My little Mage Episode 1

"Moon damn it!...Elements elements!..."

Twilight dug through the books at the library. It was her first time actually going through this Library, if she had to guess, she would say that this Library without a librarian for several years. It looks like it was poorly alphabetized and had no real system for finding the things she needed.

"Looking for something purps?"

Twilight spun around only to come face to face with an Elementalist arrow notched on its caster. "Ok.. first get that out of my face Rainbow brat!... second why are you calling me 'purp'?" She glared past the caster at Rainbow Dash.

"Not until you tell us what is going on?... and it's the hair really..."

Spyke growled, slithering up Twilight's back and putting himself in the path of the arrow with a low seething hiss. However the situation was thankfully defused when a large sword clanged loudly against iron wrapped knuckles.

"Calm down sugar cube... she ain't done nothin wrong... and you know a witch hunt is not what we need right now..." Applejack sternly glared at Rainbow Dash with her two handed sword ready to stop a fight with brute force if needed.

"You know something is wrong when the Paladin is trying to stop a witch hunt... fine... but we are getting an explanation!" Rainbow Dash lowered her caster and moved to the side. "Aye purp... what's the story?... where is the archmage and how did you know all about that creepy dark chick?"

"Quit calling me that! And it's because I read history... that is Nightmare Moon... you know like from Nightmare Night... THAT nightmare... yes the dark God...." It took a few seconds but Twilight picked five forms out of the darkened room. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were not even trying to hide, honestly only the druid was hiding. Clearly she was terrible at it. But the other two were here as well.

"Well then darling I don't suppose you know what to do next? ... I mean the Dark God and missing archmage... we are kinda... um..."

Pinkie Pie popped up beside the enchantress with a happy grin. "Screwed!"

"Yes... thank you Pinkie, that was exactly as graceful as I wanted it to sound..."

"I'm still a little unsure of everything at the moment... however there is a few things to take in..." Twilight cleared her throat and held up her hands

"The archmage is gone! We have no idea where she is, and currently, the dark God of nightmares is here... even the archmage was incapable of defeating the dark God... she only managed it with some sort of extremely powerful artifact from the old world, something called The Elements of Harmony. So that's why I am here in the library digging through all this unorganized crap instead of organizing and mobilizing the army... that is if I actually have that much Authority to begin with. I am the personal Protege of the archmage. However, that just means I'm a student. I don't actually have any Authority other than the permissions granted to me by the archmage... and all that is is an advanced Library pass. So at the moment we are here looking for information on something we're probably never going to find, and something that probably takes power that is equivalent to at least the archmage in order to use. So if any of you have the power to chuck the sun through space that would certainly be a load off my mind. But until any of you develop that kind of power and control how about you all shut up and help me look for the damn book!"

"Elements of harmony and other old world artifacts?" Pinkie Pie giggled looking over a book in her hands. Twilight was there in an instant grabbing it from her hands.

"Where was it?..."

"Under E duh...."

Twilight growled and Spyke pat her head. "People skills mistress people skills...."

Twilight sighed and opened the book quickly skimming from page to page. "It's got to be in here somewhere..."

The others watched carefully until Rarity posed the question. "Exactly what is it we are looking for in a book?"

Twilight did not even bother to Take her eyes off the book's pages. "Right now the longest shot I can think of is our only choice, we have to find the elements of harmony, and their last known location is... oh dear... the possessed Everfree forest..."

Fluttershy instantly locked up just as all the others had varying responses, from a smile at the idea of such a challenge all the way to the questionable sanity of just giggling.

"Alright Purp... when are we heading out?..."

"Stop calling me that.... and 'we' are not going anywhere... 'I' am heading out immediately.."

To even Spyke's surprise, she plucked him off her shoulder and to materialize her staff before grabbing a bag with various supplies. However one such Paladin stood in her way.

"Sugar cube... you may think that this is a you thing and only a you thing, but in case you didn't notice we live in Equestria too. The military is freaking out and running in circles out there, its most likely not going to be of any help. All the while you need soldiers, now Rainbow and I here are decent Fighters. Pinkie is weird but as resourceful as they come, you won't find a better healer for another hundred miles than Fluttershy. And if you need to talk your way out of a situation, Rarity is your girl. Also to the point, we are not letting you leave without us. I know you want to do this alone but it is our home in danger too. So either you accept our help or we are running ahead without you."

Twilight looked up into Applejack's eyes for a moment. "You wouldn't even know where t.."

"The ancient castle two sisters, abandoned 1000 years ago nearly to this day, directly east with a slight variation to the north of six kilometers."

Twilight looked over at Pinkie who was giggling happily at the book. "That information is in the first century equestrian! The number of people who are supposed to be capable of reading that outside of Canterlot should be able to be counted on a single hand... how the living?..."

"More resourceful than you think sugar cube... now 'we' are going out to find these elements... and 'we' are graciously inviting 'you' to come along..."

Twilight let out a long sigh rubbing her temples. "Fine...but I swear!... if y.."

Applejack held up a finger to Twilight's lips. "No sugar cube, we swear... I am a paladin. My word is stronger than steel, it is the foundation of my soul. And I swear to you that we will do our best on this mission."

To Twilight's surprise the next voice that spoke with Fluttershy's.

"We all swear, I have to be honest, this scares me a lot, but not as much as living in a world ruled by the god of nightmares. And it's the right thing to do. I will go with you if it means that our world will become that much safer. I think I speak for us all when I say this..."

The whole group nodded in agreement. It actually made Twilight feel a little bit better but still a bit skeptical. "Spyke... keep sending letters to Canterlot. Relay what has happened here and what we're trying to do. Use the recent Renditions of encryption and codes. None of the old stuff. And keep trying, don't stop for anything. We have no idea what kind of steps that the nightmare God has taken to securing this land for herself. The best we can do is just keep trying."

The small dragon look like he was mortally wounded. He desperately wanted to go along with his master on this Quest, but she was right. Someone needed to be here and someone needed to do all they could to secure Communications across the entire nation. Without a word he nodded and regurgitated his quill. The others prepared.

"Oh bleeding Tartarus... is it just me or did the haunted forest become twice as haunted?..." Applejack looked into the Everfree and Rainbow Dash chuckled.

" I never thought the Paladin would be the first to be scared off." Rainbow Dash chuckled.

Applejack grumbled and drew her sword, a massive two-handed blade with a large fire rune etched cross the entire length of the blade. It was not the best piece that Twilight had ever seen but it was most certainly a very powerful weapon, one that clearly looks like it had been passed down from a previous generation.

"Well ladies?... are we ready?" Pinkie happily fist pumped

"Hell no but that's not going to stop us." Rainbow's Powers flared high and from the tattoos under her boots, her wind Elemental wings sprouted lifting her off the ground.

All together all six of the young girls entered the forest.

The forest seemed to make the girls fight for every inch. What looked to be a flawlessly clear path through the woods near instantly become a thicket of razor like thorn bushes. But Applejack's sword made quick work of such obstacles.

"So any idea exactly how we're going to use these elements darling?" Rarity carefully stepped over each mess on the ground, surprisingly her grace came in handy and she did not slow the group down, even with her fussing about the condition of her dress.

"I'm still trying to figure that out, the book wasn't exactly clear on it.. it just gave some cryptic riddle. I am sure that things will become much more clear once we find the damn things." Twilight struggled for footing near the edge of the cliff with some level of annoyance.

There was a sudden Extremely Loud crack and crumble. As if it was out of a bad dream, the ground underneath them literally gave way. Twilight knew that they were standing near a cliff side. However, she did not quite realize that the cliff ledge far overextended itself. The ground had been walking on was only a few feet thick and was already under its own weight ready to crumble.

Everything seemed to happen at once. Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed Rarity by the arms, she was the closest and quickly Elementalist Powers allowed her to pick the enchantress up and pull her back from the cliff. Fluttershy despite being a shaman was still from the Pegasus tribe, though it was a little bit surprising, the Elementalist wings popped from her ankles and she grabbed on to the nearest person to her. Pinkie Pie. However, lacking the strength to actually carry the girl back up the cliff, she settled for giving Pinkie Pie a slow ride down the cliff, almost like a parachute.

The two unfortunate ones however, did not fare so well. Applejack went over the side of the cliff first, instantly spinning as hard as she could, the Paladin planted her blade into the side of the cliff with one hand as the other hand shot out and grasped a falling Twilight. Grabbing onto the paladins hand as well as she, could her momentum proved troublesome even for the durable Paladin. Twilight and Applejack's arms came taut and there was a loud pop, Applejack let out a scream through tightly clenched teeth but she did not let go.

It took a moment before Twilight got over dangling over the sheer cliff before she looked back up and noticed the paladins arm was bent at an odd angle. Despite having severely hyper-extended her arm, Applejack still held tightly onto Twilight, supporting all Twilight's weight on the damaged limb.

"Sugar cube... I hate to be a bother but we have to find a solution to this very quickly..." Apple Jacks eyes darted back and forth trying to find some sort of solution, the pain over her face was very clear and her grip even seemed to weaken by the second.

"I agree, just please For the love of all that is holy do not freaking drop me!"

Applejack's hand trembled and even with the blatant severe pain clear on her face, a glimmer of hope showed up in her eyes. "Alright sugarcube.... I see the solution and I know you're not going to like it but I need you to let go... "

Twilight's eyes widened do the size of saucer plates. "Are you bloody crazy I'm not letting go for anything!"

Applejack's voice leveled despite the pain. "Sugar you're just going to have to trust me. The time it will take to explain and make you believe it is too much. I cant hold on for that long."

Grunting in pain he began to sway Twilight back and forth gaining momentum, this of course was quickly inducing horror for Twilight. "How in Tartarus am I going to trust you when your plan is to drop me off a cliff?"

"Twilight... girl... I am a paladin, I live by Oaths and creeds. It is the foundation of my very soul, I am the very last person that will lie to you or anyone for that matter. If you can't have faith in my word then have faith in the generations honor that my family have served this country. I came on this mission to find the literal God of nightmares, and I'm not going to stop here. I just need you to trust me, I wont let you die."

Applejack's pleading eyes betrayed no sense of trickery and despite how much it pained Twilight she finally nodded. "Alright but I swear, if this ends up killing me I am going to haunt you for the rest of eternity!"

Gaining a little more momentum Applejack finally released Twilight who in turn released her grip on Applejack's hand. This however did not mean she fell silently. Screaming and flailing she only fell 5 feet before Rainbow Dash zoomed in at top speeds to catch her. Due to the shape of the cliff she would not have been able to do so had Twilight not received the extra momentum to the side.

The trip down was short and it did not take long before Twilight was back on Solid Ground. "Oh sweet Celestia's holy tush! Don't ever do that again! But still thank you so much!"

Applejack's sword sank into the ground just a few feet from Twilight. And following suit Applejack slowly fluttered to the ground with Fluttershy guiding her.

Carefully bracing her wrist between her feet Applejack drove a balled up fist into her elbow and with a loud crack she corrected the hyperextension. Needless to say she did not remain silent about it, but surprisingly she did not curse. "Oh lovely... that was... all kinds of fun. Fluttershy sugar cube, care to help me I kind of need this arm."

Without any delay, Fluttershy quickly began to heal the paladin's arm, fussing over seeing her friend hurt all the while. However, she did not get very far before the next problem set in.

The roar was deafening, and everyone who did not jump five feet in the air from fright simply toppled over.

“A little faster with the arm sugar cube… I would much appreciate it…”

“To late farm girl!” Rainbow Dash flared her power and released a torrent of fire and lightning from her caster at a large blur that blasted out from the woods. However, the impressive attack did very little to even slow the creature down and she was forced to dive to one side.

Twilight quickly teleported twenty feet to one side, she was already extremely high strung from the near death but that only served to make her even more on point with her reflexive avoidance.

Applejack and Fluttershy on the other hand had to take a far less graceful route. Placing her boot against Fluttershy’s chest Applejack pushed hard sending Fluttershy up and out of the way letting her catch herself in the air with her elemental wings all the while, Applejack barely managed to use that same momentum to roll back and uproot her sword with one hand, Even if the beast's claws lit sparks off the armor on the paladin's back no one was hurt in the initial charge.

Wind, fire, and lightning arrows pecked away at the back of the massive beast that had finally came to a stop for just enough time for them all to see it was an adult manticore. Rainbow Dash released an unrelenting assault on the beast, though surprisingly it did very little but anger the creature which turned and lunged at her viciously.

Upon landing just three feet short of biting the rainbow haired elementalist in half, it promptly received a heavy arcane blast to the face. Turning to swipe at Twilight who teleported back out of reach the beast then received a heavy fiery blow to the back from the paladin who dove over the swiping paw and then under the slashing poison tipped tail. It whipped about again ready to pounce just as a smoke bomb exploded it its face and a large rock in Pinkie’s hands crashed over its head. Yet again, this did not phase the beast. Instead the creature seemed to just rear back and slash at the little trickster. Pinkie however, was far too agile and seemed to carry an obscene amount of situational awareness and what could only possibly be luck.

“Quick! Surround it… this bad boy is tough but if we keep attacking we will wear it down!” Rainbow Dash leveled her caster at it charging an elemental blast four times the usual size, however something unexpected occurred.

“STOP!!!!” Roots shot up from the ground and cut off angles of attack for the group. Pulling her staff out of the ground Fluttershy held up her hands as if demanding peace. “Wait… please… just let me try…”

The others gave her a look which clearly implied they were concerned about the girl’s sanity. The look intensified as she approached the massive beast. Which gave a ground shaking roar as it raised a set of claws and swiped at her.

Rainbow’s caster doubled in power again and she took aim at the beast’s throat and almost got the shot off before Fluttershy shouted again.

“WAIT!!!”

Her forearm bled from the deep lacerations but the druid seemed to utterly refuse to attack the massive beast.

As if sensing ulterior motive the beast drew back its claws and stared at the girl. She smiled warmly despite her injured arm. “Don’t worry little guy, I can feel it, even if they can't.”

She extended her hand and touched his paw. Turning over the massive set of claws that nearly just cost the girl her very life she gently smoothed her fingers over a rune that looked like it had just been burned into the beast’s paw.

“He is cursed, it’s a pain and anger rune. Very old, I have only seen this once before. It’s a relic of an older and crueler time. Luckily this one was poorly applied.” With a wave of her hand, water trickled from her staff and swirled around the rune before her magic seeped into the magical brand and removed it.

“Good boy, now you go on, if you get hurt again, you have my scent, come and find me. I will heal you.”

She stepped back and only when the beast turned and happily pounced off into the underbrush did she turn to heal her own arm.

“Wow… seriously…” Twilight approached calmly. “We could have fought him… I mean I have no idea why he was so durable, but we could have fought him. We were doing pretty good. You did not need to take such a risk.”

She only smiled and turned back to her friends. Slowly she came back over to Applejack and resumed healing her arm. “Sure, you could have, and it was rather reckless to try what I did. But fighting was not necessary either. Yes, he attacked first, and it is just to end the life of something that would kill indiscriminately. The value of one life does not outweigh the life of another, and most certainly not the lives of six… We could have fled too. That would have been quite merciful, but sometimes you just need a little love. It is not justice or mercy that tames the pain of despair or the fires of hate. Its Grace, only compassion and love can do that.”

She smiled and withdrew her hands from Applejack’s elbow which the paladin promptly flexed and bent to check the condition. “Thanks Sugar cube… it’s a little sore but I am ready and able.”

The paladin smiled happily. She was just as surprised as Twilight on Fluttershy’s words.

“Well… I guess we learn something every day…come on now… we still have a ways to go…” The group moved forward still a bit cautious. The trip almost killed them twice already and they were only a half hour into it. The further they traversed into the forest the thicker the plants became.

“Whoa… wait up… something… something is wrong…”

They had not seen the sky for five minutes now, and it felt like something was crawling up their spine. Shivers and cold breaths. Every step forward felt like another step down the throat of some massive beast.

Twilight’s logical mind quickly went to work trying to root out what the problem was. It did not take long to figure out something was very wrong. Despite the fact that she could not locate any physical danger, there was a creeping fear that ate away at her, and it was apparent on even the two resident warrior’s faces.

“Twilight… something… something is…” Applejack started but stuttered breathlessly as if with her last step something knocked the breath clean out of her. And that is when she dropped to her knees and began to scream.

As if it was the last straw the others began to fall as well. Whatever it was it seeped at the edge of Twilight’s vision and suddenly like a violent flood it struck her. Images of horrid nightmares shot out at her from every angle. She fought hard to maintain some semblance of sanity as she found the it. Her knees contacted the muddy ground as she shivered in fear. barely able to hold it back, the terror was relentless and she was staring plainly at the cause.

At the base of the tree in front of her and again on a rock a little further away. As if even placed across this section of the forest, fear wards were deeply imprinted throughout the woods. She struggled with a counter spell but fumbled as the last of her resistance gave way and her mouth opened in an endless scream as her worst nightmares came out to consume her.

But suddenly her vision cleared and she heard a rich hearty laughter. In the depths of this madness and pain. Someone was laughing, and it was not the malicious laughter of some madman. Nor was it the laughter of insanity, thought under the conditions Twilight would have figured it would have had to have been. No, this voice was soft and playful. And its mere presence was eating away at the fear wards.

“Oh, you girls get up, silly…HA!! This one kinda looks like a smiley face! “ Pinkie Pie tapped the rune and giggled to herself as Twilight watched with amazement as the ward began to fade. She was unsure if the laughter was contagious or if she was actually going insane but she too slowly began to laugh. With her eyes shut she felt something warm inside her replacing the fear. Dissolving it as if it were ice under the flow of boiling water. Taking a chance, she embraced the warmth and opened up in hearty laughter. By the time she opened her eyes all the girls were busy laughing and rolling back trying to catch their breath.

“whew… wh..what in Tartarus was that?” Applejack struggled to stand still trying to shrug off the giggles.

“Silly, I was saving you guys from yourselves. Fear and despair are traps, but they are traps of the heart. Fear like this is of your own making, it only has as much power as you give it. You can choose to revel in fear and lose yourself in worries and pain or you can choose something greater. You can choose to be happy, or choose to focus on what hurts. Focusing on such things makes you afraid and brings you pain. Life can always be worse, trust me I know, I have seen things, but Joy is something you make for yourself and for others. It’s an option, even if there is no reason for it you can always choose happiness over fear.” The Jester smiled and happily hopped and pranced her way back down the path laughing at any new fear wards they encountered.

Twilight stared blankly rubbing her cheeks, her mouth literally hurt from all the smiling and laughing. "That girl is either crazy as hell or she is one of the wisest people I have met…”

he others nodded and all together they chased after Pinkie Pie.

Another half hour down the path and they ran into a rather serious problem. They were walking through a rather small valley with only one exit and unfortunately they could clearly hear what clearly sounded like a dragon rampaging down that path. It was the only path they could take unless they wanted to add another 4 hours to the trek, 4 hours of being flown one by one up cliffs and through caves and around the stalking grounds of big predators.

“Ok… Any plans for a fully grown rampaging dragon? And no Fluttershy I am not going to let you try and snuggle it into submission, this is a dragon. You know, the literal fire breathing apex predator of death and domination.”

They all nodded in agreement and interestingly Fluttershy seemed to be in agreement as well.

“But this does not mean we cannot try and reason with it… just be ready for the fight of your life…”

They moved forward with caution and before they could even see the great beast a set of claws big enough to uproot a house slashed back the trees in front of them all. A deep bellowing voice roared at them. “YOU COME TO STEAL AND DEFILE AS WELL?”

Twilight took one look up at the beast and cringed. “Crap…”

The beast’s mouth opened and Twilight instantly covered her ears. Witnessing the impulsive movements of what they could possibly consider to be their leader, the other girls did the same and were rewarded with a far less painful experience. But painful none the less.

It was a Water dragon, specifically it was a Harpy Serpent. Much unlike an actual harpy, these beasts were known for their cunning and stunning beauty. Yet at the same time much like a harpy, they were very well known for their powerful voice. Instead of breathing fire, their voice could either hypnotize or in this case cause very intense sonic blasts.

When the blast ended, Twilight stood up and still wincing in pain she put on her best smile.

“No, we are no thieves, you should know by our scent, we have never been here before. But we are trying to rid ourselves of quite a problem maker. It is what has brought us up here, I do not suppose we can assist you and perhaps in return, you can grant us safe passage across your territory?”

Twilight nearly wet herself as the massive claws dug into the ground with a slam as the Serpent closed the gap between them in an instant. “Do you are you truly ignorant enough to think you can replace what was defiled?... let’s see this then…and if you fail, mark my words I shall consume you all…”

Twilight groaned, she did not want to get herself into this sort of a mess. “Yes, we shall do our best… I assure you, we are no foe of yours. Please, let us try to help.”

She begged whatever Deity was listening that it was a simple task, or at the very least not impossible.

The Dragon rose to its full height and smoothed back to a deeper part of the water until he came over a small island. His voice rang out in a deep sorrowful song which nearly drove them all to tears. The beast was very capable of showing his emotions through his sonic powers.

Massive claws meant for slashing and tearing beasts fifty times the size of a man, gently unveiled a small egg on the little island. However, the egg was not the focus of what seemed to be bothering the beast. “It is all I have left of her, Our unborn child… and… this…”

As his claws drew back further, they finally saw it. It was like a blanket, only woven from silk. The silk that was a female Dragon’s mane.

“Oh… your poor dear… this… this is unforgivable…” The dragon looked down at Rarity who had gotten a lot closer than the other. With utter grace and beauty, the enchantress closed the gap and kneeled upon the stones looking over the blanket. The masterfully woven piece was torn violently in half. It was clearly and disrespectfully violated. Whoever did this intended for it to be done so disrespectfully. “This is desecration, Vile and horrid desecration of something pure…you poor beast… I have not the capability to reverse the damage… but I can only give to you what I hold so valued.”

The Dragon’s eyes sharpened as she held out her hand and her gemstones floated up and formed a dagger. The Dragon was now on alert and clearly ready to eat the enchantress if she did anything to his unborn child. Though instead she drew the knife across her own long luscious hair creating an ugly uneven slash through it. She then quickly with her own magic, raised the damaged blanket and wove her own hair into it. When she was done she placed it upon the egg with the utmost grace.

“I have given you what matters most to me… My beauty will return in time, but I have given back to you and your child what was taken, I deeply apologize if my beauty was not enough to measure up to that of your love…But a child nor a father should be without the memory of the love of a mother or wife… I feel shallow, but my beauty is one of the only things I have, and I pray that it will be enough to remind your child that they are loved none the less.” She smiled warmly and the dragon stared with wide eyes.

You … you would do this for me…I did not think selflessness had a place in humanity… I… I was wrong…” A tear formed in his eye and he moved his body to bridge the gap in the river. “you… all of you, you are forever welcome here, I name you Taara’quchu… Friend of the voice… my young will know of your sacrifice…”

He bowed his head in respect and the girls slowly, cautiously crossed the river.

“Rarity… your hair!...” Fluttershy touched the ugly slashed mess at the back of her friend’s head.

“Would you not do the same for a child who would never know a mother’s touch?... Nothing in this world is more important to a child than a mother’s love, and the loss of a parent is unthinkable… had you lost your mother, would you not give ANYTHING to have even the slightest remembrance of her?”

Applejack flinched and slowly reached back and touched the sword on her back. Biting her lip, she nodded to the sentiment.

“We get it… lets… just keep moving. And Rarity… thank you…”

The enchantress smiled and rustled what remained of her hair. “Very well, and I think I can do SOMETHING with this…. I mean I am that talented after all…”

The trip continued, and 45 more minutes down the line they could finally see their destination, on the other side of what looked to be a bottomless gorge.

“Annnnnnd the bridge is out… Rainbow… can you fly us across one by one?” Twilight exhaustively pointed to the far end.

“Yes… but I would really rather just pull this bridge back up and let you walk across…”

“Oh… yeah… fair enough.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and flew over quickly seizing the ropes and began to tie it off until that is, she heard the voice.

“There she is… just like you said…” Another voice hummed happily as the seductive voices played over each other. There was a flash of movement that was enough to impress even Rainbow Dash. She quickly leveled her Caster and stared into the mist that quickly spread over the ledge she was standing at.

“Quit playing games… I can see you in the mist, if you like I can kill you right now. Or you can come on out and tell me what this is about.” She drew back her hand and a fire arrow lit up in the caster. But the response was playful.

“Oh yes, we know quite well how skilled you are… this is exactly why we are here before you…” The mist cleared just as three figures came in, their elemental powers radiating and burning in the air behind them.

“We are here because of you! We came because we were drawn to your power, to… your ability..”

Rainbow Dash smiled and her caster drifted down a little bit as the middle figure advanced with a wry smile.

“Oh yes… you can feel it, can’t you?... We hide in secret, but no longer, we have been seeking the final member of our order. Someone powerful enough, fast enough, and skilled enough to keep up, and even perhaps... lead us.”

The soft female features were clear in the crisp air. Slender fingers danced through the air and rested on Rainbow's cheek with an extra alluring flare.

“What do you say?... glory awaits… you just need to.. HURK!”

Rainbow dash’s caster had dropped until there was not even an arrow in it. She was smiling warmly into the eyes of the female elementalist, however, a blade drawn from her waist was now lodged in the chest of the elementalist.

“Flattering… really, to no end, I am legitimately tempted and overjoyed to hear your words… you really have a talent for that, but let me make myself clear.” She kicked the girl back and her caster fired two rapid shots that ended the lives of the other two before they could make their move, then the caster leveled into the face of the first elementalist who was struggling to stay upright.

“If you think you can make me stab someone in the back with some sweet talk… you are a whole new level of stupid. A soul without adherence to a goal is weak. If I could be swayed by your honeyed words, then I too would be weak, and listen here you little priss… I … AM … NOT… WEAK!”

She loosed the arrow and turned back to the bridge. However, she did not see the bodies turn to smoke and waft away.

“Well then Purp… we are here, you do your thing…”

“What was all that noise?” Applejack and Twilight spoke almost in unison.

“Weakness… trust me on this girl… it was weakness… pathetic weakness…” She smiled and lead the charge up to the ancient castle.