"AVALANCHE!" Fluttershy screamed as a tiny pebble fell down and touched her flank. Her five friends looked up nervously at the jutting rock of the mountain where they were tasked to find a special kind of rock for Pinkie Pie's sister, Maud. The rock above them crumbled, and an avalanche started.
Cracks as loud as explosions resounded in the air as tons of rock descended down the cliff at lightning speed. At first, the six ponies were able to dodge the rockslide. They narrowly made it to an alcove where they were sheltered from danger.
"That was sure close," Applejack whispered, not wanting to start another avalanche. But just as the other five ponies nodded in agreement, the ground rumbled and shook as tons of boulders fell just outside, piling up thick against the alcove. The ponies were showered with dust and stinging pebbles, and they were plunged into pitch-back as the rocks trapped them inside the tiny cave.
"Is everypony okay?" Twilight Sparkle coughed nervously.
"Ow, I hurt my wing," the strained voice of Rainbow Dash could be heard through the darkness. "Don't think I'll be able to fly."
"I'm okay!" Pinkie Pie said excitably.
"I'm fit as a fiddle," Applejack said confidently, then stopped herself. "Ouch. Ah think my tail's pinned under some rocks."
"Covered in dirt," Rarity whined, "but otherwise healthy."
"Eep!" The small scream sounded like Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy, are y'all okay?" Applejack asked.
"Yes...but I'm s-s-scared of the d-dark..."
"Don't worry!" Pinkie Pie said, and everypony else could imagine her huge smile. "Twilight can use her fancy magic to get us out of here!" Twilight said nothing.
"You can get us out of this mess...right, Twilight?"
"Well...um..."
"Aw, c'mon!" Rainbow Dash snorted. "Twilight, you're Princess Celestia's personal prodigy--"
"Protégée," Rarity corrected.
"Whatever. Can't you just, y'know, levitate those rocks?"
Twilight shook her head. Then, she remembered that nopony could see that, so she answered, "They're too heavy for me to lift with my magic."
"Ooh! Ooh! Then you can teleport!" Pinkie cried out. "Yay, I've always wanted to try teleporting! Is it fun? I bet it's super-duper fun!"
"I don't think I can teleport," Twilight sighed. "You see, the rocks are too thick for me to teleport through. It's easy to teleport from one place to another through air, but I can't teleport through solid rock."
"Then...are we going to be stuck here forever?!" Fluttershy squeaked, her voice rising.
"Well, there is one spell I can do to get us out...but I'm not sure if it will work."
"What ever do you mean?" Rarity asked.
"It's this new spell I learned about a week ago. It sort of transforms a pony into a magical mist that can pass through objects."
"Then what are we waiting for? Use it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"It's a really difficult spell. I don't have enough magical strength to get us out one at a time, so the only way is the get us all out together. But I've only tried using it on myself, let alone more than one pony at a time. I'm not sure what will happen."
"It's our only chance of makin' it out of here," Applejack said. "You've gotta try it, sugar cube."
"Okay, I'm going to do it," Twilight gulped. "Everypony, get ready. This might feel a little bit weird." Twilight's horn glowed fuchsia, lighting up the area. First, she surrounded herself with the magic, then her friends, one by one. The strangest feeling happened to all of them. It was as if the molecules in their bodies were rearranging, dissipating. The six ponies started to fade, each turning into sparkling mists that floated in the air. The purple mist, Twilight, used her magic to push all of them through the rocks. But she couldn't keep hold of all the mists; they all kept floating off in separate directions. Frustrated, Twilight forced all of the mists into her own, and was happy to see that they weren't straying away anymore. She pushed the collection of mists in the direction of outside. Soon enough, they floated outside the rocks and into open air. Twilight touched the merged mists down on the ground and ended the spell, exhausted. As her body began to take shape again, Twilight began to feel a terrible headache. It got worse and worse, until she felt that her head was splitting open. Twilight groaned and sunk to the ground, clasping her head with her hooves.
When Twilight opened her eyes once again, she could still feel her temples throbbing from the headache. She shakily rose to her hooves. Twilight looked around for her friends, but she couldn't see them anywhere!
"Oh, no. Oh, no," Twilight began to hyperventilate. She spread her wings and tried to fly up, but her wings were still hurting from the avalanche. "Girls, where are you?! Pinkie? Rarity? Rainbow? AJ? Fluttershy?! D-did I mess up the spell? WHERE ARE YOU?!" Twilight screamed the last part.
Geez, Twilight, calm down. Rainbow Dash's voice said, but Twilight couldn't see her.
"Rainbow Dash? Is that you? Where are you? And where is everypony else?"
We're right here, silly! Standing next to you! Pinkie's voice giggled.
"B-but I don't see you," Twilight whimpered. "Did I turn you all invisible?"
Ah can't see my own hooves, so maybe you did. That was Applejack's country drawl.
Twilight started waving her hooves around in all different directions. Twilight, what in the name of Celestia are you doing? Rarity's voice asked.
"If you're invisible, and standing right next to me, I should be able to feel you," Twilight explained. "But I can't."
Well, now that y'all mention it, we're all awfully close to you, Twi. Almost like...we're inside you.
And it feels like...like I can't move. Not a bit... Fluttershy whispered.
An idea dawned on Twilight, and she gasped. "This is bad. This is very, very bad!"
What's wrong?
"I think, that when I cast the spell that turned your consciousness's into a mist form," Twilight gulped, "I sort of...combined all of the mists into one. All of you, well, you're...stuck inside my mind."