A New Generation

Sugarcube Corner was as busy as always. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were busy taking orders while Pinkie and Twist served everypony at the café tables. Sitting at one café table were Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Babs Seed. They were all eating some pie and talking about their own lives.

"So, things have been goin' great at the hair salon," Babs told the others. "Business has been really boomin' for the past several months."

"Well, lucky you," Apple Bloom retorted. "Ah can hardly get anypony into mah hardware store."

"You know, I could help," Scootaloo suggested. "Rainbow Dash said we need to renovate the Wonderbolts' training facility."

"Ah already told ya that ah'll be fine," Apple Bloom retorted.

"You really gotta let us help you, Bloom. You say that you don't need any help, but you sometimes need to let others help you."

"Other ponies keep tellin' me that, but ah've always been fine. Plus, ah've been able to pull mahself outta financial situations before."

"Look, I'm just trying to help. That's all."

While Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were deep in their discussion, Babs noticed that she was almost out of napkins. Knowing that the other two wouldn't notice her absence from the table any time soon, she left to get some more napkins.

Moments later, Twilight and Spike entered the bakery, looking around for somepony. They finally found Pinkie Pie in the middle of the crowd and pulled her out.

"Hey, Twilight!" Pinkie cried out. "How's it going? It's been, like, a veeery long time since we've talked."

"What're you talking about, Pinkie? We saw each other last Tuesday, remember?"

"I know, but it still feels like forever. I mean with Rarity and Rainbow Dash gone, things haven't been the same. Without the whole group, it just gets boring. Rainbow Dash always knew how to liven things up, and Rarity--"

"Um...Pinkie?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You were saying, Twilight?"

After finally getting a chance to speak, Twilight told her about the situation. She told her about the interruption in the magical network and the outages throughout Equestria.

"So, whaddya say? Should we team up for old time's sake?"

Pinkie thought about it for a moment.

"Well...," Pinkie Pie jocularly pondered, "I was planning on reorganizing all my party decorations...."

"Pinkie!" Twilight was a bit annoyed.

"I'm just kidding. I'll just tell the Cakes and then we'll be on our way." Pinkie hopped back inside Sugarcube Corner, and was shortly ambushed by Twist soon after.

"Pinkie Pie! I need your help!" Twist cried out. "There's this group of ponies that are causing a riot in the back."

"Can't talk right now, Twist. I need to help Twilight get to the bottom of magical outages going on all over Equestria." Pinkie Pie ran over to the counter to tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake about the situation.

Twist was a bit intrigued. "Magical outages?" she asked after Pinkie finished speaking with the Cakes. "I've been reading about those in the newspaper. For some strange reason, they haven't hit Ponyville yet."

"Yep, that's right." Pinkie was hardly paying any attention to what Twist had to say; she was too busy packing her saddlebag with cupcakes and party favors.

"I really find that strange, however, that Ponyville wasn't the first to get hit with these outages."

"Uh-huh." Pinkie was now struggling to bring her party cannon downstairs without disturbing any of the customers.

"Don't you find that weird? I remember when stuff like this was a regular thing in Ponyville."

"That is true." Pinkie finally managed to get her party cannon downstairs, unfortunately with disturbing several customers.

"So, I was just wondering if...maybe I could...join you guys on your mission."

Pinkie Pie stopped in her tracks before exiting the bakery.

"What?" Pinkie boomed. "Are you crazy? It's too dangerous! You could get hurt or lost or..." Pinkie struggled to find another bad thing about the situation. "...or hurt!"

"Aw, c'mon. Why not? Spike has gone on adventures with you, and he was only a baby dragon at the time."

"Yeah, but he was Twilight's assistant, so at least he had somepony to protect him."

"I'm technically your assistant," Twist retorted. "Plus, I have you to protect me if something happens."

Pinkie gave her a glare, and after a while sighed.

"Look, I just don't want you that close to the action. I'm gonna need someone to help out at Sugarcube Corner and eventually take my place," she explained. "I've been hoping you would be the one to do so."

Twist looked almost hurt by this. Was this really what Pinkie thought of her? Did Pinkie really see a replacement in her? Her eyes teared up a little bit.

"Now don't start crying on me," Pinkie Pie said, suddenly starting to feel guilty. "You know I think of you highly. I...I just...." Pinkie was at a loss for words. "Sorry, Twist. You just can't go."

Pinkie exited through the front door, seeing Twilight and Spike still waiting.

"You ready to go?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. I'm all packed."

"All right. Now let's get Applejack and Fluttershy, and then we'll be on our way to get Rainbow Dash and Rarity and defeat whatever is causing these magical outages."

Spike and Twilight trotted off, and Pinkie, after looking back at Sugarcube Corner and worrying about Twist, followed.

Back inside, Twist was still a bit hurt by what had just happened. She needed to find a way to prove to Pinkie Pie--no, to everypony--that she could actually help. But exactly how could she? If only she could help Pinkie and her friends. And then it hit her.

She could find whatever was causing the magical outages.

"Hey, Twist," Babs called. "We're out of napkins. Think you can..."

But before she could finish her sentence, Twist ran off.

"Can't talk right now," Twist told her. "I gotta find where the magical outages are coming from." She galloped up the stairs to Pinkie's room. A confused Babs followed her upstairs.

"What're you talking about? Exactly how do you expect to find this source? Do you even know where to begin?"

Twist thought about that for a moment. That thought hadn't really occurred to her. How was she going to find the root of the problem? She had no idea where Pinkie and the others would be headed after getting the gang back together.

"I dunno," was the only reply she could come up with before returning to finding some useful items in Pinkie's room. "I just figured I would ask ponies from other cities about what happened."

"That sounds like a smart idea, but wouldn't that take forever? Especially when you're doing it alone?"

"What are you trying to say? That I can't do it alone?"

"Not what you plan on doing? You're gonna need some help...and I'll be the one to help you."

Twist was taken by surprise.

"Really? You would do that?"

"Of course I would," Babs reaffirmed.

"And so would we," said a voice from the doorway. Babs and Twist faced the same direction and saw Scootaloo and Apple Bloom standing in the doorway.

"How long were you guys standing there?" Twist inquired.

"Long enough to hear your plans," Apple Bloom answered. "And we decided that we should come along, too."

Twist now felt quite joyful that she wouldn't be alone.

"Well, then let's do this!"

The other three cheered at once and joined Twist in looking for supplies. It would be a long journey, but they were ready.

Fluttershy opened the front door of her cottage and found three mares and a baby dragon at the doorsteps.

"Oh, hey there everypony. How are you?"

"Fluttershy, we need your help," Twilight explained. "There's a threat in Equestria and we need to stop it. Apparently, we need the Elements of Harmony, although I'm not sure how to retrieve them. But I do know that we at least need all six bearers. So whaddya say? Are you in?"

"Oh...I dunno. I still need to take care of the animals. Who knows how long it'll take?"

"Can't you just get somepony to watch them for you?"

"Well, I guess I can ask Tree Hugger," Fluttershy considered. "All right. I'll do it."

"Great! Now, let's go find Rarity and Rainbow Dash."

Twilight turned to her saddlebag, but barely any magic came from her horn and therefore barely moving the flap.

"What the...?"

Twilight tried harder to open her saddlebag, but no matter how much magic she tried producing, no matter how much she strained, she just couldn't open it.

"Is there something wrong, Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, it seems that my magic is barely working anymore," Twilight answered.

"Y'all...y'all don't think that maybe these magical outages started to hit Ponyville, do you?" Applejack suggested.

The others took this into consideration and suddenly had panicky looks on their faces.

"Oh no!" Pinkie exclaimed. "What're we gonna do now? Now, we don't have any magic or the Elements of Harmony! Plus, I left Sugarcube Corner with so much work to do. What if I forgot to take something out of the oven? What if I forgot to tell Twist something? What if I forgot to refill Gummy's bowl?"

"Pinkie! Calm down!" Twilight reassured. "I'm sure everything's fine at Sugarcube Corner. And besides, as long as we have each other, we'll be fine."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said an ominous voice.

"Who said that?" Spike stuttered, hiding behind Twilight's tail.

A dark shadow passed by, startling everypony there. At first, they thought nothing of it. Until another shadow passed. The group huddled together for protection. Then, all of a sudden, one of the shadows rushed in and attacked.