The Balance of Harmony

Chapters

Chapter One – Omens
Chapter Two - The Lord of Chaos
Chapter Three - Divergence
Chapter Four - Tears for a Princess
Chapter Five - An Honest Day's Work
Chapter Six - A Friend in Need
Chapter Seven - The Flim Flam Philosophy
Chapter Eight - On a Wing and a Prayer
Chapter Nine - The Smiles Will Come Out, Tomorrow
Chapter Ten - The Friendship Paradox
Chapter Eleven - The Center of the Universe
Chapter Twelve - Friends in High Places
Chapter Thirteen - Words of Wisdom
Chapter Fourteen - Clothes Don't Make the Mare
Chapter Fifteen - Not the Best Night Ever
Chapter Sixteen - The Hardest Pony To Love
Chapter Seventeen - Failure to Launch
Chapter Eighteen - Friends in Low Places
Chapter Nineteen - Rainbows and Unicorns
Chapter Twenty - Draconequus
Chapter Twenty-One - One Good Turn
Chapter Twenty-Two - The Long Way Home
Chapter Twenty-Three - The Balance of Harmony
Epilogue
Prologue

Chapter One – Omens

Pinkie sighed. “I know the plants need water, but couldn’t they have waited for tomorrow?”

“No, Pinkie,” replied a steadfast Rainbow Dash. “We have to keep to the schedule. If we wait till tomorrow, then next week’s weather planning gets thrown off track.”

Pinkie Pie stared out the window of the Castle of Friendship watching the thunderclouds roll by. A steady rain poured over the town of Ponyville. Most every pony sat indoors watching the rain fall just the same. A few intrepid souls ventured outside to splash in the puddles or take a quick shower. For the Pegasi on weather duty, this was their time to shine.

Twilight and her friends had just returned from their last epic adventure less than a week ago. The castle still didn’t feel like home to Twilight, but the team was doing their best to help make it so. The rain outside tapped on the window pane with a steady beat. Water stuck in small beads before clumping together and rushing down the glass in a hundred different paths. The shower had been going on for most of the afternoon.

Rainbow Dash watched the cloud formations and kept track of the fliers on duty for this week’s storm patrol. Pinkie sat and tried to think about the beautiful rainbows that would appear once the clouds were gone. The rest of their friends found other ways to pass the time. Twilight curled up in the corner with yet another book from the castle library. Rarity checked out samples of fabric as she worked to plan out the color scheme for the castle’s interior decoration. Fluttershy engaged with a group of swallows, trying to convince them that the rain would only be temporary and that they could soon return to their nests. Spike worked through his dusting checklist whilst whistling a bouncy tune as he hopped from shelf to end table and back to shelf.

“It should only be about another hour,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “The clouds look like they’ve rained off most of their water supply.”

Pinkie’s hooves slipped slowly up her face while her head drooped lower and lower toward the window sill. “I just hope there’s still enough daylight left to get in a game of horseshoes once this rain sto—err… wait a second.” Pinkie’s last thought abruptly changed. She squinted and rubbed her eyes to try and get a better look out the rain-soaked window. “Rainbow,” she inquired, “why is it raining mud?”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash floated over to the window. “What do you mean Pinkie—it’s just water.” Rainbow popped open the latch on the window and stuck her hoof out into the rain. Brown drops started to coat her foreleg changing her normally light blue coat to a muddy brown mess. She brought her leg back inside and poked at the goop now coating it.

Pinkie came in close and gave it a good strong whiff. “Hmmm… It doesn’t smell like mud. In fact, it smells like chocolate!” She bent down and gave Rainbow’s foreleg a giant lick.

“Ewww,” Rainbow Dash squealed as she pulled back her splotchy brown leg, “that’s gross!”

“Mmmmmm,” Pinkie gurgled before responding outright. “It tastes like chocolate too!”

With the window wide open and one pony engaged in licking of the strange chocolate flavored rain off the other, the rest of the ponies and Spike stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to them. Pinkie stuck her own hoof out the window to get more of the chocolaty raindrops for herself.

“What do you two think you’re doing?” said Spike. “You’re making a huge mess letting all that rain inside.”

“But it’s so nummy,“ replied Pinkie. “I need to have more.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight lowered her book onto the desk beside her and trotted over towards the fondue duo.

She arrived at the window and helped Rainbow Dash haul in a front-half-chocolate-covered Pinkie Pie. Pinkie continued to gobble and lick at her hooves as she cleared off the last bit of brown liquid. Rainbow Dash wiped her foreleg on one of the curtains hanging beside the window.

“Rainbow Dash!” scolded Rarity. “Those curtains are not to be used for wiping your dirty hooves. It’s a good thing they clash with the carpets and I’m going to be replacing them soon.”

“I don’t think that’s our only problem, girls,” Twilight indicated as she pointed her hoof to the open window. “Take a look at that!”

Fluttershy, Rarity, and even Spike sauntered over to the window. They each peered out through the downpour of chocolate rain. Twilight motioned to have them look further up and over toward the horizon. The cause for her concern was pretty obvious.

“Chaos clouds!” came the group’s response.

The chocolate rain wasn’t the only oddity in the sky. The source of the sticky brown rain drops loomed overhead. Big grey thunderclouds that had recently been dropping their normal watery payload began to sprout large black thorns. Their rain water production turned to the brown, sticky liquid in the process. The weather team Pegasi could do nothing to stop the clouds as they spread across the entire field covering the skies above Ponyville.

While the awestruck group all stared out the open window at the approaching black-thorned thunder clouds, a solitary figure galloped their way across town heading toward the castle. The rain coat covered, galoshes wearing pony charged up the front steps and into the castle foyer. Her rain garb unceremoniously tossed aside revealed a partially soaked Applejack. She bolted up the stairs taking the steps two and three at a time until she reached the upper landing.

The clattering of hooves on crystal flooring echoed down the hallway as Applejack raced toward the sitting room. She slowed her approach as she skidded to a stop in front of the doorway to the room where the rest of her friends were gathered.

“He’s back!” Applejack shouted as soon as she caught sight of the group clustered around the open window. “It’s Discord!” The ponies turned to acknowledge their friend as Applejack took a few more steps toward them, splashing a bit of chocolate rainwater from her hooves as she went. “The chaos clouds started attackin’ Sweet Apple Acres and spread in this direction as I ran to warn ya’ll.”

“Applejack,” Twilight responded, “I’m glad you’re all right.” She avoided giving Applejack a hug noticing the wet mare’s fur, mane, and tail still dripping with the chocolate rain. She stopped a bit short of her and took a moment to ponder the situation. Raising a hoof to her chin, Twilight considered the source of the chaos clouds and the current downpour of chocolate drizzle that was coating the town and the castle in a delicious candy topping. “We need to stop Discord now before this gets any worse. Did you see which way he went?

“Well,” Applejack replied, “I didn’t exactly see him anywhere. I just saw the clouds and the chocolate rain and knew he had to be up to somethin’. It’s just like him to throw a wrench in our rain day.”

“How do we know this is all because of him?” Twilight moved back toward the window and peered up at the black-thorn cloud infested sky.

“Isn’t it obvious?” interjected Rainbow Dash. “Who else do we know that likes to make it rain chocolate?”

“Now Rainbow,” Fluttershy suggested, “we can’t just assume our good friend Discord would do something like this. I think he’s finally learned his lesson and is truly reformed.”

“Even if he isn’t behind this invasion of chaos, we’d better find him soon,” Twilight stated uneasily as she watched the steady advance of the invading clouds. “Those clouds sure are moving fast and he may be the only one that knows how we can put a stop to them.”

“Well, if you need to find me,” Pinkie called from the doorway, “I’ll be enjoying the deliciousness of this amazing chocolate rainstorm from outside.” Pinkie darted off down the hallway and was almost out the castle doors before anypony could object.

“This chaos storm has Discord’s claw marks all over it!” exclaimed Applejack.

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight settled into the throne room to discuss the best way to go about tracking down their supposedly, reformed, friend. Twilight had sent Rainbow Dash to retrieve Pinkie so they could all be gathered together for the important meeting. The four ponies sat in their high backed throne chairs and waited for the other two to join them. Spike was busy cleaning up the chocolate hoof prints that now formed a trail all the way from the front doors to the pool next to the sitting room window.

“This has got to stop!” demanded Rarity. “I can’t take any more of these chaotic distractions. I’ll never be able to compose my castle color scheme with all this nonsense going on outside.”

“I say we just whip out that Discord summonin’ spell of yours and settle this right now,” Applejack proposed to Twilight.

“Now girls,” Twilight reminded, “we can’t assume that this is Discord’s doing. We haven’t even seen him since Tirek was banished back to Tartarus. For all we know, this could be the work of some other crazy magic-wielding chaos-loving lunatic trying to destroy all life as we know it.”

“You could be right, Twilight,” Rarity added sarcastically, “but it’s been almost a week now since the last major threat to ponydom was defeated. We’re practically overdue now, aren’t we?”

“That’s not what I meant, Rarity. I just think we shouldn’t jump to conclusions when we don’t have all the facts.” Twilight lowered her head, delving deep in thought once again.

Off in the distance a strained voice called out, gaining volume as it approached the throne room, “But I want more! Please let me go and get more. I promise I’ll eat all my dinner.”

A quickly tiring Rainbow Dash hauled a not-so-cooperative Pinkie Pie through the open doorway and deposited the now mostly brown and incredibly sticky mare in her respective seat. Rainbow waddled over to her own chair, shook what chocolate she could from herself, and plopped down as well.

“Thank you both for joining us,” retorted Rarity.

“You’ll have to thank Pinkie for that one,” heaved Rainbow. “She put up quite a fight.”

“Humph!” snorted Pinkie as she crossed her forelegs and buried her frowny face in them.

“Can we get down to business here?” Applejack pleaded. “My trees can’t take much more of this chocolate shower they’re gettin’.”

“Candied apples!” Pinkie yelled.

“Stop it!” Rainbow countered.

“I just don’t see how Discord could do this again,” argued Fluttershy. “He’s reformed now and he certainly was sorry about betraying us not too long ago.”

“It sure would help if we knew where he lived,” remarked Rarity.

“He does like to come visit me from time-to-time,” said Fluttershy. “Maybe I could whip up a bowl of his favorite veggie noodle soup and see if he decides to pay me a visit?”

“Fluttershy,” reasoned Rainbow Dash, “Discord is not one of your pets. You can’t just expect to whip up a meal and have him appear out of nowhere.”

“Oh but that’s what I do. I make up a bowl of his favorite carrot, cucumber, broccoli and noodle soup and he just shows up,” replied a satisfied Fluttershy.

Twilight wasn’t paying a lot of attention as her friends debated the reformed-ness of the continually unpredictable Discord. She was trying to think of any other possible explanation for the sudden proliferation of chaos across Ponyville. She was drawing a blank.

Princess Twilight…

A voice rang through Twilight’s head as she sat and pondered their next course of action. Her ears perked up and she turned her head from side to side trying to hone in on the voice. “Quiet everypony,” came her sudden command. “I thought I heard something.”

Twilight, we need you. Come as quickly as you can.

Twilight leaped from her chair. “There it is again. Did anypony hear that?” The ponies all shook their heads.

Twilight struggled to concentrate on what she had just heard. “It sounded like the Tree of Harmony—I think it wants us to come to the cave.”

Applejack got up and walked over. “I don’t want to doubt your fancy voice hearin’ an all, Twi, but are you sure you’re feelin’ ok?”

“I’m fine, Applejack. I know what I heard. I think the Tree of Harmony was just trying to communicate with me. I think we need to get to her right away.”

Applejack nodded her head. “Well then, what are we waitin’ for? Let’s get a move on!”

“If this is another one of those save the world missions, I think I’m going to scream.” Rarity slouched back in her seat.

“Who would ever want to save the world from chocolate rain?” Pinkie Pie threw a hostile glare at Rainbow Dash. “It’s like the best thing ever.”

Rainbow Dash threw down. “Go ahead, Pinkie. Eat all the chocolate rain you want. Just don’t complain when you’re puking your guts out later on.”

“C’mon ya’ll—pony up!” Applejack pulled the feuding ponies from their seats and set them in the direction of the door. “We’ve got a town to save.”

“We really don’t know anything yet.” Twilight turned in the doorway. “Let’s go see what the Tree wants and then we can worry about the rain.”

“Careful, I just mopped the floor,” Spike called out from down the hallway. “Remember to clean your hooves next time.”

“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight gave her assistant a momentary nuzzle as she walked past. “I have a feeling were in for a pretty hefty cleanup. Better keep your mop handy.” She motioned back toward the throne room as she scooted on by with all her friends in tow. Spike just frowned and trudged toward the mess that awaited him there.

Chapter Two - The Lord of Chaos

Six soggy ponies trudged along the path leading out of Ponyville and toward the Everfree forest. The ground was covered in a muddy mixture of water and cocoa glop. Pinkie Pie strained to catch the last drops of chocolate rain that fell in ever lessening amounts. The storm was coming to a close and the chaos clouds had mostly turned a bright, fluffy pink. The Pegasi weather team continued to struggle in their efforts to corral the feisty clouds. The sticky mess of the new cotton candy clouds made for a sugary afternoon.

As they neared the edge of the forest, the path hardened under hoof and the glop faded from sight. Things looked strangely normal here in contrast to Ponyville—not really a thought that would instill confidence seeing as where they were headed was a pretty wild place under normal circumstances. A familiar face called out a greeting as they cleared the last little hill before the tree line.

“My little pony friends, a curious day indeed,

for you come traveling into the Everfree.”

“Zecora!” Twilight shouted in reply.

“Whatever brings you out this way while the chaos rain falls?

I can barely see the future, and the omens are not good at all.”

“We’re on our way to the Castle of the Two Sisters,” replied Twilight. “We need to get to the bottom of this whole chocolate chaos mess.”

“The castle of the sisters is your destination so you say,

but wouldn’t the Tree of Harmony be a better way?”

Zecora winked at Twilight and gave her a knowing smile.

A bit bashful and taken back, Twilight responded, “Oh, yes, we are going to visit the tree. I-I wasn’t sure anypony else knew it was even there.”

“Harmony and balance, for each must have their place.

The Tree will have your answers, but the dangers, you must face.

Hurry little pony friends, I fear the time grows short,

Chaos must be kept in check; this evil you must thwart.”

Zecora resumed her lotus position and let out a gentle hum as she fell back into her meditative state. Twilight knew Zecora could be cryptic, but this was strange even for her. It was obvious that they weren’t going to get much more in the way of conversation from the reclusive Zebra, so they said their one sided goodbyes and drove on into the forest.

Applejack leaned over towards Twilight and gave her a small nudge to break her out of the concentrative trance she was in. “What do ya think Zecora meant by ‘danger’, Twi?” The pair lagged a bit behind the others as they journeyed the now familiar path toward the castle and the Tree of Harmony that lay in the cave beneath it.

Twilight shook her head as she refocused on her friend’s question. “I don’t know, Applejack, but it didn’t sound good. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be another epic adventure where the fate of Equestria hangs in the balance.” Twilight gave a small and shaky giggle. “I’m still recovering from the last one.”

“Right there with ya, partner. What I wouldn’t give ta throw up my hooves and kick back with a tall glass a Sweet Apple Cider—not a worry in the world. All this world saving business sure ain’t the stuff I’m used to.”

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “I have a feeling that we’ll have to earn that drink, Applejack. The Tree of Harmony wouldn’t call to me for no reason. We still don’t know for sure if this has something to do with Discord or not.”

“Guess we’ll have to wait and see what the tree has to tell us then.” Applejack picked up the pace.

Twilight nodded and quickened her step as well to catch up with the others. The Castle of the Two Sisters wasn’t far now. Soon they would find what the Tree of Harmony had called them for. Twilight had her doubts that this was just a friendly visit.

The group reached the edge of the cliff and slowly made their way down the narrow steps into the gorge surrounding the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. The Tree of Harmony gave off a rainbow light glow as they approached the cave entrance. As they stepped into the cave, they were greeted by the last person they would have thought to meet there—Discord.

The snaggle-toothed mashup of half a dozen different animal body parts waved passionately as he beckoned the ponies forward. “Come in, come in! We’ve been expecting you. Whatever took you so long? Never mind, we have so much to talk about.”

Twilight felt a little uneasy as she cautiously approached the tree and the odd welcome committee chairman. “Discord, what are you doing here?”

“Twilight, so good to see you. It’s been ages since we had one of our legendary chats. Oh, how I’ve missed you. Pull up a chair and let’s do some catching up.” Discord snapped his lion clawed paw and Twilight suddenly found herself in a comfy high back plush sitting chair being thrust toward the tree.

The rest of the group soon joined her; Rarity on a fainting couch, Applejack in a wooden rocking chair, Fluttershy on a padded footstool, Rainbow Dash in a foal’s highchair, and Pinkie Pie on a folding lawn chair. Soon they were all gathered together around the base of the tree.

Rainbow Dash struggled to free herself from the confinement of the infant seat she was strapped into. “What gives?!” she grunted as she finally worked her forehooves free of the much too small for her seat. “You better have a good reason for that chaos storm you just saddled Ponyville with!”

“Oh my dear, naïve little pony,” chortled Discord, “I had nothing to do with that little bit of chaos. I’m reformed—remember?”

“Well, if you didn’t have nothin’ to do with it,” demanded Applejack, “then why are my apple trees swimmin’ in chocolate puddin’?”

Discord replied, “If it were up to me, ‘chocolate rain day’ would be every other Thursday. But seeing as that notion is frowned upon by most ponies,” he turned and winked at Pinkie Pie, “I’ve kept myself rather restrained in the chaos department. Regarding this specific case, however, I’m just as baffled as you are.”

“Well, if it wasn’t you,” Twilight continued, “Then who—or what—was it? That kind of thing doesn’t just happen on its own.”

Discord turned around and slung his arms behind his back as he began to pace back and forth. “I’ve been asking myself that same thing. It really is amazing how much we think alike, you and I. This morning I simply woke up from my little nap and the chaos was already happening—right there over Ponyville. I said to myself, who—or what—could be causing my good friends in Ponyville so much trouble?”

“We’re going to need a better answer than that, Discord. It seems pretty hard to believe that ‘The Lord of Chaos’ wouldn’t know anything about this at all,” snapped Twilight. “If this is another one of your friendship tests, then we’re not playing your games.”

“Twilight, I can assure you that I had nothing to do with your little rain problem today.” Discord stopped his pacing which had formed a small trench in the dirt where had been walking. He turned and pointed up toward the tree above them. “In fact, I came to the Tree of Harmony myself to ask what She thought about it all. I would assume that since you all just arrived that you did indeed get our message—did you not?”

“What do you mean, your message, Discord?” Applejack inquired.

“I mean exactly that. I came here just after I woke up so that I could have a chat with my old friend Una. She thought it best to involve all of you, and well, here you are. Surely you must have received our message.”

Twilight took a moment to compose her response. “How do you know out about Una, and why would she talk to someone like you?”

“Princess, how terribly insensitive of you to ask. Una and I go way back. In fact, you could say that we go back to the very beginning. It wasn’t until recently, however, that we became friends.”

The ponies sat in stunned silence taking in the full impact of this new revelation.

“Allow me to continue, seeing as you all seem to be at a loss for words,” grinned Discord. “You see, being the ‘Lord of Chaos’ isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be. For starters, everypony always assumes the worst of me.”

“And they’re probably right,” interjected Rainbow Dash.

Discord glanced in her direction and gently snapped his claw. A pacifier appeared in her mouth—practically glued to her lips. “As I was saying, I’m not really a bad Chaos Lord, I’m just misunderstood. Una here is the only one who truly gets me—no offence, Fluttershy.”

“I think it’s wonderful that you’ve made new friends, Discord,” Fluttershy smiled back.

“Oh thank you, Fluttershy,” he mused. “I’ve been trying to branch out in my friendship circles. Who better to do that with than Una here?”

“Discord,” Twilight asked again, “how did you know she was more than just the Tree of Harmony?”

“Like I said, dear Twilight, Una is the only one that really understands me because we share the same point of creation.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Applejack scratched her head.

“It means, the magic that was used to create the Spell of Harmony could only have done so by creating a balance of equal power. When Una became the Tree of Harmony, I was born.”

“I don’t understand,” commented Applejack. “What do you mean by bein’ born? Aren’t you the only one like you?”

“Take a moment and think, you’re all smart little ponies—well, some of you more than others—but still.” Discord made a nod towards Rainbow Dash who was still struggling with the pacifier stuck in her mouth. “I am Discord, Lord of Chaos. The very opposite of the Elements of Harmony and the magic they represent. Una here became the embodiment of the Elements of Harmony and by doing so, created me.”

“I think I’m starting to understand now,” said Twilight. “It’s just like what Zecora was saying to us just a while ago—everything exists in balance!”

Discord poofed a grey mustache which he began to stroke and spoke with an old time accent, “By Celestia, I think she’s got it!”

“The spirit of harmony,” she continued, “is on one side while the spirit of chaos acts as its balance.”

“We have a winner!” shouted Discord as a small explosion of confetti and fireworks shot out from his tail. “I knew you would understand.”

“But that doesn’t answer the question, Discord,” rejoined Applejack. “We wanna know why Ponyville was just attacked by chocolate rain dumpin’ chaos clouds.”

“Oh, honest Applejack, you do know how to cut to the chase.” Discord dramatically brought his lion paw up to his forehead and extended his other arm out to the other side. “I too share your pain. I came here seeking the answer to that very same question.”

He motioned back to the tree and continued, “She doesn’t usually say much, but when she does, I have to admit, she’s always right.”

“Spit it out already,” cried Rarity. “What did the tree say and how long is this adventure going to last?”

Rarity was clearly at her limit. The tension had risen to her boiling point and all she wanted was to sit back in a nice relaxing bubble bath and free herself of the sickeningly sweet smell of chocolate that clung to her still semi-sweet and sticky mane. Twilight wondered how much more adventure she and her friends could take.

“Discord, we really need some answers here,” coaxed an anxious Twilight. “Could you please try and help us figure this out?”

“Oh all right then, theatrics aside, so be it. What it all comes down to this—listen closely. You can’t have day without night. You can’t have hot without cold. Someone would simply not exist without no one and vice versa, of course. So, it follows—you can’t have harmony without chaos.”

“I understand that part,” Twilight replied, “but what does that have to do with the chaos storm back home. You aren’t saying that your chaos magic caused it are you?”

“No, Twilight. What I’m saying is this—ever since Tirek stole my magic, I’ve lost control over the Elements of Disharmony.”

Chapter Three - Divergence

Twilight yanked the covers up to her snout as she tossed and turned in her bed. The evening blur swept through her mind once more as she tried to make sense of it all. She couldn’t get comfortable what with the thought of Discord and her new mission mocking her attempt at getting some sleep. It had been a draining afternoon that dragged on late into the evening. She had only made it back to her castle long after sunset. Still with the all the tiredness she felt from having journeyed to the Tree of Harmony and back, she still couldn’t quite settle her mind.

She reflected on the discussion she had been through with Discord for what must have been the hundredth time. There was, of course, the big revelation about the existence of the Elements of Disharmony. Five counter elements to the Elements of Harmony—sadness, hate, envy, lies, and greed. Even so, what troubled her the most was the knowledge that the Lord of Chaos himself was no longer in control of them. It was one thing that the chaotic elements existed; it was quite another entirely that they had no idea who now wielded their power.

Discord recounted the nature of the elements and laid out the mission protocols. He gave them a crash course on what they were up against and what would be required of each of them in order to bring the Elements back into balance. The Elements could not simply exist without an avatar—much like the Elements of Harmony lived within each of her friends. The Elements of Disharmony would seek out new hosts in order to radiate their own inverted version of harmony upon Equestria. She had to stop that from happening.

The biggest thing she had learned from their whole encounter was something very important about the nature of the Lord of Chaos himself. She always thought of their struggles as being good versus evil—light versus dark. The truth of the matter was that their spirited antagonist was not inherently evil. He was merely the chaotic balance to the order of harmony. Discord, being the Spirit of Disharmony, was the only one capable of controlling the counter elements and maintaining the delicate balance between them. Once he lost his magic, he lost control of those elements. It wasn’t something he could merely summon back to himself.

By using what magic still remained to him, he had been able to guide their search, albeit in a general direction only. Only a couple of the elements were able to be traced, however. It may be that they had not as yet found a host, or the new avatar of disharmony was not yet aware of or capable of using their new powers. It was clear though that these elements must be found and returned to the one being capable of safely containing their essence.

The task of retrieving the chaotic magic fell to the guardians of the Elements of Harmony. The Tree of Harmony made that point clear as she provided the ponies with their element necklaces and Twilight’s tiara. The gemstones that once held their own harmonious magic were now colorless and empty. Discord explained that he and Una had devised a plan whereby the ponies would be able to track down the missing elements and contain them within the vacant gemstones until they could be returned to their rightful master.

It wouldn’t be easy, and by the sounds of it, they may not even be able to handle the task together. It seemed the Elements of Disharmony had been scattered across all of Equestria. If the chaos storm over Ponyville was any indication of the urgency of their mission, they would need to split up in order to recover the elements as quickly as possible before the entire kingdom was inundated with an unstoppable flood of chaos.

Twilight flipped over once again as she grunted in frustration. Maybe I should have stuck to smiling and waving, she thought as she continued to try and force herself to sleep. She stared at the empty crystal star that sat atop her coronation tiara on the table beside her bed and eventually closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Morning came quickly and so did the flood of ponies to the castle. Everypony wanted to know what was going on with the storm the day before. The general confusion and fear amongst them as they speculated on the reason behind the strange events grew to a dull roar. Applejack and Rainbow Dash did their best to settle the crowd insisting that Princess Twilight would be able to answer all their questions just as soon as she was able. By the looked of things, excuses wouldn’t hold them back much longer.

“What are we supposed to do?” cried Bon Bon. “We can’t be kept in the dark like this.”

“What’s going on?” shouted Cloudchaser. “We need answers!”

“Yeah, we spent hours trying to clean up the mess those clouds made,” remarked Thunderlane. “I’ve got the battle wounds to prove it.”

“Alright everypony,” yelled Rainbow Dash, “settle down and we’ll tell you what we know once Twilight gets out here.”

“I think I’ll go see what’s takin’ so long,” Applejack muttered to Rainbow.

“Princess Twilight isn’t hurt, is she?” remarked a worried Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, why isn’t she here yet?” added Apple Bloom. “Wouldn’t it be terrible if she was sick?”

“She probably doesn’t even care,” came a despondent third cutie mark crusader call out.

“Scootaloo—of course she cares about this,” replied Rainbow Dash. “She just had a really late night is all. She’ll be here soon.”

By this time, Fluttershy and Rarity had joined the throng of ponies gathered to hear from the Princess. They made their way up the castle steps and joined Rainbow Dash in her continued efforts to calm the crowd of nervous ponies.

Applejack took her leave and climbed the stairs to the castle loft. She found the still sleeping princess splayed across her bed. Pinkie Pie and Spike sat quietly at the foot.

“What’s the holdup?” Applejack trotted over, not worried at all about the clattering noise her hooves made.

“Shush! We’re not quite sure she’s ready to wake up yet,” Spike loudly whispered back.

“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie added straining to whisper, “She needs all the beauty sleep she can get before she has to face that angry mob outside.”

“Well they aren’t getting’ any happier by havin’ to wait.” Applejack strode over to the bed and yanked off the covers. “Rise and shine, princess!”

Twilight woke with a start. A magical blast discharged from her horn and shot into the ceiling.

“Woah, nelly!” shouted Applejack as she jumped back and away from the startled Twilight.

“That’s what we tried to tell you,” scolded Spike. “She’s a little jumpy this morning.”

With the discharge of magic combined with the shout from the startled Applejack, Twilight finally came around. “Is-is it morning already?” She opened her eyes revealing two bloodshot pupils. Her mane was completely frazzled along with her tail. Twilight looked like she’d been rolled down a hill and into a briar patch.

“It certainly is,” replied an ever cheery Pinkie Pie, “and we’re so glad you’re finally awake! Now you can go talk to the angry mob outside.” Pinkie clapped her hooves together as she cheered the arousal of the tired princess.

“W-w-what are you talking about, Pinkie?” Twilight rubbed her eyes and slipped down off the bed.

“Well, to be honest, you do have pretty much the entire population of Ponyville waiting at your door wantin’ an explanation for the crazy day they just had.” Applejack sidled up and tried to help Twilight as she began to comb out her mane. “You probably shouldn’t keep ‘em waitin’ much longer.”

“I definitely should have stuck to the smiling and waving,” scowled a still exhausted Twilight.

Twilight finished brushing out her mane as Applejack gave her tail a few comb-throughs. “Well, we better make this official,” Twilight said as she levitated the tiara onto her own head. The gemstone embedded at the apex looked dull and barely gave off any sparkle at all. She exited the loft and the rest of the group followed.

She floated down the stairs and cantered through the front doors stepping out into the welcoming morning sunshine. Immediately she was bombarded with questions.

“What’s the deal with those clouds?”

“Are we safe here in Ponyville?”

“How are you going to stop it?”

“Are we all going to die??”

“Everypony quiet!” yelled a still frazzled and now seriously frustrated Twilight. “There is absolutely no reason to fear. We know what happened here and we have a plan to stop it.”

The crowd became deathly still as the princess spoke. One lone voice in the back ventured a follow-up question.

“Then what’s the plan?”

Twilight hesitated, still unsure herself if they even really had a plan. Shakily, she replied, “I’m still working out the particulars, but in the meantime, I need you all to go back to your homes and let me handle this.”

The crowd slowly dispersed as the frustrated ponies resolved that there was nothing more to learn from their princess. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stayed put, clearly not satisfied with the answer. They huddled up together as they continued to worry about the fate of the town.

“I don’t like this one bit,” said a teary Apple Bloom. “Maybe there’s somethin’ we can do ta help?”

“We’re too small and too young to do anything to help,” added Scootaloo. “Why should we even bother trying?”

“I don’t know what makes me more sad,” cried Sweetie Belle, “not having our cutie marks, or chocolate rain.”

Rarity noticed the three fillies had stayed behind and came over to see what the matter was. “What’s wrong, girls?” she asked. “Why such long faces—it isn’t like this is the end of the world or anything.”

“Maybe it is,” Sweetie Belle replied chocking back more tears. “I don’t want to die without my cutie mark!”

“There, there, Sweetie.” Rarity reached out a hoof and patted the sobbing filly on her head. “Twilight will have this whole mess cleared up in no time. Why don’t you three run along home and find a nice game to play, or something.”

Rarity was torn between patronizing her younger sister and actually being worried about her current emotional state. Oh well, she thought as she pushed the idea of her sister growing up to the back of her mind and rejoined the others in the castle. The three small ponies turned around and trudged toward town.

Once the crowd had been placated, Twilight and her friends went back inside the castle. She called them all to the throne room for another emergency meeting. Once they had all gathered, Twilight began to lay out her plan.

“Alright girls, this is it.” Twilight still looked very tired, but spoke clearly. “I was up most of the night thinking about our dilemma. We’re going to need a plan and we need to execute it fast. By the looks of the reaction we just had to a little chocolate rain, we could have a full on panic unless this chaos problem is resolved pronto.”

“Twilight,” called Rainbow Dash, “we don’t even know what we’re doing or where we’re supposed to go to do it.”

“Yeah,” added Applejack, “Discord wasn’t really all that helpful with his instructions.”

“Yes, I know.” Twilight lowered her head and tried to concentrate on the plan she had been working on most all night. “We’re going to have to split up into teams. If what Discord told us is true, the Elements of Disharmony are all over the place. Also, we don’t have a location for every element yet—he said he would let us know when he got a lead on the rest.”

“Why do these quests always have to be so hard?” whined Rarity. “Why can’t it just be, ‘walk across the street’, and we’re done.”

“I don’t know Rarity—I’m not even sure why we were chosen to be the bearers of the Elements of Harmony in the first place.” Twilight stood up and walked out to the center of the room. “The bottom line here is that Equestria is counting on us. We each need to do our part so that the balance of harmony is maintained.”

Twilight’s horn began to glow as she projected a map of Equestria into the air above her. Little red dots began to glow as she indicated points on the map that Discord had shown them during their discussions the day before.

“Alright, the first spot we need to investigate looks like Manehattan,” she continued. “Rarity, I want you and Applejack to head there and see what you can find out about the element of greed. Discord is confident that the element is somewhere in the city.”

“Well at least we get to ride the train,” commented Rarity. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had to spend another moment trekking through the hills.”

“We’ll get right on that, Twilight,” said Applejack.”

Twilight turned toward the two Pegasi. “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, I need you both to head up to the Griffin Kingdom. Discord thinks the element of envy could be located somewhere nearby the city of Griffin’s Nest.”

“No problem!” stated Rainbow Dash. “We’ll have that element locked up in no time—right Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy didn’t sound very confident in her reply. “Right—I think. Are you sure the Griffin’s will be okay with us searching their town?”

“No worries, Fluttershy,” winked Rainbow Dash. “My old pal Gilda will help us out.”

“That’s sort of what I was afraid of.” Fluttershy tucked her head down. “The last time she was in Ponyville things didn’t really go so well.”

“Good!” Twilight moved on without really considering Fluttershy’s response. “I think I know where one of the elements is hiding out, and I’m going to need Pinkie Pie to stay here with me in Ponyville.”

“What do you mean, Twilight?” fidgeted an anxious Pinkie Pie. “Don’t I get to go somewhere cool too?”

“Not if my calculations are correct, Pinkie,” replied Twilight. “If that group of depressed ponies this morning was any indication, I think the element of sadness could be right here under our muzzles.”

“Well that just leaves lies and hate now don’t it,” said Applejack.

“Correct, Applejack,” continued Twilight, “but I have a hunch that isn’t all. We really don’t know if there’s a sixth element hiding out there. I’m guessing by the lack of magic in my element crystal that we’re going to have something big to deal with before long. I’m going to stay here and help Pinkie. Hopefully we’ll find out more from Discord and the Tree of Harmony about the other elements. I’ll send word if we find anything new to share.”

“If that concludes our little pre-adventure planning conference,” Rarity said in a huff, “I shall be off. I have some packing to do before I am made to become Discord’s errand pony.”

Twilight sighed and tried her best to reason with her. “Rarity, this isn’t just about helping Discord. This is about helping all of Equestria. You remember the last time Discord used his magic to spread chaos all over the place—that’s what will happen again if we don’t stop it. Only this time, the bearers of the elements might actually have evil intentions. Who knows what could happen if we don’t act now.”

“I guess you’re right, as always, Twilight.” Rarity tossed her mane and raised her hoof dramatically to her horn. “Such is the burden we all must bear so that everypony can rest easy at night.”

Twilight looked around at all of her friends. She knew she was taking a gamble splitting them up like this and that their Rainbow Powers may not be able to save them if they got into trouble. They had no idea who they would encounter as the new bearers of the Elements of Disharmony. The only thing that was certain was that there was no time to waste.

She returned to her seat and concluded, “Alright then, I need you all to look out for one another. We need to get those elements and bring them back to Discord as soon as we can. You need to find the bearers of the elements and convince them to give them up—that’s the only way we’re going to get this done. Let’s show them the power of the Magic of Friendship!”

A chorus of affirmation sprang from the little group as they all dispersed to their assigned tasks.

Chapter Four - Tears for a Princess

Twilight and Pinkie Pie stood on the Ponyville Train Station platform waving toward the departing train. Applejack and Rarity waved backed through the window of the departing train as they began their overnight journey to Manehattan. It had not been long since all four of them gave their goodbye hugs to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as well. Due to their ability to fly, the pair of Pegasi left shortly after their meeting and were surely winging their way towards Cloudsdale en route to Griffin’s Nest. Spike opted to stay back at the castle and try to catch up on his chores.

Twilight tried to remain positive as she saw her friends off on their unexpected missions. The burden of saving Equestria didn’t seem to weigh so heavily on her own shoulders this time around. It was a feeling she wasn’t particularly used to. She wasn’t so sure she liked it this way. Delegation of duty wasn’t a part of her princess role up until just recently.

“I’m sure they’ll all be back before we know it,” said Pinkie confidently.

“I appreciate your optimism, Pinkie,” replied Twilight. “In the meantime, I think we’re going to have our hands full tracking down the Element of Disharmony plaguing Ponyville.”

On the short trip across town to see her friends off at the train station, Twilight noticed that every face she saw was missing one thing—a smile. Everypony was going about their normal routine, but nothing was being done in the normal cheery manner. Even the patrons of Sugar Cube Corner seemed to lack their normal level of joy in biting into a fresh lemon tart or salivating over a giant frosted layer cake. The entire town was still worried about the chaos cloud invasion from the day before.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” smiled Pinkie. “I’ve got just the thing to snap Ponyville out of this smile slump—a party!”

“I’m not so sure that’ll to do the trick here, Pinkie,” said Twilight, mired in a bit of a funk herself.

“Why not? Everypony loves a good party—it’ll be just the thing to get all the ponies of Ponyville right as rain.”

“Well, we can certainly give it a try. A party may be able to help us find the source of all the sadness and despair that seems to be hanging over the town.”

“Right. I’ll get the streamers and the balloons and meet you back at the castle tonight. We can get all the banners ready and plan the perfect Rainy Day, Go Away party for tomorrow.” Pinkie Pie gave Twilight a big grin as she saluted and then bounced away into town.

Twilight walked back toward the castle by herself. As she passed through town, she took in the sight of the sad and depressed ponies that she passed. Bon Bon and Lyra sat on a park bench staring at the ground. Cheerilee lay in a patch of daisies plucking the leaves from the stems one at a time—in less of a ‘he loves me’ and more of a ‘rip the flowers apart’ action. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had their hooves full with half a dozen moping customers and two crying foals as they struggled to keep their shop running. Derpy Hooves seemed to be the only pony unfazed by the general feeling of despair as she hopped from mailbox to mailbox delivering the mail.

Twilight finally reached the steps of her castle. As she walked inside, a familiar voice called out.

“Twilight! So glad you finally made it home.” Discord stood in the foyer dressed in a maid’s outfit and holding a feather duster.

“Discord! Shouldn’t you be trying to track down the missing elements?”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing, princess. Or at least I was until I got here and noticed your—help—decided to take the day off. I just got done with a wonderful session of focused thinking at my thinking tree and I wanted to share with you my latest thoughts on the matter.”

“Hopefully this is good news?”

“Why of course, Twilight. I always do my best thinking in my thinking tree. The good news is that I’ve found the element of sadness—it’s right here in Ponyville!”

“Not to burst your bubble, but I think we’ve already discovered that, Discord. All the ponies in town look like they haven’t smiled in days.”

“Actually, it’s only been one day. You see, the chaos clouds weren’t just raining chocolate rain. They were dispensing bittersweet chocolate teardrops.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that everypony in town has a case of rainy day depression. Except, of course, for those that are immune to the effects of the rain—like yourself and your closest friends. Being the bearers of the Elements of Harmony does come with a few intrinsic benefits, I suppose. Although, I’m not so sure given your cheery demeanor that you escaped the effects of it completely”

“Well, I guess that would explain why Pinkie is off planning a party and not curled up in a ball crying.” Twilight shook her head trying to get the image of Discord in a dress out of her mind. “You don’t need to worry about me, Discord. I’m just having a bad day is all. I’ll feel much better once this whole situation is resolved and my friends are safely back in Ponyville.”

“That’s right! I hear that you sent four of your dear friends off into the world by themselves. Whatever will they do without you to lead and guide them in their quest?”

“My friends are strong and they will not fail. I have complete confidence that they can retrieve the Elements of Disharmony on their own.”

“But…”

“But what?”

“I sensed a ‘but’ coming there and had to ask—don’t you feel even the tiniest bit of trepidation for their wellbeing? I mean, poor little Fluttershy is so sweet and all—how could you ask her to track down the element of hate all by herself?”

“She isn’t by herself—she’s got Rainbow Dash right there with her.”

“Of course she isn’t alone, but wouldn’t she benefit from the support of all of her friends and not just that brash child you stuck her with?”

“Discord, I don’t know what you’re getting at here, but I trust my friends and I know they will work together to get the job done. We may be stronger when we’re all together, but that doesn’t mean we’re weak and helpless on our own.”

“Sorry to question your judgment, princess. I just wondered why you felt that splitting up the team was the right thing to do.”

“Because, Discord, we need to contain this problem before it gets out of hand. We have no idea the kind of chaos that could be affecting the rest of Equestria right now. If Ponyville is experiencing the effects of a single element, I can’t imagine what is happening to the rest of the kingdom.”

“Once again, Twilight, you are correct. The sooner you and your friends can contain the Elements of Disharmony, the sooner your lives get back to a normal balance. You are all such good friends to be helping with this little problem of mine.”

“Speaking of help, shouldn’t you be concentrating on helping us track down the last two elements?”

“Right you are again.”

“Can’t a dragon get some sleep around here?” shouted Spike from the upper landing.

“Sounds like you’ve got a cranky baby problem of your own to deal with,” said Discord. “I think I’ll go back to my thinking tree and do some more—thinking. Please do let me know if you are able to track down the element of sadness in town.”

Discord snapped his claw and vanished before Twilight could respond. She now faced the prospect of helping Pinkie plan for a rainy day party as well as dealing with her cranky baby dragon assistant. Twilight headed up the stairs to deal with the latter.

The curtains were drawn around Spike’s little bed. Twilight entered the room and padded over towards the restless dragon. She whispered down through the covers, “Spike, are you still awake? Can we talk?”

“Yeah, I’m still awake,” grunted Spike. “Can’t get much sleep around here with all the distractions recently.”

“Spike, what’s the matter with you? Why are you trying to sleep in the middle of the day?”

“What’s the difference? It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“What’s gotten into you? Why are you being so grumpy?”

Spike stood up and faced Twilight. He continued, “You want to know the problem, Twilight? I’m just not appreciated.” He folded his arms and turned his head to the side.

“But Spike…” Twilight hesitated, “you certainly are appreciated. I could never handle being a princess without you right there to support me.”

“It sure doesn’t feel that way.” Spike hung his head as a tear formed in his eye. “I never get to be a part of the team. Whenever there’s a threat to Ponyville, or to Equestria, it’s always, ‘Spike, can you stay and watch the castle? Spike, can you make sure the books are dusted? Spike, can you watch our pets while we go on our cool adventure?’”

Twilight was in shock. Her best friend in the whole world was sad about being left behind. The last thing she wanted to do was to make him feel unwanted or unimportant. She quickly changed her tone and started to apologize. “I’m so sorry, Spike. I had no idea you didn’t feel like you were part of the team. Lately it’s just been hard with all the problems surrounding my new role as a princess and all of our roles as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I’m sorry I haven’t tried to include you more.”

Twilight edged down closer to her faithful assistant. She swung her foreleg around his neck and pulled him in close for a hug. Spike’s tears, which had been freely flowing down his cheeks, began to slow as he sunk into the powerful embrace of his closest friend.

She continued, “You are my number one assistant and even more importantly, you are my very best friend. I don’t know what I would do without you.” She gave her little friend the biggest hug she had ever given.

As the tears rolled down his scales and onto the floor, they suddenly evaporated. Instead of simply drying up, they turned into a glittery, glowing essence. The magical vapor swung around the pair as their embrace continued. The gemstone on Twilight’s crown began to faintly glow as just a small part of it began to illuminate while the particles coalesced within.

Twilight drew herself up with a start. “Spike, look what just happened!”

Spike responded, “Yeah, Twilight, I don’t know what came over me. I don’t usually cry like that. Even though I am still a baby dragon, that doesn’t mean I’m a crybaby.”

“No, Spike—Take a look at my crown!” Twilight was almost cross-eyed at this point trying to glance up at the tiara and magic gemstone that sat proudly on top of her head. “I think we just found a little bit of the element of sadness.”

“Wow, Twilight. That is kind of cool.” Spike gazed up at the little spark of magic as it floated around the star shaped crystal. “Did that come from my tears?”

“We need to find Pinkie Pie!” squealed Twilight as she hopped around the room. “A party is just what we need to solve this problem.”

Chapter Five - An Honest Day's Work

Rarity sat alone in her room above Carousel Boutique. To say she felt stressed would be an understatement. Around her friends, she tried to put on an air of indifference or play coy and take things in stride. Having only recently returned from her last adventure, which followed quickly on the heels of their battle with Lord Tirek, she wasn’t sure if she could take on another epic task.

The young Unicorn waged her own mental war trying to decide if she was really up to the challenge. On the one side, her friends needed her. As a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony she was duty bound to help. On the other hoof, she was Rarity. Although she dreamed of glamor and fame, chasing down monsters and trekking all over the kingdom on a wild chaos hunt weren’t exactly on the top of her list for how she should best go about achieving those goals.

Then, there was her work. Half a dozen projects lay strewn about her bedroom. The sewing machine sat unused acting more like a dust magnet than a tool of her trade. Her creative flow was simply nonexistent. She hadn’t had a single original idea in over a month. Her passion for all things fabulous was quickly slipping away. It was who she was, and her generous nature and love for her friends seemed to be in direct conflict with her life’s ambitions and goals.

She grabbed a pillow and fell back onto her bed. What she needed was a break. She felt like if she could just relax and find her center again that all would be right in her world. All her musing and hope for a reprieve from this latest adventure was dashed as the door chime sounded.

Ding, ding, rang the call of the bell above her shop door.

“Rarity? Are you here?” called Applejack.

No more time to waste. I must make a decision. Rarity tried to put herself together, not yet responding to the calls from her friend below. I know I have to be strong and I have to be there for my friends, came her resolute answer to her own questions.

“Rarity, what’s the holdup?” called Applejack for a second time.

“Yes, Applejack. I’ll be right there,” came the response from above.

Rarity gathered the last of her things and levitated them into her saddle bags as she then levitated the packs onto her back. She took in a deep breath and descended the flight of stairs to her waiting friend.

“Well there you are, missy. I was beginin’ to worry about you,” said Applejack as Rarity made her entrance into the main showroom. “I hope you aren’t plannin’ on packin’ the entire store along with us this time.”

“No, Applejack. I’ve only packed the bare necessities. Shall we be off then?” Rarity’s words were delivered with a brevity and discomfort that Applejack picked up on almost immediately.

“Well, hold on there just a second—Is somethin’ wrong?”

“If you must know, I-I’m having some difficulty living up to my role as the bearer of the Element of Generosity. Things have been a bit overwhelming recently.”

Applejack sat back and removed her hat. “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help? If you aren’t feelin’ up to this, we can go talk to Twilight about it—I’m sure we can figure somethin’ else out.”

“No, no. I’ll be alright. I need to do this for me and for my friends. It’s just that these never-ending quests tend to wear me down. I love helping my friends, but I wish I didn’t have to do it in such a dramatic fashion all the time. I’m not sure if I’m ready to face another adventure so soon.”

“Rarity, I have to be honest with ya’. I’m a little tuckered out myself. It sure gets frustratin’ when we’re always bein’ called on to save the day. But I still couldn’t ever say no when I’m called up to fight for the ones I care most about—my family and my friends.”

Applejack walked over and threw her foreleg around her friend. “I hope you know I’ll always be there to help and support you, especially when you’re feelin’ down. Shucks, I might even let you model some of your frilly dresses on me if it helps you come ‘round.”

“Thank you, Applejack,” came Rarity’s reply as she fought back tears. “I don’t know what I would do without friends like you.”

“Aww, it’s nothin’, sugarcube. Sometimes we all need a mane to cry on and a hoof to help lift us up when we’re down. That’s what friends are for.”

“You’re a true friend, Applejack.”

“Alright then, let’s get a move on.” Applejack swung her hat back on her head. “We best hightail it on outta here before we miss our train.”

Rarity lifted her head and gave Applejack a small smile in return. “Manehattan, here we come.”

The two ponies could not be more polar opposites in their personal likes and dislikes, but in this moment Rarity felt a bond that broke through all those barriers. Their friendship was pure. She knew it and she knew Applejack knew it as well. They could count on one another for anything. It was comforting to Rarity to have that knowledge as they left her shop and started on this new adventure together.

Applejack and Rarity walked side by side as they traveled the short distance to the Ponyville train station. They had both said their goodbyes to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy earlier that afternoon. The train bound for Manehattan didn’t leave for another hour so they took their time as they made their way through town.

Rarity trotted along in much better spirits now that Applejack had given her that pep talk. The ponies they passed in their short walk, however, didn’t seem to be in a very friendly mood. Golden Harvest and Daisy were arguing about the state of their vegetable and herb garden. Aloe hung a ‘Closed’ sign in the window of the spa while Lotus shooed a pair of disappointed clients out the door. The only pony who seemed unaffected was Derpy Hooves—she hopped along in simple obliviousness to the plight of those around her as she delivered the daily mail.

Applejack and Rarity soon found Berry Punch standing in the middle of the road crying—her grocery cart had a busted wheel. The pair quickly ran over to help the poor pony in distress. Rarity magically repaired the wheel while Applejack lifted the cart into a level position.

“Thanks for your help,” said a still teary eyed Berry Punch, “but I’m still going to be late for dinner.” The young pony let loose another wave of tears as she pulled away with her repaired cart in tow.

“What is it with all these ponies?” remarked Applejack. “It’s like they can’t even smile or nothin’.”

“I think that’s why our mission is so urgent, Applejack,” commented Rarity. “These ponies are just a sample of what I believe we’ll find. There’s no telling what will happen to them if we don’t get the Elements of Disharmony under control as soon as possible.”

“Yer right,” said Applejack as she raised up both her front legs. “Let’s get to that there train station and get ourselves to Manehattan on the double.”

They both took off in a gallop toward the waiting train.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie came to see them off at the station. They got in a few hugs and some last words of encouragement before Applejack and Rarity finally boarded the train. In no time, they were rolling down the tracks, past the meadows, and up through the tunnels below Canterlot.

It was just an hour past sunset when the train made its stop at Canterlot station. Rarity wondered if there would be enough time to take a quick peek at the fashion shop windows that lined the main street leading to the castle. She barely had time to formulate the idea before the option was denied by the imminent departure of their conveyance.The continuing trip to Manehattan would last until morning.

Rarity grabbed a blanket and settled in for the night alongside Applejack who was already snoring in the bunk next to her. For all the farm pony’s roughness, Rarity greatly appreciated the presence of her good friend by her side. “Good night, Applejack,” she whispered. “Pleasant dreams.”

The sound of two snoring ponies soon filled the cabin as the clickety-clack of the train wheels continued into the night. Notwithstanding the noise, Rarity slept soundly—for the first time in a very long time she felt somewhat at peace.

The morning broke only an hour or so before the train was to arrive at its final destination—Manehattan Central Station. In the early morning light as the train crossed the last few miles of track, Rarity made it a point to help Applejack with her main and tail composition. The two ponies chatted like sisters as Rarity guided her brush through the golden tresses normally obscured by Applejack’s cowpony hat. Hard work on the farm had not been kind to this mane, and neither had the overnight train ride.

“There, all done,” said Rarity as she fought back the impulse to launch into a full on makeover session.

“Why thank you, Rarity,” replied a jovial Applejack admiring her reflection in the hair. “You sure do have a way with that brush of yours. My mane ain’t looked so shiny in ages.”

“It the least a friend could do,” blushed Rarity.

They spent the last few minutes aboard the train gathering their belongings and going over their basic strategy in finding the lost element. Without having a specific target, the city was a pretty big place for it to be lost in. Rarity recalled that she did have a few friends in town that they might be able to start with questioning.

“Perhaps we can pay a visit to Coco Pommel,” suggested Rarity. “It’s been ages since I heard from her and how her work is going.”

“Maybe we can have a sit down with my Auntie and Uncle Orange as well,” said Applejack as she tossed her hat back on top of her newly combed out mane.

“I know one thing for certain,” continued Rarity, “this is going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack—a haystack the size of Manehattan.”

The train arrived at the station and the pair stepped down onto the platform. The smell of fresh country air was nowhere to be found in this bustling metropolis. Rarity hailed a cab and they spent the next few minutes taking in the view of the high rise buildings and pony-cab packed streets as they rode through the heart of the city.

They cantered down Bridleway and came to a stop in front of the theatre where they had taken in their private performance of ‘Hinny of the Hills’. That production had run its course, but the signs posted all over the front of the building showed that a new production was soon to open—‘Griffin Lake’. Rarity strode up to the counter with Applejack in tow as she began to ask around regarding Coco.

The talented seamstress pony was indeed part of the new production and the chatty pony at the ticket booth was kind enough to let them enter as well as lead them to the costume designer’s workshop. Rarity thanked her for her help and entered the small closet of an office.

“Rarity?!” Coco Pommel nearly knocked over her sewing machine as she leapt up from her work to greet her friend.

“Coco!” Rarity exclaimed as she met the pony halfway across the small room.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Coco beamed. “What brings you to Manehattan?”

“I wish it could be under better circumstances, darling,” Rarity began before turning her attention to the beautiful gowns that were hung on the racks all around them. “But I must say I love your costumes.”

“What do you mean, Rarity?” Coco sounded a bit concerned now.

“Aww don’t mind her,” said Applejack. “She’s just had a lot on her mind lately. Looks like she just needed a little taste of Manehattan fashion to set her right.”

Rarity was now ogling the outfits as she strummed her hoof along the costume racks.

“Why, these are simply gorgeous!” exclaimed an enthusiastic Rarity. “However did you get the stitching so crisp and even?”

“I-I must have a natural talent for it, I guess,” said a bashful Coco.

“You surely must teach me how you do it…” Rarity trailed off as she met the stern, but understanding glare of Applejack. “But that can wait for later. We do have business to attend to here.”

Applejack spoke up, “Coco, we’re both here on a very important mission. We were wonderin’ if you knew of anything strange goin’ on in town lately.”

“I’m not sure what you mean, Applejack,” said a still humble Coco. “There’s a lot of strange things that happen in the city.”

“Actually, what she means is, have you seen anything unexpected or unexplainable—something completely out of the norm, even for a city like Manehattan?” Rarity clarified.

Coco took a moment to think about the question. “Well, now that you mention it, there is this one thing. About a month ago, a strange little shop opened up down on 13th street. I’ve never seen a more curious set of owners or a more popular product in all my life.”

“So, yer sayin’ a new store opening is something strange in this here town?” questioned Applejack.

“Well, not just that,” replied Coco. “It’s just that it’s been the talk of the town for as long as it’s been open. All they sell is one thing and the line to buy it is always around the corner and down the next block. It’s kind of strange that a new shop would become so popular that quick.”

“I guess we should check it out then,” said Applejack. “What did you say the name of the place was?”

Coco replied, “Flim Flam’s Tonic Emporium.”

Author's Note

Just a quick note on this chapter - I'm not trying to start any Rari-Jack shipping nonsense.

I feel that the ponies can be and should be very close friends, but that's as far as I'm willing to take it.

Sorry if I scared anyone with the setup here - and for all the rest of you, feel free to read into it as much as you want.

Chapter Six - A Friend in Need

“Goodbye fish. Goodbye bees. Goodbye my little woodland creature friends.” Fluttershy darted about her yard frantically waving her goodbye’s to all her animal friends.

She had not planned on taking a trip so soon after returning from her last one. The animals had long, sad faces knowing that their dearest pony pal was leaving them once again. Her bear friend shed a few tears as he enthusiastically wrapped the much smaller pony in his big paws.

“Don’t you worry your sweet furry head for one second,” came the muffled voice of Fluttershy under the heavy layer of fur draped around her. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

The bear loosened his grip as Fluttershy slipped out of his warm embrace. She flapped back over to her cottage door and picked up her waiting saddle bags. She gave the group of animals gathered around her one last air kiss and wave before heading off down the path towards town.

“I’m leaving Angel Bunny in charge, so you all listen to him and be nice to one another,” called Fluttershy as she floated away from her cottage.

The normally timid pony put on a brave face for her animal friends, but secretly dreaded the fact that she was heading off into the unknown once again. She struggled within herself to keep a steady pace as she flew towards the castle and a waiting Rainbow Dash. The concept of bravery and daring that so epitomized that young Pegasus still eluded her understanding.

‘Oh why can’t I just be brave like Rainbow,’ thought Fluttershy.

She would miss her animal friends a lot, but she still understood that her pony friends needed her now. That gave her the courage she needed to face this task – although, she was still very glad that Rainbow Dash would be coming with her. She wasn’t sure if she would be up to facing this challenge alone.

As she approached the castle, a few waiting ponies called out to greet her. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all stood on the castle steps and waved as she landed.

“What took you so long?” chided Rainbow Dash. “I thought you said you just needed to say goodbye to your pets?”

“Well,” mumbled Fluttershy, “I do have quite a lot of animal friends and they all deserve a personal goodbye.”

“Ok, I guess that’s fine,” replied Rainbow Dash. “We just better get a move on if we’re going to make it to Griffin’s Nest before dark.”

“Now Rainbow,” interjected Twilight, “I know you’re in a hurry to get going, but you need to make sure that the two of you stay together. I don’t want you flying off on your own and leaving Fluttershy to fend for herself.”

“No way, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash. “I would never leave a friend hangin’.”

“Speaking of friends,” whispered Fluttershy, “are you sure Gilda will be willing to help us? We didn’t exactly see eye to eye the last time she was here.”

“No worries, Fluttershy,” pronounced a confident Rainbow Dash. “Me and Gilda go way back. I’m sure the last time she was here was just a fluke. She’ll be happy to help an old pal.”

“I hope you’re right, Rainbow.” Fluttershy looked a bit unsure as she nervously dug a hoof into the ground.

“Well, you two better get going,” said a little more confident Twilight. “It’s a long way to Griffin’s Nest and you don’t have a full day of sun left to fly there.”

“You’re right, Twilight,” continued Rainbow Dash. “The sooner we get there and find that element, the sooner we can get back to Ponyville.” She nodded to Fluttershy and added, “We’ll be so fast those animal buddies of yours won’t even know you were gone.”

The two Pegasi hugged the other ponies and flew off toward Carousel Boutique. Twilight’s could be heard as they floated away:

“Be safe, and stay together!”

They made a quick stop at Rarity’s shop to say goodbye and to wish her luck on her own quest before doing the same at Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack. With each pony she hugged, Fluttershy felt the impact of her departure sink deeper and deeper into her heart.

Soon they were both winging to the North past Cloudsdale and beyond. They stopped a few times on their way for a drink and a chance to rest their wings. Flying was definitely hard work – especially considering that they were carrying supplies. Knowing that they would be taking an aerial trip, they had packed as light as possible. Even so, the saddle bag strap still rubbed into the base of Fluttershy’s wings and made it hard to keep up with her much more athletic partner.

“Come on, Fluttershy,” complained Rainbow Dash. “We need to keep going. At this rate we won’t make it to Griffin’s Nest before nightfall.”

They had just made their fifth stop of the afternoon. Fluttershy was in pain. She wasn’t used to this amount of flying. A red patch of chaffed fur and feathers had developed around the base of her wings. The only thing that kept her going the last few miles was the constant prodding of her partner.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” said a defeated sounding Fluttershy. “I just can’t fly any further today. We’ve been flying for hours, but I just don’t think I can flap any more tonight.”

Fluttershy reached up to try and rub her sore back as she let her packs slip down off her flank. Rainbow Dash came over to assist the tired pony and saw that she really wasn’t in any shape to be flying right then.

“Wow, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash encouragingly. “I had no idea you could fly that well. By the looks of that sore, I’m surprised you made it this far.”

The encouragement in her voice only masked the disappointment she felt for not making it to their destination just yet. The bigger problem, however, worried her even more. Fluttershy was in no condition to fly and they were still a few miles from the Griffin city. Rainbow Dash glanced around taking in their surroundings.

They had landed in a grassy meadow near the edge of a lake. A calm and inviting forest spread into the rolling hills further on. She trotted down to the lakeside and gathered some water in her canteen which she brought back to her resting friend. Fluttershy’s injured wings looked even worse as she spent more time examining the sores at their base.

“That doesn’t look so good,” stated Rainbow Dash. “I think we better keep to the ground for now.”

“Thank you for the water, Rainbow,” winced a clearly hurting Fluttershy. “I’ll be ok – don’t let me stop you. You go on ahead and I’ll catch up as soon as I can.”

“Nothin’ doin’, Fluttershy. I promised Twilight that we’d stick together and that’s what we’re gonna do. Can you walk?”

“I-I think so.”

“Ok then – here’s the plan. We’ve only got an hour or so left of daylight and we need to make it into town if we can. I sure don’t want to find out what’s lurking in those woods after it gets dark.”

“I’ll do my best, Rainbow.”

Fluttershy reached over and tried to lift her packs back onto her injured back.

“Now we can’t have you doin’ that now can we, Fluttershy. Let me carry those bags, and you just worry about moving those legs of yours.”

“Why that’s awfully kind of you. I appreciate you being such a good friend. I’ll try my best to keep up.”

Rainbow slung the extra packs over her own back and the two ponies set off towards Griffin’s Nest once again – this time, on hoof.

It was nearly two hours after sunset when the two tired ponies came to the edge of town. The town was quiet. A few solitary griffins stumbled along the path trying to make their way home after an evening at the local pub. This town sure wasn’t like the Ponyville they had left earlier that day.

As they walked into town they passed a few shops and houses. A couple of places were still open, but they were closing up quickly. Rainbow Dash happened to glance in a window of one of the taverns – her gaze was met by a stern faced griffin who glared back at her as she passed by. The window near the door to the establishment had a curious sign hanging in it. It read:

NO PONIES WELCOME

Fluttershy stayed as close as she could to Rainbow. She squeaked out a few words, “I don’t think it’s really all that safe for us here, Rainbow.”

“Nonsense, Fluttershy,” came Rainbow Dash’s reply. “We just need to find Gilda and see about finding a place to bed down for the night.”

The few griffins still milling about had noticed the presence of the ponies. Fluttershy’s nerves were starting to get the better of her as each one they passed seemed to growl at her. As they came to a shop near the center of town, they heard a familiar voice call out to them.

“My little pony friends, come quickly – you must get inside.”

At first they were somewhat startled by the stranger calling to them. He gestured for them to approach as he held open the door to the shop behind him. As they got closer, they realized who it was.

“Gustave?” replied Rainbow Dash.

“Oui, Oui. Come now, vee must urray.”

The Griffin pastry chef half pulled and then half pushed the two ponies inside his shop before looking around skittishly and closing the door behind them.

“What’s the deal, Gustave?” asked an annoyed Rainbow Dash.

“It very nice to see you again, Mr. Gustave,” said Fluttershy with a small curtsy.

“Euh merci, mon petit ponie,” said a somewhat relieved looking Gustave le Grand. “I am so appy to see you. I ave no idea how you both made it zis far into town without being captured. Zee guards must ave all gone to bed.”

“Guards? What do you mean, Gustave?” replied a still slightly annoyed but now more confused Rainbow Dash. “Why would the guards want to capture two ponies?”

“Because, those are her orders,” he replied.

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in front of his face. “Now hold on just a second, what’s the matter with ponies being in Griffin’s Nest and who’s ordering our capture?”

Gustave looked offended at the question, but said, “why, it’s your old friend Gilda of course.”

Chapter Seven - The Flim Flam Philosophy

Rarity and Applejack walked three abreast as Coco Pommel led the way through the crowded streets of Manehattan. They were glad to have the city pony as a guide. Taxi ponies zipped by as the trio made their way down to 13th Street. As they neared the corner of their intended cross street, they could already see the line of ponies that had formed.

“That sure is quite a long line,” remarked Rarity.

“Oh, that’s nothin’,” beamed Applejack. “That there line doesn’t even compare to Sweet Apple Acres apple cider harvest. We’ve got ponies lined up fer a country mile.”

“That’s just the end of the line,” said Coco. “We still have 10 more blocks to go once we get to the corner.”

Rarity gave little smirk of a smile as Applejack came to realize how long the line really was. The ponies rounded the corner and continued their little trek now moving alongside the line of potential pony patrons.

“I really don’t see what all the fuss is about,” said Applejack. “Their tonic doesn’t even work – and it doesn’t taste all that great either.”

“Liar!” shouted a voice from the line.

Applejack came to an abrupt halt. She paused a moment to take in the realization that someone had just called her a liar. She turned and faced the pony who had called her out.

“Uncle Orange!” she shouted in surprise.

“Why if it isn’t my precocious little niece, Applejack.” Mosely Orange took a step forward as the line moved a few inches in front of him. “Whatever brings you to Manehattan?”

“Well, I guess I’ve come ta see what the big deal is here with the latest Flim Flam brothers scheme,” she replied.

“How dare you speak ill of those two wonderful pony proprietors. Their tonic is the greatest thing to ever grace our fair city,” he rebuffed.

Applejack was still a bit shocked, but now felt more confused. “What exactly are they sellin’?”

“Why, this of course.” Mosley held up a mostly empty bottle of the Flim Flam tonic.

Applejack examined the bottle and then asked, “Mind if I try a bit?”

“Not at all my dear niece,” he replied. “Unfortunately, I don’t have enough left to share with your friends.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” said Applejack as she drank the last few drops left in the now empty bottle. “Just as I suspected – it’s the same old stuff they were peddlin’ in Ponyville – although, it does have kind of a weird aftertaste.”

Her Uncle rebuked her once again, “It’s the best tasting beverage this side of Canterlot. I guess I can’t expect your unrefined palate to appreciate the finer things - such as this marvelous tonic here. I’m in line to buy an entire case.”

He took another step forward.

Applejack turned back to Rarity and Coco. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of this. If we stand in line, we could be here all day. I say we just confront those lyin’, good-fer-nothin’ ponies and see about settin’ this whole thing straight.”

“I’m with you, Applejack,” responded Rarity.

“I-I think I better get back to my sewing,” replied a hesitant Coco as she politely excused herself and turned back the way they had come. “I’m sure you can find your way – just follow the line of ponies.”

Applejack didn’t need to say goodbye to her Uncle Orange since he had already forgotten she was there while moving ahead with the flow of the line. She and Rarity ran at a brisk trot the rest of the way down the street toward the head of the line.

In just a few minutes, they stood in front of the glaring billboard which indiscreetly featured the beaming faces of the infamous Flim Flam brothers. Just under the oversized caricature of the two heads read the name of the store – ‘Flim Flam’s Tonic Emporium’. Just under that appeared another tag line – ‘We’ve got what you need!’

Applejack looked at Rarity and Rarity looked back at Applejack. “Here we go again,” they both said to one another.

They entered the store using the door marked ‘Exit Only’, much to the chagrin of the line of customers still waiting to be served. Immediately they were greeted with the sound of two familiar voices.

“Sorry folks, but you’ll have to wait in line like all the rest of these thirsty ponies,” called Flim.

“Don’t worry though, there’s plenty for everypony. You just have to wait your turn,” cried Flam.

“Flim and Flam – still up to your old tricks I see,” countered Applejack. “What kind of snake oil are you trying to sell here in Manehattan.”

Both brothers stopped dead in their tracks like they had just seen a ghost. “Applejack!” They nearly fainted.

Flim and Flam quickly recovered from their initial shock. “The store is closed – everypony out!” they called out with one starting and one finishing the line.

A shocked group of ponies already inside the store were quickly ushered out the door. The signs in the window were flipped from Open to Closed. Last of all, the curtains were drawn so as to block all view from outside the venue.

“Applejack,” began Flim.

“We knew we hadn’t seen the last of you,” continued Flam.

“To what do we owe the honor of your visit?” finished Flim.

“I think you already know the answer to that you lyin’ pair a….” Applejack was cut off.

“Business owners!” exclaimed Rarity.

Rarity cleared her throat and continued, “I see you have a wonderful new establishment here in town. Looks like you’ve made a great impression with the locals.”

“Why, Miss Rarity, such a pleasure to see you again.” Flim bowed as Flam ran up to shake her hoof. “Have you come to sample our marvelous new formulation?”

“Nothin’ doin’!” exclaimed Applejack. “We’re here to put a stop to this nonsense once and fer all.”

“Whatever do you mean, dear Applejack?” protested Flam. “We’re just two honest business ponies trying to support our wives and foals back at home.”

“You’ve got family?” came the retort from a newly surprised Applejack.

“Of course we do,” chuckled Flim.

“We’re just trying to provide a humble living for our young families – I’m sure you can’t see anything wrong with that, now can you?” added Flam.

“I had no idea,” replied Applejack, “but that still doesn’t excuse your lyin’ to these gullible Manehattanites. That tonic a yers doesn’t do any of the stuff you say it will.”

“Oh, but you haven’t tried the new and improved formula now have you?” responded Flim.

“Of course I have,” continued Applejack. “It tastes just like the stuff you were sellin’ in Ponyville not long ago.”

“Ahhh, but that’s where you’re wrong. This is the new and improved version.” Flam held up a full bottle of the new tonic.

“What’s so ‘new and improved’ about it? – other than that bitter aftertaste.” Applejack examined the bottle that Flam held trying to see if she could detect any differences in this tonic from the ones that Granny Smith had bought back home.

“That’s the magic part!” exclaimed Flim.

“We found that by just giving our regular old tonic a little stir from our magic horns, the customers find the ‘new and improved’ version irresistible,” continued Flam.

“They can’t stop talking about it. It makes it so easy to sell when all our customers can’t stop telling all their friends how wonderful it is,” added Flim.

Applejack picked up a bottle from the shelf on the wall. “I still don’t see what makes this any better than the stuff you were sellin’ back home. It tastes as plain as ever.”

“Honestly, you’re the first pony to ever say that, Applejack,” stated Flim.

“We pride ourselves on a solid reputation.” Flam looked down at the bottle of tonic he was holding. “Not a single customer has ever come to complain that our tonic tastes bad or doesn’t do what we say it does – at least since we opened up our shop here in Manehattan using our new and improved formula.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” scolded Applejack. “You two are still as crooked as you were the last two times we met.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” corrected Flam.

“We’ve changed our ways,” explained Flim. “We no longer sell our tonic as a cure all medicine – we’ve learned from our mistakes and want to do right by our customers.”

“We saw how our bad reputation hurt our business,” added Flam. “We can’t afford to let that happen here. Manehattan is the last place in all of Equestria where we could have a fresh start. You have to believe us.”

“Mr. Flim and Mr. Flam,” asked Rarity, “would you mind showing us your -magic- tonic making process. I’m very interested to see how you put it all together.”

“But of course – follow us,” Flim and Flam split the line.

The four ponies went into the back room where the bottling apparatus was set up. Flim gathered a couple ingredients on the table as Flam prepared the juicer for processing.

“We only use the finest ingredients available,” stated Flim. “Fresh fruit and veggies straight from the farm.”

Flam continued, “Only the best apple and beet leaves make it into Flim Flam’s new and improved tonic.”

“But that’s the same stuff you were makin’ the tonic back in Ponyville with,” said Applejack.

“Ahh, but that’s where you would be incorrect my dear.” Flam filled a pitcher with the juiced apples and beet leaves. “Now comes the magic!”

Flim turned his head to the side and guided his horn into the opening of the pitcher. He gave the concoction a little stir – just enough that his glowing horn grazed the surface of the liquid.

“And there you have it!” exclaimed Flam.

“The new and improved version!” added Flim.

Bells and whistles started going off in Applejack’s head. She turned to Rarity and asked, “Are you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

“I believe we may have found what we came all this way for in the first place,” replied an excited Rarity. “Now the problem is, what do we do about it?”

Applejack thought for a moment before she addressed the brothers. “What if I told you fellers somethin’ bad was goin’ into that fancy new drink a yers?”

“I’d say you’ll have to do better than that,” replied Flim.

“What’s the matter with our tonic?” questioned Flam.

“Let’s just say that little bit a magic you’re addin’ to the mix isn’t what you think it is,” stated Applejack.

“It’s actually something very bad for your customers,” added Rarity.

“I’m all ears if you think you’ve got a better way to keep our shop in business and avoid whatever awful thing you say we’re inflicting upon our loyal new customer base.” Flam waited for his answer from the two smiling ponies before him. His brother did the same.

“We need to remove all that magic from all these jars and make sure that nothing like that ever goes into your product in the future,” came Rarity’s reply.

“But how will we stay in business?” questioned Flim.

“The magic is our special ingredient. We can’t sell our tonic without it,” stated Flam.

“Of course you can,” chuckled Applejack. “Your tonic isn’t bad. It just has a brandin’ problem. You need to stop tryin’ to sell it as a magic elixir and start sellin’ it fer what it is – an organic heath drink! The ponies of Manehattan will love the stuff!”

“Brother, she might have a point there.” Flim consulted with his brother, Flam.

“It might sell even better than it does now, brother.” Flam turned back to the girls. “So how do we go about removing the magic from our existing product?”

“Well, that’s the easy part,” said Applejack. “All you gotta do is promise to be honest with your customers. Tell em exactly what’s in the drink and, while it’s sure no magic cure all, it’s still good for em and comes from a real farm.”

“I think that’s something we can agree to brother,” said Flam.

“Sounds like a deal to me, brother,” added Flim. “A natural product using fewer ingredients and an honest marketing plan. I can see the sales piling up the chart.”

Flim and Flam’s horns suddenly lit up in the familiar glow they had used to prepare their tonic with. All the bottles around them also began to glow just the same. A rush of magical energy came flooding out of every space in the store – all directed at one location, Applejack’s medallion.

The gemstone embedded in Applejack’s necklace began to glow as it absorbed the energy from its surroundings. Soon enough, the magical energy had filled the stone. Applejack stood back trying to get a better look at her necklace. Rarity came over and held up a hoof to get a closer look at it.

“I do believe you’ve done it, Applejack!” exclaimed Rarity upon closer inspection of the gem. “You’ve captured the essence of the element of lies!”

Chapter Eight - On a Wing and a Prayer

Sunlight peeked through the corner of the upper room window. Another day had begun. For Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, however, they remained in the dark loft still unsure of why they were hiding in the first place. They had spent an uneasy and restless night there just above Gustave’s pastry shop.

When they had arrived in Griffin’s Nest, it was already late. The few Griffins they had come across had not been very hospitable – that is, until they were whisked away by Gustave. He had helped to bind Fluttershy’s wings and make her as comfortable as possible with the sparse bedding he could pull together. He explained that the ponies needed to lay low and wait until morning. Gustave left the pair in his loft for the night without so much as entertaining a single question more.

With the morning sun now prying through every crack and crevice around the heavy blanket hung in the window, Rainbow Dash felt it was time to get some answers. She made sure Fluttershy was doing ok and then quietly slipped out the door and down the stairs in search of their host.

She stayed light on her hooves as she descended the staircase. In the room below she could hear Gustave talking with another pair of Griffins. She inched closer to the shop’s back door as she tried to listen in on the conversation.

“But of course I aven’t seen any little ponies in my shop, officer.” The voice of Gustave was light and airy as he continued to answer to the guards that were questioning him. “Those –witnesses-, as you call zem, must ave been too drunk to see straight.”

“Alright, Gustave,” the first guard said pointedly, “but if you do see any ponies – you be sure and let us know right away.”

“And welcome back to town,” added the second. “I hear you won first prize at the National Dessert Competition this year – great job!”

Gustave grabbed a pair of éclairs for the guards and then they shook talons and he walked them out the front door of the shop. As soon as the coast was clear, Rainbow Dash ventured out into the room to confront the chef.

“Gustave, I need some answers,” demanded Rainbow Dash. “What is going on here?”

“Keep your voice down and come back upstairs vith me,” came the nervous answer.

Gustave grabbed another pair of éclairs and tossed one to Rainbow as he led the way back up the back steps. When they reached the upper room, he carried the other pastry over to Fluttershy and set it down next to her on a small table adjoining a half-full glass of water.

“Why thank you, Mr. le Grand.” Fluttershy nodded her head. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Alright, Gustave. We really need to know what’s going on.” Rainbow Dash came over and sat on a small stool next to Fluttershy’s bed. “Could you please tell us what’s up with those guards I just saw downstairs?”

“I will tell you vut I can, mon ami. Aving just recently returned from the National Dessert Competition, I am still discovering things myself. All is not right in Griffin’s Nest – non!”

“You got that right – what’s with this anti-pony vibe?” inquired Rainbow Dash.

“It tis all Gilda – she is out of control. She ‘as all zee Griffins riled up with some nonsense about Griffin pride. Zee guards ave orders to arrest any pony on sight.”

“I better get to the bottom of this then – it’s time I found Gilda and put a few things straight.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as she got up to leave.

“Non!” exclaimed Gustave. “You must remain here where it is safe. I bribed the guards with my delectable pastry – they will not be looking for you ere.”

“Yes, they are quite delicious.” Fluttershy looked up from her breakfast. A chocolate rimmed smile outlined her muzzle.

“Well, we can’t stay cooped up in your attic forever – we have to do something.” Rainbow Dash let out a sigh as she floated back down to her chair.

Rainbow Dash almost fell off that chair almost as soon as she landed due to as a sudden pounding knock on the front door downstairs that shook the entire house.

“Gustave! We know you are harboring ponies. Come out with your talons in the air!”

The trio responded together at the recognition of the voice, “Gilda!”

“Vut ave I done? This can only end badly for us all.” Gustave cringed as he tried desperately to think of another way out. “You must escape – take the back exit and fly to safety.”

“Fluttershy is in no condition to fly right now, and there’s no way I’m leaving her here like this alone.” Rainbow Dash flew over to the window and removed the blanket that was covering it. “I’m going to go out there and face her.”

She threw back the latch, pushed open the window and flew out into the morning sun.

No sooner had she burst through the open window, than a pair of Griffin guards tackled her mid-air. Another pair of Griffins dove back inside and quickly wrangled her companions. In seconds the trio were bound and brought before their captor.

“Stop it!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “You’re hurting her!”

Fluttershy gave a sharp yelp of pain, her tears now flowing freely, as she was unceremoniously dumped in line with the other two. All four hooves and both her injured wings were bound with a rough twine rope.

Rainbow Dash struggled violently against her restraints as she fought to assist her comrade. As she came to realize how useless her struggle really was, she too began to shed her own tears – tears of frustration.

“Awww, is da wittle baby Rainbow Dashie gonna cry for her mommy too?” taunted Gilda. “Maybe she needs her diaper changed and a baba as well.”

“I’m not a baby,” said Rainbow Dash trying her very hardest to sound brave, but not doing a very convincing job of it. “You’re hurting my friend – you have to stop!”

With an air of sarcasm so thick you could cut it with a knife, Gilda retorted, “Friend? How is it that –you- have any –friends-? The great Rainbow Dash doesn’t need any friends – at least that’s how I remember it.”

“What did I ever do to you, Gilda?” questioned Rainbow Dash. “You sure aren’t acting like the -friend- you used to be back in flight school.”

“I can’t believe I ever used to call you my friend – Rainbow Crash. You ponies are all alike – you think you’re –soooo- much better than the rest of us.” Gilda turned and addressed the other Griffins gathered around them. “But that ends today!”

“What are you talking about, Gilda?” continued Rainbow Dash. “Do you even hear what you are saying?”

“It’s no use,” murmured Gustave. “She’s lost er mind. You cannot reason with zee crazy Griffin.”

“Quiet, bird brain!” screeched Gilda as she whipped around to face the chef. “You’re just as bad as these ponies. They’ve gone and messed with your head!”

“You’re wrong, Gilda,” replied Fluttershy. “Gustave is our friend and friends help each other.”

“So the yellow one does talk, ehh?” Gilda grinned as a wicked idea came into her head. “Let’s just see how good of a friend you are then.”

Gilda turned and faced her fellow Griffins once again. “Fellow Griffins -lords of flight- these Pegasi think they are better than us. They think that just because they have wings, they own the sky. Even Gustave here has been fooled into believing he is their –friend-. I say we have a race and have them try and prove who the better fliers really are.”

“Any time, any place, Gilda!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“I don’t think so, Dashie,” remarked Gilda with a sneer. “Let’s let this one decide Gustave’s fate.”

Gilda walked over to Fluttershy, and with a single swipe of her talon, sliced through the rope binding her legs and wings. Fluttershy cowered in fear beneath the raging Griffin.

“Rules are simple,” Gilda continued, “first flier to the lake and back gets to decide if you all go free, or if we lock you up in our cozy new dungeon.”

“That’s not fair!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “She’s injured – can’t you see she’s in no condition to fly?”

Gilda sneered. “Shouldn’t matter – since you Pegasi are all such amazing fliers, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Gilda gave Fluttershy’s wound a jab which sent the poor pony into another bout of pain induced sobbing.

“That tears it!!” screamed Rainbow Dash as she tore through the rope binding her legs and wings. She leaped onto Gilda and quickly wrapped the Griffin’s talons and wings in the rope that was now available. Rainbow grabbed the end of that rope and shot up into the air carrying Gilda along for the ride.

The rest of the guards didn’t quite know what to make of the situation. With their leader abducted they were at a loss for what they should do next. Were they supposed to follow and try to rescue her, or should they stay put and guard the other prisoners.

In the meantime, Rainbow Dash propelled herself and her old friend payload toward the nearby lake. In moments, they arrived. She hung her suspended captive over the water.

“Gilda we need to talk!” Rainbow Dash called down to the bound Griffin. “If you weren’t my friend, I would just drop you in this lake here for what you just did to my –good- friend, Fluttershy.”

“What do you mean, Dashie,” struggled Gilda. “We aren’t friends. You made that totally clear when I came to Ponyville.”

“You’re wrong, Gilda. I never said I didn’t want to be your friend. I only said that you needed to change your attitude so we could –continue- to be friends. I still want to be your friend, but I can’t allow my old friends to be mean to my new friends. So why you are acting the way you are – what’s gotten into you?”

“It’s kind of hard to answer when you’ve got me tied up and dangling over a lake. Could you put me down and I promise I’ll talk?”

“Deal!”

Rainbow Dash flew over to the shore and gently set Gilda down on the grassy field near where the two ponies had stopped to rest the day before. She untied her old friend and, as promised, they set to talking out their issues.

Rainbow Dash began, “Ok, now level with me. What’s gotten into you? Why are you so mad at ponies?”

“Because, Rainbow, you humiliated me in front of all your new friends in Ponyville.”

“Gilda, I already told you that was all in good fun – you just took it the wrong way. I still want to be your friend, but I need you to have a better attitude about being around my other friends as well.”

“Well, you also beat the national Griffin aerial team at the Equestria games. You ponies keep putting us Griffins down!”

“Gilda - that was just a silly competition. Nopony thinks that we’re better than you because we won one little race. In fact, I was thrilled that Team Griffin won third place – they beat out all the rest of the teams at the games and we got to share the winner’s platform together!”

“But ponies always think they own the sky – Griffins have wings too you know!”

“Look, we both have wings and we can both fly. That doesn’t make me better than you - just like it doesn’t make you better than me. It actually makes us the same. I loved hangin’ out with you back in flight school. You were such an awesome flier – I learned a lot of cool moves from you.”

“But… but… why would you still want to be my friend, even after the way I treated you?”

“Because, G, that’s what friends do – they forgive each other and move on. Now what do you say we have a friendly little race back to town and see if we can’t sort out this mess with your buddies back there too? Deal?”

Rainbow Dash stuck out her hoof in a gesture of true friendship. Gilda, still not totally sure of the whole situation reached out her talon and gently shook it. They both launched themselves into the sky and shot off in the direction of town once again.

Griffin and pony landed in the middle of the group of guards which had grown to include a large number of onlookers as well. Gustave and Fluttershy were standing in their midst engaged in a jovial conversation.

“Rainbow!” squealed Fluttershy. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Well, I promised I wouldn’t leave ya,” replied Rainbow Dash, “so I guess I broke my promise there for a little bit.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” chuckled Fluttershy. “These guards aren’t so bad once you get to know them.”

“What’s going on?” remarked a surprised Gilda.

The guards quickly snapped back to attention and saluted. “Sorry ma’am, the prisoner must have tricked us.”

“Actually, she’s not a prisoner – and I’m the one that tricked you all.” Gilda bowed her head and drooped her wings. “I was the one that hated the ponies and I spread my hate to all of you. I’m sorry. You can go ahead and lock me up – I certainly deserve it for the way I treated you all.”

“Nothin’ doin’, G” beamed Rainbow Dash. “Friends forgive each other – and we’re friends – remember?”

Gilda trudged over toward Fluttershy. “I don’t know how you could ever forgive me for the way I treated you, Fluttershy. All I can say is, I’m sorry.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Apology accepted.”

That’s when everything started to shake. All the buildings around the gathering of Griffins and ponies lurched from side to side. The anti-pony sign in the window of the tavern disintegrated. A dozen or more Griffins began to glow. Gilda herself was caught up in the magic and found herself being levitated off the ground by no power of her own making.

The collective glow began to diffuse into the air around the affected parties. The disintegrated sign swirled up into a funnel of magic dust. All the magical essence in town began to swim and swirl together forming into a vortex of energy – at the center of it, Fluttershy.

Fluttershy’s necklace gem began to brighten as the magical flow around her focused in on the vacant stone. The light became more and more intense as the gem filled with the energy being sucked into it. Before long, the entire town stopped shaking as the last bit of magic was drawn into the receptacle.

“What… was… that…?” said an unsteady Gilda.

Rainbow Dash chuckled and replied, “That, my friend, was the element of malice.”

Author's Note

Somehow, the theme to Greatest American Hero popped into my head as I was writing this chapter... not sure if that really matters to be said, but just for the sake of full disclosure:

(Now if I can just get Ashleigh Ball to sing it in Rainbow Dash's voice...)

Look at what's happened to me-e.
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world.
It should've been somebody else...

Believe it or not, I'm walkin on air
I never thought I could feel so free-e-e
Flyin away on a wing and a prayer
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me.

Just like a light of a new day
It hit me from out of the blue
Breakin me out of the spell I was in
Makin all of my wishes come true.

Believe it or not, I'm walkin on air
I never thought I could feel so free-e-e
Flyin away on a wing and a prayer
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me.

This is too good to be true
look at me -- fallin for you

Believe it or not
Believe it or not
Believe it or not
Believe it or not

{full chorus repeats to fade}

[youtube=B4JCehDOy54]

Chapter Nine - The Smiles Will Come Out, Tomorrow

“We need more glitter.” Pinkie Pie began searching frantically through her many boxes of party supplies for her famous secret ingredient.

Twilight and Spike looked at each other reassuringly and nodded. If there was one thing that was certain, it was that Pinkie knew how to throw a party. The trio had been up late into the night decorating banners and baking all sorts of goodies. Sleep had only come when they were too pooped to pop a bubble. Morning came very early and they were right back at it.

Pinkie had spent most of the morning making invitations and then delivering them to every pony in Ponyville. She delivered a hoofmade invitation to every filly, colt, mare and stallion in the entire town. As word spread about the party at the castle, the ponies didn’t seem to be all that excited. Some were downright sad as they counted down the minutes until high noon – the start of the party. Regardless of their gloomy dispositions, every pony had promised they would come. It couldn’t be any worse than what they were already doing, they reasoned – plus, there was food.

“Got it!” squealed Pinkie as she found the very last bottle of glitter in the very bottom of the last box she checked. “Now I just need to make sure this cake has enough frosting and we’re good to go.”

She tossed a dash of glitter on the exclamation point of her “Smile!” banner and went to measure the depth of frosting at various strategic points in her tower of layered party cake situated in the center of the entrance parlor. Streamers, like flying buttresses, met the cake tower around the top few layers. There was so much glitter floating around, Twilight felt like she could get lost in the sea of shining sparkles.

“I think that’s everything – it looks absolutely perfect, Pinkie,” said Twilight as she glanced around the room at all their hard work.

“Yeah, there’s no way those ponies could help but smile when they see all this,” said Spike as he attempted to swipe a bit of frosting off the cake before having his claw swatted away by the iron hoof of Pinkie in full party planner mode.

“That cake is for our guests – claws off!” growled Pinkie.

“Oh Pinkie, lighten up,” tossed out Twilight. “The party’s about to start and we need to be all smiles in order to help turn those ponies’ frowns upside down.”

“You’re right, Twilight,” said a still serious sounding Pinkie Pie. “I just need to make sure I didn’t forget anything… oh, wait! I almost forgot the music.” Pinkie darted off into the adjoining room and pushed a small table with a record player on it out into the main party area. “You can’t have a party without party music.”

“Alright then,” said Twilight. “It’s noon and I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be to get this party started.”

Without even a minute to spare, Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike opened the doors of the castle to the waiting crowd. As everypony filed through the door, it did seem a bit weird that they each looked like they had come ready to attend a funeral instead of party.

It got off to a slow start - a hundred wallflowers all staring at the ground. Pinkie tried her best to get the ponies involved in the various activities – pin the tail on the pony, balloon animals, even bubble blowing. A few ponies cracked a small grin as they ate the delicious twelve layer cake Pinkie had spent almost the entire night working on. It had every flavor in the rainbow, and a few more she just made up.

Twilight did her best to try and entertain her guests. Her “best” effort consisted of recommending one of the books in the library to a young filly, who by the looks of it, was just barely old enough to read. Spike even put on a jester’s cap and was trying to juggle to the delight of none.

Pinkie was getting discouraged, but pushed herself to think of something that would brighten the spirits of everypony present. In her own unique way, just such an idea happened to pop into her head.

“I’ve got it,” she giggled. “I know just what this party needs – a conga!”

Pinkie darted over to the record player and spun the turntable as she dropped a fresh record under the needle. “Alright Twilight, let’s show these ponies how to paaaarrrrr-tay!”

The next thing she knew, Twilight had Pinkie hanging on to her flank and giving her a nudge indicating that she needed to start moving as the music began to play.

“Come on, everypony!” yelled Pinkie “Let’s do the pony conga!”

The music began to hammer out a rhythmic beat as Pinkie shouted out to the other ponies:

“♫Everypony conga! Everypony conga!

I don’t mean to be pushy. Ya gotta grab my toushie.

Just hold on to my booty, or by the mark of cutie.

You pull this ponies heiney, to form a conga liney

Everypony conga! Everypony conga!♫”

(*see note)

Twilight led the way around the room and down the halls of the castle. The line of ponies grew behind her as Pinkie continued to recruit new members for the conga line. Pretty soon the entire party registry was trotting along behind her as she took all of Ponyville on the grand tour.

As the line wound through the throne room, Pinkie caught back up to Twilight. She had a huge grin on her face as she said, “Twilight – I think it’s working! All the ponies finally seem to be having a good time.”

Sure enough, the entire population of Ponyville were bouncing their manes and bobbing their tails to the beat as they pranced along behind their princess. Some of them were really getting into it – a little hoof tapping or ballet twirl accompanied some of the conga line link’s shuffles.

“Don’t stop,” mouthed Pinkie. “We have to keep this going.” She twirled her hoof in the air indicating Twilight should take a few more laps around the castle.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but smiled and soon found herself lost in the rhythm of the conga too. As the line looped back on itself, she passed by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. She noticed that the three little fillies didn’t seem to be having as good a time as the others. Pinkie saw this too and swooped in to help.

In one swift motion, Pinkie detached Apple Bloom from the back end of the colt she was following, moved the mare in back of Scootaloo up into her place, and diverted the trio in another private direction.

Once they had conga’d clear of the main pack, she asked, “so why the long faces you three? Aren’t you having such a fantastic and awesomely spectacular time at this fantastic and awesomely spectacular party?”

“I guess,” replied Apple Bloom.

“Maybe,” echoed Sweetie Belle.

“It would be much better if we could just get our cutie marks in conga dancing,” added Scootaloo with a frown.

“Now why would you want a silly thing like that?” questioned Pinkie Pie.

“What do you mean?” asked Apple Bloom. “I thought we were supposed to get our cutie marks by tryin’ all sorts of new stuff.”

“Oh silly,” giggled Pinkie. “It’s fine if that’s what you really think your special talent is, but do you really want a cutie mark in conga dancing?”

“Umm – no.” Sweetie Belle tried to keep her balance as the four ponies continued to shuffle around the room.

“Then why be upset when you don’t get it?” reasoned Pinkie. “There’s tons of other things that you could be good at, and you probably already have a bunch of things you like to do -way- more than conga at this fantastic and awesomely spectacular party here.”

“I guess you’re right, Pinkie,” replied Scootaloo. “I enjoy riding my scooter -way- more than this.”

“And I’d rather pick apples all day long than have to go through this here dancin’ line again,” said Apple Bloom with a hint of a smile peeking out the corners of her mouth.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Pinkie stopped shaking her rump and spun around to look at the girls. “If you aren’t having fun with this, there’s plenty of other stuff you can do. You just need to find something that you like to do and then have fun doing it.”

“You mean like singing?” Sweetie Belle’s mood brightened considerably.

“Exactly!” exclaimed Pinkie.

“Or bakin’ pies?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Of course!” Pinkie clapped her hooves as she licked her lips with just the thought of biting into a warm, fresh apple pie. She continued, “you girls are the only ones that can make yourselves happy. You just need to start by finding the things that you like doing and go from there.”

“I never thought about it like that,” said Scootaloo.

“Maybe we should try and do more things we already like doing,” chirped Sweetie Belle – her smile growing across her face.

“We may even get our cutie marks faster that way!” exclaimed Apple Bloom.

The three little ponies turned to one another and gave each other a high hoof clap as they shouted in unison, “Cutie Mark Crusaders – having fun!”

Their hoof clap exploded into a thousand colored particles of light bursting out in every direction. The entire room looked like the ultimate glitter party cannon had just gone off. As the particles hung in the air, Pinkie and the fillies gazed around in wonder at the surreal sight. Before they could enjoy the view too much, the energy surged back toward them. It formed into a ball like a million swirling fireflies around Pinkie.

The super party pony levitated off the floor and hung in the air like a giant glowing disco ball. Twilight’s conga line suddenly came to a halt just outside the door to the room as they passed. Twilight charged inside wondering what was going on. “Pinkie – what in Equestria did you do?”

Pinkie laughed and giggled as the magical essence tickled her nose and swam through her mane. Then she just simply shot off out the door and down the hallway. Everypony in the conga line was blissfully unaware of the glowing stream of dust that had gathered above them as they danced around the castle. The ball of glowing particles surrounding Pinkie gathered even more substance as it swept up that essence while she flew down the hallway, up the stairs, around the throne room, and then returned right back to the place she started from.

Twilight was in awe of the magic show happening right in front of her. The light surrounding her friend began to collapse as it was drawn into the gemstone that hung from Pinkie’s neck. As the magic diminished, Pinkie floated back down to solid ground. The last bit of magic essence danced within Twilight’s gem before breaking free and shooting over into Pinkie’s.

“Wasn’t that just the most super awesomeiest thing you ever saw in your whole life, Twilight!” yelled Pinkie as she dove to hug her Alicorn friend.

The two ponies collided in a heap of laughing and tangled manes. Twilight hugged Pinkie and said, “I’m not sure how you managed to pull it off, Pinkie. Not even the element of sadness could stop you from throwing the best conga party ever.”

If you looked closely, however, there was a single spot within the gemstone at the very center that remained dim and barren.

Author's Note

To AKR - your wish is now fulfilled. Since we will never hear your amazingly awesome and wonderful conga song in the actual show, I have included it here for all the fandom to adore in all its amazing glory.

To the readers: Just be glad I put in Amy's lyrics and didn't try and make up my own. There would have been ear bleeds.

:pinkiehappy: :facehoof:

[youtube=fQYXnJK0ZwM]

Chapter Ten - The Friendship Paradox

Twilight and Pinkie had an easy time saying ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you for coming’ to all their guests. They simply sat by the front door and smiled and waved as the ponies all conga’d themselves right back into town. No sooner had they all left and the door was closed, a new guest came knocking. Twilight opened the door not fully expecting to see a sad looking pony staring back at her.

“Hello, Princess Twilight. Hello, Pinkie Pie. Hello, Spike the dragon, sir,” came the greeting from the peculiar gray pony.

“Derpy Hooves – I’m so glad you were able to make it to our party.” Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves after tossing a noise maker in her mouth and blowing out a loud {honk} in greeting.

“It actually looks like I missed the party - didn’t I,” sighed Derpy.

“Not at all,” coaxed Twilight. “You’re welcome to come in and have a bite to eat or maybe play some games.”

“That’s ok. I’d probably just make a bigger mess for you to have to clean up. I-I think I’ll just go home and take a nap. Sorry to bother you.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very happy thing to do?” replied Pinkie. “What’s got you feelin’ blue?”

Derpy sighed again as she gathered up what little courage she could before launching into her story:

“Well, I got your party invitation and I was so looking forward to coming. I never get invited to parties like this, and well, it felt good to get my own invitation and everything. You see, I don’t really have any friends – nopony wants to hang out with plain old Derpy. I always mess things up.

It’s just that I started delivering the mail and completely lost track of the time. Being the Ponyville mailpony is a big job and I always try and focus super hard so I make sure and do it right. When I realized what time it was, I flew right on over here, but it looks like I’m late again – as always.”

“What do you mean, Derpy?” questioned Twilight. “You’re an amazing mailpony and I would have to say that you are one of the best friends a pony could ever have.”

“But I always mess things up, Princess Twilight, just like I forgot about the party today. Nopony wants to have me as a friend.” Derpy looked down at the ground feeling sad and sorry for herself.

“I think I have a way to fix that,” remarked Pinkie. “Come inside and let’s talk cake.”

Pinkie led a still hesitant Derpy into the castle grand foyer. Most of the towering twelve layer cake still stood before them. Pinkie turned to Derpy and explained her plan.

“Alright, I’ve got a party problem and I think you’re just the mare for the job. I’ve got two hundred and forty-three pieces of premium party cake going to waste here. I think we can solve your friend problem and put a major dent in this leftover liability by using your super-duper special talent.”

“What do you mean, Pinkie?” questioned a confused Derpy. “I can’t eat all that cake, and if I did I’d be too big to fit through the door. Everypony would just laugh at me.”

“No silly,” giggled Pinkie. “You’re not going to have to eat it – you’re going to share it! I want you to use your super-special super-duper mailpony skills and deliver a piece of this delicious rainbow layer cake to every pony in Ponyville. What pony could say ‘no’ to having a friend that delivers them cake?”

“No need to deliver to us, Derpy,” added Twilight. “We’ve already had our cake, and we’ll always be your friend no matter what. You’re welcome to come hang out with us anytime.”

A single tear slid down the grey pony’s cheek. “Do you really mean that?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” came Pinkie’s fully acted out response.

Derpy was at a loss for words for a moment, but eventually she managed to find a few, “You guys are the best. How can I ever thank you?”

“A smile will do,” grinned Pinkie.

The smile on Derpy’s face was genuine. Realizing that she did have friends and that somepony cared about her meant everything in the world to her. The tear that had begun to slide down her face transformed into the brightest spark of magical essence Twilight and Pinkie had yet seen before floating over and sinking into Pinkie’s gem completing the element.

Pinkie Pie helped Derpy package the slices of cake into little party-to-go boxes while Twilight and Spike set about cleaning up the rest of the party mess. A lot of work had gone into decorating and the mess was considerable.

Spike grunted as he yanked a large banner from the wall. Twilight was busily orchestrating a trio of brooms as they danced around the room pushing piles of party leftovers. Pinkie had only made a small dent in the bottom layers of cake as she worked to carefully place a slice in each package.

“I think that’s all that will fit right now,” commented Derpy. She stuffed the twelfth little box inside her mail pouch with the others. “I should get started delivering these and come back for another batch later.”

“Alright,” said Pinkie. “I’ll just keep -wrapping- these up for you then.” She gave a little beat-box beat as she tied the ribbon on her next little package.

Derpy gave Pinkie and Twilight -and even Spike- a little hug before putting on her mail-mare hat and shimmying into her mailbag harness. She gave a little wave as she opened up the front door and slipped outside. A strong gust of wind blew a little cloud of dust and leaves through the door as she did so. She stuck her head back inside and said, ‘sorry’, before closing the door behind her and flying off into town.

The gust of wind borne debris added to the already cluttered hall as it agitated a pile of glitter and streamers blowing them around the previously cleaned space. The dirt and leaves still managed to swirl around and around even with the door now closed. Before long, the little cloud of dust became more solid and eventually transformed into Discord himself.

“Oh Twilight, how fortuitous that I finally found you,” he blurted out as soon as he materialized – unmindful of the current state of affairs he had just deposited himself into.

Twilight blew a piece of her mane out of her eyes and responded, “How hard was I to find? I’ve been here all day.”

Discord brushed off her response and replied, “How boring would that be if I found you in the first place that I looked...” He paused as he took in the view of the room and the floating particles of glitter that permeated it. “…and what is it with this absurd amount of glittery goo all over the place – Twilight, you certainly must find better help to keep this castle of yours clean.”

He snapped his claw and the entire room was made instantly spotless. All the glitter was gone. All the streamers were removed. The cake in the middle of the foyer was replaced by a life-sized statue of Discord honoring himself.

Pinkie looked up from her cake boxing and glared at Discord. “Hey… what’s the big idea taking the cake?”

“Oh fine,” Discord mumbled. He snapped his claw again and the cake was back in all its previous glory. A pile of glitter also appeared just above Pinkie’s head before its momentary suspension was released and gravity took over. The poor pink pony was positively pummeled by pounds of plummeting particles.

Discord turned to Twilight and rambled on in a melancholy tone, “Woe is me… I seem to be losing my chaotic flair. I’m starting to make things all neat and tidy. You should see my house – it’s first time I’ve seen the floor. I didn’t even know I had a floor. You really must help me Twilight. I really don’t know how much longer I can survive without my precious chaos.”

“Well, Discord,” Twilight began, “you’re in luck – Pinkie here found one of the “Elements of Disharmony.”

“Just one?” Discord sounded disappointed.

Pinkie stood up from the pile of glitter and spat out a wad of the sparkly particles. “Yep, we’ve got the element of sadness right here.” She puffed out her neck before shaking out her mane and tail to try and remove as much of the mess as she could. The light blue gem around her neck sparkled brightly against the backdrop of the glitter-covered, pink pony.

“Well, I guess that’s a start,” bemoaned Discord.

“What’s the matter, Discord?” said a somewhat confused Pinkie Pie. “Shouldn’t you be more happy that we found one of your elements?”

“That’s just it – you’ve only found -one- of the elements,” replied a still depressed Discord. “I need all the elements in order to restore myself to my former state of chaotic bliss. Just having one doesn’t cut it.”

“Then I hope you have some new information to share about the location of the last two elements, or are we just supposed to guess?” Twilight sounded a little peeved as she laid down the facts for the sulking Lord of Chaos.

Discord perked up a bit as he remembered why he had gone in search of Twilight in the first place. “That’s right – I do have some information about the other elements.”

Twilight came around to join Pinkie Pie as they prepared themselves for Discord’s update.

He continued, “The elements of envy and greed weren’t at all where I thought they were.”

Twilight looked even more upset. “Wait a second, do you mean to tell me that I just sent my friends on a wild-pony chase for those elements?”

“Perhaps,” replied Discord with an avant-garde tone, “but I believe those elements are now someplace much closer.”

Twilight hated to have sound like she was prying as she strained to ask, “And where exactly would that be?”

The now amused guest responded, “Why… Canterlot, of course!”

Chapter Eleven - The Center of the Universe

Twilight and Pinkie Pie sat on their haunches across from Discord as the train they were riding started to ascend into the Canterlot foothills. Twilight was trying not to make too much eye contact as her thoughts were focused on the condition and current whereabouts of her friends. Pinkie Pie was engaged in an epic stare contest with Discord - not even wincing at the pain caused by trying not to blink. Discord had a painted-on expression over his eyelids and was fast asleep.

They were fortunate to have caught the evening train to Canterlot. It had left Ponyville only a few short minutes after Discord’s revelation was pronounced. If they had missed it, they would have had to wait until morning for the next one.

A muffled {thud} could be heard as something or someone crashed against the door. Spike struggled to open the sliding door to their boxcar as he balanced a tray of hayburgers in either hand. Eventually he was able to open the latch and slide the door out of the way. Without any further delay, he carried the food over to the hungry ponies.

“Dinner is served,” he called out as he set the trays in front of Twilight and Pinkie. As an aside to Twilight he whispered, “I would have gotten Discord something, but I’m not sure what Chaos Lords are supposed to eat.”

“Thank you, Spike,” said Twilight. “I’m sure Discord can take care of himself.”

“I’m so hungry I could eat a… hayburger,” smiled Pinkie as she dove into eating her food.

They ate in relative silence as the train clip-clopped its way up the tracks. The sun burst into lovely streaks of red-gold as it quickly set beyond the horizon. The moon raised up into position shortly afterwards. The ponies watched most of the event through the window of the train only briefly interrupted as they passed through short tunnels in the mountainside as they climbed. It wasn’t long before they arrived at Canterlot Station.

“We’re here, sleepy head.” Twilight poked Discord as she rose from her seat and reached up to gather her belongings.

“Another five minutes, mommy…” Discord mumbled to himself as he came around.

Pinkie had settled on a more sensible assortment of personal items for this trip – not going with the double load of rock candy this time around. Her bags were easily tossed over her flank as the mostly happy quartet unloaded themselves from the traincar.

Without a formal notice or invitation preceding their arrival, no royal escort awaited them upon their disembarkation. They proceeded to travel up the path leading into Canterlot City without any royal fanfare. They passed by a good number of shops - which were mostly closed at this point. Before long, they found themselves at the foot of the castle. The royal guard standing watch recognized Twilight almost immediately.

The Sargent of the Guard saluted and shouted his greeting to the approaching travelers, “Princess Twilight, we were not expecting you. To what do we owe the honor of your visit - and may I assist you with your saddle bags?”

“Thank you sir, but that won’t be necessary,” Twilight felt her cheeks start to redden as she was unused to this level of formality and attention. “Could you please inform Princess Celestia that we are here to see her?”

“Most certainly, your highness,” the guard stammered, “but I do believe she has retired for the night. Would Princess Luna be an appropriate substitute?”

“I guess it can wait until morning,” Twilight responded with a yawn. She hadn’t realized how late it was getting and how tired she was from being up most of the previous night planning and preparing for the party. “Could you please inform the Princesses that we are here and that we would like to speak to them both, first thing in the morning?”

“Consider it done, your highness.” The guard gave a deep bow and continued, “I will also see to it that sleeping accommodations be made for your entire -- uh -- group.”

“Thank you very much, Sargent,” said Twilight with a bashful little giggle.

The guard led the way as Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Discord and Spike hopped up the steps and filtered into the castle.

Applejack was fast asleep in her sleeper car bunk shortly after the train pulled out of Manehattan Central Station. It had been an exhausting day and she was certainly entitled to some much earned rest. Rarity sat on a stool opposite the bunks as she worked her magic on a bit of knitting as she wound down her own day. The glowing gemstone in Applejack’s necklace acted as a nightlight giving Rarity just enough light to knit by.

The ponies had chosen to take the red-eye train back to Ponyville rather than spend the night in Manehattan. Flim and Flam had graciously offered to let them stay at their place, but were disappointed when their old antagonists turned friends had declined. Although it was a tempting offer to meet and visit with the mares that had decided to marry the kooky twins, Applejack impressed upon them all that their mission was a pressing one. They needed to return to Ponyville and see about tracking down the element of greed.

They had already spent longer than they probably should have helping Flim and Flam rebrand their store that afternoon. The big reopening that evening had been a marvelous success. Manehattan ponies had built up a tremendous amount of hype surrounding the mysterious and sudden closure of their favorite store. When it reopened, they emptied the shelves and the entire store room of all the product stock.

A few ponies who were feeling starved of the chance to partake of the miracle beverage they loved, popped open the top of their barely purchased item and drank the entire bottle right in front of the register. When asked, they exclaimed it tasted even better than before and had lost the weird aftertaste that nopony seemed to have found to have been a problem up till then.

Applejack helped run the cash register while Rarity used her magic to keep the back-room stock moving to the front showroom and the waiting customers. Flim and Flam spent much of the evening trying whatever they could to procure more fresh ingredients for the next morning as well as exhausting what little supplies they had on hand to finish as many of the current orders for the waiting customers as they could.

At the close of business, an exhausted pair of ponies said their goodbyes and hurried to the train station so as not to miss their ride. Right on schedule, the train pulled out of the station and began the return journey to Ponyville via Canterlot. It would take the rest of the night just to make it as far as the capitol city. They had a small layover there before the train would continue on to their home and final destination. Rarity looked forward to being able to spend a little time perusing the shops in Canterlot, this time while it was still light out.

Rarity finished another row and decided to turn in. She got up and walked over toward her bunk. The tired mare paused a moment as she looked down at Applejack, still remembering her friends’ caring words in her time of struggle. She reached down and pulled a blanket up over Applejack’s flank before whispering a belated, ‘thank you’, and then slipping into her own bed and quickly drifting off to sleep herself.

The train rumbled on into the night as the ponies slept – every moment bringing them closer to Canterlot and home.

On the other end of Equestria, another pair of ponies and one very tired Griffin were making their way to Canterlot as well.

Even though she was loaded with both sets of saddle bags, Rainbow Dash turned to see how far behind her friends were. She hung in the air and waited for the others to catch up. Her own wings were getting a little tired after so much flying, especially while carrying the double load, but it wasn’t much considering what Gilda had to deal with.

“How’s it going back there?” she called out to her struggling Griffin friend.

“This is much harder than it looks, Rainbow Dash,” came the strained reply.

Gilda slowly closed the distance between them as she struggled to maintain altitude, pitch and balance. A relatively large yellow passenger clung to her back in constant fear of falling.

“We could try and trade for a bit if you want,” suggested Rainbow Dash as she grabbed a quick drink from the canteen in her pack.

“I’m not sure that would work very well, Rainbow,” said an unsteady and wide-eyed Fluttershy. “Maybe we should find a place to land and rest for a bit.”

“Good idea,” grunted Gilda still struggling to carry the weight of a full grown pony on her back and still remain airborne.

“Fine,” replied Rainbow Dash, “let’s set down near that grove of trees over there.” She pointed in the direction of a small group of trees situated in the undulating flow of grassy hills below.

Gilda gratefully glided in for a landing, trying as best she could to accommodate her still injured passenger. Rainbow Dash swooped in moments later and landed beside them. Fluttershy melted off Gilda’s back still clutching a few Griffin feathers in her hoof.

The group had made it about three-quarters of the way to Canterlot and could see the castle off in the distance. It was hard to miss with the striking silhouette jutting proudly from the edge of the mountain cliff. It would be dark soon. Celestia’s sun was due to set at any time and Luna’s moon would soon act as their compass to guide them on their journey home.

Gilda may have been having second thoughts about volunteering to help Fluttershy travel home. Her bravado quickly melted within the first hour of flight once they left the comfort of Griffin’s Nest. It probably didn’t help that Gustave had given the ponies enough food to put a normal Griffin in a sugar coma for weeks just before they left.

Fluttershy felt like she needed to get the element of malice back to Ponyville as soon as possible. Still, she felt bad that she was being such a burden on her friends due to her condition. It would have been so much easier if she was able to flap her wings without it causing her significant pain. It would be a while before she would recover and even longer until she would think to attempt another cross country flight that she hadn’t built up the training for.

“How long do you need?” said an anxious Rainbow Dash as she passed around the canteen for the others to take a drink from. “The castle’s right there. We’re almost home – almost.”

Gilda lay on the ground panting as she tried to regain the strength to stand up straight. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hovered close by waiting for a response.

“I don’t… know if… I can… make it… any… further… tonight,” huffed Gilda.

“Well, I guess we better try and make ourselves comfortable then,” sighed Rainbow Dash. “We can try again in the morning.”

Rainbow Dash slipped off her packs and flew up into the nearest tree trying to find a comfortable spot to spend the night. Fluttershy nestled up close to Gilda and helped hold the canteen for her as she had a bit to drink.

“Thank you ever so much for carrying me home, Gilda,” said Fluttershy.

“Don’t mention it.” Gilda finally caught her breath and was able to sit upright. “It’s the least I could do after treating you so badly.”

“Don’t’ blame yourself too much,” came Fluttershy’s response, “I bet this little guy had a lot to do with it.” She pointed at the glowing gemstone hanging around her neck. The pink butterfly shape gave off a soft glow that intensified with the setting of the sun and rising of the moon.

“I’m sure my attitude had a pretty big part in it too, Fluttershy,” replied Gilda. “I still want to apologize for being such a lame meanie.”

Fluttershy gave Gilda a bashful smile. “I forgive you, Gilda, because that’s what friends do.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” answered Gilda. “It feels kind of nice to know I have such good pony friends after all.”

The trio each found a comfy spot and settled in for the night. Sleep came easily after a long hard day of flying and trying not to fall. The gentle rustling of the breeze as it swept across the grassy meadow helped to calm their minds. Canterlot would still be there in the morning and they could continue their travels at first light.

Chapter Twelve - Friends in High Places

Twilight woke as the golden rays of the morning sun crept across her bed. She had slept alright except for the uneasiness she still felt not knowing how her other friends were doing. One thing she did note, while her sleep had been deep and restful it lacked any particularly coherent dreams. She chalked up the weird feeling to being extremely tired and went about getting her mane and tail presentable for an audience with the princesses.

Spike was still asleep in his small bed in the corner of the room. Twilight was just brushing out the last few snarls in her tail when a knock came at her door. The noise woke her assistant and he slowly propped himself up and rolled out of his bed.

“Come in,” she called to her visitor.

The Sargent of the Guard from the night before stepped into her bedroom. “Princess Twilight, I am here to inform you that Princess Celestia awaits your arrival in the throne room. Whenever you are ready, I can escort you there.”

“I’ll need to make sure my friends are ready as well,” stated Twilight. “I don’t want anypony to be left out here.” She winked toward Spike who just yawned and stretched in return.

“Of course, your highness, we’re all waiting just outside in the hallway.” The guard saluted, turned, and walked toward the door. On his way out, he stopped and mentioned one more thing. “I also must regrettably inform you that Princess Luna went straight to her quarters this morning and will not be joining you in the Royal Hall.” He then slipped out the door and into the hallway.

“I guess we’re the last ones to be ready, Spike.” Twilight finished her brushing and nudged the barely roused dragon out the door as well.

In the hall, Discord and Pinkie Pie were joined by several other guards. The Canterlot Royal Guard wasn’t very keen on having Discord in the castle. Security had been doubled as a precaution to avoid any potential chaotic mischief.

Twilight greeted her other friends and they all moved quickly in the direction of the throne room. Princess Celestia greeted them as they entered. Besides the princess, only a handful of other guards were present.

“Princess Twilight, I’m so happy to see you.” Celestia called out as the group moved across the room toward the throne. “I’m sorry that I missed you last night; I hope your visit isn’t regarding a matter of great urgency.”

Twilight approached Celestia and bowed in a small princess to princess nod. “Unfortunately, it is pretty important. We were just so tired yesterday that I felt it could wait until morning.”

“Discord,” readdressed Celestia, “how nice it is to see you as well.”

“Always a pleasure,” Discord said with a bow. “I’m afraid we have a bit of a problem, however.”

“We are in search of the Elements of Disharmony,” interjected Twilight.

Celestia’s brow furrowed. She was taken aback by the unexpected comment from the young princess. A hundred thoughts from long ago swept into her head as she responded, “That is not something I expected to hear you say, princess.” She turned her attention back to Discord and continued, “I would guess that this has something to do with you then?”

Discord replied, “Only if you consider -Discord- and -disharmony- to go hand in hoof.”

“That is exactly what I am implying and I think you know where I am going with that.” Celestia gave Discord a long hard stare.

Twilight broke the tension mounting in the room, “Well, I see that we all know exactly what we’re dealing with here, so no need to get lost in the details…”

“Yes, short story short, the elements are missing and I’ve asked Twilight and her friends to help me find them. As you can see, they’ve already found the first element and are keeping it safe while we gather the rest of them.” Discord pointed over to Pinkie as she proudly displayed the glowing blue gem hanging around her neck.

Princess Celestia settled into a less threatening posture. “Alright, Discord. I just don’t want to see this turn out like it did last time. I hope you understand the gravity of the situation this time.”

Discord waved off her concern as he continued, “Of course, princess. We’ve got the whole problem on lock down. I’ve even tracked two of the elements here to Canterlot!”

“That’s good, right?” Twilight tried to edge into the conversation one more time. “I mean, we know they are here in the city somewhere. Now all we need to do is find them and fix whatever problem they are causing, right?”

“Yes, Twilight.” Celestia addressed Twilight directly now. “However, it may not be as simple as you think. There are a lot of ponies in Canterlot. Finding whomever is at the heart of the problem may be more difficult than it seems.”

“I guess we have our work cut out for us then – should we get started by searching the town?” Twilight tapped her hoof nervously, still thinking there was more to the conversation between Celestia and Discord that wasn’t being said. Regardless, they still needed to do whatever they could to find the lost elements and secure them before they got out of control.

“Of course, Twilight. The Royal Guard is at your disposal. If there is any sign of trouble, you will be the first to know.” Celestia paused for a moment as she considered the situation. Her next question begged to be asked and she continued, “Do you happen to know which elements that you have tracked here to Canterlot?”

Twilight responded, “Actually, princess, we do. The element of greed and the element of envy. Discord said they were in other places earlier, but he now believes they are both here in Canterlot.”

Celestia’s worried look remained and grew a bit deeper as she considered another question. “Also, where are the rest of your friends? Surely they play a part in this as well.”

Twilight hesitated with her answer, “I’m actually not sure where they are. I sent Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to Griffin’s Nest to find the element of envy and Applejack and Rarity went to Manehattan in search of the element of greed. It wasn’t until recently that we discovered they were both in Canterlot.”

“That is unfortunate,” replied Celestia. “I will send my fastest Pegasi messenger ponies to see if they can’t locate your friends and bring them here to the castle. In the meantime, I suggest we get to work on finding your missing elements. One word of caution to your friend here --- Pinkie Pie, make sure you hang on to the element that you have. We wouldn’t want it slipping into the wrong ponies hooves.”

Celestia gave Discord another furtive glare as she finished speaking to the group and stepped down from the throne. She began to organize the guards in their respective tasks as Twilight and company trotted out of the room. They quickly left the castle and headed into the heart of town in search of the elusive elements.

The train arriving from Manehattan pulled into Canterlot Station right on schedule. Rarity and Applejack exited their traincar, both glad to be off the clanking transport for an hour or so. They had a layover in Canterlot before they could board another train that would take them the rest of the way home to Ponyville.

The pair of ponies tossed comments back and forth to one another as they took a leisurely walk into town. Applejack wanted to try some city food breakfast and see if it measured up to the quality and great taste of her own farm fresh morning meals. Rarity was itching to window shop – perhaps she might even find the inspiration for her new line of pony fashion-wear that had been eluding her.

They passed by a few shops and Applejack was able to find a suitable place for some food. They continued to examine more shops and take in the view. Out of nowhere, the last thing they would have expected to find met them.

“Applejack! Rarity!” Twilight shouted out their names as she charged down the street at a full gallop towards them.

Applejack gulped down her last bit of breakfast before being practically run over by her frantic friend. They both landed about three feet from where she was previously enjoying her meal and was now being attacked by a furious hug from the young Alicorn princess.

Rarity fought back a giggle as she hovered over them both. “It’s good to see you too Twilight, and thank you for remaining civil with myself.”

“Get over here you…” Twilight reached up and pulled Rarity into the hug. She had the biggest smile a pony could manage on her face as she reveled in the reunion with her friends.

Pinkie Pie bounced along around the trio shedding glitter with every leap. They all now had their own taste of the Pinkie glitter bomb.

Discord finally caught up to the others. The glow from Applejack’s necklace caught his eye. “I see you’ve got something there, Applejack. Whatever could it be?”

The ponies were able to break up their pile of hugs and glitter and came back to their upright positions.

Applejack replied, “Well, it’s not what you sent us to Manehatten for in the first place, but I think it’ll do right nicely.” She stuck out the gem for the other ponies to inspect.

Twilight beamed, “The element of lies! You did it, Applejack!”

“Couldn’t have done it without Rarity here,” Applejack said as she pushed the unicorn forward. “She’s the one that figured it all out.”

Rarity blushed as she felt rather embarrassed with Applejack heaping all the praise on her. “Well, I did help a little. It was, however, Applejack who sealed the deal in the end.”

Now it was Applejack’s turn to blush a little. “Aww shucks, Rarity. I’d say it was more of team effort to be honest.”

“That’s great you two!” Twilight couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. She was still so happy knowing that two more of her friends were ok. “That’s one less element we have to worry about.”

The mood was suddenly broken as two ponies raced by shouting at one another.

“Give that back right now!” shouted the first.

“I saw it first and it’s all mine!” yelled the second.

Twilight’s smile faded as she pondered the strange event that just occurred. Normally there would never be an argument like that in Ponyville. Everypony got along pretty well and were able to sort out their differences without too much fuss. Perhaps things had changed in Canterlot in the time she had gone to live in Ponyville. Maybe the city was becoming more like Manehattan – too big and impersonal for its own good.

Another thought then crossed her mind – maybe this was the result of one of the elements they were tracking. Twilight came to this realization a bit too late; the ponies were long gone. She addressed her group of friends:

“That has to be the work of one of the elements. We need to figure out where they are before this really gets out of hoof.”

“Well, why don’t we split up and cover more ground then?” suggested Applejack.

“Yes, Applejack and I can take the boutique shops, and you and Spike can search the upper village – Pinkie Pie and Discord can search -- wherever.” added Rarity.

Twilight replied, “Actually, Rarity, I want Pinkie Pie and Applejack to go back up to the castle and help coordinate the guards. They already have their elements and we can’t afford to lose them in all this mess. You and I can search the lower town.”

“And what would like me to do, Twilight?” asked Spike in almost an afterthought sort of way.

“Oh, sorry,” stammered Twilight. “Umm… how about you and Discord take the upper town?”

She wasn’t too sure about pairing her trusted assistant up with the one person she didn’t fully trust. In the end though, she figured it wasn’t going to hurt anything and may actually help Spike to be out in the middle of the action as it were. The ponies broke their informal huddle and dispersed to their assigned tasks.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie started off towards the castle. The pair didn’t have much to say as they trotted through the upper town. Applejack felt a little unsure of their roles in the plan, but eventually decided it was for the best that they should protect the elements they had acquired without putting themselves in the line of fire any more than they had to. Pinkie trotted along beside her, still shedding a small trail of glitter in her wake as they went.

As they approached the castle, one of the guards that had been in the throne room earlier met them halfway up the steps.

“Miss, uhh, Pie,” the guard stammered as he tried to address Pinkie in the most appropriate manner possible.

“That’s me!” chuckled Pinkie.

“Yes, um… Have you seen Princess Twilight? Our messenger pony has already returned with a few of your friends in tow --- as well as, a Griffin.”

“Oh, Twilight will be so happy to hear that,” squealed Pinkie – the glitter now falling into little piles around her as she jiggled with glee. “She’s probably still on the other end of town. You can probably find her there – just look for the dress shops.”

The guard saluted and raced off into town – still a bit confused by the strange interaction with Pinkie.

“Well, what are we waitin’ for,” said Applejack as she rose up in preparation to gallop away. “Let’s go find our friends.”

She raced off into the castle with Pinkie hot on her flank.

Chapter Thirteen - Words of Wisdom

The morning broke the same as always. The moon dipped below the horizon and the sun sprang up into the sky. Rainbow Dash had been waiting for this moment for nearly twenty minutes already. She didn’t want to be rude, but the sunrise gave her a reason to finally wake her sleeping friends. She turned away from the glare of the sun and floated down to where Fluttershy lay on the ground below.

Fluttershy yawned as Rainbow Dash gently brushed her mane. There may have been a little hint of sisterly affection in the way Rainbow helped straighten the long flowing hairs of the recovering mare’s mane. She would never admit to that however – instead she would say she was simply removing a twig and a few leaves that were caught in the strands.

“How are you feeling, Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow Dash as Fluttershy came around. “Do you think you might be up for a little flyin’ this morning?”

Fluttershy stood up and spread out her wings as best she could. They were still somewhat bound in a soft gauze wrapping near the base. She gave them both a little shake, but quickly stopped as the pain became too much to bear still.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” winced Fluttershy as she hung her head. “I don’t think I’ll be able to just yet. The swelling is still a bit much.”

“Well, I hope you’re feeling better at least,” sighed Rainbow Dash. “I guess we’ll still need Gilda’s help to get you to Canterlot – at least.”

The two ponies glanced over to the spot where Gilda had just recently been sleeping. A patch of matted down grass and a few broken twigs were all that was left.

“Gilda?” called out Rainbow Dash before turning back towards Fluttershy and muttering, “Now where could that Griffin have gone?”

“It’s ok, Rainbow,” replied Fluttershy. “I think the favor was just too much for her to handle. She probably didn’t want to hurt our feelings and just went home.”

“Well, that’s certainly not what a good friend would do – just leave without saying anything?” retorted Rainbow Dash.

“What do you mean?” came a voice from the tree behind them. Gilda sat perched on one of the higher branches. “Who said I was leavin’?”

“Well…. Uhh…” stammered Rainbow Dash – a little bashful about leaping to conclusions. “I thought you may have just given up and, uhh, maybe didn’t want to tell it to our faces.”

“I thought you knew me better than that, Dash.” Gilda hopped down from the tree leaping a few branches at a time. “I just woke up and took off for a little wing stretching exercise. Carrying Flutter here is quite the workout.”

“I’m sorry to be such a burden, Gilda.” Fluttershy felt pretty embarrassed for not being able to fly under her own power.

“Not a problem, Shy.” Gilda pumped her wings. “I may just have to put something like this into my normal workout routine. It really works my wing pectorals.”

Rainbow Dash flashed Gilda a friendly smile. “Enough showing off, G. We need to get to Canterlot, pronto.”

Gilda helped Fluttershy onto her back as Rainbow Dash gathered up the last of their gear and threw the saddle bags over hers. In just a few minutes, the group was airborne once again. The overnight rest had served them well and they made good progress over the next hour. With only about thirty minutes more flight time, they would be in Canterlot.

As they approached, the gleaming spires over Canterlot Castle were still a good distance away. Rainbow Dash happened to spot a guard pony flying toward them. He flew straight for them and joined formation with the team as he swung around and flew alongside.

“Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, I presume?” asked the somewhat confused guard. “I’m sorry I don’t know your name miss, uh… Giffin.”

“That’s us, and that’s Gilda” replied Rainbow Dash pointing at her friend without breaking stride in her flap count.

“I-I’m sorry, miss, uhh, Dash, but it was my understanding you wouldn’t already be this close to Canterlot. I expected you to be in Griffin’s Nest.”

“Been there – done that,” replied the ever casual Rainbow Dash.

“Did someone send you to find us?” called out Fluttershy as she continued to struggle to hang on to Gilda’s back.

He replied, “I was sent from Canterlot by order of Princess Celestia herself.” The guard looked perplexed and continued, “Could I, uhh, help you carry something?”

“Sure, be my guest,” puffed Gilda as she once again was struggling to fly in a straight line with the shifting weight of Fluttershy threatening to roll her over at any moment.

It was a bit tricky, but they managed to coax Fluttershy into letting go of her grip on Gilda’s neck plumage and let herself slide off her back and onto that of the guard. He had a considerably easier time managing the load of the somewhat smaller Fluttershy than compared to the almost equally sized Gilda carrying her.

Rainbow Dash carried on with both packs as the group made their final approach into Canterlot. The guard pony guided them onto the upper balcony of Canterlot Castle, just outside the private quarters of Celestia. They all touched down gently and were glad to be done with flying for at least a few moments. Princess Celestia was notified of their arrival by her guards and came out to meet them shortly after they landed.

“That has to be a record for the shortest reconnaissance mission ever,” chuckled Celestia. “Thank you sir for your service.” She bowed her head to the guard and he saluted in return before taking off from the balcony and resuming his normal duties. “Now what have we here?” she continued.

“Oh, just your normal everyday heroes is all,” said the ever quick to boast Rainbow Dash. “Fluttershy was a real trooper.”

“Oh dear!” Celestia gave a little gasp upon noticing the injured mare before her. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s really not all that bad,” replied a bashful Fluttershy. “It only really hurts when I try and flap my wings.”

“Well, we must get you to the doctor pony right away then.” Celestia turned to the guard over her shoulder and called for his help. “Would you please assist this lovely young pony and get her inside?”

The handsome guard snapped a hoof to his forehead and responded, “Yes, your majesty!”

With the help of the guard, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Gilda joined Celestia in her bedroom just off the landing outside. Celestia ordered Fluttershy to lay on her own bed while they summoned a doctor to take a look at her injury. She also sent another guard off in search of Twilight to give her the news of her friends’ arrival.

It wasn’t long before the gathering in Celestia’s quarters grew by a few more ponies. A doctor and nurse pony had arrived to inspect Fluttershy’s wings. A few more guards had come and gone as they gave regular reports to the Princess on the progress of their search in and around the castle. Eventually, the crowd reached its maximum as Applejack and Pinkie Pie burst into the room.

“Well, I’ll be – if it isn’t miss Rainbow Dash and Gilda as well.” Applejack brushed off a guard as she hopped through the door and into Celestia’s bedroom.

Right behind her zipped in Pinkie Pie and a very embarrassed guard pony. He bowed deeply as he made his apology to the Princess, “A hundred pardons, your highness. I was not able to keep these two from charging in.”

Celestia gave a little chuckle as she watched the two additions to the pony gathering bounce around the room hugging the others already there. “That’s quite alright. These ponies are welcome to be here with their friends.”

The guard straightened up, saluted, and resumed his post just outside the door. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had just got done with their welcomes for Rainbow Dash and Gilda and were just now approaching Fluttershy.

“What happened?” questioned Applejack suddenly taking a much more somber tone as she realized that Fluttershy was currently being examined by a doctor. “Are you alright, sugarcube?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Fluttershy brushed off the gravity of her situation. “I’ll be fine with a little rest – I probably won’t be flying very much for a little while though.”

The doctor looked up from the re-bandaging job he was performing. “You certainly have that right missy. I recommend you take at least a week and rest those wings of yours. You’ve done quite a bit of damage here, but I believe you’ll be fine if you keep to the ground for the time being. Doctor’s orders!”

Fluttershy replied, “Thank you, Doctor. I’ll be sure and follow your advice.”

“Look, Applejack!” sang Pinkie. “She’s got a glowy gem thingy like both of us too.”

Pinkie pointed at the glowing butterfly gem hanging around Fluttershy’s neck. Celestia noticed it too; she also noticed the gemstone around Applejack’s neck as well.

Celestia spoke, “I see the both of you have acquired something very important. Would you two please come with me so we can talk privately for a moment?” She motioned to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “And would you two stay here with Miss Fluttershy and keep her company?” She signaled to Pinkie Pie and Gilda.

They all nodded their heads and Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed Celestia into a small study located off the bedroom where the rest of the group remained. After the three of them entered the smaller room and closed the door behind them, Celestia put on her serious face. She then addressed them both:

“It is very good to see you all have made it this far. It seems that the journey has proved to be more dangerous than you may have expected.”

Rainbow Dash interjected, “nah, Fluttershy just got a nasty case of saddle burn, but she pulled through it.”

“I’m glad to hear that is all it was. The quest given to you by Discord is not one that can be taken lightly, however. There are very dangerous beings that would give anything to possess the power of the Elements of Disharmony. It is good you have been able to collect three of the elements thus far, but I fear that as you reach the end of your quest, things may not be as simple as they seem.”

“I thought all we gotta do is gather up the elements and hand em over to Discord,” said Applejack. “Are you sayin’ it’s not as easy as all that?”

Celestia continued, “All I meant to say is that the Elements of Disharmony themselves represent the chaos that acts as a balance to the Elements of Harmony. In the hands of someone like Discord, which they were meant for, that balance can be maintained. If they were to fall into the hooves of somepony else…”

Celestia trailed off as the two ponies contemplated the possibilities of her fears. Applejack thought a little harder about it than Rainbow Dash, who pretty quickly and confidently stated:

“Well, you can count on us, Princess. We won’t let you down.”

“I’m sure you won’t, my little ponies.” Celestia gave them both a smile. “But you should remain vigilant and let me know if anything seems – well – off.”

“We certainly will, your highness.” Applejack tipped her hat to the princess. “I’ll keep this little beauty under constant guard.” She reached up and tapped the gem held in her necklace. It gave off a little pulse of light but the essence still remained contained within the gem itself.

Chapter Fourteen - Clothes Don't Make the Mare

Twilight and Rarity took their time as they walked down the main street of Canterlot city. Twilight was mainly keeping her eyes and ears peeled for the slightest hint of trouble. She scanned the scene and took note of every pony they passed while trying to find anything out of place in their search. Rarity seemed to be more interested in the pony fashion on display in the store windows as they walked past.

“Oh look, Twilight!” Rarity stopped and pointed at a nearby shop window display.

Twilight spun around and quickly tried to ascertain the cause for her announcement. “What is it – where… who…?”

“Isn’t it just the prettiest thing you ever saw?” Rarity planted herself against the shop window trying to get a much closer look of the ensemble on display. She backed off a little as she posed a question to herself aloud, “I wonder how much it costs?”

“Rarity, we have much more important things to be looking for right now,” rebounded Twilight. “Could we please stay focused on the mission?”

Rarity blushed a bit before coming down from the window sill. “Oh, yes…. You’re right – It’s just that I have the perfect hat to go with that gown and they would look absolutely smashing together.”

Twilight gave her a knowing smile. “I promise we’ll come back and do some shopping once this whole mess with the elements is taken care of.”

“It’s mine!”

“Hooves off! I saw it first!”

The shouting and screaming of two mares echoed down the street. Twilight and Rarity perked up their ears to try and get a better idea of where the noise was coming from. They both looked at each other briefly before Rarity nodded toward a store at the end of the block. Without saying another word, they took off at a dead run in that direction.

In a few moments, they burst in the door of a fancy dress shop. Almost immediately, a familiar and unmistakable voice called out to them:

“Thank Celestia you’re here,” came the greeting from the one and only Hoity Toity.

Twilight’s gaze quickly scanned the somewhat empty store as she replied, “What seems to be the problem?”

“Oh no dear, I meant thank goodness -you’re- here,” he said as he pointed over at Rarity. “I have a fashion emergency and who better to help than the designer herself.” He quickly moved over behind Rarity and started nudging her towards the fitting rooms. “I simply had no idea you were even in town, my dear. Please, it’s right this way.” He pushed her more firmly toward the back of the store.

Rarity got the hint, and she and Twilight trotted back towards the fitting rooms followed by the anxious proprietor. No sooner had they pulled back the curtain and stepped into the elegantly appointed dressing area, they found the source of all the commotion. Two mares were facing off in what looked like it was about to become a no-hoof-barred all-out brawl.

“How -dare- you try and take this away from me!” shouted Upper Crust.

“How -dare- you think you’re more deserving of it!” cried Fleur Dis Lee.

Hoity trotted over and placed himself between the feuding mares. “Ladies! I’m sure we can resolve this problem like civilized ponies. We even have the great fortune of having the designer herself with us right now.” He pointed over in the direction of Rarity.

Rarity seemed a bit confused. Regardless, she stepped forward and gave a small greeting, “Hello… I’m Rarity.”

She gave a small curtsy toward the two mares still locked in conflict. It didn't seem to change the situation at all. The two already fabulously dressed ladies glared at one another without any hint of backing down. A gorgeous ball gown lay on the floor between them – each had a hoof firmly planted in the fabric.

“I’m sure this whole fight can’t be about a simple dress - can it?” Twilight palmed a hoof to her face.

Rarity looked rather shocked herself, but replied, “It’s much worse than that Twilight – that’s my design from three seasons ago!” She pointed down at the gown laying on floor, half trampled by the feuding patrons. “No mare in her right mind would want to be caught dead wearing that old thing.”

“It’s vintage!” shouted upper Crust.

“It’s still an original ‘Rarity’!” bellowed Fleur.

“Ladies, Ladies…” Hoity Toity tried to calm the ponies as he looked for another option to satisfy them both. “I’m sure we can find you another equally stunning – original – design by the star of fashion herself.” He looked over at Rarity and struggled to maintain a cheery smile. “Isn’t that right, my dear?”

“Then it wouldn’t be vintage, now would it?” Upper Crust sat herself down in a pouting huff.

“And just look at what this ruffian has done to my lovely gown.” Fleur flopped down in the opposite corner and looked like she was about to burst into tears.

The ball gown was indeed looking like it had seen much better days – multiple hoof prints leading to even more scuffs and tears could be seen strewn across the bodice. The two full grown ponies, now looking like they had devolved into petulant teenage fillies, still seemed devastated over the prospect of not owning the significantly scarred dress.

Rarity had a brilliant idea. “How about I take that, uhh, lovely gown and fix it up a bit? I can even divide the fabric and make two stunning outfits for you both. Would that be alright?”

“Oh, Rarity,” Hoity Toity broke out into a grateful applause, clapping his handsomely manicured hooves together, “that would be most excellent – what do you think girls?”

“I’d still rather have the entire gown for myself, but I guess that’s ok.” Upper Crust settled a bit as she started to realize that she might still be getting a good deal out of this fight.

“As long as I can have it by tonight,” said Fleur between quieting sobs. “I must have an original gown to wear to the charity auction this evening.”

Twilight still didn’t get what the whole problem was about. “So, could somepony explain to me why this one dress is so important? We’re in the middle of a dress shop – there’s hundreds of gowns all over the place. Surely you could find something else that would work for your little event tonight.”

The two mares finally came to their senses once they realized whose presence they were in. A Royal Pony did command a higher level of respect – especially in Canterlot. They both took another look at the dress on the floor, and then looked over at each other.

“I-I-I’m sorry,” stuttered Fleur. “I don’t know what got into me. Maybe it was just the stress of making sure I looked perfect for tonight.”

“I’m sorry too, princess.” Upper Crust bowed her head a little. “I guess I just couldn’t stand to see the dress I wanted being worn by anypony else. Nothing else seemed to matter but getting what I wanted.”

The devastated mares didn’t really realize what came next. A small, almost unnoticeable amount of magic essence floated up out of the beaten dress on the floor and slowly wound its way over toward Rarity. The gemstone around her neck gave off a slight glow as the magic gathered within. It wasn’t much, but the light was definitely there.

“Well, luckily I’m here and I can salvage what’s left of this outfit.” Rarity waltzed over and levitated the gown off the floor. “I’ll have this old things looking marvelous in no time! Just point me at a sewing machine.”

“Right this way, Miss Rarity.” Hoity Toity held the curtain for her as he led Rarity, gown in tow, out of the dressing area and over to the alterations room.

Twilight spent a few minutes more talking with the two ponies - trying to get to the bottom of their feud. It seemed that it had all started when they both set eyes on the same dress. Each wanted it in order to wear to a special charity auction event that was to be held later that very evening.

The upper class elite would all be in attendance at this event especially being as it was to benefit Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It seemed that only a few weeks ago, one of the more ‘gifted’ of them had tried to show off to his classmates. His little stunt had managed to blow the roof clean off the building. Fancy Pants was leading the event in order to show support for the princess and possibly gain some favor in the eyes of the royals.

Fleur was trying to be at her best when it came to dressing the part of the leading lady of an event as important as this. Upper Crust was simply trying to show how influential she herself could be by showing up in the most glamorous outfit she could find. Neither one had a particularly good explanation why that one dress had become such a point of conflict between them. Twilight’s comment about having hundreds of other options to choose from had finally knocked some sense into them both.

The pair apologized once again to each other, and to the princess, as Twilight left them and went to meet up with Rarity once again.

“Rarity, I think we may be onto something here.” Twilight was cautiously optimistic as she walked in on her friend already madly involved in remaking the mangled dress.

“Just a moment, dear,” Rarity replied. “I’m in the -zone-.”

Her hooves flashed across the fabric as she laid down stitch after stitch. A cloud of various appliques, ribbons, and sequins danced around her head as she plucked them out of the air one by one and magically guided them into place on the new outfit.

“I guess I’ll leave you to it then,” said Twilight as she started to back out of the room. “I think I’ll go check out this charity event and see what’s going on over there.”

“That sounds wonderful, dear.” Rarity hardly looked up from her work as she absentmindedly responded without really understanding what Twilight had just said to her.

“Oh, ok then,” said Twilight as she backed out of the door. “I guess I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Uh-huh…” came Rarity’s reply as she stayed almost completely focused on her work.

Twilight left Rarity at the dress shop and headed off toward the auction hall.

The hall was in the upper part of Canterlot City, close to the castle itself. It was little surprise when she arrived that she found Discord and Spike already engaged in conversation with Fancy Pants himself.

“I tell you again, this is no place for dragons.” Fancy pants tried to brush the small dragon and the somewhat dragon-esque Discord out the front door of the hall and nearly down the steps out front as well.

Twilight arrived just as the pair nearly tumbled down the steps to meet her. She called up to them both, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing,” replied Discord. “Just a little dragon discrimination is all. It seems that the reputation for hoarding doesn’t sit well within the circles of ponies gathering for a charity event.”

Spike brushed himself off and said, “Yeah, and I think they also want you to have a lot of money too. I’m not sure why though. Most of that junk I saw in there shouldn't be worth more than a few bits anyway.”

“Hmmmm,” thought Twilight as she pondered the curious situation. “Maybe this bears looking into. We should probably go check with the princess and see about getting ourselves properly invited.”

“Well, you can count me out, Twilight,” retorted a still miffed Discord. “I shan't be returning to a place that obviously doesn't appreciate my fine tastes and impeccable sense of artistic style.”

Spike sighed. “Well, there’s that - and you broke that vase too.”

“How was I to know it was a priceless antique?” responded the still offended not-dragon. “It looked like something straight out of Fluttershy’s herb garden.”

“Alright you two,” giggled Twilight, “let’s go talk to the princess and see if we can’t get to the bottom of this.”

Discord waved her off. “I’ll catch up with you later, Twilight. I have a few matters I must -urgently- attend to.” He snapped his claws and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

“I guess it’s just you and me, Spike – Let’s go.” Twilight levitated Spike onto her back, turned, and trotted off toward the castle.

Author's Note

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. - Mark Twain

I felt this was a fairly apropos quote to ponder when thinking about pony’s influence on our society.

Chapter Fifteen - Not the Best Night Ever

Twilight broke her canter as she neared the palace steps. She noticed the guards seemed to be much more on edge than normal. They still saluted as she entered and was directed toward Celestia’s private quarters. Still, something wasn’t right in general; the influence of the elements must be spreading, she thought.

She made her way quickly up the steps to the top of the West tower. Another set of guards snapped to attention as she approached. After a quick salute in greeting to the princess, they opened the doors and allowed her to pass by. The moment she stepped inside, she was nearly knocked off her hooves by Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash swooped over and launched the two of them off the ground. “It’s so good to see you again – you’ll never guess what happened to us.”

“Slow down there, Rainbow.” Twilight smiled as she tried to peel the exuberant pony’s hooves out of her mane. “I’m glad to see you too.”

“Hello, Twilight,” came the timid voice of Fluttershy, still settled on Celestia’s bed but now fully wrapped and treated for her injury.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight hopped over Rainbow and made a one wing flap leap over towards the bed and her injured friend. “What happened? How are you hurt?”

“Don’t worry your head about it, Twilight,” stated Applejack. “She may look all nice and fragile, but this here is one tough pony.”

Twilight still looked down at her friend with a deep worry and concern knowing that she was most likely the cause of her injury having sent her off to face who knew what unknown dangers. “Oh, Fluttershy, I hope it’s not serious – what did the doctor say?”

“It’s really nothing, Twilight.” Fluttershy gave a little smile. “The doctor says I’ll be good as new in a week or so. I just need to stay off my wings until then.”

Twilight gently wrapped her forelegs around Fluttershy’s neck and gave her as big a hug as she felt she could given her condition. “I’m so glad to have you back, Fluttershy. I was so worried about you all.”

“No need to worry with me on the job.” Dash swooped back over into the group of ponies all gathered around the bed.

Twilight peaked back up and finally noticed Princess Celestia standing over in the far corner consulting with a few of her guards. She also looked around and saw the smiling faces of all her friends – back together once again – all except Rarity that was. The glowing gems in the necklaces of Pinkie Pie, Applejack and even Fluttershy herself next caught her eye. This realization snapped her back into mission mode.

“It looks like you’ve all made a lot of progress in tracking down your elements.” Twilight settled for a moment on Applejack’s essence of lies, Fluttershy’s essence of malice, and once again on Pinkie’s essence of sadness.

She got up from Fluttershy’s side and turned to speak in the direction of Celestia, “And I think Rarity and I have made some progress in tracking down the element of greed.”

Celestia looked up from her current conversation and quickly dismissed her guards. She walked over to Twilight and her friends to finally greet her princess protégé.

“So what is this I hear about your search for the element of greed, princess?” Celestia stood commandingly before Twilight, still exuding a royal feel, but also filling a motherly role just the same.

Twilight responded, “Princess, I believe we have already found some of the essence of greed among the ponies in town. However, I think the bearer of the element may only be found at the charity auction I have heard is being held tonight. It’s the perfect place for them to show their hoof.”

Celestia thought for a moment and then replied, “Then you should all get ready. I can have you join me in the royal box so we can watch the entire event together.”

“I think that’s my cue to exit.” Gilda shuffled over from the corner. “Frou-frous events really aren't this Griffin’s style.”

“Aww c’mon, G,” chuckled Rainbow Dash. “We could paint your talons and do your tail up in some nice pink bows – it’ll be awesome!”

“Not happenin’, Dash.” Gilda chuckled a bit in return at the obvious sarcasm of her friend. “This bird’s gotta fly on home. I’ll catch you all next time and maybe we can have a -real- party.”

The group said goodbye to their friend as she walked out onto the balcony and took off toward her home. Gilda sure wouldn't have been comfortable at an event like what they were planning to attend. Perhaps some of Twilight’s other friends might not as well. Fluttershy especially might not be feeling up to such an event at the moment.

The last thing Twilight had planned for was a formal night out. She wasn’t sure if fancy princess attire was really something she would need to add to her packing list for her next adventure. She looked around at the other ponies and wondered how they should go about getting ready. The answer to their problem just happened to walk in the door.

Rarity strutted into the room magically dragging a rack of dresses and one tiny little tuxedo outfit behind her.

“Why, thank you dears.” Rarity stopped as she turned to thank the guards for holding the door open for her. “Now, where do I begin?”

She looked around at all the other ponies staring back at her. They were in a slight state of shock and surprise at both seeing their friend again and also taking in the view of the fabulous outfits she had with her. Even Spike seemed to fixate on the small, baby-dragon sized tux hanging on the rack.

“Well,” Rarity began again. “What are you all waiting for? We have a charity auction to get ready for.”

Applejack sputtered, “But Rarity, we just got invited to go just now. How’d you know? -- And where’d you come up with all those fancy clothes you got there?”

Rarity took a small step back as she worked to distribute the outfits to each pony. “The gratitude of others never ceases to amaze me. Fleur was so pleased with the gown I was able to put together for her that she invited us all to attend the event tonight. Hoity Toity made such a huge sale by selling a single dress to two different ponies that he said I could have my pick of anything else in his shop to wear tonight as well – although we have to have them all back to him by tomorrow morning - or else.”

“That’s amazing, Rarity!” Twilight leapt up to grab the dress Rarity had sent her way. “This will help a ton in being able to fit in at the event so we can track down the element without causing any commotion.”

The girls all spent the next few hours getting ready for the auction. They put on their dresses and did up their manes. Rarity came around and put some finishing touches on a few of their outfits and finally proclaimed them ready to go. Even Spike looked quite dapper in his tuxedo vest and tails.

Fluttershy convinced Twilight that she was ok to attend as long as she didn’t have to fly. She really didn’t want to spend the night alone in the castle.

Luna showed up just as they were about to leave. She and Celestia quickly performed their rising and setting ritual before Celestia donned her royal robes and golden horseshoes in final preparation for their departure. They all begged Luna to come with them, but she declined saying instead that she didn’t want to be in their way. They reluctantly accepted the decline of their invitation and Celestia lead the group of ponies out of the castle and across the way to the Canterlot Auction Hall.

The highest of the high class of Canterlot were already gathering themselves into the hall as they arrived. The crowd quickly split itself to either side as the princess and her entourage passed. She led them upstairs and down towards the front where the royal box of seats awaited them.

Twilight looked out over the railing at all the rich and famous ponies of Canterlot. Everypony who was anypony was gathered below waiting for the auction to start. Fancy Pants and Fleur were seated front and center. Right next to them were Upper Crust and her husband Jet Set. It seemed that the rift between the two mares had been swiftly repaired - along with the dress they both now shared a piece of in a fabulous new style created especially for them by the skilled hoof of Rarity.

Celestia asked the ponies to stay put while she got the event started. She flew out of the box and down to the stage below before addressing the crowd:

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, thank you all for coming tonight. It is with great humility that I stand before you all and witness your overwhelming generosity towards my School for Gifted Unicorns. I know that this wonderful event would not have been possible without the overwhelming support of all of you and especially the Unicorn that helped put it all together – Mr. Fancy Pants. Thank you for your gracious donations this evening and for all the good you do for each other each and every day. Without further ado, may I present our master auctioneer for the evening, Mr. Golden Gavel.”

The ponies all clapped in a very civil and respectful manner as Celestia flew back up to her seat. Golden Gavel approached the lectern now that the auction was about to get underway. Before the auctioneer pony could even place the first item on the stand to start the bidding, he was interrupted.

“Now see here,” bellowed Fancy Pants, “that is my personal copy of ‘Mane Kamph’ and I demand it be returned immediately.”

The lovely young presenter pony holding a somewhat ragged looking book looked nervous as the crowed heaved a sigh of shock and awe. Fancy Pants leapt up on the stage and strutted over to her before levitating the book off the display tray she carried on her back.

“Now hold on there just a moment sir,” came the reaction from Golden Gavel. “That’s our first item up for bid. If you want it, you’ll have to bid on it just like every other pony here.”

Fancy Pants rounded on him and proclaimed, “I will do nothing of the sort. This book is mine.”

The auctioneer didn’t back down. “It certainly was sir, but if you recall, you donated it to the auction -- just like most of the rest of the items we have up for bid tonight.”

“Now why would I do a silly thing like that?” replied a somewhat shocked Fancy Pants.

“I believe it was, ‘for the children,’ sir,” responded Golden Gavel.

“Oh very well then,” said an annoyed Fancy Pants as he slammed the book back down on the display tray, still attached to the petrified pony beneath, and returned to his seat.

“Alright then, shall we begin?” Golden Gavel tapped the lectern as the display pony shuffled nervously across the stage. “Up for bid is a, umm, first edition of…”

Fancy Pant’s foreleg shot up into the air as soon as the gavel tap landed. “One million bits!”

Fleur snapped her head toward him with a look of absolute shock. Most of the other ponies in the audience did the same. A million bits wasn’t an amount one heard thrown around every day.

“A million and one!” shouted Jet Set also raising his foreleg.

“How dare you try and outbid me for my own book!” Fancy Pants shot Jet Set a nasty look. “Upper Crust, I demand that you reign in your husband if you know what’s good for him. – A million and two!”

The auctioneer sat stunned at the lectern. He hadn’t even had a chance to open the bidding and he already had the two richest ponies in town going at it in a bidding war to end all bidding wars.

Twilight looked down on the action and thought to herself, ‘That isn’t really even a good book – and it isn’t even in very good condition.’ She whispered over to Celestia, “I think we found what we came for.”

Jet Set upped the ante. “A million and three, and I demand your mare give my wife back the half a dress she stole from her.”

“It’s ok, honey, I love the dress I got and I’m happy to share it with Fleur.” Upper Crust tried in vain to get her husband to sit back down.

“How dare you, sir.” Fancy Pants dropped his glove from off his hoof and struck Jet Set across the face with it. “That harlot of yours has insulted my Fleur’s honor by even attempting to wear that half of her dress. I demand satisfaction! – and that half of the dress, of course.”

“Fancy, please stop…” Fleur sobbed into her hooves as the two stallions went the rounds.

“That’s it! Nopony fights over my fashion and gets away with it!” Rarity bolted from the royal box and rocketed down the stairs. In a flash she was up on stage herself holding the auction item book in her magic levitation spell.

She held the book over her head and called out to the two fighting ponies. “One more ungrateful word out of either of your mouths and I will turn this book to a pile of ash.”

Fancy Pants and Jet Set forgot about their own argument for a moment and stared up at the stage and the enraged pony threatening their precious book. They both looked at each other and then over at their wives. Each of the mares was holding the other, tears streaming down their faces as their husbands fought over the silly book and their beautiful dresses.

It took a moment, but they both seemed to come around.

“I-I don’t know what’s gotten into me,” stammered Jet Set. “I-I don’t even want that book.”

“My beautiful Fleur,” cried Fancy Pants, “how could I let this happen? Your dress is lovely, and that book I donated was only being used as a doorstop in our winter home in Aspen Grove anyway.”

Rarity, a bit stunned by the reaction, let the book drop to the ground. The cover tore off in the process leaving a shabby pile of yellowed pages strewn about the stage floor. She walked over to Fleur and Upper Crust and put a hoof on each of their shoulders. She called over to the two stallions who now looked a bit sheepish:

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves. These two ponies are some of the most beautiful mares in all of Equestria. - They look even more fabulous in my original designs, - but that’s not my point. You need to apologize to one another and to both of them this instant!”

“My most sincere apologies, my dear. To you as well good sir.” Fancy Pants gave a deep bow toward Jet Set and the whimpering mares sandwiched between Rarity’s hooves. “I completely forgot the reason why we are all gathered here tonight. My behavior was utterly deplorable.”

Jet Set lowered his head and spoke to his wife. “I’ve never been so ashamed of my horrible behavior. Can you ever forgive me sugar lump?” He then picked up Fancy Pant’s glove and carried it over to him. “My good man, I believe this belongs to you as does every right to that book of yours. My deepest apologies for my shameful outburst. Will you and Fleur please accept my humble invitation to dine at our house tomorrow evening so that we might try and make amends?”

A burst of light sprang forth as the pair bumped hooves in exchanging the glove. Rarity felt a rush of wind around her as the pages of the tattered and broken book disintegrated even further into particles of magic. The energy swirled around her as she rose up into the air. The air in the hall felt electric as small streams of the essence of greed flowed from most every pony in the audience toward her on stage. The gem around her neck glowed a bright purple hue as the energy was sucked up into it.

The audience all stood and gave the unwitting actors a round of hoof applause. It was the best pre auction entertainment they have ever witnessed. Many ponies called for an encore like it was a night out at the Canterlot Opera. Rarity, gave a few reluctant bows as she shuffled off the stage and returned to her friends in the upstairs booth.

When she entered the small room, her pony friends gave her another round of applause and showered her with hugs. It took a lot of guts to stand up to a couple of angry ponies like that, but she handled it with the grace and composure that only she could.

The rest of the night went well following the fiasco of the opening item. The Canterlot ponies were very generous in their bidding – even on items that had little or no actual value. It was all for a good cause. The pony who bid ten thousand bits on a partly rusted old horseshoe got another standing ovation as the night closed off on an encouraging note.

With four elements now in their possession, the group of happy ponies waltzed off toward Canterlot Castle to turn in for the night.

Chapter Sixteen - The Hardest Pony To Love

It took a while for Twilight and her friends to calm down from their excitement having just kicked up their hooves with a bunch of high society ponies. Their dresses made them feel extra special and they all got multiple compliments as Celestia showed them off throughout the later part of the evening to all those who came to pay their respects. Rarity had a number of open-ended orders made for anything she cared to make her new clients – they weren’t going to be picky when they had a chance at getting an original anything from the star of the night’s show.

It felt good when Twilight’s head finally hit her pillow. She slept soundly. Even Spike’s snoring didn’t cause her any trouble. The evening hadn’t been perfect – far from what she expected – but it did get them closer to their goal of collecting all the Elements of Disharmony. Only one remained.

The entire night flew by in a blur. Mostly because there was nothing to remember about it. While sleep came easy, there were no dreams to accompany it. The ponies all lay in their beds - well past what should have been sunrise - without a single spark of a dream to illuminate their overnight adventure of the mind. That is -- all but one pony.

Celestia tossed and turned. She was asleep, but somehow lost within her own nightmare. The dark images of the past haunted her every thought. A lifetime of horrors, most of which wern’t known to any other pony, flashed like lightning in her mind.

The events of a thousand years ago appeared like the present as they taunted and tormented her. Her battle with Discord and the fight for the Crystal Empire, she remembered those like they were yesterday. Sombra’s evil laugh echoed and returned again and again. The most haunting of all her nightmares was yet to come, however – her battle with Luna, Nightmare Moon.

It all seemed so real. Celestia struggled as she fought to contain the dream. She tried everything she could not to relive that day when she had been forced to banish her own sister. Something else fought against her efforts and forced the events to play out again on the battlefield of her mind.

As the battle waged on, nopony was the wiser. It should have been the middle of the morning; the sun high in the sky shining down over the spires of Canterlot. For Princess Celestia, the nightmare had just begun.

Nightmare Moon stood before her – black and billowing mane like the smoke of a raging volcano. Her red eyes burned as rage and envy boiled over and consumed the young Luna. Celestia looked around her as she found herself back in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Instead of being forced to watch the replay of the previous events, however, she found that she presently had some control over her own actions.

She leapt backwards as a magic beam shot from the horn of Nightmare Moon and blasted the spot where she stood. Celestia knew her only option was to use the Elements of Harmony to stop her sister and banish her to the moon once again. The tragic decision of a thousand years ago haunted her even now.

She flew into the air as the barrage of magic blasts continued. The ceiling was stuck, just as before, and Celestia flew out into the darkness of the night hanging over the castle. Nightmare Moon was right on her tail. Celestia flew quickly, trying to keep her distance from her sister and also trying to buy some time to think of a better plan this time around.

She dove behind a parapet just in time to avoid another blast. The air rushed by as a heat wave followed the scorching magic. She wanted to try and reason with Luna – maybe now she could make her see the error of her ways. Celestia loved her sister and wasn’t sure she could go through with banishing her again – even if this was just all in her head. With Nightmare moon closing in, she resolved that the Elements of Harmony were her only real option.

She dropped down low, trying to stay out of sight as she cautiously made her way back to the throne room and the hidden elements that lay beneath. It wasn’t easy to stay hidden with her bright coat being a dead giveaway in the blackness all around her. She was careful and felt like she took the necessary precautions to avoid her pursuer. Once she arrived, she quickly used her magic to summon the elements from their hiding place.

The statue holding the elements rose from the ground. To her shock and dismay, however, it no longer held the relics of the Elements of Harmony. Instead, Celestia beheld the chaotic forces of the Elements of Disharmony. The maniacal laughter of Nightmare Moon echoed through the chamber as the lightning crashed breaking what remained of a few still whole windows. Celestia knew now that this was not a dream after all.

Multiple trails of smoke seeped through the cracks in the walls and down from the blown out rooftop. They gathered together just above the elements and formed into the mare of nightmares. The castle around them faded away as Celestia opened her eyes. Nightmare Moon stood at the foot of Celestia’s bed as she finally awoke from her tortured slumber.

“Luna! Sister!” cried Celestia. “What are you doing? How have you allowed the powers of envy to cloud your mind again?”

“Poor Celestia, still so naïve to the power of the magic of the night.” Nightmare Moon glided over the floor as she swung around to the side of the bed. “We’ve had enough of your interference – this time it will be you that it banished, along with your precious sun.”

Nightmare Moon raised up to line up her magic shot with the princess who was still trying to recover from the shock of her bad dreams. The dark mare’s dark horn glowed with an empty, negative energy as it sucked what little light there was from its surroundings. Celestia had no time to react and could only throw up her hoof to hopefully shield herself from the blast that was moments from being delivered. A million more thoughts of happy times with all her subjects and especially those moments she cherished growing up with her little sister flashed through her head. The last words out of her mouth: “I love you, Luna!”

“AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!”

{Crash!}

Celestia gasped as she recoiled from the expected blast that never came. She opened her eyes expecting to see only the void of her own banishment. To her surprise, by the glow of the soft moonlight that peaked through the still flapping curtains to her balcony door, she saw a rainbow haired pony had embedded herself into the now flattened mass of Nightmare Moon.

“Rainbow Dash?” gently spoke a still confused Celestia.

“Oooo boy! That sure felt good,” called out Rainbow Dash as she pumped her hoof in the air. “Kickin’ tail and takin’ manes!”

The exuberant pony danced around her fallen foe, shadow boxing in the moonlight.

“Whaaaaaa…. Who…..” Nightmare Moon struggled to raise her head as she tried to peel herself up off the floor.

“I believe you owe the princess an apology.” Rainbow Dash lorded over the fallen pony.

“Luna!” Celestia leaped off her bed and fell over the body of her sister still trapped in her nightmare form. “Sister, please come back to me!”

Celestia’s tears mixed with the starry night sky as it danced across Nightmare Moon’s mane. Little sparkles danced amidst the stars and wove the patterns of the constellations as they swam.

“Sister?” the dark mare lifted her head and tried to speak. “What… has happened?”

“Luna, my dearest little sister, I knew you were in there. Please come back to me. You know I love you!”

Celestia hugged her sister with all her might. Both their tears now began to mingle and swirl together. A steak of daylight followed by a streak of moonlight chased the other’s tail as the magic of the sister’s friendship once again found its balance. There was the magical yin of Celestia’s sun followed by the spiritual yang of luna’s moon. The magical essence floated around them as it scoured all aspects of the former Nightmare Moon from the now present Luna.

“Now that’s what I’m takin’ about!” hollered Rainbow Dash.

The essence mopped up the last bits of the former host of envy before gliding over to Rainbow Dash’s gemstone and filling it with a brilliant red light.

“Thank you.”

The words came strained but pure from the still shaking shell of the former nightmare pony. Luna finished her hug with her sister and gingerly got to her hooves before proceeding to give Rainbow Dash an unexpected, but grateful hug of her own.

“I deserved that.”

“Anytime princess,” Rainbow Dash gave Luna a huge smile and a big hug in return.

Celestia rose to her full stature, her mane glowing in all its normal glory. “I believe we have one more thing to do before we can say things are settled – wouldn’t you agree, sister?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything, dear sister.”

Luna rose and walked out to the balcony. Celestia followed her as did Rainbow Dash. Luna spread her wings and rose up into the still moonlit sky as she brought her magic into focus. Celestia walked forward and did the same. Rainbow Dash had a front row seat to one of the most amazing events in all of pony history. The moon gently lowered beyond the horizon as the sun rose to take its place.

“Now that’s what I call awesome.” Rainbow Dash gazed up toward the princesses as the sunlight filtered down through their sparkling manes and wings. Her own gemstone glinted in the bright rays of the noonday sun.

Once their task was complete, the three ponies sauntered back inside. With the hold of Nightmare Moon broken, the castle and all of Canterlot quickly got back into the regular swing of things. Luna and Celestia came back to ask a few questions of Rainbow Dash, both curious to know how she had been able to come to their aid.

“My dear little pony,” Celestia addressed her, “how was it possible that you were able to resist the magic of Nightmare Moon?”

“I guess it’s just my normal routine,” casually replied Rainbow. “I get up every morning before you raise the sun and go for a little predawn flight.”

“But how did you know to come looking for me here?” questioned Luna.

Rainbow Dash replied, “Well, I didn’t really think I woke up all that early this morning, so after I took a few laps around the city, I went to your room to see what was up with the late sunrise and all. I found two of your guards asleep on your balcony, so I knew something was up. Then, I made a beeline straight over here and, well, you know the rest.”

The doors opened and Twilight and the rest of the bunch walked in on the conversation.

“Did we miss anything important?” Twilight pulled up as she found the two princesses and Rainbow Dash already engaged in speaking.

Rainbow Dash responded, “Oh, nothing except me being awesome – so just the regular!”

Twilight caught a glimpse of the shining red bolt of a gem set into Rainbow’s necklace as she turned. The young princess gave a satisfied smile as all her friends piled around Rainbow Dash and joined together in a big group hug.

Author's Note

I wasn't sure how I was going to pull off the Nightmare Moon part of the this story when I sat down to write this chapter. I knew I wanted it from the very first outline I put together, but never really imagined how I would eventually work it into the story or how I would resolve the conflict once there.

I hope things ended up making sense here - I just started with the conflict within Celestia and let things flow. It was pretty much a one shot written as it hit the page with only minor edits for the usual typing issues.

Let me know if you think it worked or if I just totally missed the mark. I've still got some pretty cool stuff coming before the end of this book, so stayed tuned for that as well.

Chapter Seventeen - Failure to Launch

“Pardon me, but I seem to have lost my tour group.” Discord stuck his head through the door.

Once he noticed the group all gathered together, he opened the door and walked the rest of himself into the room.

“Isn’t this amazing, the princesses’ royal bedroom – oh won’t these pictures be perfect for my scrapbook.” Discord danced around snapping pictures of pretty much everything in the room. He even took a couple pictures of the floor itself. “Can’t have enough floor shots – especially in the unfortunate event that I misplace my own again.”

Rainbow Dash glared up at him. “Discord, can’t you see we’re trying to celebrate how awesome I am.”

“Oh, I’m so very sorry, Rainbow Dash. It’s not every day I get to sneak a peek inside Canterlot Castle,” grumbled a not so happy to see her Discord.

“It’s actually a good thing you’re here,” added Twilight. “We were just about to come looking for you.”

“And why would that be?” Discord put away his camera and popped into a frilly ball gown dress. “Did you want to try and invite me to another frou-frous charity event?”

“No.” Twilight deadpanned her response before Discord made the dress disappear. “We found your elements and wanted to give them back so we could all go home.”

Discord got a huge smile on his face as he clapped his talon and paw together. “Wonderful! I’m not sure how you did it, but I can’t wait to have my dear elements back. Let’s have you all line up so we can make sure they’re all here.”

The ponies all came around to stand in front of Discord. The gemstones sparkled and glowed as the powers contained within them fought to break free. Celestia and Luna stood to the side hoping fervently that everything ran smoothly.

Discord hopped down the line, touching each gem as he went. “First, we have lies. Then, sadness, envy, greed – and doesn’t Fluttershy here look simply adorable with her element of malice?”

Discord paused a moment as he got to the last pony in line – Twilight.

“Now wait a moment. Where’s your element, Twilight?” He pinged his talon against the empty vessel atop Twilight’s tiara.

Twilight gritted her teeth as she replied, “Don’t tell me there’s a sixth element you didn’t tell us about.”

Discord chuckled. “But of course there is, Twilight. It’s the most important of all the Elements of Disharmony. You of all ponies should know what it is.”

Twilight heaved out a deep sigh. “Let me guess – magic?”

Discord laughed out loud at her response. “Of course not you silly filly – whatever gave you that idea? The Elements of Disharmony cannot be bound together by a simple -magic- glue. They require a special kind of magic – a Dark Magic.”

“So in order to bind the Elements of Disharmony to be able to return them to you, we have to track down the element of dark magic?” Twilight sounded tired again by the end of her sentence.

“That’s right,” grinned Discord. “And I may even know where you should start looking for it.”

Celestia rose up and interrupted him, “Discord, I don’t like where this is headed.”

“Princess Celestia, I think you should tell the story – you always do a better job at it than I ever could. Please, regale us with your golden tongue.” Discord bowed to Celestia and stepped aside.

The ponies all looked up toward Celestia. Twilight sent up the questions:

“Princess, what is he talking about? Do you know something about the bearer of the element of dark magic?”

Celestia got very serious. Her mane flared as she shook out her tail. “This is not easy for me to speak of as the nightmare was very recently brought back to mind. I do know something of the -former- bearer of the element of dark magic – it is time you did as well.”

“Story time! Horray!” Pinkie Pie flopped herself down on a giant pillow and pulled a box of popcorn out of nowhere.

The rest of the ponies got comfortable as Celestia prepared to tell them the tale.

She began:

“A thousand years ago, we faced the nightmare of the ages. Three events that changed the course of history for all of Equestria. I have lived with the knowledge of this alone to this day. Not even my dear sister, Luna, knows the full extent of the events of so long ago. You must forgive me for keeping it from you, but I believed it was for the best.”

Celestia bowed her head to her sister and to the other ponies. Luna put a hoof on her shoulder and encouraged her to continue.

“The first part of my tale you may remember given the relationship you already have with him. It was a thousand years ago that my sister Luna and I entrapped Discord in a prison of stone. His chaotic madness had grown too much to bear and we sought to contain him. Our plan backfired.”

Discord grabbed some of Pinkie’s popcorn and ogled up at Celestia. “I love this part right here.”

Celestia continued:

“It is true that we were able to trap him in stone, but our use of the Elements of Harmony was not done in the true spirit they were meant to be used in. Our spell trapped Discord, but fractured the bond he held with the Elements of Disharmony. Luna and I were quick to act and were able to contain the five base elements before they escaped into the wild. The sixth element – we weren’t so lucky.”

Celestia paused as she tried to fight back her tears.

Twilight called up to her, “It’s alright princess. Please tell us what happened to the sixth element.”

Celestia wiped a hoof across her eyes as she drew away the budding tears and spoke again:

“The sixth element – the element of dark magic – fell into the hooves of the worst pony possible. A pony so wicked that when the dark magic bonded with him it made him the ultimate source of evil in all the land - King Sombra.”

The ponies gasped at the revelation. The only other sound you could hear was the munching of Pinkie Pie as she gulped down hooffull after hooffull of her delicious popcorn treat.

The first one to venture to speak was, of course, Rainbow Dash. “I thought we defeated King Sombra when Twilight recovered the crystal heart. So -- what happened to his dark magic?”

Luna replied to Rainbow’s question while Celestia continued to compose herself. “Actually, Rainbow Dash, the element of dark magic was removed from King Sombra long ago. Celestia and I used the Elements of Harmony to extract it from him.”

“Luna is right,” added Celestia. “We were able to harness the power of the Elements of Harmony to remove the element of dark magic from the king. However, we didn’t act quickly enough. Sombra fought back and before he was overcome, he was able to enact a dark curse upon the entire Crystal Empire. His dark magic enveloped the city and devoured himself and every pony within. We only barely were able to withdraw the element before they all disappeared.”

Luna broke in, “I thank the stars that the city wasn’t lost to us forever.”

Applejack spoke up, “So that’s why that whole place just up and disappeared just ta reappear out ‘a the blue.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Let’s let the princess finish, girls.”

Celestia cleared her throat and continued, “Luna was magnificent in her handling of the element – carrying it all the way back to the castle and the waiting Discord. We did our best and together managed to restore the elements back within their intended caretaker. He was, however, still trapped in stone – so the process wasn’t exactly easy.”

Celestia began to tear up again. “This is the hardest part for me.” She choked out the words. “I feel, even now, that I failed in my duty to protect my dear sister, Luna.”

“Sister, all is forgiven. You mustn’t dwell on the past.” Luna continued to console the teary Celestia.

Celestia took a deep breath and continued once again, “the elements would not join up easily. We had to put all our effort into the spell. I didn’t think we would make it and I began to falter. That’s when Luna reached out and thrust the elements into the statue completing the spell. I still have no idea how she was able to do it, but I am proud of her nonetheless. The only problem was that she must have absorbed some of the dark magic and a portion of the base elements themselves in the process. It wasn’t long after, that she became the creature you all know as – Nightmare Moon.”

“I had a feeling that is what had happened as well.” Luna stroked her chin. “Being driven by the elements to do such terrible things was certainly something I wanted to put behind me. I had completely forgotten about that part.”

“It is something that I too would rather put behind us,” Celestia said as she bowed her head one more. “I fear that with the element free again, we must act quickly before another tragedy befalls Equestria.”

“It’s that a coincidence.” Discord hopped up from his pillow next to Pinkie Pie and dove back into the conversation. “I can sense that the element of dark magic is once again waiting for us in the Crystal Empire. Won’t Princess Cadance be so happy to see all of you – especially her favorite sister-in-law, Twilight?”

“If Discord is correct, then there’s no time to waste.” Twilight addressed the group with a feeling of total authority seeing as she felt it was up to her to retrieve the final element. “Let’s get moving!”

She had barely laid her own hoof to the ground before she realized another gently laid hoof had landed on her shoulder.

Princess Celestia had a few more things to say about that. “Princess Twilight, it may be wise to prepare ourselves before we charge off in search of this particular element. Might I suggest we take some time and review my journals from the previous encounter and then take the morning train North tomorrow?”

Twilight looked somewhat crestfallen as she contemplated her mentor’s counsel. They really had no idea what to expect, but time was also of the essence. Every moment they waited before beginning their journey could potentially put them in further peril. Twilight finally agreed. Princess Celestia was right – they should prepare themselves as best they could before venturing into the unknown once again.

She replied, “Alright princess, let’s have a look at those journals.”

The rest of the ponies nodded in agreement as well and immediately got to work with their own preparations.

Chapter Eighteen - Friends in Low Places

For her entire life, Twilight Sparkle had looked up to Princess Celestia. She revered her as the model of a wise and competent leader. For the first time ever, she now had her doubts.

Twilight sat off by herself aboard the Crystal Express. Celestia’s journal lay open on the pillow next to her. The writing was a mess – all sorts of things thrown together on the page. What seemed to be marks left by tears from long ago stained the paper. It felt to her like Celestia had regurgitated her entire emotional state into the book and left it there for her to sort out.

A thousand years had passed since the trifecta of events occurred leading to the banishment of her sister. Although she did her best to hide them, Celestia still bore the scars of that traumatic day. Reading her journal, Twilight found a completely different side of the princess she never knew existed. The insecurity, self-loathing, and constant reminders that she had failed in her duties as princess peeled back at the layers of the complex monarch. It must have been especially hard for her to share this personal record with any other pony.

Twilight’s concentration in trying to make sense of the smeared and nearly illegible writing was suddenly shattered.

“Wha’cha doin’?” Pinkie Pie leaned over the top of the book and stared into her face.

Twilight recoiled in shock – “ahhhhh… Pinkie, you can’t sneak up on a pony like that.”

Pinkie’s smile turned upside down as she apologized. “I-I’m sorry Twilight. I didn’t mean to bother you.”

The balloons on Pinkie’s cutie mark seemed to deflate just a little as she wheeled around and made to head off in the other direction. Twilight stopped her by quickly placing an outstretched hoof on her flank.

“Wait, Pinkie.” Twilight had a twinge of remorse in her reply. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. – I’m just a bit stressed with this dark magic hunt we’re on and all.”

“That’s what I figured.” The bright and cheery smile of the party pony quickly returned in all its glory. “I just came over to see if I could help cheer you up.”

“That’s a pretty tall order, Pinkie.” Twilight gave a little crack of a smile in her otherwise stress-lined face. “I don’t even know if one of your infamous parties could help me now.”

“Well….” Pinkie trailed off a bit in a contrasting start to her reply. “I did happen to pack my Ultimate-Pinky-Party-in-a-Box party package – you never know when you’ll need to throw a super duper party, and I came prepared.”

“I think I’m good for now,” chuckled Twilight not doubting for a moment that it all made perfect sense to Pinkie Pie to pack an entire party-to-go on a mission to recover the element of dark magic. “How about you save that super party of yours for after we get that last element and set things straight again?”

“Okie dokie!” Pinkie bounced off to join the others.

Twilight closed the journal and decided to go spend some time with her friends. It wasn’t very often that she had the whole lot of them together like this. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were all fairly common fixtures in her day-to-day life in Ponyville. Spike was pretty much her shadow. Having Discord, Celestia and Luna all along for the trip as well made it a fairly exceptional event – one she probably shouldn’t miss with her head buried in another book.

Although most of the ponies laughed as Discord entertained them all with his silly antics, Twilight kept her eye on - a much more real to her now - Celestia. The princess kept mostly to herself staying just to the edge of the main flow of conversation. Twilight managed to catch her attention and she politely excused herself from the circle and walked over to have a little one-on-one with her former student.

The train bumped along the tracks in a steady rhythm. In the case of the Crystal Express, the regular tap-tap-tap was replaced with a tip-tip-tip-tip-tip-tip – this was, in fact, an express train. Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight moved to the back of the car before starting their own conversation.

“Thank you for allowing me to read your journal.” Twilight was sincere in her comment. “I never knew how much you went through in having to banish your own sister – it must have been hard.”

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” Celestia looked down at Twilight with a somber expression. The pain of her past deeds left her vulnerable and naked. “I hope I never have to make that same choice again.”

“How did you overcome it all? How did you cope with the pain and the loss?” Twilight probed for answers to questions that may have none.

“The one thing that kept me going all those long years – the knowledge that I was able to work a failsafe into my spell. I was encouraged by knowing that one day I would see my sister again and I would have the chance to try and undo the damage I had done. For a thousand years, it was the one thing that kept me going… until you came along, that is.”

“Why do you say that? What’s so special about me?” Twilight looked up at her mentor. A gentle smile had had appeared on her face as she looked down on the young princess.

“Because, Twilight, you reminded me of my dear Luna and everything I cherished about the sisterly bond I had with her. You also reminded me a lot of myself growing up – so inquisitive, so studious. I had a feeling that you were the key to unlocking the secret of the elements and helping to reunite me with my sister.”

“But didn’t you already understand how to use the Elements of Harmony? You did use them to defeat Discord and Sombra, right?”

“In a way, yes. But, in all my years of studying the Elements of Harmony and the Elements of Disharmony, I discovered the one thing that I had failed to understand when Luna and I had used them to defeat the powers of chaos and evil. We lacked that unity of friendship that I see now flourishes among all of you.”

“But aren’t the two of you friends?” Twilight was puzzled.

“In a way -- we are sisters and that does come with a certain degree of friendship built in. What we lacked was a true friendship beyond just being related. There is a difference, and you have proven that time and again. True friendship is something that, no matter what darkness assails, will always shine. It’s not just a big sister defending her little sister. It’s true friends standing side by side, ready to help and support one another in any situation.

I hope that, if nothing else, my journal has shown that I cared deeply for my sister and was devastated by her loss. I also must say that the most glorious day of my entire life was when I was able to once again hold her in my hooves and tell her how much I loved her. Our friendship grew over those years apart – I never knew what I had until I lost it.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me, princess.” Twilight approached her for a hug. “I know it wasn’t easy, but I hope I’m better prepared now for whatever is waiting for us in the Crystal Empire.”

“I hope so as well, my good and faithful student – I mean – princess.” Celestia gave Twilight a hug and the two of them rejoined the group a short time later.

Celestia had sent a magically sealed letter to Princess Cadance ahead of their arrival. It served to testify to the importance of the situation. Cadance was already aware that something seemed - off - and was already making preparations to charge the crystal heart to maximum power just in case its powers were needed. Her reply was near immediate - she, herself, had been in the middle of writing to Celestia to see if she could make sense of it all.

The Crystal Empire was a pretty normal place, if you count having an entire city of crystal ponies vanish for a thousand years and then reappear as though not a day had passed as normal. Currently, something was happening that was not part of that normal. The problem started with minor hints but was getting more pronounced with every passing day. Dark crystals had begun to infest the town. They signaled a return to dark times – a return of the influence of King Sombra.

The train pulled into the station as it was coming up on mid-morning. The incredibly long journey had taken a matter of hours on the express trip from Canterlot. Waiting to greet them at the terminal was Twilight’s brother, husband to Princess Cadance, Shining Armor. He and a group of Crystal Royal Guard ponies stood at attention as the train pulled up to the platform.

The regal stallion gave a deep bow to the princesses as the Canterlot forces exited the train car and walked out onto the platform. A number of royal guards helped them with their gear. Pinkie, however, refused to let anypony handle her party package saying it was far too fragile and could be accidently discharged if mishandled. The guards backed off like she was carrying a doomsday weapon of sorts and let her have her space.

Shining Armor led the way through town and up to the foot of the Crystal Castle where an anxious Princess Cadance awaited their arrival. The royal pleasantries aside, they all quickly relocated indoors to discuss recent events. The guards kept a short distance, mainly mindful of the presence of Discord and the general uncertainty that afforded.

The summit came to order and they got down to business right away. Twilight and Celestia brought everyone up to speed and laid out their plans to go about searching for the last element. Cadance informed them of everything that she had noted as being odd around town that could potentially lead them to their target. The signs of Sombra’s dark influence were spreading rapidly.

“We’ll do anything we can to assist. I’ve powered up the crystal heart just in case we need it.” Cadance addressed the group as they wrapped up their meeting.

“Good luck everypony!” Twilight called out as they went about putting their plans into action.

They had divided up the city into four quadrants. Each princess would take a small number from their current ranks along with a contingent of the royal guard and go shop to shop and house to house in search of anything that looked or felt out of place. At the first sign of trouble, they were to send up a beacon alerting the others.

Celestia, Rarity, and Applejack went together into the Northwest sector. Luna, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy covered the Northeast. Although he would have rather gone with Twilight, Discord hooked up with Pinkie Pie and Cadance to search the Southeast quadrant. That left Twilight, Shining Armor, and Spike to head to the Southwest district.

The groups headed off in their separate search patterns. Twilight led the way as her group marched off into the Southwest zone. The trail of dark crystals seemed to intensify as she led her brother and their team further away from the castle. It was almost as if they were following a path of breadcrumbs.

“When did these crystals start appearing like this?” questioned Twilight.

“We’ve always had to deal with a rogue crystal formation or two, but they haven’t been this bad until very recently,” replied Shining Armor. “The black ones are especially troublesome since they tend to form in the worst possible places and are the hardest to remove.”

“Any idea what could be causing them to form like this?” Twilight indicated the trails of black crystal leading off in multiple directions – the largest of which led on ahead.

“No idea, little sis.” Shining Armor shook his head. “We were hoping you would be able to help figure that out.”

The small team trotted on ahead as the trail intensified. As they approached the edge of town, the crystals seemed to lead up to a solitary little shack that looked completely out of place itself alongside the regular homes and shops of the Crystal Empire. It was surrounded by dark crystals. A simple thatched roof basically sat on top of a mesh of black crystal walls that lay over an upside-down ‘V’ of a doorway covered only by a sheet of thin, red cloth for a door.

“Well, that definitely qualifies as odd,” said Twilight. “Do you happen to know who lives there?”

Shining Armor thought for a moment as he stroked his chin. “I’m not really sure. I think that pony is new in town – can’t have been more than two or three weeks ago that they moved in – she’s definitely not a local.”

As they all approached the hovel, Twilight called out to everypony to be cautious. She, along with her brother, walked up the simple path toward the door. Before they reached the opening, however, a small blue pony in a purple robe and hat poked her head through the makeshift door hanging.

Twilight recoiled as she recognized the mare and called out her name, “Trixie!”

Chapter Nineteen - Rainbows and Unicorns

“We do not want you here!” The words seeped like venom from the mouth of the emotionally fragile Trixie. Her horn began to glow in a cloud of black and purple as her eyes sunk into a deep red hue.

“Look out!” Shining Armor dove towards Twilight as he pushed them both out of the way of a giant spike of black crystal that shot up from the ground beneath them.

He recovered almost instantly and brought up his own magic shield to defend them all from a shower of black spikes that shot out toward the group immediately after. Twilight used the momentary reprise the shield granted to generate a beacon of light in the design of her own cutie mark and broadcast it into the sky.

“What have you done?” Twilight’s words rang with a level of shock and fear that belied her normal levels of confidence and composure.

She had expected to find something unusual, but this was not the welcome that she felt was warranted. Seeing the troubled Trixie caught up in the battle being waged over the powers of dark magic once again made her question her resolve. She didn’t want to hurt the poor mare, but she couldn’t let her continue on her present course. The barrage of crystal attacks continued as the defensive shield managed to hold. They needed to regroup.

“Retreat!” shouted Twilight as she backed into the group of guard ponies.

Shining Armor kept the magic shield in place as the pack reversed course and headed back towards town. Trixie remained in her doorway – her eyes and horn returning to normal as the threat to her solitude was nullified.

A speeding Rainbow Dash flew towards the retreating team. “Twilight – what’s the matter?!”

They stopped and met up a few hundred yards back into town. Trixie’s hut was no longer visible back in the direction they had come.

“I think we found it.” Twilight looked up at her anxious friend. She then addressed the team as a whole, “Is everypony alright? Is anypony injured?”

Rainbow Dash hovered impatiently overhead as they assessed their current situation. One of the guards had taken a glancing blow from a piece of the flying crystal. It failed to strike him straight on and only left a small scratch in his hindquarter. Luckily, they had all avoided any serious injury.

Within the next few moments the rest of the pony teams converged on the spot. Celestia and Luna set to organizing the guards into a defensive formation around the impromptu base camp that had formed in the middle of the street. Cadance and Shining Armor pooled expeditionary teams to help contain the situation around the target house further south and west of town. Twilight and her Ponyville friends contemplated their options.

“I say we just blast her and sort out the pieces later,” suggested a charged up Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie replied, “Hmmm… I knew I should have packed my party cannon.”

“We don’t want to hurt her, do we?” Fluttershy looked more concerned than usual about the prospect of straight up fighting their way through this problem.

“Absolutely not,” Rarity chimed in. “She’s obviously not in her right mind.”

“Yer right,” said Applejack. “Trixie may be a mess an’ all, but we can’t just blast her ta bits. There’s gotta be another way.”

“I don’t know girls,” said Twilight, having her doubts, “It may just have to come to using our Rainbow Powers and hoping for the best. We don’t really have a lot of options here. By the way, has anypony seen Discord?”

“Princess Twilight.” Celestia joined the group. “I fear the situation is getting out of hand. We must act now before the opportunity to act is gone.”

Luna and a few captains of the Royal Guard approached as well. The reports of dark crystal encroachment were coming in from all over town.

Twilight made up her mind. “Alright, everypony listen up. We need to neutralize the threat of whatever dark magic has infested Trixie. We have to do that without hurting her too. I believe our best bet is using our Rainbow Powers, but focusing them on helping Trixie fight the foreign power within her. This won’t be easy and we all need to stay focused. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna – can I count on you both to keep everypony safe from the dark crystal attacks while we give it a try?”

“We’ll give you as much time as we can,” replied Luna, “but we may not be able to fend off the attack for long. The last time we fought the influence of the element of dark magic, it wasn’t easy.”

“Just give us enough time to let our Rainbow Power work its magic.” Twilight turned back to her smaller group of friends. “Is everypony ready?”

The group nodded in the affirmative and they all took up their positions as they prepared to head back into the fray.

They even more cautiously approached Trixie’s house, this time with their magic shields already in place. The Great and Powerful Trixie stood ready to greet them once again as they approached - her moniker definitely living up to its promise for this latest encounter.

“Why do you torment us? We only wish to be left alone!” The cold words stung like ice as Trixie flung them towards the group. She stood unflinching in the doorway to the dark crystal infused shack.

“Trixie – we’re here to help!” Twilight yelled back across the divide still between them.

“You’ve come to steal our magic again, haven’t you?” The dark glow ignited once again atop her horn. Her eyes melted into a storm of swirling magma.

“This is it girls!” Twilight motioned to her team. “It’s now or never!”

The six ponies formed their circle and called upon their Rainbow Power magic to assist in their plight.

“Honesty!”

“Kindness!”

“Laughter!”

“Generosity!”

“Loyalty!”

“Magic!”

Columns of rainbow colored light shot up around the six ponies as a bright ball of energy formed inside the ring. The Rainbow of Light burst from the confines of the energy source and zipped around them as it gained power and focus. Twilight guided the small rainbow force into alignment with their target and willed it to advance.

She was careful to avoid a straight on blast of energy, opting instead to bathe her target in the rainbow light. Her hope was that the dark energies that had consumed Trixie would lose their hold on her as she helped to reinforce the mind and will of the pony beneath.

The battle was intense. Black crystal shards flew in every direction as even more shot out of the ground all around. The magical barrier produced by the two sisters proved strong enough to hold back the attacks – at least for now. Twilight and her friends concentrated on their target as their rainbow-fied manes and tails danced in the magical energy streams.

Trixie cried out as the Rainbow Power slowly pierced the clouded coating of her horn. “Noooo! We won’t let you take away our precious magic!”

Just as the last bits of dark energy looked to be clearing from the typically blue horn, a deep and resounding blast burst forth. The gigantic shockwave flattened the dark crystal hovel. It also struck the team’s fortified position destroying the magical force field and knocking the ponies back a good distance.

Twilight and the other rainbow-fied ponies were quick to recover having been doubly protected from the final onslaught. Their rainbow colors quickly vanished as they returned to their normal states. The rest of the team were not as lucky. Many of the ponies, including the princess sisters, had been flung back down the street and were now in various states of recovery. There were bound to be some injuries.

Twilight had no time to dwell on the well-being of the others. She swung over towards their antagonist and took stock of her current condition. Trixie lay on the ground beneath a twisted heap of black crystal shards. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving.

“Trixie!” Twilight shouted as she maneuvered to land amidst the broken crystal shards all around. “Please, say something!

She scooped up the head of the defeated mare and with every last ounce of will that remained to her, struggled to find any signs of life. Twilight checked for a heartbeat and could hear a faint one still remained. A very light and wispy breath also escaped Trixie’s nostrils as her chest rose and fell in tortured and broken rhythm.

Twilight hugged the poor unicorn as her own tears ran down her cheek. Her other friends had now arrived and were busy trying to remove the pile of broken crystal from around the pair of intertwined ponies. They worked quickly and soon had Trixie’s hind quarters free of the pile of debris.

The young pony’s eyes shuddered as they finally opened. She looked up into the face of her Alicorn assailant. It took a moment, but the realization finally came through. Trixie let out a word along with a slightly bigger breath, “T-Twi-Twilight?”

Her head rolled back and Twilight caught it as she helped to keep her upright. Twilight called out to her team for some water to hopefully aid in the revival process. One of the recovered guards quickly obliged as he brought forth a small canteen. Twilight poured a bit of the water over the waiting mouth of the mare still lying across her foreleg.

After a couple sips and a bit of time to process a more complete recovery, Trixie finally came back to her senses. The ponies quickly began to tend to her wounds.

“Twilight, it hurts.” Trixie’s eyes were filled with tears as she looked up into the face of her longtime rival, pleading for help.

“Trixie, we’re all here to help.” Twilight continued to hold her tight as the rest of the team worked to fix up her broken hind leg.

The force of the blast and the ensuing collapse of the house on top of her served to deal quite the blow to her back end. Having Twilight hold her hoof and stay at her side helped Trixie to cope with the pain. Her back left leg would need to be set and field dressed before they could attempt to move her to more lasting accommodations.

“I’ve been a terrible pony.” Trixie sobbed as she dropped her normal bravado and self-reflecting method of speech.

“We don’t blame you at all,” Twilight worked to soothe the despondent pony. “We’re all your friends and there’s no way we would let you suffer through this alone.”

“Thank you for helping me, Twilight, and thank you for being a real friend.” Trixie sniffled as she winced at the pain coming from her broken leg and her severely bruised ego. “The dark magic was just so powerful I couldn’t resist. Once it had a hold on me, I completely lost control.”

“You really are amazing on your own, Trixie – no dark magic needed.” Twilight gave her a smile and tried to keep her mind off the pain of her leg.

“How was it you came into possession of this magic, young one?” Celestia appeared over Twilight’s shoulder as she leaned in to question the young pony.

The ponies of Canterlot and the Crystal Empire had never had to deal with Trixie in the past and were still unfamiliar with the way in which she could be tied to all this. The mystery was quickly solved as Trixie laid out her story:

“I came to the Crystal Empire to get away from the rest of everypony that ever knew me. I lived as an outcast elsewhere and wanted to make a fresh start here. I don’t have many skills, but I was able to piece together a place to live and provide the locals with a bit of help as I worked to prove I belonged.

One day while I was working in the fields clearing crystals, I found a curious piece of something. It was black and hard, but it wasn’t a rock or a crystal. It did seem to give off a magical glow - almost like it could have been a fragment of a Unicorn’s horn. I took it home with me, and from that point on, everything gets a little fuzzy.”

“Do you know where the item is now, little one?” Celestia seemed insistent that they find it at once.

“It’s probably under that pile of rubble that used to be my house.” Trixie pointed out the pile of broken crystal that lay behind them.

Luna and Celestia both broke from the group and set about magically tearing away the broken layers of crystal shards and thatch that were once a poor excuse for a home.

“Everypony back!” yelled Celestia as they came close to the bottom of the pile.

A small black and glowing object could now be clearly seen as the last bits of junk were removed. Twilight gently laid Trixie’s head on a pile of thatch that she brought up to her side as she stood up to get a better look. No sooner as she had done so, a black beam of dark energy shot toward her.

“Twilight, look out!” Celestia’s reactions were quicker and she shot out her own energy beam of light deflecting the dark energy blast.

Twilight responded by throwing herself into a defensive stance and countering the attack with a magic energy beam of her own. Her magic struck with eagle-eyed precision as the small piece of black horn crumbled to dust. The now disintegrated object swirled up into the air as a magic essence floated away from the charred ground on which it once lay.

Twilight and the rest of the ponies watched in awe as the dark energy swirled around and slowly drifted over towards her. The gemstone within her tiara pulsed with light as the dark stream of magic swept up inside it.

Trixie gazed in wonder at the magical spectacle unfolding before her. “What was that?” she whispered over to Twilight.

“We have Sombra’s evil influence to blame for that, I’m afraid.” Twilight swung around and struck a commanding pose before the group of ponies around her. The pulsating glow of the light upon dark gemstone atop her head bathed the group in an ominous light.

Chapter Twenty - Draconequus

With the dark magic essence contained and Sombra’s influence removed, the black crystals infesting the Crystal Empire turned to dust and blew away in the gentle afternoon breeze. The explosion near the edge of town had caused quite a commotion amongst the locals. A few store windows had been shattered and a few guards had sustained injuries in the blast. Luckily no one had been hurt more severely than Trixie – and she would heal just fine with proper rest and treatment.

The Ponyville gang with their accompanying royal entourage made their way back to the castle. They loaded Trixie on a litter with four hefty crystal ponies to carry her. Cadance offered to put Trixie up in the castle until a proper new home could be built and her leg had mended. The outpouring of generosity on her behalf overwhelmed Trixie to the point of happy tears. The love she felt outweighed her physical pain – it was a good feeling to have.

Before the battle began, Twilight had sent Spike off to find Discord. She felt it was a bit weird that they had come all this way on his behalf only to have him go missing at the last moment. With six elements now locked away within the element gems, they just needed to find him and put things back to the way they should be.

When the group got to the base of the castle, Spike ran out to meet them.

“I found him!” he yelled out to Twilight. “He’s sleeping in the throne room.”

That’s just the kind of random Twilight had come to expect from the Lord of Chaos, even if he was supposed to be reformed.

After making sure Trixie had been taken care of and the rest of the injured guards had been treated, Twilight and her crew headed up to the throne room to confront the sleeping trickster. She was ready for this whole ordeal to be over. Hopefully they could get this over with quickly and she could be sleeping in her own bed again that very night.

The six bearers of the Elements of Disharmony entered the Crystal Castle throne room flanked by Luna, Celestia, Shining Armor, Cadance, and last – but not least – Spike. The clip clop of hooves across the crystal floor didn’t seem to bother Discord as he continued his midday siesta. As he snored, a mild burst of flame erupted from his nostrils and alternated with his ears as well.

Twilight walked over to the throne and stomped her hoof as she yelled, “Discord!”

He suddenly sprung to life as he nearly toppled over the edge of the chair he was splayed across. He quickly pulled himself together and replied, “good morning to you too, Twilight.”

“It’s afternoon, but that’s not the point.” Twilight was a bit short with him considering he was nowhere to be found while she and her friends had been risking their lives trying to track down his property.

“By the looks of the glow from your ever shining face, I see you found the last element.” Discord didn’t look too happy as one might expect. “I suppose you woke me since you want to tie up that one last loose end.”

“That’s kind of the whole point to why we’re here.” Twilight tapped her hoof impatiently. “Could you please let us know what we’re supposed to do now that we have all six elements?”

Discord yawned and stretched. “That’s the easy part – I guess if we hurry I can get back to my nap before it’s time for bed.”

“So… how do we do this?” Twilight still had her question hanging out there waiting for an answer.

Discord seemed almost as impatient to get this over with as Twilight. “Oh bother – just have your friends line up and focus their energy on you. The elements will focus on the dark magic in your crystal and feed back into me. Clear as mud pie – ready to do it?”

Twilight looked back over at her friends who all hesitantly nodded. She glanced over at Celestia to make sure there was nothing else she needed to consider before sealing the deal. As far as everypony was concerned, the plan was a go.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all stood facing Twilight as she aligned herself between them and their intended target still slumped over the throne. The royal onlookers signaled to Twilight and she turned to face her line of friends.

Twilight nodded. “Ok girls, let’s do this. Activate your elements.”

Each of the ponies called out in turn using the names of the Elements of Disharmony this time. It felt strange for each of them to be calling on an element that went completely against their nature. They were glad to finally be getting rid of them.

“Lies.”

“Sadness.”

“Greed.”

“Malice.”

“Envy.”

As the five ponies’ essences came to life, a stream of magic shone forth from each of their gemstones. The magic was directed toward the gem sitting atop Twilight’s head. Twilight could feel the energy being collected and refined together within the crystal. She called out as well:

“Dark Magic!”

The energy within her stone came to life. A blackness roiled and churned within the stone. The five ponies’ magic was finally depleted and the beams faded away with the empty gems being all that remained in their necklaces. Twilight turned to face Discord as she could feel the magic nearly ready to escape.

As she turned, the gemstone flashed. Then it flickered. Deep inside the tenebrous cloud within, a spark of light flamed to life. The spark grew as it burned through the smoky haze. Its glow turned a deep red making the gemstone look and then begin to feel incredibly hot.

Discord looked up from his semi relaxed state and said, “Now that’s new.”

Celestia’s magic sprung to life as her voice rang throughout the chamber, “Discord, what have you done?”

Discord looked confused as he replied, “I haven’t done anything. What have you done?”

A feeling of dread came over Twilight as a number of thoughts ran through her head. The gemstone was indeed becoming very hot, but she didn’t dare try and interrupt the magic.

Luna spoke up, “that isn’t Discord – it’s Sombra!”

The entire gemstone caught fire as the protective barrier was shattered. Five rays of dark energy shot out of Twilight’s gem, just not in the direction she was hoping. Her five pony friends behind her each caught a full on blast of the dark power.

“No!” cried Celestia.

“I can’t stop it!” Twilight struggled with her own magic to try and do something to break the link.

“Let it go – don’t interrupt it!” Discord’s voice bellowed out above them all.

“And just why should we listen to you?” shouted Luna.

“Because, if you break the spell now, they will all be lost for another thousand years,” came Discord’s reply. “Sombra must have infused his evil magic together with the element of dark magic. We can’t break the spell now or it will trigger his failsafe.”

The dark energy beams continued to focus on the five ponies who were powerless to avoid them. With the rays projecting behind her, Twilight could not fully see the effect the magic was having on her friends. Without much other option left to her, she decided she had to act. She took a deep breath, whipped around, and stuck her horn directly in front of the beams of energy emanating from her crystal.

In the blink of an eye, all six ponies were sucked together and vanished leaving only Twilight’s tiara and the five elemental necklaces behind, all twirling on the floor. The gemstones were all now completely devoid of any substance.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen, right guys?” Spike was the only one to speak as they all stood in absolute shock at the scene that had just played out in front of them.

“What do we do? How do we get them back?” A frantic Shining Armor charged the throne demanding answers from the now upright Discord.

“I’m afraid there really is nothing we can do now, but wait.” Discord didn’t seem to be as affected by the recent events as were the others. Still, a tear welled up in his eye at the thought of losing his precious Fluttershy.

“If there is something you aren’t telling us, so help me I will make you disappear myself.” Celestia joined Shining Armor at the throne.

“Calm yourself, princess.” Discord tried his best to settle their fears. “Twilight is one tough cookie. I’m sure she can find a way out.”

“Are you saying they are still alive?” Cadance flew over toward the group as she fought back tears of her own. “Where did they go?”

“It looks like they triggered Sombra’s failsafe, but I’m pretty sure that smarty pants, Twilight, was able to put her own spin on things before doing so.” Discord looked absolutely serious for the first time in his life. “I hope I’m right and that they didn’t just blow themselves up.”

“You had better hope that’s true, or it will be me haunting your dreams for the rest of eternity.” Luna added her own personal threat just to top it all off.

“Let’s hope you’re right, Discord.” Celestia had settled down significantly and under the circumstances, could now be deemed quite calm.

“Would you ever doubt your favorite student?” Discord stood and walked over to the crown on the floor before he bent down and picked it up. “She’s our only hope.”

Chapter Twenty-One - One Good Turn

Twilight found herself in an empty space. Trapped between worlds in a state where time had little meaning. She performed a quick self-check.

‘Wings – check. Tail – check. Horn…‘

She reached up to make doubly sure that her horn was indeed fully intact.

‘…check.’

In calculating the risk of breaking the spell that threatened her friends, she had not taken much regard for her own safety. Her primary concern was stopping the dark magic infused with Sombra’s evil influence from destroying her friends, or worse yet, turning them against her.

‘Now all I have to do is find where I’m at, where my friends are at, and how we get ourselves out of this place.’ She resolved that working through all of that was preferable to letting Sombra have his way with them. The fail-safe had been broken before, she just had to find out how.

Since time and space seemed to be foreign concepts to the dimension she presently found herself in, Twilight engaged in a focused pattern of thought. She figured if she could will it to happen, it could. Her thoughts focused on her friends as each one in turn spawned a sea of memories about special times together. Her very first recollection settled in her mind – the very first time she encountered Pinkie Pie.

As she wove her thoughts around the events of their first encounter, a scene began to materialize before her. She could begin to make out the general outline of a building. The fluffy rooftop and sweet candy like walls began to solidify into a dream version of Sugar Cube Corner.

‘If there was ever a place where I would be able to find Pinkie Pie, it would be there.’ Twilight began to walk cautiously toward the building.

She approached the door and gently pulled back on the handle. It gave way without much effort opening to a sparsely decorated room within. Sparse may be too generous a term to describe the room. There was only a single table with two chairs sitting on opposite ends. A straight-maned Pinkie sat slumped over the table on the left side.

Twilight walked inside. “Pinkie Pie? Is that you?”

The gloomy faced pony didn’t even bat an eyelash as she responded in monotone, “What does it matter?”

“It matters to me.” Twilight came around the opposite end of the table and took a seat. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“No pony’s going to stop ya, so I guess it’s up to you.” Pinkie closed her eyes as a small tear began to form at the corner.

“You look like you could use a friend,” said Twilight as she tried to smile her biggest and most anti-gloomy smile toward her depressed friend.

“Why bother, they always leave you feeling sad in the end.” Pinkie’s tears were flowing in earnest now.

Twilight reached across the table and laid her hoof on top of Pinkie’s. “I know a pony that could always find a way to fix that. She never left a friend feeling sad or lonely.”

“She must be a rarity then, cause there aren’t any friends like that around here.” Pinkie pulled back her hoof.

“You may not believe me, but I know for sure that pony exists and she’s right here with us this very moment – she isn’t a rarity at all. Actually, she’s more of a Pinkie Pie.”

The word pun seemed to catch a spark of interest in the mind of the normally playful party pony. She sat up straight and responded. “So you think I’m that special pony friend that would never leave somepony feeling sad or alone?”

“I’m absolutely sure of it.” Twilight could feel a change coming on and looked for a way in which to strengthen and reinforce it. “I’m so sure of it, that I bet you I could list off the names of every pony you’ve ever helped and you would see for yourself just how good of a friend you really are.”

“I don’t know if I could ever be that pony.” Pinkie put up her barrier once again and slumped back down in her chair.

Twilight began to list of the names of every pony in Ponyville she could think of. Pinkie had such a prevalent effect on everypony around her that there was bound to be some memory she could help trigger that would break her out of the funk she was in. As she rattled off the names, the rest of the room began to brighten – objects appeared and filled the empty space with the standard fare to be found in the sweet shop from back in town.

Pinkie seemed to be responding positively as the mnemonics of the names read aloud drew up memories of those ponies in her head.

When Twilight got down to the last few names she could remember, she struggled to find anything else to help push her over the top. She was so close to breaking through. One or two more might be enough. As if in response to her need, one more pony finally came to mind – a very special pony friend that was often overlooked. A certain mare that sat in the background, but had found a special bond with Pinkie as they worked together to overcome a struggle of sadness and self-doubt not more than a week ago.

“Derpy Hooves!” Twilight blurted out the final name. She looked over at Pinkie hoping the flood of memories would be enough to snap her out of her sad state.

Working in Pinkie’s brain, a conga line of party pony memories danced away into the darkness as a final scene played out - her alone with the gray Pegasus. Her own plans to help the sad pony overcome her doubts and deliver a piece of her willingness to be friends with everypony that would accept her made her feel happy once more. A smile cracked onto the bitter canvas of her face as the tears flew away. Pinkie’s mane and tail burst into a pile of curls as a shower of glitter filled the room.

“Twilight!” Pinkie threw herself across the table and wrapped her friend in a gigantic party pony hug.

Twilight gazed up at Pinkie from the prone position she now occupied on the floor. “There’s only one super party pony in my book, and I’m glad she’s back.”

Twilight returned Pinkie’s hug as the room around them faded once again into nothingness. Once the moment had passed and the room around them had vanished, the two ponies stared out into the darkness.

“What’s next?” asked Pinkie with a smile.

“Maybe that should be up to you, Pinkie.” Twilight figured her guess was as good as any and they should probably work as a team. “Who do you think we should help next?”

Pinkie thought for a moment. Her stomach growled as she thought about all the treats and snacks that had just vanished before her eyes. “It’s so hard to think on an empty tummy. I’m so hungry – an apple fritter just sounds so good right now. The best pony I know to get one of those from is – Applejack!”

Twilight followed along down the bumpy road through Pinkie’s completely rational thoughts. Hopefully they weren’t about to land themselves inside a freshly baked apple fritter, she considered. Her mild fear was quickly forgotten as a new scene materialized around them. The path leading up to Sweet Apple Acres wound out before them both.

As they moved down the dusty path, Twilight couldn’t help but notice something felt wrong. Upon closer inspection, the trees in the orchards that lined the way didn’t seem to be fully formed. In fact, they didn’t look like trees at all. It was more like multiple wood panels had been propped up to look like trees. Not a single real apple could be seen in the entire bunch.

Twilight leaned over to Pinkie Pie, “I don’t know what’s going on here, Pinkie, but we better be on our guard.”

Pinkie had caught the scent of freshly baked apple goodies wafting through the air and wasn’t paying attention to much else. “Hmmmmm, apples….” She began to salivate as the scent drew them on towards the big red barn up ahead.

A large sign above the barn door caught their eye as they approached.

Apple Bloom’s Fresh Farm Fare

They rounded the bend and came through the gate to the farmhouse area. A familiar voice called over to them from the barn door.

“Well howdy ya’ll! Welcome to Apple Bloom’s Fresh Farm Fare! Can I interest you in a fresh apple pie or a tasty caramel apple?”

“Applejack!” Twilight called over to her friend as they approached her makeshift sales stand.

“Not since last I checked. I’m Apple Bloom, and this here’s my apple farm.” Applejack’s words sounded a bit twisted.

Twilight caught a glimpse behind the doorway in which Applejack stood. The other half of the barn, the part which they couldn’t see on their way down the path, was completely missing. Only the front half of the building seemed to be in place. She could see more of the fake apple trees off in the distance as see peered through the frame of the door.

“I’m starving, what have you got that’s fresh?” Pinkie Pie bounded up to the stand.

“Just take a look for yourself.” Applejack looked up and away from the objects she indicated in her window.

Sitting on the doorsill were a couple of paper cutouts of a pie, a fritter, and a candied apple.

“No, really. Where’s the food?” Pinkie Pie picked up the paper food imposters as she tried to see if they were hiding the real things underneath.

“Applejack, what’s going on here?” Twilight probed for answers as Applejack continued to try and dodge the questions.

“I have no idea what your talkin’ about. I’m Apple Bloom and this here’s my farm. I’ve got the best tastin’ apples in all of Equestria right here.” A little bead of sweat had started to surface on Applejack’s forehead seeing as she had been caught in her lies. The sputtering sound of a small fan type machine could be heard just inside the gate – the apple smell they had caught earlier was definitely being generated by the contraption.

“I guess I could spread some frosting on this and give it a try.” Pinkie Pie pulled out a frosting bag and began to decorate the paper cutouts.

“What’s with all the fake trees and food – and why do you keep saying that you’re Apple Bloom?” asked Twilight.

“I don’t have a clue what yer gettin’ at. Everypony knows that you can’t say no to a cute little filly sellin’ her apple treats.” Applejack continued with the charade.

Twilight replied, “Yes, but you’re not a cute little filly and those aren’t real apple trees or treats.”

“Ohhh, these are so good. You should try one too!” Pinkie Pie grabbed one of the frosting covered paper treats and shoved it right in Applejack’s mouth.

“Pinkie!” scolded Twilight. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What? I’m just sharing these delicious treats with my friend Applejack.” Pinkie finished another bite of her paper pie. “Do you want one too?”

“No thanks, I think I’ll pass.” Twilight hoof-palmed her face. “This is even worse than that awful tonic the Flim Flam brothers were trying to sell us.”

She looked over at the fake salespony who now had her mouth stuffed with a full fritter of her own medicine. The frosting dripped out of the corners of her mouth as she painfully chewed and tried to swallow the bitter core of the sugar coated treat. It was just too much for her, and she finally spit out the messy wad.

“I can’t do it anymore.” Applejack hung her head and looked like her entire façade had just crumbled away. “I can’t keep lyin’ to myself. I know those aren’t real apples and I know this ain’t a real apple farm.”

The trees in the distance began to topple as real plants sprung up out of the ground. The trunks shot up as branches and leaves burst out to fill the space between them. Soon enough, real apples popped up all over the place completing the look of a real apple orchard. The barn rumbled as the missing sides snapped up into place from off the ground. The paper apple treats puffed up and became more three dimensional – the frosting still dripping from the edges of the now edible food. The sign above dropped the name of the cute little filly Applejack was pretending to be leaving just the title that actually fit.

“Oh yum!” Pinkie Pie exuberantly took another bite of her frosting covered apple pie. “This is the best tasting apple pie you’ve ever made, Applejack.”

“Actually, I don’t think I made that one.” Applejack’s honesty finally returned as the last bits of deceit dribbled out of her mouth.

She grabbed a cloth and wiped off the corners of her mouth, happy to be rid of the terrible taste the lies had left there.

“What in tarnation’s goin’ on here, Twilight?” Applejack looked around at the farm and fields. “Why are we in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres?”

“We aren’t,” replied Twilight. “We’re caught in Sombra’s netherworld. We need to find the rest of our friends and then see about getting ourselves back to Equestria.”

The farmscape around them withered and died as the trees were sucked back into the ground. The barn fell to pieces as Applejack leaped out the door just before it all toppled in on itself. The area surrounding the three ponies faded to black once more.

“So how exactly are we supposed to find the others?” asked Applejack.

Twilight turned her question around and asked it right back. “Where do you think we should look next, Applejack?”

Applejack looked a bit surprised to have her own question asked of her. She pondered a moment before saying, “Well, if I was to go lookin’ for Rainbow Dash on a lazy summer afternoon, I’d probably find her takin’ a nap in one of my trees or on some cloud.”

“Then let’s go take a look and see if we can’t find her.” Twilight helped guide her along the mental path. “Just focus on the tree or cloud where you think you’ll find Rainbow Dash, and that should do the trick.”

“Alright then, can’t be any weirder than my fake apple farm.” Applejack closed her eyes and imagined a calm summer afternoon down by the watering hole. Rainbow Dash would almost certainly be found napping in the branches of her favorite tree there.

The scene around them changed. The sunlight filtered down through the black sky above and soon the ponies found themselves on the banks of the pond that had become a favorite spot for them all to bring their pets for an afternoon of relaxation. They did indeed find Rainbow Dash, but instead of sleeping in her tree, she was yelling at a pair of squirrels that had taken up residence.

“Get out and stay out!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the pair of furry critters. “This is my tree and I didn’t say you could move in.”

“Rainbow!” Applejack yelled over towards the angry Pegasus.

“What do you want?” Rainbow Dash replied. “Can’t a girl get a little rest before the big race?”

“What big race?” asked Twilight. “The Equestria Games just ended a little over a month ago.”

“Well, then you obviously don’t know how important the Ponyville Challenge is.” Rainbow Dash flexed her wings as she continued, “It’s the premiere event in Ponyville. A five mile run, followed by a five mile swim, and all finished up with a fifty mile flight to Canterlot and back.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” stated Applejack. “There isn’t a single other pony in all of Ponyville that could even compete in that challenge besides you. I can’t fly, Bulk Biceps can’t swim, and Derpy isn’t the greatest runner around.”

“That’s right, Applejack.” Rainbow Dash swooped down from the tree and came to land in front of Twilight. “So I guess that just leaves you, Twilight. I’m going to beat you and show everypony who the real winner is here in Ponyville.”

“But I don’t even want to race.” Twilight looked back at Rainbow Dash trying to figure out what was really going on.

Rainbow Dash circled around the princess. “Too scared to compete, I see. How about you just admit that I’m better than you in front of the whole town then?”

“What’s that supposed ta prove,” questioned Applejack. “It’s not like there’s a competition to see who the most popular pony is.”

Rainbow Dash rounded on Applejack. “You stay out of this. It’s just between me and Twilight.”

Rainbow Dash turned around and faced Twilight snout to snout. Applejack came around as well and pushed them both apart.

“Now hold on just a second. Just because Twilight’s a princess an all doesn’t mean she thinks she’s better than everypony. And just because you’re the best flier in town doesn’t mean you’re a better pony than anypony else either.”

“Then let’s prove it. Ponyville Challenge – just me and Twilight to settle once and for all who the best pony is.” Rainbow Dash glared at Twilight straight through the hat of Applejack that separated them.

“I think I understand.” Twilight came around to face Rainbow Dash. “You think that just because I’m an Alicorn princess that somehow I’m better than you, and you can’t stand the thought of being overshawdowed.”

“Maybe,” came the gruff response from Rainbow Dash.

Applejack threw herself back into the middle of the two ponies. “Well, I happen to know another Alicorn princess that used ta think the same thing. She couldn’t stand the thought of bein’ outshined by her own sister. Her older sister was a good enough friend that she didn’t let the younger sister’s envy get in the way a’ her love. Eventually she came around and discovered that both of ‘em have important parts to play – neither of which is more or less important than the other.”

“Rainbow Dash – you’re an amazing flier and a truly brave and courageous friend.” Twilight shed a tear. “I would never have become who I am today if it wasn’t for you.”

“Me neither,” added Applejack.

“Go Rainbow!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she batted a set of pompoms still expecting to watch a race.

The pair of squirrels returned to their tree as Rainbow sat back on her haunches and thought about her challenge. The desire to win and show how she was the best pony around didn’t seem to matter as much as it once did. She looked at each of her friends and felt a little silly for even questioning the reasons why she had come to Ponyville in the first place. The realization that friendship meant more to her than being the best pony around finally sunk in. When she looked back up at the three smiling faces in front of her, she couldn’t even remember what she had been worried about only a few minutes before.

“What are we waitin’ for? We’ve got some more friends to rescue – who’s next?”

Twilight giggled at the quick turnaround and then answered, “Ladies choice – Rarity or Fluttershy?”

Rainbow looked around – the pond and tree were fading back into the blackness. “I guess we should check out Rarity’s place. It’s just over that hill.”

The quartet trotted up and over the hill as the landscape behind them faded away. Carousel Boutique rose up out of the grassy space ahead. The rest of Ponyville could not be seen in the distance. The single building had a very strange feel to it as they entered and sought out its owner.

“Stay back! You can’t have them!” Rarity’s voice rang out from across the room as she clung to an assortment of gowns and hats.

“Rarity?” Rainbow Dash questioned the sanity and reality of the situation they faced.

A single white pony with Rarity’s signature purple mane seemed to have lost her mind and devolved into a clothes hoarding junkie in the far corner. A pile of clothes and other assorted knick-knacks littered the space behind her. What really caught their eye was the sight of their own gala dresses being trampled under the hooves of the deranged mare.

“They’re all mine. I won’t let you take them away from me.” Rarity’s voice was a bit muffled by the pile of dresses she had pulled up close to her chest.

“I remember that one. That’s the first dress you ever made for me.” Rainbow Dash pointed out the cloud and rainbow design amidst the pile of assorted clothing. “I sure looked cool wearing that one.”

“Isn’t that the dress you made me for my birthday party?” Twilight pointed at another gown in the pile. “That’s the one even Fancy Pants liked because it was so amazingly plain and pretty.”

“And there’s the one that got you all flustered when I put it on to give you a bit of a tease.” Applejack marveled at the thought of becoming the pretentious caricature of herself – Apple Jewel.

“I made them, and they’re mine!” screamed Rarity.

“Hey, I remember that one.” Rainbow Dash pulled a very pretty gown from the pile, carrying it free from the grasping forelegs of the clothes hoarder below. “Isn’t this the one we finished making for you when you ran out of time making all the changes to the rest of our gala outfits?”

“I thought that one looked familiar.” Twilight finally remembered where she had seen it before. “That’s the dress those two mares in Canterlot were fighting over.”

She flew up and grabbed the top part dress away from Rainbow Dash. It split into two separate parts.

Twilight continued, “See – I knew I had seen this one before.”

Rainbow Dash added, “You took your old dress and split it up to settle the argument between those two fancy ponies.”

“I-I guess I did.” Rarity looked around at the piles of clothes surrounding her.

Each and every design had come from her own head with most every stitch being applied by her own hooves. Very few of them were actually intended for her. The dress she made for Rainbow Dash would have clashed horribly with her own mane. The simple gown she designed for Twilight, but never really finished, worked great for her, but would have never been the kind of thing that she herself would have worn. Even her own dress, the one she designed for her night at the gala, the one that her own friends had stitched together when she herself spent all her time instead focused on pleasing them, she had given away so that somepony else could enjoy the thrill of dressing up and feeling just like a princess.

She looked over all her hard work, much of which had been given away in the end. Her friends loved the way they looked and couldn’t have been happier than when they wore those gowns. Every feeling she had ever had when she had wanted to be the center of attention couldn’t come close to the feeling of knowing she had made her friends so happy with her generous gifts.

Rarity levitated the gown she had made for Rainbow Dash off the ground. It looked out of place amidst the pile of otherwise fancy dresses. Rainbow saw the opportunity and she took it. She swiftly maneuvered herself into the floating gown and struck a regal pose. The billowing cloud trim was the perfect accent to the pattern of rainbow colors that flowed down her flank. It all worked for her. She was the only pony that it made sense for.

Rarity melted into the pile of fabric as her choke hold grasp on the dresses she held slipped away. The proclivity to take and hold was replaced by a feeling of generosity and sharing. She looked up at her friends who were still all admiring the handiwork of their own gowns.

“What do you all think this is, a fashion show?” Rarity regained her footing as the rest of the ponies left their gowns in exchange for a hug of one of their closest friends. “We have a friend to rescue and I’m not about to waste any more time on these frilly things when Fluttershy is in danger.”

“Lead the way, Rarity.” Twilight smiled as her friends all fell in line and trotted out the door turning in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.

The town wasn’t exactly built up around them and the path to Fluttershy’s house was more of a bridleway between the boutique and the stream that ran alongside the cottage. As they crossed the bridge, Rarity’s shop vanished behind them and the quaint little den on the other side of the stream popped up right in its proper spot.

There was quite a commotion already happening inside. The shrieks and barks from a dozen or more animals joined with the somehow bellowing tones of one out-of-control pony. The girls walked through the door and directly into animal chaos.

“Get back here Angel Bunny, or I’ll tear your whiskers off!” yelled an enraged Fluttershy.

The normally docile pony whipped around the room as she chased the darting rabbit. Angel was in fear for his life as he dove for cover behind the largest object he could find – a bear.

“Out of my way! That little thief stole the last carrot from my garden and he’s going to pay for it.” Fluttershy’s nostrils flared as she huffed and puffed before the giant animal blocking her from reaching her prey.

The bear simply folded its arms and shook its head from side to side. Fluttershy let out a guttural scream as she zipped over to her little kitchen and pulled out a frying pan intending to bash her way through the bear to get to the rabbit. Rarity stopped her in her tracks as her magic grabbed a hold of the frying pan and held it firmly in place.

“Fluttershy dear, you really must control that temper of yours.” Rarity remained calm as she walked over and took a seat on the couch. “Come join me over here and we’ll have a little chat.”

Rarity patted the cushion on the seat next to her as she tried to coax Fluttershy into joining her. Reluctantly and with one or two furtive glances over at the bear and the cowering Angel behind, she took Rarity up on her offer. Fluttershy floated over to the couch and landed with a thump.

“These animals ruin everything – they steal my food; they mess up my house; what do I get out of it --- nothing.” Fluttershy leaned back on the couch as Rarity nodded in true psychiatrist fashion.

“I see what you mean dear, they are a dreadful sight.” Rarity levitated over a pot of tea and poured a glass for them both.

Twilight and the rest of the crew kept their distance. They trusted that Rarity knew what she was doing and would have the whole problem resolved in no time. The animals began to poke their heads out from their hiding places as they worked up the courage to venture a peak at what was going on.

Rarity continued after pouring the drinks, “Could I interest you in some tea, dear? It always helps to calm my nerves when I’ve had a rough day.”

“That sounds good, but we better drink it fast before one of these ungrateful pests decides they want a sip as well.” Fluttershy glared out at the animals who dove back into their hiding places and holes.

“It must be tiring to do so much for all of them and get so little in return. It’s not like they’re your -friends- or anything.” Rarity’s words struck a chord. “It’s almost like that unruly pack of Griffin’s that I heard you talk about – thinking that we owed them something.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to comment, but the words got stuck in her throat. She thought about what made the Griffins so quick to hate on ponies when Gilda had given them a sounding board for their complaints. She thought about the reasons why she had so many animals living with her. She even thought about why she had decided to come and live in Ponyville in the first place. It was all about her friends. Gilda felt she didn’t have any. The animals had come to trust her and befriended her due to the kindness she had shown. All her pony friends would never have been so accepting of her if she hadn’t shown them kindness in return.

The thoughts and feelings of malice slipped away from her mind as the soothing tea shared with her friend helped to calm her. Angel hopped over towards the pair and offered up the carrot he had taken earlier. Fluttershy looked down at the sorry state he was in after being chased and scared half to death. She scooped up her little bunny friend and gave him a big hug. She took the carrot and then fed it right back to him as she swaddled him like a newborn in her forelegs.

“I’m so sorry I chased you Angel – can you ever forgive me?” Fluttershy continued to rock the bunny as the house and everything inside it began to fade away.

The animals, one-by-one, also began to disappear. Angel was the last to go – Fluttershy just about lost it as he faded away in front of her eyes. All that was left when it was done was an empty space with six lone ponies standing in the darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Two - The Long Way Home

“So what do we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash, her voice echoing into the darkness that surrounded them.

Twilight’s horn glowed with a warm and gentle light that washed over all the ponies as they contemplated their options. They had been over it multiple times with every idea that was presented being struck down as impossible. They had even tried to call upon their Rainbow Powers, but even that had failed. They had quite the light show, but the tiny rainbow didn’t have any effect on their gloomy surroundings.

“There has to be a way out of here.” Twilight was adamant that they could find a way to escape. “It’s been done before and we can do it again. We just need some time to think.”

“I reckon we got all the time we need.” Applejack strolled over and hung her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

“If only we had thought to ask one of those Crystal Ponies how they managed to escape, we wouldn’t be stuck in this mess.” Rarity was becoming more impatient with every passing minute.

Pinkie Pie tried to console a tearful Fluttershy as she thought about all her friends she had left back home. The thought of all her animals having to fend for themselves in the wild caused her a deep emotional pain.

Rainbow Dash had a sudden moment of clarity. “Why is it that no pony ever heard about King Sombra or the Crystal Empire until it just magically appeared out of nowhere one day?”

Twilight’s face lit up in a huge smile. “Rainbow Dash! That’s it!”

“Whadayamean?” Rainbow Dash was more confused now than before.

“You just hit the nail on the head.” Twilight was almost overcome. “There was a pony who was alive back then, and she told us everything we need to know! Princess Celestia!”

Applejack tried to piece the puzzle together. “You’re not makin’ any sense, sugarcube. Could you help clue us in on what you’re thinkin’?”

Twilight continued, “Everything we need to know I read about in Princess Celestia’s diary. She left me the clue we needed to solve this mystery. It just took me a while to put all the pieces together. When the Crystal Empire disappeared into Sombra’s curse, the entire city and all the Crystal Ponies vanished with him. When they all returned, there was one pony missing. Celestia wrote about her in her journal!”

“You don’t mean what I think you mean…” stated Rarity with an air of surprise.

“It can’t be,” Applejack sputtered.

Twilight confirmed their suppositions: “The Crystal Queen!”

Twilight went on to expound upon her theory. The information from Celestia’s diary was spotty at best, but she clearly remembered reading about the time before Sombra took power and enslave the Crystal Empire’s subjects. That had included the former ruler of the Empire – the Crystal Queen.

When Celestia and Luna were finally able to come to their aid with the help of the Elements of Harmony, the ponies had already suffered greatly under the influence of the evil lord. The ponies tried to rally around their queen, but without the aid of the crystal heart to focus their love and compassion, the protective spell that fueled the kingdom’s defenses was useless.

Part of the tears that Celestia had shed on that day in which she lost her own sister were also for the loss of her own good friend and mentor, the Crystal Queen. The histories of the once separate land had never made their way into the general pony population further south. The Crystal Empire kept mainly to itself and so wasn’t really missed when it up and disappeared. The only pony that really felt the loss had been Celestia herself.

Twilight addressed the entire group, “Now we just need to find the Crystal Queen and I bet she’s still in here somewhere.”

The entire group circled up as they tried to focus their thoughts on calling forth the queen. They didn’t really have any memories to go on, and so they relied mostly on Twilight’s recollections from Celestia’s journal entries to guide their search in the nether.

As her mind wandered through the pages and re-examined every tear-stained page she recalled, a light appeared far away in the darkness. It grew as the distance closed between it and the group. In just a few moments, they could make out the outline of a great horse galloping through the black mist toward them. The group turned and watched as a great crystal mare rode up to them.

The Crystal Queen addressed them, “My little ponies – how did you find yourselves locked in this prison? Has -he- returned?”

“Nah, we destroyed that old meanie once and for all.” Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest as though she had taken on Somba single-hoofed.

“Not before he found a way to lock us up in this nightmare world a’ his,” added Applejack.

“Your highness,” Twilight bowed as she addressed the queen. “We came in search of the Elements of Disharmony – trying to restore the balance that had been lost. At the end of our journey, we found Sombra had laid a trap for us and so we find ourselves here. He was defeated, but we need your help to show us the way back home. Can you help us?”

I see you have been through much, young ones,” the queen spoke to the entire group. “I will do what I can to help you find your way home, but I fear there is but one path you can take.”

Twilight responded, “Whatever it is, we would be grateful for any assistance you can provide.”

The queen replied, “The way home requires magic – a special kind of magic that my people possess. I fear that the spell I wove together with my subjects may not work for you. It required the power of the love of many hundreds of ponies all focusing their energy on me to open the portal home. Without the aid of the crystal heart, I offered myself as the conduit to keep the doorway open and allow my subjects to return. Unfortunately, along with my city and its inhabitants, the evil King Sombra was also able to escape. I was not able to prevent him from doing so as I had to focus all my power on keeping the portal open to allow the last of my dear subjects the chance to escape.”

“I don’t know about crystal pony magic, but we’ve got some pretty powerful stuff of our own we could try.” Twilight looked over at her friends. They all seemed to agree that they could give it a go.

“Unicorn or Alicorn magic is different than Crystal Pony magic. I’m afraid I won’t be of much use to you. What is worse, one of you must be willing to remain here in this world in order to allow the rest the chance to return home.” The queen’s words hit a nerve in each of them.

“I’ll do it!” Rainbow Dash was the first to volunteer.

“I don’t think that’s what she meant, darling.” Rarity was quick to counter.

“I guess it’s up to me then.” Twilight hung her head, but quickly bounced back. “It’s got to be me that stay’s behind.”

“Not a chance, Twilight.” Applejack sounded absolutely solid in her tone. “We all go home, or we all stay here together.”

“No, Applejack!” Twilight was even more firm in her resolve. “You’re all going home and I’m going to stay here until we can find another way to open the portal. I can’t let you all suffer in this nightmare when we have a clear way to get you all back home - and that’s final!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait and see if we can find another way?” Fluttershy was very persuasive in her gentle tone – especially with all the recent tears she had cried.

“I’ve made up my mind. I’m getting you all home now.” Twilight turned back to the queen. “Your highness, how do we go about opening the portal?”

“I see you are a very determined princess, but I warn you, this won’t be easy.” The queen then addressed the entire group. “Each of you must concentrate on your love you have for one another. This power must come from deep within and must be the most pure of feelings only. The light of your love must be focused on the one that will be able to open the doorway and hold it open while you all pass through. You cannot have any doubt or fear in your heart – it is the energy that binds you to this place. Should you make it home, you must understand that you may never see your friend here again. You cannot let that stop you.”

Twilight exercised her princess muscle in putting the needs of her friends in front of her own and also trying to hide the fact that she was being eaten up inside at the prospect of never seeing her friends again. “There’s no time to waste, I need everypony ready as soon as possible.”

After a brief interlude where they all said their goodbyes, they each readied themselves for the spell to take effect. They had one shot at this and they needed to make it count. It was time and they all gathered around Twilight after going through a short coaching session with the queen.

Each pony cleared their minds and focused their thoughts on the friendship that they all shared. It wouldn’t be easy, but together they knew that anything was possible. They all hoped for the best knowing that even if they did make it home, they wouldn’t stop trying to find a way to free Twilight.

They began. The spell was simple – each pony would call up their innermost feelings of love combined with their own special magic they held within. Those energies would be focused in on Twilight who would focus it all together in the hopes of opening the portal to their home.

Within a few moments of beginning the process, they could already tell something was going to happen. The energy flowed up from each pony and settled around Twilight as she worked her own bit of magic on it as well. The culmination of all their powers together began to open a rift in the darkness a little ways off.

“You’re doing it!” The Crystal Queen called out to the group. “Just a little more and you can start going through.”

Twilight concentrated with all her might to focus the energy from her friends into widening the aperture of the vortex. After a few minutes of getting a feel for the spell and being able to more accurately focus the power, the portal reached a wide enough opening that they could fit through it.

“This is it, you have to go now!” The Crystal Queen called out once more.

Twilight called out to each pony in turn as she ordered them to leave the group and escape through the opening. Fluttershy was first – she ran for the portal as she fought back the tears once again. Pinkie Pie followed closely behind. Rarity and Applejack were next. They both urged a still stubborn Rainbow Dash to hurry as the portal showed signs of weakening and imminent collapse.

Rainbow Dash flew toward the portal, looking back at only the last second toward the still straining Twilight. As she crossed the threshold, she also wondered why the Crystal Queen had not yet joined them. The princess struggled to keep the waning portal open and was quickly losing ground.

Just before the portal finally failed, the queen jumped over behind Twilight. She yelled out, “Give my love to my dear Crystal Ponies!” She then bucked Twilight as hard as she could and sent her flying towards the portal. The airborne princess only barely crossed the iris before the portal collapsed back into darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Three - The Balance of Harmony

Luna sat alone in the throne room of the Crystal Palace. A few guard ponies patrolled the hallways outside. The moon shone brightly through the doorway and windows and the light reflected off the many crystal surfaces that surrounded her. It had been a week since Twilight and the rest of the element bearers had vanished. The entire kingdom was still in mourning.

Word had spread quickly of the loss of the princess. Many ponies left their regular work and homes and traveled to the Crystal Empire to pay their respects. Those that couldn’t afford the trip held vigil at the castle in Ponyville. Many tears were shed and a thousand stories were shared telling of the amazing friends that were lost.

Celestia kept mainly to herself through it all. She only made a small appearance twice a day to raise and lower the sun – the rest of the time, she was locked away in her room pouring over every book she could find on the histories of the Crystal Empire and the brief reign of King Sombra. There was little hope she would find an answer in one of those books, but she tried nonetheless. Most everypony thought it was a waste of time and effort to seek an answer – they believed, in time, the problem would sort itself out. Celestia would not accept that and continued to press for a solution.

Discord had been relegated back to the status of ‘dracona non grata.’ Celestia’s parting words to him had not been very kind. The basic line was that he had better come back with a way to help the princess, or he wasn’t welcome to come back at all. Luna tried to temper her anger by reminding her that Sombra had been the one behind the tragedy and that Discord had been but a pawn in his game. It didn’t seem to faze the princess as she had the sorrowful Lord of Chaos escorted from the castle.

Of all the ponies that felt most sad and heartbroken, Discord trumped them all. He clung to the hope that, perhaps, Twilight would find a way to escape the curse of the evil king. His only friends in the world now lost to him, he felt more alone now than ever before.

Back in the throne room, the princess of the night reflected on the time of her own banishment as bitter feelings of loss and betrayal sunk in once again. She examined the six featureless pony busts lined up on the far wall. Each of the first five had the familiar element gemstones hanging around the neck – the final statue was adorned with the crown of the fallen princess. The artisans of the empire had been quick to offer their services to craft a fitting memorial.

They had only just convinced Spike that his bed belonged in one of the guest rooms instead of at the foot of Twilight’s statue. He had spent the entire week by its side as night after night he cried himself to sleep. The young dragon had lost his best friend – and by all rights – a mother as well.

The reflection of the moon’s glow shone from the crystal in Twilight’s crown as it sent a rainbow prism of light across the floor and over towards Luna. She thought her eyes were playing tricks with her as a dark ring of shadows formed near the open door. As it grew, her interest in it grew as well. It was definitely not a trick of the shadows and moonlight she was seeing.

Suddenly, a pony came crashing into the room spilling right out through the dark gateway. Then came another, followed by two more. The last pony that darted through the portal swung up into the air as she tried to avoid flying straight into the throne where Luna sat.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she doubled back on the portal.

She didn’t get very far before the princess herself came barreling into the room and crashed directly into her. The portal snapped closed as soon as she made it though. Rainbow Dash took the brunt of Twilight’s assault as the pair flew back into the throne landing in Luna’s lap.

It took Luna a few seconds to realize what had happened, but as she stared up at the ponies that had knocked her back off her seat, she roared in her loudest royal Canterlot voice:

“You’re back!”

The guards had heard the commotion and came running at Luna’s call. As they each realized the scene that lay before them they worked quickly to help the princess and her unexpected guests as well as having another of their ranks run to wake the others.

Celestia didn’t need a wakeup call – Luna’s announcement had been enough. She burst through the doors of the throne room as the sun shot up into the sky behind her. Beams of light flooded the castle halls and poured down over the whole of the Crystal Empire. Her prayers had been answered as she locked eyes on the purple unicorn still trying to pick herself up off the pile of hooves and multi-colored manes that decorated the crystal throne.

In the middle of the night, the castle sprang to life as everypony was hurriedly informed of the amazing news. The townsponies and others who were visiting found it strange that Celestia would be calling up the sun so early, but were thrilled to hear the reason as word quickly spread of the return of Princess Twilight and her friends.

The throne room became more and more crowded as pony after pony came wanting to see the sight for themselves.

Pinkie Pie struggled to ask Twilight over the noise of the crowd, “Can I open my Ultimate-Pinky-Party-in-a-Box now?”

Twilight shook her head. “Not just yet – we’ve still got one more thing we need to take care of.”

Twilight walked over the row of statues and levitated the necklaces from off their mounts as she distributed the gems to each of her friends. Lastly, she placed her own crown atop her head.

She continued, “Now all we need is Discord.”

The crowd went silent. A horned and antlered head poked out from behind the doorway opening. “Is it safe to enter?” Discord stuck his neck around the corner as he slithered his way into the room. He kept his gaze to the floor as he slunk over towards Twilight.

“Of course it is,” replied Twilight, dismissing his fears of princess reprisal. “We can’t have a party without the guest of honor!”

“Me?” Discord looked completely out of his element. “I didn’t think I was welcome anymore given recent events.”

“That’s my fault, Discord.” Princess Celestia took the floor. “I lashed out and that wasn’t fair to you. None of this was your fault, and I want to apologize.

Discord stammered, “A-Apology accepted? – I guess?”

“Good!” Twilight shoved Discord out into the middle of the room as her friends lined up in front of their unadorned statues. “Then let’s get this over with so we can get on with the party!”

Twilight positioned herself in line between her row of friends and the still confused Discord. A dark magical glow surrounded each of the five ponies as they focused the residual power of the Elements of Disharmony towards Twilight. The gemstone in her crown absorbed the essence as it flowed out from each pony and collected in the crystal.

Twilight worked a bit of magic of her own as she combined the elements and turned to deliver them back to their rightful bearer. The energy poured over Discord as he felt his powers returning to their normal chaotic peak. As the transfer ended, every pony breathed a sigh of relief as the burden of carrying the counter elements lifted away.

“Something doesn’t feel quite right.” Discord stroked his beard. “But that’s exactly what chaos is supposed to feel like!”

He grinned a huge grin and came over to give Twilight the biggest hug he could manage. The rest of the gang joined in as Pinkie’s party box exploded over the group. The room was instantly bathed in an array of party favors, streamers, and of course – glitter raining down from everywhere around them.

“It feels good to have a balance – wouldn’t you agree?” Twilight nodded towards Princess Celestia as she motioned to have her join the group hug still in progress.

Celestia replied as she walked over to join the group, “I most certainly do.”

Epilogue

As word spread about Twilight’s triumphant return, ponies all over Equestria celebrated. The vigil at the Ponyville castle was replaced by a welcome home party. Everypony was glad to have their princess back safe and sound.

It took a while, but the six exhausted ponies finally made it back home. It had been quite a long time since they last saw their own beds. They parted ways shortly after their arrival at the Ponyville train station – each of them eager to return home and get back to their normal routine. The stress of adventuring had worn them down, and they needed to recharge.

Twilight went back to delivering her signature smile and wave combo as she rode through town near the close of the day. Just as the sun was setting, she made it back to the castle. Curiously enough, waiting for her just outside her door was a small package. It had a sloppy, hoof-written note attached which she picked up to read.

She reached down and opened the package revealing a delicious looking muffin tied up with a yellow ribbon. I have the best friends a pony could ever ask for, she thought to herself as a tired smile spread across her face. Picking up the muffin in her magic aura, she went inside—her quest to find the elusive bed and the rest she so greatly deserved at an end.

the end of book two

Author's Note

Author's Notes:

I want to thank everyone that read along as I wrote this second story for all the amazing comments. It wasn't easy making it through. It took me nearly 3 times as long to write this one as it did the first. I hope it shows in the writing.

When I sat down to write my first story - The Evolution of Harmony - I wrote the entire thing, start to finish, without really coming up for air. The second time around was quite different. I started with the same kind of outline and general chapter format, but found as I worked my way through writing out the details of the story, things changed quite a lot. I always had an idea of where I was going with it and where I wanted to end up, but the details of how that was going to happen poured out as I went along. I really like the way the final chapters came together. I hope you did as well.

Having the extra time to think about the previous chapter and then sitting down to write the next one gave me some perspective. I rewrote entire chapters before I ended up publishing the version I came out with. My outline looks nothing like it did when I first sat down to knock out the first few chapters. There are multiple chapters where I thought I would only have room for one. There are some elements I glossed over looking for the more engaging moments to focus on. In the end, it came together.

The one thing I would ask of you, my dear reader—if you liked the story, please tell me why. Share the part or parts that you felt worked the best. If you didn't like it, and merely found your way here out of shear boredom—tell me what you didn't like. I would really like to know what you think.

Book three is out there. I hope you can come along for the ride and that my stories will entertain you and expand upon the universe that I have come to love.

Thanks again,

Thornwing

Prologue

That doesn’t seem right. Perhaps I overslept.

Discord awoke from his month-long nap in a bit of a haze. He got up, stretched, and checked off another page on his wall-hung calendar floating next to his hammock, clearly without the actual wall to be holding it up. After having been drained of all his magic by Tirek, he figured some long overdue rest would help rejuvenate him. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to do the trick.

Something felt wrong. It wasn’t his magic—he’d regained that once Twilight and her friends finally beat the double-crossing villain. Getting his magic back didn’t seem to have restored him completely. His powers worked—he could cause all the chaos he wanted. Still, chaos was a fickle thing and things didn’t feel right when there was no obvious reason it should be that way. He wondered what else could possibly be wrong.

Perhaps I should pay a visit to my favorite pony friends. Maybe they can help get me back in my groove.

He paced the floor caught up worry. The nagging feeling that finally woke him from his unrestful slumber was still there. He sat back down on the edge of the hammock and pondered a while. He had lost his magic completely, and then it was restored, so it couldn’t be that. He wondered if he had lost his mojo somehow. A terrible thought for any lesser creature—for the Lord of Chaos, the consequences could be dire.

He snapped his claws and the sky turned purple. He snapped again and some fish flew by. He snapped a third time and the sky went back to blue, but the fish turned purple and started dancing. The magic felt the same; the chaos, however, still didn’t feel right.

Maybe this is something else. Perhaps I need to have a talk with the Tree of Harmony.

Author's Note

Here we go again!

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