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.