The Epic Journey

Chapters

The Letter
Rainbows and Butterflies
Apples, Gems, and Balloons
Guiding Dream
And So The Journey Begins
The East Mountain Blues
Words That Rhyme With Pony
Friend or Foe?
A New Village?
Shape-shifting for Dummies
Phantom Sticks
The Forest of 1000 Curses
Revelations

The Letter

Twilight Sparkle awoke to the usual fire alarm noise. Wait, that's not very usual. Twilight jumped out of her bed and ran into the kitchen. What she found was also not usual: Spike was cooking some weird-looking green stuff in the oven, and it was flying out at him due to the extreme heat. It smelled rather familiar, but Twilight couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Spike? What is that?"

"Oh, good morning Twilight! I didn't expect you up for another thirty minutes or so. I was just fixing you some breakfast when this stuff started flying out of the oven. Can you believe that!?!?"

Twilight just stared at the little purple dragon with a glare.

"You weren't woken up by that alarm, were you?"

Twilight responded very sarcastically, "No, I woke up because of the silence."

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that."

"How did it even go off?" Twilight asked. She looked around the kitchen and spotted a box on the counter. The box had a picture of some tasty-looking pancakes on it. That was what she smelled. Pancakes. There definitely weren't any pancakes in sight. The box also had a warning label on it that read: "Do not put this pancake mix into an oven. It will turn green and violently explode out of said oven, resulting in a very hot mess and causing fire alarms to go crazy and other weird stuff like that."

"I guess I missed that," said Spike as the green ooze was sliding down his body.

"Just clean this up. I'll make myself some oatmeal."

Just as Twilight finished the oatmeal, there was a knock at the door. She wondered who it might be. Twilight made her way to the door. The purple pony opened it and was surprised to see that it was none other than: Nopony. Twilight looked around, confused, then remembered that the door that had just been opened was the closet door, and walked over to the front door and proceeded to opened it. She was surprised to see that it was none other than: Nopony. There was, however, an envelope resting right in front of her. The purple unicorn picked it up with her magic and walked back inside, closing the door behind her. She was very suspicious of the envelope; it had no return address, which made her very hesitant to open it herself. Thoughts of all of the possibilities of the contents the envelope held went through her head. It could be a regular letter, it could be a birthday card, it could also be the electricity bill. Twilight was about to open the envelope until the thought of another possibility shot into her head: what if it is a trap! "Spiiiiiike! Come open this letter for me; it might be a trap, so I don't want to open it myself!"

"Coming!" Twilight heard Spike yell back. It wasn't unusual for her to have Spike open letters. Whenever she thought the letter might be rigged, Spike was always given the task of opening it. She heard the pitter-patter of Spike running towards her. The noise of Spike running went on for several seconds. He finally appeared in the doorway.

"It took you long enough, Spike! I almost decided to open it myself, but then I remembered that I don't want to die." Spike took the envelope into his hands. He looked at it carefully, held it up to the light, and then sniffed it. He took one of his claws and carefully cut open the envelope. There were no traps to be seen. "Oh look, silly me! There were no traps! Maybe I shouldn't be so paranoid anymore... Or maybe that's what they want me to do! Oh, never-mind." Twilight took the letter out of the envelope and opened it up. She began to read it aloud.

"Dear my Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

If you are reading this, that means that you received my letter. Congratulations. It also means that I am in need of your assistance. If you would so kindly come see me, I will explain to you why I need you and what I require you to do. I expect you no later than... Uh.... Nevermind, just get here as soon as you can. There isn't really a time limit on what I need you to do. But don't take too long, it would be rather rude to make me have to wait for a very long time. Just so you don't forget where I reside, I have attached a map that shows my location. Follow the directions that I have put on the map, and you will eventually find me.

Yours truly,"

"Are you kidding me!?!? They said 'Yours truly' but didn't even sign the name!?!? WHO ARE YOU!?!?" Twilight was furious because whoever sent the letter clearly did not know how to properly end it. Twilight remembered that the letter stated that there would be a map attached to it. She looked on the back, in the envelope, and on the floor. Nothing. "Oh come on! First you can't properly end this letter, and then you-" Twilight stopped when she saw it. It was at the very bottom of the page, below the improper ending of the letter.

map.jpeg

Twilight just looked straight ahead after reading that. She looked into the distance, which wasn't very far because there was a wall right in front of her. Spike noticed what was happening. "Is something wrong, Twilight?" Twilight didn't answer for a very long time, and just continued to stare at the wall for a good ten more seconds before any answer. The infuriated pony looked down at the letter.

"Whoever sent this letter will wish they never did this. I will somehow find them, do whatever it is they want me to do, and then I will destroy them with a lecture SO HARD." And with that, Twilight told Spike to stay with the library as she left to go get her friends. Twilight was going to travel as much as she had to find this pony, and definitely wasn't going to do it all alone. She was going to get her friends to go with her on this journey to find the pony who sent the letter. Even if her friends had other things planned, they were going to be taken along anyway.

Rainbows and Butterflies

Twilight walked down the main road in Ponyville. It led straight to the center of the town. She decided to start with Pinkie Pie, as she would probably be the most willing to go on an adventure. The party-loving pony was usually found in Sugarcube Corner when she wasn't prancing around Ponyville talking with everypony. Twilight made her way to the bakery/sweet shop/whatever else they make there, I don't know. Twilight approached the door and began to open it when suddenly a pink streak flew out of it, knocking Twilight over.

"Pinkie!!" yelled Twilight in the direction the pink blur went, "I need to talk to you!!" But it was no use, Pinkie Pie did not hear her, and thus did not stop. It appeared as though she was on some sort of important errand, as she would have stopped to talk with everypony if there was nothing important to be done. Twilight sighed. I guess I'll just have to talk with somepony else first, Twilight thought to herself, I wonder what Pinkie is up to? The purple unicorn decided that it was no use to wonder, because it could be absolutely anything with Pinkie Pie. Twilight began to walk towards Carousel Boutique, the residence of her friend Rarity.

She knocked on the door.... After several seconds without any noise from inside, Twilight became a little upset. "Am I not even going to be able to get anypony to even be here? How in Equestria can I have an adventure with all of my friends when some of them aren't even here? I suppose Pinkie Pie is here, but if I can't even get her attention, how is that any different?"

"Twilight, are you talking to yourself again?" Twilight instantly recognized this voice as the speed-demon pegasus pony, Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. I have a question I'd like to ask you." Twilight was relieved to see that at least one of her friends was actually here and not running away so fast as to cause the naked eye to see only a blur of color. That's pretty darn fast, if you ask me.

"If it's anything like the last question you asked me, I'm out!" Rainbow Dash did not enjoy the last question Twilight had asked her. It was just the other day. At the end of a nice training session, Rainbow Dash had performed another one of her signature sonic rainbooms. After she had landed, Twilight asked her how sonic rainbooms were physically possible. This question caused Rainbow Dash to get a very bad headache. She didn't like to think about that question.

"Don't worry, I'm sure this question will require minimum brain power to answer; just how you like."

"Well that's good- wait a minute... What are you saying?" Rainbow Dash caught on to what Twilight was implying.

"Never-mind that, just let me ask the question! Do you want to go on an adventure with me? It'll be like the good-old days!" Twilight always hated the good-old days. Not because of the adventures, but because of why the adventures were happening. It was always like a job: Save Equestria, save Fluttershy, save Applebloom, save yourself from this gigantic underground cavern filled with crystals and then save Canterlot. At least this adventure was brought upon her by herself, which made it a little more bearable.

"An adventure you say? Could it possibly end with me getting noticed by the Wonderbolts?" Rainbow Dash really wanted to be part of the Wonderbolts. They never seemed to notice her; even after she saved Equestria three times and saved them from falling to their deaths on one occasion.

"It might." Twilight had no idea what this adventure had in store for any of them.

"I'm in. Let's do this!" Rainbow Dash started to punch and buck the air out of excitement.

"Don't get too excited yet," said Twilight, "we still have to get the rest of our friends to come along with us.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Rarity's house is just down the street! Let's go!"

"I already tried. Rarity's not home. She hadn't told anybody she was leaving Ponyville, so she can't be too far away. Maybe she's out putting her cat down or something,"

"Her cat was perfectly healthy the last time I saw it." Said Rainbow Dash.

"Well that rules out the vet, then. Let's go see if Fluttershy is home; she might even know where Rarity is." Twilight sure hoped that somepony, if not Fluttershy, knew where Rarity was. She couldn't bear to think about an adventure without all of her friends. The best adventures always include all of your best friends. Trust me.

And so the two ponies were off in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage. They had just reached the pathway that led up to Fluttershy's cottage when something caught Twilight's eye. "Hey, what's that over there?" She could have sworn she saw something yellow and pink heading into Everfree forest. "Unless I'm seeing very strange things, Fluttershy was headed into the forest. Lets go after her and see what she's up to."

"You sure this is a good idea, Twilight? The last time you saw something yellow and pink heading into the forest, it turned out to be a very gross carnie who tried to have us pay him to do a back-flip." Rainbow Dash had several nightmares after that incident.

"I'm sure it was Fluttershy this time. Come on, we can't know for sure until we follow it in." Twilight seemed to be pretty pretty confidant about this. Rainbow Dash glared at her.

"That's what you said last time." They headed into the forest. Not too long into their travel, they found a clearing. Sure enough, Fluttershy was there.

"Ha! I knew I saw Fluttershy! You owe me 20 bits!" Twilight was very happy that she had just become 20 bits richer. She could now afford that one book that she wanted, titled "How to do Some Spells and Stuff."

"You just got lucky this time." Rainbow Dash was not happy that she just lost 20 bits. She was saving up for the next "Daring Do" book. Now she'll have to work for 10 minutes a day! She could almost taste the wasted time. Time that could be spent laying on a cloud.

"Oh, um, hey girls. I was just following a cute little duck when I realized I was lost." Fluttershy got lost a lot.

"Are you serious?" Twilight said, "you hardly walked thirty steps. You can even see your cottage right there."

"Oh..." Fluttershy blushed. She was terribly embarrassed.

"It's okay. Oh yeah, I wanted to know if you would like to go on an adventure with us?" Twilight asked.

"An adventure? That sounds kind of dangerous. Well, um, I guess I could if everypony else is going. I'd feel much safer."

"Perfect," said Twilight, "two down, three to go."

Apples, Gems, and Balloons

The trio made their way out of Everfree Forest, and started heading towards Sweet Apple Acres. There were no apples on the trees because of the season. Winter in Ponyville was kind of bipolar. There would be snow one day, no snow the next, and then snow the day after that. There was no snow today, so Twilight expected that there would be snow the next day; not only because she made an educated guess, but also because Rainbow Dash had told her that the weather ponies had scheduled a blizzard for tomorrow. Great, thought Twilight, at the rate this is going, we will most likely be having to wait until tomorrow to leave.

"Well howdy, y'all! If y'all told me you'd be headin' over, I would have fixed us all up some nice apple pies!" This came from Applejack, whom Twilight hadn't noticed until her greeting.

"Nice one, Twilight. If you let her know, we would have been eating apple pie!" Rainbow Dash really liked Applejack's signature pie, but not as much as she loved the apple cider that Applejack's family produced every year.

"The only problem is that she would never know if we're coming over, unless we send her a letter that says we are. But who knows how long it would take that mail-pony to deliver it? Besides, we just decided to come here not too long ago, and what would be the point of having a letter be delivered telling her we're coming over if we would just show up right after she's done reading it? How would it even be possible for-"

"Okay, okay. I get it," Rainbow Dash interrupted, "I just really want some delicious apple pie!"

"But, Rainbow Dash, we wouldn't want Applejack to stray away from her chores around the farm, would we? I just couldn't imagine what would happen if she didn't do anything for the farm." Fluttershy always thought of the worst-case scenarios for almost anything. She was the one who caused Twilight to be afraid of rigged envelopes.

"I don't have anythin' to do right now. I could make a few apple pies for y'all; it'd be no trouble for me, honest." Applejack sure did make some killer apple pies.

"Sure, that'd be nice. I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow for the adventure anyway, so why not?" Twilight didn't like the idea of having to begin travelling during a blizzard. Too much time had been wasted today looking for her friends that when she finally found all of them, it would be too late in the day to leave.

"An adventure, you say? What are you talkin' about, Twi?" Applejack looked at Twilight with a slightly confused expression, but there were hints of excitement in her face as well.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot, the reason that we're here is to see if you would want to come on a journey with us."

"Well, of course I would! Who d'ya think I am? A no-good, adventure-hatin' pony?" Applejack seemed a little offended for some reason.

"Of course not! Why do you seem offended? I only asked if you would be willing to be gong on a journey, not if you'd be more willing to go on a journey than you were last time." Twilight put her hoof over her mouth. She had just tried to explain how unoffensive the request was and ended up making it offensive. Great.

"Well I would have been more willing if I wasn't mad at somepony for redecorating the barn without my permission! Don't worry, I'm not mad at her anymore. Where is that pony anyway?" Applejack was referring to Rarity. Rarity almost passed out the last time she entered the barn. The barn was apparently lacking in style and needed a proper makeover. What happened after that, well, it may be told in another story.

"We have no idea where she is-"

"Um, excuse me..." Fluttershy was always a little too quiet when she wanted to get somepony's attention.

"-We thought that you might know, but it appears as though you don't. Has Pinkie Pie-"

"Excuse me..."

"-come around here lately? I saw her this morning, but she ran off. I thought that maybe she-"

"LISTEN TO ME!!!!" Fluttershy hadn't forgotten some of the lessons she had learned from Iron Will. "Oh, um, sorry. It's just that, um, I know where Rarity is. She's back at my house."

"Why didn't you say that before we came all the way here?" asked Twilight.

"I kind of forgot after I got carried away with following that duck and getting lost. Sorry."

"It's okay, Fluttershy. Applejack, make enough pies for all of us including Rarity and Pinkie Pie. We should be back by the time they're done." Twilight sure hoped that they were back at that time. She wanted to eat apple pie just as much as Rainbow Dash did, and it sure wouldn't be as good if it were cold.

"Sure can do, Twi." Applejack responded with a smile.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy headed back to the cottage. As they headed inside, they heard a cat hissing and doing other scary cat noises. They also heard Rarity talking. "Now Opal, that is not a proper way to treat Fluttershy's couch. How in Equestria did you even scratch it that much?" Twilight saw a look of horror on Fluttershy's face as they entered the upstairs guest room.

"Oh, Rarity, sorry to keep you waiting for so long. I got carried away outside and didn't have time to come back until now." Fluttershy had a way of being able to keep her cool when some other ponies would be angered.

Rainbow Dash looked a little confused. "I thought you told us that you forg- hrmph!" Twilight elbowed Rainbow Dash before the rest of the word could be formed.

Fluttershy began to speak again. "I would also like to tell you that there is nothing wrong with Opalescence's behavior."

Twilight looked at Rarity. "You thought there was something wrong with your cat because it was scratching things like a cat? Have you forgotten what cats do? They scratch things. Go return Opal to your house and come with us to find Pinkie Pie."

"I suppose that would be the next thing I should do. Why are you and Rainbow Dash here anyway? And why search for Pinkie? Wouldn't she just appear out of nowhere eventually?" Rarity had a point, but Pinkie sure did have something very important to do.

"I don't think she'd do that today. The last time I saw her, she wouldn't even stop to say hello to anypony, let alone one of her best-"

"Well heya!" Twilight almost jumped out of her skin, she was so startled. Pinkie Pie just literally appeared out of nowhere. "Did you know that Applejack is making pies for all of us? I really enjoy her pies, and I think that we should all go and eat them soon! Why do you look so weird, Twilight? It's almost as if you just saw a ghost, haha. Unless you actually did just see a ghost! Where is it!?!? It's behind isn't it!?? Just tell me already!"

"No, I didn't see a ghost. Trust me. And yes, I agree that we should all go and eat the pies that have been made for us. I can explain everything there regarding the adventure."

"Adventure!??!!" Rarity and Pinkie Pie both said in unison. Rarity wasn't as excited as Pinkie Pie.

"Like I said, I'll explain everything there." Twilight had finally gotten all of her friends. Step one of the journey was complete! The five ponies all went to Sweet Apple Acres. Sure enough, when they got there, the apple pies were done baking. They all had a good time eating and talking with each other. Twilight promised an explanation, and so she gave one.

"I want to go on an adventure to find a pony. This pony has sent me a letter that asked me to come and see him or her."

"Him or her? How do you not know? And where does this pony live?" asked Rarity.

"They didn't properly end the letter and left out their name. And for your second question: I have no idea."

"Ooh! I love guessing games!" said Pinkie.

Guiding Dream

The six ponies all spent the night in Applejack's house. That night, Twilight had a dream. It was different from any other dream she had ever experienced. It wasn't a nightmare, luckily. She really hated nightmares. This was a very weird dream, almost like it was from somepony else's mind.

Twilight awoke in a field. She didn't recognize it at all; it definitely wasn't part of Sweet Apple Acres, where she remembered falling asleep. None of her friends were there. This has got to be dream, thought Twilight. Some books that Twilight read held information about dreams and how one could figure out if they are dreaming or not. Not remembering how you got to where you are is one of the ways to tell if you're dreaming, and Twilight certainly remembered falling asleep in Applejack's house, and not in a large field like this.

"Hello? Is anypony else here?" Twilight didn't get any response. Something that did happen was that the field suddenly started to change. Twilight saw wood forming around her in the shape of a room. She recognized this room as her own, and also heard a fire alarm. "Oh no!" Twilight said aloud. She wasn't afraid of her house burning down or anything, since this was only a dream; she was afraid of catching fire in her dream and waking up. She had that happen to her in many dreams. She was tired of catching on fire.

Twilight ran downstairs to try and vacate her home, but ended up stumbling upon a familiar scene. It was the exact same thing as yesterday morning. Green stuff flying out of the oven at Spike- or at least it was supposed to be Spike. It almost looked like him, except it was a little bigger, a teeny bit smaller, a hair fatter, and a millimeter skinnier. Spike was an amoeba, constantly changing. It still had his voice though, but it spoke very slow. "Oh, hello Twilight. I'm an amoeba. Watch out for me!"

This wasn't the only thing different from the other morning. The box of pancake mix was talking to her. "Why don't you go answer the door, Twilight? Catch the one who delivered the letter before they run off?" Twilight never expected to listen to a talking box of pancake mix, and especially never thought pancake mix could have such a great idea.

"Thanks, pancake mix," Twilight said with a happy smile.

"Pay me," replied the pancake mix.

Twilight walked over to the door to wait for the sound of knocking. Right when she got to the door, the knocking started. Twilight opened the door to find that the one who delivered the letter was: Zecora! "Zecora? It was you who delivered the letter?"

"Well, of course it was me. Who else would it be? The normal mail-delivering pony?" Twilight had no idea how Zecora came up with these rhymes at the top of her head.

"Um, yeah. That would make more sense."

"Come see me at my creepy hut of traps-"

"What?-"

"And then let us play a nice game of craps."

"What the hay are you even talking about? Hut of traps? Craps? What in Equestria does that even mean?" Twilight was very confused by this zebra sometimes, but this time was the most confusing ever. She blamed her dream for being stupid.

"Just come over to my hut when you have the chance, and then maybe we will have enough time to dance."

"I'll come over tomorrow. Just get out of here. I'm tired of your stupid rhymes!"

"These rhymes of mine are not for nursery! You talk like that again and I'll send you to the infirmary"

"Did you just threaten me? I told you to leave! Scram! Go back to your dance-party hut of traps, or whatever it is!"

"Okay, bye!" And with that, Zecora walked away and then violently exploded into confetti. After the confetti stopped falling, all of Twilight's friends were standing where Zecora once was. Pinkie Pie started talking.

"Hey Twilight! Do you want to do back-flips with us?"

"Uh, I don't think I can do a back-flip." Twilight had never tried a back-flip after the incident she had as a little filly. Let's just say all the king's horses and all the king's men almost couldn't put her back together again.

"Oh, well then, you're totally missing out." All of Twilight's friends starting doing back-flips. They did one, two, three, four; they showed no signs of stopping! Rarity began to vomit, but that didn't stop her from continuing to do back-flips. Eventually, they all started vomiting. Twilight decided to leave before she did the same.

Twilight caught sight of the three little fillies that called themselves the "Cutie Mark Crusaders." "Hey, girls! Lovely day we're having, isn't it?" She tried to initiate a conversation, but the three little ponies showed no sign of paying attention.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Space Explorers is a go!!!" They all said in unison. All three jumped in the air and flew into the sky. They continued to fly away until that generic little star-flash thing that meant they were out of sight happened.

"What did I just witness?" Twilight was dumbfounded. She decided that it would be best to continue going in whatever direction she was going. The dream Ponyville had all of the buildings the regular one had, but they were all in different places. Twilight saw the spa ponies having a mud fight. She thought it would be fun to join in, until she realized that it wasn't mud.

The purple unicorn had no idea what to do in her own dream. Then something interesting happened, and it wasn't the sight of her friends back-flipping past her. Out in the distance, she saw a light shining down from the sky. It was over the Everfree Forest. What could that be? thought Twilight. She continued to wonder until she saw Zecora flying around the light. "That stupid zebra really wants me to come see her at her hut! Screw you! I'm not going to your hut! You suck in this dream!"

Almost as if Zecora heard Twilight, she started flying straight at her. "Oh no! I didn't mean it! I swear!" But it was too late; Zecora had already launched a fireball at Twilight. "Sometimes I wonder why I still have dreams." Said Twilight aloud, just before she caught on fire and woke up as a result.

She woke up where she remembered falling asleep, which was a good sign. At least this wasn't another dream. Twilight looked around and saw that everypony else was awake already. She also noticed that Rainbow Dash was on one side of the room holding her face with her hoof. Rarity and Fluttershy were next to her. "Oh look, Twilight's awake! Good morning Twilight!" Pinkie Pie fell from the ceiling and almost gave Twilight a heart-attack.

"What happened to Rainbow Dash?" Asked Twilight. "Is she hurt?"

Rarity answered. "When we woke up, we all noticed that you moving in your sleep. Rainbow Dash decided to try and wake you up, but when she got close, you kicked her in the face."

"Ouch, that sounds bad." Twilight couldn't begin to imagine what it would feel like if she kicked her own face.

"It wouldn't have been that bad if she hadn't decided to try and wake you up a second time. When she approached you, making sure she wouldn't get kicked in the face, you punched her in the face. Right in the same spot."

"Oh my.. Well on a good note, I know how to start our journey." Twilight said.

"Really? How?" Asked Applejack.

"We've got to go see Zecora first," replied Twilight.

"Well it's not going to be very easy with this blizzard," said Rainbow Dash. Twilight had forgotten about the blizzard that the weather ponies had scheduled.

Twilight looked out the window at the raging blizzard and said, "I hate you."

And So The Journey Begins

The six friends put on warm clothes and packed their saddlebags with some supplies for the journey that laid ahead of them: Food, water, medical supplies, a map, and Pinkie Pie's party cannon. Pinkie Pie insisted that she bring it, just in case they needed to have an emergency party. It wasn't a hassle to bring it, anyway, since it had the physically impossible ability to shrink down to a size that made it easily transportable.

The first challenge was to open the door and get everypony outside without letting too much snow blow inside. Applejack attempted to open the door really fast. It turned out to be a little too fast because she ended up breaking it off of it's hinges.

"What the-" exclaimed Appleack as she lost her balance and staggered her way off the porch.

"Applejack! Let go of the door!" Twilight tried to have her friend release the door from her grip before-

"What the hay?" Applejack fell on the door and started sliding away. "Somepony help me!"

"Just jump off of the door, Applejack! You're making this a lot harder than it needs to be! We need to re-attach the door!" Twilight had the feeling that some of her friends lost their common sense at random times. Just last Wednesday, Rarity had made a dress that she thought was so "beautiful" and "marvelous," but nopony would have ever expected her to catch it on fire and bash her head against it.

Applejack was quickly engulfed in the blizzard. "How are we going to find her in this blizzard?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"We'll just have to follow the track made by the door," replied Twilight. "But first, we must find something to put here to keep the snow out."

"Everypony out of the house!" Everypony barely had enough time to react before Pinkie Pie began pushing them out of the house. "I have something that can help!"

Pinkie Pie took her party cannon out of her saddle bag, let it grow to its normal size, then fired it. Sure enough, a door came flying out and landed perfectly in the doorway. Everypony just stared, jaws dropped, as Pinkie Pie put the cannon back in her saddlebag.

"What's everypony staring at? I said I had something that could help, didn't I? Sheesh, I thought you all would have been used to everything I do by now." Pinkie's friends started to focus. Twilight looked back a couple times as they began making their way into the great white wall of snow.

"It's a good thing Applejack was sliding in the direction of Everfree Forest," said Fluttershy, "we may have gotten lost if we had to follow her elsewhere."

The five friends eventually noticed that, along with the track made by the door, there were hoof tracks on either side. "It appears as though the door stopped sliding and Applejack began to push herself along," said Twilight.

Rainbow Dash seemed delighted by some thought she was having. "I wish I was on that door."

"Why? Because it would require less work?" asked Twilight.

"No! Because, um... Because it sounds fun!"

"Riiiigghht." Twilight could see through Rainbow Dash's lie.

It wasn't before long when they finally caught up to Applejack. "Whew! I thought this thing would never stop! Look at how far it slid!"

"You began to push yourself halfway," said Twilight.

"Oh yeah," said Applejack. "I guess it was a 'lil fun, then!"

"I told you!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Girls, if you would stop this argument before it begins, might I suggest we continue on to Zecora's place before some of us FREEZE OUR HOOVES OFF!?!?" Rarity was always able to persuade ponies to do things. She would either ask nicely, or demand them to be done. This was somewhere between those two.

"Rarity's right," agreed Twilight, "let's keep going." The six ponies eventually reached the edge of Everfree Forest. They continued along the path. Though the blizzard made it difficult to see ahead of them, the ponies were able to tell the difference between the path and everything else around it. They weren't able to see Zecora's hut until they were about ten feet away from it; and after Twilight had tripped over a fallen tree.

"Aaahhhh- ouch!" exclaimed Twilight as she hit the hard, icy ground beneath her.

Rainbow Dash was the first to get to her. "Are you okay Twi- Hey! It's Zecora's hut!" Everypony began to run towards it.

"Is nopony going to help me!?" Nopony acknowledged what Twilight said. She got herself up. "Yeah, thanks! Oh, no, I'm totally fine! Nopony needs to take the time to find out!" Twilight was being very sarcastic.

Rainbow Dash knocked on the door of Zecora's hut. After a few seconds, Zecora opened the door. "What a surprise: My six favorite ponies! Now all of you get inside, before your hooves freeze."

"At least somepony knows about the dangers of freezing hooves!" Everypony stared at Rarity. "What? It's a devastating matter with horrid results!"

"What brings you ponies by my place? Need you some medicine? A cold to erase?"

"I know it was you who delivered the letter, Zecora!" Twilight wasn't going to let anypony start a conversation before she got the information she needed.

"Oh, come now, Twilight. We all know it was just a dream." Said Rarity.

"You may think she gave a random shot; but accused the wrong zebra, Twilight has not." Replied Zecora.

"Tell me everything! Who had you deliver the letter!?!?" Twilight demanded.

"I know nothing but just a bite. I can, however, send you down the right.... Path...." Zecora looked around the room, hoping that nopony had caught her mistake.

"Okay Zecora, just tell me where we need to go." said Twilight. Zecora was relieved that nopony had noticed-

"Aren't you supposed to rhyme?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Drat! Somepony noticed! Zecora tried to play it off. "I know not of what you speak. You must climb the East Mountain's peak."

"Okay, everypony! I know you all don't like travelling in the blizzard, but we can make it to East Mountain and make a camp there before sundown! Let's go!" Twilight left Zecora's hut, and everypony followed her. All except Pinkie Pie. She just stared at Zecora.

"I'm watching you, Zecora." said Pinkie Pie.

"Just leave me alone!" replied Zecora.

"Okay! See you later!" answered Pinkie Pie as she left the hut.

The East Mountain Blues

The six ponies got to the base of East Mountain as the sun was starting to set, just as Twilight had said. They set up their camp for the night, in a cave that wasn't being occupied by anything scary, which was Fluttershy's preference. That night was a rather good one; everypony slept really well the whole night.

Fluttershy was the first to wake up the next morning. After she initially opened her eyes, she could have sworn she heard what sounded like crying. She got up and, without trying to wake up anypony, left the cave to search for the source of the noise. She stopped and listened for the noise again. Sure enough, she heard it coming from her right side, and it was actually pretty close as well.

"Hello? Is anypony there?" Nopony answered. After a while of waiting, Fluttershy heard the noise once more, and was able to pinpoint the location from which the sound was coming from: behind a bush that was almost hidden in vines. She slowly crept towards the bush, and once she was right in front of it, the sound of crying happened once more. "Are you hurt? Don't be afraid, I'm only here to help."

Fluttershy started to make her way behind the bush. She was definitely not expecting what she would soon see. "Oh my."

Twilight awoke when she thought she heard a faint scream. "Did anypony else hear that?"

The four other ponies began to awaken. Rainbow Dash yawned before speaking. "What did you say, Twilight?"

"I asked if anypony else heard that," Twilight replied.

"I didn't hear nothin'," said Applejack.

One by one, Twilight's friends said that they, too, hadn't heard anything. "Strange," said Twilight, "I could have sworn I heard a distant scream. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me. What about you, Fluttershy? Did you hear anything?" Everypony looked at where Fluttershy was; or at least where she should have been. She wasn't there now.

"Uh, where's Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I haven't the slightest idea," replied Twilight, "What if she was the one who screamed? She might be in danger! Come on, everypony!" With that, the five ponies set out to find Fluttershy. Not too long after everypony left the cave, Rarity alerted the group of something she found.

"Come here, everypony! I found something!" The other four ponies gathered behind Rarity. "Look, I think it's one of Fluttershy's hairs!"

"Oh! There's also some tracks leading that way!" said Twilight, pointing towards a bush that was almost hidden in vines. The five friends went over to the bush, and saw tracks that led around it. They followed the tracks around, and stumbled upon what looked like some sort of altar. There were stone tablets with ancient symbols on them. One of them was broken.

"What in Equestria is all of this?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"It appears to be some sort of ancient altar," replied Twilight, "but we can't get side-tracked by it. We've got to follow Fluttershy's tracks! They lead towards those stairs over there."

They were stairs, but not of any modern model any of the ponies had seen before. They were crudely fashioned, and very crooked. "Do you expect us to willingly walk up those stairs? They look like a death trap!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash, ya know you can fly over them, right?" said Applejack.

"What's your point?" asked Rainbow Dash, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash. I expect you to climb those stairs, just as I expect everypony to." said Twilight.

"I'll do it! For Fluttershy!" said Rarity. Everypony agreed with her.

The stairs were surprisingly stable, given that there were already some chunks that had previously broken off. The stairs led pretty far up the mountain, and stopped right outside of a cave. Twilight looked inside of the cave. The light from outside only illuminated a straight line of light that went really far into the mountain before revealing another set of stairs.

"Oh look, more stairs. What a surprise." said Rainbow Dash sarcastically.

"Let me light this place up," said Twilight as the five friends began to enter the cave. Twilight cast an illumination spell that made her horn into a bright source of light. Right in front of her appeared Fluttershy, who was in the darkness. "Whoah, Fluttershy, you startled me!" said Twilight. "Are you okay? You wandered off this morning, and I though I heard you scream. You don't look like you normally do.

Fluttershy's eyes were wide open, and she had a great big smile on her face. She spoke kind of loudly and in a slightly monotone voice. "I know not of what you speak, friend. I am quite normal, and feel as such!"

"Are you sure? You sound kind of weird, and you're staring at us like we are all ghosts or something." Twilight was suspicious.

"Nonsense! Ghosts around these parts? HA! I've heard nothing of the sort! I am not a ghost, either! Not at all. I am your friend. Fluttershy. Yes."

"Twi, we might as well just head on up those stairs and get to the peak. Fluttershy's probably just in shock or somethin' like that." said Applejack.

The six ponies went up the stairs. Along the way, Fluttershy tried to talk to everypony about weird things. Like how she hadn't seen anypony's mane be the color of Rarity's, or trying to talk to Twilight about a war that happened about 10000000 years ago.

"Oh look, we reached the peak!" Twilight was very happy that they had done that in a reasonable amount of time. Fluttershy walked ahead of everypony and sat down in an uncomfortable-looking stone chair that was in front of another altar. The other five ponies got slammed to the ground by an unseen force, and got shackled by some kind of magic.

"You silly ponies fell right into my trap! I will harvest your souls and devour your bones! You will be my gateway into eternal life! Hahahahahaha! You there!" Fluttershy pointed at Applejack. "You will be my first meal! Come over here!"

Applejack was unshackled, and walked over to Fluttershy. "Any last words?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yeah: Take this!" and with that, Applejack bucked Fluttershy right in her face.

"Nnnooooo!" screamed Fluttershy as some blue misty stuff flew out of her. The mist faded away, and the altar began to fall apart.

Fluttershy was back to her normal self. "What happened? I feel like I was bucked right in the face!"

"You were bucked right in the face." said Twilight. "Or, at least your body was. You were being possessed by an ancient spirit. You should stop letting that happen, Fluttershy."

"Sorry." This was not the first time Fluttershy had been possesed by a spirit. The last time, it was the spirit of a cook pony. She ran around Ponyville rambling on about some sort of secret recipe that was stolen.

As the altar completely broke away, a piece of paper was revealed behind it. Twilight walked over and picked it up. It was a note that read: "If you are reading this, that means the link to the map on my letter did not work. This means that you must follow the instructions given by each of these notes. First instruction: Use the zipline at the end of this walkway and look for a pony that goes by the name of MC Pony D. He is in possession of the next note. Good luck. You'll need it when you find him."

"What does it say, Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"It says that we need to use that zipline over there."

Rarity seemed horrified. "Oh my! Not a zipline! The last time I was on one of those my mane got stuck in a pulley and was torn in half! Oh, please no! Don't make me go on it!"

"Well it's your lucky day, Rarity! You're going first!" said Twilight.

Words That Rhyme With Pony

Rarity walked over to the zipline. "I can't believe you're making me go first. Why not Rainbow Dash or Applejack?"

"Rarity, if you don't stop complaining, the zipline will be the least of your worries. Now go!" Twilight didn't have time to argue with Rarity; she wanted to go down the zipline and get to MC Pony D's residence to get the note from him before it got too dark outside. Maybe he'd even let them stay at his place for the night.

Rarity looked at the zipline wire. "Isn't there supposed to be something for me to hold on to?"

"Uh, the wire? It's right there, Rarity." said Applejack.

"No, I mean something attached to the wire, like handlebars or something."

"Oh! I think I have something in my party cannon that can help!" said Pinkie Pie enthusiastically. She pulled out the party cannon, let it grow to full size, and fired it at the zipline wire. A giant basket flew out and somehow attached itself to the wire upon impact. The basket was big enough for everypony to fit in. One by one, the six friends boarded the basket.

"Is everypony ready for the ride?" asked Pinkie Pie.

In almost perfect harmony, everypony replied, "Yep!" Pinkie Pie began to push the basket off of the edge of the mountain peak.

Twilight looked over the edge, then at Rarity. "I think I might have to agree with you about not wanting to ride the zipline. Please hold your 'I told you so' until we make sure everypony is alive at the bottom."

Rarity looked at Twilight. "It would be my pleasure."

After a few seconds, the nice, quiet mountain ambiance was replaced with cries and screams for help.

"Oh no!" "Aaaaahhhhh!" "Holy Celestia!" "Hahaha! Yay!" "Who just laughed!? Who could be laughing at a time like this!?!?" "Oops, I mean: The horror! The horror!"

These continued on for a while. It almost seemed like the scariest ride of everypony's lives would never end. Until it did end, of course. CRASH! "Ow! Where did the ground come from?" asked Rainbow Dash to no one in particular.

"Well it was there for as long as I remember..." said a voice nopony had heard before.

"Who said that? Are we dead? Is that you, grandpa?" Rarity hadn't even opened her eyes yet.

"Oh, come on everypony, just open your eyes and look. We're not dead, and the voice wasn't any of your dead relatives. It was that unicorn right there." said Twilight.

"That pony? You mean you've never seen or heard of me before?" asked the mystery pony.

"Nope, I don't recognize you at all... Wait, were you the one pony that I caught watching me through a window?" asked Twilight.

"Where do you live?" asked the pony.

"I live in the library in Ponyville."

"Then no, I've never even been there before. I do know somepony who lives there. She's actually a really good friend of mine, maybe even my best friend."

"And who would that be?" asked Applejack.

"Well, I guess the name you'd know her by is Vinyl Scratch. She's visiting me right now, actually."

"Wait, are you MC Pony D?" asked Twilight.

"So you have heard of me?" asked MC Pony D.

"Well, not until recently. Ten minutes ago to be exact. I am supposed to get a note from you." said Twilight.

"A note that I'm supposed to give you? Unless you're my pen pal that lives in Fillydelphia, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You have a pen pal? Hahaha! Do you also enjoy to drink warm milk before bed time? Haha, do you sleep with a night light?" Rainbow Dash always liked to make fun of ponies.

"Hey! Warm milk is actually pretty good, thank you very much!" MC Pony D was offended. "I assume you ponies have nowhere to stay, given that you're all from Ponyville. You could come stay with me for the night, I'm sure Vinyl Scratch would enjoy your company."

Pinkie Pie looked very excited. "I love Vinyl Scratch! That pony sure can make a party a hundred times better!"

"Oh, before we go," started MC Pony D, "I never got any of your names."

"Oh, sorry. My name is Twilight Sparkle, that's Rainbow Dash, that's Rarity, the one hiding behind Rarity is Fluttershy, that's Applejack, and that's Pinkie Pie."

"It's nice to meet all of you. Wait, Fluttershy looks like she's been bucked right in the face." MC Pony D was concerned.

"Oh, that's only because she was bucked right in the face." said Twilight.

"Well that explains it, then." MC Pony D started walking away, and the six friends followed him. "Hey, before I forget, do you know any word that rhymes with 'pony'?" asked MC Pony D.

"Um.. Phony?" replied Twilight.

"No, I've already tried that one... Thanks anyway." The group of ponies finally reached MC Pony D's house. "There it is. Home sweet home."

"Holy Celestia! This place is huge!" said Rainbow Dash.

MC Pony D led the ponies around to the front door. He entered, and everypony followed him in. "Hey Vinyl! There are some ponies here that you would be happy to see!"

The ponies heard hooves galloping towards them from a hallway to their left. "Whoa! Where'd you find these ponies, MC? They're my favorite ponies! Aside from you and Octavia, of course."

"I found them at the bottom of a zipline that I had never seen before. I could have sworn I've been around that area and never saw anything before. And guess what word Twilight suggested?"

"I don't know, what?" asked Vinyl.

"Phony! Just like you did!"

"That's weird! What are you ponies even doing around here?" Vinyl turned her attention towards the six Ponyville ponies.

"Well, we're on a journey. We were just at the top of East Mountain, where I found a note that said MC Pony D would have another note to give us. Hey, do you have a real name, MC Pony D?" asked Twilight.

"About that, my parents aren't the brightest... But hey, at least it sounds awesome, right?" replied MC Pony D.

"Yeah, I guess. Back to the story, he said he didn't know what I was talking about when I told him about the note." Twilight finished the story.

"Um, excuse me Twilight," Fluttershy began to talk, "I'm getting very hungry. I'm pretty sure we haven't eaten anything since we left on this journey."

"Why are you telling that to me, Fluttershy? MC Pony D is the one who knows where the food is in this house."

"Um, excuse me MC Pony D, I'm getting very hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty hungry too," said Rainbow Dash.

"What's going to be for dinner? I'm starved," said Applejack.

"Ummm... There's some stuff in the fridge that you could eat, I guess. The kitchen is down that hall, the last door on the right. Hey Rainbow Dash, do you know a word that rhymes with 'pony'?"

"Sorry, I can't talk right now! I've got to find something to eat!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, well, maybe after you eat, then?"

Twilight and her five friends went to the kitchen. They spotted the refrigerator and headed towards it. Upon opening it, they all decided to make themselves some hay sandwiches. The six ponies all chowed down on their sandwiches.

"Hey, Twilight! I think I just found that note you were talking about!" yelled MC Pony D down the hall. Twilight rushed down the hall towards MC Pony D, and saw him holding a piece of paper in front of him with his magic. "I threw it away because I thought it was just a fan suggesting lyrics for a song."

Twilight took the note with her magic and read it. "If my calculations are correct, the next note will be arriving shortly." Twilight slowly put the note down. "I didn't even need this note. It was useless. Why would the last note tell me to get this note if I will be getting the next note soon anyway?"

Knock knock knock! Somepony had arrived at the door, and was knocking on it. "Oh! That must be my next guest! I almost forgot that she was coming over!" MC Pony D walked over to the door and opened it. Twilight was shocked. There, standing in front of MC Pony D, was The Great and Powerful Trixie.

"You!" both Trixie and Twilight said in unison.

"Hey, Trixie? Do you know anything that rhymes with 'pony'?" asked MC Pony D.

Friend or Foe?

Twilight and Trixie stood face-to-face, staring right at each other with angry eyes. "Whoa! I assume you two know each other? Why so much tension?" MC Pony D looked confused.

Twilight and Trixie were too intent on glaring at one another to answer. "Can anypony here tell me what's going on here?" asked MC Pony D. Twilight's five friends started to enter the room after finishing their delicious hay sandwiches.

Applejack suddenly got a look of surprise that instantly changed to a look of anger. "Trixie!? What the hay is she doing here?"

"What's gotten in to everypony? You were all so happy just a minute ago!" MC Pony D was still very confused. Even Vinyl Scratch looked angry. "Okay, somepony has to explain why everypony seems so hostile towards Trixie! I mean, we've known each other since I was just a foal!"

"You know Trixie!?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Well of course, I wouldn't just invite any random pony to my house! Not including all of you, of course." MC Pony D just wanted an explanation as to why everypony despised Trixie. "Just tell me what is wrong with her!"

Nopony was paying much attention to MC Pony D anymore; they were all just staring at Trixie. All except Fluttershy, who was just standing in the corner of the room with a concerned look on her face. MC Pony D noticed her there, and began to approach her.

"You there! Fluttershy, was it? Do you mind explaining to me what is going on?" MC Pony D was growing impatient.

Fluttershy began her explanation. "Oh, um, yes. You see, last year, Trixie showed up in Ponyville. She was boasting about being the most magical pony in all of Equestria, and claimed she could do anything better than anypony else could. She humiliated a lot of us. She even said that she had defeated an ursa major all by herself. Most of her claims turned out to be untrue, and after Twilight proved that she was a fake, Trixie just ran away."

MC Pony D looked at the group of ponies. "Is this true, sister?"

Fluttershy looked at MC Pony D. "Sister?-"

"I said, is this true!?" MC Pony D used his magic to throw everypony except Trixie to the sides of the room.

Trixie shot a glare at MC Pony D, but then adopted a rather sad face. "Yes, MC, it is true. It's just that-"

"Come on! I thought we agreed to be nice to everypony, and get friends and even fans that actually cared about us! I don't remember humiliating anypony being part of the conversation we had ten years ago!"

"I'm sorry, brother! It's just that nopony would pay attention to me, no matter what I did! I had to do something!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, did you just say brother?" asked Twilight. "You're telling me that you two are brother and sister!?"

"Yes, it is true," said MC Pony D. "I thought you were being fair, Trixie. After all the letters you sent me talking about your success, I thought you had finally made it. I thought wrong!"

"I can make it up to you! I've changed my ways, I swear! After the incident in Ponyville, I realized that everypony hated The Great and Powerful Trixie, so I decided to start over new. The Great and Powerful is gone, I've been using my real name now. Trixie Lulamoon is the pony who stands before you now. To prove that I have changed, I ask for forgiveness from all of you, and I want you all to let me be your friend. I am truly sorry."

Twilight looked at Trixie, right in the eyes. "I suppose everypony deserves a second chance. Yes, I will allow you to be my friend. I'm sure Princess Celestia will be proud of old enemies setting aside their differences!"

One by one, everypony agreed that Trixie did deserve another chance. The last one to speak was MC Pony D. "Trixie, I know you are older than me, but I have always been the one watching out for you. After our parents got sent to the asylum, I was always making sure we had everything we needed to survive. When we were old enough to live on our own, and we parted ways, I thought you would be one of the best ponies in Equestria. Though I stopped believing that for a while just now, I think that you have the potential to do it. Welcome home, sis." MC Pony D and Trixie hugged.

It was a heartwarming sight for everypony. Twilight hugged Rarity, Rainbow Dash hugged Pinkie Pie, Applejack hugged Fluttershy, and Vinyl Scratch just kind of sat there and looked at everypony.

After the hugs ended, Twilight remembered something. "Hey, Trixie, do you have a note with you by chance?"

"Hm, I don't know, let me check." Trixie took off her wizard hat and looked inside of it. She reached inside and took out a piece of paper. "I think this is what you want." Trixie handed the piece of paper.

"Hey!" started Rainbow Dash, "If you're not The Great and Powerful Trixie anymore, why do you still have the cape and hat?"

"I think they look rather stylish," answered Trixie.

"I must agree with her," said Rarity. "Ever since I saw your attire the time you were in Ponyville, I spent a long time trying to recreate it. I had no luck, though."

"Be quiet, everypony, let me read this!" Twilight interjected. "It says: 'You have made friends with Trixie, congratulations! Now you must leave your new friends and head to the North. There, you will find a lovely little village. You will find the next note there.' I wonder what this village is like."

"The note said it would be lovely," said Rarity. "Whenever I hear that word, it either means somepony likes my dress, or somepony is being very sarcastic. I sure hope it's the dress one with this village."

A New Village?

All of the ponies stayed in MC Pony D's house that night. The next morning, the ponies ate a hearty breakfast, for tonight they dine in some random, supposedly lovely village. Twilight and her friends, after eating, said their goodbyes to the two musical ponies and the one with the hat as well. "Hey, watch out for my next record! It's gonna be called 'Don't Do That!' " said MC Pony D.

"I don't know about me, but I'm sure Pinkie Pie will get it," said Twilight.

"I sure will! I just love Vinyl Scratch's music, and I'm sure yours will be just as good! Ooh! Maybe you can come visit Ponyville sometime and have a concert!" Pinkie Pie sure did love Vinyl Scratch's music. She bought all of her records, and even helped make a few songs.

"That sounds like a good idea! I might visit Ponyville after you're all done with your adventure."

"Sure, I'll send you a letter when we're finished. Okay everypony, let's head on over to.. Hm.." Twilight paused for a moment. "The note never said the village's name. I wonder what it is. I guess we'll find out when we get there, so come on!"

The six friends all departed MC Pony D's home and began heading to the North. "I never noticed that MC Pony D's house is out in the middle of nowhere. I wonder how he gets his supplies." said Fluttershy.

"Maybe he goes to the village we're heading to? But it seems a little too far to travel for supplies; maybe there's a village that's closer to his house in a different direction." Twilight honestly did not know how MC Patty D lived in that area. It seemed as if nopony else lived near him at all. His house sure was big, though. It's odd how a lot of big houses are always away from civilization. Maybe it's to avoid being broken in to?

The path the ponies used was an odd one. It looked like nopony had used it recently. It was starting to get overgrown, and was even flooded in some areas. There were also never any signs that told them there was a village in the direction they were heading.

"How do we even know we're on the right path?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"The note had stated that this village was to the North, and this was the only path I found that went North. I'm sure this is the path we were supposed to take, unless there was a fork in it that was too densely overgrown to notice," answered Twilight. "If that happens to be the case, we'll just have to turn around and look for it. You better go knock on wood to make sure it doesn't actually hap- there!" Twilight pointed over a bush to the right. The six ponies all gathered around and looked in the direction of Twilight's hoof.

"I don't see nothin'," said Applejack.

"Neither do I," agreed Rarity.

"I could have sworn I saw a roof over that bush!" the five other ponies could tell that Twilight was not going crazy. "Let's go that way, it didn't seem like it was that far. If I saw correctly, we'll be able to see the whole village when we pass through those big bushes over there."

The six ponies walked over the shrubbery and into the bushes. They could just see the other side of the bushes, when all of the sudden the ground stopped going straight forward. The ponies had been too intent with looking forward to notice that there was a drop-off right at the end of the bushes. "Aaaaahh!" all of the ponies almost made the same shrieking noise when they fell.

"Is everypony okay?" asked Twilight. Luckily, the fall was not that far, so nopony was hurt, aside from maybe some bruising.

"Yeah, I think we're all fine." said Rainbow Dash.

"The only thing I feel is hungry," said Pinkie Pie. "Nothing good old Sugarcube Corner can't fix!" and with that, Pinkie pie was off.

Twilight had to correct Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, hunger can't be the only feeling you have. You obviously have feeling in your body, or else you wouldn't be able to- wait, what did you just say?" What everypony saw was unbelievable. Ponyville was right there. It wasn't some village that happened to have similar buildings, it was the Ponyville that had every building Ponyville had right where Ponyville had them.

Twilight almost couldn't speak. "Impossible! We headed far East from Zecora's hut, then ziplined North from there, then headed even farther North to get here! Ponyville should be far to the South-West from us, not here!" Twilight ran towards Ponyville, and the other ponies followed her.

The ponies all stopped in the middle of the town. They saw Pinkie Pie about to enter Sugarcube Corner. "Hey Pinkie! Come back!" Twilight shouted out to her. "We need to figure out how this happened before we do anything here!"

Pinkie Pie looked back at Twilight. She pointed at her stomach with one hoof, and pointed at Sugarcube Corner with the other. "You can wait for a little while longer! We'll eat after this!" Twilight gave a sigh of relief when Pinkie Pie finally started heading towards them. "There is no possible way that we ended up back in Ponyville. Something just doesn't seem right to me."

"Oh, come on Twilight! This is obviously Ponyville. Maybe we lost our sense of direction at the mountain, and just circled around back to here," said Rainbow Dash. "I don't know about you ponies, but I'm pooped from all of that walking today! I think I deserve a nice rest."

All of the other ponies agreed, and Twilight almost thought that Rainbow Dash's idea might be true. Only almost, though, because Twilight caught sight of somepony that didn't fit in at the time. Vinyl Scratch was walking across the street not too far away from Twilight. "Everypony come back!"

Twilight led her friends into an alleyway where she thought nopony could see them. "Um, what exactly are we doing in this dark alleyway, Twilight?'' asked Fluttershy.

"Look over there, everypony." Twilight pointed at Vinyl Scratch.

"So? It's just Vinyl Scratch. She probably just followed us here," said Rainbow Dash.

"If I'm not mistaking, Vinyl Scratch was going to stay at MC Pony D's house for another night. Even if she forgot to bring something, it would be a waste of time to come here and go back. I mean, who would even-"

"Hey there, everypony! What're you all doing in this alleyway? Oh! Are you all playing hide and seek? It's not that good of a plan to hide together, but I guess it would make the game more interesting!"

That was definitely coming from Pinkie Pie. The only problem was that she was standing right in front of Twilight, but Twilight hadn't seen her mouth moving at all. No, this voice had come from behind Twilight. Slowly, Twilight turned around to face this Pinkie Pie. "What the hay is goin' on here?" asked Applejack.

"What're you talking about? It's just me, Pinkie Pie!" said the second Pinkie Pie. She obviously hadn't seen Pinkie Pie, as she was hidden behind Twilight.

"Oh, um, of course! You just, uh, startled us! That's all!" Twilight kicked the real Pinkie Pie into the street. "Hey, have you seen Rainbow Dash?"

"Um, isn't she right-"

Twilight kicked Rainbow Dash into the street. "I haven't seen her at all today, you should go look for her... Like, right now."

"Okie dokie Loki," said Pinkie Pie #2. She turned around and walked out of the other side of the alleway. Twilight ran out to get the real Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who were just standing there looking very confused.

"There are two possible explanations to this situation," said Twilight. "We either somehow walked through an invisible wormhole and ended up in another dimension, or we just stumbled upon an exact replica of Ponyville that is inhabited by Changelings. Sadly, only one of those is physically possible at this time."

"Which one is that?" asked Rarity.

"Unless you have discovered invisible wormholes and didn't tell anypony, it's the Changeling one."

Shape-shifting for Dummies

How unfortunate. The six friends were all in the middle of a fake Ponyville filled with Changelings, and they couldn't even leave until they found the note that was supposedly there. "Let's hope we don't run into any of us again," said Twilight. "Who knows what would happen?"

After a long argument over whether or not they should even leave the alleyway, the ponies decided that staying wouldn't help them find the next note. "I'm still hungry, everypony. I could go for a bite to eat," said Pinkie Pie. "Anypony want to come along?"

"I think it would be best if we all stick together while we're here," said Twilight. "I guess it is a good time for all of us to eat. We can't just starve ourselves."

The very first thing the six ponies did after leaving the alleyway was run into their six counterparts. They all stared at each other. They were staring for a long time. Nopony knew when they would stop. Other changeling ponies started gathering around them and staring as well.

"Well... This is awkward..." said Pinkie Pie.

"Be quiet, Pinkie! You're breaking my chain of thought!" said Twilight.

"Sorry, just trying to end the silence. You know, talking is one of the most effective ways to end an awkward silence!"

"Isn't that the only way to end an awkward silence?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Of course not, silly!" answered Pinkie Pie. "You could always make a loud noise like this!" Pinkie Pie proceeded to take out her party cannon. After it retained its normal size, she fired it. A bunch of confetti flew out, along with a table, punch, balloons, games, and anything else that would be involved in a good party. The objects all miraculously set themselves up somehow, and in perfect areas.

The changeling ponies spontaneously started to have a party. They were dancing, playing games, drinking punch, punching drinks, doing back-flips; the good stuff. "I have no idea what just happened, but I think that now's our chance to get away and search for the note!" said Twilight to her five friends.

"Hold on," said Pinkie, "I've got to get something from that snack bar over there."

"Come on, Pinkie! It'll take longer than a one-pony plowing crew on a hundred-acre field!" said Applejack.

"Don't worry, it won't take that long," said Pinkie Pie.

The five ponies watched as Pinkie Pie started walking towards the snack bar. She was walking rather slowly, trying to not touch any of the changelings. She reached the snack bar successfully, and started reaching towards a cupcake. She spotted a changeling Cheerilee standing next to the snack bar. She was staring at Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie began staring at her. Slowly, Pinkie started to raise a hoof and move it towards the cupcakes. Changeling Cheerilee continued watching her. Pinkie Pie froze for a second when the changeling Cheerilee's left eye randomly twitched. Pinkie Pie began to silently cry due to the pressure. She began moving her hoof towards the cupcakes again, and right when she was about to grab one, changeling Cheerilee slapped Pinkie's hoof. A random squeaky sound followed by a wheezing sound came from Pinkie Pie as her hair randomly poofed up then fell back down, all straight. Pinkie Pie slowly backed away empty-hoofed, until she eventually reached her friends.

"What.. What just happened?" asked Twilight.

Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight and wiped away the last of her tears. "I don't want to talk about it.." Pinkie Pie looked down at the ground.

"Oookaaay... Let's go to Sugarcube Corner to get something to eat. I'm sure there will be less... Psychological breakdowns..." Everypony agreed with Twilight.

Fluttershy walked over to Pinkie Pie on their way to Sugarcube Corner. "Are you okay Pinkie?" she asked.

"Yeah, I.. I'm okay now," said Pinkie Pie. Her hair randomly caught fire and exploded. After the smoke cleared away, Pinkie Pie was her normal self, and she had her normal hair back.

"Holy Celestia! That scared me half to death!" said Rarity.

"Yeah, Pinkie, you should warn us before exploding next time," suggested Twilight. The six friends reached Sugarcube Corner and went inside. They found some delicious-looking pastries to feed on.

"You know what I don't get?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"What's that, Rainbow?" asked Rarity.

"You know how all of these changelings are living other ponies' lives?"

"Yeah?"

"And how there're also changelings that are being exactly like every one of us?"

"Go on," said Twilight.

"How do they all know exactly what everypony in Ponyville does, if changelings have only been in Canterlot before?"

Everypony was silent. They all started looking at one-another with confused looks.

"That is a good question. I have no idea," said Twilight.

"You know what I don't get?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"What?" asked Twilight.

"Why none of these changelings have been eating any of these delicious cupcakes! I mean, look at how many there are! I was expecting only a few to be on these racks, but the racks are almost full of them! What is wrong with everypony in this town?"

"Well, everypony in this town is a changeling, for one thing," said Twilight.

"Oh yeah," said Pinkie Pie. "What's wrong with changelings?"

"Well, besides the fact that they steal ponies' identities and feed off of their happiness, they obviously don't like cupcakes very much," answered Twilight.

Pinkie Pie started devouring all of the cupcakes. When she was halfway done, she suddenly stopped. "Hey!" she said, "this cupcake has paper in it! Oh, do you think it's the note!?"

"I don't think a piece of paper would randomly be in a cupcake for any other reason. Unless paper is one of the ingredients for cupcakes, then yes, it is the note." Twilight took the piece of paper with her magic and held it in front of her. She then flipped it over. "It's blank! This isn't the note!"

Twilight then put the paper down and spotted another piece of paper that happened to be the recipe for cupcakes. One of the ingredients was paper. "Pinkie, have you been eating paper all this time?" asked Twilight.

"Yes," answered Pinkie Pie.

"Why didn't you say anything about it earlier, then?"

"I didn't really think about how paper wasn't supposed to be in cupcakes until I ate half of them, I guess."

"Is there a garbage around here? Or anything else that I can throw up in?" asked Rarity.

"There's a bathroom upstairs, second door on the left," said changeling Twilight. She looked over at Pinkie Pie. "Why did you eat those cupcakes? There's paper in them."

"I didn't realize that wasn't a normal ingredient until- wait! Changeling alert!" yelled Pinkie Pie.

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, there! Why all the hate towards changelings? We never did anything to you when we found out you were here!"

"That's because we were all frozen in place staring at each other!" said Twilight.

"No, we knew you were here before that. Pinkie Pie, the changeling one, said that she saw all of you in an alleyway."

"Oh..."

"But now that I have you right where I want you, Twilight Sparkle-" started the changeling Twilight. Twilight's expression became a horrified one. "Can I have your autograph? I'm a big fan."

Twilight just stood there, and noticed that the changeling version of herself was holding out a pen and a piece of paper in front of her. "Um... Sure.." Twilight autographed the paper.

"Sweet! The others will never believe I got the Twilight Sparkle's autograph! Yay! Oh, and here's this note. I'm supposed to give it to you." The changeling held out another piece of paper. Twilight took it with her magic.

She began to read it out loud, though it wasn't very long. "Go West," said Twilight. "That's it; that's all it said. This is hooves-down the second-worst note I have ever read."

Phantom Sticks

"Hey, if you ever get super-bored or something, come visit us," said changeling Twilight.

"Okay, we might," said Twilight. "I don't know when we'd ever want to travel this far again, but maybe sometime in the future. It would be informative for me to study your society."

"Hey! That rhymed!" said Pinkie.

"Well, we better get going to the West," said Twilight. "Um, which way is that again?"

"Oh, just follow that road past the library," said changeling Twilight. "There'll be a path into a forest that heads West after you leave Pony- er... Changelingville..."

"Don't worry, you can call it Ponyville," said Twilight.

"Okay, thanks," said changeling Twilight.

"See you all later," said Twilight.

"Goodbye everypony!" said Pinkie Pie. The four other ponies said their goodbyes, and so did all of the changelings. Literally all of them, one-by-one. It took some time. Finally, the six ponies began to walk down the road that led past the library. Once they reached the outskirts of Ponyville, they spotted the forest path that changeling Twilight was talking about. They began to head West on the path.

"How's everypony doing?" asked Twilight.

"I'm doing okay for now," said Rainbow Dash.

"For now?" asked Twilight.

"Well, yeah. I haven't used my wings in some time, and I'm worried that they might get weak."

"You know you could just fly when we're walking, right?" asked Rarity.

"Oh yeah," said Rainbow Dash as she lifted off the ground and started to fly over the other ponies.

The ponies had been walking for a long time when Twilight decided that they should stop for the day. They found a nice little flat clearing off the right side of the path they were on to set up their tents. Since it wasn't too dark at the time, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to go out and look for some sticks to make a camp fire.

"I just realized something," said Twilight.

"What?" asked Fluttershy.

"You know how we've been getting hungry and looking for things to eat?"

"Yeah?"

"We packed some food in our saddlebags before we left. We could have easily saved time looking for food by just eating what we already had."

"Oh! You're right!" said Pinkie Pie. "I almost forgot about all of the things we had in our saddlebags. I have the ingredients for s'mores! We should totally make some with the campfire we're gonna have!"

"We should," said Twilight. "And speaking of the campfire, where are Applejack and Rainbow Dash? They've been out searching for a long time now."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Thirty Minutes Earlier

"Rainbow Dash 'n I are gonna go get some sticks for a campfire," said Applejack.

"Okay, but don't be out for too long; it will be dark soon," said Twilight.

"Don't worry, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash. "We'll be back in no time."

Applejack left the clearing, and Rainbow Dash followed closely behind her. The two ponies started looking for the perfect campfire sticks. Rainbow Dash wanted to just pick up the first sticks they found, but Applejack insisted that they find the perfect sticks for a campfire. She described them as a "lighter-brown" color than the other sticks, and that they were also "as dry as Granny Smith's skin after a hot day." Rainbow Dash decided not to question that one.

Rainbow Dash looked over to her left, and saw a nice pile of the sticks Applejack had described. "Hey, Applejack, I just found a lot of those sticks you were talking about."

"Well I'll be! I thought they'd be more scattered around. Good find, Rainbow Dash!"

"Well, it's not like anypony else wouldn't have seen them. I mean, that's a pretty big pile; it would be hard to miss."

"You've got a point there, Rainbow Dash. This is a pretty big pile, almost like somepony made it. I get the feelin' that we might not be alone in this place."

"Just pick those up and get back to the others, I don't want to be out here anymore."

"What? Are you gettin' scared?"

"No! I'm just getting hungry, that's all."

"Fine, we might as well take them since they're all here- what the hay?" Applejack had turned to see that the pile of sticks was gone. "Where'd they go?"

"I don't know, let's get back to the clearing." Rainbow Dash didn't want to admit this to anypony, but she was legitimately scared at that moment. She hadn't felt this scared since the six friends had their first journey to get the Elements of Harmony, but even then Pinkie Pie had helped everypony out with her song. Rainbow Dash remembered to just laugh at whatever scared you. The only problem was that there was nothing there to laugh at. A pile of sticks had just vanished. Even if there was something to laugh at, it would be a little weird to just randomly start laughing. Rainbow Dash started to wish Pinkie Pie was there.

"We ain't goin' back 'till we have those sticks," said Applejack. "We'll just have to find other ones."

All of the sudden, the two ponies heard a strange noise just behind them.

"Who's there?" yelled Rainbow Dash. Nopony answered, and the noise didn't happen again. The darkness was starting to get thicker. "Okay, we're just going to have to find any stick! It'll take too long to find your so called "perfect" sticks, and we won't be able to find our way back!"

"Fine, I guess you're right," agreed Applejack. "I saw some other sticks back there- what the? There's that pile of sticks again!" Rainbow Dash looked where Applejack had just turned to. The pile of sticks was there.

"Teleporting sticks?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The sticks started to shake. All of the sudden they flew into the air and disappeared into the sky.

"Scratch that, flying sticks. I have no idea what's going on. Here, I'll just take these sticks. Now let's head back before those sticks come back." Rainbow Dash looked where Applejack had been, but she was gone. "Applejack!?"

Applejack ran into the clearing. "There's something wrong with this forest!"

"Slow down there, Applejack," said Twilight. "What do you mean? And where's Rainbow Dash?"

"Rainbow Dash?" Applejack turned around. "I could've sworn she was behind me the whole time!"

"We can't just leave her out there! Come on!" said Twilight. Her plan for a rescue mission was cut short when Rainbow Dash flew into the clearing.

"Here're the stupid sticks!" she yelled. "Now let's get the hay outta here!"

The Forest of 1000 Curses

"What's wrong, Rainbow Dash?" asked Twilight.

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! There are weird noises in this forest and there's a flying pile of sticks that attacked me!" Rainbow Dash just wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. She did not want to get attacked by those sticks again. "Who knows what else could be hiding behind those trees!?"

"Hold on, there's a flying pile of sticks? Are you sure you're not just seeing things?"

"It's true, Twi. I saw the sticks with my own eyes," said Applejack. This was coming from the element of honesty, so there was no doubt to the other ponies that there was a flying pile of sticks.

"I don't think sticks normally fly," said Twilight.

"You think?" asked Rarity. "Of course sticks don't normally fly; when was the last time you ever heard of them flying?"

"You've got a point. There's no way sticks could fly; it's physically impossible without magic! Unless..."

Everypony was looking at Twilight silently. They were all waiting to hear her finish what she was going to say.

"Unless what!? The anticipation is killing me!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Unless this is the Cursed Forest," Twilight finally finished her sentence.

"The Cursed Forest?" almost everypony asked this question.

"Yes. I have read about it in only a couple books. There is hardly any information about it. The only thing I know is that weird things happen in it; sometimes impossible things, which would explain the flying sticks."

" 'Weird things' is a very broad statement," said Rarity. "What kind of weird things are we talking about, here?"

"Um, does anypony else see that?" asked Fluttershy. Everypony turned their attention toward where Fluttershy was looking. Just past the tree-line was a bright blue-colored ball. It was rolling to the right, and everypony watched it long enough to see it roll all the way around the clearing.

"Are we going to investigate that ball, or...?" Twilight had no idea how to react to this.

"You're asking us?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The ball suddenly stopped. The six ponies looked at it. A noise of several little hooves running began out in the distance. Four little ponies (three fillies and one colt) came out of the darkness behind the ball. One of them hit the ball, which flew towards the six ponies and smacked Twilight in the face.

"Ow! Watch where you're kicking that!" yelled Twilight.

The four little ponies all looked at Twilight, and their eyes started to glow red.

"Nice one, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash. "You made the little scary ponies look at you."

"Oh no," said Twilight. "Don't break eye contact with them. I think they'll stay still if we-"

The little ponies started walking slowly towards Twilight.

"Now they're walking towards you! What are we going to do!?" asked Rarity.

"We're going to run. Everypony stay still until I give the signal, okay?" Twilight looked behind her to see that all of her friends except Fluttershy had already ran off. Twilight looked back at the red-eyed ponies. "I guess it's just you and me now, Fluttershy." She looked back again to see Fluttershy running into the treeline. Twilight looked back at the ponies. "Don't kill me!"

The four ponies stopped five feet in front of Twilight. They were just silhouettes with red eyes now. One of the fillies stepped forward. "We do not want to hurt you."

"The horror! The horro- wait, what?"

"We said, we do not want to hurt you," repeated the filly.

"Why did you say 'we' if you are the only one talking?" asked Twilight.

"We are everything in this forest. We speak as one, and this form was determined to be the least frightening to you. We are sorry if you were still scared, as we have not made contact with anypony for six years."

"If you don't want to hurt us, why did you attack my friend Rainbow Dash with a pile of sticks?"

"The pegasus was merely in the way of our usual path with those sticks. We are sorry for any pain we have bestowed upon her."

"All of my friends have ran off, could you somehow bring them back so they won't be lost for eternity?" asked Twilight.

"We have already began sending your friends back this way," said the filly.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were back in the forest, and happened upon the same area where they were assaulted by the sticks. "Oh, no! I'm not getting attacked by sticks again!" said Rainbow Dash. Just then, a pony came out from behind a tree.

"Could you two go back to the clearing, please?" asked the pony.

"And just who are you?" asked Applejack.

"That's not important. We just want you to return to your unicorn friend."

"Rarity?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Is Rarity purple?" asked the pony.

"No."

"Then it is not Rarity."

"So, Twilight, then?"

"Is Twilight a pegasus?"

"Didn't you say we had to return to our unicorn friend?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Just shut up and go back before we have to scare you that way."

"Who's we?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The pony turned into a bunch of bats and fire balls, then started scaring Rainbow Dash and Applejack back towards the clearing.

Rarity had tagged along with Pinkie Pie when everypony ran away. "Do you feel bad that we left Twilight and Fluttershy behind?" asked Rarity.

"Wait, we left Fluttershy and Twilight behind!?" asked Pinkie Pie. "I though everypony was with us."

"Nope, it's just you and me."

"Oh, um, and me." Fluttershy had just caught up with them.

"Well, I feel a bit better knowing that we only left one pony behind," said Rarity. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stared at her. "I'm not saying that we shouldn't go back and find her!"

The three ponies looked back where they had come from. "How far did we run?" asked Rarity. "How are we even going to get back? I'm sure we made a few turns on our way here."

"Oh! I have a way to get back to Twilight!" said Pinkie Pie enthusiastically.

Twilight heard screaming coming from her right side. She looked to see who it was coming from. Rainbow Dash and Applejack came running through the trees into the clearing. "There's Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but where are my three other friends?"

Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy suddenly fell from the sky with the party cannon. "Pinkie Pie, never make me get on your party cannon then fire it ever again!" said Rarity

"But it was so fun!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Never again!"

"Okay, all of my friends are back now. Thank you," said Twilight to the filly.

"We welcome your thanks. It is time we give you what you came here for."

"You know why we're here?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Even I don't know why we're here!"

"Of course, pegasus. We were told in advance of your travels that would soon lead you here."

"You know about the journey we're on?" asked Twilight.

"We do. And we are supposed to give you a message."

"Well, where is it; where's the note?"

"It is not a written message, but a spoken one. We were instructed to tell you to return home."

"Return home!?" asked Twilight. "We've been on this journey for a week or so now! We've been trying to find out who sent me a letter and to do what they wanted me to do! You're telling me that the last message they wanted me to receive was one telling me to go home!?"

"We are sorry if it is not what you wanted to hear, but it is what we were told to tell you."

"Who could be powerful enough to have an entity that controls an entire forest relay a message to me?"

"This pony asked us to keep her identity a secret to everypony."

"So it's a she, huh!?" asked Twilight.

"Oops, uh, we've already told you too much! You must return home now!"

"How do you even expect us to get home? I have no idea where we even are in relation to Ponyville!"

"Oh, yes. Step through here, and you will be sent to Everfree Forest." A big, bright circle appeared in front of the six ponies.

"What is that?" asked Rarity.

"It's a portal that will send you to Everfree Forest, now step inside before we have to close it and recharge our ability to open it again."

"Fine, everypony go through it," said Twilight.

The six ponies stepped through the portal and ended up inside of Zecora's hut.

"How did you all get inside of my home? Just a second ago I was all alone." said Zecora.

"We don't have time to explain, Zecora. We've been through a lot, and we all just need to get some rest. I'm going to tell Princess Celestia about our journey tomorrow." Twilight and the others began to leave Zecora's hut and head to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was the last to leave.

"I'm still keeping an eye on you, Zecora," said Pinkie Pie as she left the hut.

Revelations

What better way to wake up than to fall out of bed and bang your head on the floor. This doesn't matter, thought Twilight as she was laying on the floor, that was the best sleep I've had for the past week. Twilight stood up and proceeded to make her bed. She had gotten up two minutes before her alarm was set to go off. She thought about everything that happened on the journey: The East Mountain spirit that possessed Fluttershy, MC Pony D and Trixie, the village full of changelings, and the entity that controlled an entire forest. All of the things she and her friends had done were for nothing; she never found the pony who sent the letter. Twilight thought about last night, and how the forest entity told her that the pony wanted her to return home. This was the part that confused Twilight. Why would the pony have me go on a journey, then tell me to go home before I even found her?

The alarm clock startled Twilight when it finally went off. Twilight quickly stopped the alarm. She was going to travel to Canterlot today to speak with Princess Celestia about the journey. Twilight decided to go downstairs to have some breakfast. She was surprised to see that Spike was actually making something that wasn't going wrong. "Mmmm, that smells delicious, Spike!"

"Thanks! I decided to make you scrambled eggs and hay for your first morning home," said Spike. "It's finished now. Here you go." Spike scooped the eggs onto a plate and put some hay next to it.

"I bet that you can't guess what we had to eat for breakfast on the journey," said Twilight.

"What?" asked Spike.

"Nothing! Well, except for muffins and apple juice at MC Pony D's house."

"You met MC Pony D!?" asked Spike.

"Wait, you've heard of him?"

"Of course I have! He's my favorite musician!"

"I bet you can't guess what his last name is," said Twilight.

"I bet you're right. What is it?" asked Spike.

"Lulamoon," said Twilight.

"You mean he's-" began Spike.

"Yes. He's Trixie's brother. And Trixie ended up showing up as well, and it turns out she has changed a lot since she was here. Believe it or not, she's now friends with all of us!"

"Wow! That's pretty cool!"

"I can't stand here and talk about the whole journey, I've got to eat breakfast then travel to Canterlot to talk with Princess Celestia." Twilight ate her eggs and hay rather fast. She put her dish next to the sink and started towards the door.

"See you later, Twilight," said Spike.

"Bye," replied Twilight.

Twilight began to walk to the train station to catch the next train to Canterlot. She looked at all of the ponies walking around Ponyvile and thought about the changelings and how well they imitated everypony. Princess Celestia was going to be intrigued by this story, Twilight just knew it. Twilight got to the station and boarded the train as it was about to leave.

The train ride felt shorter than usual, probably because Twilight was thinking of everything she was going to tell Celestia. She exited the train and started to head to the castle. The guards recognized her and instantly stepped aside to let her enter. She wondered where Princess Celestia would be this early in the morning, and decided to look in the dining hall. The Princess was not there. Twilight approached a guard.

"Hey, do you know where Princess Celestia is?" asked Twilight.

"Hey Twilight. Yes, the Princess is in the throne room. I don't believe she is busy yet, so you can just go on in."

"Thanks," said Twilight as she headed to the throne room.

"No problem."

When Twilight entered the throne room, she instantly saw Princess Celestia and started to walk to her.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle, it's such a pleasure to see you! What brings you here this early in the morning?" asked Celestia.

"I have to tell you about a journey I just had with my friends," said Twilight.

"I would love to hear this story, Twilight," said Celestia.

"Okay, so I got this letter that wasn't signed by anypony, so I had to get my friends and try to figure out who sent it. We first went to Zecora, who was the one who delivered the letter. She told us to go to East Mountain. East Mountain had some strange altars and an evil spirit that possessed Fluttershy."

"I'm sorry to hear about that," said Celestia.

"Don't worry, she's fine," continued Twilight. "So after that we went down a zipline that lead us to a pony named MC Pony D, and he turned out to be Trixie Lulamoon's brother!"

"Interesting."

"Yes, very. Trixie had changed her ways, though, and we ended up becoming friends with her. We ended up going to a village that turned out to be another Ponyville that was inhabited by changelings. They weren't hostile, and they were even pretty nice. After that, we went into a forest that turned out to be controlled by a supernatural entity. After finding out it was peaceful, it said that whoever had us going on the journey wanted us to return home. So, here I am."

"So what did you learn along the way, Twilight?"

"Huh?"

"About friendship."

"Oh, yeah. I learned that, if you are able to, you should put your differences aside and become friends with somepony you thought to be an enemy. I learned that you should never judge anypony by what other ponies have done. I also learned that you should not be afraid of something before you even know what exactly it is."

"Did you find out what the changelings were thriving on?" asked Princess Celestia.

"What?" asked Twilight.

"Did you find out what the changelings were living off of instead of happiness?"

"No... was I supposed to?"

"Well that was one of the reasons I sent you there. Oh, oops." Princess Celestia covered her mouth and looked at Twilight silently.

"You mean to tell me that you were the one who sent me on that journey?"

Princess Celestia sighed. "Yes, Twilight. It was me who had you do travel to all of those places."

"But why?" asked Twilight. She was very confused. "Why would you pretend to be somepony else just to have me go on a journey?"

"I never pretended to be anypony, Twilight. Like you said, the letter was never signed, and the pony who sent it was never revealed on your journey. I said I wanted you to do something for me, and that was to go to all of these places and learn new things about friendship." Twilight still looked confused. "I had you do this because you haven't been learning very important things about friendship lately, and the journey had you learn multiple important things all in one week."

"I kind of understand now, Princess. But how did you know about all of the places you had me go?"

"I looked into Trixie after you wrote about her last year, and figured out that MC Pony D was her brother. An informant told me that she was going to be visiting him, and that's when I had you show up at his house. I also had a pony who had stumbled upon the changeling Ponyville come see me, and I was curious about how they survived by themselves. The entity in the forest has always intrigued me. I visited it not too long before your journey, and told it that you would be showing up eventually and what it should tell you. I wanted you to figure out it was peaceful on your own, and you did."

"I understand now, but do you mind never having me do that ever again? I appreciate your caring for my learning in friendship, but it doesn't seem that special for me when I know it was basically forced upon me."

"I will not do it again, Twilight," said Princess Celestia.

"Thanks. But there's still something I don't get."

"What's that, Twilight?"

"How do the changelings know what everypony in Ponyville is like?"

"There are some questions that are better left unanswered."

THE END