The Seventh Element.

Chapters

Prolog: An Element of Time.
chapter 1: An Element of Support
Chapter 2: An Element of Patience
Chapter 3: An Element of Bravery
Chapter 4: An Element of Fear
Chapter 5: An Element of Unity

Prolog: An Element of Time.

Twilight coughed heavily for a moment, unceremoniously dropping to the floor, her wing hanging limply by her side. She was in pain; she’d been burnt and hindered, but she had made it. Her brother stood beside her, helping the alicorn princess as they made their way to the cave. Shining Armor's horn glowed for a moment and a large purple shield was cast over the entrance to the underground cave.

Despite the dire situation they were in, both, brother and sister smiled for a moment. "It's all over isn't it, Twily?" Shining's voice echoed through the stone cave. Everyone they had sworn to love and protect were gone. Shining let out a small groan due to the headache he was experiencing. This was maybe his fifth shield he’d cast today and it was taking a toll on him, his magic was running low and he didn’t believe he could hold up much more.

Twilight let out a small sigh, the box had been a one time trick, the castle that had grown out of it wasn’t able to do more than allow rule in times of peace, and these times were anything but peaceful and the worst part was, this was all her fault. Outside the cave, a fire roared through the Everfree Forest, even behind the magical shield she could feel the heat from those flames. She never could have believed that any of this was possible. Swallowing, she turned towards her brother knowing that there was only one way out of this situation.

"I have to go back." She said as her mind went off in thirteen directions at once. Everyone she had failed, everything she had missed, all the signs were around her, but she hadn't known it.

Shining blinked on hearing that. He hardly had the energy to move, "After all the sacrifices we made just so I could get you to this tree, you want to go back? Twilight, there isn't anything out there to go back to!"

Twilight shook her head, "I know, but..." She looked up at the tree, when the Elements had been removed from the Tree of Harmony, chaos had taken over in the Everfree. Life here had been different for over a thousand years, as the trees had grown, the winds had shifted and the weather changed all on their own. Independent of pony kind. Still, the tree had survived for almost a thousand years without the Elements, it could survive in this future without them. "I can still go back."

Shining Armor finally understood what she was saying. His wife and his little sister had both been fans of Star Swirl the Bearded's work. While Shining had often been more focused on his duties, he slowly grasped what Twilight was saying, "But Twily in your condition... that's a one way trip... No I can't let you! I already..."

Shining let out a pained groan as he tried to step forward, his concentration on the shield faltering for a moment but he was quick to stabilize it as he almost fell over. "I already failed once, I won't let you!" His voice weaker.

Twilight's mind had been made up since the moment she had set foot into this cave, her horn glowed and the Elements slowly came out of the tree. Looking at the familiar gems she let out a long sigh, they wouldn't be enough, but each one represented the best part of a friend she no longer had the ability to rely on. She had failed them all.

"It's okay Shining, we both failed. These won't be enough to make things right but it's a start." Twilight said as she brought the crystals close to her. Leaning over she kissed her brothers cheek, her eyes wet with tears. "Goodbye."

Twilight had seen this been done before, one pony using all six of the elements to amplify their magic. Twilight sighed as she focused putting forward the best of her friends as she remembered them. Channeling them through spirit, and magic.
Shining watched for a moment but was suddenly struck by a realization, "Wait what do you mean they won't be-"

As if to cut off Shining's words, there was a brilliant flash of light as Twilight's eyes glowed, wrapped in a rainbow of light as she focused and channeled her magic on the one time travel spell she knew. The pain was intensive, and the wind seemed to drown out everything around her, she closed her eyes and grit her teeth from the pain as reality seemed to warp around her, and then she was gone.

"-enough?" Shining Armor was left alone in the cave, falling backwards, confused and dazed for a moment. Twily was gone. The heat was getting to him and he was too fatigued to keep the shield up any longer. The pain was too much, and what was more was that there was pressure on the other side of the shield.

"Some royal guard I turned out to be." He muttered darkly, he had failed every single princess he had ever guarded, and in the end even as the last living member of the royal family for two different kingdoms he couldn't even guard himself. Turning towards the figure that came into the cave he said, "She's already gone." He coughs were accompanied by a little blood each time, wincing at the pain in his ribs. They were already at the point where they had nothing left to lose, so now, there was only one thing left that he could do. As the beast walked forward and raised it's arm for an attack, Shining steeled his resolve, "Cadence..."

~~~~

Lightning cracked outside Spike’s window and he jumped upright in his bed. His chest heaving for a moment as he woke up in what felt like a cold sweat. The pegasi had fallen behind thanks to Tirek's attack, and had allowed for nothing but sunny weather while the Earth Ponies and Unicorns around Ponyville had all pitched in to fix the houses that had been destroyed in the attack. The end result of that, however, was that the pegasi needed to create a heavy storm in order to catch up on the drought.

Spike’s door opened wide as a young Pegasus guard bolted inside the room and stood at attention, "Quick Quill reporting, Sir Spike! How may I be of assistance?"

Spike blinked, momentarily forgetting that even he had an assistant, now. The castle had been given a contingent of royal guards it’s own staff to do all of the cleaning and cooking that normally would have been his job, and what was more, the castle currently had a few refugees whose homes had been more than just damaged. Spike waved a claw as he got to his feet.

"I'm okay, I just need a glass of water." He said, fully intending on getting up and grabbing it himself, however Quick Quill was gone and back in a matter of seconds holding out a glass filled with water. He blinked and sighed taking up the cup and drank it. "Thanks."

Spike stretched, now that he was awake he certainly wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep anymore. The storm outside pattered against his window, creating a cascade of light that was illuminated with every passing lightning bolt. "I'm gonna take a walk... Please don't follow me."

"By your command, Sir Spike." Quick Quill replied and walked back to his post outside of Spike’s room. Spike, on the other hand, made his way down one of the many long hallways of the castle. It was a little surprising at just how large this place was, he still wasn’t used to it as he was constantly getting lost.

Almost by accident, he made his way down to the throne room. The round seating arrangement was a little odd, and among all the chairs that were around them there was one that seemed all the more odd. Why did a box with six locks, give them seven chairs? He walked to his own seat, he hadn't been anything special before, and in the moment it wasn't like any of the other ponies had been thinking of him, so why did the Tree of Harmony give him a seat?

He appreciated the sentiment, but it was all the more confusing, almost like there was a peace of the puzzle that was missing. Spike jumped onto the smaller seat, finding it rather comfortable. He was alone in the room, and as he sat down he looked at the back of his chair. No cutie mark was displayed on his chair, unlike the other six it was smaller, and it was right beside where Twilight would sit.

Normally when they used these seats it was just a place where Spike would take his notes, but why would the tree even care enough about the note taker, an assistant who never asked for anything on his own. Why did he get a seat?

As Spike gave it more thought, a cold wind blew through the throne room. He shivered slightly at the chill atmosphere and was momentarily blinded by the bright flash of rainbow light that appeared out of nowhere. Following the flash, a burnt and broken Twilight fell on to the castle’s floor, the Elements of Harmony dropping besides her and they were released from her hold.
Spike jumped to his feet, "Twilight!" He ran up to her, only to be pushed back by a weak hoof.

Twilight could hardly stay awake, her magic was drained, her body broken, and her spirit fading. She was dying Spike could see that, but didn't want to accept it, even as he was pushed back he could feel the wetness of blood on Twilight's hoof.

"Spike..." Twilight's voice was weak, as she looked up at him.

"Twilight! What's going on?" Did the girls go on some kind of adventure that he didn't know about? It wouldn't have been the first time. He looked at the Elements of Harmony, scattered around the floor.

"Spike... You have to take them." Twilight said referring to all of the Elements, but Spike’s legs wouldn't move. He was shocked, scared, and unable to move.

"Spike... Listen to me and take them!"

That did it, her screams nudged him into action and he started gathering the Elements of Harmony. His eyes were starting to water up at the sight of Twilight, all the while he was highly confused about what was going on. The last he’d seen Twilight was when she’d gone to bed. Now, here she was, looking like she was on Death’s door and he was afraid to even ask if she was going to leave him. His voice a little shaky, he asked, “Twilight, what’s going on?”

"Spike, listen I don't have a lot-" Twilight coughed violently, feeling a heavy pain in her chest. Wheezing for a moment as she felt blood pooling up in her lungs. "-of time. I'm from the future.. Three months..." Twilight collapsed, getting visibly weaker. Her body was failing her.

Spike stopped looking over the Elements and ran to Twilight's side, "I-It's going to be okay, Twilight, I can get you a doctor!"
Twilight's head brushed lightly against Spike’s as he held her up, "Spike, I'll be okay... Listen, the Elements... One is missing, and has been for a very long time. Stolen before Celestia ever removed it from the tree. Find it, Spike... I’m so tired.. Let me just.."

Spike held Twilight up, nodding slowly as he held her against him as she closed her eyes and slowly stopped breathing. Adrenaline had been the only thing really keeping her heart pumping, once she had delivered her message, there was nothing to keep the alicorn alive. Spike didn’t move, tears beginning to spring from his eyes.

"Spike, what’s all the..." Twilight stopped talking as she entered the room, her eyes going wide as she saw exactly who Spike was holding in the darkness. She gulped and just stood there, frozen as the guards behind her looked around in confusion.

Author's Note

So I usually do cross overs, but I really wanted to do something a little different and with time travel. All while working with my all time favorite character Spike.

Really i was inspired by two different thing. One was the last episode of season 4 when i first noticed that Spike had a chair in the throne room, and Dr Wolf's chat about a 7th element of harmony. It's an idea I've wanted to play around with for a while and that is kind of how all of this got started. Updates will happen, but probably not more then once a week at the moment.

This chapter has now been edited for your reading pleasure.

chapter 1: An Element of Support

Way over to the north of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor and a squad of Royal guards were making their way up a mountain path. It had only been a few days now since an earthquake had struck the Empire, the source of which was located in the midst of these frozen ice caps. Earthquakes weren't what he would have called common to the area as he had been assured by the crystal ponies he worked with that the ground here was more than stable, however things change in a thousand years and this mountain hike was long overdue.

The roads up these mountains were chaotic, and even as Shining used his magic to pull his cloak tighter to his body, he had to wonder if coming up here with only a small contingent of guards was a smart idea. It had always fascinated him that in the majority of the world, Pegasi were the ones who regulated the weather and yet in places like this mountain range the weather was nothing more than chaotic blizzards and ice storms.

Far off to the distance the wind howled, and he was reminded of the stories of the Wendigo's. Even under the protective cloak which kept out the numbing cold, he felt a sharp shiver of fear which he was quick to suppress. He was the Captain of the Royal Equestrian Guard and had been trained in all sorts of survival scenarios. He was convinced that he was just letting his most recent life of comfort get to him.

"I still don't see why we couldn't have sent in a flight group!" One of his fellow guard named Right Hook had to shout just to be heard over the harsh winds. The guard in question was a young Earth stallion from the Empire, his thick coat was like diamonds which made them naturals at surviving in climates outside the Empire’s borders, not to mention they were some of the sturdiest ponies that Shining had ever met.

Shining shook his head as he shouted back, "Where is your sense of adventure? Besides, we don't have any flyers strong enough to maintain airborne in this kind of weather!". The Empire was composed of mostly Earth Ponies. Even among the crystal ponies there were very few Pegasi, and he wasn't about to request a contingent of Wonderbolts for something as trivial as this. They were paramilitary! Not actual Guard. Call it foolish pride but he would rather risk a small contingent of his own ponies than call in a group of aerial show ponies even if it meant he had to lead the expedition himself.

He let out a long sigh, knowing full well that was the second time he had heard that question. Cadence had given him the same talk not six hours earlier when he had started out with his guards.

"So tell me why exactly my husband has to go out into the wild mountains of the frozen north on a camping trip?" Cadence said with a harsh glare at Shining Armor. She hated when things like this came up. She loved his sense of duty but she could never really understand why a now legally wed prince had to go out onto the field.

Shining, on the other hand remained adamant that he go with the rest of his guard. "It's not a camping trip, it's a scouting mission. You are just as worried as I am about that tremor. We need to know if the source of it presents a threat to the empire."

Cadence huffed a little, her tall frame standing above that of her husband’s as she glared down at him, "Why do you always have to go? You’re a prince, why should you go out into the front lines? Just order up a contingent of Wonderbolts and let them do the survey."

Shining winced, "And if they miss something, then what? I don't want to trust a group of Pegasi, I want to see it with my own eyes and..." He stopped cold for a moment knowing that his next words would be much harder to take. He breathed in deep before trying to make himself more calm. "I'm bored!"
Cadence raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Shining Armor winced and took a step back, "I joined the guard because I want to serve, see the world, protect the ones I love, and have adventures. I love you, Cadence with all my heart, but... You have me locked away in the Empire, I mean you went off and spent a weekend with Twily and Discord, and I was trapped here talking to diplomats and running the empire. You are the diplomat I am the soldier, and this." He pointed off to the mountain range, "This is actually a job for a soldier! This is why I signed up to the Royal Guard! I became your husband because I love you, but I can feel it in my bones this is an adventure that is calling me!"

Cadence's glare softened to a look of understanding but still held a little annoyance in her features. There had been a lull in things in the empire as of late, she could still remember how excited Shining was when the two of them had first arrived and they had been dealing with Sombra. Compared to that, her husband had been in a bit of a depression lately. "Okay fine, but... I want you to come back to me as soon as you can"

Shining gave a heartfelt look towards Cadence walking up to her and kissing her lightly. "I always do."

He shook his head, finishing playing that memory in his head. He held up a hoof and signaled a stop only in time to see that the strong winds had dislodged some of the snow from the mountain’s peaks, causing a miniature avalanche that took out the path ahead of them. "This path is finished! We need a new route!"

As he screamed, his voice seemed to be carried away by the howling wind. And the ledge he was standing on only seemed to become more unstable in the ever increasing blizzard. His horn glowed as he tried to shield him and his group of stallions from the blizzard but a lightning bolt struck the side of the mountain above them, sending rocks and snow down to cover them.

In a moment, he and his team were washed from the ledge above and thrown down into the darkness of the valley and crags below. In between the panic and the dire need to keep his shield from failing him one of the thoughts that hit Shining Armor the hardest was quick and simple.

I hate it when she’s right.

~~~

The heavy rain and turned to a slow drizzle and thunder could no longer be heard and the sky around Ponyville was still dark and grey, not likely to let up until the next day. Six ponies and one dragon were all gathered around an unmarked grave some distance from the town. Spike was standing next to Twilight as they paid their respects.

"Shouldn't someone say something?" Spike asked, tentatively. His claw was holding onto Twilight’s leg. Even though there was no reason to grieve and Twilight was standing right next to him, he had held the other Twilight in his arms as her life had gone out. It was an experience he was still trying to rationalize. What in the name of Celestia could have happened too future Twi that she was no longer with any of her friends? He was still trying to recover from all of the fear he had felt during the event.

Twilight nodded after a moment, it seemed odd to be able to speak at her own funeral. It was a confusing thing that should never have happened and yet the guards had tested everything from magic residue to a blood sample the Twilight that was now in this plot of land was exactly the same as her. There was no mistaking it, this was the funeral of one Princess Twilight Sparkle.

The event was hardly formal, they couldn't have allowed it to be. A formal funeral would have raised a lot of questions that no one had answers to and would’ve taken too much time. Only two of the six mares had bothered to actually dress up for the occasion. Rarity was standing next to Spike and wore a black dress and a dark hat and an umbrella that she levitated to shield herself from the rain. Rainbow was a little off to the left, standing in the open rain. If anything, she seemed confused by all of this. After Rainbow was Pinkie, whose colors all seemed a little more muted than normal, her eyes were less focused on the grave but rather looking over at her depressed friends. On the other side of Twilight was Fluttershy, who was holding an umbrella with her wing and sobbing lightly, and past her was Applejack.

Applejack had on a black suit jacket as she stood next to Fluttershy, taking advantage of her umbrella. The jacket itself was clearly a size or so too large for her, and Spike's only guess was that it was actually a hand down from Big Mac. After another moment of silence, it was Applejack who actually stepped up at Spike's offer to speak, "Ah don't know what happened to ya but y'all did it. We got the warning so now we can do whatever we need to to prevent our Twilight from meetin’ such a fate."

Everyone nodded lightly to the sentiment. There was no doubt in their minds that it was going to be dangerous, they had just witnessed what would happen should they fail and none of them wanted that to happen. Still, it was a long time before anypony moved after that until Twilight stepped forward, having finally found a voice after Applejack.

"We all know this is kind of awkward, but thank you all. I... She wouldn't have wanted anything less than to have all of you around for this day. I know that this is deeply troubling, but I am glad we could put her to rest." Twilight said as the others turned to leave, her included.

Of the several figures that departed, Spike stayed behind for a moment, and was surprised to see that out of all of his friends only Applejack remained as the others all had to go back about their days. Spike took a few steps closer to the grave, "I'm sorry, I... I should have done more."

Applejack walked forward and put a firm hoof on Spike's shoulder. "Yah got nothing to apologize for Spike, y'all were there when she needed you. If Twilight was willing to break all those space timey rules she kept yelling about all morning then Ah think ya did all ya could for her."

Spike actually smiled for a moment nodding as he turned back to Applejack and pulled her into an embrace, crying into her shoulder. His tears mixed with the rain, further helping to mess up her suit but she didn’t care about that, she just focused of comforting her friend as she patted his back lightly "It's okay Spike, just let it out."

Spike had to pull back after a moment when when he hiccuped a burst of green fire escaping his mouth as he was quick to turn away so he didn't burn Applejack. "Thank you..."

"It ain't no skin off my flank. Now come on, Twi and the others will be wanting to get to work. We have a lot to do." She said as she turned and started making her way back to town. Spike let out a more relaxed breath, feeling a little light-headed and walked back with Applejack still hiccuping and belching fire every few steps.

"Yah know sometimes Ah forget y'all are only about five years younger than I am."

Spike blinked in confusion, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh... just a lot. Now come on, we ain’t got time to waste." Applejack said, holding at least one secret to herself as she walked down the streets with Spike. A light smile on her face as the two of them got ready to face tomorrow. There was a lot of work that needed doing in order to find a brand new element and then figure out who in Equestria was meant to use the thing.

Author's Note

I'm kind of only half okay with how this chapter turned out. My mind was split on how to write the second half of this chapter down the middle. Half of me wanted this to be something completely different, it was going to be a council meeting full of bickering and anger, but in the end I decided to go a much more subdued route.

Now it's time to play FIRE ZE HEAD CANNON: in my mind all of the mares are around 18-21 with Twilight the college student, who has been raised and primed for leadership coming in at the oldest, and applejack who claimed to be the last in her grade falling in after that. Rainbow and Pinkie seem to be the youngest in the group as they hold relatively easy going jobs and reputations.

The CMC are about 7 or 8, and Twilight was around the same age as applebloom is now when she hatched Spike which means that spike is about 15 when compared to the people around him.

The reason these ages are important? I go under the theory that applejack was close to spikes age when she lost her parents. I make this assumption because Applebloom doesn't seem to remember her parents as much as say big mac or applejack. The way she acts and the way she looks up to her big sister kind of tells you that it was probably around the year she was born that she lost her parents. So if applebloom is 5-6 and applejack is 20, then she was 14 going on 15 when she lost her parents...

Either that or

Chapter 2: An Element of Patience

Twilight let out a frustrated sigh which started a chorus of disappointment from around her. "That's the last book in the entire castle!" She said putting the book back into the shelf with her magic.

Rainbow's head shot up, "Hwhat?" She said, looking around, wiping the drool off the edge of her mouth that showed she’d been doing more sleeping than helping.

Spike closed the one he had been reading through, nothing about a seventh Element but it did have a lot about the Knights of Old. From what he could tell, it was a registry by the Captain of the old guard a lot of names and battles, but nothing interesting. "Does that mean we can finally go outside again?" He said stretching and yawning as he looked around the room. Twilight had brought every book from the library of the sisters’ old castle back to her own, hoping to find something of use.

After their little impromptu funeral, she’d brought all her friends back to the castle’s library and asked them to stay and help her find something that could shed light on the missing Element. Somewhere, somehow she had learned something, but it didn't seem like it was from this library. Shaking her head, depressed, she looked around at her friends.

"Ah have to agree we have been at this for what feels like days, Twi. We need to take a break." Applejack said as she got to her hooves, her back and neck aching from so much reading. She never was one for this kind of work. Hard, manual labor any day over staying cooped up and doing research.

Twilight's mane was slightly frayed as she looked around her friends all of which weren’t too happy with all of the reading she had forced on them, even though she had been silently rechecking the books they had gone over. "No! You can't leave, we could have missed something! These are the oldest books from Celestia's reign and if there’s any information about that missing Element, it’s in here!... Somewhere!"

Pinkie burst into laughter as if she had just realized what they were looking for in these books, "Silly Twilight! It can’t be in any of these books because they’re written during Celestia’s reign! It can’t be in any of these because even Princess Luna and Celestia never had it with them!"

Spike gaped at the pink pony, the others joining him with either looks of astonishment or annoyed glares, “Pinkie, you could’ve told us that hours ago!”

Pinkie gave a small shrug, "I thought we were looking for recipes. Check it out, I found a cookbook!" She said pulling out a book called 'How to Serve A Pony'. The six others shot wary glances at one another.

Twilight let out a frustrated groan. So few books and scrolls survived the era before Celestia, the Goddesses had brought with them a rebirth of science and knowledge that were almost lost because of Discords pranks. So much was lost in the migration from the Northern Home and the founding of Equestria that only a few...

Twilight’s eyes widened in realization, “Pinkie, you’re a genius! Girls, we’ve been in the wrong library this entire time!”
Every single one of them groaned at that statement.

“Look, Twi, I know finding this is really important but you think we could maybe, you know...” Rainbow tilted her head toward the nearest window.

"I think what Rainbow is trying to say, darling is that we spent the better part of two days looking through all these books and we’re all quite anxious to get back to our own homes." Rarity said, treading her ground lightly.

"Big Mac ain’t gon’ be too happy with being saddled with all the work for so long and Apple Bloom’s probably worried sick." Applejack said.

"And I was supposed to have my shift on weather duty today!" Rainbow said looking out at the cloud cover she was supposed to have gotten rid of. "I am so gonna get written up for that."

"The animals do kind of need me to, um.. check on them." Fluttershy said in a near whisper.

Twilight let out a sigh as she looked to her friends. They had lives to live and jobs to do and she couldn’t keep them away from it, “You’re right, girls. I’m sorry, Spike and I can handle it from here.”

Spike's eyes widened. "Wait I uhm... need too..." He bit his lower lip, looking at the rest of their friends who had wasted no time in leaving to continue their own lives. The last thing he wanted to do was spend another day looking through yet another library.
"Spike, come on, I need you with me!" Twilight said, causing Spike to flinch at the slight edge in her voice.

Spike glared in the general direction of their friends and muttered, “Gee, thanks..." Now he was left to deal with what could very possibly turn into another one of Twilight’s little psychotic episodes. Turning back to her, he asked, “So, where are we going, now?”

Twilight smiled, "We’re going to the Canterlot Archives!" She said, more than happy to walk alongside the smaller dragon as they left the tree castle and walked down the staircase into what was a grey cloudy day. "I thought today was scheduled to be sunny?"

Off in the distance, Spike could have sworn he heard Rainbow Dash muttering curses as she got to work cloudbusting. He shrugged it off rather quickly, turning to walk with Twilight towards the train station, "Can we pick up some lunch on our way there? I’m starving!"

~~~

One train ride and late lunch later, Twilight walked into the Canterlot library with Spike at her side. The guards posted outside the library bowed as she walked through the doors. Long ago there had been many books and wings that she had never been allowed into. Even as the privileged student of Celestia, there were things she just wasn't allowed to access. Now that she held the same status as Celestia however, every wing and room in the entire library was open to her, but she only wanted access to one.

The Starswirl wing of the library was in a constant state of disorder and incredibly messy. It was difficult to find anything in this place and Twilight groaned in annoyance, "Doesn't anypony here actually act as a librarian in this place? How hard is it to re-shelve books?!” They had already suffered through one library of books, and now they had all the writings of one of her idols to search through.

"Uhm Twilight, I feel like I'm missing something but, why are we here?" Spike asked as he started to check through the scattered and disorganized journals. He could never have imagined a single pony writing all of these.

"Starswirl the Bearded was one of the most famous and oldest ponies. His writings predate the unification of the three tribes and the very founding of Equestria. His books and scrolls were the most well protected documents in this world. The spells and charms on these books were so great that not even Discords Era of Chaos was able to destroy them. He traveled all over the world and discovered so many kinds of magic that no pony had even thought of before! He was basically the inventor of-"

"Twilight!" Spike yelled, getting her attention and giving her a mild glare, “You’re ranting again.”

Twilight blushed lightly and smiled sheepishly, “Sorry.”

The rest of the day was spent organizing and looking over the books. Spike let out a long sigh some time later, his stomach letting him know of it’s meal-deprived state. "What is with this pony?! Over half the things I have touched have been nothing but Horology, Chronometry and Chronology! It's like he's obsessed with-"

"Time Travel!" This time, it was Twilight’s turn to cut Spike off. Bright eyed, she continued, "I was trying to tell you earlier, Spike, that Starswirl the Bearded was basically the Father of modern Unicorn time travel! He wrote everything from the aging spell to spells that allowed a brief visit into the past... He never got more than a single week, though." She finished with a small blush.

"Why?"

"... Starswirl the bearded thought that time magic was the key to immortality. He thought that if he could control the flow of time he could stop it.... In the end he lived to an incredibly old age, but Time caught up with him regardless..."

"Bummer."

Twilight pulled up another unassuming journal and opened it up and immediately something struck her as odd. The writing was more feminine and a little more messy than Starswirl’s. If she had to guess, then she would have said it was written by an earth pony. It was very clear that this was not her idol’s journal and as she started reading her eyes lit up, "Spike! This is it, listen!"

"Dear Journal: This will be my one and only entry to this book.

The future needs to know. I swore I would never tell what we did, but somepony needs to know. I will hide this book for the day that somepony finds it. After the death of my dearest friend, I just have to talk or else it will haunt me forever. Consider it my last act of defiance to help sort out this country that I helped lie to create. Clover wasn't perfect. None of us are, and I go to bed each night telling myself that what she did was for the best.

S.C.

~~~

A lavender unicorn mare hid under an unassuming cloak. She had spent the last few days grieving, and now she walked with two of her closest friends. Where they were going she wasn't going to tell any of them, but she was so very glad to have them with her.

"Why do we need to do all this hiding in plain sight stuff?" An orange and blond earth pony said, walking along side Clover.

"Shhh." A yellow pegasus with a pink mane almost chastised, "Sorry Smart Cookie, but do you think you could be just a little more quiet."

"Pansy, I told you to just call me Cookie. My parents and the Chancellor are the only ones who called me Smart Cookie. It just makes me sound... arrogant."

"Will the two of you just be quiet? I told you this was a dangerous trip." Clover practically screamed at her two companions before calming herself down and sighing, "Sorry it's just..."

"We all know your suffering Clover, Starswirl’s death caused a lot of commotion and he was like a father to you, but what are we doing here of all places?"

Clover looked up at the Tree of Harmony. It's bark still stark white as the day they had found it in this cave, as the rest of the world was turning to ice. Clover placed a clam hoof on it, looking at the seven branches that all jetted out. One for each of their group that had been there. She could have spent her life studying what that reaction and powerful magic had been that had melted away the Wendigo's ice and got the tribal leaders to finally start seeing reason. Instead, she was going to burn everything, rewrite the story so that the Elements were never found and make sure that Starswirl was not a part of that story. She couldn't have taken it if he was, "It wasn’t long ago that we used these to save everyone but, the seventh one..."

Her friends stepped forward and each placed an understanding hoof on Colver’s shoulder. It was Smart Cookie who was the first to speak, "None of us knew what was happening and it wasn't your fault, Cover. That branch picked Starswirl and he couldn't pay the price. Heck I couldn't walk for weeks after what we did but whatever it was, it worked, Clover. We have homes, now. Fertile land and enough ponies with us to start over! We survived because of his sacrifices."

"And can we ever allow that to happen again?" Clover said her voice low with sadness. "I for one, can't! These things are too dangerous for any pony to use. Too powerful when all together, and the cost... to see him wither away like he did. To see your best friend and mentor give everything he had when he still had so much to offer the world?"

"We rewrote the story, Clover but taking one of them when we don't even understand what they are... That could be even more dangerous." Pansy said in a low tone, not wanting to speak up just like she hadn't wanted to speak up to Commander Hurricane for so many years.”

"They’re dangerous and that's enough for me." As she spoke, she focused on the limb that had claimed the life of her friend and mentor. Her horn glowing a soft blue as she pulled on the branch and soon ripped it from it's holding place, taking the gem and the entire limb. She warped it's figure, turning it into a finely made walking stick, brightening the element so that it was a fine tuned gemstone. She turned the branch into an ageless work of art with her magic and then wrapped it in an unassuming cloth so that no one would notice.

"Come on, girls... I know just where we can hide this thing so that it is never used again." She said as they turned and walked out into the cave.

Smart Cookie turned back at the cave, her eyes stinging. She had already lied once when they had decided to let the artifacts stay buried instead of taking them but since that day, Clover had become increasingly more depressed and more paranoid about these things. Maybe this would be the last time she ever had to lie for one of her friends... The tree didn't belong to anypony, so this wasn't really stealing and well.. She had no idea if the tree would continue to work or not, but six out of seven had to count for something.

...Right?

Author's Note

*Horology=Greek for Time, and suffix of study; the study of time creation of clocks and sundials, and theoretic ground of time travel research.

*Chronometry the science of divising time and rotation for planetary bodies, not to be confused with Chronolgy which is the study for pinpointing locations and events in time.

Honestly I don't have a lot to say about this chapter. It was fun to write the 'theives' bit, and the journal, but I honestly don't know how it will go over because I am basically saying that equestria was founded on lies, as well as the flames of friendship. Then again considering that the story was a 'long ago before the time of celestia' I consider it up to any interpretation. If anything it would be like the story of Beowulf constantly translated and rewritten.

I did enjoy writing the banter for this chapter though, so maybe that will be good, I'm not holding my breath though.

Chapter 3: An Element of Bravery

Shining Armor let out a loud groan, the wind was still strong as ever and he was still shivering as it made contact with his exposed body. At first, he thought he was numb completely but soon realized that he was just extremely cold and wet. The raging storm continued to beat down upon him, the terrible conditions making it near impossible to see more than a few feet in front of him. Trying to search for his men by hoof was out of the question a she could wander further away from them by mistake, so he stood up and yelled as loud as he could, "Attention!" To his relief, he got a response in the form of his men slowly walking toward him.

They were all as shaken and bruised as he was, though considering the conditions they were in, a few scrapes were the least of their problems. In their desperation, they’d quickly started searching for some sort of shelter that could protect them from the intense cold and hadn’t taken too long to spot a nearby cave that would grant them some safety. After quickly gathering what they could find of their lost supplies, they rushed to the cave.

Once inside, Shining Armor could finally hear himself think. The howling seemed much more distant once they’d entered the cave and the small group huddled up together to warm themselves up as much as they could. Shining could still see his own breath every time he exhaled and the lack of a the cold, he could start to feel his bruises all over his body, mainly, a soreness in his backside after falling on it. All in all though, everyone had survived without any major injuries and that was the important part. Deciding that huddling up wasn’t going to do much for long, he spoke, “Try and get a fire going, we’re going to need one if we want to stay warm.”

They’d come up here to see what had been causing the earthquakes, but that seemed to be a more difficult task than he’d originally thought. He reached for where his saddlebags would be, but then remembered that he couldn’t find his amongst the snow. A wave of uneasiness washed over him as he thought of this, it wasn’t the loss of the compass or map he’d packed that bothered him so much, those were easily replaceable and all his men had a set. It was more that he’d had a picture of Cadance in there that wasn’t as replaceable.

So much for comforting thoughts of home, he thought. Shaking his head to rid himself of the sour thoughts, he turned to one closest to him, "Hand me a map and a compass, I need see if i can figure out just where we are."

"Uhm... Sir?" Right Hook had been fiddling with his own compass while the others were trying to start a fire with what dry wood they could find. "We have a problem."

"Oh what is it now?" Shining groaned and rolled his eyes. As if they didn’t have enough to worry about at the moment. Right Hook held out the compass he was holding and sure enough, they did have a problem. It’s needle was spinning continuously, unable to settle on a single direction to point towards.

Compass in Equestria had special enchantments placed on them, this made sure they pointed to the North no matter what. Nothing was supposed to be able to mess with it, no mineral reserves, no magnets, nothing. After all, this was Unicorn magic we were talking about. "What the..." Shining bit his lip, not wanting to curse or show anger in front of his men. He had never seen an enchantment as refined as this ever break, before.

Without the compass and with the storm, it was impossible for them to tell their direction. They had nothing they could use, no sunlight, no stars, nothing. Looking around the cave, there was a darkness that went off into the mountain. Ignoring that for now, Shining set the map down and began looking through it, barely able to see by the light of the fire.

"Alright, we have three options right now." He muttered under his breath. Option one had them sitting on their flanks, doing nothing but hope that the seemingly never ending storm outside would die down before they ran through their already small amount of supplies. Option two would be going out and trying to brave the storm which would most likely end with them getting lost and slowly dying and option three...

"Okay everypony listen up, ten minutes to get warm up and then we’re off through the caves."

A dull light emitted from Shining’s horn, flickering like the flames of a torch lit their way as they walked through the tunnel. The caves were dark and slightly damp in places, they looked as if they’d been carved by something ages ago. The only sound they heard was that of their own breathing and the echoes of their hoofsteps, with the occasional droplets of water falling from somewhere they couldn’t see.

The more they progressed, the more twisted and confusing the layout seemed to become. Though they’d marked every tunnel they went through and made sure to stick together, Shining wasn’t sure in which direction they were even going anymore. The only thing he was sure of, was that they were going deeper into the ground. Every step he took, he could feel the inclination of the floor and that made him all the more nervous, but he wasn't going to let that show.

The longer the group walked, the more Shining could tell that this hadn’t been the best of ideas. 'Just about as bad as every other idea you have had today, Shining.' He thought, with some rather strong contempt for himself.

Suddenly, there was a loud splashing sound that broke the silence they’d gotten used to that echoed off the walls and all the ponies behind him - though being trained, professional guards- shrank a little bit and took slight steps back.

He turned to his group, astonished that his entire group had been fazed by a mere sound as that. "Stand!" He said, resorting to the voice he usually reserved for training. The Earth Ponies around him quickly came to attention.

"Sorry, sir... Permission to speak?" Right Hook stumbled through his words for a moment, addressing his already distressed captain trying to keep his men together.

"Granted, soldier." Shining said through grit teeth.

"Sir... the air here feels... wrong, and the ground is... Well, I keep getting the feeling these caves don’t quite want us here..." As he spoke, the uneasiness on his face was plain as day for his captain to see.

Shining Armor nodded, considering his words. It was common knowledge that Earth Ponies had a much stronger, more natural connection to the earth than other races and that very fact had saved his life more than once. He nodded and walked back toward his group, "Very well, then. Back the way we came, maybe we’ll have more luck waiting out the storm if it hasn’t died down already.”

He’d barely gotten two steps toward his group when an ear shattering screech echoed through the cavern, causing them to all cover their ears in slight pain. Whatever it was, it was a savage, mindless screech and was all the more mortifying for it. Following the screech, they heard something smack hard against a wall that caused the ground and everything around them to shake enough to almost throw them off balance.

As he heard the rocks above them dislodge themselves from the roof, Shining acted on reflex as he got as close to his men as he could and cast a shield around him with what energy he had. The roof had caved in on them and once it had settled down, the only light left was the soft purple glow radiating off his shield. In the blink of an eye, the way they’d come -and their only way back- was now covered with a large wall of rocks and the crushed corpses of over half of the ponies he’d brought into this.

~~~

Clover walked on silently with her two friends beside her. Their travel from the Tree to these Badlands had been a long one. Considering the fact that the Pegasi had only started drawing the maps of these areas not too long ago, there was some pride in the three’s steps as they ventured far beyond the borders of their new land and into dragon territory. She told them that their journey was to an old friend of Starswirl’s, one who would make sure the item she held would never be used again.

Private Pansy looked at Clover, cautiously looking around every once in a while, "Uhm... What are we doing out here, again?"
Clover shot a glare over at the yellow pegasus which was all she needed to silence herself. As they came through the Badlands, Smart Cookie hung back with Pansy, watching her old friend with some suspicion. Cookie then spoke, her voice soft and low, “Pansy, I know you’re a little worried right now but this isn’t the time to be asking questions.” The smell of smoke was heavy in the air and as they walked, she watched the skies.

Clover turned to her friends and hushed them, "Both of you be quiet." Ironically, almost yelling at them herself. She breathed heavily for a moment, glaring at both her friends while she gestured to the area around them.

They were in dragon territory, everything in these parts was dangerous. They were dealing with creatures who could breath fire and eat meat. They grew massive based on selfish and destructive desires and have, in the past, destroyed entire towns just because something pretty caught their eyes. Those were the kind of creatures that currently surrounded them in every crag and cave and her friends seemed rather intent on being eaten, given how loud they were being.

For the rest of their journey, they walked in silence, finally reaching a cave that had been Clover’s destination. Smart Cookie blinked, "I thought you said you had a friend that we were going to go see?"

Clover rolled her eyes, levitating the wand she created out, still keeping it concealed in it’s rags. "I am, but... well she's not my friend and this could get a little rough, we haven't talked in a long time. Could you please wait out here?

Smart Cookie and Pansy gave a small nod as Clover walked inside, disappearing into the dark shadows. "What kind of friend did Starswirl have that chose to live all the way out here?" Smart Cookie could already guess the answer but as she sat down, Pansy just shivered.

The cave was dark and wet, the sound of dripping water was everywhere. Clover shivered as she felt her hooves travel over the uneven, slippery terrain. There were sounds of something shifting in the darkness accompanied by heavy breathing and sounds of items moving. Once she’d calmed herself enough to realize she’d been spotted, she swallowed lightly as she caught the outline of something massive moving around in the shadows.

Clover bowed as the creature in the shadows moved it’s long neck toward her and took a sniff. It took all of her courage to keep herself from shaking in fear.

"Clover... Clover the Clever." The voice was like poison, the hot breath of the massive dragon almost making her sweat, "I thought I was clear when I told Starswirl that I was not to be bothered by his kind anymore."

"He did mention something of that kind, but it is not by my teacher’s will that I come here." Clover said, bowing deeper still, "It is nice to see you again, Pepper."

There was a burst of bright green fire that illuminated the entire cave, the dragon was a massive black creature with it's wings tucked close to it's side, it had long, green spines that ran from it’s head all the way to the tip of it’s tail and glaring green eyes. It's feminine features were lost on the already scared Clover as the darkness returned to surround it. "Do not call me by that name!" Pepper’s scream echoed throughout the cave and exited on the other side.

"For years I worked as that blasted stallion’s assistant, and for what? What did I have to myself, kept a child and told I was but a monster! Yet still I tried to be one of your kind." The dragon moved, encircling Clover and showing off just how massive a creature it was to behold. Pepper’s body was ripped with muscles and had a strong sense of grace around her, "I tried your society, acted as a loyal assistant and what did I ever get in return? My feelings twisted and roiled because of that stallion and now his favorite student comes to my cave. If it weren't for the fact that I hate the smell of burning hair I would roast you alive just so I could drop you on his doorstep and watch him cringe."

"Actually Starswirl is... dead." The words seemed to give a pause to both Clover and Pepper, both looking at each other and just for a moment, though her face was mostly obscured in darkness, Clover could have sworn she saw a flash of regret in the eyes of the dragon.

"Then why are you here?" Pepper asked.

Clover pushed the walking stick towards the dragon, allowing it to unwrap and reveal the elegant staff she had made. "This is the item that killed Starswirl, it's a magical element and part of a set. I wish only for you to take it so that it may never be used with the others again."

Pepper looked the stick over, greed over taking her as she grabbed it out of the unicorn’s magic, examining it. "And the magic it holds, is it inert?" She asked, regarding it like one would regard a diseased or cursed item, holding as far from her as she could. Wanting it, but at the same time deciding that if it had been dangerous to one of the most powerful Unicorns in the world, there was a chance that it was dangerous to her.

"It is. As I said, it's part of a set and I think it requires six other pieces for that one to work. I plan on studying the others and their effects as soon as I can get back."

"Then... I suppose in the memory of one old friend I can... let you go. You did bring me a rather shiny gift, after all." She said, putting the stick down to rest among her other hoarded items, “Now I suggest you leave before I change my mind.

~~~

It was quite late at night when Twilight and Spike finally left the library to return to their home. The good news was that the two of them knew where the last element was, but the bad news was that it rested among a very old dragon’s hoard. "At least Smart Cookie was smart enough to make a map." Spike commented dryly as he looked over at Twilight.

Spike just let out a long sigh, of all the creatures it just had to be dragons...

Author's Note

I just found out that there is a contest where this Fic would have qualified. Sadly however the deadline is next week, and this story would take at least 3 more chapters for me to finish. In order for me to make the deadline I would have had to drop everything else and only work on the fan fiction, and I just can't bring myself to do that. Also if I rushed I risk loosing an idea in translation, and that could end up ruining my entire story.

Speaking of not rushing, two weeks between a new chapter was a little excessive. I need to apologize for that, but I ended up having to deal with some personal issues.

All in all I have enjoyed always getting feedback with each new chapter, and I love seeing people talk about what is going to happen next. Writing this fic for the most part has been a great experience, and I am really enjoying it.

Chapter 4: An Element of Fear

Over in the Crystal Empire, Cadence was roused from her sleep by another tremor. The entire earth beneath them shook for several moments with enough force to make her think the castle might collapse. Getting out of bed, she went out onto the balcony that gave her a view over her entire empire.

The night sky was as beautiful to look upon as ever, with the moon covering the land in it’s dull glow and the small clouds that were generated by the light winds. She couldn’t help the feeling of dread that was slowly filling her. Her special kind of magic gave her the ability to feel the strength of the bonds between ponies, those intangible little threads that bound lovers together and when she’d finally realized that she was falling in love, her own relationship was no exception to her powers.

In a way, it was like a sixth sense that was setting off alarms in her brain that told her she was well justified in wanting her husband to stay home. Somewhere out there, something was happening to Shining and she didn’t know what. And that terrified her, but eventually, she just let out a long sigh and reminded herself that her husband had gotten through worse before.

As expected, soon enough, a few guards were at her door, pounding away at it, “Princess?”

She used her magic to open the door from where she stood, before walking back inside. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. You should really go check in with the citizens, make sure no one has been gravely hurt.”

Further down, in the heart of Equestria, Princess Luna felt the ground beneath her hooves tremble. As Canterlot was built into a mountain, the city had been safeguarded against such natural calamities but that didn’t deter the trembles that shook everything around her. All around her, books and various other objects were falling off their resting places and then a scream could be heard as a rather expensive chandelier was loosened from it’s place in the ceiling and came crashing down, startling one of the night staff.
As the tremors subsided, Luna quickly gathered her staff. Her guard were quick to report, all in their enchanted armor that gave them features of bats and dark blue coats that were indistinguishable from pony to pony, adding to their mystery as well as allowing them to blend into her night sky better.

“Why do you waste time, standing here? Go! Spread out into the city and make sure all our citizens are safe!”

For the first time in what was a very long time, Shining Armor felt fear and doubt sink their claws deep into him. He’d brought these ponies down here, unknowingly lead them to their deaths. Just like that, crushed beneath layers of ice and rocks.
He felt a hoof on his shoulder and turned to see the face of a saddened Right Hook and behind him, the three other surviving members of his squad, all with equally morose loks of their own. He gulped, thinking of Cadence’s words of him returning to her alive and clung to them. Now wasn’t a time he could let his fear best him and lose hope. When he spoke, his voice was filled with regret. He shouldn’t have been so foolish to lead his squad further down these caves. “There’s no turning back now, we’re going to have to carry on.”

The others nodded before paying their respects to their lost teammates. Slowly, they turned and walked with their captain. None of them wanted to speak of the fear they all felt. Were they trapped? Would they never find their way out? And, most pressing of all, what in the name of all things good had screamed?

They walked more carefully, now, their only light source being Shining’s horn. He used his magic to project light all around them, yet, everything still remained as dark and cold as ever and that sent a chill down their spines. Shining himself was more than a little shaken, despite his extensive experience with being stuck in a bad situation.

As the others carried on, Right Hook couldn’t shake the feeling that everything around them was just plain wrong. The glow of Shining’s horn was enough of a light source that everything should’ve been fine, however, with every step he took, he could feel the peculiar air around them, acting as if it were trying to tell them they should leave. His connection to the earth was telling him that ponies had no place in these caves.

As he went to walk alongside Shining, he stumbled as his hoof made contact with something and hit the ground in a soft, wet splash. Pain instantly washed over him and the cold cut through him to the point where it burned and he screamed, scrambling back from where he fell.

Shining had turned just in time to see one of his men stumble into a puddle of murky liquid, even though he was almost sure it was shallow when he’d passed it. Turning his attention to Right Hook, he ran to the pony’s side.

The pain didn’t stop. Even once he’d distanced himself from the puddle, the cold continued to cut through him even more than before. He could feel it go past his bones and seep through his entire being, spreading a cold, burning sensation that just didn’t seem to feel like stopping anytime soon. “Stay back!” He yelled, distancing himself from the group. He felt like he was dying. Very slowly and extremely painfully, but dying.

Shining and the others had stalled their movements to aid him, not because of his words -which had made Shining want to help him even more, if anything- but because of the fact that he was slowly being covered by an oily, black fluid. All he did was step in a puddle and now, it seemed like it wanted to consume him, slowly spreading itself more and more on his body.
Shining quickly turned around when another of his ponies let out a scream of agony, having backed into the wall covered with the stuff. Focusing, he was able to increase the brightness of his light spell, illuminating every little crevice in the walls and what he saw made him wish he really hadn’t.

The thick, dark fluid was oozing from the walls all around them, more a dark purple than actual black. Slowly it inched it’s way toward him and his remaining men, Right Hook and the other guard who’d come in contact with the fluid were already long past saving, with the goo slowly eating away at their skin and everything underneath, slowly turning them into a part of the goo. The sight made Shining sick to his stomach, nauseated to the point where he thought he’d throw up on the spot. If he wasn’t before, he was terrified, now. For a moment, he considered just turning and running as far as he could but realized that there wasn’t any real place he could go and so, he did the only thing he could think of.

“I’m sorry!” He yelled as he summoned his shield around himself... and himself only.

The others ran toward him as his shield materialized, leaving them without it’s protection. They continuously pounded at the shield, crying out in anger and fear at being left for dead by their captain.

~~~

Spike sat at the Council of Friendship, yet again. The six ponies and dragon had reunited after the trip to Canterlot had given them an idea as to what happened. It was still early in the day, enough for a majority of the towns residents to still be lost in sleep.
Spike couldn’t help but feel a little bit at odds with the current situation. They had to take an item of extreme power from a dragon, and if that wasn’t enough, everything about the item itself remained a mystery, except the fact that it killed it’s user. And that it was being held by a giant, fire-breathing dragon who was more than a thousand years old, at least.

“Kinda makes you wonder, huh? About how future Twi actually learned about this thing in the first place.” He blinked, realizing that he’d actually said that out loud.

“I don’t think she did.” Twilight said, “I’ve been thinking a lot on the warning on our way back from Canterlot and it seems to me that whatever she was up against was able to withstand her magic and our connection to the Elements before, so she made a logical connection that we required something more. Her warning was to send us on, quite possibly, a wild goose chase that ended up with us finding out about the missing Element.”

Spike just nodded in agreement, it kind of made sense in an odd way. Though it struck him more as something Celestia would do rather than Twilight, but he could chalk that up to incredibly poor timing.

“Ah think the bigger problem is that we don't even know what this other Element does.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin for a moment, “Well, we didn't know anything about the Elements of Harmony the first time around, either. When we found them, they were just stone husks of their former selves, it took the magic of our friendship to actually make the things work.”

“So all we need to do is find the Element and somepony who could represent it?” Rarity said, thinking lightly.

Why some’pony’? Spike thought, a little sourly. He had the seventh chair because it didn’t have anyone else’s mark... Was he not supposed to be here with them?

“Well if that's the case why are we still here! We know where the Element is, lets go kick dragon butt and get it back!” Pinkie added, rather cheerfully.

“...” Fluttershy's whimper was hardly audible over Rainbow Dash’s excited cheers.

“Woah there, Dashie.” Applejack gave her a stern look, “Do y'all remember what happened the last time we decided to just up and kick a dragon? It wasn't all to happy about that decision now was it?”

Spike felt a sinking feeling. Are they just going to leave me behind like last time?

“Well... yeah, but last time we didn't have an Alicorn on our side!”

“I am not going to kick a dragon, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said slightly flabbergasted that her friend would even make that kind of suggestion.

“Well either way, we need to get going.”

“And I’m coming too!” Spike almost screamed in his chair. He wanted to- no, needed to go on this trip.

“Well of course ya are, Spike.”

“Well duh, silly! We are sooo gonna need you!" Pinkie was breathing heavily for a moment after having sat still in her chair for so long. “Also, why the hay do I get the fewest lines in this series?!”

Spike felt the rumbling of the train under his feet, looking out into the rest of the world as it passed them by. They were now long past the trees and were close to Dodge Junction and from there, it was all dirt road to the Equestrian Badlands.

The last time Spike had come this way was when he’d followed the Dragon migration, wanting to see the world as the other dragons did and considering their path took him over harsh mountains, murky swamps and just about every other type of terrain he could think of, this was quite the improvement on traveling conditions.

"I'm still surprised that all those guards were just up and willing to let you go, darling."

"How many times do I have to tell you? My 'guards' are just for ceremony. Every princess gets a few of the E.U.P. Royal guards for accompaniment. I don't really want them around and they certainly have no authority to tell me where I can and can't go since I go with my friends, yet even when I tell them I don't want them around..." She pointed a hoof towards Quick Quill. "...They still find an excuse to send a tag-along."

Spike glanced at the young Pegasus guard who was supposed to be his assistant, "Well I tried to tell him that I didn't need any help, but... he insisted.

Quick Quill himself, had a large grin plastered on his face as he glanced between the seven friends. Even though he wasn’t allowed to act out of line, he couldn’t believe that out of all the guards over in Twilight’s castle, he was the only one who was able to find an excuse to tag along on an actual adventure.

"Yah know y'all can talk right? We ain't military ponies, you don't need to just sit there in silence with a grin on ya face."

"I'm sorry it's just... I'm actually on an adventure again! I've been relegated to castle duty and maintenance for what feels like forever and it's not that Ponyville isn't unique, it's just also very small and quiet. I joined the E.U.P. Guard because I crave adventure and here I am, heading into dragon territory!"

"That's certainly an... interesting outlook to have but you do have to realize that this is dangerous work that we are doing here, right?" Rarity glanced between each of her friends.

Pinkie nodded, "We are going to be asking a dragon for one of their most precious treasures so that we can then use that treasure to prevent what ever destructive force is-”

Pinke didn’t get a chance to finish what she was about to say as suddenly there was a major shift in the ground as the train pitched forward as if something hit it, effectively derailing it. Spike felt himself in the air, for a few moments as the train came to an abrupt stop, crashing onto it’s side. He bounced along the side of the train, his spines hitting against the glass and smashing through them before he felt the heavy weight of a pony slam into him.

Chapter 5: An Element of Unity

Spike groaned as he felt the extra weight of a pony leave him. For a bit, he’d questioned whether he was alive or dead, but the dull throbbing in his head after all that bouncing around made him realize that he was, in fact, still alive and breathing. He thought that the crash would surely have been enough to put a stop to that, despite his hardened scales, but by Celestia’s grace, there didn’t seem to be any permanent damage. Or at least he hoped there wasn’t, considering he’d yet to open his eyes and check.

His eyelids felt like they were made of lead, when he tried to open them. For the moment, he was content to resign himself to just laying wherever he was until his body decided it could move again, but his mind seemed to be at odds with his body, constantly reminding him that there was an important task at hand that required completion as quick as possible. After a few moment of just laying there, deciding whether to listen to his mind or body, what finally forced his eyes open was a surprisingly loud buzzing.

He soon realized that he was even feeling weightless, as if being carried by magic. He recognized the feeling from the many times Twilight had carried him like this but when he found the source of the magic carrying him, it wasn’t the pony he was expecting but rather small creature, compared to ponies, with a body that looked like it was made of obsidian with a fine layer of chitinous armor covering it’s entire form, in place of the fur you’d find on a pony. His eyes widened as he realized what was carrying him.

It was a changeling, and in his current state, he was at it’s mercy.

He panicked and began struggling in the creature’s magical grip and yelling, “Stop! Lemme go!” In his frenzy, he’d managed to strike the changeling in it’s ribs, making the creature comply and let go of him. He’d soon realized his mistake as he found himself falling, and for longer than he thought he might.

“Okayokayokay, I changed my mind! Pick me up! Pick me up!” He yelled once again before he found himself wrapped in the changeling’s magic, once more.

"Are you done attacking the lings trying to save you?" The creature asked lightly.

Spike was silent for a while, then he realized that he hadn’t been alone on that train, “Where are my friends?”

The changeling just sighed as he motioned behind of him, which made Spike look in that direction, spotting his friends.
Applejack didn’t seem to be too pleased with being carried while Pinkie seemed rather enthralled by it. Rainbow, Twilight and Fluttershy were flying alongside the other changelings, in what seemed to be a kind of flying formation. Rarity was on the back of one particular changeling, gripping on to it as if she’d fall to her doom should she loosen her grip and there was a bag between two others. It took Spike a moment to realize that the bag was now being used as a hammock on which lay a rather bloody looking Quick Quill.

“Wh-What’s going on?” Spike asked, more to himself rather than actually asking. He turned back to the one carrying him, “Can you take me to my friends, please?”

The changeling silently nodded and slowed his pace to fly alongside the rest of them.

Twilight seemed rather unsteady, still not overly used to her wings and ‘Shy was having slight problems keeping up with Rainbow.
When Twilight saw Spike and the changeling come closer to them, she brightened up a little, “Spike! Glad to see you’re finally awake.” She looked at the changeling, “I’ll take him from here.” She levitated Spike over and set him on her back.

“Um, Twilight? What’s... What’s going on?” He paused for a moment, considering something, “You.. You are actually, well... you, right?”

Twilight giggled and nodded, “Yes, Spike, I’m me. Turns out after the Changelings were kicked out of Canterlot, they’ve been living in the Badlands. This is a hunting swarm, they’d come out here to look for food to take back to the hive.”

Spike’s eyes widened for the second time that day but before he could speak, Twilight cut him off, “And no, Spike, they’re not going to eat us.

“They just saw the train crash after the earthquake hit and came to pull us out to safety. They offered to escort us to their hive and treat whoever’s wounded and even said they’d help us get to the Dragonlands.”

"So... we’re not dinner?"

“Not unless they wanna be eating through straws the rest of their lives.” Rainbow chipped in as she made a show of punching at the air a few times.

“Oh my, I hope that doesn’t have to happen.” Fluttershy spoke, not wanting to have to fight. She hadn’t fared so well in their last encounter and she’d rather not have a repeat performance.

“Ah think they’d have tried somethin’ by now if they were goin’ to. Ah mean... This is pretty high up.” Applejack said, slowly peering over to the depth below them, subconsciously tightening her grip on the changeling. She was an Earth Pony and Earth Ponies weren’t meant to be this high up. Add to the fact that she didn’t have wings and that just feuled her anxiety.

“Get my off this thing!” Rarity yelled at the top of her lungs while tightening her grip even more, causing the changeling to falter slightly and drop a few inches in the air before regaining altitude.

“Miss Rarity, choking me isn’t helping me fly any better. Please, stop.”

No one else spoke as they slowly began descending toward the ground, getting ready to finally land. Their hive was nothing like any of them had imagined it to be. In fact, if they didn’t know any better, they’d have thought it was just any old pony town. It had all the regular structures one would find in a town in a frontier zone. It even seemed to have ponies in it. Dozens of them, walking around and minding their own business when they noticed the oddity of the undisguised changelings.

As they landed, the constant buzzing finally ceased and the seven friends all jumped on to the solid ground. Rarity even came close to actually kissing the ground before realizing what she was going to do and quickly raised her head away from the dust. Spike tried, but couldn’t suppress his chuckle at the sight, earning him a slight glare from Rarity.

“What is the meaning of this?” A rather elegant unicorn mare stepped up to them. Her fur was light blue and her cutiemark depicted a heart with an arrow going through it’s center. She was taller than all of them, even Twilight, which they all noticed as soon as she stepped close enough to them. “I send you all to find food for us under a disguise for a reason. Yet to come back here, undisguised and with outsiders, no less. I need an explanation from one of you, now!”

None of the changelings stepped forward, instead parting to the sides to leave the ponies -and dragon- in full view. One of them finally spoke, “We were searching for food as usual when an earthquake hit, we saw their train crash and went to save them.”

The mare stared at the group and stepped back, her eyes widening slightly when she noticed the wings on Twilight.

Twilight’s demeanor changed, it didn’t take her long to realize who the mare was. Still, she was in no position to refuse any help that she might possibly get out of the Changelings. “Please, this is the only town for miles that can help us. We’re all injured and some of us, more than the others,” She pointed back to Quick Quill, who was now laying on the ground, shivering and barely awake from all the blood loss, “I don’t think he could make the trip all the way back to get help.”

Chrysalis winced slightly at the sight of the stallion, seeing the source of all his blood was his wing that was almost torn clean off. Her expression quickly turned to a scowl as she turned back to Twilight, “We don’t help outsiders! We have enough trouble trying to fend for ourselves, we don’t need more.”

One more changeling spoke, “I told her the same thing but...” The rest of the changelings turned to look at Twilight.

Twilight knew she might end up regretting her decision, but she was willing to go with it for the sake of getting help. She stepped forward and bowed her head to Chrysalis, “We don’t expect something for nothing. Please, help my friends and I would be in your debt.”

~~~
Cadence was worried sick. She could feel her husband was in some sort of trouble and not knowing exactly what was paining her. There was no way for her to know what was happening but she was certain that something had gone very, very wrong. The bonds she shared with those closest to her allowed her to tell when they were doing well or not. Right now, she could tell that Shining was far from okay and while she would have normally ignored it and trusted Shining to do what he did best, this time it was nagging at her too much to ignore.

Getting to her hooves, she called for her assistant and asked him to take a letter. She let out a tired sigh and began to request aid. If this all turned out okay, she wasn’t going to hear the end of it from Shining, but she’d rather have that than something much worse. She needed more than just Pegasi for this, in fact, she didn’t think the Wonderbolts would even get to her in time which made her trash the idea of sending for them, instead she decided to go for something that might make her even worse off.
Walking along the hallways, she explained to her assistant to send for their neighbor’s fastest and strongest flyers they could. The Gryphons weren’t a hostile country, but they weren’t entirely happy with having found out they’d settled next to a pony kingdom that re-appeared out of nowhere from a thousand year banishment. They were friendly... more or less, but she was still nervous about it.
“Flash Sentry!” The guard quickly walked up and saluted. “Please, get this to the town of Eyrie as fast as you can, this is of utmost importance.”

“Yes, your majesty.” He took the letter, bowed and dashed off as fast as his wings could carry him.

Cadence couldn’t help but feel caught up in a whirlwind of emotions. This had been a course of action she’d vowed not to fall back on unless she was in dire need of it, but her husband was in danger and she refused to lay back and not do anything about it.

~~~
Shining Armor was alone. He had stood by and watched as all the ponies he brought with him met their demise, first by falling rocks and then the sludge took the rest. He’d stood by and not done a thing, having to hear his men’s screams of agony as their skin and muscles were ripped from their bones, bit by bit, being granted an end to that pain only after they’d had vital organs attacked, or lost enough blood. He’d had to shut his eyes and cover his ears as best he could, but that didn’t block out all of the screams.

Once the sludge was done with them, it tried to come for him, pressing up against his shield and trying to break through. Through the shield’s walls, he could feel the sludge. He thought it might be like having other ponies pressing up against it, but it was far from that, it didn’t have as much weight but it was cold. Cold that one might feel from spending a long time out in the snow without protection from it’s numbing cold.

The longer he kept his shield up, the more magic it took from him, and the fact that he had something constantly fighting against it made it a little harder. It was a slow process. So low, in fact, that it took him a while to even notice it. There was always a cost to spells of this magnitude. While shield spells came more easily for him than others, that only meant he was able to cast it for longer and on bigger scales.

This, however, wasn’t his magic just being used up by the shield. All magic he was putting into the shield, was slowly being taken by the ooze. An ooze that he honestly didn’t even understand. He gulped and slowly walked over to the edge of the shield. He hadn’t been able to save a single one of them and now this thing was feeding off him.

That wasn’t the source of his worry, however, he knew he could sustain the shield for an extended period of time even in his state and the ooze wasn’t taking much of his energy. What caused him to actually worry was the fact that he’d noticed that this ooze seemed to be everywhere in the caves and was now covering his shield entirely. Normally, the barrier would allow the passage of air but with the creature blocking every possible entrance for that air, he’d realized that it was just waiting for him to suffocate. As the fear started to overtake him, there was a shift in the slime, almost as if his shield had been smacked by something.

He was knocked off his hooves, his face slamming into the shield, seeing the one pony he honestly wished he’d never have to look at again.

His own emotionally broken, disheveled reflection stared back at him. His mane was a mess, he had dirt smeared all over his uniform and his eyes were devoid of any discernable emotion. He was tired. Not from sustaining the shield, but emotionally, he was completely drained. The men he’d brought down here with him all had families to go home to, now those ponies wouldn’t get to see them again. If he got out of this alive, he was starting to wonder if Cadence would even still want to be with him after this, after all, he wasn’t sure he would want to be with him anymore.

“She’d warned you not to come here.”

He jumped at the sound of his own voice, surprised at his involuntary speech. He thought for a moment that his mind was just playing tricks on him. “You let your stupid pride get in the way and now look where that’s gotten you. Good ponies died because of you and this stupid little adventure you wanted to go on because you thought it was fun.”

He grit his teeth but he couldn’t argue. He knew that was true, after all, it came from his own head. The fight with Cadence replayed in his mind. “Adventure is calling to me”. He almost spat at the ground at that.

“Some adventure this turned out to be...” He spoke in a low, hateful tone. He was finally broken. After all the dangers he’d been through and all the challenges he faced, it was this that finally broke him. And there was nothing anypony could do about it.
“Oh, but you did answer a call.” This time, the voice wasn’t his own and he almost screamed when he saw two large eyes staring at him. They lacked any noticeable feature other than the full black irises that had settled upon him.

“What... What are you?!”

The eyes didn’t respond immediately, instead it just rolled off the shield. The next time it spoke, it was with a different voice, one that Shining instantly recognized. It was the voice of Right Hook, his second in command, “I don’t get it. If we came all the way out here just to investigate some earthquakes, couldn’t we just send some pegasi here with seismic equipment?”

Shining Armor swallowed a bitter pill as he started to realize what this all was, "You caused the earthquakes?"

The next voice that Shining heard was feminine and not one he recognized. “The mines here go so much deeper than I’d originally thought, I’m starting to wonder why they were even abandoned in the first place. Many of the halls I’ve found have been sealed up with an odd purple ice, and all seemingly resistant to my heating spells. I... I think I’m going to die down here.”

Shining backpedaled. Whatever this creature was, it didn’t seem intelligent -or capable - enough to speak for itself, instead, it was using the memories of dead ponies to communicate. He felt even more nauseated by that thought and just when he figured it couldn’t get much worse, it spoke again. But this time, it wasn’t using a mere memory, it had managed to mimic his own voice as it spoke to him.

“I must thank you for answering the call of duty, Shining. You’ve given me more than enough food to regain my strength and soon, nothing will be able to stop the Smooze.”

Author's Note

Well this chapter was a long time coming, the move definitely put some strain on my body, and it wasn't helped by the fact that I had to put up with family for a good week. In short updates were slow and that was my fault.

As some people guessed yes the purple stuff is the Smooze with a few changes, and yes I did just add both griffons and changelings into the story. They are going to play bit parts in this story, but when it's over they will likely become major parts of a sequel if and when I decide to write it. So I figgured I would add them in here, and once again i must fire ze head cannon:

Why would a changeling hive be visible? With their countless numbers and their ability to be anyone and everyone, as well as the over all reliance on deceit the hive would likely be hidden under a remote isolated location right? So why not just build a regular pony town over it, and have the day\night shift guard of how many of your countless swarm assume regular pony forms.

I see it all the time in fan fictions the hive is some kind of insect like nest just put inside some remote mountain, or worse on full display from the sky. The changelings are at least remotely intelligent to use lies to their advantage so i think they can come up with a better disguise then a mountain range.

I'm not saying there probably isn't some insect like nest under the town, but having a face above ground allows you the benefit of trade, and an easy location to name when interrogated about where your from. "Oh you wouldn't know it, it's this remote little desert town so far south of dodge junction you have to fly to get to it, but our money is still good so could we get some food?"

It just makes more sense to me that every ling would have a public face including their hive.