Trials and Errors

The three routes converged at a vast dome, separated from it by by the magical shields covering the entrances. Each of them was a different colour: red, then dark pink, followed by a small gap and then orange, purple, and blue, representing the elements.
The three paths remained separate, but at last were linked by windows, allowing the groups to talk. Even the path's endless laughter seemed to have stopped.
And so they did. They sat, and chatted, and they smiled, and listened, and the time seemed to sit itself down among them, and time seemed to let the moment linger for a while, for the ponies to relax, for once, for a lazy discussion in the summer sun.
But soon the moment passed, and the six ponies tried walking through their doors. Most simply bounced off their respective colours, except for one.
Fluttershy stepped tentatively forth into the final test.

The dome was vast, roughly eighty metres in diameter and forty metres high, its structure forged from thick wooden trunks and plated in glass. The sunlight grew bright, and dappled the vast circular base, a simple circle, made of sand on flat stone.
And the maze cast one final, teleporting, spell.
A great black clockwork mechanism, ten times Fluttershy's height, stood up. It was headless, but its chest was wide, ending in a flat, digitless hand on one side and a great, silvered cannon on the other. Its movement in its upper body was limited by its cumbersome armour, but the inverse was true for its light, pump- like legs. These ended in a glassy, dome shaped air chamber and a vast rubber suction cup, shaped like a tyre.

It lifted its left leg, and, with a great rush of air, brought it down in a slow step forward. Fluttershy trembled in its advancing shadow, frozen on the spot. From the sidelines, other ponies shouted encouragement and panicked warnings as it raised its cannon, and launched a green ball of energy at her. She squealed in terror, flapping fearfully away.
"FLY SOMEPLACE IT CAN'T HIT YOU, SUGARCUBE!" shouted somepony. Fluttershy heard. She began beating her wings in the direction of the dome's peak. The monster seemed to watch her for a second, before it turned towards a wall. It strolled over, lifted its leg to point towards it, and sucked. The foot clamped itself to the wall.
And it lifted its other leg from the ground, placing it neatly ahead of its other. Slowly but surely, it began to walk up the side of the dome towards Fluttershy's new vantage point.
Fluttershy stared towards the rest of the group in panic, as if asking for help. None came.
She spun back towards the advancing giant, its neverending cannonfire barely missing her as she drew within its range. She screamed, ducked and dived, but the inevitable hit came, and sent her tumbling. She hit the ground hard. Rarity squealed, flinging her cape into the dome and over to Fluttershy to protect her from the onslaught of green orbs, and Rainbow dash cried out, launching herself at the barrier and knocking herself dizzy. She pummelled the red wall furiously, shouting.

Twilight sparkle called to the yelling Pegasus. "Rainbow dash, stop! Magical barriers don't break like that! You'll only hurt yourself!"
"I DON'T CARE!" Rainbow dash screamed, lining herself up for a second assault on the barrier, "I don't care. All I care about is that my FRIEND is in there being BEATEN UP." She hammered into the wall, and fell to the ground. "I've left her behind once before, and It nearly broke my wings off. I am NOT making that mistake AGAIN." And she flew into the wall with a great /crunch, and it vanished.
Rainbow dash paused in shock.
LOYALTY HAS PASSED, echoed the maze.
A smile broke out over her face, and she shot into action.

The clockwork fighter turned its cannon towards the tiny blue bullet heading straight for it. It fired a volley of pellets, but the attacker just arced its path to avoid them, homing in on it.

This was just the diversion Fluttershy needed. She held onto the cape tightly, and flew nimbly towards the black warrior on the ceiling. She reached it, unscathed, just in time to see Rainbow dash slam into the cannon's side, giving it a large dent. The two pegasi began to circle the mechanism slowly, confusing it as it attempted to hit the two of them at once. Its shots came noticeably slower now, as its damaged cannon strained to fire on target. It spun on a single foot, occasionally switching legs to compensate for loss of suction.
The pegasi were winning, but they hadn't won yet.
"So, um, what should I do?" asked Fluttershy.
"I dunno... You could try to target the weak point, I suppose..."
"...um... what's the weak point?"
"It's a break in its armour. They're usually over something really important. Something like, I dunno, like..." she tapped a hoof on her chin, a green ball blasting past her.
Rainbow dash's eyes widened. "Like the glass on its feet!"
They shot towards this, aiming a kick at the dome on its rotating foot. The machine began firing furiously at its own suction cups, the pegasi scattering away from the blasts. Rainbow dash shot back at it, but was knocked away by the fire, while Fluttershy dodged all the energy orbs but failed to do any particular damage.

Rainbow dash watched her in curiosity. "So you've got to sort of ...glide between them?" she muttered, and attempted this. She dodged the projectiles and slammed her hoof against the glass of the inverted machine's foot in triumph, getting in a couple of strong hits before being sent away by the cannon's fire.

Fluttershy watched Rainbow's powerful strikes attentively. She tested out Rainbow dash's technique the next time she could. It seemed to be working, and she laughed a little as she saw her friend move in for a few fatal hits, drifting neatly between the orbs. She smiled to herself. "Seems we've ended up teaching one another, haven't we?" called Rainbow dash
"Yes we have."
Rainbow dash grinned. "Float like a Fluttershy?"
"Sting like R.D."
And with one final strike, a chip appeared in the glass. Air surged through it, and the great iron warrior flailed its limbs wildly as it lost suction, firing out a few helpless shots as its grip faltered, its fight ended, and it fell thirty metres headfirst towards the rocks beneath.
The gears clicked angrily in the shattered remnants of the final challenge. There was a slow pause as the dust settled.

The six ponies cheered.

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"Princess Celestia!"
The white princess walked forth from the magical boudoir provided by Howlmore Path. She smiled at the bowing group.
"Come now, there's no need for that, my little ponies." She said, signalling that they should rise. "You've saved Equestria twice already; it I should be bowing to you!"
The group stood up, smiling.
"I trust this journey has taught you many lessons."
"Oh, you would not believe!" said Twilight sparkle. She cleared her throat.
"It taught me that you should always talk about your issues with your friends, and resolve them before you do something that might hurt their feelings!"
Rainbow dash spoke up. "It taught me that you should never forget your friends, and not to be distracted by anything else."
Then Rarity began to talk. "It taught me that one shouldn't simply expect their friends to be there for them. You should let them know just how much you appreciate their help."
Now it was Pinkie pie's turn. "It taught me that sometimes when you're having lots and lots and lots of fun, your fun can be causing lots and lots and lots of not fun for somepony else!"
Applejack smiled. "It taught me that sometimes, your pride is not something to be proud of. If you get all defender-like and such, then you can be sure you're going to say something you'll regret."
Celestia turned to Fluttershy. "And you, my dear?"
There was a pause.
"Be yourself, and you can do anything" she recited.
Celestia chuckled, and Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow dash, and especially Pinkie pie, joined in.

FIN.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike stomped along, grumbling furiously. It had been a day since the events of Howlmore Path, and he had trekked up to a cave in a mountain to spend the night. This had done little to calm his rage, and the joys of staying up until late had been roughly cancelled out by the disappearance of free meals. It was breakfast time now, and he had left his cave to hunt for a few gems. He came across a big red one in the centre of his path, and grabbed it hungrily. As it moved towards his mouth, he spotted something engraved into it.
"it was in my pocket all along" read the fire ruby.
The purple dragon turned, smiling, heading in the direction of Ponyville