Harmony and Balance

by BlazingShadowBrony

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Random, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Princess Luna, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Comedy, Romance, Adventure, Derpy Hooves
Length: 16015

The Elements of Harmony aren't the only elements in Equestria. Six stallions hold the other ones.

Rewritten and Revised: Thanks to FauxFox. All my current chapters are revised. I take credit for the idea, characters and general structure of this fanfiction. But credit goes to FauxFox for the editing and making the story a worthwhile read. THANKS FAUXFOX!

When Twilight finds an interesting subject on the Elements of Harmony, six stallions arrive in ponyville seeking homes. Twilight is distracted from the interesting subject and helps the stallions feel welcome.
But when a new evil lurks on the horizon, will the Elements of Harmony be enough?

(Cover image was made in GeneralZoi's Pony Creator Full Version, credit to her for the opportunity to give you all a visual representation of Firewing)

Published 2011-10-29 23:51:59 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-27 02:24:23 UTC

Prologue-The Dragon Winged Colt

The Dragon Winged Colt

This story begins in Sky City, the second pegasus capital of Equestria. At this specific time, a very important mare is giving birth.

"AUGH!" screamed the mare, whose brilliant, blue colored fur was covered in sweat and her orange mane was horribly frizzed.

"The foal's almost here! Now Push!" the stallion urged through his muzzle mask.

"Hnng! AUGH! Hnnng! HAAAH!" the mare gasped as crying filled the room, "I-Is the foal okay, Redwing?"

The stallion, who had gone unnoticed by anypony in the room simply replied, "I don't know, Shining Star. Is everything alright, doc?"

The stallion who had sat quietly, handed the foal to the waiting nurse pony and turned to the concerned parents, "C-Congrats! It's a dragon-winged colt!" The mare's face was stuck in shock and her husband simply fainted.

Seven years later-Sky City Flight School

Firewing was watching some of the pegasi from a local performing group named the Cloud Cutters. He was fascinated with all the tricks they were pulling off: loopty-loops, barrel rolls, twists and turns, in obstacle courses even the Wonderbolts wouldn't have made it through. In fact, one pegasus inparticular caught his attention, the leader of the flying wonders, Cumulus Striker. That pegasus alone made Firewing shudder with pure happiness! He suddenly heard a laugh that made his fur crawl.

"Hahahaha! I see you're still stuck to cloud walking. What's wrong Wirewing?* Still envying the flying pegasi?" Firewing turned to the colt who spoke so lowly of him. There he stood, his coat a pristine white that could show off the smallest speck of dust, and his mane was so blond, it was almost golden! He was being followed by two other colts who were slightly less stunning to look at, the only differences were their coat colors, one was a dull grey while the other was a copper-like color, and their mane's intensity.

"Still can't go anywhere without your lackeys I see, Golden Crown." Firewing said, getting two growls from the colts that accompanied the stuck-up snob. "Why don't you take your white flank somewhere else? I'm busy."

"I can't do that, the teacher is looking for you, so I offered to come and get you." Golden Crown smiled wickedly as he said this, "Isn't that right, Fetlocks?" He turned to the larger of the three, who only silently nodded his head.

Firewing only shook his head, the blazing red mane atop his head swayed, "What point is it going to class if my wings make it too hard to fly, hmm?" He flexed his orange, dragon-like wings to emphasize his point, "Now would you mind? I'm about to barf from looking at your face." The sunset-orange colt turned on his hooves and plopped down on his flank.

"But we got asked to give you flying lessons if you didn't come back, as punishment." The white colt tilted his head enough for his two friends to get the point and they snuck up behind the unsuspecting colt. "First thing's first, you might learn out of necessity."

Firewing got the feeling that somepony was behind him, and when the white pegasus said something about learning out of necessity, he put two and two together and came up with horse-apples. He turned only to be tackled by the two stronger pegasi. "Hey! Lemme go!"

"Not until the first lesson is over. Fetlocks! Stronghoof! Let him take a dive." The two colts obeyed and positioned Firewing over the edge of the cloud. Just when they were about to let go, they heard a voice coming from below them, "Go jump off a cloud! You colts can't fly either!" Accompanying the voice was a colt, about the same age as the four other ponies on the cloud, he was flying, granted his wings were the size of a full grown pegasi's. "Beat it! Or else!"

"Aaaggghhh!" screamed Stronghoof as he galloped away with Fetlocks in close pursuit. "Get back here, you dolts!" screamed a very angry Golden Crown, "I'm not done with you."

At that, the large-winged colt flared his wings, and scared the spoiled pony away. He turned to Firewing and smiled, now that he could see him better, he noticed he was colored a very strange shade of yellow, like a lightning bolt mixed in with the clouds at early sunrise. His mane was styled so that it covered his eyes, but Firewing saw their color, they were the same color as his fur, like the sky at sunset.

"Hi! My name's Stormy Skies. What's yours?" he asked, his voice giving Firewing a feeling of uneasiness, he sounded like all the jocks who made fun of him, a deeper, scratchier voice that only belonged to those who could fly fast. But his eyes got rid of that feeling, instead giving him a feeling of hope that this pony wasn't trying to make fun of him.

"Um...my name is Firewing," the orange colt said while pawing at the cloud beneath his hooves. Firewing was never really good at talking to other ponies first, and even then he was very shy about it, though not as shy as a filly he met once in Cloudsdale. He had met her when she fell on him, and the result had been a very long, very awkward silence as the two foals tried to hide their blushes. It was eventually broken when a colt started picking on her and Firewing took the initiative by having a few mean words with the colt." They were separated when Firewing's parents took him home a week later.

"Your wings are cool!" the yellow colt said, breaking Firewing out of his memories, "I mean, how does it feel to have a claw on your wing?"

Though Firewing was confused at why Stormy wasn't asking normal questions, he was happy they were questions, "Well, its like having an extra limb. I can move it like the rest of my wing, see?" Firewing stretched out his wing and wiggled the claw around on it's own, which gained a small 'ooh!' from Stormy.

"Hey! I just noticed you're a blank flank!" at this Firewing's confidence plummeted to the ground below, until he heard Stormy say something else, "Me, too!" Firewing looked up and saw the colt's empty canvas of a flank. "Now we're not like that stuck up snob at all!" Stormy smiled so wide that his face nearly tore in half. Firewing couldn't have been happier, not only did he find somepony with an unusual wing condition, but this pony hated Golden Crown as much as he did. The young colt could almost imagine the white colt's golden blond tail on fire, just like the rhyme.

Liar, liar, tail on fire.

Hanging from a high wire.

Just then, a very loud boom startled the two ponies. Firewing was sent flying out of his daydream so fast he actually flew out of it, eyes wide and trying to control his movements, he even flew upside down before righting himself. Stormy, however, was not so lucky, as his first reaction was to run, and he ran fast! Too fast, as he ran right into a cloud pillar**, he was stunned and shaken. Firewing was about to go and help Stormy when he smelled something burning. He looked around and saw he was burning, his tail to be exact, but he didn't feel it, in fact it wasn't even hot. It was warm, very warm, and when he thought of what his thoughts were earlier, he changed them to match his tail going out, and it did. He laughed as a small flash alerted him of his flank. He turned and saw a dragon wing, like his, with fire trailing off of it, his cutie mark! He landed and went over to Stormy and saw he was stuck in the cloud. "You look like you could use some help." Firewing said, getting ready to pull on the stuck pegasi's tail.

"THAT WAS AWESOME! I-I-I *sniff* ah! Ah! AH! AachooooooooUMF!" Stormy sneezed and shot right out of the cloud, and landed a few feet away. What he didn't know though, was that his sneeze was paired with a large boom of thunder, which caused Firewing to jump again. Storm looked at the pillar he was just stuck in and saw the large hole in it. "Did my sneeze do that?" he asked Firewing who flew over to him, a smile plastered on his face. "Sneeze? You shot lightning out of your nose! Try thinking of lightning coming out of your hoof!" The yellow pegasus complied, and laughed when electricity crackled at the end of his hoof, "I can control lightning? Sweet!" he pumped his forelegs in the air as a small flash on his flank showed the arrival of his cutie mark.

"Hey! I know what we should do!" Firewing said.

"What?" Stormy asked, now flying like Firewing.

"Let's go scare that Golden Crown all the way to the moon!"

"Yeah!"

"Hey, Stormy?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we be friends?"

"We already are."

The two friends trotted away, blissfully unaware of the circular rainbow above them.

End of prologue!

*Wirewing is the nickname that Firewing got because his wings were like they were full of unbending wires anytime he tried to fly.

**Pegasi find clouds made into buildings and other thing like them hard, for Stormy this is like an earth pony running into a wall.

Author's Note: I have extended this chapter first to give an insight on what Firewing's life was like before he made his second ever friend! His first friend seems to be an extremely shy Pegasus who hails from Cloudsdale, I WONDER WHO THAT COULD BE!!! *insert trollestia.jpg*

Anywho...I am currently taking every chapter down and reworking them into somthing a bit more stable. So read the prologue! And remember...muffins! All hail the muffins!

Chapter 1-The Honest Truth and Magical Knowledge

Chapter 1

The Honest Truth and Magical Knowledge

It was a busy day in Ponyville, all the shop owners were happy with all the business they were having today. It was like something was pushing the ponies from out of town, into town. But that wasn't something Twilight Sparkle, the pony in charge of the library and prized student of Princess Celestia, was worried about. She had a business, sure, but it wasn't somewhere ponies spent their bits. So Twilight started researching the Elements of Harmony again, just in case. She wouldn't admit she was just bored and wanted something to do, but she would admit she was surprised at an entry in the back of the book called Harmony and Balance that hinted at other Elements in Equestria. In fact, she was pacing right now, a little sweat appeared on her brow, "Spike, haven't you found that book yet?"

A purple head appeared around the corner, "Not yet, Twilight. What's so different about this book than the one you've already got?" the baby dragon asked as he and Owlicious were nearly tearing apart the library trying, unsuccessfully, to find the other book on the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight just sighed impatiently and tapped her hoof, "This book is supposed to have more information, but I don't know what kind of information." She looked at the sun, as she usually did when she was nervous, or paranoid, but she was just nervous right now.

"Ah ha! I found it Twilight! Whoa! UGH!" Spike found himself being pulled by the book itself, and he was pulled straight to the floor. It gave him a feeling of deja vu, but he shook it off.

"Thank you, Spike!" Twilight said as she used her magic to flip through the pages. She stopped on a certain page and read it aloud, "When the Midknight comes to take the throne, Harmony and Balance must be owned. I need to tell Princess Celestia! Spike, take a note." Twilight turned her head to see if the purple dragon was ready, but saw he was glaring at her.

"Twilight, the last time you did this, the Princess made sure you kept your mind off of it, while making sure the fate of Equestria was in your hooves. Are you sure you want to tell her now, instead of when you have more knowledge on the subject?" Spike made a good point, if she didn't study this a bit more she might make a foal of herself. "You're right Spike, I'll look into this more, while you go and get those things I needed from Pinkie Pie."

"You got it! Number one assistant, on the job!" Spike did a little salute before making his way to the door. As soon as the purple dragon touched the knob, he was sent flying by the pink blur of a pony that slammed it in his snout, "Woah!"

Twilight sighed, she knew it was coming, because the very mention of her name would attract her to the pony who said it, as Twilight looked up and she saw the pink fur and the pinker curls. "Twilightyougottahelpme!" the energy from Pinkie was enough to tire out a pony miles away.

"With what exactly?" Twilight asked, her patience was gone now and she was worried about what the Balance part in the prophecy was, and more importantly, who or what the Midknight was.

"Well, I was on my way back from Fluttershy's cottage when I met six stallions and they said they were headed here and I went *pinkie gasp* and I ran here as fast as I could so I could throw them a party to welcome them to Ponyville! But I need help distracting them. Can we hold the party here?" Pinkie barely bated an eyelash at the amount of words she said in the small amount of time, instead she smiled a pleading smile.

"Fine, but only until you're done." Twilight stared at Pinkie, who then sat back on her haunches, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

"Alright, now where are these stallions?"

Hi! My name's Snowfall, this is Riverbank. Pleased to meet you.

"Firewing!"

Firewing was torn out of his memories as the voice of his friend Stormy Skies filled his ears. "Yeah! What is it Storm?"

"Well, ever since that mare gasped and ran away, I feel, uncomfortable about this town." Stormy had an expression of uneasiness written all over his muzzle.

Firewing didn't answer his friend fast enough, as another, more sophisticated sounding, voice cut in, "Now, really? I think she was just eccentric for a pony. We will be fine at this new town, I swear! Besides, I haven't slept in a real bed for weeks!" Firewing turned to the source of the voice, the stallion who said it was a unicorn with an icy blue fur and a dark grey mane specked with white, all this was accented by the red color of his eyes. A look at his flank, and Firewing was reminded why he was called Snowfall, as his cutie mark was one of a paintbrush and a colored pencil drawing a blue snowflake. He looked at the stallion though, because he expected a hoof on his forehead, as he was a very dramatic pony, but instead he found him looking relieved.

"Oh, come off it! I said I was sorry, okay?" This voice was a bit less sophisticated, and a bit more laid back. Firewing saw the other pony step up to Snowfall, "I didn't know those were Parasprites okay!"

"Oh, do calm yourself Riverbank. I was angry, but I got over it," Snowfall looked at his brother with sincerity, "and besides, mom told me to look after you." This got a reaction out of the other unicorn, "Don't bring mom into this!" Riverbank screamed, jumping in front of Snowfall. His features were a bit more obvious now, his fur was the color of the ocean, a clean, dark blue, and his mane was a lighter blue, like that of a river, with muddy brown streaks on the edges of it. It was styled so that his bangs were just above his eyes, and the rest was long and flowing, like a river. His eyes were a brilliant shade of green, it matched the color of seaweed in the ocean. But his cutie mark showed he was a different stallion then his voice portrayed. His cutie mark was that of a book with a river flowing out of it. He was a very smart pony, who took everything seriously and almost always had his muzzle in a book. Him and Snowfall were brothers, but they acted more like friendly rivals more.

Firewing only shook his head as the two brothers escalated the argument to a fight. This always happens, those two are like the never-ending argument, he thought to himself. He turned and looked at Storm, who only shrugged. "Would y'all kindly shut up! Ah've got enough of a headache already without you two arguin' an' hollerin'!" the largest pony of the bunch said, his southern accent cutting through the unicorns fight, like a hot knife through butter.

Riverbank lowered his head in defeat and mumbled, "He started it."

Snowfall also lowered his head, looking like a foal who got scolded by its parents.

"Thank y'all very much," the large pony said, holding his head up a bit. He was quite a stallion, most mares swarmed him when he arrived to a new town. His fur was a steel grey, and his mane was the color of the natural soil he often planted his apple trees in. It was a bit long and had to be pulled into a, 'scuse the phase, ponytail. His eyes were hazel, depending on his mood the color would appear to change, and his cutie mark was that of an apple sitting atop a boulder that was split from the bottom to the top. He looked like a normal earth pony, except his hooves were a bit more bare of fur, showing he was a work pony.

"Thank you, Redcore." Firewing nodded at his friend, who nodded back.

"Out of curiosity, where is our hyperactive baker?" Snowfall quickly asked, trying not to upset Redcore. As if waiting for a cue, a white stallion dropped on top of Storm. This sent the easily startled pegasus running at speeds a normal pony would never reach, and ran right into a tree. "Ow!" the flattened pegasus muttered before his body fell away from the tree.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Storm; I was trying to scare Red," the white stallion said as he walked over to his friend, "Are you okay?"

"Yep. Just few broken ribs, a shattered muzzle, and a bit of brain damage. Nothin' I can't handle!" the pegasus said sarcastically, which prompted Redcore to say, "How much Ego have you been feeding him?"

Firewing looked at his friend and replied, "None, it's self-supplying. He never runs out." Firewing almost forgot, they met Redcore at the town they were at before the last one, so he was still new to the unusual antics of the other ponies he decided to travel with. The six were looking for new homes, as they figured they traveled enough. Well, except Red, he just wanted to move away, but the five ponies he traveled with were his friends. They all grew attached to the work pony as soon as they met him, the white pony especially. Speaking of whom, the orange pegasus yelled at his friend, "Windy! He's fine, get over here!"

The pony known as Windy Day practically teleported over to Firewing's side, "Okie dokie lokie!" Firewing knew the pony's features by heart, he was white, but more like off-white, and his mane was a multitude of colors. It was like somepony took the most random colors and splashed them all over his mane and tail. That, and it was never, never, the same pattern or color combination, it was like his mane was directly connected to his brain. Anypony who looked at his eyes would be captivated by the intense red hue they were, and red eyes are very rare, so that was another bizarre thing about him. His cutie mark was even more bizarre, it was a multicolored tornado coming out of a cupcake! The pony never had a normal thing happen around him either! He led the Parasprites out of the last town, with a polka! Granted the townsponies still chased them out of town, but it was still abnormal since nopony knew what a parasprite was, yet he knew.

"Ah! There it is! Ponyville, our new home!" Firewing spread his foreleg out at the town.

Storm smirked and said, "That's what you said about the last ten towns." Firewing's expression deadpanned as he tackled the other pegasus. They all laughed as they got closer to the town.

______________---------------------

Twilight was nervous, she agreed to Pinkie's request only so she could get back to finding out about the prophecy. Ugh! This is taking forever, where are they? Oh! There they are! Twilight saw them off in the distance, six total stallions, two pegasi (one of them had strange looking wings, but it could have been a trick of the eyes), two unicorns and two earth ponies. "Gee, sounds like me and the girls. Hmm...could they? Nah!" Twilight shook the ridiculous thought out of her head and head to the edge of town to meet them and welcome them.

--------------_______________

"I smell a muffin!" Windy said, snout in the air and sniffing.

"That's nice Windy, go and get the muffin," Snowfall said, waving his forehoof dismissively before realizing his mistake and catching the earth pony by the tail with his magic, "Woah! Wait, remember the last time you ran into a town because you could smell a muffin? We were just lucky you didn't destroy anything important."

"B-but I need the muffin!" the earth pony was strong, so strong in fact that only Red could stop him fully, which he did. "Whoa! Hold up 'ere! I wasn't around when that happened but it don't sound pretty. We're tryin' to make a good impression." That got Windy to calm down and listen, both because he really liked good things and because he always listened to Red, he had a feeling the work pony was sensitive to certain things. That and he admired the large stallion, seeming like a calm pony, that is until the unicorn brothers started fighting.

"Okay. I'll wait. For you guys." Windy's mane almost seemed to shift colors, from the normal random color splashes, to the more blue colors, but nopony really noticed because they were too focused on the mare approaching them.

Storm shifted nervously, "Um...we didn't even do anything yet. Did we?" he asked Firewing who was unsure himself why a mare would approach them unless it was to keep them out of town. Firewing looked to the rest of his friends, and noticed that Riverbank had a look in his eyes that told Firewing that he was either A.) very tired or B.) lovestruck. He decided that it was the latter and turned to the mare, who was closer by now, and inspected her features. Her fur was a light shade of violet and her mane and tail was lavender, with a streak of pink and a streak of purple running the entire length. She was a unicorn now that Firewing finished looking at her mane, he could see the horn poking out. He couldn't quite see her cutie mark, but he was grateful he couldn't, beings how even though he was a leader, he was a bit self-conscious about his wings(and a bit shy). So if he couldn't see her cutie mark, she probably couldn't see his wings. Storm picked up on the movements that Firewing made with his wings, they twitched and were hugged so close to his body, Storm was certain Firewing was trying to fuse them with his sides. So he decided to help his friend cover them indiscreetly, he moved closer to Firewing's side enough to cover his wings from view, but still look like they weren't a couple, cause that would be weird. He then motioned for Red to do the same, he moved to the other side and positioned himself much the same way Storm had.

The mare trotted up casually and smiled, "Hi!" she said, her voice was beautiful and matched her looks, unsurprisingly making Riverbank sigh. That earned him a look from both his brother and the mare, who only shook her head and returned her attention back to the orange stallion, who only smiled back and said a very sheepish, "H-hi."

(Whee! Perspective changes! Oops! Sorry, I’m not a narrator, I'm an author. *clears throat* Sorry, proceed!)

Twilight was amazed at how much this reminded her of her own friends, one of the stallions looked ready to throw a party, one looked like he was more suited for designing than outside, another looked at the sky so often, she was sure he was going to take off, another looked like a longer-maned, steel grey version of Big Macintosh, and the one in the lead, he looked like if he had the mane for it, he would hide behind it. She was still feeling awkward about welcoming these ponies, but she promised Pinkie. "Uhm, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I would like to welcome you to Ponyville." She gestured to the town behind her with her forehoof and looked back at the travelers. That was her first mistake, as the one who was leading the group had his wings stretched out, as if he was waiting for her to turn around so she wouldn't see them. As soon as she saw them though, she knew why he acted so shy and looked like he wanted to disappear. Twilight turned her head back to Ponyville so fast she was sure the whiplash would get to her later. She sat there, surprised and confused about what she saw, and dared to look back at the group. To her surprise, none of the stallions changed demeanor, except the one with the multicolored mane, he now looked like he wanted to throw-up. Then the one in the front spoke up again, "M-my name is Firewing. This stallion over here is Stormy Skies." He waved his hoof over to the yellow stallion. He looked a bit less shy, but only a bit. His friend bowed his head, "Nice to meet you, Twilight."

Before Twilight could even answer, his off-white friend was in front of her, "Omygosh! Hi! I'm Windy Day, but most ponies call me Windy! Do you like cupcakes? I do and I can make some good ones. But I don't really know if there's a bakery in town." He suddenly gasped and looked at Twilight again, "You live here so you could tell me, right?"

"Y-yes." Twilight was a little freaked out by how fast he warmed up to her.

"You can!? Gee, thanks Twilight!" he shook her hoof and took off like a bullet. Twilight yelled after him, "It's called Sugercube Corner!" Twilight got a wave as a response. Twilight returned her attention back to the group, "So would you like a tour of the town?"

(perspective change! yay.)

Firewing was utterly dumbfounded at how fast Twilight recovered from having Windy ask her questions and generally act creepy. "Y-you're not freaked out by us now?" He was still in shock.

"No. Should I be?" she asked, sending all the stallions into a frenzy of 'no's' and 'not at all's'. She smiled and said, "Come on, you can introduce yourselves on the way to the marketplace." she led the way towards the center of town and the others introduced themselves. The whole time, the travelers lightened up and enjoyed the fact that they might have finally found their home.

______________________________________

They all arrived to the marketplace and they immediately found out that the ponies here were just as nice as Twilight. They toured the stalls and entered a few stores. The one that Firewing and Storm loved was the candy store belonging to a pony named Bon-Bon. The pegasi were sad they had to leave, as their bits were limited. Unbeknownst to the group, the work pony had been missing, that is, until they went closer to the stalls. A crowd was around the apple stall and it attracted the attention of Twilight, who looked worried about the stand's owner. Firewing was more concerned at the fact that there was a crowd, and his wings were more exposed with Redcore missing, he just realized. But he followed the concerned unicorn, and regreted it.

"...An' ah'm sayin' your apples are not at their peak of ripeness. You are sellin' ripe apples, sure. But their flavor is sufferin'!"

"An' ah'm tellin' you, mah apples are perfect the way they are! You have no right to come inta town and criticize how ah grow mah apples!"

Firewing saw Redcore arguing with an orange earth mare with a blond mane and tail with what looked like scrunchies on them. But her most prominent feature was her cowmare hat and cutie mark, which was three red apples. Both him and Twilight ran up to the arguing ponies and interjected.

"Applejack? What's going on?"

"Red? What the hay are you doing!?"

Both ponies turned to their respective friends and unleashed a volume hell upon them.

"This pony trotted up here an' insulted mah apples."

"Ah was tryin' to help this here mare with her apples when she started yellin' at me."

"Insults are no help! You...You...You unbalanced colt!"

Everypony knows, a work pony without balance, is like a pegasus without wings, and the insult got the steel-colored earth pony right up in Applejack's face. His ears were down and his forehoof was pawing at the ground. "You take that back!"

"You first," Applejack said, her ears down also.

Firewing had slipped back into the back of the crowd, his wings tucked back against his sides. "This can't end well. Storm, would you go up there instead. You know, just in case."

Storm did his best salute and pushed through the crowd to the front. He watched as the two ponies gave an all out verbal war.

"FILLY-FOOLER!"

"DULL-EYES!"

"DRUNK!"

"DEVIL!"

"Y'ALL ARE A DISGRACE TO APPLE FARMERS EVERYWHERE!"

Applejack snapped, his last insult hit her hard, "NOW Y'ALL LISTEN HERE! Y'ALL BEST THINK TWICE BEFORE Y'ALL INSULT THE APPLE FAMILY NAME!" Applejack's face was as red as her brother's, and starting to get to Twilight's shade of purple, "PUT 'EM UP! I'M GONNA LAY YOU OUT! Huh?" Applejack realized that the stallion stopped, jaw down and rump down onto the ground. He was staring at Applejack like he was looking at Princess Celestia.

"Oh, mah stahs! Yer a part of the Apple family!? Ah apologize for insultin' yer apples." Red backed off, his ears now lowered in shame and his tail was swishing in nervousness.

"Beg yer pardon?" Applejack was now a bit calmer, but now she was confused. The stallion that was so bent on saying her apples weren't good enough was now looking like a colt about to get punished for breaking something.

Storm saw what was happening and suddenly started to break up the crowd. "Alright, there's nothing to see. Go on, get." He busied himself with getting some ponies who didn't get the idea, that Red was uncomfortable with talking in front of other ponies, to leave.

"Ah'm from the Red family. Ah know our families are close, an' we trade some of the family secrets for growin' apples and sellin' them for more bits an' all that." He hung his head as he talked, "Ah'm real sorry."

Applejack's mind went racing. She knew about the Red family, their specialty apples are the Red Delicious apples, but the two families had a falling out during the last apple bucking season. This pony had no idea, so she would have to try and be friends with him. After all, if he gets to know her better, he might help her call off the feud. "S'aright. Ah fergive ya. Why don't ah introduce y'all to the rest of mah family here in Ponyville?"

Red's ears perked up at the chance to meet more of the Apple family. He stood up straight and said, "Would ah! See ya later, Firewing!" he said as he trotted off with the orange mare.

Firewing shook his head and turned to Twilight. "We would still like to tour the rest of the town."

Twilight smiled as she said, "I would be glad to give you the rest of that tour."

End Chapter 1

Author's Note: If you have read the first version of this chapter, I apologize for the lack of meetings for the other characters but I didn't want you all to read a book in a chapter. I assure you, the other chapters are on their way.

Chapter 2-Selfless Generosity and Loyal Trust

Chapter 2

Selfless Generosity and Loyal Trust

"The stallions arrived! Just as you predicted sir."

"Excellent. Soon, their will be nothing to stop me. Get ready."

Twilight took the remaining four stallions to Sugercube Corner so they could see the bakery and retrieve their friend. But when they arrived, they saw the Cakes looking a little distraught and amused.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Cake...is everything alright?" Twilight asked, looking over their shoulders.

"Oh! Oh dear, yes. Everything's fine. It's just this stallion who came into the shop earlier and asked to use the kitchen." Mrs. Cake leaned in close to Twilight and whispered, "He reminds me of Pinkie Pie. It's kind of weird deary."

Twilight smirked a bit and backed up towards the group of stallions, "Well, these stallions know him. I'm showing them around town a bit."

Firewing bowed his head slightly. Then he cringed at the sound of a dish breaking and when he did, his wings unfurled just enough for everypony to see. As soon as it happened, he snapped his wings shut and stood up straight, an awkward look on his face. He cleared his throat and said in a quick manner, "Well, I like your establishment. I apologize for my friend and we'll take him off your hooves. Ok? Ok." He motioned for Storm to grab the baking pony and started backing up towards the door while Storm tore his friend away from the oven.

"NOOOO! I'M NOT DONE! I NEED TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The earth pony yelled while being drug out of the bakery by his tail. Storm was having a hard time pulling the pony, but he finally succeeded in getting the off-white pony away from the shop.

Twilight was close behind the group and said goodbye to the bakery's owners and followed after the distressed pegasus and his friends. Not noticing the Cake's worried faces. Just as she caught up to the other ponies, her eyes immediately saw a problem. Firewing was obviously worried, Storm and Windy were comforting him, and Riverbank and Snowfall were trying to think of a spell to cover up the dragon wings. Then she heard Firewing, "Great. Just great. Now they're gonna chase us outta town. Grr, I'm sorry you guys."

Snowfall spoke next, "You have no need to apologize. They are not chasing us now, and you only showed your wings to three ponies. We are safe from malice and hatred."

"Yeah!" Riverbank's head went up, "We can still make a good first impression." He turned to see Twilight, her eyes showing her worry.

Twilight could have run, or told everypony Firewing's secret, or even told them to come with her to see the Princess. Instead, she galloped up to Firewing and gave him a hug. Firewing's face turned crimson, Storm and Snowfall's jaws nearly hit the ground, Windy was oblivious, and Riverbank audibly cursed his luck. Twilight stepped back and blushed, then she said, "You guys have nothing to worry about here. I'll talk to everypony, they won't chase you out of town or show malice. They are just jumpy at new ponies. I heard you talking, and I feel like I should help make you feel more welcome than any other town you may have been chased out of." She smiled at all of the stallions and started trotting towards the edge of town.

Windy day, being the only pony unphased by the hug Twilight gave Firewing, suddenly noticed she was leading them somewhere. "Ooh! Hey! Where are we going now?" he asked as he bounced up to Twilight.

Twilight turned her head and said, "I want you to see a good friend of mine. She runs the boutique at the edge of town."

Pinkie was hurrying to get all the supplies she needed, she needed to bake a cake, make the punch, invite everypony, and she would need a balloon for everypony in Ponyville and the new ponies. It was gonna be so fun! She was returning to the library to start setting up the decorations when she spotted AJ with one of the new ponies. She still needed an invitation, but she wanted it to be a surprise party so the stallion couldn't know. She sat down to think when she got a great idea. She would give Big Macintosh his invitation and ask him to give Applejack the invitation when it was almost time to go to the party, because, let's face it, AJ is a bad liar. She took off towards Sweet Apple Acres to tell him.

______________________________________

Firewing was uncomfortable now. He felt uncomfortable anyways because of his shy nature, but he was uncomfortable because he accidentally showed his wings to three ponies, he got a very unexpected hug from their tour guide to Ponyville, and he was unsure about how this friend of Twilight's would react. Yeah, he would try to hide himself under a rock if he could. But his friends were counting on him, they wanted to settle down in a new town and this was probably their last chance to do it. He followed the lavender mare to the boutique aptly name Carousel Boutique, as it looked like a carousel at the fair, just without the animals that went around and as far as he could tell it didn't rotate. They entered the boutique and a bell rang above their heads. As soon as it did, a very eloquent voice sounded from somewhere in the back. "Just a minute!"

A white unicorn mare came from a doorway leading to somewhere else in the boutique. Her purple mane and tail curled around and bounced as she walked, making it seem very hypnotizing. She saw Twilight first and rushed over to greet her. "Oh Twilight, darling! I wasn't expecting you until later."

Twilight rolled her eyes and said, "Rarity, I would like you to meet the new ponies in town." Twilight waved her front hoof towards the group. She started introducing them to her, Snowfall first. His gentlecoltly nature immediately got an invite to the boutique later. Next up, Windy Day, who only succeeded in saying hello before he zipped around the boutique looking at all the ponyquins shooting off random questions that Rarity promptly ignored. Then came Riverbank, and her reaction to his mane and tail was overly exaggerated. She snagged the poor unicorns tail in her mouth as she moved a brush over his head with her horn. About a minute later, Riverbank's mane was evenly distributed color-wise, and his tail now looked much better kept. He went to the nearest mirror to asses the damage and his face started loosing it's color. While Riverbank was busy with his hair, Twilight pushed Firewing forward with her magic. Not a gentle push, mind you, but a rather forceful push meant to have Firewing involuntarily spread his wings. It worked, his rump was in the air, his wings were spread, and his face turned beet red.

"Oh my, darling. Are you alright?" Rarity asked, more concerned for the Pegasus' well-being than his wings. He got up with her help and nodded his head. Rarity watched as Firewing got his wings moved into a more comfortable position before he noticed Rarity was blushing only a bit. He wondered if he maybe had what looked like a wing-boner, but it was apparently not the case.

"Um...I-is everything alright? Is it my mane? I swear I would not look good in some fancy clothes." He stopped when Rarity leaned towards Snowfall, who was whispering in her ear. She then composed herself and asked a very simple question. "What is it like darling? To have wings that aren't feathery."

Firewing was a little taken aback by the question, but he answered it anyways, "It's a bit heavier to carry around all the time, and to be honest...they weigh me down when I'm flying or walking anywhere. I do know that they are more durable though, I can fly through a tree's branches while other pegasi can't because the feathers get ripped out of the wings. I hear it's uncomfortable losing feathers." Firewing was about to shy away from the mare in front of him but when he turned his head, Twilight looked curious about his wings. He hesitated, but he opened the wing closest to her and let her feel it with her hoof. She gasped, she had felt Fluttershy's wings before, but it was different (She asked Twilight to stop, it seemed awkward to Fluttershy but she never explained why) in that, while a pegasi's wings are one long limb, three bones joined by joints and surrounded by muscles, his wings were more like a large claw with long fingers to stretch the skin, wait no, these were scales. Firewing's wings were not those of a pony, in fact he had a claw sticking out of his wing right at the spot where it bent, and feeling his wings let her feel the powerful muscles that moved them. Twilight rubbed her hoof against the main limb and got a very startled Firewing in response. "Ah! C-could y-you please not d-do that Twilight? It's strange." he stuttered like Fluttershy did when she was really frightened or uncomfortable. She deduced that Firewing was only comfortable letting her feel the stretched part of the wing, but she stopped entirely so he could go and be away from the two pairs of eyes that were on his wings. He took the silent hint and went to try and help Riverbank sort out his mane. He asked him what he thought of it, which got him bluntly saying quite loud, "It looks so dorky. I like it so my mane and tail match my name, just like my parents wanted."

"So Twilight, what did it feel like?" Rarity inquired, her voice just loud enough for Twilight to hear. Twilight leaned in close and answered with all her observations, eliciting a gasp from her friend."Wow, so it doesn't just look like a dragon's wing, but it is! Well, why is he hiding them?" Before Twilight could answer, the yellow pegasus who hadn't been introduced spoke up. But he was quiet about it, "We have been chased out of many towns because we looked different, acted different, and even because we could fly. Firewing is looking out for us, so he's trying to get into the town first. Then, he planned to show what made us different when we had the trust of you ponies." he took a deep breath and started speaking again, "Firewing is a pony who barely stood up for himself, to the point where if he got mad enough he would spout insults at everypony. He is a bit shy and cowardly when it comes to other ponies but if it's for us he'll do it."

Rarity who had been startled and intrigued by the story, then spoke up. "Well then, you all need a home don't you Mr.?"

"Stormy Skies. But you can just call Storm." Storm said as he got up on all fours and took a quick bow, his huge wings unfurling and almost knocking over a display and startling Rarity again. Twilight just looked at them in amazement, like she was hypnotized by the knowledge she could obtain from studying them. Then, just as she was going to look at the size of the feathers, he folded them to his body. "I am sorry Rarity. I keep forgetting how big these things are. They're caused by a rare disease called Eagle Wing Syndrome, it came from the gryphons. They are unaffected by it, because they are the carriers of the disease. It is a weak disease though, and can only be spread by a direct bite to a pregnant mare. Which means my mom got bitten by a gryphon when she was pregnant with me. I think it's cool, my dad, not so much. Hey did you know..." Storm just kept rambling about whatever he could think about next.

Firewing finally managed to help Riverbank with his mane, and turned to Rarity, who had left Storm to talk to Twilight, who was correcting his facts on his particular wing syndrome. She walked up to Firewing and smiled, "Darling, the ponies here in Ponyville will not hate you for being different. We just need time to adjust to your differences."

Firewing listened and when Rarity had finished speaking he smiled and nodded. He now felt a little less inclined to hide his wings, but only just a little.

______________________________________________

The stallions left after Snowfall got acquainted with Rarity a bit more, and Twilight whispered something in her ear. She offered to house all the stallions. Firewing, Storm, Riverbank and Windy all refused, politely. The group all toured the town a bit more before Applejack and Red showed up and joined the group. Storm then looked restless and took off to the sky to fly for a bit, making Twilight and Applejack worry. Firewing reassured them he would be fine and that he was just releasing some pent up energy. What the mares didn't know, was that Storm needed to fly to release some of the electricity he had stored. His flight took him to the edge of some large woods, and a giant field right next to it. His excess electric energy was gone, but he was still tired. He landed in the field and looked up at the beautiful rainbow that was forming...wait, what?

Storm hadn't seen wrong, it was a rainbow that was forming and dissipating just as fast. Storm squinted and strained his pegasus eyes, known for their eagle-like vision, and saw the rainbow was coming from a cyan colored pegasus with a mane to match it's trail. Then Storm noticed the pegasus was pulling stunts even the Wonderbolts would envy. He sat and watched as the pegasus looped and rolled, diving and puling out into tricks that would cause an untrained flier to crash. He watched for minutes before he wondered why the pegasus was suddenly climbing in altitude, then going into a full-fledged dive. Then he saw a cone forming around the pegasus' forehooves, thinking a Sonic Rainboom. But also thinking only one mare in Equestria had ever pulled that off, but...could it be? Before he could finish his thought he heard screaming and it was getting louder. He looked up and saw the cyan pegasus hurtling towards him. Abandoning all thoughts of self-preservation, he flew right into the pegasus' path knowing this was no trick. The pegasus crashed into him and they both tumbled into the field. When they stopped, the pegasus got up and shook her head, looked around, and heard an audible grunt when she took a step. She looked down and noticed another pegasus, the one who saved her from the inevitable pain she thought she would be feeling. She gasped and hovered over him, "Omigoshomigoshomigosh! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" she helped Storm up and he only responded quite curtly, "I've had worse. Better question, are you alright? Had I not caught you, you would more than a few casts on your wings and that would be bad. Especially since your flying was spectacular."

The mare went from concerned, to confused, to accepting the praise blushing. "I-I Uh, y-you really like my flying?" she stuttered out.

"Well yeah! You have skills the Wonderbolts would envy!" Storm's eyes lit up, "Hell! You should be a solo Wonderbolt! Leading the group flyers! Oh geez! I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself, my name is Stormy Skies. My friends call me Storm though."

The mare, still blushing from the praise and complements, raised her hoof saying, "Uh...name's Rainbow Dash." Rainbow nearly fell on her muzzle from the hoofshake she recieved. "Oh my Celestia! Y-y-you're Rainbow Dash!? The only pegasus to pull off the Sonic Rainboom, the fastest mare in Equestria and the most loyal friend?" Storm nearly started flying from excitement, his wings flared and went out full.

"Wow!" Rainbow managed to say, "Nice wings."

Storm blushed and folded his wings again, "Heh...um, it's a medical condition." Storm silently cursed his lack of words to say to the mare who inspired both him and Firewing to travel.

"Who's Firewing?" Rainbow asked, having heard some of the 'silent' curse.

Storm stiffened at the mention of Firewing's name and made a mental note to stop thinking out loud. "He's a friend of mine. He's a really good flier, and so am I." Storm said, his ego returning as quick as lightning.

Rainbow's ears perked up at the thought of learning something from some good fliers, but she contemplated being sneaky about it. She was the 'Best Young Flier' after all. "I would like to meet this friend of yours. Come on, I'll fly with ya!"

Storm jumped at the chance, and they took off towards Ponyville.

Start of Chapter 3!

Author's Note: WOW! I know I said I was changing things, but this is redonculous! I apologize this took so long to get out, but I think it's worth the wait. ENJOY! *KZT*

Chapter 3-Emotional Laughter and The Kindest Leader

Chapter 3

Emotional Laughter and the Kindest Leader

"Why are the preparations not complete?"

"Um...apologies sir but the spell-casters just aren't fast enough."

"They'd better hurry, or else I will be the first thing they worry about."

Firewing was feeling a lot more comfortable. Twilight was nice and reassuring of the group...short one...that toured the town. Soon it got dark, and Twilight took them to one last destination. It was her home, the library, that was situated in it's own spot. No homes surrounded it, and no other businesses were close to it. It was then that the missing stallion returned with a mare the stallions had yet to meet. They all caught up and introduced themselves to each-other, before being invited inside.

Twilight smirked then said, "Could somepony get the lights?" Knowing one of the stallions would comply, and sure enough, Windy found the light-switch with no problem and as he flicked it on...

"SURPRISE!"

Nearly everypony in Ponyville was there, and had the place decorated for a party. Windy was so happy that there was a party being held that he didn't even bother to figure out who it was for before he was dancing. Red was surprised, quickly got over it and was smiling. The twins simultaneously jumped and looked around nervously, nearly passing out. Storm looked at Rainbow, who only rolled her eyes. Firewing literally fainted and a goat bleated nearby.

---------__________

The party had been going for a while, Windy had went off and joined Pinkie like they were best friends, and the other stallions went off and talked with the mares who they met earlier in the day all, except for Firewing. He had recovered from his embarrassing predicament, and was staying near the punch bowl. He was trying to remain inconspicuous, and was doing really well, until he saw a flash of familiar colors. He saw a flash of soft yellow with a nice light pink, it seemed familiar but he couldn't place where he had seen those colors before, but he somehow managed to remember they were friendly.

Fluttershy was still wondering why she was here, she had never even seen these stallions before. But Pinkie insisted she come anyways. She sighed, she had managed to avoid the new stallions so far, but she too shy to even introduce herself.

"Um...hi."

Fluttershy squeaked and turned seeing an orange stallion also being startled. "Oh my! I'm so sorry!" He said, a noticeable blush appearing on his face, "I...um, just wanted to...um..." he started mumbling under his breath. Fluttershy looked at the stallion closer, while still managing to keep her face hidden behind her hair. His coat was a brilliant shade of orange, like a sunset! His mane was blood red, but it fit him, just like his mane-do. It was like a fire in the wind, she couldn't see his tail, but she assumed it was the same. It was at that time she realized that an awkward silence hung around them. She wanted to speak, but her body wouldn't let her, she was afraid of her first impression and didn't want to botch this chance. Fortunately, Pinkie came over, "Are you having a good time? I know I'm having a good time!"

"Oh, yes I am Pinkie." Fluttershy answered, glad she burst the silent bubble around them.

"Okie dokie lokie! Have fun you two lovebirds!" Pinkie said, not realizing; one, Fluttershy was the only one who heard it; two, the blush on Fluttershy's face was out of embarrassment, with a hint of crush in there; and three, she had increased the amount of uneasiness in Fluttershy, causing her to jump when the stallion spoke up.

"You have a beautiful voice." The stallion said, before quickly changing the subject, "Um, my name is Firewing. What's yours?"

Fluttershy was flustered at the compliment she received before, she was blushing with an intensity to make her whole face red, "Um...m-my name is Fluttershy," she managed to mumble.

"Uh...I didn't quite catch that." Firewing said.

"My name is Fluttershy." Fluttershy mumbled, only a bit louder. But, despite the noise around them, Firewing heard enough to finish the name, "Fluttershy...it's a beautiful name," Firewing said blissfully, before quickly saying, " Um! Uh...e-enjoy the party."

Fluttershy, who was now blushing again, managed to whisper two words, "Thank you."

_______________

After the party was over, Twilight and her friends all decided to talk with the stallions who were new to the town, minus one, because Riverbank had fallen asleep.

"So, where are you all planning on staying?" Twilight asked.

Snowfall answered first, "Me and Miss Rarity have agreed to let me sleep on her couch, I refused to let her give up her bed for me." Snowfall and Rarity got up, "Speaking of bed, I'm exhausted. Shall we go Miss Rarity?"

"But of course darling." Rarity said, as Snowfall opened the door of Twilight's Library, "Goodnight, everypony!"

Snowfall poked his head back in and asked, "If it wouldn't be a bother Miss Twilight, could my brother stay here for the evening?"

Twilight nodded her head, "Of course, Snowfall, and just call me Twilight."

Snowfall nodded his head, then headed out. Next to answer was Windy who, with Pinkie, explained at a pace nopony could understand, that they would use the pull out bed at her apartment. They left together and left Red as the next to answer, "Ah'm gonna be spendin' the night wit' the Apples at their farm. So with that, ah say goodnight y'all!"

Storm and Rainbow also had a similar agreement and they left with the farm ponies. Firewing then got up and said, "Well, I'm gonna go to that Inn down the street, so thanks Twilight. I had a really good time!" Firewing left as well, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy alone.

Twilight looked at Fluttershy and said, "So, what do you think of them?"

Fluttershy looked at Twilight and answered, "They're all so nice, but one of them looked familiar to me."

"Who?"

"Firewing. I can just picture him in my memories, but they seem to elude me."

Twilight figured something along the lines of foalhood crush, beings how Fluttershy was blushing a lot when she looked at him, "What do you think of Firewing?"

Fluttershy blushed a bit, thinking of how nice he was to her, and of what Pinkie said. She quietly answered, "I...l-like him. He's nice."

"Well, I think you should head home Fluttershy. It's dark, and I'm tired. Have a good night." Twilight said as she used her magic to cover Riverbank with a spare blanket.

Fluttershy perked up at this and said, "Oh, you two Twilight!" before she also left.

Firewing felt bad for lying, but he felt more comfortable sleeping on a cloud. He was flying near a forest of some kind and followed it for a bit.

"We are ready sir!"

"Good! Right on schedule! Fire!"

Firewing heard a strange sound coming from the forest next to him. When he looked down though, he saw a strange blue light hurtle towards him. Without enough time to react, it hit his chest. The sheer amounts of pain that went through his body were enough to distract him from another blue light that hit his wing. He plummeted to the ground, nearly smashing his muzzle on a rock. He was in pain, too much pain in fact, that he couldn't stand up! He could, however, roll over to examine his wounds. They were bad, his chest was full of gashes that were bleeding profusely and his left wing, where the other light hit, was cut all the way to the bone. Now, he wished he had gone to the Inn, cause now he needed help. "HELP!" He managed to scream, which he did over and over, hoping somepony would help him.

____________________

Fluttershy heard him before she saw him, she managed to find Firewing on the road to her cottage. He was hurt, horribly hurt. His wing was cut in many different places, all the way to the bone in fact, and his chest was full of gashes that seemed to just go in many different directions. So Fluttershy helped him get up by grabbing under his forelegs and flying while he used all his strength to push up with his back legs. They would only make it to her cottage and he would need to be bandaged. When she finally got him inside and laid him on her couch, he had already lost a lot of blood. But, he stayed awake enough to make it easier on Fluttershy when she bandaged his chest. Neither one of them talked during the ordeal, but when Fluttershy was done, Firewing uttered, "Thank you, Fluttershy," before he passed out from exhaustion and blood loss. Fluttershy, who was also exhausted, passed out next to him. Making the small couch crowded, but neither occupant was awake enough to care.

"You didn't kill him!?"

"No, sir. Another pony arrived before we could."

"YOU FOOL! YOU SHOULD'VE KILLED BOTH OF THEM! Leave me! I must think!"

It is end of Chapter 3.

But not beginning of Chapter 4?

Author's Note: Short chapter I know, but it's worth it. I Pinkie Promise!

Also...nejsudhfujffhfhfkdgxudu! That is all.

Chapter 4-The Morning After

Chapter 4

The Morning After

Twilight woke up to the sound of breakfast being made, and the smell of something really good. She got out of bed and looked down at Spike's basket, as she did every morning like a reflex, and saw he was still there. Puzzled at why cooking wasn't being done by her number one assistant, she went downstairs to find a large amount of books all out of their shelves, but stacked neatly. She looked at the spot a sleeping unicorn should have been, and saw what she figured out already, Riverbank was already awake.

"Hmm...NO! That is nasty! I can't follow these recipes worth crap. I guess it's hay waffles and daffodils for breakfast, what a horrible guest I am."

Twilight recognized the voice of the unicorn she was having a great conversation with last night about another dimension, but why was he berating himself? She soon got her answer when a small cup of juice hit her floor, shattering instantly. She looked up at the sea colored pony who had a look of absolute terror on his face.

"T-TWILIGHT!? Oh, Celestia! I-I-I wasn't expecting y-you to be awake yet. I'm so sorry. I'll clean this up." Riverbank stumbled over his words and his hooves when he turned back into the kitchen, leaving his muzzle smashed into the wood floor of the library. He got back up quickly and grabbed the towel he had already made dirty with his earlier experiments with cooking. He soaked up the juice and sheepishly smirked, as he levitated three plates out of the kitchen, each plate having a distinct seaweed green aura around them. What hit Twilight as odd was he seemed to know exactly what Twilight wanted on her simple breakfast, but he tried something else as if he knew she was starting to get tired of the same old thing. She shrugged it off as a small coincidence, and politely took her plate along with the other two. "SPIIIKE! BREAKFAST!" She yelled out to the baby dragon, waking him up and sending him down. When he sniffed the air he said, "I didn't make breakfast. Did I?"

Riverbank looked up to answer quickly, "Nah, I did. I thought you could use the sleep after the party last night." He finished and proceeded to sit down and eat with his two hosts. It didn't take long before Riverbank had started a conversation that got all three of them laughing and chatting like they knew each other for years.

_____________

Rarity woke to the smell of burning and jumped out of her bed. She experienced some deja-vu of the time Sweetie Belle was staying because her parents left for a vacation. When she finally tore her sleeping-mask off her face she realized nothing was destroyed or burnt, but everything was tidy and clean. She untangled her hooves from her sheets and followed the smell again, this time finding a distressed unicorn with ice-blue fur and a light red aura surrounding his horn.

"N-no! Mom! Dad! Save them! Please!" Snowfall said in his sleep, unknowingly causing himself to use an illusion spell, "Put it out! P-PUT IT OUT!" All of the sudden, the smell grew stronger and if anypony had been inside they would have thought the building was surrounded by flames. Rarity, concerned for the safety of her boutique and the state of the stallion.

"Snowfall! SNOWFALL!" Rarity shouted, causing the unicorn to violently wake from his nightmare, and then land on the floor. Snowfall got up shakily, looking pale and disoriented. When he looked at Rarity, she saw that he had been crying in his sleep. He sniffed the air and apologized, using his magic to open a window and quickly heading to a bathroom. Rarity had seen this before with Sweetie Belle when she had a nightmare about a dragon and her magic made one out of the aura but when she woke up it dissipated. She wondered why Snowfall was so flustered about a nightmare about fire, and his parents. When she put two and two together, she realized what happened. She went over and knocked on the bathroom door, "Snowfall? Are you alright darling?" She saw the door open to reveal Snowfall looking like he just walked in from a party in Canterlot. His mane and tail were much better looking, like his hair froze at a bend, and his stature was now more confident and regal despite him not being a noble. He looked at her, his red eyes clear of any signs of crying, and smiled, "I am now, Miss Rarity. I apologize if I caused you to panic, I did not realize I would have that particular dream."

"Oh no, darling. You can't apologize for having a nightmare, nopony knows what dreams they'll have." Rarity chided. Snowfall walked out of the bathroom and took Rarity's hoof, "You're right. How about I make us some breakfast to make up for it?"

Rarity smiled, "I would be delighted darling." She let her heart flutter for only a moment, before she realized he had already gone to the kitchen and followed suit.

____________

Pinkie and Windy had slept peacefully. No bothers, no cares, and no quiet after they woke. They talked about some new recipes, some old recipes, and some interesting topics about something called "humans". Soon they were out into the town, one bouncing, the other hopping. Today was going to be a good day...wait...twitchy tail? Windy got it before Pinkie explained, stating he had a similar sense. They got closer at that moment, completely oblivious to the anvil falling somewhere behind them.

Red got up really early that morning, in fact, he barely slept. He felt guilty about staying at their farm and not doing anything, so he got up and quietly set to work. He was going off of the answers to his questions at what they did at Sweet Apple Acres, which at one point explained all the chores. As he set to work, he allowed his mind to wander. His first thought was at the feud between his and Applejack's families, and why she didn't chase him off once she learned. He only used his family name to see how she would react, and to be honest, it hurt him to know he was spending time with her family only to see if there was any sort of thread of friendship that could be salvaged. He only told the truth, be it soft or blunt, and the more his mind stuck to the subject, the more his body slowed it's pace of work.

"Hey! Why'd y'all stop?" Came the voice of the southern pony Red was thinking about at the time, "Y'all were doin' great for not bein' told what to do."

Red turned around and smirked, trying to hide the massive drop of comfort he felt, "But y'all did tell me. Yesterday when ah was askin' about what y'all do here."

Applejack could feel something was on the steel colored pony's mind, "What's the matter sugercube?"

"Nothin'!" Red nearly facehoofed at the sudden outburst, and at the fact he was a terrible liar, and Applejack could tell.

The first sign he lied horribly was his nearly shouting his answer, the second was his eyes. She was told about her eyes when Discord got to her, and Red's were just as rapid in their movement. There was a third sign that he was lying, he tensed up like a frightened cat, when he was normally relaxed, like Big Mac. "What's really the matter?"

"N-nothin'. Nothin' at all." He got worse! It was like he was a bottle of soda being shaken up. Applejack used this to her advantage, "Are ya sure? I mean, y'all seem really tense," that did it.

"AHWANTEDTOGETCLOSERTOYASOAHCANENDTHEFEUD!" Red stuck a hoof in his mouth and thought that the first half of that didn't come out the way he meant it, and he felt awful at the deception.

"Y-y'all knew about the feud between our families?" Applejack blushed as she said this, having misinterpreted the first part of the confession, but disguised it as a question, "Why didn't ya say somethin'? Ah-ah was sorta doin' the same thing."

After the stallion let go of the bottled-up guilt, he loosened up and smirked. "Now why would y'all do somethin' like that?" Red asked sarcastically, knowing know he was among friends.

Applejack caught on, and answered honestly, "Well, me an' the folks here are tired of this feud. It's affectin' business, ya know. We want our old friends back." She took off her hat and held it to her chest, showing she was speaking from her heart.

Red decided to talk to her some more while they finished up all the chores that day, they soon started to joke and poke fun at each other. It even escalated to a friendly challenge between them to see who was quicker at running and applebucking. While Red won the applebucking challenge, Applejack managed to beat Red in a down right speed competition. It ended when it came time to eat breakfast.

________________

Storm and Rainbow are still asleep...still asleep...still...*SNORE*!

Fluttershy was slowly being roused from her sleep by a warm...something...that was moving underneath her. She opened her eyes just barely and saw a red mane and an orange body, who was slowly breathing. She squeaked and flew off of him, a blush very visible on her muzzle. She remembered what had happened last night and promptly decided that her own shyness was a little less important than his well being. She poked him to wake him up, but it wasn't enough.

Angel, who had seen what happened last night and was worried. Normally, he would have found a way to get rid of the stallion and protect his Fluttershy. But, he was different. He was hurt, really bad, and he needed her help. That morning, though, Fluttershy was being too shy to wake the stallion up, so he took it upon himself to wake him up. He jumped up on the stallion's head and thumped his foot very rapidly. That did the trick, and earned a squeak from his owner.

"Ngf! Wha? Oh, hi little guy...OW! Ok, note to self: stop saying that," Firewing got up and regretted it immediately, his chest felt like it was on fire and his wing was even worse. His legs fell out from under him, and he collapsed on the couch, causing him to wince from the pain. He couldn't believe he forgot his injuries, and wait...he was at Fluttershy's cottage. All the memories came rushing back from the night before, and the ominous message also made it's way back into his mind. He shook it from his mind temporarily, as to not worry his kind host, although she looked pretty worried already. It was painful to see her like this, but he couldn't stand without feeling that horrible, burning, pain. As Fluttershy quickly apologized for the rude awakening and went to get more bandages, he thought about why it hurt him to see her like this, or in fact why he felt like he could be himself around her, well, other than the fact he thought she was cute. NO! She was beautiful. He found himself looking at her flank, like any stallion would if he found a mare attractive, and quickly realized his wing hurt, so he shifted his thoughts to figuring out what exactly hit him.

Fluttershy was grabbing a large amount of supplies and making sure she could properly treat his wounds, at least until she could get him to Nurse Redheart. As she turned around to face him, she saw that some of the bandages on his wing were almost completely red. In a flurry, she took them off as gently as she could, while taking them off as fast as she could. He seemed to be lost in thought, but still grimaced when she put the gel in the wound. It looked like it wasn't even trying to heal, and was bleeding more and more. If it wasn't for her kind nature, Fluttershy might have passed out from the sight of it. She quickly bandaged the wing back up and moved on to his chest, which was uncomfortable for both ponies. As she uncovered the wound she saw that it wasn't as deep as the ones on his wing. That being said, she saw some of his muscles that were toned near the spot where his legs were connected to his body, and a small blush made it's way across her muzzle. She quickly repeated the process that she used on his wing and tried to bandage his torso quickly and efficiently, but was having little luck with the distractions she had never had problems with before.

Firewing was having even less luck with how he was feeling, and hiding it from the mare before him. He saw how gentle she was with him and having her head so close to his chest made him both happy and angry. Happy that the one mare he has had these feelings for, albeit since yesterday night, was caring for him. But he was angry with himself that he couldn't speak up and tell her that. He was instantly broken out of his thought process when he sharply inhaled through his nose as she dabbed the ointment on, and he got a good whiff of Fluttershy's mane, sending his one wing straight out at the smell of flowers he didn't know the names of and a hint of strawberries, but that could have been his imagination. He was sent into a whole new world of euphoria as he let a stupid-looking smile make it's way to his face and his wing slowly relaxed and drooped. He only snapped out of it when she was in front of him and shyly hiding her face behind her mane. "Um...I-I finished redressing your injuries. B-but your wing needs to be seen by a doctor, if you don't mind." She spoke in such a soft tone, any normal pony wouldn't have heard her, but Firewing was in her quiet cottage with only the bunny awake and making noise. Firewing tried to stand again and found it hurt only half as much, "Thank you, Fluttershy. U-um, if you could lead the way," he said, his voice getting quieter as he talked.

"O-oh, oh! Of course! I-I'm sorry. I forgot you're new to town. I-I'll help you get to the hospital as soon as I take care of my animal friends." Fluttershy quickly responded, as she took off towards her kitchen, as she was trying to hide a furious blush that crept across her muzzle at the thought of the stunning stallion. She quickly gave Angel his carrot and she went outside to tend to the animals out there.

Meanwhile, inside, Firewing tapped the carrot-munching Angel Bunny on his tiny shoulder, "Hey, do ya think you could help me find the feeding supplies?" Angel just looked at the stallion like he was crazy, but then pointed at the cabinet near the kitchen. "Thanks! And don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Firewing opened the cabinet and grabbed the bag of birdseed and proceeded to fill the bowls he didn't need to fly to get to. Then he grabbed some walnuts and acorns and put those at the base of the pole that led up to a hole with a squirrel peeking it's head out. Firewing looked at the squirrel with his kindest smile and turned, leaving the squirrel to take them or not. Firewing carried on with giving the animals food, and as he did they would poke their heads out and watch in awe as this stallion, that had never been here before, flawlessly copied some of the order their current caretaker used. Even Angel, who was almost never astonished, dropped his carrot in disbelief at the skill this pony had at caring for animals. Even Fluttershy, who came in half-way through his "feeding frenzy", was standing with her mouth agape and her muzzle turning a brighter red than before. Firewing turned to see Fluttershy watching him and he dropped the carrots he was about to give to the rabbits, causing Fluttershy to squeak. "H-h-how l-long have y-you been s-standing there?" He asked with great difficulty, as his shy nature made it hard not to stutter, not to mention his shyness in front of the beautiful and kind mare.

Fluttershy, having been startled by the sudden halt in his work, shuffled her hooves as an answer. She made an attempt to speak, but it came out as a small whimper. Firewing suddenly realized he needed to pick up the carrots and put them away. He gathered the tops into his mouth and placed them back in to the mini-fridge he had found them in. When he turned back to Fluttershy, he promptly headed to the front door and opened it. "U-um...a-after you." Fluttershy snapped back to reality “Sorry...” she said and then they both made their way to Ponyville hospital in silence.

WHY U NO END OF CHAPTER 5!?

Author's Note: Holy Craptacular Badman! I know some of you have been waiting for the re-release of this chapter for a while so here it is! In all of its glory, and since I know it's still strange that I gave Fluttershy a lot of "screen time", the next chapter will actually focus on the other Mane 6.

But for now,

Ciao!

Chapter 5-Around Town Antics and Threats Revealed

Chapter 5

Around Town Antics and Threats Revealed

Twilight had never been so interested in another pony’s life before she heard Riverbank talk about his. She learned of how he learned about his special talent being that he retains all knowledge he's achieved from reading, unfortunately for Twilight, he never explained the water in his cutie mark. Twilight also learned that Riverbank was a writer himself, but under an alias as to not attract too much attention to their group. He told her how he met Firewing and Storm, then how he made friends with Windy and Red. He told her of their many adventures through the towns they got kicked out of. Like how the last town had Parasprites and how he thought he could examine one without trouble, which led to him telling her how Windy got them out of town with a saxophone and a megaphone.

Twilight and Riverbank left the library at that time.

"...and he was walking on his hind legs and thrusting his hips," Riverbank said while laughing uncontrollably, "All the while leading the Parasprites out to the woods. I've still got the notes in my saddlebags, I think I've figured out why the Parasprites do what they do though. But I'd need my notes, they have the details. So what about you Twilight? How did you earn your cutie mark?"

Twilight, who had been laughing at how Riverbank described the motions Windy used with the Parasprite song, suddenly looked into the stallion's eyes. She noticed that they looked hungry, like Riverbank wanted to absorb all the information he could. She smiled, "Well, how about I tell you when we meet up with the others?"

Riverbank smiled back, "Why not? That way we can all share some info about each-other." Riverbank's eyes seemed to flare at the thought, adding to Twilight's admiration to his immense hunger for knowledge. They walked to the park and sat near a fountain, sharing theories and speculations that nopony else would dare wrap their minds around. Eventually, Riverbank asked if Twilight had ever overexerted herself while using her magic.

Twilight put her hoof to her chin to think, then she answered with a story about a showmare, an Ursa Minor and the water-tower being turned into a baby-bottle for the cranky Ursa. She also mentioned that an Ursa Major was walking through the nearby forest with the water-tower looking down at Twilight. She told him that it leaned down and gently patted her on the head before going back to its walk. Riverbank visibly shuddered, saying that he heard the giants were surprisingly gentle and that Twilight was very brave and powerful to send an Ursa Minor back to its mother asleep. Twilight blushed at the compliment and turned her head away. She felt happy that Riverbank was so kind to her, when some of the colts and stallions back in Canterlot were rude and usually trying to hit on her for...unmentionable acts. She turned her head back to Riverbank and saw none of that in his eyes, she only saw the kindness and lust for information in those seaweed-green eyes of his.

When Twilight saw him close his eyes and smile, she felt something tug at her heart. She couldn't explain it, but she remembered a feeling quite similar back in Canterlot with that one colt. She was told by her parents it was a crush, but this was different, it felt deeper and more powerful than a crush. Twilight snapped back from her thoughts when Riverbank asked, "Uh...you okay? You’re blushing really hard. Do you feel sick?"

"Wha!? No, I'm fine. I was just thinking," she lied, knowing full well that she wasn't just thinking. She was also feeling a tug at her heart at the sight of the knowledgeable, yet good looking, stallion to her side.

Twilight quickly changed the subject to Alternate Universes and the Time-Space that surrounds it. That got them both talking about it for a couple hours and forgetting about all that was around them, until a harsh reality came smashing itself full force into them.

Snowfall was quite the interesting fellow to say the least. Rarity watched as the icy-blue stallion ate, and swallowing before he spoke. But when he spoke, he spoke, not of the weather or anything more for stallions, but he talked about the design of the boutique and of the dresses around the boutique. Yesterday, he only complimented Rarity on the looks of her business, but now he asked questions on why she chose certain colors and the like.

Rarity tilted her head, "Why do you want to know, darling?"

Snowfall shut his mouth tight at the question, then answered, "I'm sorry. I'll stop asking, but I was just wondering because I'm a designer. I draw up designs for everything and was just wondering why you chose certain colors and such."

Rarity, who insisted on taking the dishes and washing them, took a glance at the cutie mark on the stallion's flank. Now she understood why he had drawing utensils, but the snowflake was still a mystery to her, "How pray tell is a snowflake involved with design?"

"That, my dear, is a simple answer! I also make ice sculptures in my spare time." Snowfall answered, his voice filled with pride and a hint of uncertainty. But Rarity would ask later, for now she wanted to learn more about his designs. At the request of seeing them, he pulled a large amount of paper from his saddlebags. He arranged them on a corkboard that Rarity brought out and let her see them. She gasped at how intricate some of the designs were, one was a dragon-themed vest for young colts, another was a dress designed to be like a river and yet still have enough room to trot comfortably. All his designs were mind blowing, he even had drawings of other ponies in an artistic style while keeping the distinct qualities of the ponies.

"These are...fantastic! Hmm?" Rarity saw the edge of a photo and went to look at it, when Snowfall suddenly removed all the drawings and the photo from the corkboard. He neatly put them away and said, "Would you look at the time. Aren't we supposed to meet Twilight at the park?"

Rarity looked at the clock she had hanging and gasped, "Yes! Let us move darling. We don't want to be late!"

"Never! Being late is uncouth! Perish the thought!" Snowfall said as he followed Rarity out of the boutique, both of them laughing at their sarcasm and humor.

Both ponies made their way towards the park, one looking absolutely divine, the other looking dashing and handsome. They spoke of the latest season of clothes and what would go together and what types of designs would go best with the colors.

________

Pinkie and Windy were on their way to the park, where all the friends agreed to meet when Windy suddenly ran off in the direction of the forest. What Pinkie saw when she caught up to Windy just outside the forest edge, was a mangled family of bunnies and a mostly blue-maned Windy. His mane, which was normally just as curly as her's, was straight and down. She saw tears coming from his eyes as he looked at the bunnies.

"Why?"

"Huh!?" Pinkie looked as the stallion’s mane seemed to change color from mostly-blue to mostly-red. His face changed from anguish and sadness to one of anger and hatred.

"My sense warned me! My sense warned me that somepony was going to do this! WHY!?" He screamed, his mane becoming frizzed as well as straight. It was a bloody-red before it switched back to the straight, mostly-blue mane it was. Pinkie stared in fear at the happy-go-lucky pony's sudden mood swing before she herself lost half of her sight to her own mane straightening and falling down to earth. She trotted up to Windy and sat, feeling like he needed the company.

After about 5 minutes of grieving and tears, Pinkie put her hoof on Windy's shoulder and led him away from the horrible sight. Windy's mane changed colors again and returned to it's puffy curliness, albeit it was still had a majority of blue, but it was going back to the multitude of colors it always was. Pinkie was still a bit depressed, that is, until Windy told her a funny joke that got her mane poofy again and she laughed with a snort to accent it. They both laughed and bounced to the park, giving off an air of happiness and laughter.

-----________-------

Red and Applejack were headed to town so they could meet up with their friends, when Applejack asked a strange question.

"What's with y'alls cutie mark? Ah understand the apple, but not the splitting boulder. Care ta explain?"

Red stopped dead, "What's there ta know? Ah'm a farm pony, the boulder should be self-explanatory." He only looked straight ahead, even as Applejack looked him over for signs of lying, but he was clean.

Or...he's jus' not tellin' the whole truth. Ah better keep an ear open fer any signs of slippin' up. Ah want ta trust 'im...but somethin' jus' ain't right. Applejack thought to herself before continuing the conversation, "Okay, that makes sense. So, do y'all know why your family is mad at us Apples?"

Red then continued to walk, "Naw, it's as big of a mystery to me as it is y'all. All Ah can say though is that Ah know both sides are at fault fer this feud." Red talked kinda slow, as if he was thinking the whole thing over before saying too much, a lot like Big Macintosh.

Applejack thought as she walked, managing to only say, "Ah wouldn't put it past Ol' Strudel an' them ta start a fight. But ah ain't singlin' anypony out until Ah find out more." Applejack hung her head low, thinking in the back of her mind that her family held most of the blame.

"Ah know how y'all feel. Cousin Burgundy prolly started somethin' with y'alls relatives, that little filly is gonna get her dues one o' these days. She's becomin' spoiled, an' all her parents do is spoil her more." Red seemed to think for a moment, "Now that Ah think about it, Burgundy an' her little friends are real sneaky. Ah should know, they stole the best o' the crop back at mah hometown, an' they merely blamed it on me. They know how ta twist a situation inta their favor..."

Applejack looked up at the steel colored pony as realization hit him. Red leaned down and whispered into AJ's ear a plan, one to bring the families back together. Her eyes widened and sparkled with happiness, Red's plan was brilliant, but it required some help from their friends.

Red and Applejack then walked to the park, talking about all the misadventures of their respective families. Red told about his younger sister's first try at bucking apples and how she succeeded in having the one directly above her thump her in the head. Applejack countered with a story about one of Applebloom's many tries to achieve her cutiemark, and how it ended with her curing cutiepox. Both ponies told stories until they reached the park, where they found Twilight and Riverbank talking on the edge of the fountain.

Applejack and Red decided to wait to tell about the family feud, and the plan to fix it, until everypony was there. They joined the two studious ponies and talked with them.

"You think you can keep up?"

"Of course! I'm Rainbow Dash! The 'Best Young Flier' in Equestria!"

Storm and Rainbow woke up late and now they figured their friends could wait for Storm to teach Rainbow a new trick. They were perched on a cloud above the edge of the Everfree Forest and positioned to race. "I'll go first." Storm said, his large wings flaring out a bit more. He dove off the cloud and let Rainbow do the same, then he did a few barrel rolls and loop-de-loops before climbing up high above the Everfree. He let Rainbow catch up before saying, "You might get dizzy. Firewing called it the 'Eagle Corkscrew'."

Rainbow tilted her head, "Why did he give this next trick that name?"

"This is why!" Storm immediately dove down, wings plastered to his sides, as he reached the sound barrier. The cone threatened to snap back and throw Storm through the sky, but Storm let his wings go straight behind him and he angled them so they would make him start spinning. When the wind hit his wings, he jerked into a spinning dive, causing the cone around his forehoof to spin with him. He never broke the sound barrier, but he sure as hell made it look beautiful, a sharp screech accompanied the spin, making it sound like an Eagle going for it's prey. Storm then opened his wings slowly, causing him to decelerate and he pulled up after breaching the treeline. He came back out of the forest and landed on a cloud, soon accompanied by Rainbow Dash.

"THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" She nearly screamed, she looked at Storm. She all of a sudden blushed, he was sweating and his wings were twitching, but she was looking at his chest. It was bulging with the muscles he had used to keep his forelegs straight and firm, as to keep the cone around him. He looked up at her and she quickly asked a question, as she turned her head towards where Storm just came from. "Who taught you that move?"

Storm chuckled, drawing Dash's attention back to him, "Nopony. I learned it myself, with a little help from Firewing. We found out that his wings make it easier to see the positions we need for certain stunts and when I combined the position for a spin with the speed needed to reach the sound barrier, I pulled that off. Granted I crashed the first time, but it was awesome! You should try!"

Rainbow smiled, "No way!"

"HUH!?"

"You made that move, it's your original stunt," she beamed. "I probably wouldn't be able to pull it off anyways."

Storm looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes. He found the most beautiful color there that spoke the truth, and he loved it. He laughed, "You're right." Storm sat on the cloud until he gathered back his strength, "C'mon! We're gonna be late."

Rainbow got up and flared her wings, taking off into the sky in front of her. "Yeah, we should go."

"She's defenseless! FIRE!"

Storm heard a voice, very low and rumbley, shout 'Fire'. He knew it wasn't good, but when a blue light erupted from the forest, making a b-line towards Rainbow, he knew it was worse. Can't keep the promise now. I have to get Dash outta the way of that light! the Pegasus thought to himself before letting loose his inner power.

The yellow pegasus felt time slow down, as electricity and magic coursed through his body. His mind now worked faster, his body and wings now twitched with energy, and his reaction time was increased to the point where nothing would hit him. He jumped towards the cyan body and he wrapped his forelegs around her. He took into account that he could kill her if he hit her wrong or tried to accelerate her body to his speed. He let his power recede as he flapped his wings and slowed down to normal speed.

Rainbow saw Storm move too fast for her eyes to track him, then he grabbed her around her lower chest area and pushed her out of the way of a blue light that barely tagged his tail. But what Dash saw made her shudder, as the tail was shredded to pieces and thrown about. She realized that was aimed at her, and that would have been her if it wasn't for Storm's ridiculous speed and timing. It wasn't long before Storm was taking Rainbow away from the forest with a horrid feeling in his gut and half a tail. He let her go and she started flying, but not without the slew of questions that Storm knew were coming. "WHAT THE HAY!? HOW DID YOU DO THAT!? HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT LIGHT WAS AIMED AT ME!? ARE YOU A SPY!?"

Storm only shook his head, his mind being bombarded by traces of electricity and loud questions. He held up his hoof, "Rainbow...please...stop talking. My head hurts from what I just did to save your tail and your questions aren't helping." Storm landed on a nearby cloud and rubbed his temples. "To answer your questions, I can't tell you. I heard somepony say 'Fire' in a way that wasn't a panic from a fire. No, I am not a spy, I am a pegasus. Now, we need to go meet up with the others. Firewing can answer your first question."

Without another word, they flew off to meet with their friends.

...terminate CH5.EXE...initiate CH6.EXE...

Author's Note: I was sick during this chapter...that's all I have to say...I need to go lie down...*cough*

Chapter 3.5-Strengthening Shadows

Chapter 3.5

Strengthening Shadows

***This chapter has best evil effects when read with the light setting set to dark.***

"I Thought I told you to kill him."

"You did sir, but we rendered him useless so I can destroy the other Elements of BalanGUH! GAAAHH!" The creatur that was kneeling was lifted in the air by a white magical force around his neck.

"You do not make any decisions anymore. You sold you and your race to me for eternity in return for immortality and different bodies. You do not get what you want until I do. Do you understand me?"

"Gack! Y-yes sir! Midknight Stallion sir!" The creature dropped to the ground and coughed. He bowed his helmet-clad head at the incoming figure.

"I knew you would be a good lackey." Midknight said as he passed his cowering minion, patting him on the head with his flowing mane as he passed. The creature cursed under his breath at the demeaning gesture, but the evil stallion didn't care. As he stepped towards the middle of the throne room, he became visible.

He was an alicorn the size of Celestia, and his white mane and tail were flowing like Celestia's as well. His fur was pure black, but most of it was covered by a gray armor decorated with a mark of a royal guard's helmet in front of a full moon, and that was also his cutie mark. His eyes were an unnatural shade of glowing-red and his right wing was slightly misshapen. "Soon Equestria, and Celestia, will know the pain of my revenge. Heh! Heheh! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He realized the creature was still in the room, "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE!? GO AND KILL THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!"

With that, the creature departed.