be the battle that forever changes Equestria.

Author's Note

Pyro's Weapon - https://www.kungfudirect.com/prodimages/TDL/TD-Chan-b.jpg