Exiled From Equestria

Chapters

Chapter 2: A Change of Events
Chapter 3: Exiled From Equestria
Chapter 4: Off to Equestria
Chapter 5: Rodents
Chapter 7: Determination
Chapter 8: Bat Ponies
Chapter 9: Discord's Plans
Chapter 10: Dark Magic
Chapter 11: Day Four of Exile
Chapter 12: How Powerful is Dark Magic?
Chapter 13: New Places, New Friends
Chapter 14: Vegeterians
Chapter 16: The Two Sides of a Skwoth
Chapter 1: Princess Celestia's 1031st Birthday
Chapter 6: This Can't Possibly Get Any Worse
Chapter 15: Crystal Reef

Chapter 2: A Change of Events

Two royal guards stand outside the party room. Twilight shows her invitation from the princess to the guards. They back away and open the doors, leaving the curious and excited ponies.

Inside the gigantic party room, there are somewhere from 200 to 300 ponies. The ceiling stretches 10 tail-lengths from the floor, and streamers hang from every inch of it. There is a tables with refreshments, a dance floor with a DJ, a bouncy house for the foals, and a pool with a water slide. Unlike the Grand Galloping Gala, there aren’t just classy ponies with classical music.

“This is awesome,” Rainbow Dash says in wonder. The six ponies trot to the center of the room and scan all the party activities. While Pinkie Pie scatters to the bouncy house with the fillies and colts, Princess Celestia walks up to the other friends.

“Welcome, ponies. I’m so glad you are all here. How does the party look?” she asks in a soft tone.

Applejack looks around. “It looks like one of the best parties ah’ve ever seen. Thank ya kindly for invitin’ us all.”

“My pleasure. It wouldn’t be the same without you six.” Princess Celestia smiles. Twilight is about to say something when a midnight blue mare with flowing blue hair prances over. It is none other than Princess Luna.

“My sister, the cakes who baked your birthday cake told me to come get you. He said he wanted you to taste the cake–to make sure it’s perfect.”

“Oh, yes, well, I met them once at a party. They get nervous about royalty.” Princess Celestia turns to her sister. “Where are they?”

“They’re out in the garden,” she replies, pointing to the back doors. The older sister nods.

“I will be back in one moment.”

Suddenly, Pinkie appears right next to Twilight, making her jump. “And happy birthday!”

Rubbing her ears, Twilight looks at Princess Luna. “So. When is your birthday?”

“Three months from now. She is six years older than me,” Princess Luna answers softly with no hint of the royal canterlot voice from Nightmare Night.

Twilight’s friends wandered off to different parts of the party while Twilight chatted with the princess. “I thought so. Do you have a similar party?”

“Fairly. Tia had hers in different locations each year. I only ever have my parties in Canterlot now, for when I came back home after a thousand years of living in the moon, all my friends were gone.” Luna sounds so sad, yet shows no sorrow in her facial expression. Twilight wondered what a thousand years could do to a pony.

“But times are better now, Miss Sparkle. I have made new friends from Ponyville,” she says with a warm smile. Twilight smiles back. With nothing else to say, she says goodbye to Luna and trots over to the crowded pool.

Compared to last night, today is great for the unicorn. She sits down on the cold pavement and watches Rainbow Dash do a crazy spinning dive into the pool. Water splashes everywhere within five feet of the pool, soaking Rainbow’s dress sitting messily on the edge of the pool, and Twilight Sparkle. She groans.

Unsure if the fabric will shrink and not wanting to shake water all over the other ponies, Twilight gallops through the back doors and into the garden.

Outside is much more quiet. Crickets and an occasional bird chirp sound. A few garden lamps, moonlight, and starlight brighten up the night. A soft breeze blows through Twilight’s mane and rustle the fallen leaves. The party music from inside is muffled out here. All is peaceful.

There is no pony else outside in the tall bush and flower garden except for Twilight, so she shakes herself dry. The dress in still damp, but is no longer dripping.

Soon it is no longer silence. A loud scream fills the air, startling Twilight. The scream sounds all too familiar. Her heard starts pounding, her blood turns hot, and she is overwhelmed by adrenaline.

There is no time to think. Twilight leaps from her spot and races to the other side of the garden. She was sure that it was where she heard the scream, but all she could see were flowers and bushes.

“Oh, Twilight. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you,” says a voice from behind. She spins around.

No pony is there.

“Show yourself!” Twilight exclaims, narrowing her eyes at nothing. She recognizes the voice. She remembers the evil laugh she heard earlier when she was with Fluttershy, and now she can place it with the voice. “I have no time for games.”

“But games are fun. Don’t you like games?” the voice asks. Now Twilight knew for sure who was there.

“Come out, Discord!”

He did. He floated down like a piece of paper onto the ground in front of her, being weird as usual.

“What are you doing here? How did you escape from the stone?”

“Oh, now come on, Twilight, do you really think I’d tell you such important information?” The draconequus slithers onto a bush next to Twilight and gives her a questioning eye.

“What do you want?” She pauses for a moment. “Does this have something to do with Princess Celestia’s–” Twilight stops talking and thinks about what she just said. It is Celestia’s birthday. She goes outside into the garden where no pony else is. She doesn’t return for awhile. The cakes aren’t outside. There’s a familiar scream, and Discord shows up.

This can’t be good.

“Discord,” Twilight says with a stern yet shaky voice, “where is Princess Celestia?”

“That pony? The pony who helped turn me to stone to rot? In fact, the same pony who banished her own sister when it was her own fault that Luna was acting that way? Why would you care about her?”

“Stop it! Stop talking about her like she’s a monster!”

“Well, I guess you’re right. Compared to you, she’s not all that bad.” Discord smiles evily, thinking about his plans. “I mean, you were the one who turned me to stone next. Oh, Twilight, I would’ve seen better in you.”

Twilight grits her teeth. “Whatever you’re trying to do, stop. Tell me where my mentor is and your punishment wont be as severe.”

“Do you know how boring it is to be frozen in stone for a thousand years? That princess deserves a harsher punishment than what she gave.”

“Don’t you dare insult her!” Twilight shouts, leaping and Discord. Unfortunately, he teleports on the bush beside that one, leaving Twilight to jump into the prickly bush. This enrages her even farther.

“And don’t get me started on your friends. My, how rude your rainbow one is–”

“SHUT UP DISCORD!” Twilight’s horn glows and aims a magenta beam at him. He dodges it, and Twilight is left glaring at him ever more so. “I don’t know what you want, but whatever it is, tell me now.”

“But it’s so fun to anger you. Oh, well, I guess I must move on to the next part of my plan.” Discord snaps his fingers and a large red book appears in his paw and claws.

Twilight shivers. “What’s that?”

“Oh, just a book full of dark magic.”

“What?”

“Ah, yes. Here we are.”

Discord smiles oh so very evilly at Twilight. The purple unicorn’s horn glows and fades again and again as she tries her best to teleport away, but then Discord slips a magic-proof collar around her neck.

The Spirit of Disharmony casts a spell. A green fog floats over to Twilight’s head.

Then everything goes black.

***

Princess Luna glances around nervously. No pony has seen the birthday pony for an hour now, and she was the only pony who seemed to notice. She thinks that maybe Twilight Sparkle could help, but she can’t find her anywhere either.

Luna takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Blocking out the loud party music, she imagine the last time she saw Tia. It was when she had told her to go outside.

Her eyes spring open. She must be outside, she thinks. In the garden.

There are many ponies in the room. Dancing, singing, eating, drinking, swimming, bouncing, talking, laughing, smiling, frowning, and partying. It is tricky to gallop in between the small spaces between all the ponies, but she is finally able to reach the back door.

A turquoise glow covers the door as it opens. The princess runs into the large square of plants surrounded by tall hedges.

Princess Luna is quite shocked at what she sees. There, in the middle of a bed of flowers, lay Twilight Sparkle.

But Twilight Sparkle is asleep and surrounded by large white feathers and pink, purple, blue, and green hairs. Twilight is also wearing Celestia’s golden crown, shoes, and necklace. All these things are stained with red splotches and had belong to the princess. She cannot believe her eyes and stumbles backwards, falling on what she would think to be a patch of grass. But she lands on something soft and squishy. She leaps away and turns to see what she had just landed on.

Princess Luna puts a foreleg to her mouth. Tears well up in her eyes.

What she sees is none other than the lifeless body of Princess Celestia.

Princess Luna’s heart stops. Time slows down. She cannot hear anything but high-pitched ringing, and cannot see anything other than blurs. It cannot be. Princess Luna falls to the ground and stared at the sky in horror. Tears form in her eyes.

No, Luna whispers in her head. She squeezes her eyes shut and collapses to the ground. No.

While Luna lays in shock and cries, Princess Celestia’s body changes. Her purple eyes fade to yellow with red pupils. Her tail becomes a lizard tail, and two horns grow from the head, along with two wings on her back.

It was Discord. “Framing Twilight was all too easy.” Discord snaps his fingers and Princess Celestia who is tied up in rope and whose mouth in bound by a cloth appears next to him, screaming. Her mane is messy and torn, her crown, shoes, and necklace are gone, and many feathers have been taken from her wings.

And the best part, Discord thinks, is her pure look of terror.

“Oh, don’t worry, Celestia. This is only the beginning.” Then he snaps his fingers and they’re gone.

***

Princess Luna stops weeping. Our sister is dead. Sniffle. Our sister whom we loved. Sniffle. Thou Twilight murdered the last of our family. The powerful alicorn opens her eyes. She stops sniffling and picks herself off the dirt and grass, dusting herself off. Thou Twilight shall pay for thee’s crimes!

Suddenly, the clear sky becomes full of clouds as a thunderstorm appears before Luna. She flies into the air above Twilight and glares. “Awake from your slumber, cruel unicorn!” She booms, loud enough that some ponies from inside the party come outside.

Twilight Sparkle opens her eyes groggily and stretches. When had she fallen asleep? And why was it suddenly so windy?

“Look at me, pathetic pony!”

Twilight is fully awake now. She looks under her hooves and realizes that she has been sleeping on a small pile of very pale pink feathers and strands of hair. Upon looking down, something falls off her head and lands in her view. Celestia’s crown? Twilight notices something around her neck and looks at it. Celestia’s necklace? She slides the antique off her head and stares at it in horror.

“Are you deaf? Look at me!” Comes a voice above her head. She sees a crowd of ponies come trotting into the garden, also looking horrified at what they see. Then Twilight looks up at the sky and gulps. Princess Luna is flying amongst a storm. Not to mention it’s night. Who knows what she can do at night? “Why has thee killed my sister?”

Gasps of shock come from the ponies’ mouths. When Twilight turns to them with tears in her eyes, they back away in fear. She looks back at Luna. “Please, Luna, I didn’t kill your sister! I know that’s how it looks, but–”

“Thee tells of lies. Twilight is killer and lier!” By now, half the ponies are crowded around the garden, whispering and murmuring. Warm tears spill from Twilight’s eyes. She is scared for Celestia, confused at what is happening, and fearful of what Luna will do.

“I loved Princess Celestia as much as I love my friends.”

“Loved? Past tense, Sparkle!”

“Because I don’t know if she is still alive!” Everypony stops whispering as Twilight cries. “It was Discord. I don’t know what he did, but the only way to find Celestia is to find him!” She screams over the roar of thunder.

“Fool! Discord is trapped in stone; you cannot blame him for your crimes,” Luna says. Her eyes glow white and the roar of wind and thunder become louder.

Twilight suddenly feels a warmth surrounding her. She opens her eyes, and beside her she sees her five friends all hugging encouragingly. “Please believe me when I say I didn’t do it,” Twilight shouts.

“Don’t worry, Twilight. We’ve got your back no matter what! There’s no way you would ever do that,” Rainbow Dash replies. Twilight smiles a little as Fluttershy wipes her tears.

“Unfortunately, Princess Luna doesn’t seem ta believe ya!” Applejack cries out, turning to the Princess in the sky who was now inside a large ball of clouds. What the hay is going on? she thinks.

“What happened, darling? We need proof of your innocence,” Rarity howls.

Pinkie Pie puts a hoof to her chin. “It must have been Discord, right? I mean who else?”

A big burst of light suddenly strikes in the middle of the group hug, sending the ponies flying into the hedges. Twilight spits out leaves and turns to the sky, whispering, “Oh, no,” for Princess Luna is no longer there. In her place is a taller mare black as night with a bigger, flowing blue mane. She has pointed teeth and dragon eyes, as well as armor. The mare glares upon Twilight.

“Nightmare Moon?” Twilight whispers. All becomes silent. The wind and thunder stop as the mare floats onto the ground before Twilight Sparkle.

“With Celestia dead, I am the next princess in charge,” Nightmare Moon bellows. This time, Twilight fears, Nightmare Moon doesn’t want the night to last forever. Instead, she wants revenge. “I, Nightmare Moon, hereby decree that Miss Twilight Sparkle is banished from Equestria!”

“What?” Rainbow Dash exclaims. Nightmare Moon turns to the rainbow pegasus sprawled in the bush. “You can’t do that. She didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Nothing wrong?” Nightmare Moon asked, levitating Rainbow out of the bush with her turquoise magic. “She killed my sister!”

Rainbow Dash was about to argue when Nightmare Moon used her magic to throw her onto the ground so hard that the wind was knocked out of her. Twilight sat and watched, not moving, not crying. She was too stunned by the turn of events.

“Twilight is one-hundred and ten percent innocent, you’re highness.” Applejack stands in front of the mare who is twice as tall as her with no fear, only determination and grief. “Whatever happened to Celestia is not her fault.”

Nightmare Moon bared her teeth. “For the pony of honesty, you are full of lies.” In the blink of an eye, Applejack is hit by a small lightning bolt in the back, sent by the alicorn. She falls to the ground and lays weakly, still breathing. “Anypony else?”

“Stop!” Twilight shouts, galloping to Applejack. She examines the gash on AJ’s back and sighs of relief when she sees that it wasn’t too deep. “I’ll go.”

“Twilight, no!” Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all leap to Twilight’s side.

“Don’t make her go.”

“She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“She wouldn’t hurt a pancake,” says Fluttershy, Rarity, then Pinkie. Rainbow Dash, who is now able to talk again, also trots up to Twilight.

“Send me instead,” Rainbow declares. Twilight puts a hoof on her cyan shoulder.

“No, Rainbow, you can’t do that.”

“I can, and I will.”

“How sweet, but I won’t accept you.” Nightmare Moon stomps her hoof on the ground. “This is Twilight’s punishment.”

“Then... then ban... banish me with her...” Applejack murmurs half-consciously. All the ponies start saying the same thing, to let them go with her. Finally, Nightmare Moon can’t take it anymore.

“Enough! Twilight will leave alone, and if none of you can handle that, then she’s going now.” Nightmare Moon aims her horn at Twilight, and before anypony can move a muscle, she teleports her far out of the boundaries of Equestria. She stares at the place where Twilight was just sitting and smiles.

“Twilight?” Rarity asks no pony, because she is not there. Her once five friends stared wide-eyed and gaped. Tears formed in their eyes.

“But you can’t do that!” Rainbow croaks. Tears welled up pour over her checks. She turns to Nightmare Moon, now screaming. “Where is Twilight? Bring her back!” She spreads her wings and is about to leap at the mare, but her friends grab her shoulders and hold her down to the ground. Rainbow struggles, crying and screaming at the same time.

“Rainbow,” Applejack whispers in her ear. “I pinkie promise you that we will find her, and bring her back to Ponyville.” The cyan pegasus sniffles and stops struggling. “And I really do mean the truth.”

Nightmare Moon flies off into the night, leaving the five friends hugging and crying while everypony else stands, too shocked and scared to lift a hoof.

“I promise.”

Chapter 3: Exiled From Equestria

The quick scurry of a mouse running by Twilight’s head awakens her. She places her purple hoof on her head, trying to remember what had happened. Once she’s fully awake, she remembers.

“I’m... I’m banished from Equestria...” The unicorn sits in a wide, tall cave. One end seems to go on forever, slowly aiming upward to the surface. On the other side of Twilight, the cave disappears into a large pool of glowing green water. It is cold and wet, and the worst part in that she is all alone. Scared, frightened, and alone.

The only light is coming from glowing mushrooms on the walls, the pond water, and… my horn? Twilight trots up to the pool and stares at her reflection. She almost jumps at the sight of her horn lightly glowing red and purple. The dark magic… Discord has cursed me with dark magic, and it’s very slowly taking over… Twilight desperately grabs onto a spell of light and warmth. She casts this, pushing the dark magic to the back of her head. Her horn returns to normal.

“Ah heard it too, Midnight Blaze, but I keep tellin’ ya that we’re neva gonna find anypony down here.” Twilight turns around and sees the shadow of two ponies silhouetted by lantern light strolling down the cave. Unsure who they are or what they’re doing here, her face brightens up and she calls to them.

“Hello?”

“See? I told ya,” says the same voice. The two shapes come galloping over and stops inches away from crashing into Twilight. The light from the lantern brightens up the dark cave, other than the mysterious glowing water. “Hello there dear, how ya doin’? Whatcha name?”

“Oh, I’m Twilight. Twilight Sparkle,” she says to the orange pegasus pony with a blue, pink, and yellow shaggy mane. Her bangs fall over her emerald eyes, and she has to keep blowing the hair out of her face. She has a cutie mark of a shooting star. A confident smile rests on her face.

“Well good fa’ you, Miss Sparkle. I’m Shootin’ Star, and this here is my good friend Midnight Blaze,” Shooting Star says, pointing a hoof to a yellow unicorn who smiles and waves at the mention of her name. Her cutie mark bears the image of three blue, shining stars. “What is a nice pony like ya doin’ down here in this old cave?”

Twilight rubs the back of her neck with her hoof. “I don’t actually know. I was teleported here from Equestria–”

“Equestria?” Midnight Blaze exclaims, dropping the lantern in her mouth. Her midnight blue eyes (that match her frizzy cyan and blue mane) widen in surprise. “You’ve come all the way from there?”

“Well, yes, actually. Why?” Midnight Blaze and Shooting Star exchange glances.

“It’s just that... Equestria is on the other side of the world,” Midnight says while bending down to pick the lantern back up.

Twilight’s eyes fill with shock and fear. “The other side of the world?”

Shooting Star shakes her head disappointingly. “Yeah. Who teleported ya from that country ta this one here? They gots ta have some pretty powerful magic ta teleport this far.”

“Nightmare Moon.”

“The mare in the moon? But I thought she turned back into Princess Luna? Something to do with the Elements of Harmony?”

“Well, yes...” Twilight replies to Midnight. “But she turned into Nightmare Moon again and banished me from Equestria.”

Midnight Blaze turns to the other side of the cave. “If we want to get out of here before sundown, we better leave now.”

“Alright. Come on, Sparkle.” Shooting Star nudges Twilight forward. The purple unicorn stand up and joins the two ponies on the travel back to the surface.

“Um, not to be snooping, but what were you mares doing down here?” Twilight asks. Shooting Star laughs for a moment.

“We was lookin’ for gems. This is tha longest tunnel around, and certainly tha most jewel packed. We’ve been downs here fa hours.”

“I see,” Twilight says.

No pony says anything else for awhile as they trot along the tunnel. Shooting Star curiously turns her attention to Twilight’s star cutie mark and then to her horn. “Now ta mention it, isn’t you the bearer of them Element of Magic?”

“Yes.”

“The ones who defeated Nightmare Moon in tha first place?”

“Yes.”

Midnight Blaze stops and holds a hoof to Shooting Star’s mouth so that she can talk. “Can’t you just do that again?”

“I would if I had the element with me and was with my friends.”

“So then find ya element and ya friends, problem solved,” says Shooting Star.

The three mares start walking again. Twilight shakes her head in disappointment. “But they’re on the other side of the world.”

“Lets me get this straight,” Shooting Star takes a big breath of air. “Nightmare Moon banished ya here, and the only way ta defeat her is ta get backs to Equestria, plus, I’m assumin’ ya wanna go back to Equestria, so ya just have ta travel halfway across the world and then problem solved?”

“Pretty much.”

“But that’s not as easy as it sounds,” Midnight interrupts. “There’s deserts and forests and dragons and Ursas...”

By the time Midnight finishes her long list of dangers in the world, they reach the mouth of the cave. Midnight sets the lantern back where she found it before–at the mouth–while Twilight steps out and observes their surroundings. The sun is hanging not far from the mountain lines, casting an orangish glow on everything. They’re in a huge valley surrounded by tall mountains. The valley is flat and covered in grass, the mountains blanketed in trees and white snow. Up ahead, she could see a big town with many log cabins.

“Welcome ta Redwood.” Shooting Star positions herself in a way that reminds Twilight of Rainbow Dash, and then she spreads her wings and takes off into the sky. Midnight smiles as she does a bunch of flips in the air, then heads over to the town.

“There’s a path over there,” Midnight says, pointing to a dirt path on their left. They trot along it until they reach the town. Twilight can’t help but gallop into the first library she sees.

This library is made of logs, just like all the other buildings. There were two stories, each full of rows and rows of books. Twilight clapped her two front hooves and smiled in excitement. The librarian sitting behind the check-out counter chuckles.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anypony that excited about books before.”

Twilight turns to the earth pony. She is pale pink with sapphire hair pulled back in a ponytail and sparkling silver eyes to match her cutie mark of a silver bookmark. “It’s just that I’ve never been outside of Equestria before. There’s so much more to learn!”

“Equestria? You’ve come all the way from Equestria?” Her jaw drops in astonishment. Twilight blushes.

“Well, yes, but I didn’t actually travel here. I was teleported.”

“From across the world? Only alicorns have magic capable of spells like that.”

“Yeah, it’s a long story...” The purple unicorn prances to one of the dusty bookshelves. She uses her magic to pull out an emerald novel. With a puff of dust, the title is revealed as The History of Redwood. Twilight plunks the book onto a table and sits on a chair. She has only gotten to page 3 when Midnight Blaze and Shooting Star stroll in.

“Twilight, what is ya doins in here?” Shooting Star questions.

“Reading.” Her purple eyes stay glued to the small letters of the book.

Midnight Blaze sighs and turns to the librarian. “Silver Sky, do you have any maps?”

“Of Redwood?”

“Of za whole country here,” Shooting Star finishes. The mare hops of her swivel chair and strolls to the second story of the library. She returns to the counter with a large scroll in her mouth.

“So what’s up with your friend over there?” Silver Sky asks curiously while opening up the map and placing a heavy book on each end to keep it from rolling back up.

“What do you mean?”

“What is she doing here?” Silver inquires in response to Midnight.

“Enough chit-chat, no need fa that infos. Twilight Sparkles, ova here.” Shooting Star waves a hoof in her direction. That pony is greeted a few moments later to the map.

“What is ‘Trica’?” Twilight asks while scanning the map’s details.

“That’s this whole country. It’s only half as big as Equestria, but it’s still fairly populated,” Midnight Blaze replies. Twilight looks at the map funnily. “What?”

“Do you have any markets that sell saddlebags? I’ll need some for my long journey, but mine are much too far away to teleport.”

Shooting Star suddenly bursts out into giggles. “Twilight, you gots no moneys here. How ya gonna buy yaself supplies?”

“We’ll give her some.” Midnight says. Then she turns to the library windows by the front door, watching the sunset past the mountains. “And we have a cabin that you can stay in for tonight.”

“That’s very nice of you, but I can’t ask for–”

“It’s not a problem, Twilight, seriously. Shooting Star and I have enough gems to buy the things you need.”

Twilight opens her mouth to object further, but her stomach growls. She’s hungry and needs supplies and a place to sleep, even though she’d broke. It’s a generosity so kind it reminds her of Rarity.

So instead she says, “Thank you,” and trots off into the sunset with her two new friends.

***

Twilight’s friends shuffle through the busy city with their heads down. They all miss Twilight too much to bear it.

They had already gone to her room and packed their things. Now, with only five large suitcases being dragged along by their teeth and magic, they hop along a train back to Ponyville.

Applejack rests her right foreleg on the windowsill with her head on her hoof, watching the ocean pass by. “I can’t believe that Twilight is gone...”

“...when she didn’t even do anything wrong...” Rarity finishes, staring at the ground.

“It doesn’t even make any sense,” Fluttershy adds. “Why was Twilight framed?”

“For that matter, who framed her,” Rainbow Dash growls.

“And if Princess Celestia wasn’t killed by Twilight, then what happened to her?” Pinkie Pie asks.

The five friends chat for the next half hour, then night time is upon them once more, and they decide to sleep for the next seven hours.

The train stops early in the morning. They wouldn’t have woken up if it weren’t for the ruckus of other ponies gathering their items. It only takes minutes to grab their suitcases and hop off the train. Pinkie Pie is the last pony to hop off, and when she does, her suitcase falls on her, sending them both crashing onto the pavement. The train leaves. Fluttershy gives her a hoof to lift her up, but Pinkie just sighs and sits there with the suitcase placed on her back.

Rarity finally levitates her up with her magic. Pinkie’s knees are scraped and bloody. Applejack gives her a bandage from her first aid kit in her suitcase.

Not knowing where they were going, the five friends amble to the Golden Oak Library, Twilight’s home.

Rarity opens the door to the library. Everypony shuffles in, throwing their suitcases onto bookshelves carelessly, knocking down all the books there. It was loud. The books were ruined. It didn’t matter. Twilight was gone. All that mattered was finding her again.

“Twilight? How was the...” Spike trailed off once he ran down the stairs and instead saw five mares crying. He looked at the destroyed bookshelf, then ran up to them. “What’s wrong?”

“Spike...Twi...Twi...” Rarity rubs her eyes with her purple hooves and sniffles. “Twilight’s been banished from Equestria!” She breaks down into tears once more.

“What?” Spike’s eyes become so big that they look like they are about to fall out of his head. That’s when tears start rolling on his checks, too. “What happened?”

The friends told the whole story, how somepony framed Twilight, making it look like she murdered her mentor, how Princess Luna turned back into Nightmare Moon and sentenced her to exile, and that she could quite possibly be dead.

By the time the story is done, they've run out of tears. Spike dries his eyes with his tail and gets up to make breakfast—pancakes and orange juice—while the five friends hug each other for comfort.

"Ah just don't know what ta do...Ah've never been in a situation like this one," Applejack whispered.

Rarity dries her wet cheeks with her hooves. “If only really powerful unicorns like Twilight weren’t the only ponies with magic strong enough to perform teleportation spells. Then I’d just teleport us to Trica!”

“But even Twilight can’t teleport that far,” Fluttershy whispers. “She once told me that her teleportation only works for a half a mile distance, and even then, it takes so much effort.”

Rarity sighs. Pinkie Pie rubs her hoof back and forth on the ground in an attempt to distract her from her sadness. Rainbow Dash tears open her suitcase and starts throwing things on the floor from anger. Applejack trots up to the cyan pegasus and lays a calm hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sugarcube. We'll find Twilight," Applejack soothes. Rainbow Dash snaps her head to her and glares.

"How? We don't know where in the world she is?" Tears well up in her eyes, but she won't let them spill. "What if she's dead?" All of Rainbow's anger fades into sadness. Applejack can't bear it; she grabs her friend and hugs her tight. Rainbow hugs back and lets the tears spill out.

"It's alright now, Sugarcube. We've got the magic a' friendship on our side, remember? We'll find her."

"But...but what if we don't?"

"Shh, Sugarcube. Don't say that; we will find her. We'll bring her back ta Ponyville, and Pinkie Pie will be throwin' a party, and everythin' will be better, ya hear?" Rainbow Dash can only nod in response. Then she sniffles and let's go of Applejack, flopping into a sitting position.

Just then, Spike calls throughout the library, "Breakfast!", and every pony gathers around where the baby dragon is setting down six plates with cups of orange juice on the table. On each of the four sides of the large table is two seats, equaling eight seats in all, which means enough for them all to sit in.

Spike is the first one to plunk into her seat, but Pinkie Pie is the first one to take a bite. She zooms over in a puff of pink dust and scarfs down the five pancakes with syrup and butter all at once. Everypony watches in confusion as she then takes a small sip of the orange juice and leans back against the chair, full and smiling.

“Pinkie, by eating that fast, you’ll get–”

“Hiccup!”

“Hiccups...” Rarity rolls her eyes. Rainbow Dash, glad for a distraction, face hoofs.

Once they all sit down and finish their breakfasts, Spike takes their empty plates and glasses to the sink and washes them off.

Everypony is quiet. Rarity lightly dabs the sides of her mouth with a napkin. Applejack burps, and even though she says excuse me, Rarity gives her a disgusted face.

The white unicorn puts down her cloth and sighs. "I don't even understand how this happened."

"Twilight is banished because she was f-r-a-m-e-d. FRAMED!" Pinkie Pie says each letter of the first 'framed' to make a bigger exaggeration of things.

"But by who?"

Just as soon as the white unicorn asks the question, a sudden burst of magical sounds interrupts from the middle of the hollow tree. The two earth ponies, two pegasi, one baby dragon, and one unicorn turn around to see none other than—

"Discord?" Rarity asks, surprised. Everypony gasps.

“Yes, yes? Now, I’ve missed out on a lot of chaos. What happened while I was dealing with Celestia?”

“Discord? Dealing with Princess Celestia? What–how–” Pinkie Pie stammers. Rarity puts a hoof to her forehead and faints, her chair falling with her and crashing on the ground. Applejack grits her teeth.

“What the hay are you doin’ here, Discord? Last we saw, you were trapped in stone!”

“Ah, my dear Applejack, yes, but I am here now, so let us not think about that, shall we?”

Rainbow Dash puts pieces together in her head. Twilight is framed for the death of Princess Celestia and Discord appears. Somehow, this doesn’t seem like it’s going to end well. “Why did you frame Twilight? None the less, what have you done to the princess?”

“Oh, framing Twilight is part of my secret plans, which are of course, a secret. As for your sun ruler, I would say she’s fine, but she’s really not,” the draconequus answers. Rainbow’s glare hardens. “But she’s still very much alive.”

Rarity’s eyes flutter open. She turns to Discord, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. “She’s alive?”

“Well yes, but we don’t need the rest of Equestria knowing that, now, do we?”

Spike leaps out of his chair and charges at Discord. “Get your slimy paws out of my house!” Just as he is approaching Discord, the spirit of chaos puts out a leg to trip him. Spike falls on his face. Fluttershy helps him up.

“So how did Luna react? Tell me: where is your other unicorn friend?”

“Her name is Twilight,” Applejack says harshly.

“Why, yes. Come, don’t you want to fill ol’ Discord in on the info?”

“Sure, Discord, I’ll tell you,” Rainbow says deadpan. She flies up to him and screams in his ear, “THANKS TO YOU, TWILIGHT IS BANISHED FROM EQUESTRIA!”

A mischievous grin perches on his face. “Exiled? Perfect. That’s just what I needed to happen, but it wouldn’t be fun to just do it myself.” He snaps his fingers and a bowl of popcorn appears on his head. He takes a popped kernel from the bag and pops it into his mouth. Then he coughs out flames. Leave it to Discord to make no sense. “I must mention how the elements are out of your way while Twilight is gone.”

“We will bring Twilight back before ya get any thoughts about spreadin' chaos, ya monster!” Applejack shouts. Discord uses his tail to pick her up by the tail and lifts her high enough so that they are face-to-face. Her cowmare hat falls off.

“I am not spreading chaos quite yet. I'm waiting for the right moment to strike, got that?” Discord laughs and drops Applejack. She lands with a hard and painful thud on her stomach, knocking the air out of her.

Rainbow Dash zips over to Discord, lifting a hoof in the air. She’s about to knock him out when Discord snaps his chicken fingers and he's gone. The cyan pegasus is going too fast, and she ends up crashing into a bookshelf. She gives a loud huff and scrambles onto her hooves. "We have to do something, girls. We can't just sit here!"

"Then why did you come back to Ponyville instead of convincing Twilight's innocence?" Spike asks curiously.

"'Cause we wanted ta tell ya first, Sugarcube." Applejack trots up to Spike and smiles weakly. "Once Twilight disappeared, we skedaddled out a' there. Right now, Nightmare Moon is sittin' in Celestia's throne in the Canterlot castle, from what Ah heard."

"Then we need to get to Canterlot and convince Nightmare Moon that it was Discord pronto," Rainbow Dash declares, laying one foreleg horizontally and smacking another foreleg down on it vertically.

Rarity nods her head. "I do think that's the best we can do."

Fluttershy shuffles over to her friends. "I guess it's worth a try."

"Alright, let's go!" Pinkie Pie shouts, running two tail-lengths upwards, then zooming out the door. The ponies follow the excitable pony in hopes of bringing back their best friend.

Chapter 4: Off to Equestria

Twilight sips her steaming mug of hot chocolate and smiles warmly. She is inside a cozy log cabin, packed with large windows. Outside is bright and sunny; sunlight seeps through them onto the kitchen where Twilight sits at a small wooden table.

She levitates her piece of peanut butter toast to her mouth and takes another bite. “I cannot thank you enough for all of this.”

“It’s not an issue, Twilight, we’re happy to help,” Midnight replies from inside the kitchen, using her own magic to spread peanut butter on wheat bread. “Besides, you and your friends have saved the entire world before. I think a night of shelter, some food and water, supplies, and bits is the least me and Shooting Star can do.”

Before Twilight Sparkle fell asleep last night, she and Midnight Blaze were chatting in the guest bedroom where the purple unicorn was sleeping. She had told Twilight how Shooting Star has been her roommate ever since they graduated school together. They had been the best of friends since they were little fillies, and since neither of them wanted to get married with any stallions, they decided to become roommates here in Redwood.

“Where is Shooting Star, anyway?”

“Oh, that pegasus always loves to stretch her wings in the morning, preferably at sunhigh.” Midnight plops herself into the chair across from Twilight, a glass of tea held in her hooves, forming a v shape, and some peanut-butter toast levitating by her sapphire magic.

The peace in the cabin is disrupted by a loud crash at the front door. The crash in soon greeted by an orange pegasus covered in scratches and bruises, rubbing her neck with her hoof as she flutters down at the table. “Hey, mares.”

“What was that about?” Midnight Blaze asks angrily. “Please tell me you didn’t break anything.”

“Only the porch.” Shooting Star places her hooves on her back and stretches forward. Her back cracks and she smiles with relief. “Didn’t means ta go zat fast.”

Midnight Blaze rolled her eyes. Another piece of peanut butter toast levitated in blue magic in front of Shooting’s eyes. The bruised pegasus grabs it and starts nibbling hungrily.

Twilight leaps out of her chair and levitates her plate and mug into the sink. Then she levitates a pair of magenta saddlebags connected by a long strap onto her back. Inside of them are food, water, a map of Trica, and bits. “You don’t happen to have any blankets or tents lying around, do you?”

“I have some blankets, as for the tent, I can just hop into town and buy one real quick,” Midnight offers.

“Oh, if you don’t have one, there’s no need to go through the trouble. Just a blanket will do.”

“You speak nonsense, Miss Sparkles.” Shooting Star holds the back of her sore wing with one hoof and rubs the front side with her other hoof. “You might needs ta go through some campings. We are glad ta help a pony in needs.”

“Yeah, really, we have more bits than we need.” Midnight Blaze levitates two of her own deep blue saddlebags with a few bits and gems in them onto her back. “Besides, me and Shooting Star are thinking about joining you on your trip.”

“What?”

Shooting Star bounces over to a couple of daffodil colored saddlebags. “We could use some traveling times. No pony in Trica has ever seen Equestria.”

Twilight found herself being shoved through the front door onto the broken porch. Fresh morning light shines on dewdrops, the blades of grass glistening like stars in the night sky.

Midnight Blaze trots into a log shop titled ‘Mountain Supplies’. Shooting Star and Twilight Sparkle follow along.

Inside is fairly large, but cramped. They find the name of the shop very much accurate; they have almost anything you could think of that you would need to survive in the wild. Twilight would find this very much convenient if they didn’t live in a small town in a big valley surrounded by tall mountains.

“Hey there, what can I get you three?” says a spring green earth pony with chocolate hair and pink eyes. Her mane is short and curly, her tail also short and curving upward. She has a pinecone cutie mark and a pair of gold glasses that lay atop her nose.

“We needs a tent and some warm clothes. We’re goins on a long and quite possibly dangerous journey.”

“I see,” the pony replied. She strolls over to a corner shelf and pulls out a long, but packed up, tent.

“Um, is there a chance you have anything...smaller?” Midnight Blaze glances from the tent to her bags, obviously not finding their sizes to correspond with each other.

The earth pony pushes her glass farther onto her nose and shakes her head. “I sold a bunch of tents a few weeks ago to a large group of ponies about to go camping. This is the last one I have.”

Shooting Star looks at Twilight worriedly. The unicorn puts a hoof to her chest, breaths in, then lifts her hoof away from her body, and breaths out. She smiles and trots up to the tent. Her horn glows magenta, the tent glows magenta, and odd enough, the tent begins to shrink. By the time it stops glowing, the tent is as small as a mouse. “I also know the reverse spell for when we want to open it.”

“Wow, Twilight,” Midnight Blaze levitates the tent into her saddlebag and exchanges it with eight bits. “I know you’re the element of Magic, but I don’t think I could shrink anything with my horn.”

“I bet you could if you tried hard enough.” Twilight turned to the side, revealing her flank. “My talent itself is magic, that’s why. I was born to perform magic. But unicorns with different talents use their magic for different things. I know some unicorns who have never used their horns in their life.”

The yellow unicorn turns to her side, revealing her cutie mark of three blue stars. “My talent is astronomy. I can read any constellation, I can read direction just by looking at the stars, all that kinds of stuff.”

“Don’t you like you’re talent?”

“I just think it would make more sense if I was a pegasus. Pegasi can fly into the night and see the stars much better.” Midnight shrugs and turns to the store clerk. “Do you have blankets, snow boots, and jackets?”

“Sure do.” The green pony trots over to a pile of thick blankets and picks three out. Next she trots over to a shelf of colorful snow boots lined with white cotton ball fuzz. She picks out a pair of magenta boots to match Twilight’s bags, a pair of sapphire boots to match Midnight’s, and a pair of sunflower boots to match Shooting Star’s. Then she points to the rack of colorful jackets in the corner and returns to her counter and newspaper.

Twilight gazes across the jackets, torn between a magenta one with purple outlining to match her bags and boots, and a spring green one outlined in silver. After trying them both on and looking in the mirror, she decides that the green one gives her outfit a variety and sets it on the counter where the green pony sits.

“Just pick one already,” she hears Shooting Star complain.

“Hmm... I guess I’ll take this one.” Midnight Blaze trots over with a sky blue jacket outlined in gold. Shooting Star follows her with an emerald jacket outlined in turquoise.

The store pony observes the three blankets, boots, and jackets. “That’ll be 54 bits please.”

Midnight Blaze’s jaw drops. She reaches her snout inside her bag and grabs all the 21 bits she has with her and one ruby the size of a baby unicorn horn. “Will that do?”

“This ruby is large enough to count as seven bits. You still owe me 26 bits.”

Shooting Star sighs and opens her right saddlebag with her right wing and noses inside, bringing out 25 bits. “53 is close enough. We don’t gots no more.”

The store pony bites her lip, then nods, pulling the pile of cash and pushing the pile of supplies. The three ponies slip into their boots and slide on their jackets, folding the blankets and Twilight levitating them into their saddles. Then they trot out of the store.

“Twilight already gots a battle of water and three apples. So...” Shooting Star flies off to her house. Twenty seconds later she returns with six apples, two waters, and six large bags of oats. “Three apples and a waters fa Midnight and I, since Twilight already has water and apples, but two bags a' oats fa each of us. Plus, I gots me some flints and steels fa me and a campus fa Midnight.”

Each pony takes the amount of items that Shooting Star suggested and fits them in their bags. Midnight Blaze smiles excitedly.

“We ready?”

“I’m ready,” says Shooting Star confidently. They stare at Twilight who grins wider than she has ever grinned before.

“Off to Equestria!”

Chapter 5: Rodents

Night is beginning to fall. A map surrounded by a magenta glow levitates in Twilight’s vision. She stops her slow trot. Midnight Blaze and Shooting Star, who trot behind her, walk up next to her and look at the map as well.

“I say we’ve made great progress fa the day,” Shooting Star comments. Midnight Blaze closes her eyes and nods. “We’re way past Redwood, that’s fa sure.”

Twilight looks up from the map. She gazes across the desert landscape, wondering how a forest could fade into a desert just like that. But, she had never been in a desert, so who is she to wonder?

“Where are we going to sleep?” the lavender pony eventually asks.

“Um, tha tents?” Shooting asks likes it’s the obvious answer.

“But even though it’s fairly hot right now, it will get much too cold and windy at night. Won’t the wind easily blow the tent off the sand?”

Midnight Blaze stares at Twilight’s horn. “What about your magic?”

“My magic?” Twilight stares at her own horn for a few moments before her face lights up with the excitement of an old spell she had learned.

Twilight bends down and aims her horn at the sandy hill across from hers. Suddenly, a huge chunk of sand levitates out in the center, forming the shape of a large soup can. Sand starts pouring into it, so she uses another spell that hardens the edges of the large hole. When she is done, she smiles delightfully and races over to her finished work, Midnight Blaze and Shooting Star following.

Celestia’s sun is only an inch above the horizon. With the last orange glows of their first traveling day, the three ponies look at the wide and deep hole dug into the ground.

Luna’s moon rises fully off the horizon, completely setting the sun. Twilight wonders who is raising the sun and moon, since the last she saw of the royal sisters was not a very good time.

Twilight hops into the large hole that is two ponies deep and five ponies wide. Her friends jump in with her. Inside, the wind is muted and sand isn’t blowing into their eyes.

“There is just enough room for us to fit in, but we can’t set up our tents in here.”

“That’s okay, Midnight. The hole itself is a tent. We can just sleep in our blankets tonight,” Twilight replies.

“I dunno, Twilight. Isn’t it gonna be a cold night?”

“What if we set up a fire?” Midnight Blaze suggests while wiggling off her two saddlebags onto her section of the hole. Shooting Star nods while opening one of her saddlebags with her wing and reaches inside. She pulls out flint and steel.

“But where are we supposed to get the wood?” Twilight asks. Shooting Star waves a hoof dismissively and skyrockets into the air with all the leftover energy she has left.

Midnight Blaze and Twilight Sparkle stare at each other in the quiet dark.

“It’s too bad you guys had to spend all your bits on the supplies. What if we run out of food?”

“Oh, trust me, I’m an excellent survivor. If we need food, I’ll find food.” Midnight points to Twilight’s horn again. “Plus we’ve got magic on our side.”

“Midnight, you have magic too,” Twilight says. She feels uncomfortable when ponies point out how powerful her magic is, even though she learned when Trixie was in town that it can be okay to show off talent some times.

The yellow unicorn shakes her head. “Not like yours. Besides, your not making anypony jealous, so you have no reason to be so modest about it.”

“I’m back!” Shooting Star calls as she enters the hole with a large pile of woods tucked between her forelegs and chest. She spills them onto the center of the room and grabs her flint and steel. Two minutes later, they have a roaring fire half as big as the average pony.

None of the three ponies have eaten since they left that morning. Twilight's stomach growled. She slipped her own saddlebags off her back and sat down. In the dim, changing light of the fire, she noses into her bag. Inside lay three apples, a water bottle, two bags of oats, a blanket, four boots, and a jacket. She shivers and pulls out her jacket with her teeth, slipping it over her head and through her hooves. Then she uses her magic to pull out the blanket, an apple, and the water bottle. She eats the apple up to core, levitates the cap off her bottle of water and takes a small sip, levitates the apple core onto the desert sand outside, levitates the cap back on her water bottle and places it back in her bag, then lays the blanket on her hind legs and belly, leaving her head and forelegs out in the open.

She turns to Shooting Star and Midnight Blaze who are munching on two bags of oats and chatting quietly. Twilight snuggles up in the fuzzy blanket. She peacefully closes her eyes...

"AGH!" Midnight Blaze screams. Twilight and Shooting jerk their heads to the unicorn who is galloping around the room frantically.

"Midnight, what is ya doin'?" Shooting Star asks with her Manehattan accent. Her eyes move from left to right in time with her friend. "Twilight is tryins ta sleep."

"I felt something scamper on my back. I think it was a mouse!"

"Well stops ya panicin' because that ain't helpin' no pony." Midnight skids to a halt at the sound of Shooting Star's annoyance. "We're in the middles of a desert. Why would there be rodents?"

Twilight narrows her eyes. The room seems to be rat-free. She sighs and leaves the comfort of her blanket to examine the situation. The lavender pony expects to see nothing when she lifts up Midnight Blaze's blanket. She is mistaken when, in fact, a rat turns to her with beady green eyes and hisses. Twilight screams and starts running around the room, causing Midnight Blaze to panic again while Shooting Star face-hoofs.

The rat sneaks up behind Shooting Star and bites her back leg. The pegasus shrieks and jumps into the air by instinct to get away. While she scans the hole in the ground, the rat also sneaks up to Midnight and bites her as well. It's panic until Shooting Star watches the rat finally climb the walls of sand and run out into the desert.

"It's gone now, you two can stop screaming." Twilight and Midnight flop down next to each other. Now that they've all calmed down, Shooting and Midnight start to notice the stinging pain in their back legs where the rat bit them. They turns to look at their bites. They're is swelling and almost as big as a grape. It's not only big, but it really hurts, too.

"It bit me."

"It bit me, too."

"It bit you?"

"Yes!" Shooting Star and Midnight Blaze stretch out their back legs. Twilight gasps.

"Those don't look too good..."

***

While the three friends chat worriedly, the rat takes one last peek at the large den in the ground. Then it flees a couple of hills away where the mares can't see it. The rat's emerald eyes narrow. It smiles evilly. Suddenly, a green fire bursts from the ground around the rat. The fire shoots up like a wall, covering the rat.

Once the fire fades away into the night, the rat is longer a rat. In it's place is a pony-sized creature known as a Changeling. He has green wings and eyes, and the rest of him is pitch black, including his horn.

He only has to wait a couple seconds before a changeling twice as big as him appears at his side. "Mission accomplished?" she asks. The changeling who had shape-shifted into the rat and bit Shooting and Midnight nods. The large changeling smiles. "Those pastel fools."

Soonly, a third member of the group appears at the other side of the small changeling, also wearing an evil smile. "Everything going according to plan?"

"Yes, Discord," Queen Chrysalis replies. The two can already imagine the chaos that Twilight will go through.

Discord knows that Twilight will find her way back to Equestria, so he has to delay her. Only delay, for Twilight is a part of his plans. She needs to return to Equestria, just not yet...

Discord snaps his fingers and he's gone in a splash of sparkles. The next time he opens his eyes, he is in a cold and wet cave, just outside the town of Redwood. He is in the same place where Twilight woke up in yesterday, except he knows where he is. Just a few tail-lengths away from him lies a glowing pond of green water. He quickly disappears in the mysterious glow.

Underwater was cold as ice when Discord first found it, but with a touch of his chaotic magic, it turned as warm as a pool. It was also impossibly dark. He fixed that, too. He swims deeper and deeper until he reaches the end of the pond where it reaches straight up to the surface. It's so sudden, in fact, that if you didn't know it was there, you would think it's a dead in. But Discord knows every inch of the cave, and he certainly knows the secret room.

He breaches the surface of the room. The large room is actually the end of the tunnel. The pond fades away to a small beach on one end. Everything is cold stone, except for the beach which is wet sand. You can only find the room by swimming through the long corridor, thus meaning that no sunlight gets in. But you can see in the room the same way that you can see in the water. The secret is glowing green mushrooms. The walls of the underwater half of the cave and the room are littered with nightlight-like mushrooms.

Discord walks onto the beach. His loud steps awake his prisoner. "My, my, you are much too easy to defeat, dearest Celestia." Discord sneers.

Princess Celestia lays on the far side of the room. Chains tied to her four hoofs and the wall keep her from escaping. A thick purple collar hangs around her neck, keeping her from using her magic. Her once flowing mane is flat and messy. Her stomach growls. She slowly opens her eyes half-way, cringing in fear at the sight of her kidnapper. "Discord..." Her mouth is dry. She is very weak, but still strong inside. "Whatever you are planning...will not work..."

"The bearers of the Elements of Harmony are not all together, your sister is Nightmare Moon, and I have escaped my second stone prison. You cannot possibly tell me that my plans will not work."

Discord has only fed her one small apple in the past three days she has been trapped. Water isn't an issue since it drips off the ceiling every second. Princess Celestia's stomach rumbles. "Why are you hiding me?"

Discord only laughs. "It is all part of my secret plans." He snaps his fingers and a bowl of oats appear next to the pale pink alicorn. He expects her to grab for it in a very pathetic way. But she just glares at the draconequus. "Fine, have it your way." With another snap of his fingers, the oats turn into a pile of snakes that slither toward the princess. She backs away without showing any fear.

"Weak one second and strong the next. Your kind of nonsense isn't fun." Just like that, Discord dives back into the pool. When he does, the snakes disappear, but there is still no food.

Celestia feels weak inside. She collapses to the ground, a with the creature gone, she allows herself to cry.

***

White Tail Woods seems like a harmless forest to ponies who have only ever been there during the annual Running of the Leaves. But it’s in fact the beginning of winter; it’s cold, wet, windy, and trees are as bare as empty bowls of cereal.

The ponies shiver as they trudge through the wet leaves on the ground. Sunlight peaks through the smallest of gaps in between the trees, lighting the invisible path to Winsome Falls. Fallen branches covered in damp moss block their way.

Rainbow Dash glances up at the sky above. Clouds bump into one another, making thunder and occasionally blocking the only rays of sun they can see. Up ahead is Rarity who tries not to panic at the feeling of fresh mud and sticky leaves on her hooves.

“Everypony, we need a leader,” Rainbow Dash shouts. Her four friends turn to her with confused looks. “Twilight was always the leader of the group, but since she’s not here, somepony else has to lead us to Canterlot.”

Applejack gives a hesitant nod. “Fluttershy, Ah’m assumin’ you don’t want to?” The yellow pegasus pony hides her face behind her long pink mane and shakes her head shyly. “Right, so that leaves Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, and Ah.”

“Ooo! Can I do it? Can I do it? Pick me! Pick me, pick me, pick me!” Pinkie Pie waves her left foreleg in the air and bites her lip. “Pleeeeaaaase?”

“Ugh... all in favor of havin’ Pinkie as the leader?”

“FAVOR!” Pinkie Pie screams. Birds chirp and fly away. She smiles gleefully. “Don’t worry, I’m a great leader. Just follow me.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” whispers Rarity as they follow the bouncing pony through the forest. “Does she even know where she’s going?”

Rainbow Dash crosses her forelegs, hovering above the ground. “I don’t think any of you knew where we were going anyway.” Applejack grunts. No pony says much for the next hour until Pinkie suddenly stops in the middle of bouncing. Rarity, who is trotting behind her, bunks her nose on the earth pony’s shoulder.

“Ow! Pinkie, darling, why did you stop? We still have a few hours until sundown.”

“Shh!” Pinkie Pie crouches down and moves to the left sneakily, beckoning her friends to crouch down and follow her as well. They obeyed, still confused. Then they saw that they were one tail-length away from falling off a steep cliff into a deep canyon full of pointy, spiky trees. Only the Evergreen Trees have leaves of green.

Applejack stares wide-eyed. “Pinkie,” she whispers, “what the hay are you doin’? If we fall off that cliff, we could die!”

Pinkie Pie doesn’t say anything. Instead, she points a shaky hoof to a large cave at one end of the canyon. All the ponies hold their breath. Suddenly, having flown all over Equestria, Rainbow Dash recognizes the canyon.

“Pinkie Pie, why are we at Colt Canyon?”

“Colt Canyon?” Rarity repeats after Rainbow Dash. She stops tip-hoofing and pulls out her map. “Pinkie, your leading us in the wrong direction!”

“No I’m not, silly. I’m leading us west.” She smiles innocently. Rainbow Dash almost pulls her mane out.

“We’re supposed to be going north, Pinkie Pie. Not west.”

“Oh.” Pinkie Pie giggles. “Silly me!”

Rainbow Dash face-hoofs. When she smacks her hoof back on the ground, it sends a few stones bouncing down into the canyon. They hold their breath until they land in the waterfall down below with a loud smack. Everypony glares at the cyan pegasus. She blushes and laughs nervously.

“A little splash isn't gonna wake any creature.” She waves a hoof dismissively just before a loud roar reverberates through the canyon. A few birds fly away. They see nothing at first.

Then a large orange dragon slithers out of the cave. His scales shimmer gold and his eyes glare red at the five ponies who disrupted his slumber.

“Nice goin’, Rainbow!”

“Hey, Applejack, Pinkie’s the one who led us here in the first place.” Soon the two were arguing, forgetting all about the dragon making his way towards the pastel ponies.

“Stop it. There’s a dragon running towards us and you are fighting?”

Applejack looks back at the rampaging creature with a mouth five times as big as the ponies themselves. “Everypony, drop you’re saddlebags, and RUN!”

Adrenaline pumps through their blood. Everypony tears the extra weight off their sides. All the ponies scamper into the forest with the sound of dragon roars behind their backs. Rainbow Dash stops running in a clearing and spirals into the sky, free falling toward the dragon. Her friends stop running and watch the pony in horror.

“Rainbow, what are you doin’?”

“Get back here!” Applejack and Rarity call anxiously. Rainbow Dash can’t hear them over the rush of wind rushing past her ears as she flaps closer and closer to the danger. But even if she could hear them, she would keep flying.

The cyan pegasus flies two tail-lengths past his right eye. The large creature stops stomping and reaches his rough claws toward the pegasus like she is a fly. But the pony is too fast for him and does an upside-down flip to his tail and away. The dragon gets distracted and storms after her instead of her friends.

Applejack and Rarity don’t even think about what they’re doing as they run along the steep cliffside to meet up with Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie soon following.

Sunlight pierces Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Tears fall from them from both this and the speed. But with the dragon being much bigger than her, her speed is outnumbered by size.

He runs right behind her. In a panic, she swoops above his head. But before she makes it out of reach, burning hot flames shoot from the dragon’s mouth. She is close enough that it singes her tail tip, but not enough to do any real damage. The confident and brave pegasus looks from her tail to the dragon and laughs. Her fear runs thin and she soon underestimates his power.

“You can’t catch me, filly beast!” she exclaims. This insult enrages him even further, causing hotter flames to escape him. They miss her by five tail-lengths. “Hah!”

Her fear melts away like ice on a hot day. To prove it, she soars downward, inches from the dragon’s face. She almost escapes.

Almost.

Then he swats her with his enormous claws. The blow quickly knocks her to the ground, giving her a face full of dirt. For a moment, all she can fear is pain and agony.

That’s when the dragon inhales to release a strong wave a pain. Rainbow barely turns her head to him, awaiting her death, when a sudden loop in a rope collapses over his muzzle. He snorts a large puff of smoke and reaches for the tight rope. Applejack pulls hard on the lasso as the dragon picks at it, but he’s too strong, and he scrapes it off his snout.

The dragon looks from the rope to Applejack and growls.

“Oh, no,” Applejack mutters. She turns tail on the dragon who has taken her as his new target.

When he gets to the ledge of the gorge, the dragon spreads out his wings and pushes off the ground. Applejack looks behind her shoulder at the soaring beast and gasps in horror. He breaths more fire, this time missing the farm pony by only a hoof.

“Hey, Dragon!” a voice calls out. The chaser and his victim stop running and look at Rarity who has used her unicorn magic to find a large collection of gemstones. She levitates them in a big ball and waves it in front of his face. All his attention turns to what looks like a yummy dinner. As Rarity levitates farther away, the dragon follows, and soon she leads them both into his cave.

Once they’re sure the dragon is gone and they calm down some, Rarity runs to the saddlebags. She gasps at the sight of ashes.

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie find a gentle slop on the cliffside and slide down into the canyon. Then they all run worriedly to Rainbow Dash who is covered in bruises and scratches. Rarity would have wrinkled her nose at the feeling of dirt if she wasn't so worried about her friend.

“Rainbow, are y’all okay?” Applejack asks. Rainbow slowly lifts up her head and shakes it, spitting out dirt.

“Darling, let me help you.” Rarity offers a hoof to her friend. Rainbow Dash struggles to grab it, since the blow had knocked the wind out of her and she's still recovering. Rarity whispers, “oh dear,” and uses her magic to gently lift her from the ground to make it easier.

Rainbow balances well enough on three of her legs, but her left foreleg is numb and refuses to accept weight. She falls face-first onto the ground and gives an exhausted sigh.

“Did he really hit y’all that hard?”

“Come on now, Applejack. Claws six times as big as her, not only smacking her, but sending her crashing 100 tail-lengths into hard ground?” Rarity’s voice is brittle. She tries to act calm, but deep inside, she is really worried for her best friend. She's even afraid that a hug might hurt her.

“What do ya’ suppose we should do?” Applejack pauses. “Rainbow, can ya’ talk?”

Her tongue is dry with dirt. Her muzzle is scratched all over and bleeding. She feels like she’s bleeding everywhere, though. “I guess’.” It doesn't hurt so much talk.

Fluttershy shambles over to the commotion biting her lower lip. “How badly are you hurt?”

Rainbow Dash wants to say she feels broken everywhere, but she really isn’t and she doesn’t want her friends to worry too much.

Rainbow Dash softly grunts and pulls herself up, off the ground to stand without applying pressure on her injured leg. “My left foreleg hurts.” She tries to flap her wings. Only her right one won't. "My right wing hurts." Lastly, she glares at a wide, deep cut on one of her flanks, caused by the dragon itself. "And he scratched me…Do dragons have some kind of rabies?"

Fluttershy ponders for a moment. "I'm not sure. Besides Spike, I've never actually had a real conversation with a dragon. I don't know much about them."

“Poor dear. What hurts the most?” Rarity asks. Rainbow lifts up her numb left foreleg just a centimeter. It hurts. She flaps her right wing, and this hurts more. The scratch stings, her back aches. They all hurt just about the same.

“I can't really say. But I'm feeling better by the second, so you guys shouldn't worry too much.”

“Worried? Darling, your dripping blood from scratches and covered in grime!”

"Darn it, Pinkie! Why'd ya have ta take us here?" Applejack scowls.

“Applejack, don’t blame her, she was obviously confused,” Rarity retorts.

Applejack snorts. “From now on, Ah’ll be leading.”

Pinkie Pie pops her head next to Rainbow Dash and changes the direction of the conversation by saying, “Are your leg and wing broken? Sore? Do you feel like an alligator? Like Gummy?”

Rainbow decides to forget the last questions. “As far as I can tell... They are broken.”

Rarity gasps. “Broken? Goodness Dear, doesn't that hurt?"

It truly does hurt, very much so. But she can talk and breath and blink, so it is not as horrible as it could have been. “I’ll be fine, really. We should get going.”

"Rainbow, ya need ta get to a hospital. There's gotta be one in Canterlot." Applejack's eyes search frantically around the canyon. "Can ya still walk fine with a broken foreleg?"

Rainbow Dash tries walking without using her broken leg. The results are much slower, but about the same pace that Fluttershy travels with. "Yeah."

The new leader of the group pauses. “From Colt Canyon, we can just travel northeast ta Winsome Falls. Then we can eat dinner there. Sound good ta y'all?”

“Dinner time? But that’s like...so long away,” Rainbow complains.

“Don’t worry, Dashie. I have cupcakes,” Pinkie Pie replies with a smile.

“Cupcakes?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie pulls two lemon cupcakes out of her frizzy magenta mane. They are littered with pink hair. Rainbow Dash sticks out her tongue and points a hoof to it.

“Gross, Pinks.” Pinkie Pie shrugs and pops them both into her mouth, swallowing them in one gulp.

The ponies don’t talk much as they trot, walk, and limp back into White Tail Woods in the northeast direction toward Winsome Falls.

Chapter 7: Determination

Twilight blinks once. Then twice. Then three times. But no matter how many times she blinks, the sight doesn't change.

The sight of Midnight Blaze and Shooting Star gone. She doesn't understand how it happened or why, but all she knows is that her last hopes of returning home...

...are gone.

The purple unicorn collapses onto the soft sand. It is hot and burns her cheeks, but she doesn't care. Why should she? The map and compass were in Midnight's saddlebags, and now she's gone. All Twilight has left in her saddlebags are an apple, a blanket, a tent, a jacket, and four boots. The jacket, blanket, and boots come of no use under the boiling sun. She doesn't need the tent at the moment.

She eats her last apple.

"What now?" Twilight asks aloud. "I have no more water, no more food..." Twilight hugs the sand close to her chest as if it's a teddybear. She squeezes her eyes shut and let's the tears spill out. "I'm going to die out here..."

The aspect do dying scares Twilight. If she died right there right now, what would happen? Her friends would grief for years, Nightmare Moon would loose her mind from the so called 'death' of her sister.

Discord would take over Equestria. After all, that is what he wants, isn't it? He framed Twilight, he captured Princess Celestia, and maybe he is the one who took Midnight and Shooting away. All so that he can rule Equestria in eternal chaos.

That doesn't sound much better than eternal night.

How many ponies would suffer?

How much would her friends suffer?

"No." Twilight let's go of the sand. She opens her eyes and sits up. Her tears stop flowing. Her sparkling eyes fade from wide and sorrowful, to narrowed and anger. "You can mess with me, Discord. But when you mess with my friends, you are going too far."

She knows that she is talking to no pony, but she talks anyway. "I will return to Equestria." Twilight starts galloping through the desert. Her mane flows back from the rush of the wind, sand burns on her narrowed eyes, and her teeth grit in the most painful way.

But she refuses to give up.

Twilight is no longer scared.

***

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all burst through the small garden-like gate into Canterlot. They take a few moments to catch their breaths. Climbing up the side of a tall mountain has left them exhausted.

"We...made it..." Applejack announces. They smile weakly and slowly rise back to their hooves, wiping the beads of sweat from their foreheads.

"That was...the most...exhausting thing...I have ever done...in my entire life!" Rarity complains.

"Well...we're here now...so...congratulations..." Pinkie Pie trails off. She grabs a random party horn from her mane and gives an exhausted blow into it.

From their position, they can see the Royal Castle of Canterlot about a mile away. The friends quickly spot a pool of water nearby and gallop over to it, then dunk their heads inside and drink large gulps. Although, Rarity gently hovers her head above the water and laps at it like when her kitten, Opalescence, drinks milk.

Once they've all finished drinking, they sit on the ground panting. A few rather classy ponies give them disgusted looks as they walk by. Rarity and Fluttershy blush. The others don't care.

"So what's the plan?" Rainbow Dash asks.

Applejack sighs. “Yer plan is ta get ta the hospital.”

Rainbow Dash looks taken aback. “Pegasus bones are hollow to help us fly. It only takes like three days for them to heal. Honestly, Applejack, I’m much better than I was yesterday.”

Applejack doesn’t look persuaded, but she knows it is no use to argue with her, so she shrugs. "I guess the plan is ta walk up ta Nightmare Moon and demand her ta brink back Twilight."

"Darling, how well do you think that will turn out?" Rarity wonders. "After all, we're talking about one of the most powerful mares known to ponydom."

"Like ya girls said earlier, we don't have much else to go on." Applejack starts trotting onto the sidewalk toward Canterlot, then looks back at her friends who don't move a muscle. "Are ya comin'?"

Rarity banished all fears from her mind and joins Applejack in the trotting. Then goes Rainbow Dash who limps but would rather fly if she didn't have a broken wing, Pinkie Pie who bounces, and Fluttershy who walks alongside Rainbow Dash for her slow pace.

Fifteen minutes later, they all stand at the gates of the Royal Castle. The only thing blocking their way are two pegasus guards with matching white coats and blue manes because of a spell on their armor. They lift out their wings to block the five ponies from entering the castle.

"Halt!" The one of the left shouts in a deep voice.

"Who goes their?" asks the guard on the right. Fluttershy shrinks back behind her mane. Rainbow Dash flies up to the left one and looks him in the eye.

"We're here to talk to Nightmare Moon. Got a problem with that?"

"Yeah lady, we do," he snaps, glaring back at the cyan pegasus. "Nightmare Moon hasn't requested any visitors."

"Well we're here, so let us in!" Rainbow exclaims. She is suddenly pulled back onto the ground from a strong tug on her tail. She turns her glare to Applejack who is trotting up to the guards.

"Pardon Rainbow there, sirs. But we just need ta have a quick word with the princess," Applejack says much more politely than Rainbow.

The right guard shakes his head. "Our orders are to only let in requested visitors."

"Excuse me." Rarity pushes Applejack to the side. "Would you at least ask the princess if she will see us?"

The two guards exchange glances. The left one nods and opens one of the gates. After he disappears inside, the one on the right stands right in front of it with both his wings spread out careful not to let anypony inside.

A minute later, the guard returns to his position. "The princess will see you." The guards fold their wings on their back and open up the gates. The ponies slowly shuffle inside, gazing at the hallway they have known for much time. A soft, red carpet stretching from the gate to the throne. Stained glass windows showing events of defeats of evil. They pause at the window showing them defeating Nightmare Moon. Then they turn to Nightmare Moon.

She is glaring. "Stop your strolling, weak peasants! Come forth if you wish to speak to thee," Nightmare exclaims. The five friends trot up to the stares below her throne.

"Howdy there, Princess." Applejack takes her hat off and hugs it against her chest, trying her best to be as respectful as possible. "We would kindly appreciate it if y'all would consider bringin' our dear friend Twilight back home."

At first, Nightmare Moon doesn't react. She just sits and stares. "Does thou tell me a joke?" Her eyes glare. "Or does thou speak honest?" Nightmare Moon stops her hoof with each steps as she defends the staircase beneath her throne. "Thou wants me to bring back thee who committed treason? Thee who killed my beloved sister?"

"Princess, Ah'm sorry, but ya're unfairly alleging her—"

"Thou has no right to even think about thee traitor!" A small thunder cloud starts to form above her head.

"If y'all just let me explain—"

"I will not listen to this foul conversation no more!" The storm cloud glows. An ivy hedge suddenly springs from the ground beneath Applejack. The farm pony, who has been backing up from the princess, bumps into the wall. She looks around and is about to spring backward when an ivy rope shoots from the hedge and grabs onto one of her forelegs.

"Applejack!" Her friends shout worriedly. Rainbow Dash quickly limps forward, but before she can reach her friend, a sharp lightning bolt attacks her from the cloud above Nightmare's head. Rainbow falls to the ground from impact, pain, and shock. Before anypony else can try to interrupt Applejack's punishment, Nightmare Moon's horn glows once more and a glass case forms over her friends so that they are trapped.

Applejack pulls at the ivy wrapping around her foreleg, but it won't budge. She sees that the ivy is wrapped in a turquoise glow, just like Nightmare's. The farm pony drops her hat and positions herself, then uses her back legs to kick Nightmare Moon in the stomach as if she were a tree. Nightmare Moon staggers back and grabs her chest; who knew a pony only half as big as her could cause so much pain?

When Nightmare Moon staggers back, her concentration on the spells is lost. The ivy lets go of Applejack, and the glass case is no longer being held to the floor. AJ quickly grabs her hat, slips it in her head, then runs to the glass case. Nightmare Moon is too late to stop Applejack from lifting the heavy object off her friends and setting them free.

They run for their lives. Adrenaline rushes through their blood. They don't even know what they're doing as they gallop toward the front gate to escape. The doors are still open. Nightmare Moon looks up. The ponies are one tail-length away from escaping.

Then the doors are wrapped in blue magic, and they swing shut. The ponies slam into the door and fall to the ground. The impact is enough to knock the air out of all of them, and create bruises to last for weeks.

Nightmare Moon soars across the hallway and lands before the subjects. They stare up at her with fear in their eyes. The princess glares. Applejack tenses, making sure she's ready for whatever pain she will throw at them.

Instead, Nightmare Moon turns her gaze to the window of herself being defeated by the five.

Nightmare Moon sucks in a deep breath. "You do not understand the pain I am going through." The cloud above her head vanishes. "My sister is dead...she was the only pony left that I loved."

"Twilight Sparkle has killed my last love."

Rarity gulps. "Twilight did not kill her. We are trying to tell you that it was Discord!"

Nightmare Moon laughs evilly. Before Rarity can blink, Nightmare's head is a hoof away from hers. "Discord is encaged in stone. You are a fool for thinking I would believe such a foolish excuse."

"But we saw him. He really is free, Nightmare Moon. You have to believe us."

"Have to? I don't have to do anything." She turns directly away from the mares and stares at her throne. She thinks about when Celestia and her were little fillies, chasing each other around the throne. Mother was sitting there. Father was laughing. And now they're all dead, she thinks. "You just want to see Twilight so you can kill me, too, right?"

"No, of course not!" Rarity shakes from the tip of her hooves to the tip of her ear.

"And why would you want to kill me?" Nightmare Moon's horn glows again. Black vines begin to stream down from the high-up ceiling. The five friends watch in fear and scramble onto their hooves. They start backing away, but the vines slowly turn toward them.

Pinkie Pie glances around. She smiles when she sees a window and runs up to it. A party canon appears from nowhere, and she throws it at the window, hoping it will break. But it doesn't.

"Is it so that Twilight can take my place? That's probably her plan isn't it? Has that been her plan all along? Ever since she was a filly?"

No pony answers, for their attention are filly on escaping from the vines. With no place else to go, they all huddle up in a corner of the room, shaking, watching the vines descend slowly.

"Well, I won't make the mistake of trusting her again."

The black vines grab onto all their forelegs. They all scream, causing the guards to burst through the door. As soon as they see what's going on, fear overwhelms them. They abandon their posts and run out the door. When all the ponies outside see the guards panicking, they peer inside the castle. Then they, too, start panicking.

It doesn't take long for all of Canterlot to be running around in a panic.

"In fact, I won't make the mistake of trusting any pony ever again!" Nightmare Moon shouts.

A sudden burst of screaming interrupts the princess's thoughts. She leaves the sight of the ponies and peers outside where ponies everywhere are running for their lives.

Applejack takes this time to bite the ivy off her legs. Once she's free, she begins on Rarity's. By the time Nightmare Moon looks back at the scene, Applejack and Rarity are free and trying to free Rainbow Dash.

"No! Stop!" Nightmare Moon shouts, galloping toward them. Rarity and Applejack break the last of ivy wrapped around Rainbow Dash. They glance from Nightmare Moon to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie who are still trapped.

Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash want to tell Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy that they will come back to free them, but that they can't do that if they're trapped, and that is why they are escaping. But there is no time. All they can do is look at them with sorrowful eyes and escape through the open castle doors. Nightmare Moon would go after them if Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy weren't biting through the ivy already to escape.

"I guess you two are the lucky ones," Nightmare Moon whispers. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pies' eyes widen in fear as more black vines grab onto their back legs as well, then around their bellies, around their muzzles, and lastly, around their necks. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy glance at each other with pure terror.

"You shall be punished for helping that tyrant kill my sister."

Chapter 8: Bat Ponies

It's now lunch time. The sun is at it's highest peek, casting burning sunlight onto Twilight. She is so hungry, so thirsty, so lost, and so, I mean so, sweaty. She flops onto the ground, grabs her mane, and squeezes all the sweat out.

"Ew," she complains, shaking the warm water off her hooves. "This desert can't go on forever..." Twilight stops mumbling to herself and starts trotting tiredly again.

What if my friends were here? she asks herself. They'd be helping me, right? But I don't know where they are, or what they're doing... Twilight's thoughts make her zone out as she trots through the barren desert. What if they're having fun? What if they're acting like everything's the same even without me?

No. Twilight shakes her head. My friends love me, and I love them. I'm sure they're worried...

Twilight is so distracted by her thoughts that she bumps straight into a tree. "Ow!" She exclaims, falling into her butt and rubbing her forehead. It takes her a few moments to realize what it means that the tree is really there. "Wait...what?" She looks up from the ground and stares forward. All she can see is a crowded forest full of Oaks, Redwoods, and so much more.

She stares at the ground. The sand quickly fades into grass and dirt where the trees are going. The change of biomes is so sudden that it seems almost unnatural.

The lavender unicorn sighs in relief. She resumes her trot into the green forest. Inside, there are birds chirping and soft grass under her hooves and tall trees with many branches and leaves to shade her from the heat of the sun. She soon reaches the top of a hill where she can see a stream and a few fruit trees. Two apple and three banana, to be precise.

Twilight gallops to the stream faster than she's ever galloped before. At the edge, she slides on the wet grass from loss of traction. Unfortunately, she doesn't stop herself in time and ends up crashing into the stream.

Cold. Wet. These things feel so much better than hot and sweaty. She tears off her saddlebags and flings them onto the bank of the stream and lays down in the hoof-deep water. The cool pebbles feel soft against her skin. She lets the water seep through her mane and pool over her body as she floats. Her view is of the beautiful forest and the small peaks of sunlight through the leaves.

After five minutes, the fresh water starts to feel cold. She wades back onto the stream’s bank. Once she's on dry land, Twilight shakes herself so that most of the water sticking to her flies onto the ground or back into the stream.

The forest is much cooler than the desert. Twilight shivers for the first time in awhile and opens up her flooded saddlebag. The tent is protected by a package that is keeping it dry, but her jacket and boots are soaked to the core. She pulls the soaked clothing out with her dripping horn and lays it on top of some apple tree branches.

Wait a second... Apples? Bananas? These are some of Twilight's favorite fruits!

An apple smothered in a magenta glow levitates in front of Twilight's eyes. The unicorn licks her lips and smiles widely. She is just about to take the first, juicy bite, when a vampire fruit bat swoops down and steals it with his claws. Twilight tries to get a better grip on it with her magic, but the fruit bat pulls harder. Eventually, Twilight gives up and lets the bird take it. Surely there's more apples to go around.

Twilight watches the fruit bat nibble on the apple across the stream while levitating another apple from the apple tree from memory of it's location. Without looking, she takes a large bite out of the side. The second her tongue tastes what should be a sweet sensation, it instead shrinks back. Twilight spits out whatever is in her mouth and turns to what she thought was an apple.

Turns out there's more vampire fruit bats, because a shriveled up apple core covered in dirt doesn't taste the same. She turns to the banana tree instead and snatches one with her purple magic. It flies down fast to Twilight, but an unknown type of bat swoops down and takes the long yellow fruit. She stomps her hoof in frustration and decides to use teleportation instead. Her horn glows bright. Soon, a nice, ripe banana is in her grasp. Before any bat can steal it, she covers it with her forelegs while unwrapping the outer case. In three enormous bites, the entire banana has disappeared. She throws the banana casing to the side and watches a swarm of bats gnaw on it.

After Twilight has eaten three bananas (and an apple that she snagged), she's full enough to continue walking through the almost never-ending forest

***

"Just...one more...step..." Twilight grabs another vine and hoists herself further up on the steep and slippery hill. It was either this or take her chances jumping over a wide ravine gap. She's too exhausted to perform magic, so she's having to take it earth pony style right now.

"There," Twilight says as she reached the very top of the hill. From here, she can just about see everything. She can see the forest continue on into mountains, she can see the sun a couple hours from setting. She can hear birds squawk and squeal and the faint splashing of the water on creak banks. But the one thing that really catches her view is a small cottage sitting right in the center of her view. Smoke is pouring from the chimney. It reminds Twilight of Fluttershy's cottage, except it's shaped like a perfect rectangle and looks old. Next to it sits a stone well.

Maybe they'll be friendly, Twilight thinks as she strolls over to the cottage. Like Fluttershy. Her thoughts immediately jump to the butter pegasus. The memories of her best friend stab her in the heart like a knife. It's just not the same without them by her side, considering they have gone through all their adventures together.

In her zoned-out state, Twilight bunks into another tree. She silently curses under her breath. Note to self, don't zone out.

The next few minutes fly by. She arrives in a small grass clearing where the cottage sits. A cobblestone path leads the way from where she stands to the broken-down house. Spiderwebs are wedged between the cracks.

Twilight trots up to the door. She lifts a hoof to knock on the door, then jerks it back. What if she's evil? What if she's not even a pony at all?

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"

Inside she hears banging and crashing.

Then the door opens.

Twilight wonders if the creature counts as a pony.

"Hey, there!" the creature exclaims. She look at Twilight's back as if looking for wings. When she finds no look, she turns to her forehead. Her horn makes the creature's eyes sparkle, and she grins. When she grins, Twilight can see two sharp fangs hanging from the roof of her mouth where teeth should be. "You must be a unicorn pony. My name's Amber Eyes, what's yours?"

Twilight opens her mouth to speak, but no words come. The creature's excitement reminds her of Pinkie Pie. Really, anything will remind her of her friends right now.

To be exact, this creature is basically a pony-bat hybrid. She has a lavender mane and tail that remind Twilight of Scootaloo. Her coat is grey and her eyes glow bright yellow. Her cutie mark presents the image of a sword and axe. The only thing separating her from being a pony is her sparkling purple bat wings, tufted ears, sharp fangs, and dragon-like vertical slits for her pupils. Twilight has only seen these kinds of ponies on Nightmare Night as Princess Luna's guards.

Twilight realizes she must have been staring for hours because Amber Eyes has cocked her head to the left and is eying her funny. "Hello? Can you speak?"

"Hm? Oh, yes." Twilight bites her lower lip. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I...I can't help but notice that you are part bat."

Amber giggles. "Yes, silly. That's because I'm a bat pony."

"A bat pony?"

"A bat pony."

"Why...what? A bat pony? Do bat ponies live all over this forest?"

Amber Eyes's ears droop. "No, I'm the only one."

"Why?"

"When I was a little filly...there was a war in these parts...I ran away from home. When I returned, my whole village was burnt down... There were bodies everywhere, covered in blood..." Amber shivers. "I decided to stay here." She steps out of the doorway, revealing a quaint living room and kitchen. "Please, come in."

Twilight steps in. The cottage is warm and cozy, and thankfully, neat. She can't stand a mess without organizing it, and she doesn't have the time nor the energy to spend as a house maid.

Amber Eyes shuts the door and lazily flaps her bat wings into the kitchen. She pours two fresh glasses of apple juice into glasses and starts drinking one while setting the other on the counter. It lands with a small clink and sloshes a little over the edges. Twilight sits down in the swivel chair in front of it and takes the juice in her magic. The refreshment is soon gone. Twilight smacks her lips before setting the empty cup back on the marble counter.

"So what are you doing here, Twilight?" The bat pony hovers onto the swivel chair next to the unicorn. "You're my first visitor in a long time."

Twilight circles her hoof around the edge of the glass. This creates a sound that makes Amber's ears twitch. "I'm actually from Equestria. I don't know a thing about the world outside of my home country, so I'm completely lost on my journey."

Amber Eyes is quiet for a moment. "Do you need a guide?"

"I had two guides."

"...had?"

Twilight stops circling her hoof and turns to Amber. "I think Discord took them away...I'm not sure where, but if it's Discord we're talking about, I'll probably never see them again."

More silence. Twilight glances at Amber Eye's cutie mark. "You're a blacksmith?"

Amber nods. "Would you like to see?" Twilight doesn't have to reply. Amber just leads her through a hallway to a large room with a furnace in one corner and many other items in others. Hanging on the walls are all sorts of weapons and armor, but there's mostly swords. "I don't even sell them to anypony. I just make them for fun. The supplies comes from Pearl Bay. I go there every month."

"Pearl Bay?" Twilight asks. "Where's that?"

"Just east of here." Perfect, Twilight thinks. That is the exact direction she's heading for Equestria. "There's a small town there. Why?"

"Oh, I just need some more supplies for my journey."

Amber Eyes flutters over to an iron sword sitting on a rack. She grabs the handle by her teeth and sets it in front of Twilight. "This is the best one I've got."

"A-a sword?" Twilight stammers. Her face is full of shock. "What do you think I'm going to be doing?"

"Maybe facing an Ursa Minor or a Skwoth."

"A what?"

"A Skwoth."

Twilight shakes her head to clear her thoughts. "What is that?"

Amber Eyes looks to the right as if watching a daydream. "You don't want to know."

Twilight nudges the sword handle with her hoof. Instead of picking it up in her mouth, she levitates it off the ground. She does some pretty cool flipping tricks with it before setting it back down. "I don't know, Amber Eyes. Maybe it's different here, but in Equestria, we don't murder things like this."

"Well you should. Come on, Twilight. It won't kill you."

"But it will kill whatever I hit it with!" Twilight takes a deep breath to calm herself down. "I don't like the aspect of death."

"And I don't like the aspect of being eaten alive, so unless you want that to happen, I seriously suggest you use this sword." Amber Eyes pushes the sword to Twilight. She scrunches up her face. "Really, Twilight. Only for self defense. It's not like your going to be murdering other ponies."

"Oh, please do not even say that," the lavender pony ejaculates. "I don't want any images in my brain."

"Okay, sorry." Amber Eyes grabs a sheath and slips it over Twilight's sword. "You wouldn't happen to have any bits, would you?"

Twilight shakes her head guiltily. "I wish I did, really, but I'm almost bare-hoofed at this point."

Amber Eyes pretends to be okay, but Twilight can read eyes, and Bright Eyes's eyes are showing disappointment.

By the time Amber Eyes has found a strap for Twilight's sword so she can wear it on her side, the sun is setting once more. Twilight insists that she doesn't have to stay, but Amber Eyes claims that she's happy to have some company around. Once the sun has fully set and the forest is black as night, Twilight doesn't resist any further.

"Thank you, Amber Eyes. I can't thank you enough," Twilight says as snuggles up in the lower bed of Amber's trundle bed.

"It's no prob, Twi..." Amber Eyes is broken from her words with a yawn. "Like I said...you make...good...com..company..." The bat pony trails off as she drifts off to sleep. Twilight smiles to herself and closes her eyes, soon drifting off into her very own slumber.

***

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity leap behind a garden hedge. Rainbow Dash lands on her injured leg and has to bite her lip so hard that it bleeds to keep her from yelping. Ponies around them are screaming and galloping about frantically. All they can do is peer through the bush's leaves at the commotion and pray that Nightmare Moon doesn't find them.

"I'm starting to think that maybe Nightmare Moon isn't as reasonable as I thought she would be," Rainbow Dash whispers once her left foreleg is feeling better.

Applejack snorts. "Really, Rainbow? I couldn't tell by the way she tried ta kill the five a' us!"

Rarity ducks deeper behind the hedge. "She certainly won't be reasonable now."

The three mares watch as Nightmare Moon arises through the front doors. Behind her, the friends can see Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy being practically strangled by black vines. Maybe not tight enough to make them bleed, but defiantly enough to leave rashes and scares.

"Stop thou panicking!" Nightmare Moon barks. Immediately, ponies everywhere stop moving. They stare with wide-eyes at their terrifying ruler. "Why does thou run and scream?" Nightmare Moon trots up to a little filly who is hiding behind her mane. "Well? Speakest!"

"It's just that you're kind of a mean and scary ruler, princess," shouts a stallion from a corner of the clearing. Nightmare Moon glares at him. He shrinks back. "We're shocked about Princess Celestia's death, and it would make us feel better if Princess Luna were here."

"But we are your beloved Luna," Nightmare shrieks in her Royal Canterlot Voice. "Does thee dare speak otherwise?"

"Princess Luna is kind and silly," shouts a mare from a different corner. "Nightmare Moon is mean and scary."

Nightmare Moon grinds her sharpened teeth, showing them off. The ponies shrink further into their manes like a herd of Fluttershies. "We are thou new ruler, then. Princess Luna is too fragile to handle this death. Nightmare Moon is here to stay, and if thou fears us, then thou will continue to fear for the rest of thou's lives!"

Rarity looks away. "I can't watch this anymore. What do we do? We can't hide behind a shrub for the rest of our lives. Twilight’s still gone, and I have weekly appointments at the spa with Flutter..." Rarity turns back to Fluttershy who appears to now be crying from fear. Guilt stabs the unicorn's heart. "Applejack, we absolutely must rescue Pinkie and Flutters."

"Right now?" Applejack asks. Rarity nods. "Are ya crazy? We're in tha perfect view point a' Nightmare Moon. There's no way we can make it into the castle without getting caught, and then what help would we be?"

"But we can't abandon them here, either, AJ," Rainbow Dash retorts. "I'm the Element of Loyalty. I don't plan on changing that."

Applejack sigh is barely audiobook over the continuing shouting of Nightmare Moon. "We can't act now, gals. We have to wait."

"Wait? Wait where? For how long?" Rainbow Dash drifts off into thought for a moment. "Nightmare Moon sees us as criminals. She might kill us on sight, so we have to be on guard."

"Exactly. That's why we gotta sneak outta here and hide someplace that Nightmare Moon would never expect us ta be."

"No, Applejack. The most unexpected place for us to hide is in her castle itself."

"Where? Behind her throne?" Applejack retorts.

"Yes, quite possibly." Rarity peers past Nightmare Moon at the castle. "We can make a run for it."

"Rarity, that is tha most ridiculous thing Ah have ever heard in mah entire life! We have ta stay here until Nightmare Moon goes back inside. Ah'm tha leader now, so ya have ta listen ta what Ah say, and Ah say that yer idea is too risky."

"Alright, Applejack, you don't have to be so bossy," Rainbow Dash retorts.

"Ah'm not bein' bossy. Ah'm just tryin' ta protect tha ponies Ah love."

They don't say much for the next five minutes. Nightmare Moon finally goes back inside. The sound of Pinkie Pie and Fluttershys' cries fill the air. It makes them cringe in horror.

Applejack looks down sadly. "Ah don't know what we can do without gettin' caught."

Rainbow Dash glances at her wings. "If my wing wasn't broken, I'd rocket in the air, grab them, then zoom out." She leans her head on her foreleg and sighs. "It'll be at least two more days until it heals, and Celestia knows how much time we're already wasting by talking."

Rraity's eyes widen and sparkle. A grin spreads across her lips. "Darling, that's a great idea!" she cheers.

"But I can't do it."

"Oh no, not that plan." Rarity glances from Rainbow's confused face to Applejack's curious one.

"Well?" The farm pony raises an eyebrow. "Ya gonna tell us what it is, or sit there admirin' our curiousity?"

Rarity gleams. "So, here's what we do first..."

Chapter 9: Discord's Plans

Shooting Star opens her eyes. The first thing she notices is that she is in a cage in a dark cave lit by glowing mushrooms. When she scrambles upward, she bangs her head on the cage door and bumps into something warm and squishy. Caught off guard, Star rubs her head and bends down lower, then looks fearfully at whatever she just bumped. She sighs a bit breath of relief when she realizes it's just her best friend.

"Midnight." Shooting Star nudges her friend with a hoof. "Midnight Blaze, wake up."

Her friend stirs, but she doesn't open her eyes or rise up. "Are...are we still glowing green?" she mumbles. Shooting Star observes them both. She even scans their back legs where the rat bites were.

"No. And the bites are gone."

"Really?" Midnight Blaze's eyes pop open. She springs upward, only to also bang her head on the metal bars. "Wh-why are we in a small cage?" Then she notices so etching around her neck. It feels like a thick necklace. "And what is around my neck?"

"Well isn't that just the question of the day?" a voice asks from behind them. They turn around to come face-to-face with an unknown creature.

Shooting Star laughs. "What the hay are you? You look like you fell into a pool of animal parts."

"I am a Draconequus. The reason why I look like this is because I am the Spirit of Disharmony, or, what I prefer to call it, chaos." He turns his back to the ponies and marches up to another weird creature who looks like a black unicorn with green wings, green hair, green eyes, and a bunch of holes inside of her. It reminds Shooting Star of Swiss Cheese.

"Well, Mr. Chaos, would you care to tell us where we are or what we're doing here?" Midnight Blaze asks. The creature turns to her, but stays where he is beside the large pony creature.

"You're in an underground cave where no pony will find you. I put a magic-proof collar around Midnight so she can't use her magic to escape."

"It's not like I know very much magic, anyway," Midnight grumbles too quietly for anypony to hear.

"As for why you are locked in a tiny cage, is so that you'll stop messing with my plans!"

"What plans?"

"My plans for Twilight," he answers Star. She narrows her eyes.

"And what exactly are those plans?"

"Secret plans. But I will say that I need Twilight to turn against friendship, and you two are certainly not helping that."

Midnight Blaze keeps staring at the black alicorn.

"What?" the creature asks.

"What are you?" Midnight raises an eyebrow. The creature laughs.

"I am a changeling."

"I see. And what exactly is a changeling?"

"I feed off of ponies' love for one another," she retorts. "And unless you want me to feed on you and your friend, I suggest you shut your mouth!"

Midnight grunts. Shooting Star rolls her eyes.

The strange draconequus snaps his fingers. An enormous pearl appears before him and the changeling. Shooting Star quickly realizes that it's a crystal ball. He snaps his fingers once more, and an image appears on the crystal. Even though Star and Midnight are not meant to see it, they still look over his shoulder with wide eyes.

The image is of Twilight just after Shooting Star and Midnight Blaze vanished. The unicorn collapses to the ground and starts crying. Discord snorts.

"She's so weak," he says. Then the image seems to change. Twilight stand back up with a confident, angry face. She says something, but the crystal doesn't project sound. Twilight then starts galloping through the desert. Discord smiles. "Or maybe taking Star and Midnight really is turning her."

"Stop it!" Midnight Blaze suddenly screams at the spirit of chaos. He and the black alicorn turn to her. Tears well up in her eyes. She can't help; everything is so confusing to her. She doesn't even know what in the wide world is happening to her life. "Stop whatever you're planning. Twilight is full of love and happiness and friendship, not hatred and darkness. You can't change her!"

An evil laugh echoes throughout the underwater cave system, even all the way to where Princess Celestia is being hidden. “She is full of darkness, because I gave darkness to her.”

“You… gave her darkness?” Midnight Blaze asks quietly. “How?”

Discord shrugs. “A certain spell book I stole might hold your answer.”

“But why?”

“For my plans.”

“What part of your plans?”

“The part where the darkness overcomes her and turns her evil.”

“Psh,” Shooting Star interrupts Midnight and Discord’s arguement. “I thought you said they were secret plans?”

The changeling has to hold a hoof to her mouth to keep from laughing. Discord’s face turns to one of rage. Although, he can’t think of a good enough combat so he turns his back to the orange pegasus and continues to watch the crystal globe.

Shooting Star smiles in accomplishment.

Chapter 10: Dark Magic

Twilight rests against a large oak tree. Thanks to the compass and map Amber Eyes gave her, she actually knows where she's going.

She stares at a strawberry bush. Five of them are plucked off their stems at once. Twilight nibbles on one at a time, though. After they're all gone, she reaches for more but is interrupted by a strange snapping sound. When she can't find the source, she gets up and searches behind trees and bushes. She eventually finds the direction where it gets louder and trots there.

The very curious pony regrets coming out when she almost stumbles into a large hole in the ground. The slightest noise she makes awakens a creature that looks like an indigo worm. It stares at Twilight, then opens his mouth. Three skinny black tongues that look like vines grab her foreleg.

"Agh! Tatzlwurm!" Twilight exclaims. The black tongue hanging onto her foreleg pulls her closer and closer to the worm's mouth. She tries zapping the black vine with her magic, but it only flinches. She frantically, desperately grabs onto the nearest tree trunk, but the worm is too strong as pulls her away.

Twilight looks at her sheath protecting her sword. The worm in mere tail-lengths away from swallowing her whole. "I don't want to do this, but you leave me no other choice." Magic swirls around the sheath. The sword levitates out. Twilight bites her lip, unsure if she really wants to use something so destructive. I'm just defending myself, that's all, she encourages herself.

The iron sword lifts up into the air. Seconds away from being eaten alive, the sword rescues Twilight by slicing one of its tongues off. It makes a strange screeching sound. Then reaches for Twilight again. Before it can grab a better hold of her, she cuts off it's other two tongues. It howls and pain. Blood drips from the three black tongues that flop lifeless lay on the ground. The tatzlwurm declares his defeat and slithers back into his hole.

Twilight wipes beads of sweat off her forehead. She looks down at the worm's blood on her foreleg in disgust. Sure, she'd zap his mouth or kick him no problem. But slicing off body parts? It sounds so horrid that it makes Twilight drop the iron sword stained with new blood spots. She backs away from it as if it's going to attack her, too.

Don’t fear a sword, that’s weak as a kitten, a disembodied voice says. She turns around. Nothing is there. She looks all over, but nothing is there. No pony is there.

"Where are you? Hello?" she calls.

Don't speak aloud, speak inside your head.

Twilight's eyes widen. Are you my conscious?

No!

Then what are you? Twilight asks. The voice doesn't reply. Hello?

Look in a mirror.

I don't have one.

Look in the stream.

Twilight feels her head as if to find a giant bump, but there's nothing there. She questions her sanity while slowly sheathing her sword. Then she trots up to the stream and looks at her reflection. She jumps backward at the sight. Dear Celestia, am I losing my mind?

No. That's your exact reflection.

Twilight trots up to the stream. She fixates again at her image and keeps herself from jumping back again. My horn…Why is my horn surrounded by a faint green and purple glow?

Because dark magic is slowly taking over your body each second.

WHAT? Twilight exclaims in her head. No no no, dark magic? Dark magic? I don't use dark magic! Only evil unicorns use dark magic!

And that it why Discord cast a very powerful dark magic spell on you. He plans to corrupt you into evil.

Twilight’s heart beat increases speed. Adrenaline courses through her body. A long silence passes. How do you know that? Who are you?

I am the dark magic inside of you.

How are you talking to me?

Magic.

The purple unicorn sways her head back and forth. Discord wants me to turn...evil?

Yes.

Why?

His plans. Other than that, I will say that if you stop resisting the corruption, the transformation will only take seconds. But if you keep resisting, then it will take weeks or even moons! Don't you want to just get it over with?

No! Twilight screams in her head. She can feel the dark magic pounding against her skull, dying to take over her body. It is all too much for her, but somehow, as strong as Twilight is, she is able to push back the dark magic far away. She almost faints from the effort.

Twilight looks back into the stream. The glowing purple is gone. Hello? There's no response. She congratulates herself for being strong enough to push the darkness out of the way.

The purple unicorn smiles to herself as she gallops through the forest on her way to Pearl Bay. This adventure is long and exhausting, she thinks. But it is nothing that I can't handle.

***

Discord bangs his fist against the cage holding Star and Midnight. He glares at the crystal ball, then turns to Queen Chrysalis with eyes full of rage. "That unicorn is the most annoying little thing I have ever had to deal with! I swear, if she wasn't part of my plans..."

"Why not just use one of the other bearers, then, Discord?" the Changeling Queen asks.

Discord, who is full of so much frustration that he can't bear it, makes himself fake a sneeze really loudly. The glowing mushrooms turn into glowing frogs that hop along the ground making cat meows instead of ribbits. Not a lot of chaos happens, but it's enough to relieve him a bit.

He stares at the black alicorn. "Because Fluttershy and Rarity are too weak; they'd never be able to kill Nightmare Moon. Pinkie Pie is too silly; she'd only laugh at the dark magic. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are too strong; the dark magic wouldn't even be able to get inside their heads at all. But Twilight Sparkle... Oh, Twilight is the most powerful creature in the entire world. She is not too weak, she is not too silly, but she is also not too strong. She's perfect."

"Then why are you complaining?"

"Because even though she's not too strong, she's still strong. I'm not sure if the dark magic will take control of her by the time she reaches Equestria or not."

"Why not just kill Nightmare Moon, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and Princess Celestia yourself?"

Discord has to snap his fingers and turn Midnight Blaze into a bunny to keep himself from exploding with rage. "Because I am not powerful enough. Did you not hear me say that Twilight is the most powerful creature in the entire universe? My magic is not strong enough to kill the immortal princesses or the Elements of Harmony. Only Twilight has the power to do so."

"I see," replies Chrysalis.

"Plus," Discord adds with a mischievous grin, "messing with ponies is fun."

***

Nightmare Moon trots back inside her castle and closes the gates. She turns to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who are bound tight by her ivy.

"So, pathetic ponies. What do you think of your murderous plans now?"

"We don't want to kill you," Fluttershy squeaks through the ivy clamped around her muzzle. Tears stream from her eyes. "We just want Twilight back!"

"And I want my sister back, but is that going to happen?" Nightmare Moon bellows. "No. It won't."

"Please, Princess," Pinkie Pie shouts. "We don't mean any harm. Can you please let us go?"

"Let you go?" Nightmare Moon laughs in a sickly way. "Why should I do that?"

"Why shouldn't you?"

Nightmare Moon growls. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie wait for something horrible to happen as the ivy around them dissolves, sending them crashing onto the floor.

"Does...does this mean you're letting us go?"

"Of course it doesn't, fool!" Nightmare shouts at Fluttershy. The butter pegasus screams in fear. "I had to suffer with the death of my sister. Your punishment will be to feel this pain yourself!"

Two clear potion bottles holding white liquid appear in front of each of the ponies. They glance at each other. "Drink up my little ponies." Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy don't have time to react as Nightmare moon levitates the potions of their mouths and forces them to drink it. The results happen almost instantly.

Fluttershy opens her eyes. She forgets everything about Nightmare Moon. The only thing she can think about is what is happening right now.

She is laying down on dead weeds in a dead apple orchard. The sky is black. There are no stars, there is no moon. Fog thickens the air around the pony. At first she thinks she's all alone in the orchard, but then she hears a soft call.

"Fluttershy?" It becomes louder. "Fluttershy!" A purple blob seems to be running toward her. Once the blob in close enough, Fluttershy can see through the thick fog that it's Twilight. She would smile at her friend if she was not covered in bloody scratches. "Fluttershy, please help!"

"Twilight, Darling, is that you?" says Rarity, appearing from the fog on Fluttershy's left. She is just as beaten up as Twilight. Her eyes are full of shock and horror.

"Twilight, Rares! Thank Celestia Ah found y'all!" Applejack comes running in the same horrible condition.

"Twilight," Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash shout, zooming over.

Everypony is scared, scratched up, and bleeding, except for Fluttershy who asks, “what is going on? What has happened to you girls?”

They don't have time to answer. A teal dragon swoops in from nowhere, breathing fire. None of them can move, for sticking sand has grabbed ahold of their hooves.

It happens all too soon. The fire, the smoke, the screams. The dragon is gone, and Fluttershy is fine, but her friends are not.

Her friends lay dead. Fluttershy screams and tries to grab them, to bring them close, but the sinking sand is sucking them all under. Fluttershy's heart tears in half as her friends disappear below the sand. Then the sand swallows her, too, and everything goes black.

Fluttershy awakens. Pinkie Pie awakens. Their hearts are pounding, adrenaline is rushing through their blood. Their cheeks are wet with tears, their throats dried up from screaming. All they can do for the next couple minutes is crumple up into balls and cry. Then Nightmare Moon watches with pleasant eyes as their eyes flash white again, and they both go through the same scene of their friends dying.

Over and over again.

Chapter 11: Day Four of Exile

It's only lunch time by the time Twilight takes her first steps on sand that is not part of a desert.

"Day four of being exiled from Equestria," Twilight murmurs to herself while sinking her hooves in the nice warm sand. The sound of ocean waves crashing on sand is music to her ears. She trots up to the shore. The feeling of cold sea salt water brushing up against her skin feels even better.

Twilight sits down on the dry sand and pulls off her saddlebags and sheath. She opens up the flats with her sandy hooves and looks inside. Amber Eyes has kindly given her 15 bits to spend. On the way out, she had also stuffed one of her saddlebags full of apples so she shouldn't go hungry or thirsty soon.

Twilight closes her saddlebags and slips them back on, as well as the sheath. On her left, the ocean splashes against a large line of rocks. On her right is a marketplace.

A bell chimes when the purple unicorn opens the door to a small shop. Shelves full of various objects line the walls. In the middle of the cube-shaped room is a rack of knickknacks. In the very back of the room sits a silver bat pony with sapphire blue hair and neon yellow eyes sitting behind a counter. She looks up at the new customer and smiles, showing off her fangs.

"Welcome to Pearl Bay's Gift Shop. How may I help you?" she says from memorization over the years of saying it.

Twilight wanders up to the counter and smiles back. "I was just wondering if you knew what country is east of here? And if you have a map of it, I would be ever so grateful."

"East, huh?" The bat pony stares at Twilight's horn. "Where ya from?"

"Equestria."

"Equestria? Really?" Twilight nods. "I've never heard of anypony from Equestria visiting this small country."

"Small?" Twilight giggles. "Sorry, but Trica seems awfully big to me after how far I've traveled.

"Well, it's definitely small compared to Equestria. In fact, Equestria’s the largest country in the entire world. Certainly the most known, too." The bat pony reaches under the counter and pulls out a bundle of scrolls. "Now, there's in fact three countries directly east. Akdulsun, Polosthia, and Scramptra." She lays down three maps. Each country is only about 1/8 the size of Equestria, except for Polosthia which is about 1/3. "Next to those countries are two more, Kalbure and Warthro, then four more countries, Cralacro, Asbact, Spactra, and Fabtric, then finally Equestria." The bat pony pulls out eight more maps, including one of Equestia.

Twilight observes the 11 maps laid messily on the counter. "I suppose I'm trying to get through Equestria from the Frozen North, which is apparently the far north part of Equestria and away. So I probably want to travel northeast, since Equestria is surrounded by oceans on the east and west sides."

"Then I suggest going north of here to Scramptra, then travel through through Kalbure, and lastly Equestria. If you stick north, you will arrive in the Frozen North. Sound good?"

"That sounds absolutely perfect," Twilight replies, levitating her only 15 bits from her saddlebags. "How much will it be for the maps of Scramptra, Kalbure, and Equestria? And a compass if you have one?"

"Let's see..." The bat pony glides over to one of the knickknack shelves and grabs a compass from it. Then she returns back to the counter, shoves all the other maps back under the counter, and stares at the three maps and compass. "That'll be 27 bits, please."

"27?" Twilight gasps. "B-but I only have 15 bits!"

The bat pony shrugs. " You can buy the compass and one map with that much."

Twilight puts a hoof to her forehead. "No, no, no!" She starts hyperventilating. "I have to have these maps. If I don't get them, I can't return to Equestria, and if I can't return to Equestria, then Discord might take over, and if Discord takes over—"

Twilight's obnoxious rambling is interrupted by a bell chime over by the door of the shop.

"Welcome to Pearl Bay's Gift Shop. How may I help you?"

A lemon-colored dragon with crimson spikes twice as tall as Spike walks in. He stares at twilight, grunts, then marches up to the cashier bat pony. "Got any gems?"

"Gems?"

"To eat," the dragon grumbles. The bat pony smiles nervously as she ducks behind her counter. There's the sound of bits clinking together. She emerges with two rubies, five emeralds, and one sapphire.

"That'll be 40 bits, sir."

The dragon turns behind him at a suitcase he brought it. He unzips it. Twilight peers inside over the dragon's shoulder to find the case filled entirely with hundreds upon hundreds of bits.

He grabs a large clawfull an dumps them on the counter. "How much is that?"

"That is only 31 bits, sir."

As the dragon reaches for nine more gems, Twilight lightly taps him on the shoulder. The dragon turns around with a glare. "What do you want?" he spats.

"Do you happen to have 14 bits I could borrow?" she asks in the most polite tone she can muster. The dragon snorts.

"Borrow or spend?"

"Spend, I guess."

The dragon glares. "You expect me to just hand over my precious cash for nothing in return?"

Twilight gulps. "Maybe?"

The yellow dragon searches Twilight. He stops when he sees her sheath and points a crooked claw at it. "What's in there?"

"Oh, my sword?" Twilight glances at it. She smiles awkwardly. "I'm afraid that's not for sale."

"Hmm..." The dragon rubs two of his claws under his chin while he thinks. "You unicorns can use your magic to track gemstones, right?"

"Gemstones?" Twilight’s eyes widen. "Of course! I can just find a bunch of gemstones and pay with those."

The dragon doesn’t have time to reply as Twilight races out the door as if she’s being chased. As soon as she reaches the shore, she trades her gallop for a slow trot along the shore. She tries to remember the gemstone spell that Rarity had taught her many moons ago. Her horn starts to emit a glow that should be a sparkling magenta. But, while Twilight trots along the shore, casting her gemstone-finding spell, she doesn’t realize that her horn is slightly red and glowing purple with green sparkles.

It isn’t until she has collected 25 gems that she bumps into another gray bat pony. Before Twilight can apologize, the pony screams and zooms through the sky.

A puzzled face perches on Twilight. A few moments later, she trots up to the shore and looks at her shifting reflection in the ocean waves. No, Twilight thought. She stopped using her magic. Her horn went back to normal. I thought I pushed the dark magic away. How is it still there?

When she comes to dead ends on all her questions, she gathers her gems and places them in her bag (with her hooves, since she’s too scared to use her magic right now). A bell chimes as Twilight enters the shop once more and sets down the rainbow of jewels on the counter. She can’t help but notice that the dragon is gone.

“I’d say that’ll just about do it,” the shop owner says, grabbing the gems and bits and shoving them under her counter, then nudging the three maps and compass to Twilight. So caught up in her accomplishment, Twilight forgets not to use her magic and levitates the objects into her bags. Sure enough, her horn glows dark magic for that while.

“Oh my bats!” The bat pony shrieks. “D-dark magic!”

Twilight’s eyes grow wide. She laughs uncomfortably. “Yeah, um, about that…”

A loud ring suddenly reverberates through Twilight’s head. Through her blurry vision, she can see the bat pony shaking a large golden bell. It only takes minutes for a bat pony population as big as Ponyville to come bursting through the door.

A teal pony with a bouncy yellow and white mane leaps from the crowd up to the store pony. “What is it, Knickknack?”

“That unicorn harvests dark magic,” Knickknack exclaims, pointing to Twilight’s horn. the crowd of ponies gasp and back away. Twilight glances around worriedly.

“I’m not using it for anything bad, I promise. I don’t even want it, it was Discord who gave it to me. If I knew how to get rid of it, I would, honestly.” The purple unicorn doubts that anybatpony will listen to her. Each time she makes eye contact with a pony, they cower away in fear. She thinks back to Nightmare Night when Princess Luna was having a similar problem.

Her stomach clenches with homesickness.

Soon enough, five bat stallions wearing pointed lavender armor around their heads, necks, chests, backs, and hooves leap from the crowd. They surround Twilight.

“Evacuate!” One of the stallions exclaims. The ponies don’t hesitate to push each other through the door and escape. Once everypony is gone, the store doors click shut. Twilight sits in the middle of a circle of guards like a mouse surrounded by hungry cats. It becomes so quiet that her ears start to ring.

“Please, you have to understand. I won’t hurt anypony. In fact, I was just about to leave, so…” Right as Twilight is performing a teleportation spell, a stallion slips a magic-proof collar around her neck. She’d try to pull it off if the didn’t hoof-cuff her next and start dragging her out the door. “Where are you taking me?”

“A place.”

Twilight begins to resist fiercely, even though she makes no match against five stallions. “I’m not evil. You don’t have to imprison me in stone, or lock me in a dungeon–”

“Funny thing you mention dungeons,” one of the guards says.

Twilight is dragged down a long spiral staircase made of cold, wet stones, then is thrown into the only room down their–a cell. A stallion pulls out a ring of keys and locks her door.

“Wait! I didn’t even hurt anypony!”

The only response is fading hoofsteps on stone, accompanied by silence other than the occasional drip of water from the wet stones.

It’s dark in Twilight’s cell. Past the bars, all she can see is the dimly lit spiral staircase. The walls are cracked and spiderwebs hang from every corner. When she hovers her hooves in front of her face, she can barely make out the outline. Why does everything outside of Equestria have to be so different? I didn’t even do anything wrong!

“Hello, Twilight. Enjoying Trica?” comes a voice behind Twilight. She leaps onto her hooves facing the one who spoke, who turns out to be Discord.

For a few moments, Twilight repeatedly opens her mouth as if to speak words, but none come out. An unexpected tear falls from her eyes, splashing onto the ground and melding with the sounds of the other water drips in the moist air of the cell.

“Why?” Her voice is soft like a whisper. “Why did you do this to me?”

“Because you deserve it for imprisoning me in stone one more, as if a thousand years wasn’t enough!” Discord shouts. At other times, Twilight would shout back. But she is too sorrowful to raise her voice. Instead, she slumps to the ground. More tears spill from her eyes. “And,” Discord continues, “it’s part of my plans.”

Twilight’s sniffling stops abruptly. She stares up at him. “Plans?”

“My plans involving the destruction of Equestria, Twilight, what else?”

Four clanking sounds echo through the cave as Twilight rises to her hoof-cuffed hooves. A fresh, stern glare fixes on Discord. “Equestria is stronger than you could ever imagine. Do you know why?”

“I don’t really care.”

“Because Equestria has friendship and love,” she replies. By now, their faces are only inches away from each other, both full of glares of hatred.

“But there is one thing that is stronger than those.”

“Nothing is stronger than those.”

“That’s where you are wrong.” the Spirit of Disharmony smirks. “Darkness defeats the light, Twilight. Hatred and fear are the most powerful things.”

“That’s not–”

“But it is true. For you see, the dark magic I have casted upon you is slowly manipulating your mind. you may think you pushed it away, but by the time you reach Equestria, you will be thirsty for power.”

Discord’s words are so stern that Twilight almost gives in to them.

Almost.

“Never.”

“Alright.” Discord springs backwards and crosses his arms. “Think what you like, Sparkle, but my plans are working perfectly and I don’t expect them to change anytime soon.”

“I don’t expect myself to change anytime soon,” Twilight retorts. Discord shakes his head.

“Dark magic is more powerful than you could ever imagine, Twilight. Even more powerful than good.”

With a snap and some sparkles, he’s gone. The fear swimming in her heart thickens more than ever before. Her glare fades. She tosses her head from side to side.

Drip. The leaking water droplets now sound like deep drums in her ears. Drip. Twilight collapses to the ground. She wails in agony, but still, all she can hear are the drips.

Drip.

Twilight can feel it rising inside of her. The frustration, the fear…

The rage. She tries to keep it bursting, she tries to stay calm, but the drips are too loud.

Drip… DRIP… DRIP…

Then, it comes. The burst of emotions. She screams at the top of her lungs. Her eyes flash green and purple, her horn red, but only for the while her anger is being released. She can feel unsummoned magic pouring from her horn, just like the time when she earned her cutie mark.

Her vision turns white. She doesn’t realize that she collapses to the ground, unconscious, from the overload of magic.

Dark magic.

***

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie huddle close together, wrapping their forelegs around each other in the way of a tight hug. Their eyes are squeezed shut as they try their best to block out their surroundings.

It’s another simulation. This time, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are in one together instead of separate ones. Instead of helplessly watching their friends die, now they watch a scene of a dragon burning all of Ponyville. Everywhere you look, there’s flames and screams. At first, the two forgot it was a simulation. Now they remember, but the scene is too real to bare. The heat of the flames on their hides, the screams of fear in their ears, the taste of ashes, the sight of death and destruction, and the smells of ashes.

They’re all too real.

Nightmare Moon, who can see inside the simulations, realizes that they’re not actually afraid of the illusion surrounding them and brings them out. When all their five senses change, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy open their eyes to see the inside of the Canterlot Castle and Nightmare Moon.

“Please…” Fluttershy’s breaths are ragged. “No more…”

“You dare beg me for mercy?”

“Please…”

Pinkie Pie dries her wet cheeks. She glares at Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare laughs. “Fools! You dare think you are stronger than me?”

“We never–”

“We know we’re stronger than you,” Pinkie interrupts her friend. She lets go of the pegasus’s tight grasp and trots directly underneath Nightmare’s eyes.

“If you’re stronger than me, then go ahead.” Nightmare Moon sits on her haunches. “Prove it.”

“Gladly. What do you have in mind?”

“Hit me.”

Pinkie doesn’t move.

“If you are strong enough to hurt me, then I believe you.”

Pinkie bites her lower lip. She’s always been against violence. Peace has always been her goal for ponies.

“Pinkie, don’t,” comes her friend’s soft whisper.

“Well? I can do it.” Nightmare Moon lifts her right foreleg. Pinkie doesn’t even see it coming. She only feels the stinging pain spread throughout her left cheek.

Fluttershy gasps. Her eyes widen in horror. She rubs them, then stares once more, as if the scene is too unbelievable to be true. However, the scene stays.

“I am stronger than you.” Pinkie looks upon Nightmare Moon. She has fallen to the ground from the impact of a punch so hard that it bleeds.

Pinkie Pie almost regrets hitting her enemy. She ignores her thoughts that scream against her violent choice.

Nightmare Moon sits up. She feels her bloody cheek. Who knew that the pony of laughter and peace would bring upon such violence?

Who knew?

Nightmare Moon turns her gaze to floor. “Go.”

Pinkie Pie is taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“Leave here now before I change my mind.”

The pink earth pony turns to Fluttershy, hoping to share a confused glance. All she receives is a look of pure terror.

Pinkie stares at her slightly bloody hooves. She turns to Nightmare’s slightly bloody cheek. What have i just done?

None of them had noticed until now, the orange earth pony, the white unicorn, and the cyan pegasus, standing still as a stone at the entrance. The doors are broken down, the red carpet beneath their hooves is ruffled, and they all carry a sword. It was a rescue attempt, but now their friends don’t need to be rescued, because their host is letting them go for reasons unknown.

Fluttershy quietly hovers past Nightmare and Pinkie to her friends. She hugs Rarity. Tears spill out immediately. All you can hear in the dark and quiet scene are the sniffles of Fluttershy, soon joined by Pinkie Pie.

Applejack gallops to the pink earth pony, who only backs away with small steps. She skids to a halt only a tail-length before her friend.

Applejack had pictured the rescue much differently.

“Get away from me…” Pinkie Pie continues to slowly back up, even though her friend isn’t moving. “I’m a monster.”

“Pinkie, you ain’t no monster. Ah’ve seen some, and trust me, you ain’t nothin’ like one.”

“But I am, Applejack.” Pinkie’s mane starts to deflate the more she backs away. “I just punched a mare.” She trips backward over some stairs. She lands roughly on the ground, but she doesn’t stand back up. By now, her mane is as straight as her sisters’.

Rarity and Fluttershy hesitantly trot to AJ’s side while Rainbow glides across the hallway and lands roughly due to her lack of concentration on it.

“You were scared, Pinkie, that’s all.”

“No, Dashie…” Pinkie Pie hides her face under her hooves. “Pinkie is a monster…”

“Darling, please stop saying that when you know it’s quite the opposite.” Rarity looks sadly upon her fragile pink friend. She brings out a hoof to help her up, but she acts as if it’s a snake and scampers up the stairs. She begins to slowly back up.

Fluttershy gives Pinkie Pie a pleading stare. “Pinkie, please come with us back to Ponyville so we can find a different way to bring…” she glances nervously at Nightmare Moon who is staring up at the sky through a stained glass window of herself. “...you know who back.”

“No.” Pinkie shakes her head back and forth. Her eyes are squeezed shut and dripping salt water. Her mouth quivers as she continues to back up. “You want silly Pinkie, but Pinkie just gave violence. Silly Pinkie is now monster Pinkie…”

Pinkie backs up into the wall. Her sparkling eyes spring open. Her friends are inches away from her on all sides. She suddenly feels overwhelmed and gallops through the small gap in between Rarity and Fluttershy.

“Wait!” Rainbow calls as the last hair of her lifeless pink mane disappears behind the doors. No pony stops her from zooming after her friend.

But when she gets outside, Pinkie is nowhere. She searches all around the castle, in all the bushes, and eventually asks some of the (now timid) Canterlot ponies if they had seen her pink friend. All signs point to defeat.

After she receives the same defeated response from a periwinkle unicorn, Rainbow flops onto her hindquarters and hangs her head. A single tear spills from her eye.

A light hoof rests on her shoulder. Then another, and another. She turns around. Her three friends are trying their best to comfort each other in the sorrows, but it seems so useless.

“Twilight…Twilight’s gone…” Rainbow Dash whispers with a choked voice between sniffles. “And now...now...where is Pinkie Pie?”

No pony replies, for no pony knows the answer.

Chapter 12: How Powerful is Dark Magic?

Her eyes flutter open. She can see dim moonlight, even though she last saw darkness. She tosses onto her side. The ground is soft. Her vision tells her it’s grass, when she fainting on stone.

Twilight slowly regains full consciousness. She sits up on the soft green grass. She wonders how she could be sitting outside when she was just locked away.

She feels her neck. The collar is gone. Her instincts tell her to turn around, and there she finds the very entrance the underground cell she had been trapped in.

How is she free?

Dark magic is more powerful than you could ever imagine, Twilight. Even more powerful than good. Discord’s last words cling to her brain like a barnacle to coral. Her dark magic is what brought her to the cell. Is it what brought her out? Even with her magic-proof collar on, was her dark magic powerful enough to teleport her just outside of it?

Probably. So far, that’s the best answer the purple unicorn has.

For minutes, she just sits there, listening to owl hoots and the rustling of tree branches. She has a tent that she could set up, but one, she has to use magic to enlarge it, and that doesn’t seem like a very good option at the moment. Secondly, she feels as awake as the owls.

Twilight debates on what to do next. Whenever she comes across a pony, they usually end up stabbing her in the back. The store pony, Midnight Blaze and Shooting Star… But they didn’t do anything, right? She still wonders where her friends had gone to, but since the situation had made no sense, she can make a pretty obvious guess.

So what should she do? Even though she has the maps and compass to get back to Equestria, does she still have the time? By now, who knows what Nightmare Moon is doing?

What if, by all her rage, Nightmare killed her best friends? What if she went back to Equestria, and everypony she loved, was dead?

What if Nightmare Moon killed her next?

For just the slightest moment, Twilight doesn’t want to return to Equestria. But then she remembers the first day she met all her friends. How she always denied ponies’ friendship, but then she discovered it’s magic. She can’t abandon the ponies she loves most. Besides, what else could she do outside of Equestria?

Twilight snaps back to her attention. Each day, she finds herself zoning out more and more.

With no other option, Twilight decides to keep moving. The second her flanks leave the comfort of the tall, thick grass, she begins to shiver. The sound of chattering teeth join the noises of the forest.

A purple nose enters her left saddlebag, and leaves with a jacket. One by one, Twilight slips on her snow gear (even though it’s not snowy) without using her unicorn magic.

Another sound joins the forest. This time, it’s her grumbling tummy. Luckily, I have…Twilight reaches into her right saddlebags in what she hopes to find ripe yellow bananas and fresh red apples. But these are far from fresh, she realizes, when the very tip of her icy muzzle squishes into bugs. Her head jerks back as she screams and, very much panicky, slips of her saddlebags and slaps them onto the ground. Ants and worms and bugs she doesn’t even know slither out. Her face twists with disgust.

“So much for that meal,” she grumbles. Once the long trail of bugs fade away, she carefully peeks back inside her saddlebags. All that’s left are a tent, compass, maps, and apples pierced with worm holes and bananas scraped to the peel. She covers her nose with a foreleg and twists her head away as she dumps all the rotten food into the clearing.

It doesn’t take long for the worms and ants to come crawling back. But luckily for Twilight, she has already slipped on her saddlebags and turned-tail.

Rule 1, don’t use your magic. Especially in front of other ponies. Who knows what dark magic is capable of, other than scarring the fur off ponies. As Twilight streaks through the forest, trying her best to stay away from any bat pony civilization, she comes up with a mental rulebook to help her way back home.

Rule 2… Twilight is so caught up in her thinking that she doesn’t notice that she’s coming mere inches away from falling off a sudden cliff. She skids to a halt, right before the rock. Pebbles clack down the side. Heavy breaths are noticeable in the cool night air. Rule 2, stop zoning out.

Twilight carefully backs away from the death-like cliff. Once her breaths and heartbeat return to their usual pace, she creeps, inch by inch, toward the side of the cliff. Most ponies would expect a cliff to lead to a river or the ocean or some kind of gorge.

Not this one. The unicorn gazes in awe at the wondrous sight bestowed upon her. She has never seen anything more beautiful than what she sees now.

Two words: floating islands. From her view on the edge, she can see the cliff round underneath the large landmass. Everything underneath is silver clouds glowing periwinkle in the precious light glowing from Princess Luna’s moon. Beside the large landmass Twilight stands on are other floating islands. They come in wide ranges. Far off in the distance, she can see a land mass as large as the one she stands on now. But in between them two are a never-ending sky and small dirt islands that only reach about 8 tail-lengths at the most and are covered in grass and flowers. Some even have a few trees with birds nesting inside.

Sure, Cloudsdale floats in mid-air without any support underneath it. But Twilight can understand that because, after all, Cloudsdale is made up of clouds. Clouds float. In fact, Twilight can go into extreme detail about how clouds work, but that’s not what’s on her mind.

It’s the fact that land is floating. Chunks of ice-cream cone shaped land scattered everywhere to form the way between the landmass Twilight stands on now, and the landmass Twilight needs to get to.

Just to be sure, she checks her map and compass to make sure she’s going the right way. And according to them both, she should have no doubt that this is the way she needs to cross.

There’s only one problem.

How do I get across without using my magic?

Twilight observes the large gap between the edge where she stands and the closest floating island. It appears to measure at least 12 tail-lengths. Definitely not enough to hop across. She can just teleport herself onto the other landmass, past the floating islands, but then she fears that her dark magic will overwhelm her. It’s a risk she’s not willing to take.

As Twilight grumbles and tries to think of other ways to get across, she stubs her left foreleg on a rock covered by bushes. “Stupid rock,” she grumbles, rubbing her injured foreleg with the other.

The longer Twilight continues to stare at the rock is the longer she starts to realize it isn’t one. Through the bush leaves surrounding it, she instead makes out wood with writing on it.

Twilight separates the bushes and flattens them down so she can get a better look at the ‘rock’. It appears to be a small wooden sign wrapped in ivy. She rips off the ivy with her teeth, then begins to read the neat words engraved on it.

“Solve this riddle for the way across: A natural state, I'm sought by all. Go without me, and you shall fall. I am needed for bad and good. I’ve helped you everywhere you stood.”

Once the last letter of the riddle slips off her tongue, the ground below her hooves starts to shake. She looks down from the sign, then forward at the floating islands.

How many times can she be awe-struck is just four days?

...now five days, considering it’s a little past midnight.

What Twilight didn’t notice before about the large gap in the landmasses was that in the middle, there are three rows of floating islands lined up neatly. The rows holds five separate islands, each about 13 tail-lengths apart. Before, she hadn’t noticed them because, like all the others, there is nothing connecting all the islands.

However, now all the five islands in the three rows are connected by a bridge, each one different than the rest. The first row has rope bridges. Just like the ones my friends and I traveled across when we first met, Twilight thinks. For some strange reason, she feels a sudden pang in her head. When she stops thinking about her friends, the pang goes away.

The second row has bridges made of spiderwebs. Which, if you think about it, must have to be pretty thick to be able to hold a mare’s weight.

Last is the third row. Its bridges are made up of many vines of ivy wrapped around each other. Ponies like Twilight don’t find that very promising.

Finally, in front of the three rows of floating islands and bridges, are three signs. Each sign says something different. The sign placed in front of the row holding rope bridges reads ‘peace’. The row littered with spiderwebs holds a wooden sign that reads ‘power’. Last but not least is the third row enveloped in ivy with a sign that reads ‘love’.

At first, Twilight only sees these three signs. But something nags at her, insisting that she look to the left and to the right. This comes to her advantage, because when she turns her attention to the left, she can see another wooden sign a little farther away. She trots up to it. “Balance,” she reads. When she looks forward, there is no row and no bridges in front of the sign, unlike the others.

It occurs to her that the words on the signs must be different answers to the riddle. Surely, no path isn’t going to lead her across the endless sky. So she turns away and trots back to the three paths.

Twilight flops onto her hindquarters. A natural state sought by all… she puts a hoof to her chin and stares into the endless starry sky. The first one reads peace. Discord pops into her mind. That isn’t it…another is power. An image of her five friends smiling and laughing pops into mind. Her heart twists. Not that, either.

Grass flattens underneath her purple hooves as the unicorn paces around. “Love and balance. I don’t think evil seeks love.” Queen Chrysalis appears to mind. “Other than changelings, of course.”

“Balance…yeah, I guess ponies seek balance in the world.” She thinks of Discord. A mental image of the answers on a notepad being checked off appears in her mind. Balance joins those. Since Twilight can’t decide on which answer seems most accurate, she moves onto the next part of the riddle.

“Go without me, and you shall fall…peace. Yeah, evil doesn’t have peace, and they always get defeated. Power. Not so much.” Twilight has to trot back and forth between the signs to remember all the answers. “Love.” The memory of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding comes into perspective. “Well… I guess so. Balance?” She giggles. “That’s defiantly true.”

She reads the riddle again. “I am needed for bad and good. Peace? Not for bad. Power? Not necessarily. Love? Same answer as peace. Balance?” She pauses. A second mental check mark appears next to the answer ‘balance’ on her mental checkbook. “Yup.”

“I’ve helped you everywhere you stood.”

This one gives Twilight an awful headache. “Peace, power, love, and balance have all helped me get to where I am now.” She holds her head between her hooves and tried to think more clearly. “But if I think of it another way…balance helps you stand in more of a weight concerning way than a mental timeline.”

Her mental checkbook shows that balance is the highest chance of being the right answer. But how can that be, when it’s the only row without bridges?

She glances from the empty row that appears to hold the correct answer, to the three other answers with actual rows. Why would they make a row without bridges? she wonders. Are they trying to… trick me?

Trick me how? Which row do I take?

From left to right, her view changes in the pale moonlight of the blissful night sky. Owl hoots and the sound of wind blowing against her ears and the long grass fade out as she ponders further on which path to take.

She never expected to come across a challenge like this. Compared to her journey so far, this one seems out of place.

Instead of inspecting the ‘balance’ row further, she roams over to the second most accurate answer: love.

Twilight sniffs the ivy vine bridge connecting the landmass to the floating island. She lifts a shaky foreleg and presses it down gently onto the flat surface. Then she places on her other foreleg. Immediately, the bridge snaps. Twilight screams as she feels the pressure from her hooves on the ivy fall slightly through the air. Without her front half balanced, she falls off the edge.

Horrified screams echo through her ears as she falls through the never ending sky. She reaches out for the ledge, but it’s too far away now. She has two seconds to look back at the broken ivy vines before they slip away from sight too quickly to wrap her legs around.

In a matter of seconds, fog covers her view of the islands and landmass. Why? is all Twilight can think in her moments of panic. With her back facing the ground, she cannot see exactly where she’s falling to. Now, with fog the only thing she sees, the purple unicorn sort of air-swims onto her belly. She receives the same view.

Tear droplets pour from her eyes from the pressure. Twilight has never felt so afraid in all her life; not even when Nightmare Moon exiled her. This was a different kind of fear.

As Twilight endlessly falls, her screams fade. Her body begins to ache. She realizes that laying on her belly incredibly hurts much more than sitting on her back and switches her position.

Does this sky never end?

The fear slowly fades as she continues to fall. Five minutes later, she doubts she’ll never land anywhere. The thought of eternity falling sounds worse than being exiled, now that she knows what both are like.

Through her tearful vision, Twilight turns her gaze to her horn. Even though dark magic is slowly corrupting her, she has no other choice.

Twilight concentrates with great content on her magic. She blocks out the sound of the rushing wind and the feeling of fear gripping her soul. She licks her lips with anticipation and closes her violet eyes. With as much energy she can muster, her horn begins to glow purple and green, this time a smidge more vivid. She can feel dark magic flow through her body. What’s weird is that it feels good. It feels comforting. No matter how much she tells herself that it’s bad, she tips to the edge of giving in to the dark magic.

And then she remembers friendship. Even though the darkness inside her screams in argument, she forces herself to think about friendship. A new kind of reasurement courses through her blood.

The sound stops. The falling stops. She hasn’t even performed a teleportation spell, yet she feels solid ground beneath her. All it took was a little effort to take her a long ways. Maybe Discord was right. Maybe Dark Magic is more powerful than I could ever imagine...

No! Twilight shouts in her head. Even though it was herself who had spoken the words, her eyes snapped open, startled. She takes in her surroundings.

Twilight appears to be in a swamp. It's cold and quiet, except for crickets chirping and the faint sound of music. In front of her appears to be a large wooden sign, reading: Stargaze Swamp. Curious, she grabs all of her maps from her bag (with her teeth) and lays them over the grass ground she lays on.

"This can't be right," Twilight murmurs. Just a few moments ago, she was in Trica. But now, she is located in Scamptra. the country directly beside it, and at the far northeast, too.

How powerful is dark magic if it can teleport a unicorn such a distance, requiring as much power as an alicorn's?

***

Bright morning sunshine seeps in through the hotel window. Rainbow Dash grumbles and stuffs her head underneath her cheap hotel pillow. Last night, Rarity had insisted that they leave the curtains open so that they can rise ‘bright and early’. Rainbow would have disagreed entirely, if Rarity hadn’t convinced her that they had no time to lose to bring Twilight back and find Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash moans as she lays on her back, tossing her pillow onto the floor beside her. There is no point in trying to sleep now; after many years of early mornings back at Flight Camp, whenever sunlight finds her face in the mornings, she awakens.
The cyan pegasus stretches her right foreleg and her almost-entirely-healed left foreleg, then her left wing and her nearly-okay right wing, then slides her back legs over the side of the bed and stretches those. She yawns as she groggily gazes across the room.

Beside her is Applejack, slowly awakening from her (miraculously deep) slumber on the carpet floor. Behind her is the only other bed where Rarity had slept. Now she’s out and about, racing to the mirror and cringing at her bed hair. She doesn’t see Fluttershy in the room, so she assumes she’s sound asleep in the bathroom tub.

“My mane is such a tragedy. Just look at this split ends! If that dragon hadn’t burnt our saddlebags, I’d be brushing away,” Rarity whines.

Rainbow Dash stretches her healed wings out wide, tosses off her covers, then flutters out of bed. She lands next to Rarity and folds her wings. “I’m not paying another bit to sleep in these beds. That was my worst sleep in years!”

“Talk about needing beauty sleep,” Rarity adds.

Applejack plods over to her two complaining friends. “Well a’ course ya ain’t gonna pay another bit, ‘cause we ain’t got any. We got no money and no supplies. We’re lucky we got ta spend a night here, other than out in tha cold.”

“Easy for you to say, Applejack,” Rainbow retorts. “You slept like a log!”

“Only ‘cause Ah can ignore these harsh conditions and except them, other than tossin’ and turnin’ pointlessly while grumblin’ and complain’ to yerself.”

“Will you two please stop bickering?” Rarity interrupts. “We came here to Canterlot to help Twilight, and all we did was lose Pinkie Pie. Rainbow, by no doubt, this is the worst hotel in Canterlot.” Rainbow sneers at Applejack. “And Applejack, you are correct that this is the best we could get.” Applejack sneers back. “But right now, we should be focusing on finding Pinkie Pie instead of arguing. Now are we going to breakfast or not?”

Rainbow sticks a tongue out at Applejack.

“Why, you–”

“Everypony, please! I’m sure that once you get some divine food in your stomachs, you’ll feel much better.” Before the two ponies can oppose, Rarity opens the creaky hotel door with her aqua magic and nudges her two friends out the door. She feels like she’s forgetting something. “Fluttershy, Darling, are you awake?”

“Oh, I just finished getting ready,” a voice cooes from the bathroom door. They turn to see the yellow pegasus humming while gliding over to Rarity. “Sorry I took so long.”

“Nonsense, Dear. Was sleeping in that icky tub even comfortable?”

“Well…not exactly.” Fluttershy spreads out her left wings and stretches it wide. “I woke up with cramped feathers.”

“I did insist you sleep of my bed. I wouldn’t have minded.”

“That’s okay, Rarity.” Fluttershy closes her wing and grins sheepishly. “It really wasn’t all that bad.”

“If you insist. Now come, we’re heading off to breakfast.” She nudges Fluttershy out the aqua-enveloped door, then joins her in the hallway with a casual stroll.

By the time they catch up with their other two friends on the last flight of stairs and open the door, ponies are already buzzing around the cafeteria. The four friends uneasily saunter to the back of the long line.

Rainbow Dash places her hooves on her face and groans while dragging them off. “I thought the waiter said this dump is never packed. Does this look idle to anypony?”

Rarity rolls her eyes. She doesn’t feel like responding, especially since the complain was a little rude. Instead, she thinks about last night, how her friends and her were so tired that they fell asleep at a quaint restaurant, even though they had no bits to buy any of their food. Once all the customers had left, an earth pony waiter with a slicked-back indigo mane shook them awake. He notified them that it was closing time. She was more asleep than awake at the time, so Rarity can’t remember exactly how they got into a conversation, but they did. Then he started telling them about a worn-down hotel down the street that’s never packed, so it’s always open for last-minute reservation. He offered to buy them a night there in return for a last minute favor, which turned out to be some last-minute shopping.

“This food looks better than the beds.”

“Hm?” Rarity snaps out of her daze. She hadn’t realized how quick the line was moving. She also doesn’t remember when she arrived at the counter with trays stacked in a pile in one corner. She discerns that the words came from Rainbow Dash, who stands just behind her with a tray somehow held upright in a wing.

Rarity levitates a tray from the pile in her magic and stares at the wide variety of food placed in baskets on the counter. She turns down the pancakes, for syrup is too sticky, and picks out a small, lady-like sized slice of apple cake.

The four friends quickly seat themselves at a table next to a large glass window. Outside is the bustling city that is the capital of Equestria. High-society ponies wander about past the tall skyscrapers (which are really only skyscrapers because Canterlot it is on the cliff side of a tall mountain.

Applejack pokes at her lifeless pancakes with a cheap plastic fork while staring off into space. Fluttershy only stares at her red velvet cupcake like nothing is even on her metal tray. Rainbow Dash swirls the oats inside of a clear plastic bowl with a spoon. Rarity would be eating, too, if she wasn’t so worried about her friends. Although, her friends seem to be what’s worrying her all the time lately.

“Is anypony going to even touch their food?” Rarity interrupts the silence. No pony responds. For some odd reason, the white unicorn feels anger at her friends’ woes. She pushes her chair back, stands on her hind legs, and glares while smacking her front hooves on the table. This catches their attention. “What help are we sitting here, pitying our own sorrow? We should be out there, searching for Pinkie Pie and coming up with ways to find Twilight! This is the time for action, girls.”

“Ah just don’t know, Rares.” Applejack looks up from her pancakes. “By now, Pinkie could be back in Ponyville. Twilight could be… ya know…” she gulps and stares back down at her food. “Dead.”

Everypony cringers at the word. Everypony but Rarity. “I can assure you that she is very much alive.”

“How, Rarity?” Fluttershy whispers. Tears well up in her eyes. Rarity gets the oddest thought that the pegasus is being pathetic. She scolds herself for thinking such a rude thought.

“All I know is that she will die if we don’t help her. So if any of you actually care about Twilight, then we should be out there,” Rarity says, pointing her hoof out the window, “convincing Nightmare Moon to bring her back.”

“We already tried that,” Rainbow snaps. She glares at Rarity with cold eyes; eyes that send chills down her spine. “Look how well that turned out. Pinkie Pie is gone and we don’t even know where she went or what she’s doing! If anything, running after her would be the best option, but we don’t know where the hay she is!”

For the first time since the conversation started, everything is silent. Rarity looks up from the table. All eyes are on her. She blushes and sits back down in her seat. When she pushes herself back in, the chair squeaks. It echoes through the silent hotel.

“Then what do we do?” Rarity asks hushly. The sound of other ponies’ chatter begin to rise once more. “If we can’t chase after her, if we can’t convince Nightmare Moon, then what do we do?”

Applejack squeezes her eyes shut. A single tear burns like acid down her cheek. She pulls her hat over half of her face so her friends won’t see. “We wait.”

Silence.

Rainbow Dash laughs hysterically. “Wait? Wait for what? Wait for Discord to take over Equestria?”

“No.” Applejack lifts up her hat. Her gaze is one of the stern. “We wait for Twilight to come back.”

“Twilight’s not ‘coming back’, AJ. Wherever Nightmare Moon banished her, it’s probably too far away. Who knows? She could have banished Twilight to the moon.”

“Um… no offense, Rainbow Dash, but I saw the moon last night, and Twilight wasn’t inside…” Fluttershy whispers.

Rainbow grunts.

Applejack pushes her tray away, then lifts her hat off her head and sets it down on the table. “Ah know it seems like it’s a horrible plan, but what are we supposed ta do? Maybe if y’all just wait, Twilight will come back.”

Rarity taps her chin with a hoof. Suddenly, an idea springs into her head and her face brightens up. “Idea!”

“What is it, Rarity?” Fluttershy asks softly.

She smiles. “We take the Friendship Express to the Crystal Empire. Maybe Nightmare Moon won’t help us, but what about–”

“Princess Cadence,” Rainbow Dash finishes. “That’s a perfect idea!”

“Y’all forgot a few things,” Applejack interrupts. Her friends gaze into her ice cold eyes. They look like thin emerald sheets of ice, on the verge of cracking and releasing a large wave of tears. But they don’t crack. They stay stern and strong. “One, where are we gonna get the money to get a ride? Ah highly doubt anypony else would want to spend their bits for some travelers.”

“We could ask that waiter again,” Rainbow adds.

Fluttershy shakes her head. “He’s already done so much for us already.”

“Yeah, like throw us in a garbage can of a ‘hotel’.” Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. When her three friends gaze into her own eyes, they don’t see ice protecting tears. They see two cerise boulders, too thick to see what’s behind. “I’m sick of this. We have to bring Twilight back, but everything is a large pile of disaster.” She throws her forelegs up in the air for exaggeration. “We don’t even know what we’re doing half the time.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure out the money problem, Applejack,” Rarity remarks. “What’s the other problem?”

Applejack scowls. “How are we supposed ta find Pinkie Pie?”

Chapter 13: New Places, New Friends

Twilight’s ears perk up at the sound of a squeaking instrument. She grabs her maps (with her mouth) and places them into her left saddlebag, carefully closing the strap.

She arises from her sitting position onto all four hooves. The swamp setting is likely the most unpleasant one she’s experienced so far. The smell of moss and filthy swamp water, the slightly squishy dirt, and all the tall trees and misty fog turning the sunrise sky a hazel green.

Overall, it’s cold. Twilight tucks her neck deeper into her silver-lined spring green jacket.

The powerful unicorn stands on an oval-like piece of land surrounded on all sides with swamp water covered in lily pads and duckweed except for this narrow scrap of land leading to a large area of damp land where wooden buildings lay.

Twilight gallops from her land to the village. As she comes closer to the buildings, the music of a saxaphone, clarinet, piano, and trumpet, along with chatting and talking, drown out her own thoughts.

She skids to a halt in front of a broken-down one-story building where all the music is coming from. Twilight trots up the four creaking steps to the porch and up to the front doors that swing with ease as she enters.

The music gets suddenly loud. So loud that her ears ring until they readjust to the band. She winces while scanning across the cantina. There are many circular tables covering almost 80% of the room. The rest is made up of a stage where three musicians sit with their instruments, playing an energizing jazz. On the far right side is a bar counter with a line of ponies on stools drinking fresh cranberry juice, since it’s the only fruit that grows in murky swamps like this one.

The only seat available is at a two-pony booth in the back of the room, thankfully farthest away from the band.

Twilight is just about to sit down when a pale gray earth pony stallion with an orange mane beats her too it. Back in Ponyville, she would just shrug to herself and leave. But she has no choice when the dark magic takes a better hold of her. Her eyes quickly flash green and red with an evil grin to accompany it. When they fade, Twilight trots up to the stallion and prods him in the shoulder. He turns to her with a smile that fades when she leans in so close to him that their noses touch.

“This is my seat, you clueless moron!” she whispers in such an angry and quiet way that sends the stallion galloping out of the catina. An evil grin sits on her face until the pony disappears from sight. Once he does, she turns back to the booth and sits in a sit, thinking dirty words about the stallion.

She snaps back to reality. Stop it, Twilight, don’t let it get ahold of you. I should really apologize to him…

Don’t. He deserves it, the dark magic replies. The fact that it’s grip is tightening on her scares the purple unicorn. She shakes all thoughts from mind and displays a friendly face instead.

Twilight is sitting at a booth in the middle of a swamp with no money and has come inside only for a rest. To her, things can’t get any more random.

To the world, they can.

A periwinkle earth pony stallion with a ruffled brown mane and cerulean blue eyes strolls over to Twilight’s booth. He seats himself across from the unicorn herself. She shifts uncomfortably.

“Can I help you?” Twilight asks awkwardly. She’s surprised that it’s not drowned out entirely by the band.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. My name’s Cranberry Tart. What’s yours?”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Cranberry Tart lends a hoof Twilight’s way for her to shake, which she does timidly. “I know just about everypony in this swamp. Are you knew?”

“Well...yes. Why do you ask?”

The stallion laughs. “‘Cause me and my brother own this place.”

“That’s, um, very interesting.” Twilight doesn’t know why she feels so timid. Just add it to the list of side effects of being exiled from the place with ponies you love.

“So where ya’ from, Miss Twilight?”

“It’s funny, actually. I’m from Equestria.”

“Equestria, you say?” The stallion looks with fascinated eyes. “I’ve never met a pony from there. What’s it like?”

“Uh…” Spit it out, Twilight, spit it out! “There’s lots of ponies, many varying cities full of varying types of ponies.”

“This swamp is mostly earth ponies. Anywho, why have ya traveled ta Scramptra? You journeyin’ ‘round the world?”

“Yes and no. I’m traveling halfway across the world, but in the opposite direction you're thinking of.”

“Oh? How so?”

“It’s sort of a long story, but I’m traveling back to Equestria. I never meant to leave it in the first place.”

The stallion glances at Twilight’s horn. “Can’t you just use magic?”

She shakes her head. “My magic is a bit…on the frits. I’m only using it for dire circumstances.”

“And gettin' back ta yer home ain’t?”

“It's not necessarily a life-threatening situation."

“Hm.” The stallion rubs his chin with a hoof. “Have you got any maps specifically showing where you need to go?”

Twilight reaches into her magenta saddlebags and pulls out the maps of Scramptra, Kalbure, and Equestria. Somehow, she is able to spread them all out onto the small table.

“So, we’re here,” he says, pointing to Stargaze Swamp in the top right section of the map. “Which direction are you traveling?”

“Northeast.”

“That means you don’t have much to pass through until you get to Kalbure. You only have to…” the stallion trails off. He pauses with wide eyes, looking back and forth between the map of Scramptra and the map of Kalbure.

Twilight bites her lower lip, a habit when she’s worried. “What’s the matter?”

When the stallion looks back at Twilight, his face is full of shock and fear. “Ya have to pass through Crystal Reef.”

“Crystal Reef? What’s so bad about that place?”

“Did I hear somepony mention Crystal Reef?” The band has finished another song and announced that their taking a break by the time the two ponies turn their attention to a pale emerald earth pony mare. She has pale gold eyes that point at the tip and a pink and ruby curly mane. She smiles ever so sweetly as she sashays over to the booth.

The stallion’s face brightens. “Yes you did, Darlin’.” He waves a beckoning hoof to he. “Twilight, this is my wife, Emerald Haze. Emerald Haze, this is an acquaintance, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight waves. Emerald smiles. “Hey, Twilight. Are you new?”

She’s about to answer when Cranberry beats her to it. “She’s come all the way from Equestria. Can you believe it?”

“Why, Equestria is about a third across the world from here, ain’t it?”

Cranberry nods. “The reason why I mentioned Crystal Reef is because she has to cross through there to get to Kalbure.”

Emerald gasps. “Do you know how dangerous that place is, Twilight?” The lavender unicorn shakes her head. “Why, it’s just the most dangerous river-like lake, surrounded by even greater so dangerous woods. You can’t possibly pass through there without a guide!”

Cranberry Tart smiles weakly at his wife. “Well, Darlin’, we could always be her guides.”

Emerald pauses. At first, she can’t think of anything to say. “Through the life-threatening Crystal Reef? Are you sure?”

“Personally, I find it a fun adventure. But it’s all up to you, Darlin’. If you don’t want to go, I won’t make ya.”

“Oh, well, we haven’t left the village on a trip in such a long time.” Beads of sweat run down her forehead. “Don’t you have to run the cantina?”

“My brother has handled this place all on his own for months before. Whenever he leaves, I take over for him, so we shouldn’t find that as problem.”

“I just don't know, Cranberry. It’s an awfully dangerous journey.”

Twilight tenses up. She doesn’t actually need a guide. She didn’t even ask for one; Cranberry volunteered. “That’s very nice of you, but I think I can manage the trip on my own,” Twilight replies just as the band kicks back into music.

Emerald sighs. “I don’t know if I would ever forgive myself for letting a tourist cross that place on their own.”

“I wouldn’t call myself a tourist, Emerald Haze. I’ll be fine.”

Emerald looks from Cranberry to Twilight. “I’ll go.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with it?” Cranberry asks. Emerald nods. “Alright. Just give me time to let my brother know, and then we’ll head off.”

Twilight lifts a corner of her mouth upward in a smile. “Thank you.”

***

Twilight Sparkle follows Cranberry Tart and Emerald Haze as they lead her through the forest of swamp trees. The purple unicorn has finally gotten use to the smell once they reach their destination.

The three ponies stop at an edge of the wide river passing through Stargaze Swamp. There, perched upon the waterlily-and-duckweed-infested water, sits a fairly large wooden boat tied to a small dock with a rope. Cranberry and Emerald hop upon it with ease. Twilight hesitates. She has never been on a boat before.

She watches and listens to the boat sway in the water. Cranberry tilts his head a bit. “You comin’ in?”

“Yeah, I’ve just never been on a boat before. It seems kind of small and...rocky.”

Emerald hides a laugh behind her hoof. “Twilight, you’ll be fine. Have you ever been on a hot air balloon?”

“Yes.”

“Then you have nothing to fear. It won’t sink, I highly doubt you’ll get sea sick, especially since we’re not going to be in the sea.”

“Can’t we just...walk?”

The periwinkle stallion shakes his head. “Not if you want to pass through Crystal Reef.” Then Emerald and him snatch two paddles.

Twilight hesitantly leaps onto the boat. Her rough landing in the center between her guides rocks it enough for water to splash inside. She blushes. “Sorry.”

“Not a fret, Dear,” Emerald reassures.

Cranberry unties the boat from the dock easily with his mouth before tilting his head to the right and dipping his paddle into the swamp water. Emerald does the same, but in the opposite direction. Soon they start paddling rhythmically.

The first thing that pops into Twilight’s mind is how slow and peaceful it is. For awhile, all you can hear is the soft paddles and chirping of crickets.

“So…” Twilight trails off, glancing from Emerald, who paddles in front of her, and Cranberry, who paddles behind her. “Why do you have a boat? Do you travel along the river a lot?”

“I wouldn’t say a lot,” Cranberry replies clearly, despite the paddle in his mouth. “Emerald and I take this boat down the other way as a shortcut to a cranberry field. It’s surrounded by thorn bushes, so entering from the water is the only way in.”

“Are cranberries all you eat?” Twilight asks curiously. So far, that’s the only food source she has heard of in these parts.

“No, but they’re the tastiest,” Emerald replies. “Besides those, the only other edible plants that even grow here are waterlilies, lotus, water chestnut, water caltrop, wild rice, watercress, water spinach, taro, and cattail.”

Cranberry’s mouth begins to ache from paddling for so long. He hauls his dripping paddle back inside the boat, then clumsily grabs it with his hooves and uses them instead. This tactic uses more effort and is slowly, but it gets the job done.

Twilight is on the verge of asking another question when a loud roar echoes through the swamp. A new question comes to mind. “What was that?”

“That,” Cranberry says with a gulp, “was a Skwoth.”

Twilight remembers how Amber Eyes mentioned the same type of creature. “It’s not going to come after us...is it?”

“Not as long as we stay in the water,” Cranberry replies. “We should reach the end of the swamp around dusk. We’ll have to sleep on the boat, then start heading through Crystal Reef. That’s where you have two horrible options: you can either pass by Crystal Reef through the forest where many creatures, including Swoths, lurk, or you can pass along the river.”

I’m going to regret asking this, Twilight thinks. “What lurks in the river?”

Emerald Haze’s eyes fill with worry. “Hippocampi.”

“Hippocampi?”

“A hippocampus is an earth pony with the lower half of a fish.”

Twilight curiously peers over the side of the boat. In the water, all she spies are seaweed and cat fish, other than her wavy reflection. “What’s so bad about them?”

“Oh, Twilight, don’t ever underestimate a hippocampus.”

“But why?”

Emerald sighs. “Because they have powers. Strange powers.”

Riddles, Twilight thinks. These are riddles. Why won’t she tell me what they actually do?

Soon enough, Emerald Haze’s teeth begin to ache, too. This time, when she lifts her paddle out of the water, Twilight snaps from her thoughts and offers to paddle. “Why, thank you.”

“It’s no problem, really. Without you guys, I’d be as lost as ever.” She picks up the paddle in her teeth and starts to paddle. However, this being her first time and all, she doesn’t take notice of the currents, and it drops from her mouth too quick for her to catch. “No!”

Cranberry discards his own paddle into the boat and joins the two ponies at the edge of the boat. He stares at Twilight’s horn in the reflection. Is this situation dire enough?

“I think I can get it,” Twilight replies. She grabs her sword from her sheath and tries to push the paddle from the bottom of the river onto the shore. Unfortunately, the iron work is not six feet deep and can barely reach it. I can’t use my magic, I just can’t… She figures that reaching for the paddle is pointless and sheaths her sword. So, Twilight slips her sword sheath and saddlebags over head, rests them on the bottom of the boat, then swings a back leg over the edge into the freshwater river.

“Honey, what are you doing?” Emerald asks rhetorically. “That water is as dirty as a pony who’s never bathed. You really shouldn’t do that.”

“Can’t ya just use your magic?” Cranberry asks. Twilight shakes her head, then slips her other back leg into the water, sending her slipping into the depths below.

She feels something alive brush past her hoof and screams out bubbles, then kicks herself to the surface. “Something just brushed my hoof! It was alive and slimy and–”

“Twilight, calm down, you’ll sink the boat!” Cranberry shouts at the flailing pony, attempting repeatedly to climb back on board. “It was probably a cat fish. Are you okay?”

She nods, even though she’s not okay. Twilight feels sick to her stomach right now. But, instead of complaining, she quietly swims to the bottom of the deep river. The swamp water is murky and dirty, so she can only spot blurred shapes a few inches within her view. The sense of touch becomes her next option as she sinks to the muddy seaweed down below.

The weeds are long and thick. By the time she is able to actually touch the ground, her breath runs out. Twilight kicks her hind legs for the surface.

Then something whooshes past her face. Her heart pounds painfully against her chest. Her lungs scream for fresh oxygen. Again, something soft and moving brushes against her legs.

Twilight has only a second to gasp for air until she gets slapped by something rough. It sends her into the plants on the shore. Blood racing, the lavender unicorn parts some bushes to look back at the river. That is when she sees a large creature with four stubby legs staring at her hauntingly. His eyes pierce yellow. He opens up his wide jaw to reveal pointy teeth.

She is in the presence of a Cragodile. The rock-infested creature roars, trampling over weeds toward his prey. Twilight screams so loud that the creature winces for a moment before charging at her full speed. She glances around frantically, but in the heat of the moment, decides to run in the opposite direction of the river. Her violet eyes glance back every few moments just to see the Cragodile’s terrifying face again.

Please don’t turn me into Cragodile food! Twilight shrieks in her head.

Twilight becomes so distracted that she doesn’t realize she’s approached a dead-end cliff. She skids to a halt, heart pounding, stopping just in the nick of time. Fearful eyes turn to the cragodile. Where do I go now?

Her horn is just beginning to spark when Cranberry Tart and Emerald Haze appear in the distance. She stops using her magic, thankful for the rescue, as Emerald gallops to the lavender unicorn, resting her unsheathed sword on the grass in front of her hooves. Twilight looks down at it, but by the time she looks back up, the green earth pony is leaping onto the cragodile’s rocky back. He stomps tramping to shake off the earth pony, but she clings on tight. In the meantime, Cranberry leaps at the cragodile’s head in hope to kick him unconscious. But the creature sees Cranberry before he can kick and whacks him away with his tail.

Turns out that Cranberry ends up to be the one unconscious. Not long after, Emerald is finally thrown off his back and lands roughly on the dirt ground.

Twilight looks down at her sword. I don’t have any other choice… With the cragodile rampaging toward her, she seizes her sword and charges. At first, she just doesn’t know what to do. She’s never inflicted any deadly violence on a creature before. Should she now, even though the only other option is much too high of a risk?

The blade slashes against the rock mouth. The wound is deep and harmful enough that the cragodile’s mouth is too sore to open. He turns to the other alternative of his rock tail.

Twilight can’t watch. The sword inflicts deeply into the tail, causing it to gush blood. The cragodile hollers in pain, only to find himself in much more pain for spreading its jaws open wide. His agony turns to rage. Harsh yellow eyes glare down. This time, he attempts to trample over Twilight herself.

She stares at the tip of her bloody sword in her mouth. Her eyes widen in surprise at the red stains. No… she thinks. I just can’t do it.

Her horn sparks green and violet. She quints as the cragodile is lifted off his feet. Green and violet swirl around him, covering him entirely. Her horn sparks and shimmers. Purple waves flow from her eyes. Once again, she can feel the dark magic overwhelming her. She continues to think about friendship, but since this is the second time, the darkness has learned and is battling harder against it. This physically hurts Twilight, but she tries her best to stay concentrated on her spell.

Twilight can just make out the image of an apple tree before she faints from complete and utter exhaustion.

***

A pale raspberry pony with straight magenta hair and tears streaming from her cyan eyes gallops out of Canterlot’s gates, not slowing down until she’s reached the forest beside Winsome Falls. She glances from the bright blue sky hovering above Winsome Falls, to the olive green leaves coating the redwood trees of White Tail Woods. She leaps behind a large bush, landing in a curled-up ball, sniffling.

“I’m a monster,” Pinkie Pie whispers. “I’m a monster.”

She says this exact line repeatedly until all her tears dry up. She stands up, stretches, then flops onto her hindquarters. “Pinkie never hits ponies. Pinkie never causes violence.” She slightly sways her head back and forth. “I’m a bad Pinkie… A monster Pinkie…”

Heavy hoofsteps paint ripples on a pool of rainwater beside Pinkie as she trots up to see her reflection. “Pinkie doesn’t want to be mean… Pinkie wants to help ponies, not hurt them.” She hides her face behind two magenta hooves. “But Pinkie isn’t helping at all.”

She shuffles away from the puddle, deeper into the redwood forest. “The only way Pinkie can help is by not helping at all… when Pinkie stays away, friends can find Twilight without a meanie Pinkie…” Wet eyes stare down the very hoof that met with Nightmare Moon’s face. “Without a bully Pinkie…”

Suddenly, a blurry black and green shape zooms past her left from the corner of her vision. Pinkie’s ears perk up with her vision. “H-Hello?” she stammers. “Is somepony there?”

A bush behind her rustles. She leaps backward, slowly backing away from whatever is inside. “Hello? Who’s there?”

Through her teary eyes, Pinkie Pie can see a black and turquoise pony appear from the bush. “A-A ch-changeling?”

There’s an abrupt change in her vision as the changeling takes the form of Pinkie Pie herself. An evil sneer appears on her face. The only difference between the herself and the counterpart is that the changeling has poofy, frizzy hair and is sneering.

Before she can react, Pinkie Pie backs into another changeling. He snarls, his horn beginning to glow. Green magic quickly surrounds Pinkie's head. Her eyes fall shut, and she faints, landing on the hard ground. A pale pink orb floats from her head, hovering to the changeling disguised as Pinkie Pie herself. The pink orb then fades into his mind. With a bit of yelping and some pain, the changeling grins warmly. With her changeling mind and Pinkie's subconscious, the changeling makes a perfect spy.

***

Pink posters dripping sticky glue levitate in turquoise magic beside Rarity as she trots around Canterlot, pasting missing posters of her pink friend all over buildings.

She reaches into her pearl pink saddlebag and levitates out yet another poster, a bottle of ‘super stick glue’ following close behind. Rarity doesn’t notice the glue in her violet mane as she strokes the wet brush on the paper, coating it in a thin white sheet. However, once the sticky page is glued onto another flagpole, she accidentally bumps into the glue. It spills all over her mane and nose. She sneezes.

“Look on the bright side, at least it blends in with your white coat.”

Rarity turns around to see Rainbow Dash hovering over, giggling. She lands next to her friend, folding her wings underneath her own scarlet saddlebags.

The unicorn rolls her eyes while levitating a clean poster onto her nose and mane, dabbing off the liquid. This only causes Rainbow to giggle more. “Don’t you have better things to do, like help us post up missing posters?”

“I finished ten minutes ago.”

“What?” Rarity pulls out the rest of her posters, counting them all. She has plenty more than a hoofull, that’s for sure. “How did you finish so quick?”

“First of all, I don’t go like ‘brush brush’,” Rainbow Dash says, pretending to paint glue onto an already glued poster in a graceful way. “I go grab, splat, paste. Grab, splat, paste.”

“Well my way is less…” rarity ponders for a moment. “Chaotic.”

“Alright everypony. Fluttershy an’ Ah finished hanging up posters, only because there’s no room left,” Applejack calls, Fluttershy and herself trotting to meet with the rest of the group. “Ah don’t know if this is goin’ to work, though. Pinkie could be anywhere by now.”

“Hey guys!”

Everypony freezes from shock.

“What’s up?”

They turn around.

A pale pink pony is bouncing cheerfully toward them, gazing across all the missing posters of her. “Where’d you get all these posters? Where’d you get the money? Where’d you get the picture? Where’d you get those awesome saddlebags?” Her words flow out of her mouth so quick that nopony can process and of the answers.

“Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow Dash raises an eyebrow, continuing to stand still. “But...you...what?”

Pinkie Pie stops bouncing once she arrives in front of her four friends. “What’s up?”

“Darling,” Rarity speaks, “your mane was flat…and you ran away…”

“Where the hay did you go?”

Pinkie stares puzzledly. “I was just exploring White Tail Woods for a bit. Where were you gals?”

No pony responds. Pinkie waves a hoof back and forth in front of their faces. “Hello? Did you hear my question?”

Applejack clears her throat. “Well, uh…It sure is good ta have ya back…I guess.”

Fluttershy rubs the back of her neck. Everypony exchanges awkward glances.

Pinkie Pie could look the most confused if she isn’t keeping it hidden. “So where are we going?”

“Pinkie, why did you run away?” Rainbow asks demandingly. Her eyes narrow. She doesn’t feel nearly as angry as she’s acting. “We were worried out of our minds about you!”

The pink party pony turns to the ground. She pretends to appear guilty. “I didn’t mean to make you all so worried…”

A hush falls over the four friends and one imposter friend. None of them know a thing about Pinkie being a changeling, for none of them were there to witness it. Sweat trickles down the changeling’s forehead; she was given descriptions on how the pony acts and talks, but she has no idea what had just happened between the friends.

The changeling doesn’t notice that somepony is hugging her until she snaps out of her own thoughts. A purple mane is ruffling in her face. Then the pony steps away, appearing to be a white unicorn with teary eyes.

“I’m so glad you’re back, Darling.”

The changeling suddenly feels deep sorrow. She has never ever received a comment so welcoming and friendly before. For the first time, she realizes how lonely she is.

“We were thinkin’ ‘bout headin’ over to the Crystal Empire an’ askin’ Princess Cadence fer some help,” Applejack informs, breaking the silence. She still looks uneasy and on the verge of pouring out questions, but she remains calm.

“Sounds good to me,” Pinkie Pie cheers. “When do we leave?”

“As soon as we find yet another pony to lend us some bits,” Rarity responds. “We already received a room from a waiter, these saddlebags from a store clerk (we had to pay an hour of labor, of course), and nearly a hundred missing posters–”

“Which turns out to be a waste now,” Rainbow complains. “Let’s just sneak aboard the train. Who’s with me?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widen. “Rainbow, how dare you think of something like that! That’s just as bad as stealing.”

Rainbow Dash recalls attempting to steal a Daring Do book from the Ponyville Hospital. It didn’t end up well. Sneaking aboard a train because they have no money while their best friend is missing and Princess Celestia is gone, wreaking havoc across Equestria–that doesn’t seem so bad.

“And like stealing other ponies’ bits isn’t?” the cyan pegasus retorts instead of her continuous thought.

Applejack scowls. “We didn’t steal their money, we kindly asked for it with some added labor.”

Rarity rubs her left temple with a white hoof, trying to relieve stress, but turning out to be pointless. “Everypony be quiet!” she hollers. Her friends (and a changeling) turn their attention to her. “We have no time for arguing. It’s a little past lunch, so if anything, hunger is driving us toward anger and retorts. Will you two please stop bickering for a moment to let me think? A moment, is that too hard to ask?”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack glare at each other. One of them would be bound to throw in another retort if Fluttershy hadn’t stepped in and joined the glaring fest. RD and AJ backed down, releasing their anger.

Rarity sucks in a deep breath of crisp afternoon air high up in the mountains. She releases it with her frustration. Sometimes she misses Twilight so much more than other times.

“A week ago, I would’ve thought that sneaking onto a train was preposterous.” I can’t believe I’m saying this, Rarity thinks. “But at the position we’re in…”

“No!”

Now it’s Applejack’s turn to be in the spotlight of the crowd. The boiling sun hangs just a few tail-lengths of her head. They lift a foreleg to their forehead to block out the intense daylight.

“No,” she repeats, softer this time. “We cannot, and Ah mean cannot break into a train. No matter how desperate we are, Ah refuse ta participate in somethin’ that is wrong.”

“Come on, AJ, we don’t have all day!” Rainbow Dash complains. The heat and hunger is making her crankier than ever. “If we have to spend one more measly hour of time we don’t have doing something that’s not even for our benefit, we’ll never reach Twilight in time. What’s more important: laws or friends?”

Fluttershy rubs at the cement ground lightly with a butter hoof. Without making eye contact with anypony, she whispers, “She does have a good point.”

By now, the changeling is sitting on the ground trying not to appear bored. She wants to start feeding off their love for one another like her queen commanded her to do (it’s not like she would have objected), but since Pinkie Pie doesn’t have a unicorn horn, she has to wait until night when all the ponies are asleep. Then she can shapeshift back into her changeling form just long enough to cast the spell that will start draining their power.

“Then you can stay here if you won’t sneak aboard!”

The changeling wakes from her thoughts. The cyan pegasus seems to be hollering at the orange farm pony yet again.

Applejack sighs from frustration.

Rarity rolls her eyes. “Everypony, we do not have all day. Are we sneaking aboard or not?”

It’s for Twilight’s sake, Applejack thinks. She groans. “Alright, y’all. Ah guess…Ah guess we ain’t got any other choice.”

Chapter 14: Vegeterians

`Twilight’s closed eyes twitch. For the first moments of waking up, she forgets all about what had happened this past week. She imagines herself waking up in her nice warm bed back at the Golden Oak Library where everything was so peaceful…

But that’s not the scene bestowed her. She plucks herself off the ground, standing on all four hooves. Around her is darkness. From left to right, all around her are some kind of walls, too dark to see from where she stands. Her horn sparks and begins to emit light. From her point of view, she is in a large enclosed room made of crystals. It reminds her exactly of the time when she was trapped in the underground mines beneath Canterlot. Except, this time there’s no changelings, and instead of rock, she’s surrounded by crystal.

Twilight doesn’t notice she backing up until she bumps into a crystal wall behind her. Her teeth chatter, even though she is not cold.

“Hello?” her voice echoes through the small crystal room. “What’s going on?”

Her shining horn shows a small cloud of black fog creeping toward her. She looks around but finds no where to run. Once the fog is a tail-length away from her, it somehow takes the form of a pitch black alicorn pony with a flowing green mane and purple eyes. It’s horn is red. He’d look like King Sombra if it weren’t for his different size, mane, eyes, wings, and no cape or crown.

“Who are you?” Twilight asks.

The black alicorn pony smirks. “I am the dark magic casted upon you.”

Twilight aimlessly backs closer and closer into the wall behind her. “H-How are you a pony?”

“I’m not,” he replies.

Twilight cocks an eyebrow.

“I only look like one because this is apparently how you imagine me.”

“How I…imagine you?” The purple unicorn glances around. “Are you saying we’re inside my…head?”

“Quite frankly.”

“Am I…dreaming?”

The alicorn pony shrugs. “You’re unconscious at the moment. I suppose you could call this a dream.”

Twilight stops backing into the wall. Everything feels so real, but if it’s not, then there should be no reason to panic. “Why am I dreaming about dark magic?”

“It’s not necessarily a dream. It’s your body reacting to the massive cloud of black fog inside of you.”

The thought sends shivers across Twilight’s spine. “But…I’m still fine…right? It hasn’t taken over me?”

He snickers. “Not yet.”

Fear grips Twilight heart. This can’t be happening. It can’t be, it just can’t! Everything is happening too quick, it seems like.

“That powerful spell you just cast really sped up the process,” the black alicorn adds. “That much dark magic at one time…at this rate, you’ll definitely be corrupted by the time you reach Equestria.”

“Never.” She glares at the pony form. She doesn’t feel infuriated at all, only frightened. But cowardice is a weakness, and the more weak she is is just how much faster the dark magic will take over. At least, that's what Twilight assumes. “The dark magic will never take a hold of me.”

He laughs. “Honestly, Twilight. Do you really believe that?”

No. “Yes.”

He narrows his eyes, his smile fading. Twilight begins to think deep about how much the dark magic is alike Sombra’s.

“Now that I’m thinking about it…aren’t you the same dark magic in King Sombra?” she pauses. “The spell that Discord cast upon me…it’s so similar to King Sombra. Did…did he cast the same spell?”

The black alicorn paces a little around the room. “I’m not an informational book–I’m an image. I’m only in your head, Twilight.” He stares at himself. “You’re the one who pictures me like Sombra. Tell me the answer.”

King Sombra has a red unicorn horn, green eyes with red irises and dragon-shaped pupils, and purple flowing from his eyes. His unicorn magic was also purple and green. Not to mention his fangs. All of these side-effects of his dark magic are exactly like Twilight’s, except fainter at the moment and besides the fangs. So, in a way, she is turning into a Twilight Sparkle version of King Sombra.

This sends the biggest of chills through her body. “Why does Discord want me to turn evil? I-I don’t understand! He’s the one who wants to take over. Why doesn’t he just kill me?”

The black alicorn gives her a look of defeat.

Twilight’s eyes narrow. “You don’t know?”

He fakes a grin. “I’m just in your head, remember? I’m not actually here. I only know as much as you do. Hey, put that down!”

Twilight has broken off a piece of crystal from one of the large crystals about the room jutting out from the walls. She aims in the crystal at the black alicorn, ready to throw to release her anger.

Seconds before it touches him, Twilight wakes up.

She is more confused about Discord’s plans than ever.

***

Cranberry Tart, who has been half-conscious, blinks back to full awareness. The sun is setting, mixing a crimson glow with the green haze of the swamp. His wife, Emerald Haze, is lying unconscious beside him. The cragodile is gone; an apple tree stands in it’s place.

However, the most disconcerting thing is his new unicorn friend. Her lavender body is limp except for rigid breathing. What really catches his eyes is her unicorn horn. Before, it was a soft purple. But now…now it’s a deep shade of ruby red, slowly fading to the point where her horn stops. Secondly is the odd purple mist flowing from her eyes. He can’t remember what had happened after her was whacked in the face with a rock tail.

Ow, Cranberry thinks, suddenly noticing the stinging pain all over his face.

He shakes Emerald. Her golden eyes slowly blink open. She sits up and glances around, feeling her head. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure, Darlin’,” Cranberry replies with worried eyes. He lends her a hoof. “We both went unconscious. Not sure where the cragodile went, but I can give a pretty good guess.”

With an apple tree where the cragodile was and Twilight being a unicorn and all, it’s not that hard to guess.

“Whoo-wee, that must have taken a lot out of her! Magic like that is…actually, very unusual.” Cranberry taps his chin. “I don’t understand; shapeshifting spells are so advanced that only alicorns and such can cast, with the exception of amulets. But that gal ain’t an alicorn, ain’t a draconequus, and she ain’t got no amulet on. What’s up with that?”

Emerald Haze wanders over to her. It does seem strange that a unicorn like Twilight could perform advanced spells for alicorns. And what is up with her horn and eyes? she wonders.

The emerald earth pony taps Twilight lightly on the shoulder. She just means to slowly shake her awake, but instead, she leaps from her spot onto all four hooves. This quick movement is so sudden that Emerald doesn’t even realize that the weird purple and green glows are gone.

Twilight shakes her head groggily. She blinks away the fog clouding her vision from a deep sleep. “How…how long have I been asleep?”

Emerald Haze, whose shock is slowly fading, clears her throat. “As long as we have been, Dear.”

Cranberry observes the scenery surrounding them. “By the looks of them sun, probably five hours or so.”

“Five hours?” Twilight exclaims, unable to believe her ears. It only felt like 10 minutes. Plus, another hour in this swamp is another hour that Nightmare Moon could be terrorizing the citizens of Equestria. I’m so close, Twilight thinks. A warm fuzzy feeling builds up inside of her. The corners of her mouth curve upward. I’m so close to my friends.

“Excuse me, Twilight, but…what exactly happened?”

“When?” she answers Emerald.

“Before Cranberry and I passed out.”

“Oh, that.” It takes a few moments for realization to sink in. The dark magic inside of her is growing. Discord wants her to turn evil, and she doesn’t even know why. Maybe he wants to because he’s bored. Or maybe because it makes so sense to.

How did he even escape his stone prison, anyway?

Did something bad happen to the Elements of Harmony?

Has something life-changing happened in Equestria while she’s been gone? Does anypony even care that she’s gone?

Does Shining Armor know?

Get a hold of yourself! Twilight pushes her questions to the back of her mind. All these answers are out of her control. The best thing to do right now is hurry back home, and quick.

“Twilight?”

“Hm?”

Emerald Haze stares worriedly at her friend. “Where’s the cragodile?”

Twilight immediately glances at the apple tree behind Cranberry. She feels her cheeks warm up. “I couldn’t kill him, so, I…I turned him into an apple tree.”

“Aha! I was correct,” Cranberry announces. “Where’d you get the power to cast a spell like that?”

Twilight gulps. Sure, she’s turned mice into horses on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. But cragodiles are much bigger, and she was too scared to concentrate. It was my dark magic, she wants to say. The evil magic that’s slowly taking over my mind.

And now that I’ve performed that advanced spell, the process is speeding up. So we should really get going now.

Do you know how ridiculous that would sound? And possibly frightening for the couple? All Twilight wants to do is return to Ponyville without having to worry about a single thing.

Like that’s going to happen.

“I guess I just work well under pressure,” Twilight lies. “Can we get going now? My home is so close, I just want to get their as soon as I possibly can.”

“Sure thing, Dear.” Emerald Haze peers over the edge of the cliff. Down below, their chipped wooden boat rocks in the river. She sighs in relief that it’s not all torn, then grumbles when she turns to the sunset. “I don’t know if we can leave at this time, though.”

“Please?” The purple unicorn claps her two forelegs together and makes a pouting face. “I’ve already spent almost a week to get to this swamp. If I wait all through the night, I’m just not sure I’ll get home in time.”

“Get home in time fer what?” Cranberry Tart asks.

Twilight gulps. She doesn’t exactly know what it is, but something tells her that something is wrong in Equestria. Whether it be Discord or Nightmare Moon, something is happening right this second, and she has to get home to stop whatever the problem is.

Also, she wants to get home before the Dark Magic spreads through her. Maybe Princess Celestia will be there to reverse it in time.

“I can’t say. Just–please? Traveling through the night might not be as dangerous as you all think.”

Cranberry and Emerald exchange glances. The last golden rays of sunlight disappear over the mountains in the distance. Twilight bites her lower lip by habit. It feels sore now. “Well?”

“Ah guess we could try,” Cranberry murmurs. “But once we reach Crystal Reef, we are waitin’ ‘till sunrise. Nothin’ is worse than bein’ in that awful place with no daylight.”

***

It doesn’t take long for them to get going again. Emerald’s paddle is fished out of the icy water with an incredibly long twig. They start paddling down the river with only Luna’s night to light their path of the river.

Twilight wriggles her nose deeper into her warm, fuzzy jacket. Her breath is easily visible. The trees block some of the wind, but enough wiggles through to chill the three ponies to the bone. Their teeth chatter so much that Cranberry and Emerald have to start paddling with their hooves. They don’t even have a jacket, unlike Twilight, all wrapped up in her spring green coat and four soft boots. She offers multiple times to give them to Emerald Haze, but she only shakes her head.

The crickets chirp. Owls hoot. The swamp looks black and isolated. At one point, she thinks she hears a timberwolf’s howl. Twilight becomes jumpy at every tiny rustle and sound she hears; even the croak of a small green frog sends her leaping an inch or two off the boat. She lands back down somewhat hard, rocking the boat a bit.

Emerald Haze stops paddling and turns around. “Twilight, are you okay?”

“I-I’m f-f-fine,” she whispers between chattering teeth. “I-I’m just not a-as used to th-th-the cold.”

“Oh, there’s been colder nights, fer sure,” Cranberry adds. “Are your sure it’s just the cold? Ya seem to be a bit jumpier than usual.”

Twilight closes her eyes. She wishes she was back home with all of her friends at a slumber party, drinking hot chocolate. She remembers the beginning of her journey when she was drinking that hot liquid at Midnight and Star’s house. How did she get from there to here so quick? She traveled more than halfway home in seven days! All the way from the other side of the world. All she has to do now is cross through Crystal Reef to Kalbure, then to Jeleron, and finally through the Frozen North to Equestria. According to the maps, Kalbure and Jeleron aren’t so big. Hopefully, she’ll reach Ponyville in a week or so.

“Twilight, wake up.”

“Wha?” Twilight doesn’t remember when she fell asleep, but she must have at some point because Emerald is shaking her awake and her view is entirely different. The river that had been long and endless now breaks off into a large lake surrounded by more of a forest than a swamp. What had been a night sky is now a sunrise blur.

She rubs her eyes and glances around. “Are we at Crystal Reef?”

Emerald shakes her head. “It’s only about ten minutes away. I woke you up to see if you wanted any breakfast. I know it’s still early, but we didn’t have dinner last night.”

Twilight suddenly realizes how hungry she is. She hasn’t eaten since she was at Amber Eye’s house two or three days ago.

“Leave it ta the stallion ta forget ta bring food and fresh water,” Cranberry mutters with his back turned to the others. He reaches into some kind of chest underneath his chair (a wooden plank a tail-length off the bottom, stretching from both sides of the boat) and places it onto his lap. It opens with a click. From her view, Twilight can’t tell what’s inside. A few moment later, the periwinkle horse tucks it back underneath his seat. Only when he turns around to face the two mares does Twilight realize that it’s a two-inch, fine-point dagger. She raises an eyebrow.

“Are you really so weak that you need a dagger to cut cranberries off of vines or whatever plant we’re going to eat?” she asks sarcastically. When they stare at her, she realizes what she had just said and blushes. Her dark magic pounds against her skull, urging to take control. It hurts enough to give her a short, but painful, headache. Twilight finds her darkness to be growing stronger every day, especially since she cast that powerful spell on the alligator.

She clears her throat. “I mean…why do you need it?”

“It’s not for cutting plants,” Cranberry replies, eyeing Twilight.

Wait, you don’t mean…

“It for killing fish or snakes.”

Twilight’s heart pounds against her chest until it hurts. “I-I’m a vegetarian! I thought all ponies were!”

“Only foolish ponies,” Cranberry retorts as payback for Twilight’s harsh comment awhile ago. “You’ve missed out on great sources a' protein. What’s wrong with eatin' a cow? It ain't like you’re eatin' a pony.”

Twilight makes a sort of choking sound. “Maybe it’s different outside of Equestria, but inside, cows are like another type of pony. I could never eat one.”

“Well, yer gonna have ta suck it up and eat a fish because there are no proper sources of protein out here ‘cept for those.”

A question suddenly comes to her mind. "Cranberry," she says, "if you've had that dagger, why didn't you use it on the cragodile? It just seems like something you would think about..."

"Ah had no point in usin' this dagger, Twilight. It's only big enough fer small critters. Usin' this against a creature made of solid rock, or even somthin' like a hippocampi, would be pointless."

Before Twilight can continue, Cranberry leaps from the boat onto the shore. They must have docked it while she was sleeping. Emerald climbs out next, and Twilight follows hesitantly, unsure if she will eat or not.

***

It feels like hours until Cranberry Tart finds an East Diamondback Snake slithering through some tall weeds. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut as the blade met the innocent creature. Emerald taps her shoulder. When she opens her eyes, the snake is lying lifeless and dead.

How come these ponies have the courage to kill an animal but not me? Twilight asks herself. She is about to reply to her own wonder, but Cranberry calls her name, startling her out of her own thoughts.

“Can you gather some firewood to make a fire?”

Twilight nods. She won’t be able to speak for a minute or two. Never had she ever thought that somepony could be so violent. Sure, that cragodile wanted to eat Twilight, but that doesn’t mean she should act the same way.

She soon returns to the campsite with hooffulls of twigs and branches, piling them on the floor while Cranberry rubs a thin twig’s end against the middle of a fat branch. As soon as it sparks, he places the burning ember on top of the firewood. A minute passes by as the fire emits heat. Emerald lugs over a fallen tree trunk by the fire for them to sit on.

Twilight’s gaze intense on the flickering flames. She thinks back to when she cooked marshmallows over a like fire with Rarity and Applejack inside her library. They were laughing and smiling, despite some bickering. The warm thought feels painful. Homesickness quickly overwhelms her. What she would give to be back in Ponyville, throwing a party and having a blast with all her friends. She’d gladly trade her dark magic for the moment. However, when she thinks this thought, the dark magic lightly hammering against her skull seems to feel...enraged, as if it were an actual living being.

The lavender unicorn snaps from her thoughts as Cranberry carries the lifeless snake toward the firewood.

“Emerald, Darlin’, will ya come here for a sec’?”

“Sure,” Emerald replies, hopping off the log. Twilight stays quiet as Cranberry instructs her to stand on the opposite side of the fire and hold out a thick, pointy, spear-like branch. Then he wraps the snake carefully around the wood and starts turning it clockwise, Emerald following. Soon the dead snake’s skin makes some kind of sizzling sound and they stop hovering it above the fire. They place the creature on a fat gray stone. Then Cranberry grabs his dagger to begin peeling off the skin.

Twilight leaps behind the log and quivers.

Endless minutes pass by.

“Alright, Twilight, have ya made up yer mind yet?” Cranberry asks. Twilight peeks out from behind the log. The sight of cooked snake meat makes her want to gag. “You gonna starve or what?”

Twilight’s stomach growls. After skipping eight meals or so, she doesn’t feel so good. Everything inside of her denies the option, except for her stomach and dark magic. Her mind tells her no, her stomach tells her yes, and her dark magic tells her that she shouldn't care if it’s a dead animal or not.

Finally, Twilight decides to accept the meat. If it’s the only source of protein for miles, she’ll have to eat it at some point.

Cranberry extends his left hoof (holding a chunk of snake meat) toward Twilight. She gulps and accepts the meat, holding it between her own two hooves. Sweat runs down her forehead. She never knew that eating meat would be this hard.

Emerald takes a bite of snake meat and smiles. “Don’t worry, Twilight, it tastes delicious.”

She smells the meat then gags. Come on, Twilight, it’s just meat.

Her front teeth slowly clasp a corner of the chunk. After she chews it and swallows it, she takes a few more bites. Soon enough, she’s devoured the entire chunk and is licking grease off her hooves.

Cranberry laughs heartily. “See? Good fer yer stomach, good fer yer taste buds.”

“I’ll say,” the lavender unicorn replies. She becomes oddly excited and interested about eating meat. Her eyes widen. “Is there any more?”

“Help yerself.”

***

Applejack stares out the train window and sighs. It feels like only yesterday her friends and her were riding a train to Manehatten for Princess Celestia’s birthday. Now their riding a train to the Crystal Empire to ask Princess Cadence to bring a possibly dead Twilight home. But she knew as well as the others that it has been nearly a week.

Rainbow Dash waves her back legs back and forth as she shifts uncomfortably on her seat. It feels like she’s been sitting for hours now, which she has. “How much longer until we get there?”

“The same answer you received ten seconds ago,” Rarity replies deadpan. “Three hours.”

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash drops her head onto her lap. “I’ve never been so bored in my entire life.

“Ooo! I know! Why don’t we play ‘I Spy’?” The changeling disguised as Pinkie Pie exclaims. “I spy with my little eye, something…blue.”

“The sky?”

“Yes!” Pinkie Pie bursts into giggles.

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. “Let’s not.”

“Oh, we could–” Fluttershy is interrupted by a train whistle and an abrupt stop. In fact, the stop is so sharp that it sends everypony falling out of their seats.

Applejack grumbles as she picks herself off the floor. “What in tarnation?”

“We’re not even close to the Crystal Empire,” Rarity adds, peering out the train window.

There’s a loud crackling sound as the speakers turn on and the train conductor begins to explain. “Sorry for the stop, everypony. It seems that we’ve had a major function problem, and it appears that the train is unable to proceed to the destination.” Even from his position in the front of the train, the conductor can hear groans and complaints. “Help is coming in a few hours.”

More complaints.

“However, if you would like, you can walk the ten minutes to Neighagra Falls train station and get to the Crystal Empire from there. That will be all.” The speaker crackles as it turns off.

“Oh, come on! I’m not sneaking onto another train! It takes forever,” Rainbow Dash complains. Applejack whacks her hard on the head.

“We won’t be gettin’ on any trains soon if ya don’t shut yer mouth,” Applejack whispers through gritted teeth.

Rarity sighs. “Well, girls, I guess we have no other choice than to walk to Neighagra Falls. It’s only a ten minute walk, Rainbow Dash, don’t look at me like that.”

Fluttershy taps her front two hooves together. “Um, Rarity, you know, I’ve been feeling awful about sneaking aboard, and I know Applejack has been, too, I…” She gulps. “I don’t think we should sneak onto another train.”

“Fluttershy, Darling, we already had this arguement. There’s no other way.” Rarity trots toward the train cart door. Half of the other ponies were either grumbling on the train seats or out the door. She stops just in front of the steps. No pony is following her. “Girls!”

“Rarity, stop actin’ like the boss of everypony,” Applejack hollers, striding past Rarity out the train car.

“What–me?” Rarity exclaims, hopping out beside her. The green grass is wet and therefor muddy beneath her hooves. She sucks in a deep breath to calm herself down.

Pinkie Pie hops out of the car, landing in between Rarity and Applejack, but slipping on the mud and falling flat on her face. Rainbow Dash follows, laughing at her pink mud-splattered face. Last is Fluttershy who flutters out ever so gracefully.

Rainbow Dash scans the valley while Rarity and Applejack argue. Each word burning with anger is overwhelming to a point where she can’t take it. None of them can take it. “SHUT UP!”

Silence.

“This entire time that Twilight has been time, we’ve been arguing, fighting, bickering…” The cyan pegasus turns to her hooves with guilty eyes. “Even me.” She looks back up at her friends, now with eyes shimmering determination. “It has to stop. I can’t take it anymore, and I know that none of you can, either.”

Rarity glances at Applejack. Her fiery eyes fade back to a sapphire blue. Applejack smiles weakly.

Fluttershy clears her throat. All her shyness seems to vanish as she speaks. “It's been practically a week since Twilight's disappearance." Her friends look to the ground as sorrow overcomes them. “But,” she continues, “there is still a way to bring her back home, and to do this, we need to work together. As a team. So, are you ponies going to keep arguing, or are we going to bring back Twilight no matter what it takes?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie, who stand next to the butter pegasus, extends her left foreleg to Fluttershy. “Team Friendship!”
Fluttershy’s tension fades as she joins her right foreleg with Pinkie’s, smiling, yet gazing with determination. “Well? Team Friendship or what?”

Rainbow Dash shrugs and casually holds out a cyan leg, which Fluttershy holds.

Rarity rolls her eyes, but once she joins her foreleg, too, she smiles as a warm, fuzzy feeling envelops her.

Everypony turns to Applejack. She sighs and joins hooves with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. “This is kinda ridiculous, but Ah do agree that friendship can overcome any problem.”

Fluttershy smiles. She has never been so outgoing before, never really been into confident speeches, but when there comes a time when that action is needed, she will gladly make a stand to cheer her friends, and herself, on. Most of this confidence probably comes from Iron Will’s workshop, too. But in this moment, when four of her five best friends are joining hooves, she remembers just how powerful friendship is.

Fluttershy starts to think that maybe they really can bring back Twilight.

She just hopes she isn’t proved wrong.

Chapter 16: The Two Sides of a Skwoth

She lifts her purple hoof to a sore spot on her head. When she opens her eyes, everything appears blurry. It takes a few moments for her to regain full vision.

Twilight is lying down beside flickering flames. She turns turns around and bunks her elbow on a wooden log. By the looks of the sky and her surroundings, its a nighttime campfire.

“My goodness, that was a long sleep.”

“Hm?” Twilight sits up. Beside her are two other logs, each containing a guide.

“You’ve been asleep for nearly 10 hours, Dear,” Emerald Haze continues. “We were starting to think you might never wake up.”

The events of that morning come flooding in. Twilight remembers almost drowning, then the hippocampus disappearing, and blacking out just before reaching the surface.

Her sense of feel comes back, too, and her lungs ache. “What happened after I blacked out?” she croaks, clenching her stomach while climbing onto the log. She winces when applying pressure on her right foreleg, noticing a small bloody gash.

“It was particularly strange, actually,” Cranberry resumes for his wife. “All the hippocampi suddenly disappeared. Ah saw you drownin’ and pulled ya onto the bank.”

“That’s when you suddenly coughed out a bunch of lake water,” Emerald continues. “You were half awake for thirty seconds after that, and then you fell back asleep.”

“I don’t remember waking up,” Twilight says. “What happened after that?”

“Cranberry and I spent the rest of the day dragging you and your heavy supplies through the woods. We’ve been careful and stuck close to the bank, but at one point, we were attacked by some timberwolves. I tried to keep you safe while Cranberry grabbed your iron sword and managed to send them scurrying off. I hope you don’t mind. We washed the blood out in the lake.”

Twilight shakes her head. “Of course I don’t mind. You saved our lives.” She stretches out her hindlegs. “Where are we now?”

“Along the bank of the Crystal Reef lake. Not sure how much longer ‘till we get to the end, though.” Cranberry yawns. “The sun set a few minutes ago. We made great progress today, despite your unconsciousness.”

“How much closer until the edge of the forest and the border of Scamptra?”

“Maybe a good hour or two.”

Twilight’s eyes widen and sparkle in the light of the flames. “I’m so close to Equestria…”

The three ponies become so wound up in their conversations that they don’t notice a pair of piercing yellow eyes glaring at them.

Not to mention that creature licking its chops, hungry for a fresh meal..

***

Droplets of sweat turn into buckets as Twilight treks through the forest with her guides. Even though the sun has not yet risen, it remains oddly hot along the lake’s bank.Twice they have encountered small danger along the way, such as a cockatrice or a lone timberwolf. Rarely they spot some hippocampi in the distance, too far out in the enormous lake to notice the pastel ponies.

Despite the forest’s dangers, Twilight begins to experience an emotion she hasn’t felt for the entire trip: boredom. Even galloping in the desert and sitting on the boat, watching trees pass by were movies compared to this walk.

“Maybe...maybe a little more than two hours…” Emerald admits between exhausted breaths and a tired yawn. They woke up before dawn to get a good head start; none of them want to continue venturing through the dangerous woods. “This forest is much longer and, well…safer than I thought.”

“Be thankful, Emerald,” Cranberry snaps. “Stickin’ to the shore is our best bet of gettin’ through alive. If you’d rather be entertained than alive, then be my guest and canter into that forest. Then ya might realize that this hike is nothin’!”

Emerald Haze slows her pace so that she can plod next to Twilight. “How are you holding up, Dear? This trip isn’t any better for me than for you.”

“I’m doing fine,” Twilight lies. She’s anything but fine, and she knows it, too. They only got six hours of sleep at the most, they haven’t eaten anything since the snake from a few days ago, and the lake water is a horrible source of drinking water. On top of all that, the peace and quiet forces her mind to drift into the thoughts and worries of her friends back home. She has no way of knowing if they are safe or not with her horn on the frits. She also has no way of knowing if she is safe or not. Even if she does make it back to Equestria before the dark magic takes over, who says that Princess Celestia will be there to cure her? She’s still not sure if her mentor is alive or not. There’s also the slight possibility that not even alicorn magic can cure her. “Just fine. How about you?”

“Ugh, I’m absolutely exhausted. We’ve been walking for so many hours each day without any rest.” When she notices Twilight’s concerned and guilty expression, she quickly changes her tone. “But I can assure you that I’m glad to help. I don’t think I would have ever forgiven myself if I let you come here alone. And this trip is actually…exhilarating. Maybe not at the moment, but it surely beats another day of working in the cranberry fields with Cranberry.” She covers her mouth with a hoof when she says the last part. “Just between you and me, he can become so grumpy in the orchards. Sometimes I even wonder why his cutie mark is what it is.”

Twilight giggles for a few moments. Emerald smiles.

A sudden shiver runs down Twilight’s spine. Her giggles are replaced with confusion and suspicion. She glances around.

“Is something wrong, Dear?” Emerald asks worriedly, glancing as well, but not sure what she’s looking for.

“Yeah,” Twilight whispers. She quickens her pace. “Do you feel like we’re being…watched?”

“Watched?” Emerald Haze stops glancing to meet Twilight’s gaze. “You mean like a predator watching its prey?”

Twilight and Emerald stop in place. Cranberry notices the lack of hooves on ground and trots over to see what’s going on. “What’s wrong? We’re almost there, ya can’t stop now.”

“It’s not that,” Twilight whispers. “Something...something is wrong.”

All three ponies listen to the sound of tree leaves rustling and the lake water lapping on the bank. Birds tweet, but other than that, there’s not much else. “We just encountered hippocampi, a cockatrice, and timberwolves. Whatever you think is in there will come out when it wants, and we can defend ourselves. Until then, if you really are paranoid and absolutely sure there’s danger, then run.”

The second the last word slides off of Cranberry’s tongue, Emerald and Twilight disappear with a cloud of dust in their places. Cranberry turns around, aghast. His widen eyes then narrow as he dashes to catch up with them.

And that is when they hear it. A loud roar reverberates through the trees, echoing in Twilight’s ears. Her heart pounds against her chest, her blood races. Adrenaline courses through her body as fear and exhilaration take place.

As they run, Cranberry takes the time to look behind him. His eyes widen in recognition of the large creature. “Shoot! Emerald, it’s a skwoth!”

“A skwoth? Dear Scramptra, Cranberry, are you serious?” Emerald exclaims through pants. She doesn’t want to risk tripping just to see the terrifying creature.

“You better believe it, Darlin’,” he replies breathlessly.

Fifty seconds of running feels like a thousand to Twilight Sparkle as she runs for her life. Time seems to slow down, increasing her fears. She has yet to take a good view of the creature whose name has been popping up, being described as awful each time.

It’s not long until the three ponies begin to slow. They can only run for so long, and that aside, they knew they couldn’t run forever. They had to think of something, and quick.

The first thing that Cranberry comes up with is to dive into the lake. He’s not sure if the skwoth would follow or not. But even if it didn’t, hippocampi would take action, and the results wouldn’t be pretty. They could stop and try to kill it, but none of them have ever encountered such a creature before. Many even shrugged them off as legends. Crystal Reef was one of the few places they’ve ever been spotted, and not enough ponies visit to claim it true. Besides, most of the ponies who come in rarely come out.

Alongside Cranberry is Twilight. She dares herself to use teleportation, but such an advanced spell could finish off the corruption; what help would that be?

The lavender unicorn becomes so wrapped up in her thoughts that she doesn’t notice a tree root jutting out from the ground. She trips on the thick wood, sending her face-first into the hard, pebbly dirt. Exhaustion and pain allow her to only turn over, onto her back. At this state, she just can’t run anymore. Before she can get a glimpse of the swoth, Cranberry yanks her onto her hooves and attempts to drag her along.

“Twilight, quit standin’ there like a helpless foal and move for yer sake!” he shouts.

But it’s too late. The skwoth has caught up to them, like it had to eventually.

The creature is so obscure to Twilight Sparkle that her eyes widen in awe. The creature is almost like a bear, in the way it stands twice as tall as Princess Celestia herself. It’s eyes are piercing yellow, and it’s fur is the color of the morning sun.

For many moments, the skwoth doesn’t move. It remains standing on all four paws. But after thirty agonizing seconds, Cranberry returns a glare at the creature.

“Twilight, pull out yer sword!”

“What? No, I can’t,” she stammers.

“What is the point of havin’ a weapon if ya won’t use it,” the periwinkle stallion mutters as he dashes to Twilight’s side. The skwoth roars as he draws out the iron sword before his lavender friend can stop him. “Emerald, Twilight, take cover!” he shouts, charging at the skwoth.

Before the blade can impel it, the sword is enveloped in a ruby glow. It stops mere seconds from colliding with its skin. Cranberry gasps, astonished, as he watches its eyes glow ruby as well, confirming that the skwoth is controlling the sword with its eyes as if they were a unicorn horn.

“Cran, look out!” Emerald shouts. With only the dim starlight, Cranberry Tart almost doesn’t see the sword about to strike himself. He leaps to the left, dodging Twilight’s tinted ruby sword controlled by the skwoth.

“Ah thought Ah instructed you two ta get the hell out a’ here,” says Cranberry, galloping behind the skwoth, dodging the sword. From behind the large creature, he grabs ahold of a nearby tree branch and hoists himself onto its back. The creature roars in resistance, suddenly tossing and turning, attempting to throw the stallion off its back. But he clings on, allthewhile reaching for his eyeballs to whack. Then the magical force should break just long enough to gain control back over the weapon.

Twilight grinds her teeth while watching Cranberry being tossed about. She shakes her head disapprovingly. Still, she can’t let him fall off and die. The lavender unicorn is debating on what to do when an orangish glow catches her eye. She directs her attention to the distant mountains. Sure enough, the night sky is emitting a sliver of orange light, warning a sunrise.

Her focus is disturbed once more by a loud huff. Turning her head back around, she is surprised to see Cranberry back on the ground with her sword in his mouth. He narrows his eyes while charging yet again. However, to keep the skwoth from taking control, he moves in a zigzag pattern, quick enough to a point where the skwoth can’t direct its magic on him.

The skwoth roars again, but this time it sounds more like a wail than anger. Twilight bites her lower lip as she takes in how Cranberry just slashed deep into the creature’s side. Wanting revenge, the creature takes its own move by swiping one of its bear-like paws at Cranberry. The heavy paw and sharpened claws send the stallion falling onto the ground. Emerald cries out in horror at the new sight.

Cranberry lays helplessly on the ground with a bloody gash stretching from his right foreleg, across his right side, his right flank, and ending in his right back leg. Emerald lifts a hoof to her mouth as tears spill from her eyes. No, she thinks. No, it’s not that bad, Emerald, calm down, he’s not dead, he can’t be. She repeats her worries in her mind as she races to Cranberry’s side. She inspects his wounds and forces herself to take a solid deep breath. When her husband’s eyes squint open and he continues to breath, Emerald wraps her arms around his neck. “You had me worried there, Cranberry.”

“I’m fine, Emerald Haze. I won’t be if you keep suffocating me, though,” he groans. Emerald nods and lets go.

Twilight stands frozen in place. She’s be rushing to Cranberry’s side if something strange wasn’t bothering her. That something strange happens as the sun begins to rise. The skwoth begins to…change, as the first rays of a new morning shine upon it.

She watches with eyes full of wonder and awe as the skowth’s form begins to change entirely.

Unlike changelings who take the form of a pony with a quick spiral of green, the skowth’s transformation is slow and subtle. It height of four average ponies shrinks to about Princess Luna’s height. The piercing eyes fade to a soft green, and the fur vanishes completely. The skin seems to fade into a bunch of wound up branches. Its bear-like structure slowly takes the form of an earth pony mare, but one much different.

The mane and tail are clusters of leaves in many different shades. The body itself is made up of tree branches wound together tightly. Her eyes shimmer a beautiful olive.

All in all, the skwoth has transformed into an earth pony mare made of nature who is the size of Princess Luna. Once the transformation is complete, she falls to the ground in exhaustion. Twilight runs up to her and nudges her.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Twilight Sparkle continues to nudge the (literally earth) pony until she awakens several seconds later. Her green eyes flutter open. The lavender unicorn stops nudging her. In fact, she stops breathing for a few moments in shock and wonder.

The skwoth nods. “Yes, I can.”

“What...what happened? How did you transform from a terrifying beast into a...a beautiful pony made of...trees?”

Twilight stands back as the skwoth rises onto her four hooves. Her gaze turns to the right where a green earth pony sits next to a coughing blue stallion.

The skwoth is just about to ask a question when all of her senses come flooding back. She winces and turns to her side where a deep gash in her tangled branches lay. If she were a pony, blood would be streaming out and she would need medical help. But as an endangered skwoth, all she has to do is suffer a quick amount of pain. Instead of yellow eyes glowing ruby, her soft green eyes glow a sparkling violet. Following her eyes in her side where the gash is. It joins in the glowing, and soon enough, the brown branches begin to move in the violet aurora. The skwoth winces with such pain, but keeps her concentration on healing. After many painful moments, the broken branches (where the gash lays) wrap around each other, sealing the gap off. It was an agonizing process, but now her side looks as good as new.

When she turns back to the purple unicorn, she smiles warmly, for she is watching with great curiosity and amazement. “How did you do that?” she asks. “I’ve never heard of creatures like you. What…How…”

The skwoth rests a branch-woven hoof on Twilight’s lips to silence her. “My name is Ivy Storm. Questions will be answered in time. For now, I would like to know what is going on between you three. What are your names, and why are you here?”

“Oh, well, my name is Twilight Sparkle. That’s Emerald Haze, and that’s Cranberry Tart,” she replies, gesturing to her two friends. Emerald gives a small smile before turning back to her injured husband. “They live back in Stargaze Swamp.”

“My, that’s quite a far away place from here,” Ivy Storm replies.

“Very far. It’s taken us about three days to get where we are.” Twilight laughs nervously. “We’re here specifically for my sake. You see, I’m trying to get back to my home in Equestria, and I need to pass through Crystal Reef. But Cranberry and Emerald refused to let me go alone, so they’re just guiding me out.”

Ivy Storm’s eyes slightly widen, but they stay calm and collected. “I’ve never heard of a pony from Equestria in these parts. I’ve rarely ever heard of a pony actually leaving Equestria, for that matter.” Twilight expected her to be confused, not curious. “If you wish to return back home, then why did you leave in the first place, may I ask?”

“Well, I was kind of...forced out…”

“I see.” Ivy Storm is quiet for a moment. The forest seems vast and open when she is in her nature form.

Then, her eyes glow violet. Twilight can’t pinpoint where she’s directing her magic until Twilight herself is enveloped in a violet glow. She’s not lifted off the ground as telekinesis. It isn’t until she feels a different energy coursing through her blood that she realizes that Ivy Storm is inspecting her magic. What kind of magic, how powerful it is, how…Oh, no!

Ivy Storm continues to explore Twilight’s magic. She only wants to know if it’s capable of healing Cranberry or strong enough to teleport. She guesses that the stars on her flank do present such power. She is only curious as to why she does not use her magic.

That is when she finds it. As Ivy Storm reaches Twilight’s head, she finds a second energy. It’s dark and certainly does not belong inside Twilight. The more Ivy inspects the dark magic, the more creeped out she begins to feel. Shivers run down her back. She feels unexpected fear and sorrow, on top of loneliness and rage. When she reaches the heart of the dark magic, it’s as if it kicks her out. Her eyes fade back to green, and she has to catch herself from falling to the ground.

Twilight is shocked. “Ivy Storm, I...I…”

Ivy shakes her head disapprovingly. “Twilight, I know it doesn’t belong there. But I can sense it’s great power, and it truly wants to corrupt you. I do not know why it’s there or how. I would accuse you of darkness, if it weren’t for the fact that you’re trying to keep it out.”

Twilight’s forelegs begin to shake with worry and fear. Now, excitement as well. “Do you think you might be able to rid of it? If that isn’t too much to ask.”

Ivy Storm looks away. “I cannot.” Twilight almost cries out in defeat. “To do so, I would have to do what I have just done, and then destroy it from within. The effects could be disastrous. I could either break down the already weak barrier you have created, or the dark magic could envelop me as well. What help would it be if I turned evil just now? What help would it be if you were entirely corrupted just now?”

“Then...then what do I do?”

Silence.

“No mortal pony can help you. I cannot even help you. The only creatures that may stand a chance are an alicorn or a draconequus. Perhaps Princess Celestia could help you.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Twilight mutters. She turns her head to the ground. A single tear spills out from her eye. “I just miss my home.”

Ivy Storm rests a branch hoof underneath Twilight’s chin and tilts it upwards so that the purple unicorn is facing her. This action reminds her of Celestia very much so. Every thought of home crushes her heart. “Twilight,” Ivy says, “you cannot give up now. You are so close. Do not let sorrow and fear take over. Especially do not let the dark magic take over. You are strong. I believe in you.”

Twilight slowly nods. Ivy Storm smiles warmly, then ambles over to Emerald and Cranberry. Emerald Haze turns to her with scared eyes. She did not pay any attention to the conversation of dark magic. She is too concerned of her husband. “Let me see the damage I have done. I can heal him.”

Emerald nods and backs away. Ivy Storm jumps a little at the sight. A large gash spreads across him. He continues to breath, but his eyes are squinted shut, as if trying to bear the pain. Ivy looks him over, and then her eyes spark violet. All the gashes in his right legs, right side, and right flank gleam the same purple glow. Cranberry Tart winces as Ivy Storm’s magic speeds up the healing process for him. What would take weeks to heal now only takes minutes. Once the minutes are up the violet aura has faded, the periwinkle stallion sits up and examines himself where the gashes used to be. He is shocked when his skin looks good as new; even his bundle of cranberries for a cutie mark is painted with no scars.

Cranberry turns to Ivy Storm. “Thank you.”

Ivy smiles warmly as a response.

“How did you do that?” Emerald Haze asks beside Ivy Storm. “I’ve seen magic flow from unicorn horns before, but not from eyes.”

“It is the power that all skowths carry.” Ivy’s eyes darken. “Unfortunately, there are very few of us left. We are often misinterpreted as evil and vicious. But we cannot blame that, for half the time it is true. Once the sun sets, we transform into a wicked beast. At sunrise, we are beauty once again.” She pauses in her words. “It has been many moons since I’ve seen ponies in these woods.”

“Ah can imagine why.” Cranberry snorts. “Don’t want ta stay here much longer. There’s still the trip back fer me and Emerald.”

Ivy Storm ponders for a moment. It has been a long time since she has casted a teleportation spell. Maybe she can finally help somepony instead of hurt. “Perhaps I could ease the journey for you.”

Twilight lifts an eyebrow. “How so?”

“I can teleport you.”

“Teleportation?” Twilight grins. “Oh, that’d be perfect! I’ve been wanting to do so myself, but you know why I can’t…”

Ivy Storm nods. “I cannot teleport you back to Equestria, for that is too far. But, I can teleport you to Kalbure, the country you’re headed to next, and the country that is beside Equestria. It’ll save you many days of travel.”

Twilight’s grin widens even more so. However, it starts to fade as she realizes that she will be going to an unknown place alone. She turns to Emerald Haze and Cranberry Tart. “Thank you for guiding me to this point. I don’t think I would’ve lasted through here without your help.”

“I’m glad we could help,” Emerald Haze says with a smile.

“Stay safe, Twilight Sparkle. You’ll reach yer home in no time,” Cranberry Tart says.

Twilight turns back to Ivy Storm. “Can you please teleport them too? They don’t deserve to half to walk all the way back home.”

“Certainly,” Ivy replies. She trots up to the couple. “Are you ready?”

They nod. With glowing violet eyes and a large white flash littered with violet sparkles, Twilight’s new friends are gone.

Ivy then turns to Twilight. “Just one second,” the lavender unicorn replies. She canters to her sword and sheath, then with her mouth, she carries them to the lake bank and washes as much blood out as possible. Only a few stains are left. Then she tightens the sheath strap around her. With her sword and saddles, she trots back to Ivy. “I’m ready now.”

A white flash, and she’s gone.

***

“Fluttershy, you have to rescue Rarity!” Rainbow Dash hollers.

“I know,” Fluttershy whispers too quietly for anypony to hear. She quickly swoops below the clouds, trying her best to ignore how high up she is. After all, her friend is in danger.

Tears stream out of Fluttershy’s eyes not only from the fear but the pressure of her speed. Rarity’s heavy balloons sink faster by the second. The sound of rushing ear is so deafening that it’s able to block out the white unicorn's screaming.

If it were Rainbow Dash, Rarity would’ve been saved by now, just like at the Best Flyer’s Competition. But the cyan pegasus is stuck in place and can’t fly down to help.

No matter how fast Fluttershy flies, she cannot match up to that speed. As the ground nears, she entirely doubts herself. But the fear of losing another friend forever is too strong to let her give up.

Come on, Fluttershy, if you don’t do this, Rarity will...will… she gulps. I can’t let that happen, I just can’t!

Every millisecond feels like a minute. They are now a mere 200 tail-lengths from plummeting into the ground. The wind zooms past her face, and it hurts, but even at such a speed, she’s not even close to Rainbow Dash’s when she performed her sonic rainboom.

Fluttershy’s heart drops when reality sinks it. I’m not going to make it. Her chest feels heavy. Rarity is going to die.

Rarity is too scared to open her eyes. Terror slows down her brain, making it seem as though she’s falling forever. But she knows she won’t. At some point she will hit the ground. There is no possible way she can survive thousands of tail-lengths, and she knows it.

Cold hard truth hits them. And it hurts.

All seems lost.

Fluttershy can’t look.

Rarity refuses to look.

10 tail-lengths from the ground, and Rarity almost faints.

Then a miracle happens. It’s as if a thousand weights are lifted off of her. She no longer feels wind rushing by and opens up her sparkling sapphire eyes. A grass plain is indeed below her, but she is no longer plummeting towards it. Instead, she’s being lowered softly to the ground. Rarity laughs with hysteria at the fact that she has just been saved, yet again.

Once her hooves are back on the ground, her first thought is too remove the balloons. She unties them and reties them onto a nearby tree trunk. A steady breeze ruffles her violet mane in the large valley as she does so.

Her second thought comes shortly after; who just saved my life? Was it Fluttershy?

“You should be more careful, Rarity.”

Rarity turns around. She spots Fluttershy, but the butter pegasus is shaking with her wings covering her face awhiles away. The voice that just spoke was indeed her rescuer.

“Princess Cadence!” Rarity throws her forelegs around the pink alicorn in a warm hug. She quickly lets go and dries tears from her eyes. “Thank you so much. You saved my life. How will I ever repay you?”

“Oh, Rarity, there’s no need for repayment.” Cadence’s curly mane bounces in the breeze.

It takes a few moments for Rarity’s adrenaline to fade away. Once it does, questions begin to pop into her head. “May I ask what you are doing here, Princess? I highly doubt you have some kind of cadence sense that tells you when ponies are in need of rescue.”

Cadence giggles. “One of my crystal guards informed me that Princess Luna wants to speak with me right away. However, there were no trains leaving today. Since he insisted it was urgent, I decided to fly here instead.”

“By yourself?”

She nods. “I need a break from crystals.” Then she slightly lifts an eyebrow. “May I ask what you are doing here?”

With all this excitement, Rarity almost forgot. Her heart begins to sink at the realization that she must be the one to inform her of the awful news. “You are not going to like what I have to say.”

***

Rainbow Dash shakes with anticipation. She can no longer hear Rarity’s screams. Did Fluttershy save her? Or the opposite? Terrifying images of her best friend lying on the floor dead haunt her mind. Sweat gathers on her forehead. “Let me go!” she continues to shout. The changeling continues to ignore her.

Applejack struggles against the hardened goo sticking her to the clouds. She even tries to buck, but every attempt is shown as pointless. “Are ya just gonna sit there? Let us go!” The farm pony shouts at the changeling, who ignores her.

Suspense, anticipation, sorrow, fear; all these things build up inside the two ponies until they can’t take it anymore.

Rainbow Dash is just about to scream when a pink blur whizzes past her face. The goo stuck to Applejack and Rainbows’ hooves glow sky blue and then dissapear. They smile, then turn to Fluttershy, Rarity, and Princess Cadence.

“Princess? What are y’all doin’ here?”

“No time to explain,” she replies, glaring at the changeling. “I thought I saw the last of you at my wedding?”

“That’s what you thought, foal. But don’t worry, because I’m not here for you,” she growls. Then the changeling breaks into a run and charges at an Element of Harmony by random, happening to be Fluttershy who cowers in fear. Before she can reach the pegasus, though, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Princess Cadence stand in front of her. The changeling widens her eyes, then grits her teeth. “Move!”

“What are you doing here?” Princess Cadence moves closer to the enemy. “Either you tell me by will, or by force.”

“Right, Princess.” The changeling’s horn glows green. Cadence’s horn glows sky blue, ready for a spell, but she is surprised when the changeling teleports away when she had expected her to fight. Not only that, but when she does teleport away, a very familiar pink pony is left in her place. Her mane is poofed up, and the spell allowing her to walk on clouds is still intact like Applejack.

"Hey gals! I missed you!"
Rainbow Dash slows walks up to her with an expressionless face. "What is the first prank we pulled on Applejack?"

"Oh, that's a piece of cake. We painted all her apples silly colors."

Everything is silent. Tears slowly flow out of Rainbow Dash's eyes, and then she pulls her into a giant bear hug. "I missed ya, Pinks."
Pinkie Pie hugs back.

The silence is broken when their four remaining friends shout, "Pinkie Pie!" and run up and join in the group hug. Tears are brought to their eyes.

"Ah thought we lost ya, Pinkie," Applejack whispers.

"Me...too..." Pinkie Pie rasps between chocked breaths.

They all let go of the giant group hug so that their friend can breath again, then wipe the tears from their eyes.

For the first time since she reappeared, Pinkie Pie notices Princess Cadence and waves. “What’d I miss?”

“I’m not actually sure," Cadence replies. "I got here a few minutes ago.”

Applejack clears her throat. “Did Rares tell ya?”

“About Twilight?” Cadence's narrowed eyes soften. “Yes. Yes she did.”

“Perfect!” Rainbow Dash exclaims, jumping into the air. “Now just teleport her back so we can get the elements of harmony, defeat Discord, and bring back Princess Celestia so that Nightmare Moon turns back into Princess Luna and everything will be happy again.”

“It’s not that–wait, did you say Nightmare Moon?”

Rainbow Dash floats back to the ground. “Well, yeah. Didn’t Rarity tell you that?”

Rarity blushes.

“Discord made Princess Luna think that Twilight Sparkle killed her mentor, so she banished her to the other side of the planet. Discord later let it slip that Princess Celestia really isn’t dead, but to rescue her and defeat that tyrant, you need the elements of harmony, which you can’t use until Twilight gets back. Pinkie Pie was kidnapped by the changelings, and you four–now five–need my help to bring back Twilight.”

Rainbow shrugs. “Yeah, that just about summarizes it.”

Applejack steps up. “Ah guess Rarity forgot ta tell ya that Princess Luna turned into Nightmare Moon from sorrow instead of jealousy. Although, when we last saw her, she was...different. She tortured Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, and then she just…let us go. It was like she didn’t even care anymore.”

“Hm.” Cadence rests her hoof on her chin. “That’s odd. The whole reason why I’m here is because I was informed that Princess Luna wants to see me right away. Why would a loyal member of my royal guard lie?”

“Oh, I can give a pretty good guess.” Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. “Did they have yellow eyes with red pupils?”

“Yes.”

“Was he acting odd?”

“Yes.”

“Figures.” Rainbow Dash sighs. “That was Discord who told you that.”

“But why would Discord want Princess Cadence to see Nightmare Moon?” Rarity asks curiously. “Unless…”

“Unless it was a trap,” Fluttershy finishes off. Then she shrinks. “Did I interrupt you? I’m sorry…”

“No need for apologizes. You’re probably right. Discord’s plans are so vague; it’s nearly impossible to know what he wants.”

“He wants Equestria,” Rainbow answers.

“Yes, but I’m talking about his plans. He framed Twilight Sparkle, kidnapped Princess Celestia, sent that icky changeling to kill us, and now he’s luring Princess Cadence to Canterlot. What could possibly become of that?”

“I told you, he would take over Equestria.” Rainbow Dash grunts.

A hush falls over the crowd.

“So, Princess,” Applejack begins, “can ya bring back Twilight or what?”

Princess Cadence’s ears droop; her gaze turns to the floor. They all know that this is a bad sign. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you, at least not in that way. I was born as a pegasus; I know next to nothing about magic except for love spells and the spell I casted on Rarity so that she could walk on clouds. The royal sisters are the only ponies who have the capability of teleporting for such a distance. I can’t even teleport a tail-length.”

Fluttershy ponders for a moment. “Perhaps you can learn.”

“Learn teleportation?” Cadence holds back a laugh. “Rarity has better chances of that than I.”

Everypony turns to Rarity. Her cheeks begin to roast. “Don’t look at me! I’m not the one with stars on my flank.”

They all turn back to Princess Cadence. Applejack is the one to speak this time. “Come on, Princess. Yer an alicorn, which means you are one of the three most powerful ponies in all of Equestria. You can do this.”

Cadence shakes her head. “I can’t possibly perform such high levels.”

“But it’s for your sister,” Rainbow pleads. “And for the entire world. We have to stop Discord before his plans succeed.”

“Come, on, Cadence.”

“Yeah, we need you.”

“Please?”

“For Twilight!”

“ALRIGHT!” Princess Cadence clears her throat and softens her tone. “But first, I will need a spellbook. Now where did I put my saddlebags of bits…”

Author's Note

It took me awhile to come up with the skwoth. I wanted to introduce a creature of my own.
Also, I'm sorry if the scenes feel like they're going to fast. I have two months to complete this story for a contest.

Chapter 1: Princess Celestia's 1031st Birthday

Twilight opens her wooden door and breaths in the crisp the morning air. Morning sunlight baths the land in a yellow glow. The sky is dotted with fluffy gray clouds, foretelling a light drizzle.

The purple unicorn takes a step outside. At that very second, she hears Spike running down the stairs and turns her head inside the house.

“Wait! I have a message from Princess Celestia!” The lavender dragon gives Twilight the scroll he is carrying. Her rose-colored magic envelopes it, eventually opening the letter. There is only a short paragraph written in black ink.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student, today I invite you to my one-thousand and thirty-first birthday. It is being held in my old castle in Manehattan tomorrow afternoon. I encourage you to bring your best friends. Sincerely, Princess Celestia,” Twilight reads. She steps back inside the living room and closes the door with her magic behind her. Spike takes the letter from Twilight and runs to a small closet next to one of the bookshelves. He opens the door and pulls out a plastic bin full of all the scrolls the princess has sent and places the new one inside, then shoves it back in the closet and shuts the door, dusting his claws.

“One-thousand and thirty-one years old? Isn’t that like… really old?”

“Well, alicorns are immortal,” she replies, rushing to the kitchen and grabbing a box of cereal from a cupboard. Spike helps by pulling out a bowl, a spoon, some milk, and mixing it all together. “Thank you, Spike.”

“What are you rushing for?” He glances worriedly at how fast Twilight is scooping spoonfuls of Breakfast into her mouth.

“Manehattan is an eight hour train ride, and it takes time to gather all my friends for packing and such.” She hops out of her chair and rushes upstairs. As Spike is cleaning up the mess, he hears a loud crash from upstairs. “Oh, where's my suitcase?”

“The green one or the pink striped?”

“Striped. I can’t find it anywhere!” Twilight comes running down the stairs. Spike stands in her path and blocks her. “What are you doing?”

“You need to calm down.”

“Where’s my bag?” She shouts, grabbing Spike’s shoulders and shaking them. He points a shaking claw to the guest bedroom. Thirty seconds later, Celestia’s star pupil has dragged the largest suitcase in Equestria to her bedroom and started teleporting things inside. “Toothbrush, hairbrush, paper, quill…”

“Done!” She places the stuffed suitcase by the door. All she says to Spike is, “I’ll be back in a bit,” before galloping out of Golden Oak Library to bring over her friends.

***

“I can’t believe we’re going to Celestia’s birthday party!” Rarity exclaims excitedly. The six ponies are sitting on the seats of a train headed for Manehattan. The busy city is zooming into view each second they wait.

“I can’t believe how old she is,” Rainbow Dash comments.

“I wonder how old Princess Luna is,” Fluttershy replies.

“Ah assume ‘bout 20 years younger,” says Applejack. Twilight ponders on the question for a moment, knowing that she does actually know how many years the younger princess is.

“If I remember correctly, Luna is 6 years younger than Celestia.”

“Well I can’t believe that I’m not the one planning the party. I heard they hired somepony named Cheese Sandwich. Can you believe that?”

Fluttershy giggles. “Not in the least, Pinkie.”

Twilight keeps thinking about the last time her friends and herself traveled. King Sombra had attempted at reclaiming the Crystal Empire, which she hadn’t even known about until then.

This wasn’t very long ago; a week to be exact. What if something like that happens again?

Suddenly, the train stops and the whistle sounds. The six friends all cluster together and trot out of the train car.

Manehattan seems bigger than Canterlot. It is early summer, so there is no snow. However, there has been a late morning drizzle, making the concrete beneath their hooves cold and slightly wet. A pair of unicorns bumps into Twilight accidentally, apologizing curtly and continuing to walk.

She already misses Ponyville. The sky is gray and the sun is setting. The street lamps are already on, and it is beginning to drizzle. Skyscrapers and taxis are everywhere, and all the shops have blinds or are tinted so she can’t see inside. It makes her feel locked out and uninvited in the big city she has never been to. All the classy ponies have stern faces with no sign of a friendly welcome.

But when she turns around to her five friends, a rush of relief and happiness flood over her. Even at the worst times, her friends will be there to make them not so bad.

Twilight reaches into her suitcase and pulls out a pamphlet with her magic. Then she reads the address on the back. “Our hotel is on Cake St. According to the map,” she unfolds the pamphlet to look at the map, “we can get there by heading down the street on our left and many turns after that.”

Rarity collects everypony’s suitcases with her magic and places them on an empty wagon-like cart out of nowhere. It is large with wheels, perfect for carrying around all their luggage. “Come on, Darlings. We must hurry if we want to get there by sunfall.”

“Too late,” Rainbow points out. The last orange glow of Celestia’s sun has disappeared beyond the horizon. With all the street lamps and lights from buildings, it is much too bright to see the stars.

The light drizzle turns into pouring rain. Even though the luggage cart has a roof to protect the suitcases, the ponies don’t have anything to cover them from the rain. Even with thick fur and walking under the occasional roof of a shop on the sidewalk, the ponies are soaking wet in the first minute.

Twilight’s wet bangs hang over her eyes, causing her to trip on a curb.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asks. Twilight springs up, off the ground and shakes her wet fur and mane. With everything fuzzed up, she looks like Opal with a mane dryer.

“No, I am not okay. I just want to find our hotel as–”

“Hey look, we’re here!” Pinkie interrupts. They all stare up at the small building and sigh with relief. A small bell clings above the door when the ponies walk inside with their cart. The lobby is fairly big with a coffee table in one corner surrounded by a few couches and chairs next to a fireplace. Then they turn their attention to an orange stallion with a slicked back dark purple mane as he walked to the counter.

“How may I help you?” He asks with what Applejack calls a ‘fancy accent’.

“Yes, we booked a large hotel room under the name Twilight Sparkle?” The unicorn replies with a fake smile. The stallion picks up a clipboard with his teeth and looks through the names.

“I’m sorry, but I see no Twilight on ze list.”

“What? I specifically booked it this morning and checked twice to make sure you had my name down! This is outrageous!” Twilight snaps at the earth pony. She looks like she is about to blast the hotel out of the ground like she did at the library one time. But, luckily, the door bell chimes again, and everypony turns their heads to see none other than the almost-birthday mare with an umbrella.

“Princess Celestia,” they all exclaim simultaneously. The regal alicorn tilts her head and smiles.

“Twilight, I’m so glad you and your friends are here. How is Manehatten so far?”

“Well, it would be great if we had a place to sleep,” Twilight replies, rubbing the back of her neck. “It turns out our room wasn’t booked.”

“Oh?” Celestia stares at the stallion who is gazing in awe at the princess. “Well, I’m sure this problem can be resolved, ladies. Does my old castle sound nice?”

“But we couldn’t possibly ask–”

“It is no trouble at all, Twilight. I am more than happy to help you,” she replies, carrying their luggage out of the cart with her gold magic. Then, a mix of fire-colored swirls pours out of Celestia’s horn and wraps around the seven mares. When the beautiful mist fades, they are inside a large room. To their left is an island counter and a kitchen made from marble. On their right is a mini living room with a long couch, three chairs, a glass coffee table, and a large window that outlooks the ocean.

In front of them are 6 doors. Twilight and her friends all open the doors and each find a queen bed, bedside table, dresser, porch, and two more doors inside. In one door is a closet, and in the other is a bathroom. There is so much stuff, and everything is fancy; not to mention what a coincidence it is that there are exactly six rooms for six ponies.

Princess Celestia sets our bags down by the front door. “My room is at the end of the hallway if you need me,” she says before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Twilight and her friends all gather in the living room. Pinkie Pie bounces on a chair, Rainbow Dash leaps onto another, and Applejack jumps into one like it’s a marshmallow. She spits out fuzz and laughs. Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy all take a spot on the couch.

“It was so nice of her to give us this room,” Fluttershy whispers.

“This place is awesome!”

“And huge,” Pinkie Pie adds on to Rainbow’s comment.

Rarity uses her magic to levitate all their bags into the room. “So who is sleeping where?”

“I could take the last room on the left,” Twilight suggests. “Applejack could be in the room next to mine, and then Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and you could have the last room on the right.”

Applejack shrugs. “Sounds good.”

“Wait, but what about dinner?” Pinkie asks eagerly as they all hop down from their sits and either carry, push, or levitate their bags into their rooms.

“We should settle in first.”

“Agreed,” the other four mares agree with Twilight. Pinkie sighs and noses her bag into third room on the left.

Twilight drops the candy-cane-like suitcase on her bed with a huff, unzipping it with her magic. She opens all the drawers in the dresser at once and quickly sorts her items inside. Then she set her suitcase under her bed and flopped onto her bed, resting her eyes.

The tired pony falls asleep in a second. When it’s time for dinner, her friends decide not to wake her and that they will bring her back something.

***

Twilight slowly opens her eyes. Sunlight shines between the window’s curtains onto her bed. She is laying on her side, facing the wall covered in silky blankets. Once her eyes adjust to the brightness of the room, she flings her back legs over the edge of the bed and rubs her sore eyes.

Her sense of smell kicks back in, and she turns her head to a plate of carrot cake, an apple, and a glass of milk. The purple unicorn realizes that she never went to dinner last night and that the bedside table must be holding takeout food.

Twilight’s stomach growls. She tiredly picks up the plate and milk in her magic. The slice of carrot cake is medium size and takes five bites to finish. Then she takes a gulp of milk, eats half the sweet, juicy apple, finishes off the milk, and sets the empty glass and somewhat empty plate back on the bedside table.

The carpet is soft underneath Twilight’s hooves as she makes her way over to the door. Afraid of waking her friends, Twilight slowly cracks the door open and glances at the living room. Pinkie Pie and Rarity are chatting on the couch while Applejack and Rainbow Dash are raiding the apparently full fridge.

“Goodness, you’re awake at last!” Rarity exclaims when Twilight shuffles out of her room. “You slept through dinner. We didn’t want you to miss out on Breakfast too, so we’ve been waiting for you to get up. It’s been a few hours, though.”

“It was a long day yesterday,” she replies, entering the kitchen. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

“She’s sitting on the porch on her room. Says she likes to watch sunrises when she can, especially when its image is mirrored on the ocean.”

“Doesh thas mean weesh can get breakfast?” Rainbow asks through a mouthful of oats. Rarity nods and trots into her room.

“Just give me one moment,” Rarity calls from her room. Twilight levitates a glass under a sink and drinks the warm, yet refreshing, water. Pinkie Pie cartwheels over to the fridge and helps Rainbow Dash and Applejack stuff everything back inside the fridge.

Since they are all about to go out for food, Twilight Sparkle trots into Fluttershy’s room. Inside, she has placed a picture of Angel and her smiling on the dresser. She made her bed, and a silky night gown was folded neatly on top. Sleeping on her pillow is a stuffed animal bunny.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight opens the sliding glass door with her magic and searching the balcony. There are two empty chairs and a table that has a floppy green hat on top. She is about to panic when she hears a faint giggle that sounds like Fluttershy.

Where is she? Twilight thinks, trotting to the railing and peering down. Sure enough, the yellow pony has flown down to the ground. Even from twenty ponies above the ground, Twilight can see the pegasus gleefully riding a dolphin. Even though it seems like something Rainbow Dash would do, Fluttershy is a curious pony and loves animals. It isn’t too much of a surprise.

Rose-colored light flows out of Twilight’s horn and wraps around her. By the time the light has dissolved, she is down on the shore, watching her friend.

“Fluttershy!” she hollers over the sound of crashing waves. Startled, Fluttershy falls off the dolphin and splashes into the water. When the familiar face doesn’t pop above the surface, Twilight leaps into the cold, salty blue and dives down.

Underwater, Twilight can see clearly. Rainbow coral and soft, white sand covers the sea floor. Many varieties of fish sway in the water, darting about when the unicorn comes too close.

Twilight breaches the water, sucks in a big breath of air, and dives back under. The dolphins swim away. Sunlight seeps into the water and Twilight just catches sight of Fluttershy trapped in a large, sinking bubble. Fear for her friend and confusion grip Twilight’s heart as she dives toward her friend.

No matter how many times Fluttershy bangs on the bubble, it won’t pop. Twilight swims over and starts banging on it, too. Soon she feels sick and has to get another gulp of air. When she swims back to the pegasus, she has fainted from loss of air.

Twilight screams. Her eyes flash white and magenta light pours out of her horn. The light surrounds the bubble and squeezes it until it bursts. Twilight’s eyes fade back to purple and she feels faint, but when she spots Fluttershy, she dives into action, using her magic to drag her and herself back to shore.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight chokes, shaking her friend weakly. The yellow pegasus blinks once, then twice, then her eyes fully open and she coughs out buckets of water. “Oh my Celestia!” She pulls her friend into a tight hug and squeezes her.

“Twilight? What happened?”

“I-I don’t know. You fell off your dolphin, and when I found you, you were trapped inside a large bubble. I was scared for you, Fluttershy... I think my element of Magic responded to my fear and saved you. Oh, I was so worried!” She explains breathlessly, pulling her friend into another reassuring hug.

“A bubble? I’m starting to remember now, but... how could I be trapped in a giant bubble?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense,” Twilight coughs and slowly picks herself off the ground, lending Fluttershy a hoof. For a second, she swears she can hear familiar evil laughter. I must be going crazy, she thinks.

***

Twilight grabs a tray with her magic. The castle cafeteria is oddly quiet and not too busy. By the time she’s out of the food line, an apple, bowl of vegetable soup, a small slice of chocolate cake, and a full glass of milk are on her tray.

“So what’s our agenda today?” Rainbow Dash asks Twilight as soon as she sits down at the table with her five friends. She thinks while spooning some soup into her mouth.

“Princess Celestia’s birthday party is at 11:00,” Twilight replies through a mouthful of soup. She swallows, looking at the clock. “That’s one hour from now.”

Pinkie Pie gasps so loud that all the tables around us stare. “Only one hour? That’s not enough time for me to set up my party cannon!”

“Pinkie, yer not plannin’ the party.” Applejack takes a bite of apple pie. “Ah’m just surprised that Rarity ain’t wearin’ some fancy shmancy outfit.”

“Oh, don’t say that yet, my dear Applejack. I have a lovely dress waiting in my room. In fact, I made dresses for all of you to wear.”

“Rarity, you didn’t have to do that,” Fluttershy whispers.

“But I had to! The idea of a royal birthday party inspired me.” Rarity pauses, taking a polite bite of oats, then wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Fluttershy’s is elegant, Rainbow Dash’s is bold, Applejack’s is country, Pinkie Pie’s is fun, Twilight’s is simple, and mine is gorgeous.”

“If we want to get there on time, I suggest we leave now,” Twilight says, pushing in her chair and carrying her tray to the trash bin. Her friends nod and do the same.

By the time the ponies arrive in their rooms, it is 10:47. Rarity gallops to her dresses and quickly slips them onto her friends.

Each dress is outlined with shimmering gold fabric and uses purple for the base color. Fluttershy’s flows off her tail and poofs out like a collar around her neck. Rainbow Dash’s has layers of jagged fabric, looking like an extreme and purple version of her cutie mark. Applejack’s is made of dyed purple leather. It ends with fringe on the bottom and looks almost like a long saddle. Pinkie Pie’s is bouncy and is striped purple horizontally. Twilight’s is only one shade of purple and acts like smooth waves. Lastly is Rarity’s outfit, which presents so many shades of purple that feel like silk.

“My, these are lovely,” Fluttershy admires her dress and smiles.

“Thank you darling, but I’m afraid there’s no time for thank yous. The party is in ten minutes, we must leave now.”

“Wait, I’ve been working on my teleportation. If I can just...” Twilight trails off as her horn glows immensely and beads of sweat run down her forehead.

“No, that’s quite alright, darling, we can manage. That’s a lot of magic for even you to cast,” Rarity comments nervously. The first time Twilight tried to teleport Spike and herself, they were burnt and singed. It would ruin the dresses she had worked so hard on.

“Come on, everypony. Follow me!” Pinkie Pie shouts, bouncing out the front door with her friends following.

Chapter 6: This Can't Possibly Get Any Worse

Twilight wakes up to a fresh sunrise. Golden light seeps into the room. She blinks all the sleep from her eyes and sits up, stretching her forelegs behind her back with a yawn.

The campfire from last night is burnt down to ash and a few remaining twigs. Midnight Blaze is sound asleep. Shooting Star is snoring. Twilight Sparkle smiles to herself. This is her second day of waking up someplace other than Equestria. Each day, the thought became less and less foreign.

Twilight's saddlebags glow pink. They hover above the ground and tilt so that their owner can peer inside. An apple and a 3/4 full water bottle float out, then the bags are placed back on the ground. The apple levitates to Twilight's lips. She takes a large bite, then takes a small sip of water. She does the same routine as she flops her forelegs over the edge of the large, sandy hole, so she can watch the sunrise.

A small rustling sound comes from the deep hole in the ground, known as their camping room, or shelter. Twilight turns her head around. Midnight Blaze has woken up and is already tip-hoofing past Shooting Star up to Twilight with an almost empty bag of oats in her magic.

Midnight flops her own forelegs over the edge next to Twilight and smiles.

"How's your leg?"

"My leg?"

"The rat bite," Twilight replies. Midnight levitates a sprinkle of oats onto her tongue of which she swallows, then shrugs.

"I'm okay."

They don't talk again until the sun has fully risen over the sand horizon. The apple and oats are gone. Twilight's water bottle is now only half full. "How long until we get out of this desert? It's too barren for my liking."

"Not long, actually. If we keep heading northeast, we're eventually going to run into snow."

"Snow?"

"The Frozen North, to be precise." Midnight Blaze hops down quietly from the ledge onto her four hooves. Twilight does the same. "It is the land just above Equestria. But that is still a long ways away."

Twilight mumbles something about the cold. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Gosh, Twilight." She laughs like Twilight just asked a foal's question. "You're not going to get to Ponyville for awhile. I mean, we're still in Trica."

"Will you two shut up already?" Shooting Star asks with her voice muffled by a blanket. "I'm trying to sleep."

Midnight turns to her sleepy friend. "We should actually get going now." Midnight trots over to her saddlebags and slips them on. She folds and levitates her blanket one. Once Twilight and her are both ready, the yellow unicorn nudges Shooting's shoulder. "Wake up."

"Mphm..."

"What?" Shooting Star grumbles again. Midnight Blaze rolls her eyes and trots to the end of her blanket. Then, with a quick tug, it's pulled off her body. Star's eyes open. She sits up and glares.

"Give me back my blanket."

"No."

"Give," she demands, reaching for the soft fabric.

"Come on, pack your things, it's time to go."

Shooting Star huffs, then starts packing all her stuff. Only then does Midnight return her blanket, which Star packs while mumbling about sleep.

The three ponies leap out of the hole and onto the sand. Midnight Blaze pulls a compass from her bag to navigate. Grains of the gravel fly from their hooves with each step they take.

Twilight doesn't realize she's sweating until warm water drips onto he muzzle. She lifts a hoof to her forehead. It's soaking wet. She uses her magic to levitate her bottle of water out of her bag and into her mouth. It's only half full, and she knows she should be savoring it, but she's too thirsty and drinks it all in a short span of time.

They keep walking for about an hour. Midnight Blaze tells everypony to take a break. The obey without hesitation and flop into the ground. Each of their faces are slick with sweat from the heat of the sun and the constant walking. Twilight reaches into her bag for her water bottle, but finds it empty. She turns to her friends.

"Do either of you have any water I can drink?" Star and Midnight reach into their own bags and both pull out an empty bottle of water. Twilight would gulp right there if she had any saliva left.

"What about the juice in your apples, Twilight?"

The lavender pony's face brightens. As she is turning to her saddlebag once more, she spots the rat bites on her friends' legs from the corner of her vision. Even though it had been blood red before, it's now lime green and glowing. "Ugh... Girls? Your bites aren't looking so good." Her friends stretch out their back legs. Shooting Star and Midnight Blaze bite their lower lips.

"Is that...puss?"

"Puss doesn't glow like this, Midnight," Star replies. Twilight looks at them uneasily. Bites aren't supposed to glow—especially not green.

All her worries become worse when the sections of veins around the bites start glowing as well. Midnight panics as the green glow around the bite spreads through her veins, slowly creeping closer and closer to her knees right above the bite. "Twilight, what's happening to us?" Midnight's voice shakes and is raspy.

"Calm down. Panicking will only make it worse."

"This can't possibly get any worse!" Midnight shrieks. Deep inside, Shooting is scared too, but she refuses to admit it.

Shooting Star glances from her bite to Midnight's, then her friend's panic-stricken face. "I'm no doctor, but I thinks that we needs ta gets to a hospital."

After a minute of panicking, the green glow has spread through their whole hind legs. Shooting jumps from the ground and starts shaking her leg rapidly as if to shake the color off. "There must be a hospital around here somewhere?"

"I don't know of one around here, but maybe if we run that way...?" Twilight looks around with eyes full of worry. By the time she turns back around, her friends' tails, back legs, and flanks are all wrapped in a green glow.

Midnight starts hyperventilating. Twilight tries to calm them down as the green spreads up their bodies, but it's all too much. Soon enough, the green is everywhere but the tip of their muzzles.

The second they're entirely green, Shooting and Midnight vanish.

***

Applejack bends one more large leaf to reveal a clearing with a variety of rainbow waterfalls. On one side of the clearing, the forest continues up the mountain where Canterlot lays. On the other is a cliff and a path that leads to Unicorn Range down below. The sun is setting, bathing Equestria in a soft, orange glow and casting bright yellow rays across the sky.

"Who-wee! Would ya look at that view?" Applejack comments as all the ponies trot down into the rainbow waterfall-filled clearing. Pinkie Pie stops at a pool of rainbow water and watches her shimmering, rainbow reflection while making silly faces. She giggles, then joins the others once more in a cheerful bounce.

"It is quite lovely, if I do say so myself. Great inspiration for my next fashion line," cheers Rarity.

The five friends allow themselves a rest at the edge of the clearing, overlooking Unicorn Range's tall mountains and the green valleys. All except for Fluttershy who stays a good six tail-lengths away, curled up beside a rainbow pool.

Rarity reaches into her saddlebags. The only items they hold are the map, five sandwiches, and five water bottles that are almost empty due to their long-distance hiking. She levitates the sandwiches out onto each of her friends' laps. Applejack is sitting with her back legs dangling over the edge as well as Rainbow Dash, but Rarity and Pinkie Pie are laying down on their legs and belly like the would on a bench. Fluttershy, who is quietly nibbling on her sandwich while watching the ripples of the rainbow falls pouring into the rainbow pools, is sitting on her back legs and forelegs, though her forelegs are tucked under her chest. It's the same position she was in when she set her first hoof steps on the solid ground after being saved by some butterflies.

Rainbow Dash has trouble eating her PB&J sandwich with on,y one foreleg, so she instead gets in a different position where it's set down on the ground.

All is peaceful. If Twilight hadn't disappeared, then the five friends would have much more enjoyed the setting sun. But with all that has happened these past two days, too much is on hey heir minds to really enjoy the peace. It actually feels discomforting.

It doesn't take long for them all to finish their small dinners.

"Ready ta get headin' fer the mountain?" Applejack asks. Everypony looks back at Canterlot, the large city plenty of distance above their heads. Then they turns to the zig-zagged path on the edge of the mountain that leads to the city.

Pinkie Pie sighs. She's all up for parties and fun, but this whole trip has been about worry and despair. No parties here. "What do you think Twilight is doing right now?" she asks.

Rarity giggles a bit. She turns to Pinkie's silhouetted face against the orange sky. "Maybe she's wondering what we're doing right now."

"Ah sure hope she's not fightin' with any timberwolves or dragons."

"I don't know, Applejack," whispers Fluttershy, who is getting closer to the cliff side. "We don't know what's outside of Equestria."

"More ponies?" Rainbow asks.

"Maybe, but I bet there's also many different creatures that we've never heard of."

A hush falls over the ponies.

The last golden light of the sun shines at the friends. They wonder how Nightmare Moon is handling the situation. How she is still rising and lowering the moon and sun, even though still in shock.

At least she's not here to bath Equestria in eternal night.

Applejack sighs. "Wherever Twilight is, Ah just hope that she's okay."

Chapter 15: Crystal Reef

“Well, here we are,” Cranberry murmers. Fear briefly shimmers across his icy eyes. He r“Crystal Reef is this entire lake. We’re certainly travelin’ through the water, not the forest. But it will take ‘bout an hour or so, and Ah don’t know ‘bout you two, but I want ta get out of here as soon as possible.”

Unlike Cranberry Tart, the fear is easily seen in Emerald Haze. She shivers and digs her teeth into her lower lip until they bleed. Guilt rains upon the lavender unicorn. She doesn’t want to cause anypony any trouble.

“Thank you,” Twilight whispers, standing up on the small wooden boat. A corner of her mouth lifts slightly. “For taking me all the way to Crystal Reef.”

“Oh, Dear, you are oh so sweet,” Emerald says. It’s clear that she is trying her best to hide her fear. “It really hasn’t been much of a trouble.”

Cranberry gulps as he begins to paddle with Emerald into the lake. Shivers run down all their backs, yet there is not a breeze in the air.

“You’ve been paddling for quite some time now,” Twilight breaks the silence. “Do you need any help?”

No pony answers. At first, Twilight doesn’t understand why. But she hears a paddle clank on the bottom of the boat. She turns her gaze to Cranberry, who sits behind her. His eyes are wide. Oh, no, please, don’t be what I think it is! I just dealt with a cragodile, not this too! she complains. Her head slowly turns to the lake, past Emerald Haze, who is too focused on her paddling to see what is lying ahead.

It is so vivid, it’s a wonder how the green pony hasn’t seen them yet.

“Emerald Haze, stop paddlin’ and look ahead of ya!” Cranberry shouts with a quivery voice. Another clank of a paddle slightly echoes as all three ponies stare wide-eyed at five Hippocampi creeping toward them from the far end of the river. Twilight musters all her knowledge about them: half earth pony half fish, strange powers. Even this information doesn’t help. What is she supposed to do? Other than those two facts, the only other thing she knows is not to underestimate them.

But what the heck do they do?

“Everypony, put these on!”

She doesn’t have any time to react as a giant life-jacket is thrusted at her. In a few seconds, she slips the neon orange fabric is over her head. It hugs tightly to her chest.

The hippocampi are still a ways away. Their pace is slow and steady, allowing them quite some time, of which Twilight takes to briefly hyperventilate. “What do we do? Are they going to kill us?”

“No, they ain’t.”

“Are we going to run and hide? That sounds like a good idea.”

“No, we ain’t gonna hide.”

Twilight glares at Cranberry. “So are we just going to wait?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see why.” Cranberry lifts a foreleg above his eyes to shield the morning light from his cerulean blue eyes. “Yup. Those are water hippocampi fer sure.”

“How can you tell from this far away?” Emerald asks.

Cranberry points a hoof toward their direction. “Their manes are flowy and deep blue with aqua highlights. Their eyes are sparklin’ sapphire, and their skin is cyan. Not much else ta say ‘bout that.”

Twilight finds it absurd that they are just sitting there while five hippocampi approach them ever so slowly. But, seeing that there isn't much else to do, she tries her best to calm her nerves. “A water hippocampus?”

“Yup. Fire, earth, and air hippocampi don't live in these kinds of water. Only the water ones, which are prob'ly the least ta worry 'bout.”

“Probably?” Twilight's teeth chatter. Not because she's cold (since she’s wearing a thick life jacket on top of her winter coat) but because she's frightened. The creatures are unknown to her, and that makes them much more intimidating.

The moment comes where the five water ponies reach the small boat. Twilight clings onto her life jacket as they spread out and circle around the boat. They’re going to kill us, she thinks miserably. Oh, why do I put so much trust in ponies?

One of the hippocampi lightly tap the bottom of the boat with their fish tail. Then the one across from him does the same, and soon their all repeatedly tapping the bottom of the boat. At first, the three ponies aren’t sure why.

But then the tapping turns into whacking, then smashing. There isn’t a solid second where the hippocampi are thrusting their tails against the bottom of the boat. The impact sends the three ponies a few inches off the boat each time. Twilight desperately tries to cling to her seat, but the effort is pointless as the boat begins to snap and break. Water leaks in from the bottom, and soon enough, the water has reached the seats.

“Shoot,” Cranberry mutters. “‘Didn’t know they’d break our boat!”

This water isn’t too much colder than the swamp water she was in to retrieve the paddle, but it’s enough to feel icy for a minute or two. Twilight sits there helplessly as the boat falls apart. She stares with fearful eyes at Cranberry, who instead stares back with confidence.

The pounding stops as the boat breaks entirely. Cranberry, Emerald, and Twilight bob on the surface, due to their life jackets. However, Twilight’s sword and her saddlebags threaten to drag her under, despite it, so she swims to one of the broken wood planks and places them on there.

Only when a hippocampi charges at her, does she remember what is going on. The creature’s move is so sudden that she doesn’t have any time to react. She sits still, waiting for the impact.

But it never comes. Seconds pass, but she feels no disturbance. Her left eye cracks open. Then her right. She blinks.

So this is why Cranberry instructed not to run, Twilight thinks.

Her life jacket is glowing a faint ruby as it emits a circular forcefield around Twilight. The water hippocampus thwacks against the side with his tail. But it stops at the forcefield instead, causing the field to shimmer a ruby red in protest.

Twilight’s nerves calm, but not entirely. Meanwhile, two other hippocampi pound against the transparent ruby forcefields protecting Emerald and Cranberry.

One of the hippocampi pounding on Twilight’s forcefield neighs. The others stop attacking immediately and turn toward him. They neigh some more in a way that Twilight just doesn’t understand, and then, surprisingly, they stop. It’s not over yet, it just can’t be, the lavender unicorn thinks as the five hippocampi back a few tail-lengths away. In fact, this scares Twilight even more, for she has no idea what they are plotting to do next.

One of the hippocampi’s eyes begin to glow a cyan blue, as if they’re unicorn horns. The other fours’ eyes glow as well, and their intimidating stares make Twilight gulp with shock and fear. At the moment, she feels like a helpless earth pony, even with her sword beside her. She can’t use it, anyway. Too much good is still inside of her.

Twilight’s thoughts are disturbed by the feeling of being lifted upward. She blinks a few times and realizes that the water beneath her is rising upward like a backwards waterfall. She’d jump down if she wasn’t already 15 tail-lengths from the surface. She glances around, spotting Emerald Haze and Cranberry Tart stuck in the same situation.

“What do we do know?” Twilight asks.

Cranberry looks downwards. “I’m guessing that they’re going to lift us high enough, then drop the water and let us fall from a height so high up that we’ll die and they can eat our remains.”

Twilight is so shocked that it takes her a few minutes to gather up the courage to speak. “And…and will that happen?”

“We’ve got these, remember?” he replies, motioning to all their life jackets. “They do more than protect you from harsh kicks.” He winks while pointing to a small green button near his shoulder on the jacket that Twilight hadn’t noticed before.

Emerald doesn’t know what to think other than pure terror as they’re lifted to a point where the hippocampi look like ants. Is that still not high enough for you? she wonders. “Cranberry,” the green earth pony says, “how are we supposed to get out of this mess? They’ll be relentless to kill us, no matter how many times we escape their tricks.”

Cranberry Tart is about to respond, but the sudden change in gravity interrupts him as the water that was carrying him upwards suddenly drops too quick to follow. The mares scream while Cranberry glares as they plummet to the surface below. However, seconds before they meet what would’ve felt like concrete, they all press the green buttons. Old-fashioned earth pony parachutes abruptly pop open. The three ponies roughly splash in the water, but it could’ve been much, much worse.

By the time Twilight has caught her breath, the hippocampi are already trying out a new plan. She coughs out a mouthful of water as the five creatures start swimming rapidly in circles around them. A small whirlpool begins to form beneath the three ponies.

She glances to her sword, lying a drifting broken plank. Yes, she did just eat a snake, but actually killing and animal herself is an entirely different concept that she has never wanted to face. Yet, she keeps finding herself in this situation. The hippocampi are bound to kill them at some point if she doesn’t do anything, and they all know it. Her option is to either use her magic, or use her sword.

The dark magic begins to pound against her skull, as it usually does when she’s forced to think dark thoughts, such as murder. This headache is incredibly painful compared to the other ones; she assumes this means it’s advancing much quicker than she thinks.

“Twilight!” Cranberry interrupts the lavender unicorn’s thoughts. She snaps her attention back to the growing maelstrom. She and her guides are being twirled around in the gushing water. Cranberry spits out water before continuing. “Use yer magic! Ah’ve seen how strong it is; teleport us out!”

“I can’t!” she screams back over the rushing lake water.

“Why can’t you?” Emerald shouts. A thick layer of fear coats her eyes as she thrashes about.

Twilight holds a hoof to her mouth to keep from vomiting. “I can’t tell you.”

“Please. We’ll die, Twilight. There’s no other way.”

Before she can respond, a large wave engulfs her, dragging her beneath the surface. She chokes on water, desperately searching for air as she tumbles about. After ten terrifying seconds, she emerges a few tail-lengths away from the whirl pool, swimming as powerful as she can against the mighty current.

Twilight can feel herself being dragged back towards the whirlpool. Her eyes dart about, searching for anything to grab onto, but all she can spot is her sword and saddlebags, which too are being dragged in.

A mixture between Emerald’s and her own screams fill the air. She spins faster than her eyes can keep track. Water surges down her throat. At this moment, she tries her best to clear her mind of all things but her three remaining options; die and never see her friends again, quite possibly risk corruption by killing the hippocampi, or risk complete corruption by teleporting away.

The first option is unthinkable. The second is difficult and new to her. The third one is hard to bear; would she be powerful enough to withstain dark magic? No matter how much she carries on this debate, she just cannot be sure.

She can feel how close the dark magic is to slipping inside her mind. Once it does, Twilight is unsure if it will ever come out. Terrifying images of destruction caused by herself floods her mind.

Another wave crashes on top of her. Her body aches from struggling. She knows that at this point, there’s no other option. Teleportation is a definite path to corruption, leaving the only other option.

Murder.

A light purple head bursts through the surface of the water. A sword sheath and saddle are easily spotted on a wooden plank many tail-lengths away, slowly being drawn into the whirlpool. Twilight finds her inner strength and swims to it, grabbing the plank and quickly hurling it onto the shore. Then she grabs a hold of the bank and throws herself onto solid ground. She lies there for a few moments, choking up fresh water onto the patches of vibrant grass.

Once she’s breathing probably Twilight plants a shaky hoof on the sheath and pulls the iron sword out with her strong pony teeth. The tip is still stained red with blood, sending shivers down her back. Come on, Twilight, you have to do this.

Alright, she replies to herself. I can do this. She turns around. Emerald Haze and Cranberry Tart are gasping for breath inside the whirlpool. Twilight wonders how they’re still alive, but she realizes that the hippocampi are, too, tiring out from swimming as fast as they are around and around so many times. Now that she’s regaining her energy, the lavender unicorn feels as though she has the advantage at this point.

Twilight takes a few steps backwards, then gallops forwards until she meets the bank and leaps as far as she can into the river. She swims to a rock tall enough that it breaches the surface for a few inches. Twilight climbs on top, thankful that it’s not too windy.

The hippocampi have grown tired and weak, allowing her to easily slash off the fins of the closest one. It neighs in agony and stops in it’s place, causing all of the creatures to bump into one another. As they struggle to retain order, Twilight hesitantly cuts her blade deep into another’s foreleg. They completely lose track of the whirlpool and angrily glare at Twilight. One neighs ferociously and charges at Twilight through the sloshing waves. Seconds before it’s mouth meets her foreleg, she stabs him on the far left corner of his stomach, trying her best to avoid its heart.

An unexpected hoof pounds on her back, sending Twilight crashing back into the lake. She swims towards the surface but is stopped when a hippocampus grabs her and starts dragging her down, deeper and farther into the lake. Her lungs scream for air. She tries to stab the hippocampus, but with shaking from fear, being underwater, and being at a disadvantage, her swings miss.

Cranberry and Emerald are no where in sight. She hopes that they’re not being drowned as well.

Every second feels like an hour. Twilight feels as if she’s helplessly trapped in a never-ending state of drowning. But there is another way, Twilight, says a familiar voice inside her head. She quickly recognizes it as the dark magic. Teleport away from this mess.

I will NOT give in, Twilight replies through thought. Casting another spell is foolish at this point.

Then you will die, Twilight.

No.

And then, the most curious thing happens. A flash of bright white blinds Twilight. By the time her vision has returned, the hippocampus is gone. On the verge of drowning, she struggles with all her left energy to reach the surface.

Before she can, though, her stomach twists, and her vision turns black.

***

Princess Celestia dries her wet cheeks. The chains keeping her from escaping rattle as she does so. The collar around her neck keeping her from using magic feels confining. Her eyes squeeze shut. When she opens them once more, she still finds herself trapped in a small cave, the only light emitted from glowing mushrooms, and the only exit, glowing water.

It has been seven days now. She lives off of the water dripping from the cave ceiling, and the scarce, disgusting food provided by her ponyknapper.

Above all, she feels weak. She’s supposed to be the ruler, the protector of Equestria. But at the moment, she knows nothing of what is going on in the world.

The pale pink alicorn can’t help but wonder if her sister is alright. Discord mentioned how Princess Luna transformed once again into Nightmare Moon, this time out of grief and anger instead of jealousy. And then she wonders what Discord is planning. Celestia doesn’t know what in Equestria is going on her kingdom at the moment. Has Discord taken over? Has Nightmare Moon? Where’s Twilight and her friends? Will they come to the rescue?

Celestia’s heart twists at the thought of Twilight. Her most trusted student. Where is she now?

Finding out where her pupil is at the moment would be a cinch if she there wasn’t a magic-proof collar fastened around her throat. Then again, despite the collar’s great enchantment, Celestia is an alicorn. Her magic is far more powerful than anything, besides the Elements of Harmony.

She gathers all her energy and deposits it into her horn. For once in an entire week, the corners of her mouth slightly turn upwards as her horn sparks gold. It takes all too much energy than she would like, but it works. She bets that if the spell wasn’t so easy, it wouldn’t be working at all.

Celestia’s eyes suddenly flash white as the spell takes place. It works much like a memory potion, but instead, she is seeing the present, not the past. In reality, Celestia is still crumpled up on a cave floor. But in the spell, she is standing on a river bank, abruptly breaking off into a much larger lake. It appears to be a swampy biome, quickly fading into a forest. Stargaze Swamp, she thinks. Oh, I have many memories of this place. Many childhood memories.

For a moment, she grins at the memory of Luna and herself splashing in the river water. They were only fillies then. Laughing and playing, having fun, carefree. It was before they had ruled Equestria.

This time, a tear rolls down her cheek from happiness.

She snaps out of her memories, instructing herself to stay focused.

And that’s when she sees her. Twilight Sparkle, perched upon a large stone in the center of the currents, a sword in her mouth. Celestia’s eyes widen in horror as her pupil digs deep into the hippocampi’s bodies with the iron blade.

A new look of horror finds her face as a water hippocampus begins to drag her student into the depths of the lake.

Twilight is drowning.

She awakes from the vision, finding herself back in the cave with a sorrowful and worried expression. No, she thinks. No, no, NO! Not my Twilight, please, no!

“Something wrong, Celestia?”

The pale pink alicorn jerks her head around, facing her ponyknapper. He glares with hatred and disbelief.

“Discord,” Celestia growls. Her face changes all but too quick to anger and determination. She fights against the chains around her hooves, struggling to break free, but it’s no use. “Let me go, Discord!”

“Oh, and why should I do that?” he grins mischievously. “Do you really think I’d do that?”

“My student is drowning! She’s dying!” Celestia screams. This catches Discord’s attention.

“Oh, well that’s not good,” Discord murmurs, rubbing his chin with his two foreclaws. “I need her alive.”

Celestia ignores his last comment. “Please! Let me go so I can save her. I…” she gulps. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if she died.”

Discord grumbled. “I’d rather enjoy watching you wither in agony at her death, but,” he sighs, “she needs to stay alive.”

“Then let. Me. Go.”

“Oh, but I can’t do that.”

“Discord, every second we spend talking is another that she’s drowning!” Celestia’s throat aches from raising her voice, something she was not often found doing.

“Right,” Discord replies. He snaps his fingers, and in a white flash, he’s gone.

Celestia can only hope that Twilight will live.

Hang in there, my dear Twilight, Celestia thinks weakly. You will find yourself home sooner than you think.

***

Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all slump on a bench, waiting for yet another train to take them to the Crystal Empire.

“We ain’t got any more bits. Ah refuse to break into another train. There ain’t no pony out here who’ll lend us free bits, Ah assume. So why are we waitin’ here for a train that we can’t even board?” Applejack asks.

Rainbow Dash shrugs. “Do you have any other ideas?”

“Yes,” Rarity answers a question that wasn’t even directed towards her. “We can work for bits.”

Rainbow Dash snorts. “That’ll be working for 40 bits. We don’t have the time. We’ve already wasted a week.”

“Oh, oh, oh! I know, I know!” shouts the changeling disguised as Pinkie Pie, waving their fuschia foreleg back and forth in the air. “I know, I know!” She hops off the bench and starts jumping around, waving her hoof in everypony’s face. “I know, I kno–” Pinkie is interrupted by an orange foreleg in her mouth, keeping her from speaking. When Applejack removes her hoof, she finds it dripping with Pinkie slobber and makes a disgusted face while rubbing it on the bench.

“Ew, Applejack, we’re sitting on this bench!” Rarity complaints.

“I know, I know!”

Rainbow Dash narrows her eyes and grits her teeth as a pink hoof is shoved in front of her face. “I know!”

“Pinkie, um, maybe you should calm down a little…” whispers Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie nods and plops onto the ground.

“What if we flew there?”

Everypony blinks at Pinkie, their faces expressionless in the dim sunlight blocked by many large clouds.

“Are your wings even healed, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asks. The cyan pegasus reluctantly nods. “Well, even so,” the white unicorn continues, “three of us here don’t have wings.”

“No, but I have balloons,” she replies, grabbing a bundle of helium balloons from nowhere. She hoofs them to Applejack, who eyes them funnily.

“Ah just don’t know, Pinkie. How safe are these things?”

“See for yourself.” The pink mare grabs another random bunch of balloons and ties them around her stomach and back. The balloons immediately take action, lifting her off the ground.

“Yeah, but how are you supposed to keep yourself from, ya know, flying away?” Rainbow asks, flapping her wings. She soars high above the bench, performs many twists, then lands back on the bench in a matter of seconds. “Balloons don’t work like my awesome wings.”

“Well, you turn left and right and swim upwards and downwards through the air. I can always help anypony if they need it.” Pinkie Pie lastly grabs another set of helium balloons and hoofs them to Rarity, who eyes the floating objects.

“Hm. These colors don’t necessarily match, Darling. Could I tried these three yellow for five green?”

“Ugh, we don’t have time for this!” Rainbow Dash retorts. “Let’s get going already.”

“Alright,” Applejack replies. She gulps while tying a good 20 balloons around her stomach and back. The second her hooves are no longer on sturdy ground, sweat runs down her forehead.

Lastly is Rarity who takes her time carefully tying one balloon at a time. She ends each one with a neat bow. After two minutes, she’s only gone through half of the bundle. Rainbow Dash places two hooves on her cheeks, then drags them down her face and sighs. She glides over to the persnickety pony, grabs the last of the balloons, and ties them for Rarity, all at once, with no neat bow. “Can we go now?”

“Yes indeedy,” Pinkie Pie cheers. Rarity, Applejack, and herself push off the ground with their hooves, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy follow along. Rainbow gets the urge to zoom past them, to fly fast, her favorite thing to do. But she doesn’t want to risk losing track of them. That’d be a disaster.

Rarity flops around in the air, trying to figure out how to work the balloons. As she levitates the map of Equestria from her saddlebag, she flops forwards and has trouble regaining balance. Oh dear, this is much more difficult than I imagined, she thinks. How does Pinkie do it?

She is just about to announce the direction of the way they need to fly, but Rainbow Dash beats her to it, with her mental map of Equestria in mind. “This way, everypony,” she calls, flying ahead of all her friends, leading the way.

Applejack glances at all the clouds that drift above their heads as the five ponies float through the air. They look like fluffy white cotton candy, but when she lifts her hoof and brushes it against them, they evaporate. All she feels is a light brush of fog.

Fluttershy tries her best to keep from looking downwards. They’re floating awfully high above the ground, much farther than her comfort zone of five tail-lengths, or even better, on the ground.

‘Pinkie Pie’ hums to herself while gazing down at all the ponies down below. Even though she’s really a changeling, she has Pinkie’s conscience, therefore creating a sort of Pinkie Pie with changeling powers. “Hey, Dashie,” she calls. The cyan pegasus far ahead of the others turns around, now flying backwards. “Can we fly above the clouds? I want to show Rarity and Applejack how spectacular it looks.”

“Why? We’ve been ta Cloudsdale before fer tha Best Young Flyers Competition,” Applejack says.

“Yeah, but you’ve never actually seen what the clouds look like when they cover the entire sky. It looks like a valley made of cotton candy. It’s beautiful,” Pinkie says, emphasizing the word ‘beautiful’.

Rarity taps her hoof to her chin. “I suppose it could behold great inspiration for my next fashion line. Could we?”

“I don’t think those balloons would last that high up,” Fluttershy whispers from the back. Everypony can hardly hear her. “They might pop…”

“Nonsense, silly Flutters.” Pinkie Pie grins. “I’ve flown much higher than that before. My balloons are made of a special material. They won’t pop.”

“If you say so, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash says with a hint of suspicion before fluttering upwards. The moment the five friends can no longer see solid ground, the cyan pegasus can’t help but zoom upwards, so fast that tears well in her eyes. She stops a good 50 tail-lengths above the clouds, gleefully laughs, then rockets to her friends. Rarity flinches as Rainbow turns back upwards seconds before slamming into her.

A stream of rainbow follows the excited pony through the air. She spirals and zooms and mostly flies fast for 5 minutes or so before landing on the clouds beside her friends, trotting along them, a trait that only pegasi (and alicorns) are given.

“Well, what do ya gals think?” she asks. Many beads of sweat trickle down her face as she spreads her arms wide, showing off the wondrous view.

Bright beams of sunshine shower onto the white clouds, causing them to glimmer and glisten. It’s almost like a very bumpy collection of fairly small white hills.

“Oh my stars,” Rarity exclaims. She places her two front hooves to her cheeks while grinning, at the same time, scrambling to maintain her balance. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any view so gorgeous!”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so high off the ground,” Fluttershy whispers. She covers her eyes with her shaking hooves.

Applejack whistles. “Ah’ve been ta Cloudsdale before, but let me tell y’all that this view is amazin’.”

“You said it!” Pinkie cheers. Now it’s time to get down to business, the changeling thinks. She ominously floats to the back of the group so nopony can watch while she casts a spell, breaking the bond connecting her changeling mind and Pinkie’s subconscious. If she were to plot revenge against the four friends, Pinkie’s subconscious would argue with the changeling and try her best to stop it from happening. With the bond broken, she is full changeling, inside, but not out.

The changeling, still disguised as Pinkie Pie, clears her throat. “Let’s go even higher up,” she says, trying her best to mimic the pink earth pony’s cheerful tone.

Rainbow Dash raises an eyebrow. “Pinkie, we’re high enough. Any higher and those balloons are sure to pop.”

“Any higher and I think I’ll faint,” Fluttershy whispers glumly.

The changeling grits her teeth. For her plan to work, she needs the balloons to pop. It’s a fairly simple plan, actually. They just need to be a little higher. If only ponies weren’t smarter than she had thought. “My balloons can handle any height, I’m sure of it.”

“That’s real nice and all,” Applejack replies, “but Ah don’t think that’s necessary. We can already see the view mighty fine from here.”

“Besides, we should be focusing on our speed. We’re traveling slower than a snail. Did you hear that, everypony?” Rainbow Dash calls. “Quicken your pace!”

Rarity leans forwards and kicks her legs, trying her best to run in the air. She sweats from aimless exhaustion. “Is there a way to make these things go faster?”

The changeling narrows her eyes. “If we go higher up, we can get there faster. Don’t ask for the logic behind it.”

“What is it with you and going higher up?” Rainbow Dash asks. “This elevation is perfectly fine.”

“Yes, but we need to go higher,” Pinkie insists. She grits her teeth.

Rainbow Dash zooms to the pink earth pony and glares harshly two inches from her face. “We’re not going any higher, got it?”

“Hey, Rainbow, remember the deal,” Applejack says calmly, scrambling toward the two friends she pushes Pinkie farther to the right and Rainbow farther to the left. “No fightin’.”

“We wouldn’t have to fight if moron here would let us fly higher!” Pinkie exclaimed. Everypony stared at her with eyes full of shock. The changeling knows she’s completely out of character, but at this rate, she doesn’t care. Queen Chrysalis and Discord had sent her to try to assassinate Twilight’s friends, in case Twilight Sparkle didn’t turn out to be corrupted. “In fact, if you four idiots would listen to me, you’d already be dead by now!”

Rarity winces. Tears well up in Fluttershy’s eyes. Applejack’s eyes widen. Rainbow Dash, odd enough, glares.

“Where is she?”

“Excuse me?”

“Where is Pinkie Pie?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie.”

“I’m not going to ask again,” Rainbow Dash snarls. “Where. Is. Pinkie Pie?”

The changeling glares back. Everypony tenses while Rainbow holds her stern glare.

All the sudden, Rainbow Dash finds herself falling backwards. She lands on the fluffy clouds, causing some to rise up and evaporate around her. She spits out a mouthful of cloud. “The Pinkie I know would never harm anypony.” Her mind flashes back to when her friend punched Nightmare Moon in the face. But did that really count? She was scared and angry. She’s never violent like that.

“Fine, Dashie, don’t believe me.” The pink pony’s glare fades into a sneer. A spring green glow comes out of nowhere, spiraling all over her body. When the glow is gone, a changeling is in her place. She unties the balloons, since she can now fly with her changeling wings.

Rainbow holds her glare as the changeling lands on the cloud a good five tail-lengths away from her. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” the changeling hisses. Her turquoise eyes sparkle. Her deep gray horn sparkles green, and a thick beam of green light zaps only a few inches away from Rainbow’s face.

“So is this Discord’s plan?” Applejack growls, floating over to the two. “To kill us?”

The changeling replies with his horn sparkling green. She’s just about to shoot another beam of magic when Rainbow Dash tackles her, causing the beam to land in the sky.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asks with a soft quivering voice as Rainbow Dash holds the changeling down.

Applejack eyes the clouds beneath her. “Do y’all think that the spell Twilight casted a long whiles back for me ta walk on clouds still works?”

“We haven’t got all day, Dear,” Rarity says. “Hurry, try and see, but be careful.”

Applejack awkwardly scrambles downwards, trying to control the balloons to take her down. When the farm pony finally does reach the clouds, she plants her hooves on top. She can walk on clouds.

“Sorry, Rares,” Applejack calls back to her unicorn friend as she races to Rainbow Dash’s side. Rarity had never been granted the spell to walk on clouds, so she’s stuck in the air with her balloons.

Applejack comes just in time for the changeling to punch Rainbow the face and wiggle underneath her. The gray creature glances at Applejack, realizing it’s now one against two. But she also realizes that neither of them are unicorns, and that the only unicorn there is stuck helplessly in a bundle of balloons, not knowing how to control them.

The changeling suddenly leaps off the ground. While she spirals through the air, she shoots another beam of magic at Rainbow Dash. Applejack reacts quickly, tosses her hat at the very last moment. The beam of magic hits her hat instead, and it immediately disintegrates. Rainbow’s eyes dart from where the hat once was, to the changeling who just landed back on the cloud, and then to Applejack. But there is no more time for a ‘thank you’ as the changeling casts another beam. This time, they both dodge it by leaping left and right. The beam streams in between them, disintegrating nothing. The changeling growls.

“What is it going to take for me to kill you four?” she hisses.

Rarity waves her legs back and forth in the air as if she was running on the ground. She inches closer to the changeling, but her small pace and hilarious actions cause the dark gray creature to burst into laughter. Rarity’s cheeks burn, but her eyes glare.

“Stop trying, pony fools,” she spats. “You’re practically up against an all powerful alicorn.”

That’s when a plan forms in her head. The perfect plan. Her horn glows green once more. Rainbow Dash and Applejack except it to be another beam, but the changeling takes them by surprise when green goo flies from her horn and lands on all four of the ponies’ hooves. They try to lift their hooves out, but the goo quickly hardens, keeping them in place.

Next, the changeling turns to Rarity.

“Oh, please. What are you going to do to me when I’m way up here?” Rarity snorts.

The changeling sneers. Goo pours from her horn and lands as a giant mass on the balloons.

“Psh, like tying the balloons together is going to do anything,” Rainbow Dash taunts.

“Just watch.”

Rarity looks with a disgusted face at the green slime.

Then, the balloons start to sink as the goo slowly hardens.

Rarity yelps. “What? No! Somepony, help!” She screams as she sinks below the clouds, catching more speed every second.

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash leans backwards and tries her very best to lift her hooves out of the goo, but it’s useless. No matter what she does, she can’t break free, as well as Applejack.

That’s when she remembers. Rainbow stops struggling and turns her attention to Fluttershy, who is cowering under the changeling’s harsh glare.

“Fluttershy, you have to rescue Rarity!”

Tears stream out of the timid pony’s eyes. “I know,” she whispers too quietly for anypony to hear. Just as the changeling gathers up magic in his horn, Fluttershy swoops through the clouds, fluttering straight down as Rarity gains speed with her fall. The sound of screaming and wind burns in her ears, but she fights against the urge to stop. Don’t worry, Rarity, I’ll save you…

I hope.