I stood on the hill with all of my friends, a smile on my face. This was it, we were about to find the first element and Silvermelody's mother. I could tell she was nervous, but who wouldn't be, she hadn't seen her mother in several years. She looked at me with a smile that I returned with more confidence.

"You got this, Sil, I mean your mother is the Element of Kindness, how scary can she be?" I reassured as I turned my attention back to the view in front of us. Down the hill sat the small train station that we should have ended up at, but we took a detour to avoid being followed further. Past the tracks though lay a small desert with a small town on it. From what I could tell the town had at least two long buildings opposite of each other with one building out of the way. I assumed that the long buildings were divided up into homes and shops, but I couldn't exactly tell from here.

"Well come on, like Blackheart said a few minutes ago...we are losing daylight!" Neo said before rolling down the hill like a log. We all laughed and walked down the hill, Neo beat us to the bottom, thanks to her head start and strange log shape. The hill wasn't large nor steep, but it would be the last time we saw green grass for at least and day or two. We looked both ways as we crossed the train track and hopped on to the rickety station platform.

"I don't think this place has been visited in a long time, what do you think Dusk, you studied the trains for a project at one point, right?" Blue asked me as a board creaked beneath his hoof. I put a hoof to my chin and studied the platform.

"Well I have never heard of this place before, and there isn't a station on this portion of the map I think. From what I can tell this is the train to Manehattan so maybe this is just a check point for maintenance." I told him. Pippin walked over to the small building and peered inside to see if anypony was in the ticket booth.

"If this was a maintenance stop, then why is there a ticket booth?" He said as he stepped away.

"I didn't think about that. Well then I don't know what this is." I admitted.

"It was a train station once," I jumped as Blackheart spoke behind me. He moved past me, the floors creaking loudly.

"What happened to it?" Silvermelody asked.

"An evil pony that was in charge of the town up ahead, isolated it from all of Equestria, only allowing certain deliveries from the surrounding area. The Elements of Harmony were summoned here at one point and they changed the pony's heart. That pony eventually became one of Twilight's students and now here we are. She said she would have this rebuilt, she may just be too busy." He said as he stepped past the station and went behind. "Let's keep moving, we don't want to be seen coming this way." He called to us as his hoofsteps started to fade.

We continued through the desert, the sun baring down on our backs. It should've been hotter, but Blackheart mentioned something about the mountains actually blowing cold weather towards the desert, lowering the temperature. The town was coming closer into view and I could see ponies moving about, they were all talking and working, acting as if Equestria wasn't being threatened. I could see a pony talking to small group of ponies, one had a cart trailing behind him.

"Hey, that's mah uncle Big Mac." Pippin said excitedly behind me. I thought I had recognized that big red shape. Blackheart stopped Pippin from running forward.

"Do not speed ahead, for all you know he's a changeling," Blackheart reminded the stallion. I could finally see Big Macintosh and the other ponies around him. Next to him was his wife Sugarbelle and on the other side was a mare, her belly slightly lowered. She had light purple fur and a dark purple mane with some light blue in it. Next to her was a white pony with a purple scarf and a blue pony with a balloon hat. Blackheart stopped all of us with his hoof and tail.

"Why'd we stop?" Pippin questioned impatiently.

"Wait here and wait for me to call you over." We all sat down and watched him head over to the group. The light purple mare held a hoof to her mouth in shock and quickly ran over to Blackheart, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back and did something to her forehead before saying hello to the others. He then pointed a hoof to us and started talking to the mare about us. She nodded and looked over his shoulder at us before continuing her talk with Blackheart. He looked at us and beckoned us over with a hoof.

"Let's go," I said leading my friends to the group.

"Aunt Sugarbelle! Uncle Mac!" Pippin yelled, hugging his relatives. They hugged him back and they were soon engrossed in conversation. I turned my attention away from them and looked at Blackheart, who was talking to the mare.

"And you are sure they are ready and it isn't some sort of trick?" The mare questioned Blackheart before looking at me. This pony was familiar, like I had seen her before.

"We will talk about this later," Blackheart told her before looking at me, "you remember Twilight's son Duskshine."

"Well of course I do, I was there for his second birthday," she retorted at Blackheart and looked at me. "You probably don't remember me Duskshin, but I'm Starlight Glimmer, I was a friend of your mom's," she reminded me. I felt a memory pop into my head of some photos from a book and a name on a birthday card somewhere.

"So you're the mysterious pony from my birthday card." I said. She giggled.

"Yep that would be me, although I fell behind after awhile, being the mayor of a town isn't easy." I put two and two together.

So she is the pony that Blackheart was talking about earlier.

"And you must be Silvermelody, Blueblitz, Emeraldlight, Neo, and I can only guess that's Pippin talking to Big Macintosh." She named my friends. They all nodded and she smiled in return. A slight cough sounded behind her. "Oh I forgot, this is Double Diamond, my vice mayor" she gestured towards the pony with the scarf, "and this is Party Favor, the town's event planner." She gestured towards the blue pony with the balloon hat.

"Pleasure to meet all of you, welcome to our town," Double Diamond welcomed us.

"Yes welcome! I just might have to throw a party in honor of our new guests, and for the return of our mayor's joy!" Party Favor told us excitedly.

mayor's joy? I thought to myself.

"Not this time, they are here on secret business, now both of you run along, I have some things to discuss with our guests." The two ponies nodded and trotted off.

"They seem nice, especially Party Favor!" Neo said happily.

"Well when this all settles, I will be sure to have Party Favor throw a party in your honor." Starlight told her with a smile. "Now come along, we have more important things to discuss," she said. She turned and started to walk away. I looked at Blackheart,

"So much for making sure a pony isn't a changeling," I told him. After a few moments he looked at me.

"For your information she is in charge of protecting Fluttershy and has dealt with the changelings enough already to understand their tricks, otherwise I wouldn't have trusted her." He told me before catching up to Starlight. We followed the two down the road and awed the small shops and homes of the ponies wandering around.

"This place is neat," Silvermelody said.

"Yeah, its crazy ta think Aunt Sugarbelle used ta live here," Pippin said. Big Macintosh and Sugarbelle had told him goodbye earlier.

"Wait, your aunt is from here? How is it you never knew about this place?" Blueblitz asked in bewilderment.

"Well, they never mentioned it, and Ah never cared ta ask so, yeah." Pippin answered. That was classic Pippin, he was a big family pony as long as it revolved around the farmlands. I shook my head with a smile.

"You always surprise me Pippin." He looked at me with a smile in return. I turned my attention back to the two older ponies ahead of us. They were whispering and discussing something that I felt the rest of us should know about. "Hey, wanna share or are you two just going to withhold all the information to yourselves?" I spoke up, grabbing their attention. Starlight looked back at me,

"The cottage is just up ahead, be patient." She said, not answering my question.

"Trust me kid, you do not want to try and argue." Blackheart told me. I closed my mouth and glared at them two. What was their deal. I looked at my friends who all stopped suddenly.

"What?" I asked as I stopped. I turned to see a purple flank right in front of me.

"We are here." Starlight told us, stepping away from me and towards the door of a cottage. She knocked on the door and sat down, taking a deep breathe. I heard some small shuffling on the other side of the door and then a quiet muffled voice.

"Who is it?" The voice asked cautiously.

"Just Starlight and Blackheart..." Starlight told the voice before hesitating, "...and your daughter." She finished. There was a long silence. Silvermelody opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't get to speak as the door slowly opened. A pony peeked her head out of the crack slightly, only showing a portion of her face. She was cream colored, and her mane was long and pink. She opened the door further revealing the rest of her and she studied us quietly.

"Mom?" Silvermelody questioned the older mare, tears in her eyes. The mare looked at Silvermelody and her eyes widened, tears forming in her eyes. She ran out of the door and hugged Silvermelody, almost tackling her. Her wings wrapped around her as she nuzzled her daughter's forehead.

"My Melody!" She cried out happily. Silvermelody smiled and hugged her back.

"Mom!" She said as her mother wiped the tears out her face with the tip of her wing.

"Look at you, all grown up!" Her soft voice said as she stepped back. I looked at the two of them, a smile on my face, tears coming to my eyes. Fluttershy then turned her attention to us. "All of you have grown up...and if I do remember correctly, one of you had a birthday a couple of days ago," she looked at me specifically. "Happy birthday!" She smiled, her eyes still foggy.

"Well I think you all need to catch up with Fluttershy, so Blackheart and I are going to discuss some important matters in my office." Starlight intervened behind us. I turned and thought I saw a slight blush on Blackheart's face, but he turned away and followed the mare. I turned my attention back to Fluttershy, who invited us into her home.

When we had entered her home, several pictures could be seen on the walls. Some of them of her alone, others of her with our mothers and fathers, and finally a few with us.

"Sorry about the mess, I was just about to clean when you showed up." She apologized. The mess she was speaking of, was a few papers on a desk that lay about. She fixed the papers and then hopped into a chair close by. She offered her couch to us, but only Blueblitz, Neo, and Silvermelody could sit down on it. The rest of us sat down on a colorful striped rug. A clock ticked close by as a silence fell over the room. Nopony knew how to start, it had been years since we had seen our mothers, and although we had questions, we were speechless.

"Why, did you leave?" Silvermelody broke the silence, her question shocking the mare on the chair. Fluttershy did her best to recover and sighed.

"Well, that's complicated, I'm guessing you all know about some of our battles with our enemies." Fluttershy started, her eyes wandering over us. "Well pretty quickly after Pinkie had Neopolitan, Princess Celestia believed we were putting all of you and our friends in danger. With three of our enemies still on the loose she didn't want to chance anything, so she hid us away, faked our deaths, and...you know all the rest I assume." She smiled lightly.

"I mean I can understand wanting to protect us, but surely hiding you all in separate places was a good idea." Blueblitz said, lifting his hoof. "I mean Ponyville itself is in danger and those three villains are marching that way with an army." He finished. Everypony glared at him, but Fluttershy and I. Fluttershy's expression was very different from mine though, she looked horrified.

"Wait...you mean Sombra, Chrysalis, and Tirek have joined together?" Fluttershy asked as she stepped out of her chair. "That would explain your arrival, but that must mean you are in a hurry to reach all of us." She said, moving to her desk and opening a drawer.

"I mean we are in a hurry, but we still have-"

"No, we don't have time, we need to get moving very soon." Fluttershy interrupted us as she pulled out a slip of paper. "Usually I would love to sit and catch up and answer all of your questions, but I can't, especially now." She trotted back over to us and gave the slip of paper to Silvermelody.

"The ink is purple," she told us.

"And?" I asked, waiting for more information.

"and has loads of glitter in it." She said, her nose scrunching up a little in disgust.

"That would be my mother, especially if the writing looks like an old methodical poem." Emeraldlight said, levitating the slip out of Silvermelody's hoof.

"I lay on a land that breathes fire, where scales and generosity are my attire, you will find me there." He read to us and passed it around. "Scales? That's a terrible design choice-"

"That's not what she is saying Emerald," Fluttershy told him kindly. "there is one creature I know of that has scales."

"Dragons?" Silvermelody said. Fluttershy nodded and looked at Emeraldlight.

"Rarity is where the dragons are, so that is our next destination." She told us. I looked at Fluttershy and then at my friends.

"Then that is where we go." I turned towards the door.

"Wait isn't that south of here, like across another body of water." Blueblitz mentioned. "We'd be heading towards our enemy." I turned back just as Fluttershy put a hoof on her chin.

"Well in some ways we wouldn't be heading towards them, they are south east of us, and like you said across a body of water. They are also dragons and Tirek shouldn't be strong enough to face them yet and he is the strongest of the three." She told Blueblitz.

"Then why would Emeraldlight's mom be there, wouldn't that make the dragons just as much of a threat as Tirek, Sombra, and Chrysalis?" Fluttershy giggled.

"The dragons have never been a threat to Equestria before especially now, but I will explain more on that later, let's go get Blackheart and get moving before it's too late." She nodded towards me and I opened the door. "Blackheart is probably with Starlight so they will probably be at her house at the end of town." Fluttershy told us as we walked through the town. She was constantly waving at ponies with a bright smile and acting like everything was ok.

"Why doesn't the town know about everything happening?" I asked her as we got closer.

"That's because Starlight doesn't want a panicking town, she has a lot of faith in us and all of you to make sure that Tirek and the others don't get past Ponyville." She said before blushing. "No pressure of course." Silvermelody rolled her eyes before smiling and talking with her mom quietly. I took the lead until we eventually got to the house at the edge of town. Fluttershy pushed past us and knocked on the door before sitting patiently until the door opened to reveal Blackheart who had a very large smile on his face. It was really creepy to see a pony smile who barely smiled look so happy.

"I guess you learned of the news." Fluttershy told him teasingly. Blackheart looked at her, his expression never changing.

"Yep, and I've never been more happy." He told her. My friends and I gasped at his words. His smile disappeared and he looked at us. "What? You don't know enough about me to be so shocked." He told us. Fluttershy stifled a chuckle and looked at him as Starlight appeared at the door.

"What's going on?" Fluttershy looked at her with a newfound sadness.

"I'm afraid we have to go, Starlight, we are limited on time to find the others." Starlight's face fell into a very upset frown.

"But...but you all just got here and I was going to make dinner for all of you..." Fluttershy embraced Starlight who wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy in return. "I didn't even get to catch up with them." She gestured towards us. I questioned the news that had made Blackheart smile like that but seeing Starlight upset pushed that thought away. "You've all grown up so much since I had last seen you, I wanted so badly to talk to you about your mother's but, I got alittle stuck on something with Blackheart here." She told us with a warm smile.

What did she mean by that? I looked at them two for a moment, the gears in my head turning.

"Here I will walk you to-" Blackheart stopped her with a stern look.

"Oh no you don't, you need rest." Starlight tried to push his hoof down but he didn't budge.

"Oh don't go acting like a father now, it's I that should be telling you to be careful." Starlight told him with a glare before turning that gaze towards Fluttershy. "Don't let him do anything stupid enough to get him killed, ok, and don't let Twilight rip his heart out." Fluttershy nodded with a smile.

"I'll do what I can Starlight."

There was a loud ding in my head as I figured it out. They were a couple, now how could a pony with a black heart feel love? Just to further prove my confirmation Blackheart kissed Starlight right before we left, causing everypony except Fluttershy to grasp once again. Of course that's all we got from him, as he dodged our questions about everything else. Even Fluttershy refused to answer any questions, saying it wasn't her place to say anything.

When we eventually decided to set up camp several hours after leaving the town, the moon was high in the sky and Blackheart was a ways behind us as he cut off more tracks. It was then that we all decided to talk to Fluttershy about some things. She willingly answered everything they asked, from questions about the others to previous adventures. Silvermelody throughout all of it sat next to her mom who kept her wing around her daughter comfortably. It wasn't long before Silvermelody had fallen asleep and the rest of us were in our sleeping bags as Blackheart had arrived. He and Fluttershy wandered off to talk as I finally fell asleep.

................................................

"How are you doing Blackheart?" Fluttershy asked me as we sat down and stared at the camp from far away.

"Well I don't know, Fluttershy, I'm ecstatic about everything that's happened between Starlight and I, but am I ready for this step?" Fluttershy turned her attention to the sleeping form of her daughter.

"You are never ready for it, even now I don't know if I'll ever be ready." She told me with a warm smile. "But there is always one thing to remember, make sure you are there for them when they need you, and I don't just mean Starlight, these kids need you just as much as they need us."

"I don't know about that, I haven't exactly treated them right over the course of these few days." I told her.

"You don't know how to, there's a difference, remember how long it took you to even express your love to-"

"That's just it Fluttershy, I have never felt anything like this, not in a long time at least. In some ways it's not good either, It's kind of been difficult keeping things under control ever since Starlight and I tied the knot and the last piece fell away." I cut her off, gripping my chest in the process.

"Your curse is trying to fight it's way back into, that is all happening as you express any emotion, and with this recent news it could get worse. Try to remember all the good that has happened in your life, it could weaken that power that your curse is holding onto, it might just set you free." Fluttershy did her best to help him and placed a hoof on his chest. "We may not act like it sometimes but we all care for you, even Twilight who just lets that grudge of hers fester, she cares for you probably more than any of us."

"She is the Princess of Friendship." I mentioned as Fluttershy looked at me.

"You will get there at some point Blackheart, but not telling these colts and fillies the truth is just going to hurt you more." She finished before yawning. "Now I'm going to get some rest, that boat ride tomorrow is going to be a long one." I reached into my bag. "I will be fine on the ground Blackheart, I have my daughter for warmth and comfort." She smiled and trotted towards the fire, leaving me alone in the dark.

I could feel something inside me moving around, waiting for release,

.......................................................

"It's kind of hard to train when you wake us up three hours before the sun is on the horizon!" Blueblitz yelled as he blocked Blackheart's blade with his wing.

"And it's easy to get ambushed in the night, your point?" Blackheart twisted his blade and threw himself into Blueblitz's chest causing the stallion to stagger. Blackheart charged forward, the tip of his blade aimed for Blueblitz stomach. Blueblitz used his wings to jump back, the tip of the blade grazing his fur. Blackheart pointed the sword back up and positioned himself.

"Good Evasive maneuver, but try not to use your wings so much, they could become a weakness!" Blackheart slowly pulled his other sword from its sheathe and smiled.

"Now let's see you evade both swords." He charged forward once more as I watched the two train. Blackheart decided that it was now time to face an actual opponent, what he didn't tell us is that he would try and surprise us to keep us on alert. I watched as Blueblitz blocked Blackheart's onslaught of slashes, struggling to keep up with every attack as he backed away.

"I always disliked this part." A quiet voice said behind me. I turned to see Fluttershy as she yawned and sat next to me.

"Well considering that Silvermelody's dad always told us about how scared you were, it doesn't surprise me." Fluttershy looked at me with a soft smile.

"Yes, I was scared, but everypony is when it comes to using weapons, unless you're as arrogant as Rainbow Dash was..." she started before giggling, "my husband on the other hoof has no room to talk, Crimson Birch was always afraid of knives and swords before he met your father." I looked at her as Blueblitz rushed Blackheart.

"My father?" Fluttershy nodded.

"Mhm, when he met Flash he decided he wanted to protect me as much as Flash protected Twilight, but if you want the truth there, Twilight was the one doing the protecting. Anyways, Flash taught Crimson how to use a simple sword, until he asked for something more intimidating like the axe he had from his father."

"Oh, so that's where dad got his confidence from." Silvermelody said as she sat next to her mom.

"For the most part, he is still afraid of me though." The expression on mine and Silvermelody's face was identical, our jaws had dropped in surprise.

"I'm sorry, but you don't really seem intimidating Mrs Shy." Emeraldlight said from behind us.

"I wouldn't be saying that!" Blackheart called as he pinned Blueblitz, his blade on his throat as he held the colt to the ground. Blackheart sheathed his weapons and trotted over to us as Pippin and Neo sat down next to us. Blueblitz followed Blackheart soon after as Blackheart sat down.

"Fluttershy may not look or act like it, but she is pretty dangerous." Blackheart told us as Blueblitz sat down, his chest heaving from the battle.

"Well if she is so dangerous, why don't you two show us how us how a real battle goes." He said before taking a drink from his canteen.

"What do ya say Fluttershy, you want to show these kids how dangerous you can be?" Blackheart asked. Fluttershy shook her head with a smile.

"Perhaps another time, we need to get going or else we will miss our boat." She told him as she stood up.

"Boat?" Pippin said questionably.

"Yep, the fastest route to the land of dragons is by boat." Blackheart told Pippin as he stood back up. "She is right though, we need to get going, we will train more before we get to Manehattan and then I want to watch Blueblitz and Silvermelody spar while we are on our boat, so let's get moving." He finished and walked past us back to the camp to pack things up. We followed soon after to grab our own bags and it wasn't long until we officially left the area, Blackheart staying behind to cover our tracks once more as we made our way east.

Our walk mainly consisted of silence, but soon Fluttershy started to talk about our mothers and their adventures, mainly before Blackheart, but she would mention him every now and then. Blackheart, on the other hoof, kept his distance as he covered our tracks, only catching up once or twice to eat before we continued the trek to Manehattan. We wouldn't be able to reach it for another day, but the boat would cut some time off as it was apparently really fast, so we could've slowed down. Unfortunately we didn't, Blackheart told us that these extra days could be used for emergencies, so we were to continue forward. I didn't really care, in fact I was more so in a hurry to get to my mom and could only hope that she was next after we found Rarity.

Eventually we stopped for the night, the sun was starting to set and we were low on fire wood, so we decided to spread out and find twigs and anything else that was flammable. Fluttershy and Silvermelody stayed behind just in case the changelings had spies or scouts in the area. Blackheart didn't want them knowing that we had one of the Elements and get word back to Chrysalis and the others. He then paired us up based on our differences to see how we coordinated as a team, an improv training exercise. I was paired up with Pippin, Blueblitz was with Neo and Emeraldlight was with Blackheart.

"So how are you doing?" I asked him as I levitated a stick into my bag. He turned back and smiled.

"Ah'd reckon I'm doin' alright, but Ah'm a little nervous about seeing my Ma. Aint you nervous about meetin' yours?" He asked me before picking up a twig and placing it in his bag. I turned as I put another stick in my bag.

"I mean, yeah of course I'm nervous, Silvermelody and I barely knew our moms, unlike you and Blueblitz. You two still remember what they look and act like, I only know from pictures and stories. So yeah I guess you could say I am nervous, Pip." He picked up another stick in his hoof and was prepared to put in the bag, but he froze, his eyes widening slowly. I noticed he wasn't looking directly at me, but at something or someone behind me. I slowly gripped my sword in my magic and readied myself.

Pippin was just a bit faster as he charged at me, pulling his hammer out as he did. He pushed me out of the way and there was a loud sound of metal on metal. I hit the ground and turned to see our attacker. It was hovering with its wings as it pushed its sword against Pippin's hammer. The changeling showed no signs of struggle and its expression was calm. She used Pippin's strength to push herself back and land on the ground, her jagged blade pointed straight at Pippin.

"Leave my home." She said sternly, not moving an inch. Pippin readied himself as I stood, my own sword levitating in front of me.

"You're outnumbered, so you have no right to be making demands." I told her as she looked at me with a snarl.

"Leave...my...home," she growled. Pippin took a step forward.

"You expect us to believe this is your home, spy!" He called out. The changeling looked at him confusedly.

"Spy? I am no spy, this is my home, and I want you to leave." She told us. I glared at her and pointed my own blade.

"Liar, you just tried to kill me!" I yelled

"You are trespassing on my land and taking my wood, this is a threat to my home." I took note of how strange her accent was compared to the other changelings.

"I don't think she is a spy." I blurted out. Pippin didn't take his eyes off of her.

"What in Celestia makes ya think that?" He questioned.

"Her accent, none of the changelings we have heard talk like this." I put my sword back into the bag and took a step forward. The changeling faced me with her own blade.

"Not another step!" She told me as Pippin rushed her. She didn't get the chance to defend herself as he knocked the weapon out of her magic and pinned her to the ground. "Let me go!" She cried out, squirming beneath Pippin's hooves.

"Eenope, Ah can't do that, you attacked us and we still don't know if you are a spy, so you'll be comin' back with us." Pippin told her as I levitated a rope out of his bag and gave it to him. He was quick and observant as he hog tied the changeling mare and put her on his back. "Ah'd reckon that was record timing Duskshine." He told me.

"Yeah, I think we got enough wood and as a bonus, a prisoner, so let's head back to camp." Pippin nodded as the changeling snorted. She had stopped trying to squirm and although angry, never tried to fight us. I took note that like Gaster, she had a light green mane. Did all female changelings have manes?

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait, this was supposed to be released before Thanksgiving, but it didn't work out that way, otherwise I hope you enjoyed the chapter this is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT