Surrogate Light

by scootalooftw

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Nightmare Moon, Adventure, Human
Length: 26742

What if Nightmare Moon escaped from the moon just a little early, and what if she was aware of Celestia's plan to stop her...

Princess Celestia has dispatched her prized pupil, Twilight Sparkle, to oversee preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. An unfortunate accident, however, cuts her student's life short. Now another must recover the Elements in her stead, or else Equus will be plunged into eternal night.

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

With so many of those "X becomes Y in Equestria" Fics bouncing around, I got an idea for one of my own that just wouldn't go away. Rather than let it distract me from my writing any longer, I decided to take the idea, put my personal twist on it, and get to writing! The story is already 100% finished, Epilogue and everything, so you don't have to wait long for updates like my other stories.

Huge thanks to The Spirits Demise for the wonderful cover art, and Azriel for editing and proofreading!!

I have a Discord server for my stories, y'all are free to drop in and check it out if you want.

Published 2017-11-15 20:10:06 UTC
Last updated 2018-01-08 17:45:29 UTC

Awaken

My hearing was the first sense that returned to me as I slowly regained consciousness, as the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor confirmed that I was alive.

Next was touch, the white-hot pain I had experienced earlier returned instead as a dull throb, as I snuggled deeper under the warm covers.

Scent was third, causing my nose to crinkle in disgust at the harsh scent of various cleaners permeating the room.

Fourth was taste, nearly causing me to gag at the disgusting flavor that had built up in my mouth from missing what had to be multiple days worth of brushing.

Last was sight, the entirely predictable sterile white ceiling above me made me squint my eyes as they attempted to adjust to the light.

Now that the pain had receded enough for my mind to work somewhat normally, I took a few moments to try and collect my thoughts. Thinking back as far as I could, I winced in pain as a steady stream of conflicting memories once again began forcing themselves upon me. Try as I might, though, nothing more than a few minute details from each memory would stick before the next one would whiz through my head.

Through the dull haze that clouded my mind, I barely registered the sound of a door opening and someone entering the room. I allowed my head to lazily loll to the left, the throb of pain that accompanied the movement cut through the memories. Standing in the doorway was an off-white mare wearing a nurse’s cap upon her head, her light blue eyes glued to a clipboard she held in her forehoof. Sitting on her haunches, she ran a hoof through her light pink mane as she sighed in annoyance.

“It’s hard to keep track of time without the sun,” the mare groaned quietly to herself. “Let’s see, we found her last Friday… it should be Thursday now, I think… That means she’s been asleep for…”

Looking up from her clipboard, the pony trailed off when she locked eyes with me.

“You’re awake,” she said, more to herself than to me.

Standing from where she had been sitting she trotted over to my bedside.

“You’re awake,” she repeated, slightly louder this time. “How are you feeling?”

“Like… like I got run over by a train,” I rasped, pausing momentarily in surprise at the odd yet familiar voice that came from my mouth. I also had to ponder my choice of words, as ‘train’ wasn’t the word that had originally come to mind. My introspection was cut off, however, when the nurse began to speak again.

“That’s to be expected,” the nurse responded. Walking around my bed, she approached an IV drip that was hooked up to my foreleg and looked over the bed. “We are currently at the recommended max dose for a pony of your size, but if the pain becomes too much we can talk to the doctor about upping it.”

“I-I’m fine,” I muttered. “‘S’long as I don’t move too much.”

“While I’m all for putting on a brave face,” the nurse said, giving me a stern look, “you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for it if you need it.”

Writing a few things down on her clipboard, she circled back around the bed to stand next to me.

“Before we go any farther, I’d like to introduce myself,” she said. “My name is Nurse Redheart. Can you tell me your name?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but no matter how hard I tried the only name that came to mind just didn’t seem right. Whenever I tried to think of my name, Twilight Sparkle was the first thing that popped into my head. But, I knew that wasn’t my name, right? It couldn’t be.

“It’s ok,” Nurse Redheart said, attempting to comfort me when she noticed a look of distress cross my face. “Just relax and take your time.”

“T-twilight Sp-sparkle,” I choked out, deciding to go with the name for now.

“Excellent,” Redheart responded, scribbling something down on her clipboard. “Do you know where you are?”

Again, trying to think back on where I was the only names that came to mind were cities I had never heard of, yet sounded strangely familiar.

“Canterlot?” I said, asking more than telling.

Nurse Redheart hummed to herself as she wrote something more on her clipboard.

“You’re actually in Ponyville,” she said. “Do you remember what you were coming here for, or how you got here?”

A dull throb went through my head as more names and memories that didn’t seem like my own flashed through my head.

“Canterlot… Princess… Sun Celebration…” I muttered, grabbing my head despite the pain as the images just kept coming. “Thousandth year… carriage… Spike.”

The last name struck something deep inside myself, and despite the pain, I found myself sitting up in bed as Nurse Redheart attempted to keep me calm

“It’s ok, he’s safe, you're safe,” Redheart comforted me, holding a firm hoof to my chest.

“Spike… where’s Spike?” I found myself asking, despite being unable to put a face with the name.

“Is Spike the name of the young drake that was with you?” Redheart asked.

“I, uhm, maybe?” I said, doing my best to organize the foreign thoughts. “I think… little brother… assistant… dragon. Spike is a dragon, yes.”

“You’ll be happy to know that he’s doing fine, then,” Redheart said with a smile. “Besides a few bumps and bruises, his scales helped him escape the crash relatively unscathed.”

“Crash?” I asked. “What crash?”

“Oh, dear,” Redheart said, cursing herself for her slip of the tongue. “Well, we had wanted to wait until you recovered a bit before we said anything, let you recover from the shock of your incident, but..”

Sighing, Redheart took a moment to make herself comfortable before continuing.

“About a week ago, on the afternoon before the Summer Sun Celebration, a young drake covered in scrapes and bruises came stumbling into town,” Redheart said. “After scaring a few of the locals, one of the braver towns-ponies finally approached him.”

“He was pretty out of it when we found him,” Redheart continued, “but we were able to get enough from him to discover that there was a carriage crash, and the direction we needed to go to find it.”

Pausing once more, Redheart glanced out the nearby dark window and sighed.

“That’s when everything started going crazy,” Redheart said. “We had been preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration when some dark coated alicorn showed up and claimed the celebration was canceled.”

Looking me straight in the eyes, Redheart started trembling as she attempted to keep her emotions in check.

“You’re from Canterlot, do you know what happened to the princess?” Redheart asked, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “That mare said she was gone… but she can’t be. She’s the Princess!”

My mouth worked in silence as my mind attempted to put together all of the information she had given me. She told me a dark alicorn showed up… The term “alicorn” seemed unfamiliar until I got brief flashes of a pony with both wings and a horn when I thought on it. Digging deeper I was soon assaulted with images of two sisters, one representing the moon and the other the sun, both bearing the magic of all three pony races.

Tale of the Two Sisters… Predictions and Prophecies… Mare in the Moon…

“Nightmare Moon,” I gasped, feeling a sense of dread grip me at the sound of the unfamiliar name.

“How do you know of her?” Redheart gasped, leaning in closer to me. “You were unconscious when she returned... Did you know she was coming? I thought the stories were all just foals tales...”

“Everything alright in here?” a strangely familiar voice asked from the doorway.

Squeaking in surprise, Nurse Redheart fell back on her haunches and swiveled to face the pony that had just entered.

“Everything is fine, just checking on the patient,” Redheart said. “May I ask what you’re doing here, Applejack? You didn’t trip and hurt yourself trying to work in the dark again, did you? You promised to be careful after last time.”

“No, Ah didn’t,” Applejack said, flushing slightly. “Ah’m actually here ta check an see how this’n was doin'. She wasn’t lookin’ too good when we brought her in.”

“You really should wait until visiting hours,” Redheart said, glancing back at me. “For all you know I could have been in here bathing the poor dear, or changing out her bedpan, and nopony wants to see that.”

“But visitin’ hours started more’n half an hour ago,” Applejack said, stepping out of the room and looking at something in the hallway.

“Oh, dear, did they really?” Redheart groaned, glancing at a nearby clock before covering her face with a foreleg. “It being dark all the time has really thrown off my sense of time.”

“Ah know what ya mean,” Applejack sighed, leaning against the doorframe. “It’s doin’ a number on tha plants, too. Between frettin’ over this’n, n’ all the plants we’re startin’ ta lose, Granny sent me here ta get me outta tha house fer a bit.”

“You’ll be glad to know you can stop worrying, then,” Redheart said, stepping aside to give Applejack a clear view of me. “She woke up not too long ago.”

“Did she, now?” Applejack asked, stepping fully into the room and giving me a smile. “That’s great ta hear! Y’all were lookin’ pretty rough when we carried ya in.”

“Indeed she did,” Redheart said, “but despite some issues remembering things, she seems to be recovering quite nicely.”

“Memory issues?” Applejack said, giving me a pitying look, “ya sayin’ the poor mare can’t remember who she is?”

“Nothing as extreme as that,” Redheart chuckled. “Her memory recall is a bit slow, but that’s to be expected after an accident like this.”

“Well, ain’t that swell,” Applejack said. Walking up to my bedside, she gave me another smile and held out a forehoof. “Mah names Applejack, nice ta meet ya.”

“Twilight,” I responded, slowly lifting a forehoof to meet her own.

Seeing me grimace in discomfort while I shook hooves with Applejack, Redheart gently separated us.

“Alright, Applejack I think that’s enough excitement for her for one day,” Redheart said, corralling her towards the door. “Why don’t we let her get some more rest, and you can come back to visit some more tomorrow.”

“But Ah just got here,” Applejack argued.

Any further discussion between the two was cut off as the door clicked closed behind them.

Alone once more, I snuggled deeper into my covers as I went over everything I had learned since waking up.

I’m being cared for by ponies… which I am? Something is telling me I’m the same as them, but different… No horn, no wings… earth ponies?

Glancing up, I saw a horn poking through the mess of hair I had atop my head. Squirming around in bed a bit, I noticed a distinct lack of anything on my back.

Horn, but no wings, so unicorn? That doesn’t surprise me, though… why? Are alicorns rare?

Closing my eyes and scrunching my face in concentration, I attempted to filter through the constant influx of memories flowing through my head for anything relating to alicorns.

Alicorns… only two ponies come to mind. Pink, purple wings, tri-colored mane… foalsitter? The other one I see is large, white, flowing mane of multiple hues… teacher… mentor… princess?

A sudden shock shoots through me as all the pieces fall into place.

The thousandth Summer Sun Celebration! I warned the princess, but she sent me here instead! She sent me here, and…

I sank back into bed as the sudden movement caused my entire body to throb.

But she didn’t send me here, I don’t think… I was in bed watching TV… maybe?

The heart monitor began beeping faster and louder as my breathing quickened.

I… can’t remember. Why can’t I remember!? I remember having hay and oats for breakfast, but that wasn’t me! I had, I had…

The door to my room burst open as Nurse Redheart and a brown unicorn stallion came charging in. I opened my mouth to call for help, but no matter how much air I sucked in, I couldn’t seem to breath.

“She’s having some type of panic attack,” Nurse Redheart said. “What should we do, doctor?”

“Get me ten CCs of diazepam,” the unicorn stallion responded. “We need to get her calmed down before she hurts herself.”

I grasped at the doctor with a foreleg as Redheart rushed to a medicine cabinet, then to my IV drip with a syringe in hoof. Sticking the needle into the y-connector of my IV drip, it wasn’t long before my breathing and heart rate began to slow. I opened my mouth to speak to them, to ask if either of them knew who I was, and how I got here. I wanted to know, I needed to know. To know why this body, despite feeling so wrong to me, felt so natural. Why I had all these memories of two separate lives. Why I couldn’t tell which were the real memories, and which were someone elses.

Despite my need to know, however, whatever they had put into my drip had started to kick in, and my tongue was refusing to cooperate with me. Seeing their lips moving in response, I strained my ears in an attempt to hear them. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make sense of anything they were saying. I fought to keep my eyes open as darkness began creeping in on the edges of my vision, but it wasn’t long before I slipped into the blissful oblivion of unconsciousness.

Recovery

Author's Note

After today's chapter, I will be moving to an every other day release schedule.

Recovery

The next few days passed in a blur. I hadn’t spoken much in that time, instead choosing to take the time to try and process exactly what had happened to me. I hadn’t been able to figure out much about what I was going through, but after a brief conversation with the mayor of this town, I was able to learn a few things about what had happened here.

The conversation started with Mayor Mare showing up shortly after I had woke up and had breakfast, she apologized profusely for taking so long to visit. Apparently, the memories about me being the monarch's personal student and protege had been correct, and I had been sent here to oversee preparations for the festival celebrating the Sun Princess’s thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration.

She informed me that the library had been prepared for me to stay in during my visit, as my love of books was well known, but much to their surprise I hadn’t shown. They had chalked it up to a last minute change in plans, up until Spike had come stumbling into town. They got him to the hospital, however, before they could send somepony out to look for the two guards that had been with us or me. Darkness had enveloped the land as a mare straight from a pony’s worst nightmares descended upon the town.

I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt for reasons unknown to me when Mayor Mare stated that the pony's name was Nightmare Moon and that she had claimed that she ‘disposed’ of Princess Celestia to take her rightful place upon the throne.

I leaned my head back and sighed as I thought of the dark alicorn. I couldn’t help but feel like I knew more about what was going on than I could remember, and ever since the library had been mentioned I’ve been plagued with an almost unbearable urge to go there.

Looking at the small green and purple ball curled up against my side, I once again contemplated sneaking out to go there. The sun hadn’t fully risen since I’d woken up, apparently being blocked out by the moon that Nightmare Moon controlled, so it would be easy to get there unseen. But Spike… the poor guy cried himself to sleep when he was finally allowed to see me, and none of the nurses have had the heart to separate us since. He swore I wasn’t breathing when he woke up from the crash and given my current situation, well… I’m inclined to believe him.

Sliding carefully out from under the sheets, doing my best not to wake Spike, I gingerly lowered myself to my hooves and hobbled over to the nearest window. I had been surprised to learn upon standing that along with the memories of the previous owner, I had all of the instincts that came with this body. Much to my embarrassment that also included magic, as I discovered when I attempted to grab my dinner one evening and accidentally bashed myself in the face with the tray.

Lighting up my horn, I unlatched the window and slowly pulled it open. Glancing over my shoulder once to make sure I didn’t wake Spike, I stuck my head out of the window and looked down.

“Second floor, bushes below the window,” I mumbled to myself. “Not optimal, but doable.”

Glancing to the side, I noticed a downspout from the hospital’s gutters running right next to my window.

“As long as I can grip it, I should be able to use that to climb down,” I continued. “Worst case scenario, I can hopefully use my magic to catch myself.”

Pulling my head back in, I took one more look around to make sure the coast was clear before turning around and carefully lowering my hind end out of the window. Resting both of my hind legs on the ledge, I was able to slowly shimmy myself backward until I was far enough back for gravity to do the rest. Once the entirety of my body was through the window, I used one foreleg to hold myself up while I reached for the downspout with the other.

“Almost… there,” I grunted, stretching as much as I could.

Managing to hook my foreleg around the spout, I attempted to swing myself over to the downspout before I remembered one very important fact; ponies don’t have fingers. Before I had a chance to shout in surprise, I dropped the remaining distance to the ground and landed flat on my back in the bushes.

I laid on the ground for a time, mouth open in a silent scream as I waited for my breath to return to me. I could hear the sound of a few ponies walking, but thanks to the darkness and my position in the bush, none of them noticed me as they passed by.

After taking a few minutes to get my breathing under control, I waited until I no longer heard any ponies and rolled out of the bush onto my hooves. Taking a quick look around to make sure nopony saw me, I continued on towards where I hoped the library was, doing my best to look nonchalant.

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

“How hard is it to find a library in this town?” I grumbled to myself. “According to the mayor, it was pretty much impossible to miss, and besides that bakery, I haven’t seen any notable buildings.”

“Maybe ya’d have an easier time if ya asked fer directions,” a voice spoke up from behind me.

Yelping in surprise, I jumped and spun to face the speaker, my whole body throbbing in protest.

“Oh, hey, Applejack,” I chuckled nervously, instantly recognizing the mare. “What are you doing out here so late? Er… early?”

“Ah should be askin’ what yer doin’ out here, period,” Applejack said. “Mah friend Rainbow Dash here came n’ got me after she saw ya climbin’ outta yer window.”

Looking past Applejack, I noticed she was flanked on each side by ponies. To her left was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, and to her right was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘climbing,’” the rainbow-maned pegasus chuckled, “more like ‘falling.’”

“Rainbow, be nice,” the yellow pegasus spoke in a kind gentle voice. “She could have been hurt!”

Stepping around Applejack, she circled me while looking me over with a critical eye.

“You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” the yellow mare asked. “I grabbed my first aid bag when Rainbow came to get me, but if you’re hurt we should really get you back to the hospital.”

“Come on, Flutters,” Rainbow scoffed. “If she was that anxious to get out of the hospital that she’d throw herself out a window, I doubt she’ll want to go back.”

“Ah still think we should take her back,” Applejack said, fixing me with a stern look. “She shouldn’t be outta bed, n’ she knows it.”

“I don’t know,” Rainbow said, “if she’s willing to throw herself out of a second story window to get out, she must have a reason.”

“That’s true,” Applejack said, glancing from Rainbow to myself, “what are ya doin’ out here, anyway? We followed ya fer a bit, but ya just kept goin’ in circles.”

“Well, I was trying to find the library,” I said, looking around at the nearby building. “But, I just can’t seem… to… find it.”

Looking back at the ponies in front of me, I trailed off when I noticed they were all pointing at a large tree right next to us.

“That’s a tree,” I said, giving them a bewildered look.

“It’s tha library,” Applejack responded.

“But… it’s in a tree?” I asked, giving the tree another confused look.

“Eeyup,” Applejack smirked, “carved right inta tha wood.”

“That’s...“ I stammered trying hard to contain my mirth, “that’s just…”

Despite my best efforts, a light giggle slipped out, and that giggle turned into a chuckle. It wasn’t long before I was laying on the ground, holding my sides as my raucous laughter echoed down the nearby alleys.

“It hurts! Laughing hurts! Make it stop!” I laughed, tears gathering in my eyes. “But the library… the library is in a tree!”

“I know!” somepony spoke up from beside me. Turning to my left, I saw a pink earth pony laying on the ground next to me laughing.

“They took the books, which are made of trees, and put them inside of a tree!” the pink mare cackled. “It’s so morbid!”

“I know!” I yelled back, tears streaming down my face.

As I slowly got my laughing under control, it suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea who the pink earth pony laughing along with me was.

“Uhm, excuse me,” I said through ragged breaths, attempting to get her attention

“Ya-huh?” she said, turning to look at me.

“Not that I didn’t enjoy the laugh,” I said, “in fact, I actually kind of needed that. I was just wondering… who are you?”

“My name is Pinkie Pie!” the pink mare exclaimed excitedly. “I saw you walking through town, and I got super excited because you were finally out of the hospital! I was about to go and get your welcome party set up, but my tail told me you’d be needing my help.”

“Uh… huh,” I muttered, turning to face the others. “Did any of you catch that?”

“Just somethin’ ‘bout a party,” Applejack said, fixing Pinkie with a flat look, “but Ah’m not sure how good of an idea a party is right now, given the state a’ things.”

“Are you kidding!?” Pinkie gasped. “With everypony so sad about Black Snooty taking the sun away, this is the perfect time for a party. How else will we keep everypony’s spirits up?”

“By finding a way to get the sun back,” I said, turning to face the library.

“And ya think tha answer is in there?” Applejack asked.

“How exactly would you know something like that,” Rainbow Dash asked. In a flash of speed and color, she positioned herself in between me and the door. “Ya know something that the rest of us should?”

“No, I don’t know much of anything,” I answered. “Or at least, not anything I can remember…”

Leaning back on my haunches, I brought a foreleg up to my head and began rubbing my temple.

“I keep having these flashes of memories… sounds, images, stuff like that.” I said, closing my eyes in concentration. “Like, I know, or I knew about Nightmare Moon before I came here, but I can’t remember how, or even what I knew.”

“And what does that have to do with the library?” Rainbow challenged.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “it’s just, ever since the Mayor brought it up, I’ve had an almost irresistible urge to come here. Like something is telling me that all the answers I need to fix this can be found here.”

“What do you mean ‘fix this?’” Rainbow asked, taking a step towards me. “The princess couldn’t stop whoever this is, what makes you think you can?”

“How ‘bout instead a’ questionin’ her, why don’t we let ‘er show us?” Applejack suggested.

“Alright, fine,” Rainbow Dash said, before turning to face me, “but I’ve got my eye on you.”

Satisfied that she had gotten her message across, Rainbow Dash stepped to the side and let me pass. Giving her one last glance I walked past her, swerving slightly to give her a wide berth. As I approached the library, the door became encased in my light purple glow and slowly swung open the reveal the darkened lobby of the library.

Planning

I groaned in agitation as I closed the cover on yet another book that didn’t hold the information I needed. Using my still shaky magic, I slid the book back in its spot before skimming the shelf for another. Seeing no more books that looked useful for my current line of research, I rounded the corner and began on the next shelf.

“Anypony find anything yet?” A thoroughly bored and annoyed Rainbow Dash called out.

“Ah’m not even sure what we’re lookin’ fer, ta be honest,” Applejack responded from the next aisle over. Stepping around the corner, she instantly spotted me and approached me. “What are we supposed ta be lookin’ fer?”

“I… I’m not sure,” I answered. Sitting on my haunches, I closed my eyes and put my forelegs to my head and began rubbing my temples. “Like I said, I can’t remember why I needed to come here, or what I’m supposed to be looking for. I just… I know that this is where I need to be right now.”

“Well, what kinda words?” Applejack asked. “If’n ya tell us, maybe we might know how to help.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, flying over the tops of the bookshelves and landing in front of us. “That way this isn’t a complete wild goose chase.”

“Well… I keep seeing this book in my head,” I said. “Brown book, alicorn on the cover. There’s also something about the ‘mare in the moon’, and the Elements... Elements of Armory?”

“You mean the Elements of Harmony?” Pinkie Pie gleefully called out as she hopped excitedly towards us.

“Yeah, that’s it,” I said. Snapping my eyes open as I turned to look at her. “In fact, that’s the book!”

Lighting my horn, I took the book in my magic and levitated it to myself. ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’ the cover read. Flipping it open, I began reading through it.

“It says ‘There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known,” I read out loud. “Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery.”

“What’s so special about these ‘element’ things that you had to have us in here tearing the library apart to find it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We weren’t tearing anything apart,” I snapped. “We were gently looking through the library for anything that might help.”

“Help with what?” Rainbow Dash snapped back stepping up in my face. “You still haven’t told us why these things are important, or how you know what you do.”

“And I already told you that I don’t know how I know this stuff,” I said, butting heads with her. “But something is telling me that those ‘element things’ are exactly what we need to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

“How can these elements possibly stop Nightmare Moon when the Princess couldn’t, they sound like something from a foal’s bedtime story.” Rainbow Dash said, shoving back with her own head. “What are we supposed to do, laugh at Nightmare Moon while complimenting her and telling her how she’s so much stronger than us?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But from what I’ve gathered, this is the only way we can set things right. We can’t just sit around doing nothing while everything slowly dies in eternal night.”

“Excuse me,” a posh voice cut us off, “but, am I interrupting something?”

Turning my head, I caught sight of a snow-white unicorn with a curly purple mane.

“Oh, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I could ask you the same thing, Fluttershy,” Rarity responded. “I was helping look for that unicorn from the crash, apparently she went missing from her hospital bed. When I was walking past the library, I saw the lights were on so I came to see who was in here. I remember somepony saying that she was supposed to be staying here.”

“Oh, uhm, well, we ran into her on her way over here,” Fluttershy said. “Rainbow Dash saw her fall out of the hospital window, and came to get us.”

“You fell out of the window, darling?” Rarity gasped, looking at me. “Are you alright, do you need me to go get a nurse or something?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said. “I need to be here.”

“And why is that?” Rarity asked, approaching our group. “Because it seems to me like you should be in the hospital resting. Just look at you, darling, you look as though you’re going to collapse at any moment!”

“Because I need to do something about whatever’s going on out there!” I snapped back. Burying my head in my forehooves, I groaned in agitation before massaging my temples. “Ever since I woke up, there’s been this little voice in the back of my head telling me I know what’s going on, and that I know how to fix it. It’s been driving me crazy just laying in bed doing nothing.”

In response to my outburst, Rarity eyed me warily for a moment before sidling up beside me and taking the book in her own magic.

“Well then, if you have an idea of what’s going on then there’s no time to waste,” Rarity said.

“What are you doing?” I asked, eyeing the white unicorn that had taken up a position beside me.

“Well, you said you knew what was going on,” Rarity answered. “I figured having another set of hooves would speed things up. I enjoy a cool starry night as much as the next mare, but if the sun doesn’t come back soon, then ponies are going to start going hungry.”

“She’s right, ya know,” Applejack said. “Mah gardens are already startin’ ta wilt, and Ah’m sure the trees won’t be far behind them.”

“It’s starting to affect the weather, too,” Rainbow Dash said, a small frown splitting her normally confident visage. “With the temperature dropping, the clouds aren’t acting the way they’re supposed to.”

“And the poor little critters,” Fluttershy said, tearing up. “With the temperature dropping, they’ve all started preparing to hibernate, but if they hibernate now than they’ll wake up in the middle of the winter when there’s no food…”

“And don’t forget about the ponies,” Pinkie Pie cut in. “This ‘eternal night’ business is making everypony all sad and cranky.”

As I looked between the five mares accompanying me in the library, I couldn’t stop a smile from slowly working its way onto my face.

“Alright,” I conceded, wiping my eyes with a foreleg, “let’s figure this out then.”

With a light nudge from me, Rarity turned the book so we could both read it.

“'It is said that the last known location of the Elements was in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.’” I read off, picking up where I had left off. “‘Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters’, does that sound familiar to any of you?”

“Not ringin’ any bells,” Applejack said.

“Can’t say that I’ve ever heard of it, either,” Rarity said. “But keep reading, maybe it will give us a hint about where to find it.”

“Alright,” I said, turning my attention back to the book. “Let’s see… ‘in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters’... It’s located in what is now the Everfree Forest.”

I jumped in shock, nearly falling over backward when everypony in the room gasped in shock simultaneously when I read off where the castle was located.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, attempting to get my heartbeat back under control. “Is that far away?”

“It ain’t far away at all,” Applejack said. “In fact, the south side of town borders it.”

“Then what’s the problem?” I asked.

“The problem,” Rainbow Dash said, “is that it’s dangerous in there!”

“Rainbow Dash is right,” Rarity said, putting a forehoof on my shoulder, “it’s full of all manner of dangerous creatures.”

“Be that as it may, this is still the only option we’ve found so far,” I said. “If we wait to try and find something else, we may be too late.”

“She’s right,” Fluttershy said. “If we don’t fix this now, ponies aren’t going to be the only ones that suffer.”

“You heard the mare,” Pinkie said, bouncing excitedly in place, “if we’re gonna bring the sunshine and smiles back, we better get movin’!”

“Pinkie, darling, I don’t think it will be that simple,” Rarity said, trying and failing to calm the prancing pink pony.

“It may not be easy,” Applejack said, getting everypony’s attention, “but ya said so yerself, Rarity. If somethin’ isn’t done soon, ponies’re gonna start goin’ hungry.”

“She’s right,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Everypony else is busy running around just trying to get by, but we actually came up with a solution to the problem. If we don’t do anything, nopony else is going to.”

Fluttershy mumbled her support, and soon all five ponies present were looking to me for guidance. Despite the warm feeling that filled me at the idea of finally having a plan of action and a group of capable looking ponies to support me, I couldn’t stop an unsteady frown from working its way onto my face.

“Now what’s wrong, darling?” Rarity asked. “We just found a possible way to bring the sun back, isn’t that what you wanted?”

“It is, but…” I sighed, turning to face Rarity, “but I didn’t want to get anypony else involved, and now I’ve got five of you that want to follow me into what's supposed to be a dangerous forest, with no guarantee that what we’re looking for will be there.”

“You expected to do this all yourself?” Rarity asked. Shaking her head, she gently rested her forehoof on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile. “We aren’t following you because we feel obligated to in any way, we’re following you because we want to.”

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering in the air and smugly crossing her forelegs over her chest. “Something tells me that you’re going to need a little bit of my concentrated awesomeness if you’re going to pull this off.”

“Yer gonna need all of us, sugarcube,” Applejack said, glaring lightly at Rainbow Dash. “There’s safety in numbers, and there’s far too much at stake ta entrust this ta one pony alone. Besides, Ma n’ Pa would be pretty disappointed if’n Ah just let a friend wander inta danger by herself like that.”

“Friend?” I parroted, giving Applejack a funny look. The warm feeling that had developed in my chest grew tenfold and, much to my embarrassment, I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from turning up into a dopey grin.

“There it is!” Pinkie exclaimed, continuing to bounce on three hooves while pointing at me with the fourth. “There’s a smile!”

A giggle escaped my muzzle before I could stop it, and it wasn’t long before the serious air of the room had faded slightly as the occupants devolved into fits of giggles.

“While I would prefer that nopony else get hurt following me,” I said, “if you all do insist on coming, we should probably make sure we’re properly prepared.”

“Yer probably right about that,” Applejack said, adjusting the stetson on her head. “Why don’t we take thirty, go n’ gather some supplies ‘n whatnot. Since you seem ta be tha thinkin’ type, why don’t ya see if ya can come up with anything else about these ‘Elements’ while we’re doin’ that.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, Applejack,” Rarity said. “I should have more than a few spare cloaks laying around the boutique, all they’d need is a few adjustments and they’d be perfect to protect us out there.”

“And between Applejack and me,” Pinkie said, “we should have plenty of extra food we can pack.”

“And, umm, I have lots of first aid supplies I can bring,” Fluttershy offered.

“Well, there ya go,” Applejack said, “you go on n’ read up on what ya can about the forest, and we’ll go get tha supplies together. We can meet at tha entrance ta the forest in an hour. Sound good everypony?”

Getting a confirmation from everypony present, the five ponies quickly discussed how much they should bring before going their separate ways. Finally alone, I glanced around at the plethora of books surrounding me before my eyes settled on the open tome before me.

“Well, better get started,” I said, trying to psych myself up, “everypony’s going to be counting on me.”

Doing my best to ignore the storm of confusion tearing through my head, I poured my everything into the task before me. I may have come here seeking answers, but I ended up roped into a world-saving adventure, and I’d be damned if I end up as the weak link.

Laughter

We had been traveling through the bog for an unknown amount of time, and with the miserable state of the road, along with the incessant whining of a certain member of our group, all of us were on edge.

“Are we there yet?” Rainbow Dash groaned. “It’s going to take hours to get all this muck out of my coat.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Rarity said, feigning concern. “It must be so hard to get mud out of such a pristine white coat!” Releasing an exaggerated gasp, Rarity turned to face Rainbow. “Oh, wait, you don't have one!”

“In case you’ve forgotten, you aren’t the only pony with a light colored coat,” Rainbow shot back, turning to face Rarity.

“Well, then why don’t you simply fly,” Rarity grumbled, shooting Rainbow a glare. “You do have wings, after all.”

“Because, with all these spiderwebs and low hanging branches, I keep getting tangled up!” Rainbow said, getting in Rarity’s face.

“That sounds more like a personal problem, if you ask me,” Rarity growled back, butting heads with Rainbow.

“Girls, girls,” Pinkie exclaimed, squeezing in between the quarreling ponies and pushing them apart. “This isn’t the time for fighting! We should all be laughing, and smiling!”

“What exactly is there to laugh or smile about?” Rarity asked, redirecting her ire towards the puffy pink pony.

“Yeah, this forest is miserable,” Rainbow Dash griped. “I’m miserable!”

“We’re all miserable,” Applejack cut in, “but ya don’t see us startin’ a fuss with nopony else.”

“Oh, AJ, you shouldn’t be miserable,” Pinkie Pie sniffled, deflating slightly. “We’re on a big, grand adventure, how can you be miserable?!”

“Easy,” Rainbow Dash answered. Lifting her foreleg she began to shake it back and forth, flinging mud everywhere to make a point.

“Aww, but it’s just a little mud,” Pinkie said, before poofing back up. “You aren’t gonna let a little mud stop you, are you Dashie?”

“No,” Rainbow pouted, “but that doesn’t mean I need to be happy about it.”

Glancing at the mud that caked the entirety of my legs, despite the fact that I had even used magic to try and keep it off, I was inclined to agree with Rainbow Dash. I opened my mouth to voice my opinion but was cut off when Pinkie began humming out loud.

“But, what isn’t there to be happy about?” Pinkie asked as she began bouncing along. “You’ve got your friends, you’re on a big grand adventure against all odds, it sounds like something out of an adventure novel!”

“You don’t read about this in the books,” Rainbow grumbled, attempting to dislodge a glob of mud that had ended up stuck to her feathers.

~“Oh, the trail ahead might look quite scrappy.”~

Pinkie sang as she bounced to and fro, miraculously not splashing anypony with mud.

~”And everypony’s mood is down and drabby.”~

“Is… is she really doing this?” I asked, glancing in confusion at the ponies around me.

~”And though it may sound just a little sappy.”~

Inhaling a large breath Pinkie jumped up and wrapped a foreleg around the trunk of a tree, using her momentum to swing herself around it.

~”Don’t worry,”~

Pinkie giggled,

~”be happy!”~

“She really is, isn’t she?” I groaned, resisting the urge to facehoof.

Kicking off of the tree she had just swung around, Pinkie grabbed a low-hanging branch and used it to propel herself into a flip. Landing firmly on her hind legs, Pinkie threw her arms up over her head and unleashed two hoofuls of confetti.

~”Stomping our way through the trees and the mud.”~

“She is,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, much to my unease.

Leaning backward, Pinkie turned her hind leg stand into a cartwheel.

~”This dreary old forest has you feeling like crud.”

Coming out of her cartwheel, Pinkie began hopping backward as she sang, her infectious smile soon spreading to everypony present.

~“Just look to your friend and say ‘Cheer up bud’!”~

With a mighty leap Pinkie deposited herself right beside me, once again managing to avoid splashing even the smallest amount of mud. Throwing a foreleg over my shoulder, she pulled me into a sideways hug before continuing.

~“So don’t worry,”~

Pinkie sang, giggling once more.

~“be happy.”~

Despite the urge to resist coursing through every fiber of my being, I found myself humming along with the merry tune, even adding my own voice when the chorus came around. Before anypony even realized it the path began to dry and the trees began to thin out, allowing the low light of the moon to once again light our way. It wasn’t until our path was blocked by a small fast moving river that anypony realized we had left the bog.

“Well, would ya look at that,” Applejack said, using her slightly muddy foreleg to wipe the sweat from her brow. “Looks like we finally made it outta that grimy ol’ bog.”

“Oh, I know,” Rarity said, cringing at the streak of mud Applejack left on her face. “I was beginning to think we’d never get out of there.”

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad, Rares,” Rainbow Dash teased.

“Now you know you have no room to talk,” Rarity teased back, eyeing the pegasus that was trying and failing to get the mud out of her wings. “You were making just as big of a fuss as I was, and that’s saying something.”

“That just cus the mud kept getting in my feathers,” Rainbow shot back, flushing slightly. “Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to get regular mud out of your wings? With as bad as that swamp smelled, I am so not looking forward to preening later.”

“Oh, well, I have some special soap I made that works wonders on the mud from Froggy Bottom Bog,” Fluttershy said. “And I’ll even help you with your wings later if you’d like.”

“Thanks, ‘Shy, I appreciate it,” Rainbow Dash said, giving Fluttershy a friendly smile. “But, it’ll have to wait for now, I think we should keep moving.”

“Actually, I was thinking we could stop her for a bit,” I spoke up. “We’re more than three-quarters of the way there, but we’re all exhausted. If we stopped now to eat and rest, we’d be revitalized for when finally we get to that castle.”

“She’s got a good point,” Applejack said. Turning to face the group, she looked over the rest of their dirty, tired looking troupe. “What d’y’all say? Wanna call it fer a bit, get somethin’ ta eat, and maybe get a quick nap in?”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea to me, darling,” Rarity said, sitting on her haunches and allowing her bags to slide off her back. “The sooner I can get this mud out of my coat, the less it will stain.”

“Oh, you can use some of my shampoo, too, if you’d like,” Fluttershy offered.

“And me and Twilight can stay here and get the camp set up!” Pinkie Pie cheered. Not even waiting for approval, she reached into her pack and pulled out an already built bright pink tent and plopped it on the ground.

“Why was I volunteered to set up camp?” I asked, slightly peeved at being volunteered. “Maybe I want to get this muck out of my coat, as well.”

“But you’re the only pony that can help me set up without getting mud all over everything,” Pinkie said. Reaching her entire foreleg into her bags, she sifted around inside of it before pulling out a large folded blanket.

I opened my mouth to retort that she would be covering everything in mud as well, only to have to do a double take when I noticed she didn’t have a speck of mud on her.

“Welp, sounds like a plan ta me,” Applejack said with a chuckle. “If nopony else has any arguments, we’ll go ahead and get movin’ so you can get yer chance ta clean up.”

Working my jaw in silence, I collected myself enough to nod in agreement. I watched the four ponies disappear into the nearby treeline, intent on finding a calmer section of the stream, before turning my attention back to Pinkie. Much to my amazement, she already had a tent for each of us set up and was in the process of dumping already lit logs from her bag into a fire pit in the center of the clearing.

“All done!” Pinkie cheered, sitting on her haunches and pantomiming wiping sweat from her brow. “Thank you so much for the help, Twilight. I could never have done it without you.”

“But… but I didn’t do anything?” I stammered, giving Pinkie a bewildered look. “Did I?”

“Of course you did, silly,” Pinkie beamed, hopping over to me. “Why, without you here it would have taken me hours to get everything set up, and then everypony would have been all cranky when they got back, and we wouldn’t have been able to beat Nightmare Moon and claim the Elements of Harmony because everypony would be too tired!”

I stared at the pink pony in confusion, my mouth slightly agape as I tried to make sense of her logic. She, in return, stood with a foreleg over my shoulder and her eyes scrunched shut by the large smile upon her face. We stayed like that for a long minute, until the silence was broken by a shriek coming from further upstream. Without a second thought, I turned and sprinted towards the sound of the commotion as fast as my sore travel-worn body would take me.

“Rarity!” I yelled, recognizing the scream of terror.

Bursting through the underbrush, I skidded to a halt as I took in the scene before me, alert and ready for any danger that might be present. The stream that we had been camped by started meandering at this point, leaving a small beach of sorts with slow-moving waters, the perfect place to wash up. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood defensively in front of Fluttershy and Rarity, and all four of them had their eyes locked on the calm waters of the river.

“Girls, what’s wrong?” I asked, gasping for breath as I limped towards them.

“Rarity said she saw somethin’ in the water,” Applejack answered.

“What was it?” I gasped, turning to face the water as well.

“I don’t know, I didn’t get a good look at it,” Rarity answered, her voice shaky with fear. “I just saw something large and purple swimming by, and I panicked.”

“You did a bit more than panic,” Rainbow Dash said, turning her head slightly towards Rarity while still keeping her eyes locked on the water. “You went completely ballistic and started throwing all our stuff at it. That includes our bags, which had all of our food in it.”

“I… I’m sorry,” Rarity stammered, looking down as her eyes started to water. “I just… everything’s been so stressful lately, and now we’re tromping through this icky forest in the dark, and.. and…”

“It’s ok, Rarity,” Applejack said, attempting to comfort the mare. “We ain’t mad at ya, just the situation.” Pausing, she shot a quick glare at Rainbow before continuing. “We’re all just glad that whatever that was didn’t get ya.”

“I just think it’s more than convenient that her bag is the only one that didn’t go in,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Now Dashie, that isn’t any way to treat a friend,” Pinkie said from behind us, causing the whole group to jolt in shock. Ignoring the near heart attack she gave us, she bounced over to the stream and bent down to inspect it, nose nearly touching the water. “Besides, whatever it was, I think it’s gone.”

Relaxing slightly the group, minus Rarity, slowly approached the water to make sure it really was clear.

“Ah think she’s right,” Applejack said, eyes scanning the water, “Ah don’t see nothin’.”

“Me either,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering a safe distance above the stream. “It’s kinda murky, but if that whatever it was was as big as Rarity said, we’d still see it.”

Leaving the group to collect their things, I turned and walked back over to Rarity. She hadn’t moved an inch since Rainbow’s comment, instead, she just sat slouched and quietly sobbing.

“Rarity,” I said softly to get her attention. Not getting a reaction from her, I sat beside her and gently draped a foreleg over her shoulder. “You ok?”

“No, I’m not,” Rarity sniffled, “I should never have come with. I’m no outdoors-pony, I’m just a useless seamstress who’s good for nothing but getting in the way and ruining things.”

She looked up from the ground, locking eyes with me, and I could barely stop myself from flinching at the amount of sorrow in her eyes.

“I just… I just thought that maybe there was something I could do,” Rarity said. “That if I came with, I could do something to help everypony. But instead, I’ve ruined everything.”

Unable to restrain herself any further, she broke into sobs as I pulled her into a hug.

“Shh, it’s ok Rarity, you didn’t ruin anything,” I said, attempting to comfort her. “We’re all still here, and once we cross the river the castle won't be much further.”

“But I’ve thrown everypony’s stuff in the river,” Rarity said. “Maybe I should just go back…”

“But we need you here, Rarity,” I said, giving her a smile while I gently rubbed her back. “Besides, Pinkie and I still have our bags back at the camp, and your bag is still here.”

“That… that’s true,” Rarity admitted. Levitating a kerchief from somewhere behind her, she daintily dabbed at her eyes before blowing her nose.

“Now, why don’t we go and join everypony else,” I suggested, having noticed the worried glances they had been sending our way. “I’m sure they’re starting to get worried about you.”

Giving a reluctant nod, Rarity stood and followed me over to the rest of the group. After a short bit of talking the others returned to camp and leaving Pinkie and me to clean ourselves up. With Fluttershy’s special shampoo sitting at the bottom of the river, I was left using just the murky water to try and scrub the mud out of my coat. The result left my coat matted and smelly, but at least I wouldn't be leaving mud all over everything I touched.

Discussions

I sat quietly at the edge of the small fire in the center of our camp, my mind recapping the events of the past few weeks. I had apparently been sent to Ponyville by the princess to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration. Both the purpose behind the celebration and my connection to it eluded me, but it had been stated more than once by the nurse that had been caring for me that I was some type of representative of the crown.

’Or, was I?’ I thought to myself. Scrunching my muzzle up in concentration I returned to the task of sorting through my conflicting memories, a task that had kept me up late many nights since I had first come to in the hospital.

’I… I remember the castle, and the princess tutoring me… but I also remember going to trade school. Groaning quietly to myself, I pressed my forehooves to my closed eyes in an attempt to hold back the oncoming headache. ’I remember graduating from trade school, moving away from home, and going into a completely different field of work than I studied. Then the princess approached me to… no, that isn’t right… we didn’t have a princess.’

Ignorant of the sound of approaching hooves, I retreated further into my own mind as I continued to try and sort through the conflicting memories.

’My best friend in school… I’d never forget her face. She was a petite mare, like myself. Glasses, sweater, always had a book with her. She… no, he! My best friend in school was male, a human male. Blond hair, blue eyes, bit of an acne problem. His name… His name was...’

I was snapped out of my thoughts by someone gently shaking me.

“Twilight?” I heard the familiar voice of Applejack say, “you doin’ alright, sugarcube?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes,” I responded. “Just… just thinking is all.”

“Ya looked like ya were thinkin’ awful hard,” Applejack said, giving me a skeptical look. “In fact, if ya thought much harder Ah think smoke woulda been comin’ outta yer ears. Somethin’ ya wanna talk about?”

“I just...” I started, before hesitating.

’Is this something I can trust talking about with her?’ I thought to myself. ’Can I trust anypony with this?’

Looking up, any hesitation I had to talk to Applejack was swept away when I locked eyes with her and saw just how sincere her concern was.

“I… have memories in my head that aren’t mine,” I said slowly, doing my best to word things in a way that wouldn’t lead to a misunderstanding, “I don’t remember growing up in Canterlot, or studying magic under the princess.”

Seeing Applejack’s look change from one of concern to one of wariness, I backpedaled in an attempt to clear things up.

“What I mean is, I do remember it, the memories are there, but…” Hesitating again, I paused to think over the wording of my next statement. “I… don’t think the memories are mine.”

“Why would you think that?” Applejack asked. “Ah’ve seen pictures of ya in the paper before, n’ you look just like the mare that’s been studyin’ under the princess fer years now.”

“There’s just… there are so many conflicting memories in my head,” I admitted, lowering my gaze to the fire. “I remember graduating from magic school, and being asked to continue my studies full-time under the princess, but… but I also remember graduating from a trade school, and wanting to go into construction.”

“A mare goin’ inta construction?” Applejack asked with a smirk. “‘N a unicorn at that? Ya don’t hear about that too often these days.”

“That’s just it,” I said, “these other memories… I’m not a unicorn or a mare.”

“Oh…” Applejack said, sitting back and looking flabbergasted.

“Yeah…” I responded, not looking up from the fire.

We sat in silence for awhile, with nothing but the crackling of the fire to keep us company, until the sound of hooves next to me signaled what I thought to be Applejack’s retreat. Much to my surprise, however, she instead moved to sit closer to me and put a comforting foreleg around my shoulders.

“Ah can’t say that Ah have any idea what that might be like,” Applejack said, squeezing me lightly, “but if ya need somepony ta talk to, ya don’t gotta be afraid ta come ta me. Ah’ll do ma best ta understand.”

“Thanks, Applejack,” I said with a smile, leaning into the embrace.

We stayed in this position for a time, both entranced by the dancing flames in the fire, before I finally decided to ask the question that had been at the back of my mind.

“So, not that I dislike the company, but why are you up?” I asked. “I figured you would have taken the opportunity to take a nap like everypony else. It is my watch, after all.”

“Ah did, fer a bit,” Applejack responded, “but bein’ a farm mare, Ah’m up with the sun. Er, at least, Ah’m up when the sun should be up, in this case. ‘N once Ah’m up, Ah can’t fall back ta sleep. Ah start gettin’ antsy as all get out if Ah try ta go back ta sleep, so Ah decided ta come and see if ya wanted some company.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. Reaching out with my magic, I grabbed my saddlebag and levitated them over to myself. “But if you’re up, then I’m sure everypony else won’t be far behind. We should probably see about getting some food together.”

“Kinda hard ta cook food that’s sittin’ at the bottom of a stream,” Applejack said, frowning slightly. “That’s why everypony went ta sleep without eatin’.”

“That’s ok, I packed a bit extra,” I said. Using my magic, I opened the flap on my bags and floated out a large bunch of lettuce, flowers, and other greens, all kept fresh by a stasis spell. “I figured since my bags were enchanted to be larger on the inside, it wouldn’t hurt to bring a bit extra.”

Breaking the embrace, Applejack grabbed my bags from my magic and began rifling through them.

“Well, would ya look at that,” she mused. “And here Ah thought ya didn’t bring nothin’ but books. Guess Ah misjudged you.”

“I thought about leaving some stuff out to cram a few more books in there,” I admitted sheepishly, “but I figured we’d be better off with the extra supplies. Besides, when would I have had a chance to read any of them?”

“Why didn’t ya say nothin’ last night?” Applejack asked, handing me back my bags.

“Well, by the time Pinkie and I got back from cleaning up, you were the only one still awake,” I said. “You just told us that you’d take first watch and that somepony would wake us when it was our turn.”

“Ah suppose Ah did, didn’t Ah?” Applejack admitted. Gathering up the ingredients I had brought, she spread them out on a small blanket I had stashed in my bag. “Ya wouldn’t happen ta have any bowls ‘r anything ta put this in, would ya?”

“Unfortunately not,” I said, giving Applejack a bashful smile. “I thought of the extra food, but something to put it in never occurred to me.”

“Ah well,” Applejack shrugged, “blanket food is better than no food.”

Having finished separating the ingredients, she then took a small amount from each pile and made six smaller, mixed piles. Making sure each pile was roughly the same size, she pushed the remaining ingredients to the side and signaled for me to take them. With the remaining ingredients safely stowed back in my bags, she pushed one of the small piles in my direction before digging into her own. Taking my own pile with a silent ‘thank you’, I dug in as well, eating in silence as we waited for everypony to wake up.

Loyalty

We waded through a shallow part of the river easily enough. A nearby bend provided the perfect place to cross as we continued our trek through the ever-thickening woods. Past the bank of the river the thicket seemed to push in on both sides of the trail, a testament to how long it had been since anything, pony or otherwise, had traveled it.

“Are we there yet?” Rainbow Dash groaned, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.

“Just a bit further, Dash,” I answered not looking up from my map. “I didn’t think some overgrown brush would slow us down this much, but I think we’re going the right way.”

“You think?” Rainbow reiterated, turning to face me with a look of exacerbation. “You mean you aren’t even sure if you’re leading us in the right direction?”

“Let’s see you try to navigate with thousand-year-old maps,” I playfully shot back. “The woods themselves have changed so much that it’s hard to recognize much of anything that’s marked on the map. We should consider ourselves lucky that even a few of the landmarks are still present and recognizable.”

“I still think you should just let me fly up and take a look myself,” Rainbow Dash huffed.

“And Ah still think it’s a bad idea,” Applejack cut in, giving Rainbow a stern look. “Ya have no idea what might be flyin’ around out here in the dark, and that’s just askin’ fer us ta get separated.”

“She’s right,” I chimed in. “Besides, if we are going the right way, then we should be running into the castle moat any minute now. Everypony keep your eyes peeled.”

Rainbow Dash huffed in annoyance but returned to the ground, and it wasn’t long before we stumbled upon the ‘moat’ that was on the map.

“So… this is supposed to be a moat?” Rainbow Dash asked, eyeing the deep chasm that lay before us.

“That’s what it looked like on the map,” I answered.

Standing at the edge of the chasm, I kicked a small rock into it and waited for the sound of the rock striking the bottom. After several seconds I heard the echoing clack of the rock hitting the bottom, and took a step back with a gulp when I calculated just how deep it was.

“We… should probably be careful crossing,” I said, turning to face the group.

“An’ how exactly are we supposed ta do that?” Applejack asked. “Ah don’t see no bridge here.”

“Really?” I asked. Turning around, I noticed a distinct lack of anything crossing across the gaping hole in the landscape. “According to the map, there should be one here. There’s even the posts for it.”

Approaching the chasm again, I looked over the edge just as Rainbow flew out over it.

“Found the bridge,” Rainbow shouted, just as I saw it.

“Looks like one side came undone,” I called back to the group. “Looks like we’ll have to find another way across.”

“And… why’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked, landing beside me and giving me a funny look.

“The bridge is down,” I answered, turning to face her. “Unless you have some way to.. get over… there…”

I trailed off as Rainbow Dash gave me a deadpan look and flared her wings.

“Right…” I responded, “forget about that.”

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash rolled sideways off the ledge and flared her wings open. Gliding down to where the opposite end of the bridge was resting against the cliff face, she grabbed the rope in her mouth and flew it across the chasm. Carefully tying both ends of the rope to the posts on the opposite side, she gave them a hard tug to make sure they were tight before waving for us to cross.

“Should be good to go now,” she called out.

Approaching the precarious looking bridge, the five of us shared a look.

“Are ya sure this thing’ll hold us?” Applejack asked, putting an experimental hoof on the bridge. “It don’t look too sturdy.”

The bridge creaked in response to the added weight, causing us all to take a step back in fear.

“Don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine,” Dash shouted back impatiently. “Just cross one at a time, I’ll catch anypony if they fall. It would probably help if Twi and Pinkie sent their bags over separately, as well.”

The five of us looked back and forth between one another in hesitation before Applejack put on a brave face and stepped forward.

“Ah’m probably the heaviest one here, so Ah’ll go first,” Applejack suggested, “just to be safe.”

We all agreed with her plan rather quickly, none of us wanting to be the first one to cross. Stepping forward, Applejack looked skyward and mumbled to herself before taking her first cautious step onto the bridge. It creaked and groaned in response to the added weight, swaying side to side slightly, but despite its age and appearance, it held fast. When she was nearly halfway across one of the planks gave out beneath her, nearly sending her tumbling into the chasm below, but a quick shift to her center of gravity left her with nothing more than a scraped foreleg and a bruised chin.

“You alright up there, AJ?” Dash asked. The instant she had seen the plank give out, her wings shot open and she was already circling below the bridge, ready to catch the earth pony should she fall.

“Yeah, Ah’m fine,” Applejack responded shakily, gingerly rubbing her chin. “Mah ego took the worst a’ the fall.”

“Well, hurry across so we can keep it that way,” Rainbow Dash suggested. With a slight adjustment to the angle of her wings, she swooped up above the bridge and continued circling. “Just keep your eyes forward and keep moving, I’ll be here to catch you if you fall.”

Tipping her hat to the rainbow-maned pegasus, Applejack slowly continued her trek across the bridge, soon reaching the opposite side without incident. Of the four of us left, Rarity, Fluttershy, and I all silently glanced at each other, tempting one another to cross next. Pinkie Pie, oblivious to the stare down happening around her, happily dropped her bag to the ground, then stepped out onto the bridge and began crossing at a brisk trot. Not even opening her eyes, she deftly avoided the missing plank from Applejack’s near miss and was across in no time.

“Well, if nopony else wants to go,” Rarity said, stepping up to the bridge next, “I suppose it’s my turn.”

Placing a dainty hoof on the bridge, Rarity began her trip across. Due to her poise and natural grace, she crossed the bridge swiftly, barely causing it to sway in her wake. With only two of us left, I looked to Fluttershy to see if she planned on crossing next.

“Why don’t you go ahead next, if you don’t mind,” Fluttershy suggested. “I can fly over if anything happens.”

Seeing the sense in her suggestion, I nodded in agreement and grabbed Pinkie’s bag in my magic before approaching the bridge. Unstrapping my own bag, it soon joined Pinkie’s in floating beside me as I eyed the bridge warily. Seeing me carrying the bags with me, Rainbow Dash swooped down to grab them.

“I can take those off your hooves,” Rainbow offered. “Just give me a second to fly them over to the others before you cross.”

“Oh, sure, thanks,” I said.

Levitating the bags to her, she took one in each foreleg. The moment my aura was no longer enveloping the bags, she zipped off to the other side of the bridge and handed them to Pinkie and Applejack. True to her word, seconds later she was once again circling over the bridge, prepared to swoop down should I fall.

“Go ahead, Twi,” Rainbow called out, “I got your back.”

Emboldened by her words, I placed one shaky hoof in front of the other and began my slow trip across the bridge. Despite the creaking and swaying coming from the bridge, as I neared the halfway point without an issue my confidence began to build, and with it my speed. When I reached the broken plank from Applejack’s crossing I carefully stepped over the gap in the bridge, taking extra care to make sure none of my hooves slipped into it. Nearing the end of the bridge, I sighed in relief.

“Alright girls,” I said, preparing to cross the last few feet of the bridge, “that just leaves Flut-”

I was cut off by sharp crack and the sound of screaming as the world began spinning. Before I could register what was happening, I found myself chest to chest with an irritated-looking Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, I got ya,” Rainbow grumbled, pinning her ears back, “you can stop screaming now.”

I snapped my muzzle closed, blushing when I realized that the screaming had been coming from me.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized. “I just… everything happened so fast, and…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dash said, giving me a cocky smirk. “I said I’d catch you, and I did.”

Swooping down, Rainbow lowered me onto my hind legs before allowing me to fall forward. Securely on four hooves again, I barely had time to lift a shaky foreleg to my chest before being glomped by two separate ponies simultaneously.

“Oh my gosh, Twilight, are you okay?!” Pinkie squealed, nearly squeezing the breath out of me.

“That was simply horrifying, darling,” Rarity said, squeezing me from the opposite side. “One moment you were there, talking to us, and then the next you were just gone.”

The flapping of multiple sets of wings alerted me to the arrival of both Rainbow and Fluttershy, the latter not wasting any time in joining the hug.

“Oh my gosh, I was so worried!” Fluttershy sobbed into my shoulder. “The bridge just gave out, and you fell, but I was too afraid to act, and… and if Rainbow Dash hadn’t been here, you could have died! You would have died, and it would have been all my fault!”

“It’s ok, Fluttershy,” I choked out, wiggling my pinned hooves in an attempt to pat her on the back. “I don’t blame you.”

“But…” Fluttershy sniffled, leaning back to look me in the eyes, “but, I told you to go.”

Giving the group of us a cocky smile, Rainbow sat on her haunches and began polishing a forehoof on her chest.

“It’s alright, ‘Shy, she’s fine,” Rainbow said, pausing to blow on her now polished hoof, “I wouldn’t’ve let her fall. You girls know I’d never let any of you down.”

“‘Course ya wouldn’t,” Applejack chuckled, “there ain’t nopony more loyal than you in Ponyville. ‘Cept maybe mahself.”

Approaching the group, Applejack placed my saddlebags on the ground beside me before motioning up the trail with a jerk of her head.

“Not that Ah ain’t glad yer ok, but we should really get movin’,” Applejack said. “There’ll be time fer celebratin’ when the sun is back and the princess is safe.”

The mares surrounding me reluctantly broke the hug, allowing me to breathe freely. Igniting my horn, I levitated my bags back onto my back and strapped them in place before signaling that I was ready. The group set off down the path at a brisk trot, and noticing that Rainbow had fallen back towards the back of the group, I slowed down so that I could walk beside her.

“Hey, Rainbow?” I said quietly, trying to get her attention.

“Hmm, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked, jumping slightly. “Sorry ‘bout that, was just thinkin’ is all.”

“About what?” I asked, glancing sideways at her.

“Just… all of this,” Rainbow said, vaguely waving a hoof in front of her.

“The forest?” I said, looking around at the trees that surrounded us.

“No… err, yes… I mean,” Rainbow paused for a minute to collect her thoughts. “Just, everything, really. The forest, this plan… I’ve always wanted adventure in my life, and now that it’s happening, it just seems…”

“Disappointing?” I guessed, having an idea of where she was going.

“Sort of, yeah,” she admitted after a moment's hesitation. “I just expected so much more action. Instead, we’ve just been walking for hours on end.”

“Was me almost dying not enough action for you?” I asked jokingly.

“No! Err, yes? I mean…” Rainbow stammered.

“It’s fine,” I giggled. “I understood what you meant.”

“Yeah, it's just…” Rainbow sighed. “It’s a bit selfish, but I’m kinda hoping something pops up, so we have something to do. But then I feel bad, cus if something happens and we do fail, then it isn’t just the end for me, or for us, it’s the end for all of Equestria.”

The two of us continued in silence, both pondering over what Dash had said.

“Don’t feel bad,” I said, finally breaking the silence. “I’m sure you aren’t the only one getting antsy. I know I’ve found myself hoping for something to happen myself.”

“Really?” Rainbow asked, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly. “I took you for a bookworm, not an adrenaline junkie.”

“My antsiness has nothing to do with thrill seeking,” I giggled. “It’s just, the longer we go without at least something happening, the worse I expect whatever we run into to be.”

“That’s… one way of looking at it, I suppose,” Rainbow said, frowning slightly. “I mean, we are going against a pony that managed to take down Princess Celestia, so if she knows we’re coming…”

“Then we won’t stand a chance,” I finished for Rainbow, causing her to flinch slightly.

Glancing forward, I noted that the rest of the group had their ears turned back towards us and had been listening in.

“But enough about that, that isn’t why I wanted to talk to you,” I said, attempting to change the subject. “I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Rainbow asked, looking momentarily confused. I jerked my head back toward the chasm, and her eyes lit up in realization. “Oh, for saving you, yeah. That was no problem, I’d do it for anypony.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you saved my life,” I said, causing Rainbow to flush slightly. “But I don’t really understand why. I thought you didn’t like me.”

“Just because I don’t like somepony, doesn’t mean I’d let them fall to their death,” Rainbow said adamantly. “Besides, I don’t dislike you, I just don’t trust you. There’s a difference.”

“Well, regardless, thanks,” I said, giving her a friendly smile.

“If y’all are done back there, we’re here,” Applejack called, drawing our attention back to the path, and the large castle that sat at its end.

Castle

I couldn’t help but gape in awe at the run-down castle that stood before us. Despite its decrepit appearance, I could tell that the castle was once a grand building, perhaps even among the grandest of its time. Despite being well over one-thousand years old, the only sign of wear or damage to the castle came in the form of what looked like strikes from some sort of siege engine.

“Well, we’re finally here,” Rainbow said, “what now?”

“Now, we look for the Elements, “ I said, taking a confident step forward.

“Y’all heard the mare,” Applejack said, falling into step with me, “let’s get a move on. The sooner we find these Elements, the sooner we can git back ta Ponyville and bring back the sun.”

The rest of the girls were quick to follow, and together we approached the intimidating keep. The doors opened on squeaky hinges, the ominous groan sending a chill down everypony’s spine.

“So, not that I’m scared or anything,” Rainbow Dash said shakily, her eyes nervously darting back and forth “but we’re only here for the Elements, right? Like, get in, grab ‘em, and get out.”

“If all goes to plan, yes,” I responded.

“Great!” Rainbow Dash cheered, perking up slightly. “So, what do they look like?”

I opened my mouth to respond, then froze in place when her question registered.

“D’ja hear her, Twi?” Applejack asked after I had failed to answer.

When I failed to respond once more the group turned to see me frozen in place, mouth hanging half open with a look of shock on my face.

“Silly Twilight,” Pinkie giggled, “you’ll catch flies if you don’t close your mouth.”

“Is everything alright, darling?” Rarity asked, shooting Pinkie a slightly disgusted look.

“I have no idea,” I said quietly.

“What was that?” Applejack asked, taking a step towards me.

“I have no idea what they look like,” I repeated, slightly louder this time.

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash said, glaring at me. “You mean to tell me that you drug us all the way out here, and you have no idea what the Elements look like?!”

“Well, no,” I responded, taking a step back, “the book didn’t say anything about what they looked like, just that they had been used over a millennium ago to seal some of the greatest threats known to ponykind.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and moved to take another threatening step forward, but Applejack stepped in front of her to cut her off.

“Now calm down, Dash,” Applejack said. “It was a miracle she managed ta track the things down, we can’t expect her ta do all the work fer us.”

“She’s right, you know,” Rarity said, giving me a small smile. “She did wonderfully for the short amount of time we had to prepare.”

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash huffed. Turning around, she snorted and walked off. “Let's just find these things so we can get outta here.”

“Agreed,” Applejack said, giving the entryway we were standing in a wary look. “The sooner we can get outta here, the better. Somethin’ ain’t right about this place.”

“There are no animals,” Fluttershy said softly, peering out from her bangs.

“What was that?” Rarity asked.

“I said there are no animals,” Fluttershy repeated, slightly louder this time, “it’s completely silent in here. With all of the easily available shelter here, there should be little critters all over the place. The only reason they’d avoid someplace like this is if there was something dangerous.”

“All the better fer us to get tha Elements n’ get out, then,” Applejack said.

“She’s right,” I said. Lighting up my horn, I pulled a scroll out of my bag with my magic and unrolled it. “I know it’s not much to go on, but the only account of the Elements’ appearance that I could find made note of how ‘they shone with an inner glow’. They’ve been sitting in a castle in the middle of a forest for over a thousand years, so that may no longer hold true, but it’s still something to keep in mind.”

“It’s also a right bit more’n we had to go on before,” Applejack said, “thank ya kindly.”

“Any plans on how we should go about looking for the Elements?” Rarity asked. “Perhaps a hint as to where they’re hidden in those notes of yours?”

“Besides them last being kept in this castle, there’s nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “I think our best course of action would be to split into groups of two, start at the front, and work our way back.”

“Wouldn’t it be faster to just split up and have everypony search on their own?” Rainbow asked.

“Faster, yes,” I admitted, “but if Fluttershy is right about why the wildlife has been avoiding the castle, then it would be much safer to move in groups.”

“Puh-lease,” Dash scoffed, “I can handle anything this castle can throw at me.”

“Y’all might be able to,” Applejack said, giving Dash a skeptical look, “but not everypony here can.”

“Fine,” Rainbow groaned. Hooking a foreleg under Fluttershy’s, she began dragging her further into the castle. “I’ll take ‘Shy’ then, let’s go.”

Squeaking in response, Fluttershy began hobbling along behind her.

“Well,” Applejack said, watching the pegasi disappear down the hallway, “if they’re gonna look together, then Ah suppose Ah’ll take Pinkie and…”

“Now hold on, Applejack,” Rarity said, cutting her off, “I think it would make more sense if one of you went with Twilight. I’ve been thinking of what she said about the Elements, and it got me thinking that they might be gemstones of some type. I happen to know a spell that lets me locate gems, and if I were to teach Twilight to cast it then it would make things so much easier for the four of us.”

“That sounds like a brilliant idea,” Pinkie squealed.

“Ah agree,” Applejack said. “Now that Ah’m thinkin’ about it, a unicorn in each group would be better few quite a few reasons.”

“Indeed,” Rarity said, preening at the attention her idea was getting. Turning to face me, she lit her horn as she began demonstrating how to cast the spell. “Now, Twilight, what you have to do is…”

After a quick explanation, I was successfully able to cast the spell. Confident that I could cast the spell on my own we moved further into the castle before splitting up. After searching a few smaller rooms that had at one point been used for storage, the six of us entered a large chamber with a large statue holding five stone orbs in its center.

“Well, this looks promising,” I said. Approaching the statue, I lit my horn as I scanned it with magic. “There seems to be some residual magic left on these orbs, and for it to stick to them for as long as it has it would have had to have been some heavy duty stuff.”

“So, you think they’re the Elements, then?” Rarity asked. Approaching the statue, she looked it over with a critical eye. “I must say, if it is them, then I will be quite disappointed. From the way you talked about them, I was expecting so much more.”

“‘Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. Together these virtues form the foundation of Harmony’,” Pinkie said, staring at a plaque on the base of the statue. “Sure sounds like the Elements to me.”

“Indeed they are,” a dark feminine voice that seemed to come from all around us called out. “I’m actually quite impressed you were able to find them. I suppose there’s a reason you were my sister’s student.”

“Sister?” I asked in confusion. “Who are you?”

“‘Who am I?” the voice said mockingly. “Why, you should know that already, shouldn’t you? After all, you were already making to prevent my arrival for days before your little… accident.”

“Accident,” I said softly, eyes growing wide. “How did you know about that?”

“Quite obvious, isn’t it?” The voice said. The shadows around us began to writhe and pulse as the source of the voice moved to the darkened hallway opposite the one we entered from. “You didn’t think it was coincidence that the one pony that just so happened to not only know of my return but also of a way to prevent it, just happened to have an… accident, now did you?”

As she finished speaking, a large black alicorn clad in blue armor stepped out of the shadows. She began chuckling darkly as her blue star filled mane whipped violently behind her.

“I didn’t just know about it,” she stated showing off her razor-sharp teeth with a malevolent grin, “I caused it.”

“Y-you caused it?” I stammered, completely floored by what the alicorn mare had just admitted to.

“That’s right,” Nightmare admitted. “It was quite simple, too. A few bolts just happen to come loose, the rigging becomes just a bit too frayed, and… well, you already found out what the results are. I even stopped by the wreckage to ensure that your heart was no longer beating, but it seems that I made a mistake.”

“Ya mean you…” Applejack started, taking an angry step forward. “And those guards?”

“Necessary sacrifice,” the mare said nonchalantly. “Besides, they were entirely too loyal to my sister, it would have been far too much work to… convert them.”

“But they had families!” Applejack yelled. She moved to take another step forward but almost fell on her face when her hooves refused to budge.

“Families that’ll never see them again,” Applejack continued, undeterred by her restricted movements.

“You do bring up a fair point,” the alicorn said. Smiling darkly, she began sashaying towards us. “I suppose when I finish dealing with you lot, I’ll have to head back to Canterlot and… reunite them with their families.”

We gasped at the implications of her statement, all of us but Dash and Applejack attempting to move back as she slowly got closer.

“Of course, that’s nothing that you should be worrying about,” the dark mare sneered. “No, you should be worrying about making your peace with what time you have left.”

Time slowed to a crawl as I watched Nightmare Moon walk around the statue and approach Applejack. Panicking, I lit my horn in an attempt to do something, anything, to prevent what I knew was about to happen, and failed to notice the five orbs begin to glow in response. My panic turned to confusion when I noticed Nightmare Moon’s confident smirk melt into a look of anger, fear, and contempt. Her horn became encased in a corona of living shadow that then blasted forth in a shockwave away from her. The wave reached Applejack first, catching her across the chest and launching her bodily across the room. One by one the wave connected with us, picking us up off of our hooves and carrying us with it as it connected with the far wall.

Acting on instinct, I had pulled up a flimsy shield that helped lessen the blow enough for me to prepare for her next move. Impacting the wall back first, I landed shakily on my hind legs before falling forward on all fours. Not even pausing to fully recover my footing, my eyes shot open and my horn became engulfed in a bright lavender light as I prepared myself for the oncoming assault. Instead of launching another attack as I had expected, the dark alicorn had instead turned to face the now glowing orbs and encased them in her magic.

“No!” I yelled, lunging forward.

Reaching out with my magic, I sensed the makings of a teleportation spell and latched onto Nightmare Moon’s magic in an attempt to block it. The alicorn easily overpowered me, however, and instead of blocking her teleport like I had intended I was instead pulled along with her. I was engulfed in darkness, screaming in agony as the teleport stretched and pulled me in every direction at once. After a short time, I felt solid ground under my hooves and I squeezed my eyes shut as I widened my stance in an attempt to steady myself.

“Well well well,” I heard a familiar voice say, cutting through the haze left by the unexpected teleport and sending a shiver down my spine. I opened my eyes and instinctively leaped backward, a searing wave of heat and the stench of burning fur telling me I had just barely dodged a magic blast.

“My oh my, would you look at that,” Nightmare chuckled darkly. “Not only are you resilient and resourceful, but you’ve got good instincts, as well. It really is a shame you’re such a fanatical follower of my sister. Were you to join me, and take your place under my wing... why, there wouldn’t be a pony alive who could stop you.”

I stumbled over my own hooves as the implication of what she was saying hit me. Doing my best to keep her from backing me into a corner, I slowly backed away from her and towards the center of the room as my eyes darted back and forth between her and my surroundings.

The first thing I noticed about the room Nightmare had inadvertently brought me to was that it was quite obviously what had served as the throne room when the castle was still inhabited. At the far end of the room were a pair of stone thrones, a larger one of white stone decorated in gold filigree with another throne of dark colored stone decorated in silver. A long, tattered, red and gold carpet ran from the foot of the dais the thrones sat upon to the door that acted as the main entrance to the room. Lining the approach to the thrones were a series of large marble white pillars, most of which had toppled over and now only remained as large chunks of rubble that served as blockades for the smaller hallways that lined the side of the room.

“I can picture it now,” Nightmare purred. Noticing that her previous statement had thrown me off balance, the dark alicorn slowly circled around me to cut off me off from the rooms only unblocked exit. “I would sit upon the throne in Canterlot, ruling over this world with my creatures of the night, and you would sit beside me as my enforcer; none would dare to stand against us. What do you say?”

“What do I say?” I asked.

My eyes darted around the room, seeking any other plan of action than the suicidal idea that had lodged itself in my head. Seeing no other way out, I swallowed the lump in my throat and returned my gaze to Nightmare.

“As intriguing as your offer is,” I said, standing tall on shaky legs, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline.”

Seeing a brief look of shock cross the dark alicorn’s face, I attempted to take advantage of her momentary shock and launched the fastest, strongest bolt of pure magic I could muster straight at her face. Nightmare raised a shield to block the blast, and in an attempt to take advantage of her momentary distraction, I wrapped the five stone orbs that had been floating behind her in my own magic and attempted to pull them to myself and teleport. My efforts proved to be futile, however, when Nightmare easily overpowered my telekinetic grip on the Elements and launched me back into the stairs of the dais with a blast of her own, canceling my teleport in the process.

“Such a shame,” Nightmare sighed, “with such devious tactics, you would do well as my seneschal.”

The shadows began writhing as all the darkness began converging on Nightmare’s horn, her slitted draconic eyes glowing ominously. She smirked deviously at me, her fangs glinting in the moonlight as the shadows condensed into a ball on the tip of her horn.

“Now, be a good girl and stay dead this time,” Nightmare said sweetly.

No sooner had the words left her mouth then a beam of pure darkness erupted from her horn and shot straight towards me. Still reeling from the backlash of my forcefully canceled teleport, I couldn’t do anything but sit and watch as the beam traveled at me faster than I could move. Resigning myself to my fate I turned my head and closed my eyes, my body tensing in anticipation. After what seemed like an eternity I felt something smash into me, as pain erupted in my chest as it lifted me off the ground and carried me with it.

Elements

Author's Note

Sorry I forgot to upload a chapter yesterday! Busy day at work, and with the new raid coming out in WoW I've been pedal to the metal prepping my character and clearing content. There's one more chapter after this, and then there will be a epilogue. Hopefully, I'll be able to close thing up nicely for you and not leaving y'all wanting for answers.

Elements

I laid still where I had landed, forelegs over my head with my eyes screwed tight, wondering why I still seemed to be both alive and conscious. In fact, besides the dull throb in my chest where the beam had impacted me, I seemed to be perfectly intact.

“It’s ok, Twi,” a familiar scratchy voice said. “You’re safe now, you can open your eyes.”

Slowly opening one eye, I was shocked to see Rainbow Dash standing defensively in between Nightmare Moon and me.

“Barely got here in time,” Rainbow said, peeking over her shoulder at me. “You still got everything back there?”

“Yeah, I do,” I said, giving myself a quick look before flinching when I looked back at Rainbow. “But, your tail…”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Rainbow said, snapping the singed remains of her tail in annoyance. “It’ll grow back, you won’t.”

“But… what are you even doing here?” I asked. “And, how did you even find us?”

“You didn’t think I’d leave you to deal with ol’ Nighty here by yourself?” Dash asked. “When she did that creepy smoke thing and pulled you with her, I followed you guys. You aren’t far from the room we found the Element’s in.”

“Why risk yourself for me?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked, briefly looking back at me before remembering to face Nightmare Moon.

“Why risk yourself for me? For somepony you don’t even trust,” I said. “You see what that beam did to the thrones, imagine if you would have gotten hit by that.”

“No chance it woulda hit me,” Rainbow scoffed. “Besides, if I hadn’t done anything, knowing that I could have, I never would have been able to live with myself.”

Rainbow’s expression softened as she gained a small smile.

“Besides, I’ve been rethinking the whole ‘not trusting you’ thing,” she said. “Somepony who’s willing to go through all this, and stand up to an alicorn by themselves? Kinda makes me think I misjudged you.”

Standing from where I landed, a warmth bloomed in my chest as I moved to stand beside Rainbow. Nightmare seemed content to see and watch with a sneer on her face as I gaped at the damage done by the magic attack. The thrones were completely destroyed, along with a large portion of the dais they had rested upon, and there was a large hole blown in the wall behind it.

“What about the others?” I asked, shaking my head to try and clear the image of what her attack would have done to me from it.

“They were following on hoof when I took off,” Rainbow said. “They should be here any moment.”

“Good,” Nightmare said, speaking up for the first time since she had launched her attack. “I’ve grown tired of these games. Once your friends arrive, I can just destroy you all at once.”

“You can try,” Rainbow scoffed. “Once the others get here, we’ll just beat the hay outta you and take the Elements back.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Nightmare chuckled darkly. “One-thousand years on the moon were quite… tedious, I could use the entertainment.”

Shouting and the sound of hooves pounding on stone interrupted any further banter, and it wasn’t long before the other four came galloping into the room and ran straight for us. Sliding to a stop in front of us, they quickly fanned out around me and turned to face Nightmare.

“Y’all alright?” Applejack asked.

“Little toasty, but we’re fine,” Rainbow said. “Me and Twi can handle anything this wanna be can throw at us.”

“Rainbow, you are not fine!” Rarity shrieked. “Just look at what happened to your poor tail!”

“Eh, it’s no biggie,” Rainbow said. “It was either the tail or Twi; not exactly a hard decision to make.”

“Well, I suppose that’s understandable,” Rarity said after a moment's hesitation. “Besides, short tails are in this season.”

“Are you quite through?” Nightmare asked, frowning impatiently. “I’d like to move on to the whole ‘destroying you’ part already.”

“Ha, you wish!” Rainbow laughed, taking a confident step forward. “With all of us together, you don’t stand a chance!”

The rest of the ponies stepped forward, shouting their agreement, and I noticed the dim glow that had been emanating from the Elements pulse in response. Nightmare noticed it too, her expression darkening as she floated the stone orbs in front of her.

“With these, you may have stood a chance,” Nightmare growled. The glow surrounding her horn intensified and the Elements shattered, the sounds of the shards falling to the ground cutting through the silence in the room like a knife. “Without them, however…”

We all gaped in shock at the shattered remains of what had been our best hope of returning the sun.

“Aww, where’s that bravado now, my little ponies?” Nightmare cooed. Stepping over the shattered remains of the stone orbs, she slunk towards us with a devious grin on her face. “Hadn’t you just finished telling us how you were going to… ‘beat the hay out of me’?”

“W-we don’t need the Elements to beat you,” Rainbow said shakily. Swallowing her fear, she stepped forward once more with a glare. “And you aren’t going to hurt my friends! If you want to touch them, you’re going to have to go through me.”

Unbeknownst to Nightmare Moon, the shattered fragments of the Elements behind her began to glow in response to Rainbow’s assertion. I noticed, however, and a small smile grew on my face as I came to a realization.

“What are you smirking at?” Nightmare demanded. “Despite what the puny pegasus might say, you will die here.”

“You can’t destroy the Elements,” I muttered, drawing looks of surprise from the others.

“What was that?” Nightmare asked, crouching lower as she ignited her horn once more.

“You may have destroyed the physical embodiment of the Elements, but you can never truly destroy the spirit of harmony,” I said, confidently stepping forward to stand beside Rainbow. “The spirits of Harmony live inside these five ponies, inside of my friends.”

Looking behind me, I nodded at my friends and motioned for them to step forward.

“Applejack,” I said as the orange mare stepped forward to stand beside me. “Stalwart, hard-working, and when she says she’s going to do something, she gives it her all to make sure it gets done. She’s been nothing but truthful with me since I woke up, even when the truth isn’t what I wanted to hear. She represents the Element of Honesty!”

In response to my declaration, a portion of the shards began shining a brilliant orange. Floating into the air, the shards soared in an arc over Nightmare’s head and began circling Applejack.

“Fluttershy,” I said, the pegasus mare shyly stepping forward in response. “Quiet, compassionate, and she would never let another suffer if she could help it. Since the moment I’ve met her, she’s done nothing but worry about others over herself, even going so far as to stop and treat an injured manticore on our way here. A pony as caring as she is could only be the Element of Kindness!”

Again shards of the orbs, encased in a pink glow, floated over to our group and encircled Fluttershy.

“Pinkie Pie,” the mare in question hopped forward, giggling to herself. “Loud, boisterous, and never without a smile on her face. She has spent every moment of her time since your return giving her all to keep up the moral of the town and, once we had set out on our mission, that of our group. For the pony who spreads cheer wherever she goes, she’s deserving of nothing less than the Element of Laughter!”

More shards of the sphere levitated over to the group, completely ignoring Nightmares attempts to stop them with her magic. The shards floated over to Pinkie Pie and began orbiting her as the pink mare danced back and forth on her hind legs.

“Rarity,” I said, causing the white unicorn to prance forward. “I have never met a pony so willing to give all of what they have to help others. Since we met, I have seen her do nothing but give, never once asking for anything in return. The Element of Generosity could pick no better bearer.”

Half of the remaining shards began glowing a bright purple and floated past a terrified-looking Nightmare and around Rarity.

“And finally, Rainbow Dash,” I said, glancing at the rainbow-maned mare beside me. “Fierce, brash, and protective. Unable to stand idly by when one of her friends is in danger. I could think of nopony better to represent the Element of Loyalty!”

The last of the shards of the orbs, this time glowing a brilliant red, floated off of the ground and began orbiting Rainbow.

“So you figured out how the Elements work, big deal,” Nightmare scoffed. “You’ve still only got five of them; without the sixth they’re useless.”

The rest of the girls shared a concerned look, but I simply smirked confidently at Nightmare.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said, taking a step forward. “The prophecy stated that when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth to be revealed.”

“And?” Nightmare said, taking a challenging step forward. “I didn’t see a spark, nor do I see the sixth Element. Face it, you’ve failed.”

“But there was a spark,” I responded, refusing to back down. “The spark ignited in me when I realized how close we had become, and how much we had grown to care for each other.”

Nightmare’s confidence began to visibly waver as she took a hesitant step back, her wings twitching as she considered fleeing.

“The spark ignited the fire in the hearts of all of us when I realized that these ponies were my friends!” A bright light flashed above me, and a quick glance up showed a sixth stone orb gently floating above me. “When those fires are ignited by the spark of friendship, it creates the sixth Element.”

The glow encasing the sixth Element steadily grew brighter as the five ponies behind me slowly floated off of the ground.

“The Element of Magic!” I shouted triumphantly, feeling myself begin to lift off the ground as well.

The shards began spinning faster and faster around the necks of my five friends as they slowly changed in appearance. What had once been stone shards slowly grew crystalline in appearance, before rapidly closing in around their necks. A bright flash of light momentarily obscured my sight before clearing to reveal five golden necklaces, each containing a gem in the shape of the bearers cutie mark. The final orb lowered itself towards my head, and just as it was about to make contact it morphed into a large golden tiara with a purple starburst gem in the center. With the addition of the sixth and final Element, the glow encasing my friends and I doubled, then tripled, tinting my vision white before blasting forth from us in an arc towards Nightmare Moon.

“No!” Nightmare shouted, swallowing her pride and turning to flee when she realized she couldn’t stop us. She was too late, however, and the rainbow light quickly looped around in front of her and cut her off. The blast began circling her faster and faster, slowly stretching until it became a whirlwind of rainbow light. I could hear screams of pain and cries for mercy come from the center of the whirlwind as it lifted her into the air, and just before my vision went completely white and I lost all sense I heard the distinct sound of seven bodies impacting the ground.

Harmony

I floated for an indeterminate amount of time in a sea of light, with white in every direction as far as the eye could see. I wasn’t entirely sure how I had gotten here, nor what I was supposed to do now that I was wherever ‘here’ was. The last thing I remember was confronting Nightmare Moon, discovering the sixth Element, and then using them against her. I remembered lifting off the ground as my world became engulfed in a bright white light, and more magic coursing through my system then I ever remember having, and then… I was here.

I began wandering aimlessly forward, noting that at some point the sea I had been stuck floating in had, at some point, become a platform. I continued on, unsure if I was even traveling in a straight line, and just when I thought I was going to lose my mind I appeared in front of myself. There was no tell-tale flash of light or pop that would accompany a teleport, I had simply closed my eyes to blink and when I opened them a perfect replica of myself was standing directly in front of me. Or, at least, a perfect replica of the body I’d been inhabiting. So lost in thought was I, that I didn’t realize my doppelganger had been speaking until I noticed her lips moving.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” I said, shaking my head in an attempt to clear the distracting thought.

My copy, in response simply giggled into a hoof before repeating herself.

“I said ‘I’m glad to finally meet you face to face’,” she said. “I was hoping to meet the pony that was… filling in for me before I moved on.”

“Filling… in for you?” I asked dumbly.

Instead of saying anything, my double turned to the side to reveal a large pair of pristine white wings folded gently at her sides. My jaw worked silently for a moment as I put the pieces together.

“So that means that you’re…” I said, trailing off when she nodded sadly at me.

“Twilight Sparkle,” she said. “Well, the original Twilight Sparkle. And you’re… well, you’re Twilight now, too.”

“You’re the original,” I said slowly, pointing a hoof at her before slowly bringing it to my chest, “so… that makes me a fake?”

“Not exactly,” Twilight responded, frowning slightly. “You aren’t a fake, just… just don’t worry about that for now. She’ll explain it all when we get to Her. I don’t have all of the details myself, and I’d hate to misinform you.”

Turning around, she motioned with her head for me to follow and started walking in a seemingly random direction.

“Her?” I asked, trotting to catch up to Twilight. “Who is ‘her’?”

“‘She’ is the pony in charge of all of this,” Twilight answered. “She’s the pony responsible for both of us being here, and the only reason you didn’t completely lose yourself when you came to be in possession of my body.”

“Completely lose myself?” I asked, freezing in place momentarily before trotting to catch up again. “What do you mean by lose myself? I feel completely, one-hundred percent like myself.”

“Of course you feel like yourself,” Twilight said. “If your ‘self’ had changed, and you were acting in a way that your new self would act, would it really feel like you weren’t acting like yourself if you weren't actively monitoring for changes in your personality?”

“Well… I suppose not,” I admitted. “But, if I didn’t know I wasn’t acting like myself, then how did you know I’m not?”

“It’s… complicated,” Twilight said hesitantly. “Like I said, She knows all of the details, so I think it would be better if we allowed her to explain everything.”

I begrudgingly agreed, realizing that Twilight wasn’t going to answer any more of my questions until we got where we were going. We continued our trek in silence, and after a time I found myself observing the mare out of the corner of my eye. The first difference I noticed between the two of us, besides her wings, was our posture. While I slouched slightly, and drug my hooves, she walked tall and proud, holding herself the way a royal would.

I also noticed she walked with a much more confident gate than I was capable of. She moved as naturally on four legs as anyone who was born with them, whereas I, although it felt natural, couldn’t escape the underlying sense of wrongness that came with quadrupedal locomotion. I was so engrossed in inspecting the original, that I nearly tripped and fell on my face when she stopped abruptly.

“Well, here we are,” Twilight said, using her magic to catch me.

Turning my attention forward once more, my jaw dropped when I saw the massive golden gates before us. I strained my neck as my eyes slowly trailed the gates all the way to the top, and I began to wonder how I could miss something so massive from anywhere in this barren landscape.

“How did I miss these?” I asked myself out loud.

“Because they only appear to those who are ready to pass through them,” A serene voice answered from beside me, causing me to jump in surprise.

With a yelp, I turned to face the speaker and froze in shock when I saw her. Before me stood a large white alicorn with a flowing scarlet main. Upon her flanks rested a single feathered quill resting in a black inkwell.

“It is good to finally meet you,” the alicorn said. “I’ll admit I was a bit worried when I saw who the Elements had chosen to wield them in Twilight’s stead, but I am happy to see you didn’t disappoint.”

“The… Elements chose?” I asked, giving Twilight a questioning look. “What do you mean by that, and who are you.”

“Oh, forgive me,” the alicorn mare giggled. “I’m so used to ponies recognizing me on sight, that it had completely slipped my mind that you weren’t of our realm.”

Turning to fully face me, she lightly bowed her head.

“I have gone by many names throughout history,” she said, “but you may call me Faust.”

I turned to ask Twilight who this ‘Faust’ was, and why she was bowing to me, but stopped when I saw that Twilight was more bewildered than I at the actions of the mare.

“I’m so glad I finally got to meet you,” Faust continued, not once raising her head. “It broke my heart when my daughter’s heart fell into darkness, and I couldn’t have been happier to see her returned to normal.”

“Your daughter?” I asked, clueless as to what she was talking about.

“Your daughter…” Twilight parroted before I saw realization spark in her eyes. “You mean Nightmare Moon is your daughter?”

My eyes snapped to Faust at this statement, and I was nearly floored when she nodded her head.

“Yes, she is,” Faust verbally confirmed. “Although, she was born under a much different name. She didn’t start going by that name until she allowed darkness to take root in her heart. She once was, and always will be, my little Luna.”

Lifting her head, she looked me straight in the eyes, and I could see the emotions hidden within them.

“And thanks to you, the world will once again know her as such,” Faust finished. Raising her head, she turned to face the gates. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

“What are they?” I asked, turning my attention back to the gates.

“The Gates of Elysium,” Twilight answered. “Gateway to the final resting place. I had read about them before, but to see them in pony…”

“They are quite the sight,” Faust admitted with a chuckle. “Even after a millennium of guarding them, I never tire of looking at them.”

“How come I couldn’t see them before?” I asked, looking at the alicorn mare out of the corner of my eye. “I was wandering around in here for what felt like days, but I didn’t see them until they just kind of randomly… showed up.”

“As I stated before, they only appear to those who are ready to pass through them,” Faust giggled, “or those whom I deem worthy of looking upon them.”

“So, what happens if you end up here and you aren’t ready to pass through them?” I asked. “And where even is here?”

“To answer your second question first,” Faust said, turning to face the vast white plain that stretched out before us, “we are currently in the Ethereal plane, or Purgatory, as some call it. When a pony's physical body dies, but they aren’t quite ready to pass on to Elysium, they are left to wander here until they can come to terms with their passing.”

“Then… why am I here?” I asked. “I’m not even sure if I died, or even how. One moment my friends and I were preparing to use the Elements, and the next… I was here.”

“You are here for two reasons,” Faust said. “The first is that you pushed poor Twilight’s body entirely too hard, and the strain of firing the Elements nearly overwhelmed you. Your consciousness was pulled through here to help shield it. The second reason you are here is that Harmony felt you were deserving of an explanation.”

“An explanation?” I asked. “And, who’s Harmony?”

“Harmony is the one responsible for bringing you here,” Faust explained. “As I stated before, you aren’t native to our realm, and I’m sure it didn’t take you long to figure that out.”

“Honestly, it’s been hard to figure much of anything out,” I admitted. Sitting on my haunches, I brought a forehoof to my head and began rubbing my temple. “Ever since I woke up, it’s like I’ve got two sets of memories fighting for dominance in my head. I think the only reason I’ve stayed sane this long is that finding the Elements of Harmony gave me something to focus on.”

“Sorry,” Twilight said sheepishly.

“Now Twilight, you know it isn’t your fault any more than it’s his,” Faust said, reaching over with a wing to pat her gently on the back. “Harmony wasn’t exactly… gentle when they dumped his consciousness into your body.”

“Wait, so who exactly is this ‘Harmony’, and how did they do this?” I asked, gesturing towards myself. “You already said they were responsible, but you didn’t tell me how.”

“Harmony is exactly what it sounds like,” Faust said. “It is the force that guides and shapes Equus using the Elements to enforce its will.”

“So, the Elements aren’t just magical artifacts?” I asked, causing Faust to shake her head in response.

“The Elements are more than just their physical embodiments,” Faust explained. “Harmony permeates the very being of every living being, helping to guide them down the path of happiness, and the Elements help to harness Its power to deliver its will unto the world.”

Turning to face me once more, the towering white alicorn once again locked eyes with me.

“Twilight, along with the five friends who unlocked the power of the Elements alongside you,” Faust continued. “They weren’t just ponies who just happened to be able to wield the Elements. Not to belittle any other plans Harmony has in store for them, but they were born for the very reason of wielding them.”

“So, then that accident,” I said, trailing off as I glanced at Twilight.

“Indeed,” Faust nodded. “When Twilight died in that crash… well, Harmony panicked a bit. They knew that if they didn’t get a new spirit in her body once Twilight's began to leave it, the body would begin breaking down in ways even they couldn’t fix. In their panic they reached out and latched on to the first compatible soul they could find, pulling it through the void and into her body.”

“And that was me?” I asked, already knowing the answer. “That answers how I got here, but it opens up even more questions.”

“Such as?” Faust asked.

“In the first set of memories I have, my memories, I distinctly remember being a… well, I wasn’t a pony, and I was definitely male,” I stated, “and now… well, ignoring the gender swap for a moment, how am I able to walk? Or even use magic? I’ve been able to use this body like it was my own since I woke up in it.”

“For the same reason you have Twilight’s memories,” Faust responded. “Knowing that not only would they need a new Element of Magic, but one that could function, Harmony implanted all of Twilight’s life experience that came with the body in your mind. Their work, however, was sloppy and rushed, so, unfortunately, her memories came with it as well.”

“So, along with Twilight’s ability to walk and use magic…” I started.

“You also got my memories, correct,” Twilight chimed in.

“That explains the headaches,” I mumbled.

“Indeed it does,” Faust said. “An unfortunate side effect of your brain trying to handle the influx of two life’s worth of memory.”

I sat for a time, quietly thinking over what I'd been told, a frown worked it's way across my face as my eyes slowly drifted down.

“My memories weren't the only thing affected, were they?” I asked, keeping my eyes glued to the ground.

“Your memories weren't the only things that were affected by the swap, no,” Faust said. “But I have a feeling you meant something specific.”

Sighing, I raised my head and looked her directly in the eyes.

“Am… am I still me?” I asked, feeling my eyes begin to burn. “If I have her memories, does that mean I have her personality, too? Am I going to completely forget myself as I slowly become her?”

Faust began chewing on her bottom lip nervously, tossing a quick glance at Twilight,

“Yes and no,” she responded. “You aren't going to completely lose yourself to Twilight’s personality. You may have her memories, but you have your own as well. Your life experiences made you who you were, same as her, and having a few extra experiences to draw on will not devalue your own in any way.”

Pausing, Faust took a moment to contemplate what she was going to say next.

“I would be lying, however, if I were to tell you that the memories didn’t change you at all,” Faust continued. “Already your personality has changed some, even from what it was when you first woke up, but you will never lose who you are.”

“You sound so certain of that,” I said, rubbing at my eyes.

“That’s because I am, for many reasons,” Faust responded. “The shifts in your personality had been caused by the two minds contained within your body being out of sync.”

“Had been?” I asked. “You say that like it’s no longer the case.”

“Because it isn’t,” Faust responded. “Harmony saw to that.”

“What do you mean by that?” I said, lifting my head and turning to look at her.

“The Elements didn’t just banish the darkness from Luna’s heart when you and your friends fired them,” Faust explained. “I may have unintentionally misled you a bit when I said you were pulled here to protect you. While it is entirely true that wielding the Elements can be very strenuous, that alone would not require your mind to be temporarily split from your body.”

“Then… what would?” I asked. “You said the Elements didn’t just cleanse Luna of her darkness. The other thing they did… it had to do with me didn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Faust said. “With your mind and body being so out of sync, Harmony took the opportunity to… harmonize the two, for lack of a better word. With your psyche already being damaged by the transfer they thought it would be safer to temporarily separate you again, so as to prevent any further harm.”

“But… in order for Harmony to sync my mind and body, wouldn’t my mind need to be in my body?” I asked.

“Let me preface my answer with another question,” Faust said. “How long do you think you’ve been here?”

“Well,” I said, thinking back. “There’s no sun or clocks in here, to help keep track of time. But it certainly felt like hours, if not days.”

“Unfortunately, you’d be wrong on both counts,” Faust giggled. “That was actually a bit of a trick question. You see, this plain actually exists outside of time. What seems like months or years here, could only be seconds on the mortal plain.”

“So, at this second, my body is…” I started.

“Still in the midst of firing the Elements,” Faust finished.

“...How?” I asked after a moment’s silence.

“As I told you, this plain exists outside of time,” Faust answered.

I sat in silence for a moment, going over everything I had learned in my head as I attempted to piece together my next question. Before I had a chance to ask it, however, the environment around me briefly flickered as the Gates of Elysium began fading.

“Oh dear, it appears we are out of time,” Faust said, glancing around.

“Wait, you mean I have to go back?” I asked. “Now?”

“You sound disappointed to go back,” Faust said. “Most ponies would be ecstatic to be told by the Guardian of the Gate that it wasn’t yet their time.”

“I just… I still have so many questions,” I said, looking at the fading gates.

“Questions that will be answered in time,” Faust said. “I have a feeling this won’t be the last time I see you. For now, however, it is time for you to return. Come, Twilight, it’s your time, too. I’ve allowed you to tarry here longer than I should have.”

“Just… one more minute, please,” Twilight said, glancing back and forth between Faust and me. “I just, I want to have a word with him… in private.”

“Of course,” Faust said. “But do try to make it quick, it won’t be long before he has to return.”

Nodding, Twilight motioned for me to follow her then walked a few steps away. Glancing at Faust, I followed when she gave me a nod of approval. Walking a few feet further, Twilight sat and stared out into the infinite white abyss before us, the large white wings on her back shuffling nervously. I took a seat beside her, joining her in gazing into the abyss when she wasn’t forthcoming on what she wanted to talk about.

“What do you think it’s like?” Twilight asked, finally breaking the silence.

“What do I think what’s like?” I asked.

“The afterlife,” Twilight responded, “Elysium, Heaven, whatever you want to call it. What do you think it’s like?”

“I’m sure it’s nice,” I said. “I’m sure it will be everything you dreamed of, and I’m sure you’ll get to see your family again soon enough.”

“My family…” Twilight laughed sadly. “They’re your family now, too. That’s why I called you over here.”

“I figured it wasn’t to talk about Elysium,” I said. Glancing down at my hooves, I noticed they were slowly beginning to fade. “You should get to the point fast, though, because it looks like we’re running out of time.”

“Just… take care of them, please,” Twilight said, turning to me with tears in her eyes. “Especially Spike, he’s like a baby brother to me.”

“Of course I’ll take care of him,” I said, feeling tears come to my own eyes. “You know, as soon as he heard I was awake he refused to leave my side. Made sneaking out of the hospital a real hassle.”

“I’ll bet,” Twilight sniffled. “And Shiny, Mom, Dad… tell them I love them.”

“Of course,” I responded, wiping the moisture from my eyes. “I’ll tell them every day.”

Noticing that my legs were beginning to fade, Twilight pulled me into a hug.

“Don’t be afraid to live your own life,” Twilight said, squeezing me tightly. “I may have had my own hopes and dreams, but it’s your life now.”

“It’s time,” Faust said, having approached us. “His time runs short, and I have one final thing to say to him before he goes.”

In response to her words, the large gates behind her creaked open, a brilliant golden light spilling out from them. Giving me one last look, Twilight smiled before walking towards the gates. She paused in front of the gates and turned to look at me, her mouth open as though she intended to say something. Pausing for a moment, she instead began waving to me as the light slowly engulfed her. Eventually, the light became too bright for me to endure, and I had to lift a foreleg to shield my eyes. The light abruptly stopped, and when I lowered my foreleg it was only Faust and I left standing in the white expanse. The Gates had disappeared, taking Twilight with them.

“Now then,” Faust said, placing a gentle wing on my back, “I have a… request for you, if you wouldn’t mind helping an old mare out.”

Looking down, I noticed my barrel had begun to fade as well as a feeling of warmth and peace spread through my body.

“Of course,” I said, turning to face Faust.

“My daughters, they’ll both be there upon your return,” Faust explained. “My little Lulu, and Cellie… could you tell them that mommy misses them and that she still loves them?”

Smiling, I nodded in response.

“Thank you,” Faust said, bowing her head. “May your life be long and full of happiness, and may you have many stories to tell when we meet again.”

The warm feeling began creeping up my neck, my ethereal body fading as it spread. Looking to Faust, she gave me one last smile before the feeling completely engulfed me, and my eyes drifted closed of their own accord. My perspective suddenly shifted, and instead of standing as I had been, I instead felt as though I was laying in a bed wrapped in covers. I groggily opened my eyes, staring in confusion at the sterile white ceiling above me before lifting my head to look around. Surrounding me were the five friends I had made during our journey to the castle, along with two unicorn stallions and a unicorn mare I instantly recognized as Twilight's parents and brother, all of whom were scattered around the room in various places deep asleep. Getting a sense that someone was watching me, I turned to look at the door and was surprised to see the smiling form of Princess Celestia, along with a smaller blue alicorn beside her.

“Twilight, it is wonderful to see you’re finally awake,” Princess Celestia whispered, doing her best to let the sleeping ponies rest. “We were beginning to fear the worst.”

‘Cellie, Lulu,” I said, suppressing a giggle at the looks of surprise that crossed their faces when I uttered those names. “Your mother asked me to deliver a message.”

Author's Note

And here we are, the end of the story. Unfortunately, this is all I had ever had planned for this idea, but if there is enough demand for it I could possibly be convinced to continue the story. Any continuation will only come once I finish Genesis: Silvia, however. I am going to be holding off on the epilogue for a few days so I can go back through it and fix some things. When reading through it to transfer from Google Docs I began to realize it wasn't exactly what I had wanted it to be, so I'm going to take some time to work on it some more.

Epilogue

I sighed as I turned to the last few pages of my book, pausing briefly in my writing to reminisce about the events that took place shortly after I had arrived in Equestria.

It wasn’t until one of my friends had returned from a late-night trip to the bathroom that anypony noticed I was no longer unconscious. The commotion they caused upon their realization woke the entire room, and it wasn’t long before I was at the center of a large hug pile.

I shook my head and smiled sadly as I remembered the events that followed.

When I attempted to tell my tale, nopony would believe me. In fact, more than one of them demanded that the princesses subject me to more tests, fearing that the Elements had somehow fried my brain. It had taken weeks… and in some cases even months to convince them I still had my full mental faculties, much less that my story was true.

The princesses, though… the princesses believed me right away. Despite only having a name and a message, they thanked me profusely for delivering the message once they finally had some time alone with me. Familiar as they were with the Elements, and Harmony’s will by extension, they didn’t take much convincing to believe what I had said. Although she had been deeply saddened by the passing of her student, Celestia still took me under her wing, as she had her student, and made sure I had everything I needed to adjust to my new life.

Luna was just as supportive, though I soon found out for different reasons. Even though she hadn’t been in control of herself at the time, the fact that she had not only killed Twilight but was responsible for my being stuck in her body had been eating her up inside. Although Harmony had done a good job of harmonizing my mind and body the experience still left its scars, and Luna saw it as her duty to help me come to terms with what had happened. What had started as nightly visits to alleviate me of my nightmares soon blossomed into a close friendship, and it wasn’t long before the Night Princess found herself making excuses to visit me, both in the waking world and in my dreams.

Looking down at the page I frowned slightly when I noticed that my quill had wandered with my memories, writing down every thought that had passed through my mind as I recalled my time spent recovering. The pages began glowing with a pale lavender light as I prepared to tear the pages from the book, but my frown slowly morphed into a smile as I made the decision to keep them.

“Needs an epilogue anyways,” I giggled to myself, putting quill to parchment once more.

My friends, although they didn’t quite believe me for some time, never faltered in their support. Each and every one of them took time out of their daily routines to stop by and make sure I knew I wasn’t alone, and that others cared for me.

Spike, on the other hoof…

“Twilight, you about ready?” Spike called from the hallway. Giving a quick knock, he cracked the door open and poked his head in. “Everypony’s here, we’re just waiting for you.”

“Speak of the devil,” I mumbled to myself before turning to face him. “I’ll be down in just a minute, Spike. Just finishing up here.”

“Oh, is that the book you were writing?” He asked, stepping into the room.

“Yep,” I said, “just putting the finishing touches on it now.”

“Oh, sweet! Can I read it?” Spike asked excitedly.

“You can after dinner,” I said, giggling at his enthusiasm. “For now, though, we should get going. It’s bad enough that I’m running late for my own birthday dinner, it would be rude to make them wait any longer.”

“Aww, ok, Twi,” Spike relented.

Standing from my seat, I moved to follow Spike before pausing and looking back to my book. Glancing back at the open door, I turned around and returned to my desk.

Spike, on the other hoof, hasn’t left my side. From what everypony told me, he refused to even leave the bed during my second hospital stay. For months after my release, he refused to let me out of his sight, stating that he needed to be around to help me with everything. Despite his childish looks and the way he was acting, I soon discovered a deep thinking individual hidden beneath the surface.

One night a few weeks after we had returned to Ponyville, he had gotten fed up with me trying to convince him that I wasn’t the Twilight he grew up with and admitted that he had known for some time. He told me that he had lived with Twilight long enough to tell that I wasn’t her, or at least not fully and that despite knowing this, it would go against everything she had taught him if he didn’t do his best to help a pony in my situation. Needless to say, in the years that followed he and I became almost as close as he had been with Twilight… but I could never, nor would I ever want to, replace her.

Surprisingly, Twilight’s family… my family was both the quickest to accept, and the first to open up to me. They did take time to mourn the loss of their daughter, and for most of my stay in the hospital I was afraid they’d reject me, but when it came time for my release they welcomed me into their home with open hooves. While we had had our fair share of awkward moments, they made it more than clear that I was welcome to stay until I was healthy enough to travel to Ponyville, and longer if I so desired.

“Twilight Sparkle,” an agitated voice called out from behind me. Jolting in surprise, I turned just in time to see my mother stepping through the door. “You’ve got more than a dozen hungry ponies sitting downstairs, and we’ve been waiting more than twenty minutes for you to finish getting ready.”

“I know, mom,” I said, smiling nervously. “I’m just…”

“You’re just nothing,” Twilight Velvet scolded. “If you don’t march your plot out that door and down those steps this instant I will put you over my knee in front of your friends. Those wings don’t make you too grown up for a proper spanking.”

“Yes, mother,” I conceded, giggling when I saw the poorly concealed smile on her face.

Dipping my quill in its inkwell one more time I turned and made my way to the door, my book levitating in front of me as I wrote.

Despite all of the fears and misgivings I had after my first trip to the Ethereal Plane, I have never once been made to feel like I didn’t belong. Even after ascending and being crowned a Princess of Equestria, I was never given anything but love and understanding from the ponies who knew of my origins. Despite everything I had been through I felt one-hundred percent the pony I had come to be.

Equestria’s Surrogate Light.

Author's Note

This story is finished for now. I may expand upon the idea in the future, but seeing as my muse for writing has waned recently I'll make no promises. I thank everyone who has read this far and hope you've enjoyed the journey.

Prologue

My wings shuffled restlessly on my back as I glared down at the open book before me. My attempts at writing the story of how I came to Equestria left many crossed out paragraphs on the once blank pages.

“You alright in there?” a voice called from behind the closed door causing me to jump.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I called back. “Just trying to… organize my thoughts is all.”

“Alright, just let me know if you need any help,” the voice called back. “Ok, Twi?”

“Will do,” I responded, turning to a fresh page as a sudden bout of inspiration hit me. “Thanks, Spike.”

Lighting up my horn, I picked up one of the discarded quills scattered around the room. Dipping it into the open inkwell on my desk, I put stem to paper as the sound of writing filled my bedroom.

“Despite what some stories may have you believe,” I said, reading aloud what I had written, “my entry into Equestria was not a peaceful transition. It was not like closing my eyes in one life and opening them in another. My first memories of this world are nothing but a blur of noise, color, and pain…”

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

The taste of copper in my mouth was the first thing I noticed as consciousness slowly returned to me. Feeling the thick coppery liquid begin to pool in my mouth, I attempted to roll over to spit it out but stopped as a searing pain shot through my body causing me to lock up. I opened my mouth to gasp in pain but only succeeded in inhaling the mouthful of blood I had been attempting to dispose of.

What followed was an indeterminate period of time that I spent hacking and coughing as my body attempted to clear the liquid from my lungs. White hot lances of pain shot through my body with each cough causing me to fade in and out of consciousness multiple times.

As my senses once more fully returned to me, I mentally sighed in relief when I realized that not only had I finally cleared my lungs but during my coughing fit I had managed to roll over onto my side. Doing my best to ignore the dull painful throb that encompassed the entirety of my being, I slowly opened one eye in an attempt to figure out where I was.

The first thing I noticed as my surroundings came into focus was that wherever I was, it was quite dark. Besides the ground obscuring half of my vision all I could make out were a few blurry spots of light in the distance. I attempted to turn my head to see if I could see anything else, but my attempts were swiftly stopped as the pain I was quickly becoming familiar with coursed through my neck causing me to see white.

Tears streamed from my eyes as I clenched them shut and ground my teeth together, attempting to ride out the pain. After what felt like hours later, the pain finally subsided enough for me to make another attempt at discerning my whereabouts.

Once more opening the eye that wasn’t currently pressed into the ground, I wrinkled my brow in confusion when I noticed the lights seemed more spread out than they previously had been, and that a pair of those lights was moving closer. Afraid that any more attempts at moving would cause me to blackout again, I settled with watching as the lights swept back and forth, my eyes grew heavy as they slowly drew closer.

I don’t know when I had passed out, but it seemed as though one moment the lights were still a long ways off in the distance, and then suddenly they were right on top of me as the sound of multiple sets of feet shuffling through grass surrounded me.

“Oh, dear,” a feminine voice nearby said, “I guess the little guy wasn’t lying.”

“Kinda wish he was,” another female voice spoke up, this one with a bit of a southern drawl. “Don’t look like nopony else made it.”

The creak of metal being bent reached my ears, followed shortly by gagging.

“The poor dears didn’t even make it out of their harnesses,” the first voice said.

“Ah coulda gone the rest a’ mah life without seein’ somethin’ like this,” the second voice groaned.

The first speaker mumbled quietly to herself as she as she moved through the clearing, the sound of her voice helping me track her as she moved closer. Just as she was about to step into my line of sight, her musings abruptly stopped as she caught sight of me.

“Oh, my,” I heard the owner of the first voice speak up. “It seems I found the mare that young drake was asking about.”

“Didja now?” the second voice asked. Dropping whatever they had been doing, the two people that had split off came running over. “How’s she lookin’?”

“Doesn’t look good,” the first person spoke up. “From the looks of all of the blood…”

The owner of the first voice was cut off by a choked gasp as the brightness of the light she had been carrying caused me to squint.

“Sweet Celestia of Equestria, she’s alive!” the first person shouted.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” the second person said in disbelief.

I was momentarily blinded by a lantern being waved in my face.

“Not just alive,” the first person said, “she’s conscious! Her pupils are dilated, but she isn’t responding to the light. I think she may be in shock.”

My pain-addled brain momentarily tuned them out as I attempted to figure out why they had been referring to me as ‘she’ and ‘mare’. My thoughts ground to a halt when my sight cleared and instead of two people, as I had been expecting, two equines stood before me in their place.

My vision slowly tunneled as my mind raced in an attempt to make sense of the situation I had found myself in. I had been expecting bipedal creatures to have been what found me, but yet I wasn’t nearly as shocked as I should have been when instead it was a pair of equines that had stumbled upon me instead. Ponies, my mind kept wanting to label them.

If these ponies are what found me then it’s safe to assume that, judging by their reaction to me, I’m a pony as well. But yet, that didn’t seem to make sense, either. Whenever I tried to picture myself in my head, what came to mind was a tall bipedal being. A male bipedal being, which I’m starting to think I’m not. If I’m not one of these… humans, like my memory keeps wanting to say I am, then why do I have all of these memories… memories that aren’t mine. When I try to think back past the accident I seem to have found myself in, there's nothing but a jumble of half-memories, seeming more like dreams than anything else.

I see a young filly, barely able to contain her enthusiasm as she prepares to enter the school of her dreams for the first time. I see a young boy, using video games as an escape from the world that seems to be crumbling around him. I see two horned ponies… two unicorns, showering their daughter with love and affection as she brings home A after A from school. I see a young boy, tossing his C riddled report card in the trash, eating cold Spaghetti-O's again since his dad isn’t around anymore, and his mother will be working too late to cook.

My thoughts ground to a halt as my entire body erupts into pain. Feeling myself being lifted off the ground, both my eyes shot wide open as a choked scream tore through my raw throat.

“Shh, shh, I know it hurts,” the first voice attempted to soothe me. “We need to get you back to town, though.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier ta go back n’ bring someone ta her?” The second pony, who's back I now rested on, asked. “Seems like we're putin’ her through an awful lotta grief just ta get her back ta town.”

“Normally yes, but…” the first pony walked in front of them and paused to look at me. “I fear if we took the time to go get help, then come back… she might not have that long.”

Darkness encroached on my vision as I struggled to stay awake, my mind raced as it tried to sort through all the information that was currently flowing through it. My eyes rolled back in my head and my body began violently shaking as memories from two different lives fought for dominance.

“Uhh, Redheart?” the second pony called out. “Ah think somethin’s wrong with ‘er!”

“What’s wrong, Applejack?” the first pony called out. “Is she…”

My entrance exam into magic school… my first day of kindergarten…. My first crush, that filly that sat in front of me in Applied Magics.... My first crush, the girl that lived next door to my childhood home…

“Oh dear, she’s having a seizure,” Redheart gasped. “We need to get her back, now.”

“But what if there’s somepony else who…” Applejack started, only to be cut off.

“There is nopony else,” Redheart said. “According to the young drake that came stumbling into town, it was only her and the two guards. The two guards are already gone, and we’ll lose her too if we don’t get her help.”

I saw myself as a human in an auditorium, my face scrunched in concentration as I attempted to make the dragon egg in front of me hatch. I saw myself as a filly, my GameBoy held firmly in my grasp as I attempted to show my completed Pokedex off to the neighbor girl.

“Don’t worry about jostling her too much,” Redheart commanded. The two ponies ran side by side with me nestled firmly between the two of them. “I’ll support her neck and head, just make sure you don’t outpace me.”

I could barely register the sight of a small lantern lit village rapidly approaching as color slowly started to fade from the world. As the memories came faster and faster, my mind soon blanked out as the information became too much to process.

“Comin’ through!” Applejack yelled, startling the weary ponies that were milling around in town. “Make way! We got an injured pony comin’ through!”

My vision had gone almost completely black as a large set of double doors came into sight, the large cross decorating them looked strangely familiar. Just as I was about to slip into a blissful comatose state, one name forced itself to the forefront of my mind.

“Doctor Stable!” Redheart yelled as they burst through the hospital doors. “We’ve got an emergency here!”

Jumping up from where he had been napping, the brown unicorn lit his horn before his eyes were even fully open and pulled a stretcher in from a nearby hallway. Sliding to a stop in front of the stretcher, the two mares waited patiently waited for the doctor to take the mare upon their backs in his magic before stepping out and allowing him to set her on the stretcher.

One name forced itself to be heard through the chaos in my head and seemed to shatter my very existence.

“What do we have?” The brown unicorn stallion asked.

“Survivor from that carriage crash the drake we had in here earlier was talking about,” Redheart answered.

“You mean somepony actually survived that?” Doctor Stable asked, gaping in amazement at the mare. “From the condition that young dragon was in I didn’t think any ponies would have survived.”

Just one name that forced itself to be heard before I slipped from the world of the living, and into somewhere in between life and death.

“The guards didn’t,” Redheart sighed. “We’ll have to send somepony back to clean up, and make sure they get a proper burial.”

Doctor Stable remained silent, opting to nod in response as they pushed me down the hallway and into the ER wing of the hospital.

Twilight Sparkle.

Kindness

I stood before the entrance to the Everfree Forest, the group of five ponies at my side, and for the first time since reading about the forest, I began to regret my decision to come here.

“Well, here we are,” Applejack said, breaking the silence that had settled upon our group the moment the forest came into sight.

“Indeed,” Rarity said, eyeing the muddy trail warily.

“So,” Applejack said, turning to look at me, “what were ya able ta turn up at the library?”

“Well,” I said, pulling a scroll out of my bags with my still unfamiliar magic, “according to what I found, the castle itself is only a few miles into the forest. In fact, surprisingly enough, from what I read this is one of the old trading routes from when the castle was occupied and should lead us straight there.”

“Just a straight shot to the castle, then?” Rainbow Dash asked, smirking confidently. “This should be easy.”

“It’s still the Everfree forest,” I said. “If everything everypony told me about it is true, we’re still going to need to be careful.”

“Whatever,” Rainbow Scoffed. “Let’s just get moving, the longer we wait, the longer this will take.”

“She’s got a point,” Applejack said, stepping up beside Rainbow. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner the sun comes back. If we take too long ta do this we’re gonna have ta start diggin’ inta the food stores, n’ those’re supposed ta be fer tha winter.”

Nodding in agreement, the rest of the group stepped forward and we began our trek into the forest. Despite our wariness, we passed through the forest unmolested for a time, until the group slowed as we came to a ledge.

“Looks like the path continues down and around,” Applejack said, tracing the path down with her eyes. “It ain’t steep, but the trail looks narrow.”

“Too bad you aren’t all pegasi,” Rainbow Dash said, standing on the ledge, “it’s only a short glide down.”

Kicking a small rock off the ledge, she turned to face the group.

“Why don’t you all go down first, and I’ll stay at the back,” Rainbow suggested. “That way I can keep an eye out, in case anypony slips.”

“Sounds like a plan, Dash,” Applejack said. With a flick of her head, she signaled the others to follow her, before she began the trek into the ravine. “Y’all make sure ya stay behind me, Ah see a few weak spots up ahead.”

We continued down the path without any issues, sidestepping completely plain sections of dirt that Applejack insisted would collapse under the weight of a pony. The only excitement occurred when Rainbow Dash, skeptical of Applejack’s ability to see weak sections of the path, decided to step on one and ended up gliding the rest of the way down.

“Everypony alright?” Applejack asked when we reached the bottom of the ravine.

“Twisted my hoof a little when I slipped,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling said hoof around, “but it’s nothin’ I can’t walk off.”

“Looks like we’re all fine, darling,” Rarity said, before turning to face me. “Any idea where we’re supposed to go next?”

Looking up ahead I noticed the trail split, with one path following the ravine and the other scaling the opposite wall. Lighting my horn, I pulled my scroll of notes from my bag and read it over.

“According to what I found in the library, we need to take the path that follows the ravine,” I said. “The other path is supposed to be another trading route.”

“And how would you know that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, it was a bit outdated,” I responded, turning the scroll around so the others could see it, “but I found an old map of the forest in one of the books I looked through.”

“You’ve had a map this entire time?” Applejack asked, taking the offered map. “Why didn’t ya say nothin’ sooner?”

“Well, it is a pretty old map,” I admitted, rubbing my forelegs together bashfully, “and a lot of the paths we should have crossed have been completely overgrown, so I wasn’t sure how accurate it was.”

“It’s still better’n then anythin’ we had to go on before,” Applejack said, rubbing her chin with a forehoof as she looked the map over. “She’s right, though. It looks like we gotta follow tha ravine until it splits again, then we gotta go through some swamp lookin’ area.”

“Oh, that’s the Froggy Bottom Bog,” Fluttershy said, moving to stand behind Applejack so she could see the map. “I’ve been there before to help some of the lost little froggies get home, but I usually go the long way around the Everfree.”

“Ughh, sounds dreadful,” Rarity groaned, scrunching her face up in disgust. “It’s bad enough we have to walk through this vile forest, but now you're telling me we have to go tromping through a swamp as well?”

“Cheer up, Rarity,” Pinkie cheered as she began bouncing in circles around the mare, “it’s just a quick trip through the bog, then we’ll be well on our way to bringing the sunshine and smiles back!”

Any retort she might have had was cut off by the sound of a commotion further up the path. Sharing a look of confusion with the rest of the group, I proceeded up the path as quickly and quietly as I could. The sounds of growling and yipping grew louder as I crept down the trail, only for it to fall silent as I reached a bend in the path. My line of sight was blocked by the wall of the ravine. I carefully but cautiously poked my head around the corner, only to throw myself back behind cover with my forehooves over my mouth to prevent a squeal of fear from escaping. Hearing the sound of the rest of the girls trotting up the path behind me, I turned and motioned for them to tread lightly.

“Is somethin’ wrong, Twi?” Applejack whispered.

“There’s a manticore up ahead,” I whispered back, wincing at the poorly contained gasps that emanated from the group in response. “It looks like he’s fighting something, we may need to find another way around.”

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy gasped, glancing worriedly down the path, “I hope he’s ok.”

“Who cares,” Rainbow Dash said. “If he wasn’t fighting with whatever he is now, he’d probably be hunting us instead.”

“I care,” Fluttershy said, giving Dash a firm stare, “and I know for a fact that he wouldn’t be hunting us. Manticores only attack when their young or their territory is threatened, otherwise, they are quite docile.”

“Uh, girls,” I whispered, trying to quiet them, “I think you’re starting to get a little loud.”

“Docile my tail,” Dash retorted, completely ignoring me. “You know as well as I do that those things would sooner eat you than look at you.”

“Those things are living, breathing, creatures, and they only attack when they feel threatened.” Fluttershy pushed back, now hovering to look Dash directly in the eye.

“Girls?” I said again, slightly louder this time.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort once more but was cut off by a strained snarling from around the corner. Fluttershy, in response, was around the corner before anypony could react.

“Fluttershy, wait!” Rainbow Dash called out, following Fluttershy around the corner.

Sharing a glance, the rest of us were quick to follow her around the corner, only to freeze in place at what we saw. In the middle of the path, directly ahead of us, lay a battered and bleeding manticore. On the ground surrounding him was what looked like the scattered remains of the forest come to life, with large chunks of wood and vines littering the clearing. He was turned to face us, the hair on his back sticking straight up and his tail ready to strike, despite the fact that he was clearly favoring one of his legs. Directly in front of him was Fluttershy, a kind look in her eye as she lay on the ground and waited for him to become comfortable with her presence.

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy cooed, “I’m just here to help.”

“Flutters, what are you doing?” Rainbow Dash whispered loudly. “We gotta get outta here.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Fluttershy said firmly, not even blinking as the manticore took a tentative step towards her while sniffing. “This poor little guy is hurt, and he needs my help.”

“That ‘little guy’ could eat you whole, and still have room for thirds.” Rainbow Dash responded, causing the manticore to flinch and growl.

Fearing the situation was getting out of hoof, I looked to the rest of our group for a signal to step in, but the rest of the group seemed satisfied with letting the situation play out.

“He would not eat me, he’s not even hungry,” Fluttershy asserted. “The poor little guy is just scared.”

Taking another step forward, the manticore sniffed at the air once more before slinking slowly towards Fluttershy. When the manticore finally reached her my horn lit up as I prepared to intervene in some way, but my magic fizzled out as my caution was replaced with surprise when the manticore laid down before Fluttershy and rolled over so his belly was exposed.

Smiling sweetly at the manticores show of submission, Fluttershy slowly stood up and approached him to inspect his wounds.

“Oh, dear, it looks like you got into a fight with a few nasty little timberwolves, didn't you?” Fluttershy cooed gently.

Yowling pathetically in response, the manticore began motioning to the debris surrounding them.

“Aww, I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Fluttershy said sweetly, “but you go ahead and sit back and I’ll make you all better.”

Sliding her saddlebags off, Fluttershy began digging through them. Pulling out multiple small jars of ointment, as well as a few rolls of gauze she set to work disinfecting and treating the manticores wounds.

“Ah’m all fer helpin’ an injured critter out,” Applejack spoke up from the group, “but are ya sure ya should be usin’ our supplies like that?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got plenty to go around,” Fluttershy responded. “I made sure to pack extra, just in case we ran into a little bunny or something that needed help.”

“That’s one hay of a little bunny,” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Oh, but he is just like a cute little bunny,” Fluttershy said, patting the manticore on the head and getting a purr in response. “Just look at that cute little face, how can you be afraid of that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, it could be the large pony-eating fangs,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “I mean seriously, I don’t see why we have to stop and help this thing, we’ve got more important things to be worrying about.”

Ignoring Dash’s response, Fluttershy continued to treat the manticores wounds, nodding and making sounds of understanding as the manticore growled and groaned at her. A short while later Fluttershy was tying off the last of the bandages, giving the manticore a gentle pat on the head to let it know she was finished.

“There ya go, little guy,” Fluttershy cooed, scratching behind his ears. “You make sure you go and find somewhere safe to rest and let the antibiotics do their work. Timberwolf scratches are known for getting infected.”

Giving a friendly yowl in response, the manticore gave Fluttershy’s face a giant lick before limping off into the forest.

“Well, that takes care of that,” Fluttershy said. Packing her bag back up, she slung it over her back and turned to face the group. “Sorry for the wait everypony. Are we ready to continue?”

“Just waitin’ on you,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering impatiently in place.

“Now Rainbow Dash, do try to be understanding of dear Fluttershy,” Rarity scolded. “You know she can ignore an injured creature about as well as you can pass up an opportunity to show off.”

“And by that she means not at all,” Applejack chuckled, taking an easy shot at the pegasus.

“Yeah, well, you know what?” Rainbow Dash stammered. “Shut up.”

“Now that we’ve got that detour out of the way,” I said, attempting to rein the girls in, “we should get moving again. I don’t like staying in the same place for so long in this forest.”

“She’s got a point,” Applejack said. “Why don’t we take another look-see at that map, and make sure we know where we’re goin’ before we start movin’ again.”

Already ahead of her, I turned the map sideways and motioned for her to join me so that we could both look it over. After checking and double checking our route we set off once more, and it wasn’t long before the firm soil of the of the forest gave way to the slick, slimy muck of the bog.