A Distant Light, A Close Calling

Chapters

The Intrusion
A Long Journey
A Warm Welcoming
Questions & Answers
An Unexpected Adventure
A Shocking Discovery
A Long Discussion
A Red Dawn
Coltchester
Pressing On
A Journey's End
Author's Note: Important

The Intrusion

It was a beautiful day in Equestria. In fact it was much more beautiful than anypony could’ve imagined. The bunnies were frolicking through the forest, the bees and birds humming cheerfully as they fly about doing their duties for the day. As expected as much from a day like this, Twilight & her friends were walking up to an open field to enjoy an afternoon picnic.

“It’s such a beautiful day!” Rarity said.

“Why, it sure is sugarcube!” Applejack replied, with a smile on her face.

“Oh-This picnic is going to be fun, Fun, FUN!” Pinkie said with glee.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Her heart was racing, all she could hear was her wings flapping and feel the wind rushing through her mane. She looked back, and widened as she saw her pursuers. She gazed forward again, don’t look back she thought. She pushed herself further, trying to out-fly them.

______________________________________________________________________________________

As Pinkie and her friends were setting up the picnic, Twilight gazed out at the beautiful view, Canterlot in the distance.

“Twilight….we’re coming for you…”

Who…what was that? She thought. She shook her head, trying to clear whatever fantasies she may have been having.

“Twilight, we know who you are.” said another voice.

Who are you? Get-Get out of my head! She yelled in her conscience.

She saw in her head, all of her friends before her eyes, she saw dark, ominous clouds in the horizon behind them. A foggy mist quickly surrounded the five ponies, followed by screams and shrieks. Then the screams stop suddenly, leaving nothing but a cold chill as the wind wisped slightly. Then everything faded to black. Afterwards, the darkness changed into the Elements of Harmony, all of them side-by-side, glowing brightly. A cobblestone room was added into the picture as the Elements glowed. As she saw them side-by-side, a piercing light shone, the colors of the elements cascading into each other, then a loud burst of sound echoed off the walls. She then saw a horrifying sight. The Elements all shattered apart; broken fragments littered an aged cobblestone floor before her. After that, she saw a pair of red glowing eyes on the reflections of the Element fragments, staring into hers like wildfire.

“You and your friends will perish…” a voice said.

Stop! STOP! What…what is happening...to me? She thought.

“Twilight? Twilight snap out of it!”

Twilight shook her head; she looked up and saw Rainbow Dash standing before her. She looks really confused and scared. Dash thought.

Twilight looked around, she saw that Celestia’s sun was still shining bright; she turned her head, and saw all of her friends looking at her with concern.

______________________________________________________________________________________

She continued to flee from her pursuers, she looked back. She only saw her mane and clouds as she passed by. Whew, they’re gone! What a relief! She thought. Then she looked forward again, and to her surprise. Her pursuers were on both sides of her. One of them hit her hard on the side, causing her to have a jagged breath. The other hit her wing, causing her to spin out of control.

“Ready to say goodbye, Ms. Stargazer?”

Then with a final blunt hit on her side again, she flew downwards in a spiral. Unable to control her flying, she braced herself for a cold, hard landing on the ground.

“Well…that takes care of her boss!”

“Yes…it does.” Said one of the pegasi.

“Boss? You don’t think we should…make sure the job is done?” The other hesitated.

“Hmm, perhaps you are right.”

______________________________________________________________________________________

“Ya’ll okay there Sug’?” Applejack said with a grim face.

“I-I don’t know. I am okay for now though, we’ll all talk about it later. For now, let’s go on with the picnic, okay girls?”

“Well, whatever makes you feel better darling!” Rarity said reassuringly.

Then, off in the distance. They heard a loud crash. Followed by some groans and coughing. They looked at each other, without taking a second to retrieve all of their things; they all nodded, and then galloped off to discover the incident.

As they arrived at the crash-site, they saw a trail of dirt, followed by blood and feathers. They followed the trail, until they came to a severely injured Pegasus pony. She had a white coat, with a light blue and orange mane that made her shine in the daylight. Her cutie mark was two grey clouds, with a light blue and orange lightning bolt, connecting the two clouds together in a flash of blue and orange. She had many cuts and bruises; her right wing was severely cut and was a bluish-purple color.

“Oh, sweet Celestia, you poor thing!” Cried Fluttershy as she rushed to the unconscious pegasus’s side.

“We have ta’ help her, right Twi? “ Applejack said.

“Well of course we have to Applejack, you should know these things!” Rarity responded.

“Ooh-Ooh, we should take her to the hospital and throw her a surprise party!” Pinkie said as she bounced upwards at the thought of a party, but then retaliated as her smile turned to a saddened frown to see the Pegasus so torn up.

“That won’t be necessary.” said a voice behind her.

The six ponies turned to see two broad pegasi; they both had a grey coat. Their cutie marks were covered by a symbol of some sort.

“Now, step aside, and leave the Pegasus to us.” He said in a low tone.

“Oh yeah? What’s it to you buddy?” Rainbow Dash retaliated in a serious tone.

“Heh, how brave of you, I guess I have no choice...” He said. Then suddenly, he bucked Dash right in the face like a blur. Then he jumped on top of her, beating her with his hooves.

Reacting quickly, Applejack quickly grabbed her lasso, and then wrapped up the other pegasi that was getting ready to attack Rarity. He then got pulled into a tight knot. Applejack pulled him close, bucked him into the other pegasi that was on RD. They both fell over RD, unable to react quickly enough; Applejack jumped near them and started to tie them up.

Pinkie helped Dash up, then with a snort said “Wow, those ponies weren’t nice at all!”

Twilight then thought to herself I could teleport Spike here to write a letter to Princess Celestia about this. Then she poured all her concentration into her horn. Purple sparks and a resonating essence were shining around her horn. Then with a flash, Spike appeared out of nowhere.

“What, where am I? Twilight, what’s going on?” Spike said with confusion.

“I’ll explain some other time. For now, take a letter Spike.”

He readied his parchment and quill he luckily had with him.

“Okay, shoot.”

“Dear Princess Celestia, I am writing to inform you of some pegasi that tried to kill an innocent pony, they have some sort of symbol on their flank, covering their cutie marks. I would like an explanation if you have one. These pegasi are very troublesome, they may be tied into some operation.”

From your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

“Okay, sending it.” Spike said.

Then, a sparkle and green flame was shot into the air, the parchment disappearing with it.

“Now then, to wait for Celestia to reply.” Twilight said, turning to her friends.

*Five minutes later*

Breaking the silence, a popping noise sounded from where Spike was followed by a green burst of fire, along with sparkles and a trail of smoke, then, a letter appeared before them. Picking it up, he cleared his throat, he read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

"I do know of these symbols you mentioned, but I cannot remember why. I am sending a pair of royal guards to escort those pegasi to the palace. I will speak with you and your friends later, but for now, I have business I need to attend to."

From your mentor,

Princess Celestia

______________________________________________________________________________________

The six friends and injured pegasus all wandered into Rainbow’s home. Carrying the pegasus on her back, Applejack escorted her to Rainbow’s bed, and laid her down gently.

“Um…excuse me Applejack, but I need to tend to her…umm, if that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy said rather quickly.

“Sure thing, ‘Shy!” she replied with a smile.

As the five other friends sat around, chatting about what happened, Twilight happened to say: “Girls, you know how earlier I just stood there blankly and you all had to snap me out of it?”

"Yeah, what happened Twilight? Were you going crazy or something?” Pinkie said, waving her hoofs around and made a crazy face.

“Well, I had some sort of vision and…there were these voices, saying they know who I am and that they would…kill you, my…friends...” She said, a tear streaming slowly down her face.

“Dear, it mustn’t be true, but I do not know.” Rarity said, looking at the floor.

“I know, but it felt so real, I couldn’t control my thoughts, my movement, it was as if I froze up.”

“Well, we’re in a bit of a predicament.” Dash said.

“Oh…my, Twilight, can you use magic to help treat wounds?” Fluttershy asked, poking her head out around the corner.

“Well it is difficult, but it is possible.” She said with a sigh.

After straining herself for treating the wounds, she sat by the unconscious Pegasus. Her thoughts took over her as she thought about the visions she had earlier. What could've those been about? Why would anypony want to do that? Oh, Sweet Celestia, if something is wrong with me, I hope it isn’t too bad. Twilight thought. She let out a depressing sigh, trying to take her mind off of it. As she was lost in her thoughts, she felt movement coming from the Pegasus. She turned to see the Pegasus finally coming to.

“What? Where-Where am I? Are you…Twilight Sparkle?” The exhausted and confused Pegasus said.

“Yes I am, hold on for a second.”

She got up, and went out and motioned to her friends that the Pegasus was awake. They followed her into Rainbow’s room, where she was resting.

“How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked, comforting the still injured Pegasus.

“I am doing okay, very sore though.” She replied.

“Darling, it is so good to see that you are awake. Oh, where are my manners? I am Rarity, what is your name by any chance dear?” She asked.

“My name is Sunspeed. Sunspeed Stargazer to be exact.” She said weakly.

“You’re Sunspeed? I’ve heard about you in the Ponyville express newspaper!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Have you? Well I am pleased to make your acquaintance.” She replied happily.

“Why were ya’ in the newspaper, Sunspeed?” Applejack questioned.

“Some problem in Trottingham was getting out of hand, so I lent a hoof. Turns out I helped out more than I thought.”

“Interesting, so tell me, do you know why those pegasi were attacking you?” Twilight asked curiously, changing the subject.

“I honestly have no idea, I encountered them back in Trottingham, and they have been pursuing me since then.”

“Hmm, maybe Celestia will find out.” Twilight mumbled.

“You were beat up bad! Luckily we taught those two ponies what for!” Dash said, clopping two hooves together.

At that moment, a bright light filled the room. It was so bright; the seven ponies couldn’t shield their eyes from it. Then, with a resonating wave of ripples shooting out of the light, a vibrating and booming noise entered the home. Then it all disappeared as Princess Celestia appeared before them.

Surprised and shocked, they all bowed almost immediately, all save for Sunspeed, who was still lying in bed.

“Princess, what brings you here?” Twilight said with a beat of happiness.

“I am here to inform you with some unfortunate and shocking news. Those pegasi you stopped Twilight were part of an organization: The SDEH, otherwise known as the Society of Deceiving Element Harmonics. You see, a couple decades before Luna was imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years, they tried to destroy the Elements, and almost succeeded, after their defeat, they were forgotten about almost immediately, I am afraid I was too blind to see that they recovered. They always try to cause havoc; I think they’re after the Elements of Harmony again, and Sunspeed. I know that this is big news, but you must find a safe place to live, Ponyville is no longer safe for you all.”

“What? Where will we go?” They all said in unison.

“Hoofsdale, a town in southern Equestria, it is blanketed with snow. I have a friend there who can help, her name is Starstride. She will provide you with a place to stay and such; I suggest you all prepare to leave in the early morning tomorrow. You have time today to gather your things and say your goodbyes.”

“Okay, we will Princess. Look after Spike for me, he is too young for this adventure.” Twilight said grimly.

“I will treat him like you always have done. Don’t worry my student, now if you’ll all excuse me, I have even more important duties to attend to.”

“Farewell, Princess.” Everypony said.

*Hours later*

“Okay everypony, Ah think it’s time ta’ hit the hay, G’night!” Applejack said with a yawn.

“I agree, we do have quite a day ahead of us.” Rarity replied, rubbing a hoof on her neck.

“Yeah, it’s best if we are prepared for tomorrow, goodnight everypony, sleep well.” Twilight said as she stood up.

After saying their goodnights, they all went to bed. All of them slept uneasily that night. Wondering why the organization wanted to destroy the Elements of Harmony. As they all cringed at the thought of someone trying to hunt them down, they all got comfortable and relaxed in their beds and prepared for the big day ahead.

A Long Journey

Twilight opened her eyes, she then rubbed them, wiping the sleep from them, adding a silent yawn, got up out of bed, and walked into Rainbow’s living room. She stared out at the window. Hmm, Luna’s moon is still out, it isn’t dawn yet. She noted in her mind. She quietly made a cup of warm, herb tea, and sat on the couch next to the window, peering out into the star-stricken night.

Today is going to be a long day. I wonder how the others fare with it? They may not like it, but the SDEH is after us, so we have to go into hiding. I hope this will be over soon. She thought.

Completely lost in her thoughts, Twilight was unable to notice Fluttershy trot into the living room.

“Good morning, Twilight.” Fluttershy mumbled.

“What? Oh, ‘morning Fluttershy.” Twilight said quietly.

“Looks like the others aren’t up yet.” Fluttershy mentioned, as she poured herself a cup of tea.

“What are you thinking about?” Fluttershy asked curiously.

“I wonder what Starstride will be like. What about Hoofsdale? I’ve never been there before, have you Fluttershy?” Twilight pondered aloud.

“Oh, my. Heavens no. I have actually never heard of it, to be honest.”

“I bet it’s a nice place. Hopefully we will be safe there, and away from danger.” Twilight replied, turning her head to Fluttershy.

“Yeah, I-um, just hope we won’t be pursued or that you will have…Th-those s-scary visions...” Fluttershy said, shuddering at the thought.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, we will be fine.” Twilight reassured her.

“I hope so.”

As the two ponies sat in the living room, chatting, an exhausted pink pony entered the room.

Managing a yawn, Pinkie said slowly “Good…good morning you two.”

“Oh, hello Pinkie Pie, did you sleep well?”

“I slept alright, I was a bit uncomfortable sleeping on the floor in Rainbow’s spare bedroom, but I’ve had worse.” Pinkie answered.

“I see, well at least you got some sleep. Want anything to eat?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe a cupcake will do me some good.” Pinkie said cheerfully.

Making her way to the kitchen, she gazed around the room, looking for a cupcake. Her eyes lighting up like a shining rainbow and her jaw dropped as she saw a triple coated chocolate fudge cupcake, sitting in a box on the kitchen counter, neatly displayed in plastic. She picked up the box, and opened the container. Drooling at the thought of how delectable it must be, she shoved it in her mouth, almost beaming with glee at how delicious it was.

She turned around, and saw Twilight and Fluttershy glaring at her.

“What? It’s good!” Pinkie exclaimed with her mouth full.

“Pinkie, you umm, could’ve shared a piece with us.”

Pinkie made a “Sorry” face, and walked into the living room and sat down. Twilight and Fluttershy followed her. As the three friends sat down, Twilight mentioned.

“I think it’s time we wake the others.”

“Oh, and it’s time to pack the provisions.” Fluttershy added.

“Okay, I think that’s everything, now all we need to do is wake Sunspeed.” Rarity said.

Rarity walked into Rainbow’s room, as she walked up beside the bed, she nudged Sunspeed slightly and added:

“Sunspeed, Sunspeed wake up, we have to get going dear.”

The white Pegasus took a deep breath, mumbled something, then opened her eyes; she gazed at Rarity who was beside her. She noticed the traveling packs on her back, nodded, and then got up slowly, wincing a bit at the pain in her whole body. Barely able to trot, she turned to Rarity.

“Rarity…can you, lend me a hoof-please?” Sunspeed asked, biting her lip, trying to ignore the intense pain.

“Oh, of course dear, anything for a friend!” She replied, smiling.

As the two ponies walked out to the living room to join them, Twilight glanced at them and the others.

“Everypony ready?” She said with a sigh.

They all nodded. Fluttershy and Rainbow escorted the other five ponies to the ground, since they have no wings.

“Hey, Twi’, can ya’ll look at the map? Ah need ta’ know where we’re headed.” Applejack asked.

“Of course Applejack.” Twilight replied. Pulling out the map, she mumbled some things to herself, pointing a hoof here and there on the map, then came to a conclusion, and finally replied.

“We’re headed south; we have to go through the Everfree Forest to get there.”

“Th-The Ev-Everfre-free Forest-t?” Fluttershy said fearfully.

“Yeah, c’mon ‘Shy, it can’t be that bad, I mean, how hard could it be? I am the fastest flyer in Equestria you know!” Dash remarked.

“Hmmph that you are Dash, but ya’ll aren’t any good at bucking apples!” Applejack noted, looking at Dash.

“Pfff, apples, really AJ? You can’t be serious!” Dash said with a smirk.

“Hmm, well, when this is all over, ah want an Iron pony re-match!” Applejack demanded.

“Oh yeah? You’ve got yourself a deal!” Dash said, spitting on her hoof, she held it out to AJ. AJ grinned at this, and did the same.

The seven ponies came to the entrance of the Everfree Forest, all nodded, then started walking. Pinkie, on the other hoof, bounced with glee. As they entered the Forest, immediately it became dark and ominous, Owls hooted, there was rustling in the bushes and trees, giving off an uneasy feeling. There was a cold chill in the air, the breeze whipping at the ponies. A dark, utter silence was formed, nopony spoke, they just continued walking along their path, all lost in either thought, or fear.

In the distance, they could barely make out the shape of something, as they came closer, it turned out be an abandoned shack. The glass windows were broken, the door hinges were rusted and the door was loose, every time the wind wisped by, the door banged against the house, making an unpleasant sound. Peering inside, Pinkie saw nothing of interest, looked at her friends, shrugged, and then pointed south.

Twilight looked at the shack for a moment. Hmm, is that shack really that important? I mean, it may have some things we could use but, I think safety is the main issue at the moment. She contemplated. Nodding to Pinkie’s suggestion, they continued to move on.

*About an hour later*

As they were walking down the path, a mist suddenly doused them, making it hard to see. Twilight turned.

“Just keep going, find the hoof of one of us, and grab on to it, that way we don’t get separated!” She called back, unable to know how far back her friends were.

After what seemed an eternity of walking, the fog finally settled down, and the seven luckily were all still together. As they kept walking, AJ was about to turn to Sunspeed and mention something, when she suddenly slipped.

Managing to let out a gasp, the six turned to their surprise to find AJ clinging on to the edge of a cliffside, crying for help! Sunspeed dashed forward, ignoring the pain, said.

“Quick, AJ, take my hoof!”

AJ reached for the hoof, but a part of the ground slipped out from her other hoof, and her body turned the other way, her face staring directly down at the endless ravine. With only one hoof holding on to the ground, she yelled in terror:

“Help me!”

Rainbow Dash flew directly under AJ, pushing her two back hooves up, trying to lift her up. Sunspeed grabbed on to her one hoof, and pulled. Struggling with the searing pain, she ignored it and continued. As tears streamed down her face, she managed to pull AJ up, and out of harm’s way. Crying in pain after over-exerting herself, she fell to the ground, unable to move without letting a tear fall down her face.

Helping AJ recover, Dash hugged her, trying to calm her down. Pinkie nudged Sunspeed, and helped her up, having a hoof wrapped around her neck for support.

“Is everypony okay?” Twilight said nervously.

“Yeah, I think we’re okay. Twi, let’s give it a rest a bit, we need to recover before we keep moving again.” Dash said calmly.

"Oh no, Sunspeed, you ripped your wounds back open, you need to rest, just take it easy, I will re-bandage them.” Fluttershy said, rummaging through her bags.

“You okay AJ? You had quite a scare there.”

“Ah am doin’ okay, how about you Sunspeed?”

“It…Ugh, it hurts, I need to avoid doing that next time.” She answered, groaning in pain as Fluttershy cleaned and bandaged the wounds.

“Wow, that wasn’t exciting at all, was it Rarity?” Pinkie questioned.

“No darling, it wasn’t. I got quite a scare from that. Poor AJ.” She replied sadly.

“Ugh, careful Fluttershy, that wing is tender!” Sunspeed cried.

“Oh, I’m sorry. There you should be all patched up now.”

“Thanks, I needed it.”

“You’re welcome, happy I was able to help.” She said warmly.

Twilight looked at the bridge in front of her. Apparently Applejack walked right beside a bridge and slid off…almost. I wonder how we didn’t notice that bridge in the first place. She facehooved, mumbling to herself about how blind she was for not noticing the bridge. Sometimes I wonder how I am able to keep organized; I lose sight of things so easily. Looking up at the sky, she glanced at Celestia’s sun.

“It must be about noon.” She mumbled quietly to herself. She then turned back to her friends.

“Okay girls, we need to keep moving soon, we should leave in a matter of ten minutes, rest up and then get ready again. Looking at the map, we’re getting close to Hoofsdale.” She told them.

*Ten minutes later*

They got to where the bridge was, and stopped. Pinkie peered over the edge. It seemed like a bottomless pit. Far down, there was a foggy mist below. She shuddered, and backed up almost immediately without hesitating.

“So…umm, who wants to go first? F-Fluttershy, do you want to go first?” Pinkie asked.

“N-n-no, how about you, Rarity?”

“Uh, dear, I honestly think Rainbow should go first!” She said.

“Okay, I’ll go first. Why? Because we need to get moving!” Sunspeed said bravely.

“Okay Sunspeed, just let me stick near ya’ so ah can keep yer balance.” Applejack said quickly.

“O-okay.” She said with a gulp.

Slowly taking the first step, she winced a bit from her injuries, but gritted her teeth. Try not to look down Sunspeed, you can do this. She thought. As she made a second step, she heard a loud creak from the bridge. She ignored it, and pressed on. Shaking a bit on the third step, she managed to succeed.

After Sunspeed & Applejack slowly crossed the bridge, the other five followed afterwards. As Pinkie was making her way across the bridge, she took a step forward, and the wood collapsed under her hoof. She jumped in fear, making the bridge shake a bit. She tried to take another step, and when she did, the wood panel collapsed under her front right hoof.

“T-Twilight, the bridge keeps collapsing; I think I need to get flown across!” She yelped.

Twilight motioned Fluttershy over to her. Understanding her actions, Fluttershy flew over to Pinkie Pie, picked her up, and let her down gently on the ground at the other side of the bridge.

“Thanks, Fluttershy that was scary!” she said quietly.

“Oh, it’s no problem Pinkie, I don’t mind.”

They continued walking. Applejack looked at Twilight. Gee, Ah sure hope Twi’ is okay, those visions must bother her. Ah mean, how would it be if ya’ had ta’ deal with those kinds of things. Poor Twi’, maybe Ah should talk to her later, maybe tomorrow. She thought. AJ let out a sad sigh.

“Are you alright AJ?” Dash asked, concerned.

“Yeah, Ah’m fine, don’t ya’ll worry Rainbow.” AJ replied happily.

As they continued walking, a cold breeze came from the South. They all stopped, looked up, and saw that it was lightly snowing. They all looked at each other for a moment, then began to take out their winter gear. After they garbed themselves in their cozy scarves and sweaters, they continued their journey. It got foggy and was hard to see for a time, the snow was coming down fairly decent.

After a short amount of time, Twilight had a big smile on her face, she turned to her friends.

“Girls, look!” Twilight pointed.

“No way!” Sunspeed exclaimed.

“That’s so awesome!” Dash said with an adorable face.

“Is that what I think it is dear?” Rarity stated.

“Can it be...?” Fluttershy said, quite amazed.

In front of them, in the distance, was no other than Hoofsdale.

A Warm Welcoming

The seven ponies gazed down upon Hoofsdale. It was barely visible, only enough to make out the outlines of the buildings. As they continued to walk down the trail, it started snowing lighter, eventually, it came to a stop. Looking around at the beautiful sights, Twilight fixed her eyes on a blue earth pony ahead who was taking a stroll through town.

“Excuse me; do you know where we could find a pony named Starstride?” Twilight asked nicely.

“Of course, she lives on the far edge of town, all you have to do is follow this road here and you’ll come across a big cottage with a red picket-fence.” The mare replied, pointing.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Twilight motioned to the others to keep moving. She turned back, looking again at the mare.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime!” the mare said hastily, then turned, returning to her stroll.

The seven ponies continued walking through town, noticing a different but very similar life style, just like in Ponyville. Young colts & fillies were playing in the snow; mares & stallions were walking through the streets, either for a stroll, or going to someplace. To all of them, it seemed cozy to know how closely it resembled Ponyville.

“Wow, now this is just like Ponyville!” Dash said eagerly, adding a loop-de-loop in mid-flight.

“Yeah, sure is, but ah still miss mah apple bucking, and Applebloom, oh ah wonder what that silly filly is up ta’ this time.” AJ mentioned, adding a saddening sigh.

“Don’t worry AJ; everything will be fine, I am sure of it.” Rarity reassured.

“Yeah, maybe yer’ right Rarity, ah just gotta stop thinking about it.”

Hovering closely to the others, Fluttershy gazed around in wonder as she was in mid-flight.

“This place is just…wonderful!” The canary colored Pegasus said with a squee.

“Yeah, but it’s not as cool as the Wonderbolts!” Dash exclaimed.

“Again with the Wonderbolts, Dash?” Rarity muttered.

“Yeah Rare, they’re so awesome!” The cyan Pegasus said, clutching her cheeks with both of her hooves, her eyes lighting up, and adding a certain twinkle to her eye.

“Ooh-Ooh, this snow gives me an idea for Cupcakes! What should I call them? Frostycakes? No wait, Snowycakes, no…OH how abou-“Twilight turned.

“PINKIE, please, can you not do that at this time, we’re all tired and we need some peace and quiet!” Twilight shouted angrily, stamping a hoof down into the snow.

Staring directly at Twilight for some time, Pinkie finally replied.

“Okie Dokie Lokie!”

“Okay, I think we’re all a bit tired, after what, eight hours of travelling?” Sunspeed pondered aloud.

“I agree with Sunspeed. I think that we should get to Starstride’s as soon as possible so we can rest.” Rarity noted.

With all of them agreeing on the subject at hand, they continued walking down the road. After what seemed to be another fifteen minutes of walking, Twilight stopped as they came across a big cottage. It was painted a white tint; windows mapped the first and second floor. Around the house, was a red picket-fence, the wood was chipped and worn, and as expected, the fence gate was closed. They all glanced at one another, glanced back at the fence, then at each other, then adding a “hmmph” in approval.

Rainbow opened the gate up, as Twilight walked into the snow littered yard, got up to the door, and knocked. At first she heard nothing, but then she heard hooves trotting on the other side of the door.

“Just a minute!” a voice called.

After a few minutes of waiting patiently, the door opened, and to everypony’s surprise, an Alicorn appeared before them. She had a sapphire-blue mane, with sparkles that shined in her mane and tail. Her coat was white; her irises were colored a ruby red, making her whole mane stick out. Her cutie mark was a Constellation, with dark Pegasus wings behind it, making it look like a star ridden night.

“Are you, Starstride?”

“Yes, I am. You must be Twilight.” Starstride answered, smiling.

Wow, Princess Celestia didn’t say that Starstride was an Alicorn too! Twilight thought. Twilight stood there, speechless. Starstride cleared her throat and added.

“How about you all come in, you must’ve had a long journey.”

All taking a deep sigh of relief to hear those words, they all entered her home. Her home was very inviting; the living room had a fireplace, accompanied by an ornate rug, armchairs, and a bookcase. All of the ponies dropped their saddlebags and plopped down, either on the floor, or the chairs, all except Twilight, who was over by one of the windows, chatting with Starstride.

“Starstride, how did you know it was me?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Princess Celestia wrote a letter to me, telling me that you were coming.”

“Oh, how did you receive it? By mail?” she pondered aloud.

“No, by magic of course Twilight.” Starstride said as she was adjusting one of her portraits on the wall.

“Magic? Wait, you can do that with magic?” Twilight said, amused.

“Of course, all it takes is practicing teleportation.” Starstride responded.

“Ouch…Fluttershy, why do you keep doing that to my wing?” Sunspeed winced in pain.

Twilight & Starstride turned to the others, surprised to have heard that random outburst.

“Oh my, I’m sorry Sunspeed; I just need to make sure I keep your wounds clean and check them daily.” Fluttershy said apologetically.

“Is it a difficult spell to learn?” Twilight asked, turning to Starstride again.

“A bit, it isn’t easy to master long-distance teleportation.”

“Quite, I remember the first time I used the teleportation spell, it wasn’t easy for me back then.” Twilight chuckled.

Smirking a bit at Twilight’s response, she looked at the others and said:

“I think it’s time you all have something to eat, I will get dinner prepared, you all rest, you have had a long day.”

They all nodded in agreement, then the seven ponies decided to take a look around the house and pick out where they wanted to sleep while they stayed here.

“Sunspeed, maybe you should share a room with Fluttershy, your injuries are bad enough and she can help you if you need it.” Rarity said politely.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, I am in so much pain, I think I will accept that offer, c’mon Fluttershy, let’s take a look at the spare rooms.” She said, turning to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded, and then the two pegasi walked upstairs.

“Umm, hey Twi’? can ah, talk to ya’ outside for a bit?” AJ said quietly.

“Yeah AJ.”

After telling the others, the two ponies got outside. Celestia’s sun still shining bright was now in the West. Hmm, must be around 4:00PM. Twilight thought. Turning to AJ, who was standing next to her, Twilight mentioned.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Well, ah was just worried about ya’ Twi’, ah mean, are you still being bothered by that horrible vision ya’ had earlier?” AJ asked, concerned.

“Well...it is bothering me a bit, I mean, why would anypony want to do this? Especially to me. I am afraid something bad may happen to you all, just like the vision showed me.” Twilight said, getting teary-eyed.

AJ put a hoof around Twi’s neck, with a soothing touch to her voice, she said quietly.

“Naw, it won’t happen Twi’, we’re your friends, we love you, we wouldn’t let anything happen to ya’.”

“Applejack, promise me…you won’t leave me, I don’t want...to carry this burden alone.” Twilight said while she gripped Applejack’s hoof, trying to force back the tears.

Finally, she gave in and Twilight buried her face into AJ’s chest, sobbing profusely. AJ stroked her mane. Being as sincere as she could, she whispered into her ear.

“Twilight...we will always be there for ya’…always.”

AJ rested her head on Twilight’s shoulder, supporting her for every moment she needed it. She continued to stroke her mane and also patted her back. For the next five minutes, the two friends stood there, holding each other.

She...she won’t leave me, Applejack is the Element of Honesty, they will all be by my side. I have to thank her for this amount of support. Twilight beamed happily at the thought.

“AJ…” Twilight started.

“Shh…you don’t need ta’ thank me, after all we’ve been through together as friends, ah don’t deserve any amount of thanks, it’s what friends do.” Applejack interrupted, looked into her eyes, and smiled.

Twilight sniffed, and released from the embrace. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get the tears out. Afterwards, she motioned for AJ to go inside.

As they got inside, the two ponies gathered their things, claimed their spare rooms, then started to unpack. As they unpacked, Starstride walked into the living room, and called out:

“Dinner time, everypony!”

Everypony stopped what they were doing, and headed towards the living room. As they all reached the living room, Starstride was there, waiting for them. Sunspeed and Fluttershy were the last two ponies to arrive in the living room. Starstride looked at them, then closed her eyes, cleared her throat and said:

“Follow me, I will show you all to the dining hall.”

What? She has a dining hall? This house doesn’t look anything like something of that stature from the outside. Rarity thought. Before following behind the mare, she checked her mane. I have to make sure I look rather smashing; a proper lady cannot walk into a dining hall all ragged, which just isn’t beautiful at all! Rainbow gazed back; she noticed Rarity wasn’t behind her.

“Rarity!” Dash called.

Rarity, blinked her eyes multiple times, shook her head, and then trotted into the dining hall. The dining hall was a decent size. Chandeliers coated in some sapphire gems were hanging above the table, giving off a pleasant sight. Candles were lined up across the table. There were salads, apple pies, apple fritters, cupcakes, and others that were lined up on the table.

“Now I know it isn’t a Proper dinner, but you all were very tired, and I decided that anything goes after a journey like that, I hope you don’t mind.” Starstride announced across the table.

“Feel free to eat as much as you want, dig in!” She added, after a short pause.

Almost instantaneously, Pinkie reached for a couple cupcakes, beaming with joy, she gladly shoved them into her mouth.

“Pinkie, darling! Where are your manners? Haven’t the Cakes taught you anything?” Rarity said, disgusted.

“No, but if there’s anything I have learned from them, it’s that cupcakes are delicious!” Pinkie replied, licking the icing off of her hoof.

“So, Starstride, why did you want to accommodate us?” Twilight asked, looking up at her curiously.

Starstride took a bite of her salad, chewed thoroughly, swallowed, and then replied:

“Well, for one, Celestia needed a pony that she could trust to keep you all safe, so I was one of her choices almost immediately. Secondly, there is something of an important matter that I must discuss with you and your friends, but we will talk about that after dinner.”

“Yes, Celestia does have a good reason for that. I wonder what that topic will be later on. But for now, we must enjoy our dinner.” Twilight said cheerfully, then taking a bite out of an apple fritter.

“Whoo Wee, Starstride, ya’ll sure know how ta’ make a sweet apple pie!” Applejack mentioned joyfully.

“Yeah, this stuff is great!” Dash noted, taking another bite out of the warm, sweet apple pie slice she had on her plate.

“Oh, this salad is umm…amazing!” Fluttershy said aloud.

“I am glad you all like it!”

“Starstride, do you think you could help me learn that long-distance teleportation spell sometime?” Twilight said slowly.

“Of course, I would love to; learning about magic is so intriguing! There are many kinds of magic in this world, and there is an endless amount to learn from.” Starstride said, her eyes widening as she faced Twilight.

“Wonderful! You love learning about magic as much I do.”

After dinner was over, the eight ponies cleaned up the table. After cleaning, Starstride led them all into the living room. She motioned for them all to sit down, which they all did, as they sat down, all just sitting in silence, Sunspeed broke it with saying:

“Okay, so I have a question. If the SDEH is after the Elements of Harmony, why am I involved?”

“I honestly don’t know, but I am wondering why they are after the Elements of Harmony in the first place.” Fluttershy said, looking around the room.

“Well, they aren’t gonna get me so easily!” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“Starstride, what do ya’ think about all o’ this?” Applejack asked intently.

“Well, I don’t know why they are after the Elements of Harmony, but I do know one thing. I will tell you all, I don’t know how you all will react…” She paused, and turned, looking out the window. Celestia’s sun was now setting, giving the sky an orange-blue color.

“…Yes?” Twilight leaned in.

“This thing that I am about to tell you, it is about Sunspeed.” She paused again, closed her eyes, and took a long deep breath. The fireplace crackling in the back of the room was the only source of sound. She finally opened her eyes again, and she said her words slowly, and cautiously:

“Sunspeed…..You…….Are....The….Seventh…Element…..of…..Harmony...”

Questions & Answers

“What? There’s a seventh Element!?” They all said in shock.

“Yes, there is. Long ago, before Luna was banished, the seventh Element of Harmony was involved with the others. The Element has resided with the Stargazer family for generations, but the member of her family carrying the Element at the time was killed, they murdered her.” Starstride explained.

“Okay, so what is my Element, and does something happen to the Element if my relative was killed back then?” Sunspeed asked, looking intently at Starstride.

“It would be easier to explain if I read the description from this book I have.” Starstride blurted out.

Starstride stood up, and walked over to her bookcase. Staring at it for quite some time, murmuring to herself about the books, and pointing a hoof here and there, her eyes widened as she exclaimed:

“Aha! Found it! Okay…let’s see, here it is.”

“Okay, because your bearer of the Element was killed a long time ago, your Element is not active. Here is the description of your Element.” Starstride paused.

She cleared her throat, inhaled sharply, and continued to read.

“The Element of Bravery is the seventh Element out of them all. Bravery is a sign of courage, you lead the group when all else fails. When hope fades, and no one can keep going on, you are there to ensure the success of the task. You aren’t a leader by default, you help others become their own leader. When the path is unlit, you are the burning spark of light that keeps it alight.”

“Wow, cheesy description.” Twilight giggled.

“Well it is an old book, it was made a long time ago, I cannot recall how long ago.” Starstride answered putting the book back on the shelf, then glancing back at Twilight.

“So that is why I am involved with the Elements!” Sunspeed said, amazed.

“Wow Sunspeed, Ah never thought ya’ were one o’ the Elements!” Applejack said, clearly surprised.

Twilight stared down at the floor, rubbing one of her hoofs on her chin for a bit, and then made a “Hmmph” noise, as if she was contemplating about something. Twilight looked back up at the others, she opened her mouth, then clamped it shut, trying to find something to say.

“So, what does Sunspeed do exactly when the Elements are used?” Twilight said briefly.

“Well, the seventh Element is sort of an enhancer, it isn’t just a direct Element, but rather an extra to make the potency of the Elements even stronger, bonding them further, to the point where the Elements are so powerful, that they can stop any evil that blocks there path.” Starstride said in astonishment.

“Whoa, that sounds cool!” Dash yelled out.

“That is rather astounding, if I must say so myself.” Rarity said, her eyes lighting up.

“Wait, earlier you mentioned something about my Element being “Not active.” What do you mean by that?”

Turning to Sunspeed, Starstride said softly.

“Well, basically it means that you still have the Element, but it isn’t activated, it is passive at the moment, so in order to re-activate it, you have to find the actual Element orb.”

“Oh, you mean like the ones that we found in that Labyrinth?” Fluttershy said, stuttering a bit on her words.

“Yes, like those orbs, yes.”

“Oh, that’s not that bad Sunspeed.” Dash said brashly.

“Yeah, it could be worse. Anyways, I think everypony should get to bed, it’s late.” Starstride interrupted.

The eight all agreed, said goodnight to each other, and then climbed into bed, one by one. Twilight climbed into bed, sighed, and then closed her eyes. For the next hour, she lied there, tossing and turning, then finally she fell asleep.

“Twilight…give in to us, we will find you…Ponyville will be turned to dust and ash...” An ominous voice said in her head.

Twilight opened her eyes in shock. She looked around; a frightened look on her face was clearly visible. She gazed around the room in horror. Suddenly, a picture of Ponyville flashed in her mind, everypony was minding their own business, and then the next moment, the town was in flames, screams and shrieks of horror lie around every corner. That image faded, and then she saw her parents, brought down with a scream, and with blood splattered across the interior of their once beautiful home.

She saw herself, grieving before her parent’ bodies, crying deeply, as flame engulfed the cottage around her. That image too faded away, and then she saw an image of her friends, all standing before her in the middle of a street, surrounded by burning cottages, deceased beings, and others. The clouds overhead were dark and ominous; she fixed her eyes on her friends again, and then suddenly noticed that Fluttershy was lying on the ground, blood spewing out of her. That faded to black, and then she saw nothing.

NO…NO, WHY…is this-Happening to…..me? My family…my friends…Ponyville. Spike, Princess Celestia, my own…parents... She thought, completely overwhelmed by shock, and sadness.

“NO!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs. She sat up quickly. Her chest was heaving, her body was shaking. Her heart was throbbing endlessly.

“What is going on dear?” Rarity said sharply as she appeared in Twi’s room, accompanied by a sleepy Pinkie Pie and Frightened Fluttershy.

Running up to Rarity, Twilight hugged her tight. As she sobbed, she managed to say:

“I-had, ano-another vision. Oh, Rarity, it was awful!”

Completely taken by surprise, Rarity’s face gave off a “Surprised” look and she comforted Twilight.

“Shh, you’ll be okay darling, it’s okay.”

“Oh-my, are you okay Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight shook her head, and then buried her face in Rarity’s coat again.

“I’m sorry to hear that Twilight, I would love to help but-“Pinkie yawned.

“…I’m too tired.” She continued.

“Pinkie! How inconsiderate of you!” Rarity snapped, narrowing her eyes on Pinkie, she turned again to Twilight.

“Twilight, how about you sleep with me in my room, so you won’t be so scared in the night.” Rarity reassured, adding a smile.

Twilight gave a half-nod, and then the two headed off to bed, leaving Fluttershy & Pinkie in the room. They both said nothing, and then went back to bed.

The conference room was lit by one light, a Chandelier hanging above, giving off the room’s only source of light. In the back of the room, was a banner with a symbol imprinted on it. The symbol was the Elements of Harmony, all in a circle, in the middle of it was the Crown, cracked in half, in the background, were flames, engulfing the Elements. Above the symbol, were the initials: “SDEH.” There were only two ponies present, one of them was sitting in a comfy chair, the other was standing. The one in the chair was hooded, and his face was shrouded from all others.

“So, what do we have of news from our scouts?” The one in the chair asked quickly.

“Nothing boss, we can’t seem to find them; our scouts have scoured a lot of places!” The other replied with a slight appearance of fear.

“Dammit! We need to find them!” The other said, smacking his hoof on the table before him.

"What are we gonna do with Twilight, how are we going to destroy them?" The cohort questioned.

The hooded pony turned to him, and said, with a harsh tone in his voice: "You fool! First, we drive Twilight Sparkle insane, then get rid of her once and for all, then her little friends!" He said, laughing evilly afterwards.

"I have an errand I need seeing to." He added.

The cohort stood before him, and nodded. The hooded pony continued on.

"Tell our scouts that if they don't get me what I want, I'll destroy their homes!"

“Yes boss, I will let our scouts know that they need to look harder. What are you planning to do if we do find them?” The standing one said, trembling a bit in fear.

The hooded pony got up from his seat, and walked towards a window that was on one side of the room, he put his hood down. He grinned evilly and said in a menacing tone.

“I know exactly what I want to do.”

An Unexpected Adventure

Twilight was lying on the sofa in the living room, reading a book called: “The Elements of Harmony.” Sunspeed made her way downstairs, looking at Twilight.

“Wow, you’re up early, aren’t you?” She whispered.

Twilight jumped at the sudden yet quiet outburst, a bit surprised, she managed to say:

“Sunspeed, you startled me!”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Sunspeed replied, rubbing her neck.

“So, what are you reading about? Sunspeed added, hesitating slightly.

“I am just reading about the Elements of Harmony, I’m trying to figure out more about them, if there is anything else about the topic.”

“Where is Starstride?” Sunspeed asked.

“She went for a walk in the woods.” Twilight said, still gazing her eyes on her book.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Starstride appeared, breathless and gasping for air.

“I-I found...something that you…may want to know-“Starstride struggled to say.

“Whoa, hold on there, take it easy and catch your breath, then tell us about what you found.” Sunspeed responded.

After a few moments of catching her breath, Starstride finally calmed down and continued.

“I may have found a place for you and your friends to get more information on the 7th Element and the SDEH. Quite some time ago, there used to be a library two miles from here, but generations ago, the SDEH destroyed it. There is an ancient tome, which has the whole history of the 7th Element, and about the SDEH.”

“What? We need to find and retrieve this information!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yes, we must. I wandered across the same library when I was in the woods moments ago. There should be an entrance to the labyrinth, it holds the tome. I would ask of you and your friends to retrieve it. In order to get there, there is a trail leading to the South in the woods, follow that and you will find it.” Starstride explained.

Twilight looked at Sunspeed for a second, then glanced back at Starstride, then opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t find the words. The three sat in silence for some time, and then Twilight perked up and said:

“We will leave around early morning; I will wake the others shortly.”

Starstride nodded, stood up, and walked out of the room.

“I will gather some supplies we may need for the trip.” Sunspeed said briefly.

The mane seven gathered in the living room, all packed and ready to go. Starstride nodded to them, acknowledging them. Twilight returned the nod, and fixed her eyes on the others. They all nodded or smiled as well. Twilight opened the door, and they all started off, walking down the trail that Starstride mentioned of earlier.

As they got to the entrance of the woods, Rarity looked over her shoulder and mentioned:

“Ugh, Celestia’s sun isn’t up that high yet, why did we have to leave this early Twilight?” She complained.

“Rarity, once we get this book, and get back home, you can sleep all you want.” Twilight retorted.

Adding a sigh, Rarity kept to herself and looked around the woods. The birds were starting to go about doing their daily business, the squirrels were frolicking through the tree lines, and bees were flying about, trying to scavenge and spread any pollen they could find.

After about an hour of walking, a loud but obnoxious noise came from Rainbow Dash.

“Ugh, can’t I just fly you all there? How long is it going to take us?” Dash blurted out, easily annoyed.

“Dash, we will get there when we get there, ah don’t think ya’ll need to be so impatient!” Applejack raised her voice.

Okay, maybe I was being a bit too inpatient, I just don’t see why I can’t fly you all there. Sorry AJ, you know I didn’t mean it.” Dash apologized.

“It’s okay Rainbow, you weren’t being that impatient, sometimes, you just need to keep things to yourself.” Fluttershy jumped in, smiling afterwards.

“Yeah, I guess your right ‘Shy.” Dash implied.

“A chocolate cake from the Cake family sounds good right now.” Pinkie said.

They all agreed and decided to continue walking in silence. After walking for some time, they noticed a building in the distance. As they came closer, it turned out to be an old warehouse. The area around the warehouse was an open field, no trees or brush was around. The warehouse was painted red, which by now was faded and chipped away.

As they approached the double doors, Applejack stood up next to the door, turned around and faced her friends, and bucked the doors. The doors busted open, fragments of wood flew everywhere, and the doors fell onto the floorboards.

They entered the warehouse, shattered tables, and broken bookcases littered the floor. They were covered in dust, and mold. As they searched around the room, Rarity let out a yelp. The others turned around almost instantaneously, curious to see what happened. There was a hole in the floor where Rarity was standing. The others gazed down the hole, and saw a slanted surface. After examining it, they identified them as stairs.

“Rarity, are you down there?” Fluttershy called.

They heard a cough in the distance, and a faint reply:

“Yes, I am down here.”

They knocked down the remaining parts of wood that was blocking the stairs, and started to descend. The stairs were covered in vines and cracks, small chips of rock were falling off of the staircase. When they finally reached Rarity, they locked their eyes upon an astonishing sight. In front of them, they saw a large labyrinth. There was murky water a distance ahead of them, and pillars were lined on opposite sides of the water, which was covered in vines and cracks too.

In the middle of the water, was a bridge, the pillars looming over it from both sides. On the left of them, there was a corridor. On the right, was an aged stone door. As they awed in the sight, Twilight took a step ahead of them all, and turned to face her friends.

“Okay everypony, I think the tome would lie just beyond this bridge, I’m not certain, but I have a feeling.”

“Oh, how could anypony deal with a horrid place like this? This dust and dirt is making my mane and coat all icky, I think I will just wait outside.” Rarity said irritably.

“Oh, come on Rarity, I think you are overreacting. You can go one time with a dirty mane.” Sunspeed enlightened.

“Yeah Rarity, I think this place would be fun, especially for a party! Although it needs some sprucing up a bit, maybe some streamers, balloons, and…” Pinkie Pie rambled on.

“Umm, sorry to intrude, but...don’t you think we should keep moving?” Fluttershy interrupted.

“Yeah, ‘Shy is right, we have ta’ keep moving.” Applejack agreed.

They all agreed on it, and they decided to walk to the other side of the bridge. After walking about halfway through the bridge, they heard a crumbling sound behind them. They turned slowly and saw the bridge collapsing behind them. The seven stood in complete shock for a moment, everything around them seemed to slow down, as their eyes locked on the collapsing walkway.

“RUN!!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs.

They all turned and galloped as fast as they could. Pinkie Pie almost tripped over a rock that was in her path, and she lost her balance. Struggling to keep up, Pinkie gritted her teeth and pressed on, trying to escape the collapsing doom that was before her hind legs. She jumped at the last part of the bridge; she barely managed to get to the other side. She landed with a loud thud, followed by a groan.

The seven lie on the ground for some time, trying hard to catch their breath.

“Is-is everypony…o-okay?” Dash panted.

They all gave out a groan of approval. They sat there for about five minutes and rested. Afterwards, they continued their journey.

They trotted down a long hallway that was in front of them, and soon after, they were staring at a large, aged cobblestone room. In the very back of it was a pedestal, light was shining down on it. A once blue carpet was on the floor. Pillars were lined up on both sides of the carpet. On the pedestal, was a tome. They all looked at each other for a second, then their eyes darted back to the pedestal with the tome resting on it.

“There it is!” They all exclaimed.

They slowly approached the pedestal, and as they were about forty feet away from it, they heard a loud growl. They looked around in horror, and they saw, in the corner of the room, was a Manticore. They all gasped, as the Manticore made its way towards the seven ponies. The Manticore crushed one of the pillars, which fell onto the other pillar across from it, making a loud booming noise.

The noise echoed off the walls and hall, making the sound uncomfortable to bear. The Manticore got next to Twilight, and roared directly into her face. She stepped back quickly and cautiously, and motioned RD and AJ towards the Manticore. AJ ran up to the Manticore and bucked it across the face, Rainbow was spinning around him, making him dazed and confused.

Twilight looked down and closed her eyes; she poured all of her concentration into her horn, purple sparks and a resonating essence gleaming out of it. Then with a quick flash of light, a bolt of energy hit the Manticore. The Manticore flew backwards, and hit the wall; it slid down to the floor, and lay there, unconscious.

The seven turned and approached the pedestal. Twilight was standing directly next to the tome, and slowly, she picked it up. When she picked it up, it suddenly dissolved and crumbled to dust, leaving nothing but a trail of ash and dust with it.

“What? No! That was our chance of-" Twilight trembled.

“We came down here for nothing!” Sunspeed said angrily.

"Well, it was an OLD tome, wasn't it?" Dash said, putting too much emphasis on "Old."

"Well, I don't think the SDEH had anything to do with it. Starstride said that the SDEH destroyed the library long ago. The tome was probably just sitting here getting dusty for quite some time, since nopony took care of it." Rarity mentioned.

Turning to the others, Twilight’s head sunk down a bit, her eyes drooped slightly, giving off a saddened expression. She said softly:

“Girls, let’s go home.”

It was raining outside, and a hooded figure was watching it pour outside out of the window. A light shone behind him, the banner of SDEH was clearly visible. The door came crashing open, and a Pegasus came running in, panting.

“S-Sire, I have important…news!” The Pegasus gasped for air.

“What?” The hooded figure said bluntly.

“We found them; we know where the Elements are.”

The hooded figure smirked and chuckled, making a sly reply, he said:

“Excellent.”

A Shocking Discovery

“Starstride, we’re back!” Twilight called as she entered the cottage.

“Wonderful, give me a minute.” Starstride replied from upstairs.

Starstride trotted downstairs quickly, sat down in one of the armchairs, sighed briefly and gazed her eyes on the seven that were before her.

“So, did you retrieve the tome?”

“No, unfortunately we didn’t, it crumbled into dust immediately after I picked it up.” Twilight sighed, turning her head away from Starstride, and glancing at her, then to the floor.

“Oh, I am disappointed to hear that, I was expecting it to be here.” Starstride said meagerly.

“Well, I am going to go do some chores I have to finish, could you all do me a favor?” She added.

“Of course, what is it darling?” Rarity asked nicely.

“Can you all go into the forest that is east of here? I need you all to pick some blueberries; I need them for a recipe I want to make. The forest is called the Everglade Forest, I would be cautious too; you all are being hunted by the SDEH, so keep your guard up.” Starstride said in a serious tone.

“That shouldn’t be too hard; the forest is close to your cottage, at least, from the looks of it.” Sunspeed said, a bit unsure.

“Alright, we’ll be back in an hour or so Starstride.” Applejack said, and then grabbed a basket with her teeth.

The seven ponies got outside on the porch, opened the fence gate, and started making their way to the Everglade Forest. They all walked in silence, taking in the fresh air, and beautiful sight of the fields that were before them. Cotton was blowing through the air; a soft, yet chilly breeze was blowing in from the North. The birds were humming tunes to one another in the distance.

“Wow, it is a beautiful day, and just look at all the cute birds!” Fluttershy squeaked with glee.

“Ah know, why, ah’d be out Apple Bucking right now, it’s a perfect day fer that!” Applejack said, turning to Fluttershy.

“It’s a perfect day to try out a new flying technique of mine, I made it up myself.” Dash boasted, grinning and pointed at herself confidently.

“Dash, ya’ always say that, Ah don’t see too many flying techniques!” AJ snorted.

“What the hay is that supposed to mean?"

“Ah think ya’ll are a bit too overconfident at times, Dash, and boastful. Ya’ll need to give it a break at times, sugarcube.” AJ sympathized.

“Ehh, maybe your right, but I don’t know… it’s kind of my thing.” Dash said softly, hovering in mid-flight.

“Well it looks like we have some rainclouds along the way tonight.” Sunspeed interrupted, changing the subject.

“I think they are. Too bad that I haven’t heard any news about the weather from the weather patrol; I bet we have a scheduled rain.” Dash replied looking over her shoulder.

Rarity trotted up to Twilight. Twilight faced Rarity, and Rarity returned the gesture with a smile. She smiled and faced forward again.

“So Twilight dear, how are you holding up after that other vision you had a few nights ago, hmm?” Rarity asked. A bit of concern was in her tone of voice.

Twilight held her mouth open, closed it, and raised an eyebrow, confounded a bit by the sudden question. I could come up with a response sooner, but Rainbow and the others are distracting me a bit with their chatter. She thought.

“I actually haven’t given it much thought lately, but it still scares me quite a lot. I am having trouble putting those horrifying pictures I saw out of my mind.” Twilight responded, after a minute of walking.

“Well at least you’re holding up alright, if you need anyone to talk to, I can help, I hope you know that.” Rarity said with a comforting tone.

“Thank you Rarity, I am glad to have you as a close friend.”

“As am I.” Rarity answered.

After about two hours of walking, they finally made it to the entrance of the Everglade Forest. Before entering, they all agreed on sticking near one another, so no one gets lost. Upon entering, immediately the air became denser, and the sunlight that was shining over them left their bodies immediately. The forest was thick; the trees seemed to close in around them. A musty smell seemed to reside in the forest itself.

After slowly scanning the area, they found a mid-sized area, blueberries were scattered around, and they began picking them. They kept picking, keeping to themselves until AJ stopped and said abruptly:

“Wow, Ah told Starstride that we’d be back in an hour! Ah was so wrong!”

“Yes, time has a way with that.” Twilight jumped in, as she continued picking.

“I love picking blueberries…but this forest…is dark and...scary.” Fluttershy said timidly.

“Yeah, I agree Fluttershy. Man, all this talk about blueberries makes me want some blueberry pancakes or something!” Pinkie exclaimed, holding her stomach.

“Pinkie, you have such a wild imagination.” Sunspeed said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, what did you expect? It’s Pinkie Pie!” Rarity said coolly, glancing at Pinkie.

They finished picking the last of the berries in the vicinity, and continued deeper into the forest to scavenge some more. As they continued walking, Fluttershy stumbled upon something.

“Umm…hold on girls, I found something.” Fluttershy said urgently, pointing to the ground with one of her hoofs.

The seven stopped and gathered around the object.

“What is that?” Twilight asked curiously.

“It looks like, a tattered cloak.” Dash said slowly, examining the object.

“A cloak? Why is something like that doing here?” Rarity pondered.

“I don’t know, but maybe we should take this back to Starstride, it could prove of some use, you never know.” Sunspeed jumped in.

“Sounds like somepony is up to no good! A certain somepony that is!? Maybe he’s a spy; maybe he’s invisible, maybe he’s-“Pinkie said, jumping up on a tree stump that was a few feet from her.

“I hardly doubt that Pinkie Pie!” Dash giggled.

“Anything’s possible Dashie!”

Nodding in acknowledgement, Rainbow Dash turned her head to face the direction they were once travelling, she squinted, and her mouth was agape slightly as she was focusing on something. Suddenly, she gasped, and took off running.

“Rainbow Dash! Where are you going?!” Twilight said, turning her head to Dash and ran after her.

“I found something, just follow me, come on!”

The other five ponies hesitated for a second, and then ran after Twilight and Rainbow. When they finally caught up, they all gasped in shock of what they saw.

Before them, was a desecrated outpost. Ripped and tattered tents littered the ground, some were still standing, and some were lying crumpled on the ground. Broken tables, chairs, mugs, and cider bottles were sprawled across the campsite, Black ashes littered the place, and fallen logs and barricades, were either smashed completely, had sharp wood fragments lying around, or burnt to a crisp black.

In the back of the campsite, was a chest, which was intact, but was severely burnt. There was one table still standing, near the chest. The seven walked around the site, examining the place. Dash trotted up to the chest, and she saw in the corner of her eye, a note, sitting on the table.

Dash picked it up, a rip sat in the center, a diamond shaped tear. She noticed writing was on it, it was faded and hard to recognize. She sighed, and began to read it silently. As she was reading, she heard the others talking in the background, and after she finished reading it, her eyes widened with fear.

‘Uh…umm…Twilight, you might want to…see this.” Dash stuttered, in shock.

Twilight trotted up to Dash, and levitated the note out of her hoof into the air. The others gathered around curiously. Twilight cleared her throat, studied the words and tried to recognize them, and then began to read aloud.

“…Day28..: The Lieutenant said that we were going to stay at this camp for a couple more days, until we find the Elements; we have been looking for them for a month. Some of the guards filled me in on why we want the Elements. Apparently, the Boss wants to revive an ancient demon called Actatrax, heh, what kind of name is that? So, this demon, is supposed to be the most devastating thing known in Equestria, few have dared to utter those words. These buddies tell me that in order to revive him, we need to kill the seven Elements, and use their blood to revive him. I remember the Lieutenant told me that the Elements reside in the blood and soul of its bearer, so we just have to kill them. I hope I get a raise from the Boss if I kill one of the Elements, it would be very useful to me. The Sarge is giving me a hard time, he thinks I want to steal his money, and I’d say he needs to-……."

-Jarrick, Corporal 1st class,

Society...o…Decieving…Eleme-…Harmonics.

Twilight looked up, and turned to the others, her eyes lit up in horror. Her whole body trembled, and she barely managed to whisper to the others:

“This is worse than what I thought.”

A Long Discussion

Starstride was outside, enjoying the late afternoon air. Celestia’s sun was glittering high above the clouds, emanating like a jewel. The birds and ducks were out and about, tending to their own worries. She sighed, and smiled as she closed her eyes. Wow, such peace and quiet, nothing could break such a nice moment. She thought.

“Starstride!” Twilight called out, exhausted.

Starstride turned, surprised by the outburst; she saw the seven ponies in the distance; they were galloping towards her, Twilight ahead of them all. I just had to say it, next time Starstride, don’t say that you don’t want a moment like this broken...Starstride thought furiously to herself.

“Girls, what’s wrong, are you alright, did something happen, because if something did, I can help!” Starstride fretted, her eyes darted back and forth nervously.

“We’re fine.” Twilight said with the last of her breath.

“Fine? Oh yeah, we’re fine, but this sure isn’t!” Dash said, holding out the note they found earlier.

“What’s this?” Starstride questioned.

“Read it, it’ll tell you everything.” Sunspeed blurted out.

Starstride was puzzled by the sudden arrival of the note; she looked at it, and raised an eyebrow to the others. She shrugged, sniffed, and began to read, slowly. As she was reading, her eyes narrowed awkwardly, and then that expression changed into a confused look. As she reached the last paragraph, her eyes lit up in distress. Her mouth gaped open, unable to respond in the slightest manner.

“Uhh, ya’ll okay there Sugarcube?” AJ asked after a while.

“Huh? What, yeah I am okay, I am just…horrified. Now we fully understand what the SDEH wants to do to you all, I am frightened by what may happen next.” Starstride said, hesitating.

They all nodded in agreement. The eight friends stood around the porch, looking at each other in silence. Fluttershy suddenly broke the silence with:

“Sorry to interrupt but um, what do we do now Starstride?”

“I, I don’t know. I would say that your best bet is to stay here where it is safe until further notice.” Starstride replied, looking away towards the forest.

“I agree. You never know what may happen out here, somepony could be evil, like Rarity!” Pinkie said, poking Rarity’s cheek.

“Pinkie that is THE most preposterous thing you could ever say!” Rarity said, aggravated.

“What? Hey, it’s better than when Zecora first came to town!” Pinkie pointed out.

“What? You make no sense, I agree but at the same time… I don’t even know.” Rarity said, confused.

The six others rolled their eyes, and went inside to discuss more on their next plan. As they shut the door behind them, they could still hear Rarity and Pinkie talking, none of them could tell if it was an argument, or a discussion.

“Okay, so, what should we do next?” Twilight asked, slouching down onto the sofa.

“Well, I honestly think we should stick here and play it safe.” Fluttershy said timidly.

“I have to disagree, maybe we should move to a different location.” Sunspeed mentioned, looking at her still gauzed wings.

“Ah honestly don’t know if we should stay here an’ try to stay safe, but ah don’t know if we should move out either, the only thing we need to know is if the SDEH knows where we are.” Applejack said open-minded.

“I agree with AJ, if we knew that information, we would have a decision.” Starstride said calmly.

“I know this is off topic, but can I use my wings now Fluttershy, it’s been three days since that crash!” Sunspeed whined.

“I don’t think so, give it at least until tomorrow and you can try, sound fair?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Sunspeed perked up.

“Great.”

“Okay, so back to the topic. So, what are you all thinking about right now? Should we stay, or go?” Twilight asked her eyes locking with everyone’s in the room.

“I vote that we stay.” Fluttershy smiled.

“Ah agree with ‘Shy.” AJ said, looking at Fluttershy.

“I vote we stay. I haven’t said much, but in a matter like this, I am better at listening.” Dash said.

“Stay.” Sunspeed responded.

“Starstride, what about you?” Twilight questioned.

“I vote we stay, although, I just have a strange feeling…It feels like something is going to happen soon.” She said quietly.

“I see… I am sure everything will be alright.” Twilight said grimly, but reassured Starstride by putting a hoof on her shoulder and smiling.

“Thank you Twilight, I shouldn’t think of such awful thoughts.”

“No worries. Now, we just need Pinkie’s and Rarity’s opinion on all of this.” Twilight stood up.

Rarity and Pinkie stepped into the home, still into a deep discussion.

“Pinkie, the next time I let you use my sewing machine, is the next time I ruin your Party Cannon!” Rarity sneered.

“Don’t you dare try to hurt my Party Cannon, Gummy would be really upset, and he won’t be such a nice guy after that!” Pinkie said, gritting her teeth.

“Gummy? He doesn’t even have teeth; I don’t see how his bites could hurt!” Rarity laughed.

“Rarity, just you wait.” She growled.

Ho there, hold up you two, let’s get rid of the nasty comments!” Dash stepped in, pushing them away from each other.

“Calm down ya’ two, ya’ll need to be nice to each other, we’re all best friends!” AJ cried.

“Please stop arguing.” Fluttershy said.

Rarity and Pinkie turned to the others, and then looked at one another.

“Rarity, I’m sor-“Pinkie started.

“No, it was my fault, I started this whole argument, I’m the one whose sorry darling, forgive me.”

Pinkie nodded, tears started to show in her eyes, and they embraced in a hug, a sense of everlasting friendship seemed to flow in the room.

“Pinkie, I am sorry for acting like- like a brute. I couldn’t ask for another good friend like you.” Rarity said sympathetically.

“Neither could I.” Pinkie replied.

The six others sighed in relief. Twilight approached them both and motioned for them to sit down. Rarity and Pinkie sat down on the sofa, and Twilight stood in the middle of the living room and looked at them both and said:

“While you two were outside, we were all in here discussing whether or not we should leave Hoofsdale and move to some other safe location, or stay here until further notice. We all have chosen to stay, but we still need your opinions on the subject.”

The two ponies glanced at each other. Rarity rubbed her neck with her hoof, and Pinkie was thinking deeply. Rarity raised a hoof to respond, but then lowered it. After a few minutes of silence, Rarity came to a sudden conclusion.

“I say that we stay, after all, Hoofsdale is a charming little place.”

“Pinkie, what about you?” Twilight leaned in.

“I want to stay, Starstride makes THE BEST cupcakes!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Okay then, it is settled, we are all staying here until we get more info on the SDEH.” Twilight turned to the others.

“Yes indeed. Oh my, looks like it is getting late, I think we all must get to bed, you all must need your rest after that journey. Before I forget, did you bring my blueberries?” Starstride said, looking out the window.

“Oh, Ah have them, let me fetch them real quick, they’re outside.” AJ said, trotting to the door.

Starstride nodded, and continued to gaze out the window. Celestia’s sun was now setting, and the sky was a pinkish-orange color. Overhead, you could see the moon shining faintly.

"Okay, here ya’ go Starstride.” AJ said with the basket in her mouth.

“Thank you, now I think we all need to go to bed.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Twilight added.

The eight ponies all got settled in and climbed into their beds. They all had trouble sleeping due to the fact of the note they read. As the thought of a Demon being summoned in Equestria wasn’t enough, they all had other troubles on their mind. Luna’s moon shone brightly throughout the dark house, and the stars twinkled with it. It was strangely quiet tonight. They all tried to ignore the bad thoughts, and tried to relax, as the night went on, they all eventually went to sleep peacefully.

A Red Dawn

“Wake up! Wake up, everypony get up!” Starstride screamed at the top of her lungs.

Twilight and the others jumped out of their beds, frightened by the sudden outburst. They all hurried to the living room, where Starstride was.

“Wh-what’s the matter, da-darling?” Rarity asked, barely managing to keep her eyes open.

“Hoofsdale is under attack!”

The seven gasped at this, in complete shock and horror. Rainbow Dash was going to say something, but stopped herself almost immediately. Twilight’s mouth hung open, she had nothing to say, she was speechless.

“Well, we have ta’ do something, right?” AJ said open-mindedly.

They all stood there for a brief moment, then all narrowed their eyes, and nodded seriously. Starstride walked over to the door, and said:

“Alright everypony, let’s work together as a team, we have no idea what we’re up against, or what caused this, everyone ready?”

They all nodded, all except Fluttershy, who shuddered with fear and squeaked. Starstride opened the door, and they all galloped outside, and their eyes, went wide with awe, and uncertainty. There were dark, huge, ominous clouds overhead, there was thunder and an unsettling breeze in the air. The sky was painted a ruby red; lightning was colored a sparkling ruby red, and lit the sky up.

The town before them resembled nothing of Hoofsdale, there was rubble, broken signs, carts, and others. Cottages were broken, shattered, or on fire. Some of them even had missing rooftops. Starstride stepped in front of all of them, and beckoned them to move on.

They galloped towards the town square, when suddenly..

“AUGGHH!” Twilight cried in pain, falling to the ground, shaking violently.

"…Twilight-light…" Said multiple voices, echoing like shouting atop a mountain.

"This is your last night Twilight, you and your friends will…die! You and your pathetic attempt to out-run me has failed, the Elements will cease to exist..Hahah, I will make you feel true pain.." A dark, voice said.

Twilight let out a scream, there was an agonizing pain in her head. Her whole body seemed numb. Her memories of her friends, family, studies, and much more passed through her mind vividly. She let out a tear, a single tear, and continued screaming in agony. She lied there, and in the corner of her eye, she saw a group of dark figures in the distance.

“Twilight? Twilight, say something!” Pinkie begged.

Twilight let out a slow groan.

“Uh-oh, looks like we got some company!” Sunspeed said nervously, pointing a hoof over to the North.

Seven hooded figures stopped about twenty feet from the mane seven. Suddenly, a loud boom of thunder pierced the air. A surface of tension seemed to close in around them all. It started to rain lightly, and the wind got worse. One of the hooded figures, stepped up and mentioned in a low, brash tone:

“Give up Elements, or you will die, like the others before you!"

“OH, you wanna do this the hard way? We’ll do this the HARD way!” Dash yelled bravely, gritting her teeth, snorting and stamping her hooves together.

“I guessed as much.” The hooded figure said quietly.

Then, the seven hooded ponies galloped towards them, letting out a battle cry. The other six Elements, gritted their teeth, and charged forward, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

“Hold them off, I’ll get Twilight to safety!” Starstride said quickly.

Then, with a crash, Rainbow tackled one of the attackers. AJ bucked one in the face, before getting a nasty hit to the side. Rainbow suddenly got thrown off of the pony, and hit the ground with a thud. Two of the enemies threw themselves on top of Rainbow, and began to beat her senselessly.

Fluttershy smacked one in the face, leaving a purple gash on the side of his cheek. Her opponent growled, and flipped her to the ground and start hitting her, hard. She cried in pain with every blow, and she managed to grab one of his hoofs, and twisted it forcefully. He screamed, and fell backwards, clutching his hoof. Fluttershy let out a squee of victory.

“Hey, will somepony help me out!” Rainbow pleaded.

Rarity levitated a piece of rubble with her magic, and threw it towards Rainbow’s attackers, they turned, eyes widened, and hit the ground. Rainbow let out a sigh of thanks, which Rarity nodded in return.

Pinkie stood across from her opponent; he was carrying a razor sharp piece of glass, he lunged towards her in an effort to cut her. She managed to dodge the 1st slice, but it narrowly missed her, and cut off a couple inches of her mane from her head. She tried to kick his hooves, but in the process, got cut three times on her front left hoof. Gritting her teeth and narrowing her eyes in sheer pain, she kicked him down onto the ground. As he was getting up, Pinkie said:

“Say hello to the PARTY CANNON!”

Firing it almost directly at him, he flew back, and hit the ground, rolling backwards until coming to a stop in the middle of the street.

Sunspeed took a blow to her haunch, making her lose her balance and fell. She bucked the enemy in the chest before he could stamp his hooves on top of her. She quickly ripped off the bandages that were on her wings, and she flew into the sky. She yelped a bit from the pain of flying. I guess I haven’t fully recovered, it has only been four days since that fall. She thought. Suddenly, she gasped as a Pegasi tackled into her, both crashing into some rubble.

Sunspeed hacked and coughed; her vision was blurry, and she was in a lot of pain. In the corner of her eye, she saw her bright mane soaked in blood, and a pool of it was underneath her. She gazed her eyes to some figure standing before her. She couldn’t figure out who it was. The figure took his two front hooves and bucked her in the face.

Applejack was twirling her lasso around, and flung it towards her opponent. He shrieked as it caught onto his leg and struggled to get loose. Applejack turned, to see the others finishing off their attackers.

Rarity was throwing rocks at her opponent. Her opponent dodged them and charged forward, he tackled into her, making her run into the side of a cottage. Rarity let out a sharp gasp, and snarled at him. She punched him in the side, then kicked him near the eyes.

He yelped as one of her blows hit his eye. He retaliated, and pointed his horn towards her. She muttered to herself, and dodged the first strike he made. He then struggled to get his horn out of the wall, which was lodged deep into it. Rarity bucked him in the side twice, and his horn gave way as he fell to the ground.

Rainbow looked around as the others all gathered around. Rainbow examined the wounds her friends took. Applejack got a black eye and some scratches on her flank. Pinkie had deep cuts in her hoofs and a large cut on her face, going from her eyebrow, to her mid-cheek. Fluttershy had some cuts on her wing, and on her face. Rarity had some dust on her mane, and had some bruises. Man, I took some nasty blows, I have cuts all over my face and side, and I am limping really bad. Rainbow thought.

Hmm, Sunspeed has…wait, where is Sunspeed? Dash thought.

“Where’s Sunspeed?” Dash asked in fear.

“Well, I don’t-There!” Rarity yelled, pointing a hoof towards some rubble and a broken cottage.

They saw a pony standing over a bright light blue/orange figure. The pony had a pointed piece of metal, levitating above Sunspeed’s body. Rarity quickly took a big rock, and shot it towards him with her magic. It hit him directly in the face and the metal fell onto the ground with a clang.

Sunspeed made a quiet groan, and she slowly opened her eyes to see her friends crowd around her limp body. She looked around slowly, and gasped for air, and clutched Rainbow’s hoof.

Oh my, sweet Celestia. Sunspeed has a deep, large, open cut wound on her side, and has purple bruises and scratches and gashes everywhere. Fluttershy thought in sorrow.

“I-I need..” Sunspeed started.

“What? You need what darling?” Rarity insisted.

“…medical attention..” she finished.

“Quick, we must get her to Starstride, does anypony know where she went off to?” Fluttershy said nervously.

“I think she went over to that building over there.” Pinkie pointed to the east.

The five nodded, while Sunspeed groaned in approval. Rarity levitated her onto Rainbow’s back, and they hurried their way over to Starstride and Twilight. As they walked past a few cottages, they noticed Twilight and Starstride hiding behind a wall.

They trotted up to her, Fluttershy said:

“Starstride, Sunspeed is badly injured, she needs help!”

“That’s not good, I will look after her, the rest of you must go and help the townspeople. Don’t worry about Twilight, she is doing okay, she is still having problems in her mind. But please, go, I will take care of them!” Starstride explained.

The five nodded, and started to gallop towards the town square. As they came closer to it, they saw a citizen defending off an attacker. They all glanced at one another, nodded, and galloped towards their enemy. As they ran towards them, a Pegasi flew from the sky and tackled into Rarity.

“Rarity!” The four others called.

“Go, I will be fine, secure the town square!”

Rarity struggled to break the hold of her attacker. She hovered a board of wood that was nearby, and hit her opponent in the side with it. He let out a cry, and toppled to the ground beside her. She got up quickly and ran towards a cottage that had its roof torn off.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The four other ponies ran up behind the defender. AJ ran up and bucked the townpony’ attacker in the face. The townspony looked at her, and smiled.

“Thank you.” She said.

“No need ta’ thank me miss.” AJ replied.

“Oh, I didn’t properly introduce myself, I am-" She started.

“Look out!” AJ yelled, her eyes widening.

AJ pulled the Earth pony down with her, as a ball of flame whizzed by her. They turned to see one lone unicorn. The unicorn snorted and charged forward. AJ grabbed her lasso and spun it around quickly, and before he could pierce her with his horn, she caught his two front hooves with the lasso.

“Now that is how we do it on the farm!” She said happily.

“Quick, let’s go find Rarity, we have to get her, and then get out of here, this was no mere attack, we are the ones they’re after, it’s the SDEH!” Rainbow explained.

“Wait? How did you know it was the SDEH?” Pinkie questioned.

“Look at his cutie mark, it’s the same symbol we saw on the first two we encountered, when we found Sunspeed.” Rainbow continued.

“Oh, I see it now. Sweet Celestia your right, we have to get going!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Let’s go find Rarity, and fast!” Pinkie exclaimed.

The four ponies started to head towards Rarity’s last location, Rainbow limping behind.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rarity gasped for breath as she stopped at the 2nd floor of the cottage she was in. There was a large gap in the floor. Half of the level was missing; Falling off the 2nd floor onto the 1st would not be such a great idea. Rarity thought. Suddenly, she heard hoofsteps behind her, she gasped, and turned to see a different pursuer, a unicorn.

Rarity gritted her teeth, and the two unicorns charged towards each other, and their horns locked against each other in a vigorous battle. Rarity’s attacker released his force on his horn, and ducked and moved to her side and shoved her. Rarity was surprised by this, and fell to the ground, sliding near the edge of the floor. Her opponent walked up to her, and raised his two front hooves.

“No, you wouldn’t-“ She started.

Before she could finish her sentence, her enemy sent his two hooves into her face, and she fell down to the first floor. Her body caught and banged against several objects, and landed with a loud thud. She gasped for air, and tried to crawl away. As she was crawling slowly, she saw a shadow looming over her, she turned over to see the unicorn, towering over her.

“Hahah, now to finish you, Element of Generosity!” He laughed evilly, pointing his sharp horn towards her.

“No no, no, you wouldn’t dare, don’t you dare stab me with that horn you little ruffi-AHHHH!” Rarity pleaded, then yelled in pain and agony as he plunged his horn into her stomach. He twisted it, and she screamed even more. He pulled it out, and was readying for another thrust.

Out of nowhere, a piercing light shined, then a flash of blue struck the unicorn, and sent him to the ground, unconscious. Rarity lied there, gasping for air and clutching her stomach, when Rainbow appeared before her.

“Rarity, oh my, we have to help you! Come on, I’ll carry you, we have to get out of Hoofsdale!”

Rarity let out a yelp of pain when Rainbow picked her up. Rainbow exited the building, and regrouped with the others.

“Ra-Rain-Rainbow D-Dash, wh-what was that light?” Rarity said, choking on blood and air.

“Starstride used some cool spell to give that sucker what he deserved!” Dash grinned.

“That’s n-neat.” Rarity replied slowly.

“I will teleport us back to my house, everypony stick close.” Starstride said.

Everypony except Twilight, Rarity and Sunspeed, who were all being carried, all huddled close to Starstride. A bright blue essence was resonating from her horn, and a beam of light protruded from it, and with a loud boom, they were back inside her house.

“You all have to leave now, Hoofsdale is not safe anymore.” Starstride said quickly.

“But Starstride, We all are badly hurt, especially Rarity, and Sunspeed, there is no way we’ll make it without recovering a bit, it’s not possible!” Dash argued.

“I know, but you cannot linger any longer, you have to get out of here while you still can!” Starstride said, raising her voice slightly.

“Starstride, we can’t do it, it won’t be possible, trust me.” Dash reasoned.

“Fine, I will put up a spell to shield us from the SDEH, but you will leave first thing at Dawn tomorrow.” Starstride sighed.

“I will go grab some provisions we’ll need.” Fluttershy said.

“I’ll go help her.” Pinkie jumped in.

“Okay, we’ll leave tomorrow at Dawn.” Dash said.

“Thanks for understanding Starstride.” Dash added.

“Your welcome, but you have a long journey ahead of you, you all must muster your strength, you all are going to need it for tomorrow.” Starstride noted.

“I am aware of that, for now, we must rest and recover.” Dash said, looking out the window at the still dark red sky.

“I will attend to your friends, go ahead and relax.” Starstride said.

Pinkie and Fluttershy finished gathering the provisions they needed for the long journey for tomorrow, along with extra in-case they lose some. Pinkie and Fluttershy walked into the living room, and asked Starstride:

“Need any help cleaning those wounds of theirs?” They both asked, looking at Sunspeed and Rarity.

“No, I will take care of them, and I will put them to bed after they are all bandaged up. You both must do the same, then go to bed.” Starstride said as she was bandaging Sunspeed’s sides up.

“I will also see to Twilight, but she will be just fine, I know it.” Starstride added.

“Okay.” They both responded.

The other four ponies cleaned their wounds, and all went to bed. In all of their minds, the seven ponies feared the thought of what may happen next; they all worried if Sunspeed and Rarity were going to make it. They all wondered if Starstride would come along. All they could do was hope. They all put their troubles and questions aside carefully, and all eventually went to sleep.

Coltchester

Rarity’s eyes barely opened, the atmosphere around her looked like a colored haze. Everything was blurry and she had troubling determining what things were. Her eyes open and closed frequently, each individual blink made her head spin. She heard unknown yet strangely familiar voices. To her, she could make out some of the words.

“You think…..rity…is going…..make it out…live?” A voice said sharply.

“She..as to! I can’t……imagine…her….not here, It’s….bearable….eyes to see.” Another voice said in response.

“She got hurt pretty bad….building….night….got stabbed…in….Unicorn’s horn probably….pretty bad….to me, I don’t think she will….ke it.” A third familiar voice said.

Rarity opened her eyes and finally came to. With a sharp groan she stretched, then yelped at the immense pain in her stomach. She looked down and saw that she had bandages patched onto her stomach. She looked around, and saw all of her friends walking along some path, and she noticed she was on Applejack’s back. She looked back at the trail they were coming from; she could see nothing but a meadow beyond them. Turning back to Twilight, she perked her ears up.

“Oh heavens, wh-where are we? What happened?” Rarity asked weakly.

Twilight gazed back at Rarity and replied:

“Well, if you do not recall, you got stabbed by a member of the SDEH and we had to staunch your wounds. You remember sleeping that night, although you passed out from blood loss. We left early this morning; we’re headed south to the Pegasi cities. They are two twin cities located in the far southern hemisphere of Equestria.”

“Twi’ said that we can take shelter there, and may find some clues as ta’ where ta’ seventh Element is.” Applejack intruded.

“Yeah, and the best part is there’s tons of fun parties there!” Pinkie jumped with glee.

“Pinkie now’s not the time!” Sunspeed pointed at her, then winced and clamped her hoof on her side.

“Huh, I see. What is the surrounding area like? I hope it won’t ruin my luscious hair!” Rarity whined.

Fluttershy glanced at Rare.

“Oh umm, the surrounding area is mostly forests, cliffs, ravines and fields. I-if that’s okay with you.” She stuttered.

“What? How’d you know that ‘Shy?” Rainbow asked intently.

“I don’t know, some of the woodland critters told me that one day.”

“Wait, hold up ya’ll, ah gotta see if Rarity here can walk.” She said to the group. She turned back to Rarity, who was still on her back.

“Ya’ okay ta’ walk Sugarcube?”

“Yes, I believe I am quite alright, thanks AJ.” Rarity replied. Then she slowly got down on her four hooves, wincing as she did. Then she smiled afterwards and nodded.

They continued to walking, gazing about at the woods that surrounded them. It was a cloudy day; the clouds seemed to watch over them. It was silent outside, except for the hissing of the wind that kissed their ears. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash broke the silence.

“So Fluttershy, I find it pretty cool that you knew the area down around here. Your woodland friends sure know places.”

“Why yes, I love them a lot. They’re so sweet, adorable and helpful! But, nothing else could make me love you guys any less than them.” Fluttershy responded happily.

“Aww, Fluttershy we love you too!” Sunspeed replied.

They all nodded in agreement and made a “Mhmm,” smiling.

“I wonder what our favorite enemy’s doing right now.” Twlight pondered aloud slowly.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The room was yet again lit dimly. Candles surrounded the room, along with the chandelier that accompanied the candles in unison with its dim lighting. It was raining heavily outside, the wind hissed at the window sill and thunder boomed loudly. A pony ran into the meeting room.

“Boss!” he panted.

“What is it, you whelp?” he replied.

“We-we lost the Elements. We destroyed half the town and managed to severely injure two of the Elements but we didn’t catch them sire. They overran us, I’ve failed you.” The pony said fearfully.

The so-called “Sire” turned, and gazed at the pony. His hood was up, shadowing his face from the light. His voice was stern and harsh.

“I knew I couldn’t trust you, you despicable vermin! But, what Elements did you severely injure?”

The cowering pony sighed a sigh of relief, and replied quickly.

“The Element of Generosity and Bravery. They should be slowed down and probably won’t be moving for a while.”

The sire was silent for a while, thinking quietly to himself. Then, with a sharp breath, he murmured.

“…and what of the Alicorn, Starstride?”

“We couldn’t find her sire, she disappeared with the Elements!” The pony cried.

“Damn you, you call yourself a captain?” The boss slammed the table with his hoof.

“Yes b-b-boss, but, I will make sure I don’t fail this time, please sire, I won’t let you down.” The Captain stuttered.

“Hmm, well I am in a good mood today. Just please “Captain”, when you find those ponies and that Alicorn, Give them a taste of what the SDEH really is like.” He replied slowly.

“Yes sir, as you wish. We will make them pay for what they did to our colts.”

“Yes, we will!” The boss responded, laughing evilly.

The captain joined in, laughing maniacally with his boss. Outside, there are multiple ponies running around in circles. A pony with a hat on and a whistle is standing in the middle, the rain dripping down his face and mane.

“Move you maggots, if you want to catch the Elements and get a reward from the boss, you have to prove to us you can! Or so be it I will murder every last one of your family members, and cut every last hair out of your tail if you don’t move!” The drill sergeant yelled.

“Sir yes sir!” The ponies replied.

“Good, now sing with me! If by battle if by horn!” The intstructor said.

“If by battle, if by horn!”

“By the Society you are sworn!” He cried again.

“By the Society you are sworn!”

“Good, now again!” The instructor cried again.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The seven ponies continued walking down the trail, after trotting along in silence for some time. As they kept walking, they came across a giant gorge. A small waterfall was to the left of them, a big riverbed to the right. In the middle, was a narrow passageway, a bunch of rocks to cross over to the other side from.

“Oh, my.” Fluttershy gasped.

“Ooooh!” Pinkie said with awe and excitement.

“Woah, this is amazing!” Rainbow Dash said, flying around in a spiral.

“Sure is! It looks even better from up here!” Sunspeed noted, flying up above the others.

“This is a magnificent sight!” Rarity said as she pointed at the waterfall.

“Boy, ah wonder what ta’ girls would think o’ this back home.” Applejack questioned.

“This is surely a wonderous sight, but girls, we have to keep moving.” Twlight said as she gazed at the sight.

The others paid no attention to what Twilight said.

“Girls, we have to keep moving.” She repeated.

The six other ponies still did not heed her.

“Girls, we have to go! No time to waste!” Twilight yelled.

The six finally turned and all nodded in agreement after some confusion. They slowly started crossing the narrow walkway. As Rainbow brought up the rear, she slipped and fell. As she fell, she screamed loudly, then quickly stretched out her wings and caught herself in the air. She pulled herself up and landed next to the others.

“Wow, I cannot believe we made it through that unscathed, considering you can fly Dashie.” Pinkie pointed out.

“Yeah, I can’t either. Also considering what happened last time.” Sunspeed added.

“Yeah.” The others responded in unison.

“Well let’s move on, if that’s okay?” Fluttershy motioned, then moved her hoof around on the ground.

The seven ponies continued moving onward. Shortly after they passed the gorge, they saw a clearing in the woods. A field stretched out before them, a station wagon was sitting in the field, accompanied by some ponies.

“Careful everypony, they may not look threatening but keep your guard up.” Twlight said quietly.

They all nodded in response. They slowly walked toward the caravan, and got about fourty feet away when a young filly bursted around the wagon.

“Mommy mommy look, it’s sissy!” The cute filly yelled.

“Cherry Blossom, come back here!” A mare cried out as she ran up to her.

Cherry Blossom clung to Twlight’s hoof and snuggled up against it. The caravan stopped moving, and four more ponies popped their heads around the wagon to see what happened.

“I am terribly sorry, Cherry Blossom is just a little filly.” The mare said apologetically.

A surprised Twilight with a filly clinging to her hoof stood there. After a moment, she replied.

“Oh it’s quite alright. Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends. We’re headed to the Pegasi Cities down South.”

“Awww, aren’t you the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Yes you are!” Rarity said adorably at Cherry Blossom.

“Your my sissy too!” She responded, then hugged Rarity’s hoof too.

“Aww!” Rarity adored.

“Yeah she is such a cutie there isn’t she? Named after her mother, that’s me. I’m Cherry Blossom the III. Actually, we’re also heading to the Pegasi Cities. Care to accompany my family with us?” She replied.

“Sure, we would love to come along!” Twilight answered.

“Great, well, no time to waste then!” Cherry Blossom the III yelled.

“Mommy, can I ride with my other sissy?” Little Cherry Blossom replied, pointing to Fluttershy.

‘Why of course you can little one, come here!” Fluttershy encouraged, holding her hooves out.

“Yay!”

Cherry Blossom got onto Fluttershy’s back, and said.

“Go, go, go! Weee!”

The group of ponies started walking together through the field, into the woods again. Celestia’s sun now dipped into the far Eastern halve of the sky. Must be evening now. Twilight thought to herself. The band of ponies continued walking together, with the occasional outburst of:

“Faster sissy faster!” Cherry Blossom giggled.

Fluttershy ran forward a ways, Cherry Blossom giggling cheerfully. All of the ponies embraced in great conversation along the way. After about an hour later, they came to a clearing in the woods. A large field was up ahead. Twilight was walking when all of a sudden she stepped on something.

“What’s this?” She said aloud.

The ponies gathered about, and Twilight read:

“Coltchester Village, dead ahead!”

The thirteen ponies gazed up ahead, and what they hoped to see was not what they intended, To their demise, they saw a town in front of them, in charred remains. They approached it and walked into the town. Buildings were either charred crisp black, or collapsed. Signs, barrels, carts, filly’s toys littered the streets. The fountain in the square of the village was broken in two. A few charred bodies lied in the ruins of the burnt down houses. Fluttershy shielded Cherry Blossom’s eyes.

“What..happened here?” Cherry Blossom the III said.

This is bad, very bad. Rainbow thought.

Oh no, what’s gonna happen now? AJ wondered.

This is terrible! I feel like I’m going to faint! Rarity pondered.

All of the sweet ponies and critters, wha-where are they… Fluttershy thought as she teared up.

So…no party then? Pinkie contemplated.

This is awful! The SDEH must be up to this! Sunspeed said to her conscious.

Nothing’s left…nothing. Twilight thought in horror.

“I don’t know.” Rainbow replied after some time.

“This is….Coltchester.” Twilight said.

They all gasped in horror at the sound of that. They all wondered what kind of evil pony would do such a thing. They all put those questions aside and stood there, and as they did, the last glimpse of light from Celestia’s sun poured over the tree tops, then fell into darkness. Night had fallen.

Pressing On

Luna’s moon shined bright over the land, the stars twinkled and lit up the midnight sky enthusiastically. Her moon was a full one, and the bright light reflected off the tree tops and onto the ground, creating a vibrant mixture of colors. It was cool outside, the crickets chirped amongst one another, and Owls hooted in the night. If you listened close enough, you can sometimes hear the howl of a timber wolf, a majestic, but foul creature.

A timber wolf is a very interesting creature, its sharp fangs are no match to anypony, and its breath is unbearable to smell. A timber wolf has a body made out of wood, and breaks like a twig upon a rock in the night. It's howls can be heard from about a mile away, although, it seemed bitterly still this night, no other noises were heard. All of this created a very frightening atmosphere for Cherry Blossom. The filly was still on Fluttershy’s back, she tightened her grip on her mane.

“Oh! What’s wrong little one, you startled me!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Fluttashy, its S-s..scary out here.” She said, her lips quivering.

“Shhh, it’s okay, I assure you that everything will be just fine. I’m not going anywhere okay?” Fluttershy responded with a soothing tone.

Cherry Blossom nodded, but still trembled in fear.

Twilight glanced around at the other twelve ponies. All of them were either talking quietly or resting in the main square of town. She took a moment to think about what their next course of action was. It’s nighttime, and we can either press on to the Pegasi Cities, or, we can stay here for a night. Neither of them sound great in the long run, but we can’t do nothing. I might as well have a long discussion with them on this. She thought.

“Okay everypony gather around, we can’t just sit here and do nothing, we have two options. We can either continue travelling to the Pegasi Cities, or we can camp here for the night and get some rest.” She said aloud, breaking the silence.

Everypony gathered around the main square they were currently in, all focusing on Twilight. They all stood there and contemplated on their next action. After some silence, AJ burst out:

“Well, ah think we should continue on ta’ the Pegasi Cities, but whatever ya’ll are okay with, ah am too.”

“Well I personally think we should keep moving on, it’s not safe out here at night. Especially in a burned down abandoned village.” Sunspeed intruded, walking over to the broken fountain.

“That sounds like a good idea Sunspeed but, I don’t think we should be so quick to decide don’t you think?” Rarity said.

“I say we stay here for the night, I’m all worn out and all I want to do is eat some Cake and Apple Fritters.” Pinkie whined, rubbing her stomach.

“We’re all tired Pinkie, and hungry, but we should press on. The sooner we get to those twin cities, the more we are all able to rest and enjoy ourselves.” Rainbow cut in.

“Ummm, I think we should leave here. I don’t want to go into that scary forest, but neither do I want to stay in this village.” Fluttershy said bravely, pointing in the direction they need to go.

“Just wait a minute all of you, we have to think about our little filly here. I certainly want to keep going, but I don’t if my sweet Cherry Blossom doesn’t.” Cherry Blossom the III said.

“She’s right girls, we have to think about her. What do you think little one?” Twilight asked solemnly.

“I, I want to stay with mommy. But, I think we should go to the Peggy cities, I want to go home!” Cherry Blossom responded, moving her hoofs around.

“Well we got that opinion out there. Okay, well, I also think we should move on.” Twilight stated.

“But it’s dangerous out here at night! We could be ambushed by bandits or Timberwolves even!” Fluttershy pointed out, raising her voice slightly.

AJ looked around the village. After a brief moment, she turned and replied:

“That is true, but Sugarcube, if y’all look around fer a second, you’ll see that, even the village doesn’t seem so safe. We’re right in ta’ open of a field with no buildings ta’ shelter us in.”

“Applejack is correct on that…so I’ve changed my mind, let us keep moving.” Rarity interrupted.

“Alright, all in agreement of moving forward raise their hoof.” Twilight said.

Rarity, AJ, Rainbow, Sunspeed, Cherry Blossom the III, and Fluttershy all raised their hooves. Twilight counted the hooves, lowered her head and then quickly thought to herself. Okay, they’re all in favor. I just hope nothing goes awry while we move on. Glancing at them, she blurted out:

“It’s settled then, we’re moving forward. Grab your things where you left them, we are moving out now. We may be there at dawn, but I’m not certain.”

The twelve ponies nodded and quickly grabbed their possessions. Cherry Blossom yawned sleepily; Fluttershy noticed this and placed her in the back of the caravan wagon and wrapped her up in a blanket.

“Sleep well you little angel.” She said.

Pinkie lagged behind a couple feet, took a piece of bread out she had in her bag, and quickly shoved it into her mouth. She then proceeded to run to catch up to the others.

“Waft fa me!” She cried out with a mouth full of bread.

The party of ponies continued to carry on, they trotted into the dark forest that stood before them. Immediately upon entering, the light of the moon seemed to disappear without a trace. The forest was now dark and still. There was no noise heard from any corner of the forest, all they could listen to was the sound of the caravan wheels and the hooves of their feet against the cold, dense ground.

As they got deeper into the forest, they started to hear the sound of running water.

“Must be a stream nearby.” Twilight murmured, breaking a profound silence.

Sometimes, they would hear an occasional howl in the distance. Every time Fluttershy would jump at it, and cling to Rainbow for safety. Must be a timber wolf. They all contemplated. Rainbow then narrowed her eyes on Fluttershy. Acting in response, she made an “apologetic” face and hovered above her.

The air in the forest suddenly became denser; so much that it became harder to even breathe. The sound of running water faded away behind them and followed by silence. A few moments later, a terrifying scream echoed throughout the forest, making their ears ring.

“Mommy, what was that!” Cherry Blossom cried, having been awoken from her sleep.

“Shhh shh dear, it was nothing I am sure.” Her mother replied calmly.

“Whatever that was, it didn't scare me one bit!” Rainbow boasted.

“That was frightening!” Rarity exclaimed nervously.

‘Let’s hope it wasn’t something or someone that is lurking in the forest. I advise everyone to remain cautious.” Twilight instructed.

The others acknowledged it. They pressed on even further. Up ahead, was a lone tree in the middle of their path. Some distorted figure was strewn across the bottom of the tree.

“I see something by that tree, let’s check it out.” Rainbow told the others, and started trotting up ahead.

As she came closer to the figure, it turned out to be a Pegasus pony. The pony was covered in blood and sweat, and had large cuts and gashes across its whole body. The cutie mark portrayed on its flank was silver sparks, all shattered in fragments. The pegasi’s coat was bright white, and its mane and tail was a bright yellow and orange. Rainbow got right up next to it and checked his heartbeat.

“Hey, you guys, we got a live one over here!” She called back.

The others gathered around and gazed upon the severely injured pegasi.

“She’s unconscious.” Rainbow told them.

“Let me check her heartbeat.” Fluttershy butted in, getting up close and crouching down to the pegasi.

“Slow but steady heart rate, seems a bit faint though. She needs medical attention.” She told them after some time.

“Wow, how’d you know that ‘Shy? Are you a magical pony who is really a member of the SDEH?” Pinkie asked, waving her hooves around crazily.

“No, I learned all this from the animals back in Ponyville. Quite useful I must say.”

“Well you think we should leave her here?” Dash questioned.

“How preposterous Rainbow Dash! Of course we’re not going to leave her here! She’s badly wounded, we cannot just let her die!” Rarity scolded.

“Heheh,..right sorry.” Rainbow apologized, scratching the back of her mane with her hoof.

“Well girls, let’s get her into the wagon and let Fluttershy take care of the rest.” Twilight said.

The six others nodded and began to haul the pony into the back of the wagon. After that was done, they began to travel again. Fluttershy scurried around the back of the wagon, looking for supplies to treat her wounds with. She suddenly remembered her first aid she had in her carrying bags. She took out some bandages and began to patch up the Pegasi’s injuries.

As they moved forward about another hundred feet, they stopped to their surprise to hear howling, almost directly next to them. They all glanced around, frightened as they kept trotting along. Rainbow sighed and motioned to the others that she was going to go have a look at what the howling was. They acknowledged this and returned the favor with a: “We got your back.” motion.

Rainbow flew up into the air just above the others and scouted ahead, eventually she disappeared from their sight. Only moments later did they hear a yelp resembling Rainbow.

“Rainbow’s being attacked by something, Sunspeed, Rarity, guard the caravan wagon while the rest of you come with me!” Twilight quickly said.

The others ran towards the sound of the yelp, and upon arriving, found a small pack of Timberwolves attacking Dash. She was pinned against a tree holding back a Timber wolf’s sharp jaw as it tried to bite her.

“Girls, you know what to do, let’s do this!” Twilight cried.

Twilight poured all of her concentration into her horn, as a shimmering, bright purple light resonated from it. Ending with a sharp Zzing! sound, a blast of energy exploded from her horn and hit the Timber wolf that was upon Dash. The rest of the pack turned to Twilight and the others, growled fearlessly, and charged at them.

AJ charged one of the wolves head on, and tackled into it, breaking off some of the pieces of it’s body. She pummeled it relentlessly, as Pinkie aimed her Party Cannon at one of the wolves coming straight at her. She fired the cannon, and hit the wolf straight on, making it burst into fragments. A wolf ran it’s claws upon the side of Rainbow’s cheek, leaving four nasty cuts that bled immediately after contact.

Rainbow growled back, and in retaliation, kicked the wolf in the side of the face with as much force as she could muster, and crushed the wolf’s face into splinters. Twilight charged the last remaining wolf, as it galloped towards her. She pointed her horn towards the wolf, and skewered it as they collided in a mash of flesh and wood.

“Gah, that stings!” Rainbow yelped as she touched her cheek.

“Everypony alright?” AJ asked.

“Yeah, we all are except for Dashie here.” Pinkie replied.

“Well let’s tell the others that the path is clear and that we can continue again.” Twilight paused, then after a moment, continued:

“Oh and Rainbow, you might want to get that patched up by Fluttershy.”

She nodded at this as the four walked back to the wagon. As they reached the wagon, the others looked at them curiously.

“Timberwolves, had to deal with them. Rainbow over here almost got mauled to death; It was a small pack, four of them.” Pinkie explained.

“Oh my Dash, you got quite some cuts there.” Sunspeed pointed out to her.

“Oh I know. I’ll be fine though. I’ll get it patched up as soon as we reach the Pegasi Cities.” She replied bravely.

Finishing with that, they all carried on, every one of them wanting to have this journey over with. All of them wanted to lie in a nice cozy bed with a fluffy pillow and mattress, but they tried hard to not think about it. As they kept walking, the ground started to get a bit steeper and harder to climb. They saw a clearing in the forest up ahead.

As they approached it, one small source of Luna’s moon shined down from the sky. As they finally reached the top of the hill, they saw something so beautiful that their eyes could not contain it. In front of them, was the small piece of light from Luna’s moon shining down on a town. The town was a wondrous sight. It had large clouds and statues the size of the Ponyville major’s office. The houses lined up perfectly. Lights lit up the town in a pleasing manner, reminiscing with the midnight sky. The town stretched out far more than their eyes could carry.

As they gazed up toward the sky, they saw another wondrous sight. It was another town. Large buildings and statues littered the clouds they stood on. Fountains, monuments, decorations seemed to make the city come alive. They finally arrived at the Twin Pegasi Cities.

A Journey's End

The thirteen ponies stood atop the hill, gazing down on the Twin Cities, their eyes lit up like a rainbow. As their eyes hovered over the cities, they saw the beautiful buildings, illuminated by Luna’s moon and the scattered street lights.

“Wow, this is amazing!” Sunspeed remarked.

“I think you stole those words from all of our breath.” Cherry Blossom said.

“Time for us to carry on.” She added after a brief amount of time.

The others nodded in agreement and started to walk down the hill. As they came closer and closer the city seemed to engulf them like a wave. Upon reaching the entrance, they all stopped and got their eyes lost in the cities. Cherry Blossom the III shook her head to relieve herself of the breathtaking sight; she then turned to Twilight and said:

“Well I’d like to thank you and your friends for coming along and protecting us as well. We had a fun time with all of you; hopefully our paths will cross again someday. My family and I have to get going now, we have to be somewhere. Oh, and don’t worry about the Pegasus you rescued earlier, we’ll take care of her and ensure her safety.”

“You’re welcome Cherry Blossom; I bid you safe travels, and be sure to give your cute filly here some company. She may need a sissy.” Twilight replied kindly.

Cherry Blossom the III started walking away, along with the rest of her family. She quickly turned and waved to Twilight. Twilight waved back in response to this, and sighed.

“Well, I am going to miss their company, but you make friends in the long run. Now, time to go eat some sweet apple fritter!” Pinkie blurted aloud.

“Yeah I am too Pinkie, I think all of us will. But we’re not going to eat just yet.” Twilight answered.

“What!?” Pinkie yelled.

“But Twilight, if I don’t eat then I’m not going to be happy, and if I’m not happy then no pony will be happy and if no pony is happy then I won’t be great at throwing parties anymore!” Pinkie added on nervously.

“Woah there Sugarcube, just calm yourself down. We’ll get something to eat soon.” AJ jumped in.

“Continuing on, I would like to go to the library really fast because I’d just like to see if they have any information on the SDEH. They may be a secret organization, but we could miss some valuable details.”

“Yeah, then if we find their weakness, we can really kick their flanks!” Dash said, clamping both her hooves together.

“Exactly my point Dash, if we can get some information on them, it’ll be easier for us in the long run.” Twilight noted.

“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea!” Fluttershy mentioned, her voice squeaking.

“It’s settled then, let’s go do that first, then we’ll find a place to eat and rest.” Twilight said to the others.

They started to trot slowly through the town, glancing down every street and corner they came across. The city seemed almost abandoned at night; the wind still hissed at their ears and gave an uneasy feeling. There were few ponies out, considering the time of night. Will the library even be open at this time of night? I doubt it, but if it is, I’d love to at least see if anypony knows the existence of this organization besides Celestia, Starstride, and my friends and I. Hopefully they’re open. Twilight pondered.

Luna’s moon still shined brightly in the night, although it seems as if it dimmed a bit. The familiar sound of hooves trotting echoed off the city buildings and made a mix of cluttered noise in their ears. None of the seven friends made any kind of noise; they just kept walking silently, until they came to a tall, white building with pillars.

A large sign at the top was barely readable; it read: “Pegasi Cities Library.” They trotted up the stairs to the double doors leading to the entrance of the library. Twilight tugged on the door, and it would not budge. She tried vigorously to open the door, when suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Rarity tapping her.

“Rarity, what is it?” Twilight asked intently.

“Oh um, look at the sign in front of you dearie.” She replied.

Twilight turned to see a sign that said: “Use Other Door.” She made a groan and muttered to herself as she pulled the other door open. They all walked inside the library; books and shelves littered the room they stood in. It was a large room, too big to even guestimate. Twilight saw a librarian at her desk in the center of the room. She motioned the others to follow her.

They acknowledged it trotted behind her. Twilight approached the desk and asked the librarian politely:

“Excuse me miss, do you have any books regarding the organization called the Society of Deceiving Element Harmonics?”

“The what? I’ve never heard of such a thing, never in all my life!” she said curiously.

“Oh, well that answers my question, thank you.” Twilight said glumly, turning back to face her friends.

“Have a good night.” She added.

“You too!” The librarian called out.

The others followed Twilight to the outside of the library.

“Well, let’s go find someplace to rest and eat. I was hoping they’d have something, but I doubted it in the first place.” Twilight murmured to her friends.

“It’s alright darling, we’ll find something.” Rarity reassured.

“Now let’s go, I’m about done for the night.” Fluttershy yawned.

The others agreed and decided to keep moving. They started to walk down the street again; after some amount of time, they saw a brightly lit sign dangling above a doorway. Pinkie squinted and read the words: “The Sluggish Stallion.” She turned her head to face the others.

“Hey girls, that Sluggish Stallion place sounds great!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, my hooves can’t take any more of this walking.” Rainbow whined.

“Dashie you can fly remember?” Pinkie pointed out to her.

“Oh yeah. Hah, I wasn’t tired, nope not at all!” Rainbow boasted, flapping her wings and flying alongside them.

“Dash, ya’ll were tired and you know it.” AJ said in a deadpan fashion, narrowing her eyes.

“Hmph.” Dash responded.

The seven walked into The Sluggish Stallion, it was an inn. Juices and wines filled in color coordinated bottles littered the shelves in the back of the room, accompanied by a bartender and a long table. Tables and chairs were scattered about the room; a musty yet somehow odorless stench was in the air. There were groups of other ponies in the bar, howling and laughing in the corner. The bartender was a stocky stallion, he seemed sluggish with his movements, possibly complimenting the name of the inn, but he carried out his tasks with such ease that it was hard to notice.

They all walked up to the Bartender slowly, and Twilight raised a hoof and cleared her throat, adding:

“Excuse me sir, my friends and I would like to purchase a room for the night and a bite to eat.” Twilight told him politely.

“Well howdy there lass! So ya want a room and some grub eh? Well the room will be ten bits for the lot of ya, and as for the grub, what do ya want?” The bartender replied, with an accent that was unfamiliar to them.

“What do you have?” Pinkie asked intentively.

“Ho there pink lass, we have vegetable soup, apple fritters, apple pies, tarts, fruits, sandwiches, many choices here at The Sluggish Stallion, yes indeed!” he replied, showing his toothy grin.

“Well, I think we’d all like the vegetable soup, bread, and apple fritters please. Could we also have some grape juice with that?” She responded, then turned to the others and added.

“We all need to recover from that long journey, soup will do the trick. No pony complains. we’re all starving so let’s just have something? Alright?”

“Mhmmm.” The others responded quietly.

“Well alrighty lass, that’ll be thirty bits for all of ya, I’ll be back in a bit, ya should take a seat and cool down.” The bartender mentioned.

Twilight rummaged through her bags and got out the fourty bits she needed. She then proceeded to place them on the table, then walked over to a table in an empty corner of the room, followed by her friends.

“Wow, this place was not cheap to pay for.” Fluttershy murmured.

“Yeah, but at least we have a rather large number of bits all combined from our bags.” Rarity said.

“Yeah, that’s always a good thing ah guess. If we had no bits, ah don’t think we’d even be able ta’ stay here, then we’d be in some cave or something in the forest.” AJ mentioned.

“-And then, I-I sa-*Hic* to the pony, no, that’s my horseshoe!” A pony yelled from across the room, his speech severely slurred.

Laughter erupted from the other corner of the room, all the ponies over there were tipsy. Probably from the wine. Sunspeed thought. All of the ponies that sat in the other corner of the room had mugs in their hands; their speech was slurred and they were obnoxious, they were all stallions. Fluttershy cowered in fear and covered her ears. Dash put a hoof around her neck and held her close to comfort her. Fluttershy stopped trembling after some time.

“Ugh, those stallions are vile, they have no taste in being mannered! That was very rude of them!” Rarity narrowed her eyes.

“Well what do you expect? We’re in an inn, on a late evening, it’s what? Midnight by now?” Dash told her friends.

“Something like that Dashie, I am not entirely sure.” Pinkie yawned.

“Yeah, I am pretty sure it’s mid-“ Fluttershy started.

“Alright lasses, here’s yer dinner! Vegetable soup, bread, apple fritters, and grape juice fer all of ya!” The bartender interrupted, walking over with the food and placing it down in front of them.

“Thank you!” They all replied simultaneously.

“Yer welcome!”

The aroma of the soup smelled divine, which made the seven friends’ mouths water in delight. They all had to take a moment to take in the sensational smell of the apple fritter that was before them on their plates.

“Oh my, Twi’ I have to say, you got a keen magic to picking the right foods.” Dash said, taking a sip of her soup.

“Golly, this is almost better than the apple fritters back home!” AJ exclaimed.

“This soup is delicious!” Fluttershy said amazed as her ears perked up.

“Heavens this is so good! Twilight from now on your picking the foods we eat!” Rarity mentioned as she took a drink of her grape juice.

“Yeah.” They all remarked in unison.

The seven friends finished their dinner, and asked the bartender where their room was. He trotted up the stairs, the seven girls following him; he made a left turn at the end of the hallway and opened a door. The room was large, tidy and organized. There was a desk in the corner, accompanied by two sofas and there were eight individual beds in the room. The beds were spread apart about twenty inches from one another.

“Well there ya go misses, holler downstairs if ya need anything. Have a pleasant night and enjoy your stay, the washroom is on the other side of this hallway, just across from your room.” The bartender pointed.

“Thank you sir.” Twilight responded as he walked away.

Twilight closed the door quietly and turned to face the others.

“Well, what do you think we should do tomorrow everypony? What about the SDEH?” she asked.

“Well, we should see if we can look for clues and even ask everypony if they’ve heard of the SDEH. But, can we consult about this tomorrow? I need my rest.” Sunspeed answered.

“Yeah, I’m bushed.” Rainbow said, jumping onto one of the sofas, landing with a slight “Thud.”

“Me too.” Pinkie jumped in, collapsing on a bed.

“Alright, well we should all get some rest then girls. We’ll discuss this tomorrow after we get some shuteye. Goodnight everypony.” Twilight said, stretching then climbing into a bed.

“Night.” The others said climbing into their beds, except for Rainbow who already seemed out-cold on the sofa.

The seven ponies fell asleep quickly, the inn was quiet and subtle this night. There was no noise or sound heard, except for the occasional clanking of dishes or mugs. The room was dark and the shadows seemed to mingle with the light of Luna’s moon that poured in from the windows of the room.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight pictured Ponyville in her head, a visual of her hometown. She was having a pleasant dream. The birds chirped and singed, while Celestia’s majestic sun shined. “Twilight..Twilight Twilight…” A voice echoed in her dream. She blinked her eyes, then her eyes froze in horror. The once beautiful world around her turned into a desolate, barren, scarred landscape. Dead trees and burned down cottages littered the once great town of Ponyville, and the river that was in the distance was tainted and foul.

“Twilight….you are not alone this night Twilight…not this time.”

A picture of the inn room flooded into her head. She saw that the walls were bloodstained and her friends lifeless bodies lied in the beds, not breathing or even making a sound.

“You aren’t escaping from me this time, Twilight.”

Then, a picture of herself came into view; she was huddled up in a corner, crying in a fetal position. Her hoofs clutched together, and she mumbled to herself furiously.

“Your worst fears of this world, are about to begin…” The voice said again.

Suddenly Twilight, who was still in the corner, stood up. Tears flowed down her face and she gasped for breath. She stood up and yelled as loud as she could:

“You are not going to make this world yours! It’s my world whoever you are, and you can’t take it! I’m not afraid!”

“But you are afraid, I can see it in your eyes Twilight….you are afraid of us, I can feel it with all of my being...Your lips quiver at the act of forming the four letters of the society. The Society of Deceiving Element Harmonics…” The voice laughed evilly and echoed throughout the room.

“No, no you’re wrong! You’re wrong, that’s not true! YOU’RE NOT REAL! NOOOO!” Twilight screamed as she awoke from her slumber, her whole body shaking violently in fear.

“It…it was just a dream…but it wasn’t just that…it was another vision again…” She said aloud.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Luna’s moon passed quickly that night, disappearing from the sight of all eyes. Celestia’s sun just started to peak over the horizon. An orange light from the sun’s rays pierced the sky. The birds weren’t even out yet, and two ponies were taking a walk in the forest.

“So Lieutenant, any news on the Elements of Harmony?” A pony asked.

“Not yet boss, but I imagine we’re getting close.” He responded.

“Good.” The boss replied.

“Sire, I-I’d like to ask you something. I know I’m your most trusted Lieutenant, and I just wanted to know if I could ask about your life?” The Lieutenant asked slowly.

“Well, you are my most trusted commander, and you and I are close my friend. I will tell you everything.” He replied with surprisingly little hesitation.

The boss sighed and took a deep breath, then began his story.

“One day when I was just a foal, my hometown was burned down by marauders. My friends and family were slaughtered in front of me with no hesitation, I lost everything and everyone I knew. So for the next five years, I would go to the location where my village once stood and sit there for hours on end and gaze upon it. One day, as I was sitting there looking down on my once beloved hometown, I saw a curious light. I followed it and it lead me to some ancient ruins, and inside the ruins was this Orb. It was a red, menacing orb, that glowed and shined brightly. I picked it up, and the sky and clouds immediately turned dark, it started to rain and ruby red lightning began to strike down around me. Along with the pitter-patter of rain that surrounded the outside world, a final bolt of lightning struck me, and it consumed me.” He paused after a while.

“I was unconscious for some time, and I woke up hours later in the late afternoon. I stumbled back to the new town I lived in that day, and I eventually discovered I could use Telepathy. This is how we will make Twilight Sparkle reach insanity my friend.” He finished.

“Wow, I never knew that sire. I am sorry for your loss you had to go through, but I am grateful that your Telepathy is useful.” He responded, not knowing what else to say.

“Yes, I am too. I want to make those Elements miserable.” The boss grinned.

“Well sire, we should head back to base, we both have some important business to do if I am correct?” The lieutenant said.

“That you are correct; I’ve had enough of a walk for the morning, let’s go.”

It was late morning now, and most of the commanders and recruits were out of the base doing drills. The lieutenant made his way to the meeting room to talk to his boss. He opened the large, reinforced double doors and trotted inside. He closed the doors behind him and turned around.

“Sire?” He said aloud.

There was no reply; only the Lieutenant stood in the room. There was nothing on the table, except for something curious that drew his gaze. He approached it and it turned out to be a journal entry. He examined it for a short while, and it turned out to be his Bosses’ journal. “If the boss finds out I read this I’m dead! But, I want to know at least what this says.” He thought.

He began to read the entry:

“February 26th: It’s been months since I’ve picked up the orb. I cannot describe it, I feel different…not a physical feeling, but a mental one. It resides strong in my heart and soul. Hopefully it doesn’t get too out of hand….Journal, it’s been several hours since I last wrote for this date, and I’ve discovered that I have a mental illness of some sort. I…I am different now, I no longer want to help anypony. I no longer feel saddened by my village’s destruction…instead I wish torment and chaos on everypony…every pony …The orb has given me the power of telepathy, and it seems the orb will drive me mad. I am turning deranged, and every other pony should be too…INSANE…I had a vision…that killing off the Elements or impairing them will make this world burn. Not only will the citizens of Equestria fear me, but by using the blood of the Elements, I can revive Actatrax, an ancient demon of this world. This illness is like a virus, it’s spreading throughout my mind…I cannot stop it, in the time I’ve wrote in this journal now, I am writing insanity and pony over and over…I can’t control it, but maybe I can teach myself to, my mind has a personality of it’s own unless I can stop it…I can spread this madness to every creature out there by following my ingenious vision. I have to revive Actatrax, kill the Elements and take over this so-called Equestria….and I will succeed, no pony can stop me…no pony…

Author's Note: Important

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while! I've been having lots of life problems since last year and my Fimfiction account would not work at all up until just now! So I apologize for the long wait but I will start my story back up very soon! Thanks!