Shadow And The Heart

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Next Generation
Prologue: How the Shadow met the Heart
Chapter 1: The Teenage Princess
Chapter 3: The Darkness in the Ice
Chapter 4: First Day of School
Chapter 5: And Days Go On
Chapter 6: Kites!
Chapter 7: Field Trip and Ancient Riddles
Chapter 8: Reunion

Chapter 2: The Next Generation

It took two days by train to go from the Crystal Empire to Ponyville. Witherleaf and Flurry Heart spent the first day relaxing with Witherleaf’s last bag of Root Weed— Seriously, how much of that stuff did she bring. By the second day boredom began to set in, luckily Twilight had a pack of playing cards. By the time the train pulled into the Ponyville station, Flurry was more than ready to have land under her hooves once again.

It was early midday when everyone got off the train. Ponies on the station made a path for them to walk through, even as they waited to board the train themselves. The bags were handled by the Royal Guards and taken to the Friendship Castle for them, so the girls followed behind Twilight at a quick pace.

“I knew we should have left last night, now we’re late,” Twilight said, as they entered the market. Stands where set up in rolls as ponies haggled wares from produce to accessories. On the other side of the street the actual brick and mortar businesses stood.

“Where are we headed?” Asked Witherleaf

“City Hall, everyone was supposed to meat up there by noon,”

“Twilight!” At the sound of a soft voice and a waving yellow hoof everyone came to a stop.

Twilight trotted up and hugged the yellow pegasus. “Sorry that we’re running late, did we keep everyone waiting.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No need to worry about that. In fact everyone’s not even here yet.”

“Really, who are we missing?”

“Let’s see,” Fluttershy said, as she counted them off on a hoof. “Rarity got caught up at work, so she’s not sure when she’ll be here, but Jazmin arrived a few hours ago with a message to start without her. Also I don’t know where Jazmin disappeared to. Oh and Shade Cloud hasn’t shown up yet.”

Twilight turn to the girls, “I have to help set up at City Hall, go find Jazmin and Shade Cloud than meet us there,”

“Ok mom, any ideas where we should look?” Asked Witherleaf.

“Let’s see,” Fluttershy pondered for a moment. “Jazmin mentioned needing a hooficure, so try the salon. As for Shade Cloud.” She gave a shrug. “You can try the lake, but I’m not sure. She has so many places she likes to draw at,”

“It’s a starting place at least,” Flurry said. they waved Twilight off and headed to the salon first, seeing as it was closer.

They entered the salon with the jingle of the door. A stallion at the front desk lowered a magazine, “Greetings, Princess Witherleaf, what service can we offer you today?”

“Nothing today,” Witherleaf answered. “Actually we’re looking for someone, a unicorn by the name of Jazmin.”

“Aw, yes. She came in here not too long ago. I’m not sure what room she’s in but you’re free to look.”

Witherleaf gave her thanks and both of them entered the next section of the building. Walking down a long white hallway, they occasionally looked into a passing room to see a pony getting a back massage or the like. They had nearly gone twenty feet when someone called out.

“Princess Witherleaf, Princess Flurry Heart.” They turned about at the call just in time to be pulled into a hug by a white unicorn in a green bath robe. “If I had known you two were coming to the salon I would have waited for you.” When she pulled back Flurry got a clear view of her blue mane. It was hard not to see the resemblance to Rarity.

“Hello, Two-Face,” said Witherleaf, looking unimpressed. Two-Face? Flurry gave Witherleaf a questioning look.

“It’s Jazmin!” she said, directing that more at Flurry Heart. “It’s been too long since our last get together, Princess Flurry Heart, I’m sure you barely recognize me.”

“Please address me as Flurry Heart, if you would. I will be here for some time, and if you keep calling me princess then you are likely to exhaust yourself.” Jazmin rose a hoof to her mouth and gave a haughty laugh. It was the type of laugh she would often hear from the nobles who would cling themselves to her mother in hopes of gaining favor. She was already growing a dislike for this mare. “I did recognize you actually, it’s hard not to see your mother in you.”

Jazmin beamed, “Why thank you. Everyone always says that I get my looks from my mother and my brains from my father.”

“That explains so much,” Witherleaf muttered. Jazmin shot her a glare but said nothing.

“Fluttershy said you disappeared, you do know we have to meet up at the City Hall, right?”

“Yes, yes, I know about that, but after spending two hours on the train from Canterlot, I just needed a hooficure.”

“Try spending two days on a train,” Flurry said jokingly.

Jazmin took Flurry by the hoof, her eyes grew sympathetic. “You pour dears, forgive my ignorance. I had completely forgotten that you just arrived. Come let us spend the day in this wonderful salon, getting their full service while we catch up with each other.”

“As fun as that sounds,” said Witherleaf in a sarcastic tone. “We’re here to bring you to the City Hall, Princess’ orders… not us, the ones that matter.”

Jazmin gave a huff of clear annoyance at being dragged away in the middle of her salon trip, but she didn’t put up a fight. “Very well, if my presents is so heavily requested that the princesses are demanding I go, then I have no choice.” With a too cheerful smile she added, “We should walk back together; we have so much we can talk about.”

“No can do, Two-face, we still have to track down Shade Cloud.”

Jazmin’s face dropped. “Oh that creep, I think I saw her trotting towards the apple farm. If you will excuse me I should be heading to the City Hall. I will see you there.”

The two of them watched as Jazmin trotted out of view. “She was certainly nice, if nothing else. Why did you insist on calling her Two-Face?” Asked Flurry.

Witherleaf laughed like there was a joke Flurry wasn’t in on. “Don’t worry,” she explained. “You’ll see soon enough, I guarantee it.”

The market was in full swing when the girls left the salon, and ponies were crowding the streets, so it took them nearly ten minutes to push their way past on the way to the farm. As they approached the farm they crossed paths with a sand colored stallion with a short brown mop of a mane. “Good afternoon, Mr. Apple.”

His name was Golden Hay, Applejack’s husband. If Flurry was remembering the story of how they met correctly. Apparently, Applejack’s brother had just moved out to start an apple farm in another town with his new wife, so they hired a farmhand to help out. Not long after that they fell in love, or he was kidnapped, depending on who you asked.

“I’m guessing you two are here looking for that one?” asked Golden Hay. He pointed off into the distance. They turn to look and could see the faint outline of a pony sitting next to a tree on the top of a hill.

“That we are, thanks Mr. Apple,” said Witherleaf. Golden Hay nodded and continued down the road. It took them only few minutes to climb the hill and reach Shade Cloud. Shade Cloud was a saffron yellow pegasus whose black mane seemed to permanently cover her right eye. From the angle of approach her sketch pad cutie mark was in plain view.

Shade Cloud ignored them as they approached, seemingly content with her drawling. It was only the slight glance from her eye, that showed she was aware of them. She continued to draw in a sketch pad on the ground at her hooves, a single dexterous wing held a pencil and traced out designs that would have been difficult with magic.

“Hello, Shade Cloud,” said Witherleaf. This time not having any strange nicknames. Shade Cloud looked up at them, with one eye hidden, and gave an inaudible response before turning back to her pad. “Shade Cloud, how about you speak like a civilized pony!”

Shade Cloud’s head snapped up and she glared at Witherleaf, like she was trying to set her on fire with her mind, “Fuck off!” she yelled. She held the glare for few tense seconds before turning back to her sketch pad.

Witherleaf looked to Flurry with a smile on her face and said, “And that is Shade Cloud. Shade Cloud, this is Princess Flurry Heart, I’m sure you remember her,”

More inaudible muttering.

“Shade Cloud we need you to come to the City Hall for the meeting,” Flurry Heart tried to explain. Shade Cloud rose a bit to look at Flurry, though she didn’t glare like she did at Witherleaf; however the annoyance was still clear in her eyes.

Witherleaf let out a tired groan. Like Flurry, she was tired with the lack of responses and the general hostile attitude. “Listen, Shade Cloud, we’re not going to drag you there kicking and screaming—mostly because I think you have a knife hidden on you—but if you don’t show we’re going to tell your mom that you refused to come. She’s already there by the way, waiting.”

Shade Cloud’s complexion visibly paled, like someone had just thrown cold water in her face. She quickly closed her sketch pad and packed it away in her saddle bag. With the spread of her wings, she jumped into the air and took off towards town.

“That was easier then I would have thought,” said Witherleaf, watching her fly off. “She didn’t even threaten to stab us.”

Flurry couldn’t help but look to Witherleaf and ask, “Do all of the ponies that live in this city have some kind of social problem?”

“No, of course not. I once met a few normal ponies… I think they still live here.”

With a sigh Flurry began the trip to City Hall.

The door to City Hall was guarded by two royal guards on each side. ‘I suppose that means they don’t want anyone to bother us during the meeting.’ Flurry thought. “Are we the last to arrive?” She asked the guard, who straitened themselves at their arrival.

“Yes princesses, everyone else is awaiting your arrival.”

“Then let us not keep them waiting.”

They entered the building and followed a straight hallway until they came to another set of doors that led into the conference room. The room could comfortably seat a few hundred ponies if needed; most of the chairs were stacked in a corner leaving ample space in the room. At that moment there were only seven ponies in the room, with the adults no were in sight.

Witherleaf took lead, “Let me introduce you to everyone.”

Flurry gave her a smile, “You have my thanks, I still barely remember the last time I met them, and it would be quite rude to get their names wrong,”

“Don’t worry about it. Half the time I can’t remember these losers’ names.” she led Flurry to the first pony on the path, a unicorn colt half her size. He had a white coat and his multicolor striped mane left little doubt in anyones mind that his mother was Rainbow Dash. On his flank was a rolled up scroll cutie mark. He was nose deep in a book, his eyes danced over each page before turning to the next. Witherleaf pointed at him, “This is Balls.”

The colt’s head jerked up from his book and he glowered at Witherleaf. “I’ve told you a thousand times, it’s Ballpoint!”

She gave him a giddy chuckle. “No it’s not.”

“What do you want?”

She pointed to Flurry. “Balls, do you know who this is?”

With a sigh he answered, “There are only five alicorns in this nation. Four of them are rulers, and seeing as you are not a ruler, I just couldn’t imagine who you could be.”

“It goes, my name is Ballpoint,” Witherleaf began lecturing him like a mother would a child. “It’s nice to meet you. Why yes, I do know who you are, Flurry Heart—Not everything you just said!”

“Again, I find I need to ask this. What do you want?”

“Just saying hi, although I don’t know why I bother.”

“Nor do I,” Ballpoint looked at Flurry with bored indifference, said “hi,” and turned back to his book.

“What are you reading?” Flurry asked.

Ballpoint looked up as if he was reevaluating her. “It’s about how the levitation spell can both enhance or hinder various other spells,”

“I see, that sounds… boring honestly. I read mostly adventure or romance novels. Generally, anything that lets me pretend I’m not at home,”

“I find those types of books a waste of time. They have nothing to offer ponies but eroding one’s mind with idiotic notions, considering that I’m not surprised you find this boring. But don’t let it bother you. I believe the library has some nice picture books you might like.”

Flurry stared blankly at him while debating whether she should give a counterargument or slap him across the room with her magic. Before she could decide Witherleaf chimed in, “Isn’t he adorable, I bet he’s just beating the mares off of him.”

Ballpoint turned around, clearly done with this conversation. As Witherleaf led them away she added, “Don’t let him bother you, as my mom says, ‘if you get mad at every idiot you’ll always be angry, and then you can’t join the friendship cult.’ Actually, maybe we should get angry.”

“She didn’t actually say that, did she?”

“More or less.”

The next ponies they trotted to were a group of three, one earthen stallion with his hooves around two mares, another earthen and a pegasus. The stallion was orange with a short brown mane. His cutie mark was of a single large golden apple. Witherleaf pointed at each one as she spoke, “The one in the middle is Golden Apple, Applejack’s son. That is Skank one and that is Skank two, both of them are Golden’s marefriends.”

“Sorry, but we don’t speak virgin,” the earthen mere said, who Witherleaf had designated as ‘Skank one’.

Witherleaf gave a smile that didn’t’ reach her eyes. “And thanks to you, neither do half the colts in Ponyville,”

“I’ll have you know I’m loyal to Golden!”

“You’re loyal to a guy that has two marefriends.”

Golden held onto the mares tighter. “Hey, you know they’re more mares than stallions in Equestria, well I’m just doin’ my part for the species,”

With a raised eyebrow Witherleaf mocked, “You’re a real humanitarian,”

Golden Apple looked Flurry Heart up and down, a stupid grin on his face that made her want to smack him. “Are you single?” He asked.

Witherleaf took a step forward and hit Golden softly on top of the head, “You do not ask if someone is single when you first meet them!”

“I’ve met her before.”

“Doesn’t matter how many times you’ve met them, it’s still rude!”

“Witherleaf, babe, why are you playing hard to get? I’ve got plenty of room over here for you too,” Golden said and flashed a set of pearly white teeth.

“Let’s go, Flurry, before his stupidity infects us, like it did these skanks.”

They turned and began walking away just as Golden called, “Hey, Flurry Heart, that offer extents to you too, so don’t be shy,” she didn’t bother dignifying that with a response.

Looking around Flurry spotted Shade Cloud in the farthest corner from everyone, her sketch pad out and drawing. They past Jazmin who set in the front roll of seats, looking at her hoof. Without her bathrobe her cutie mark was clear to see: a black spool of thread.

Near the front of the room was a three foot high stage, in front of that was a pink earthen mare with her light brown mane tight into a braid down her back. A trio of cupcakes decorated her flank. She sat with her back facing the two girls as they approached and Flurry could faintly hear her muttering to herself. ‘By the heavens, what’s wrong with this one?’

Without even addressing the pony Witherleaf said, “Last, and thankfully least, we have Raspberry Pie, daughter of Pinkie Pie. But everyone just calls her Livewire.”

“Do you have a nickname for everyone?” Flurry ask incredulously, and almost wondered why she didn’t have one for her.

“Hey I didn’t pick it, that’s just what everyone in my class calls her, anyway watch this.” Witherleaf stepped forward and tapped Livewire on the back. Livewire spun around with a surprised, 'I didn’t do it,' and stared at the new faces with expecting eyes.

“It’s too late to deny it now; we know what you did,” Flurry had know idea what Witherleaf was going on about, but she was far too intrigued to stop it.

Livewire’s eyes grew wide and she stuttered out, “W-w-what are you talking about?”

“Fine, play innocent if you wish, but it won’t help you. Don’t you know why we’re here?” She shook her head. “This is your trial, Livewire, we are the witnesses and the adults are the executioners,”

Livewire’s eyes looked like she could burst into tears at any moment. Flurry almost felt sorry for her.

“Executioners!”

Witherleaf gave a mock laugh and padded Livewire on the shoulder. “Oh come now, that’s just an exaggeration. You should know that Equestria doesn’t execute ponies. No, they are going to banish you.”

“Banish me!”

“And then imprison you in the place where they banished you. Honestly, after what you did it’s the least you can expect,” Witherleaf finished, a smug smile on her face.

“But… but I can explain.”

“Oh don’t waste your breath on me. Explain it to the adults when they show up,”

Livewire looked around, seeming to be on the verge of a full nervous breakdown, “Have to find them! Have to explain!” she muttered and galloped away from them.

“That was evil, you know that right?” Asked Flurry. As evil as it may have been, she couldn’t get the smirk off her face.

“Oh yeah, I’m so going to tartarus for that, worth it though,” She took a second to look around the room. “That’s everyone, all we can do now is wait.”

It was another few minutes before the adults decided to grace everyone with their presence. Twilight walked out from a side door onto the stage and the other parents followed suit. Everyone watched them closely, specifically the box that Twilight carried in her magic.

Everyone was seated in their own little corners of the room, keeping away from each other, Twilight seem to take note of that. When she spotted Golden Apple she rolled her eyes and motioned to Applejack as she pointed out her son, “I see’m, Honey Oak, Rain Dancer, you two are gonna have to wait outside.”

“But, Miss Apple, Golden Apple needs our support,” said the earthen mare, Honey Oak.

“Yawl can give him all the support you want outside, now get,”

Both meres gave Golden a kiss on the cheek and trotted out the door. Twilight cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention, “Can I have everyone gather around, we are about to begin.” Before she could get much further than that, Livewire jumped onto the stage and clinged to her mother’s hooves.

Flurry Heart wore a mask that perfectly hid her amusement, yet as she glanced to her side, Witherleaf already had to cover her mouth to quiet down her laughter, not even the pretense of a proper mask.

“I’m so sorry, please don’t banish me!” she cried.

And like a dam breaking, Witherleaf couldn’t hold it any more. Twilight looked at her, and the irritation was clear. “Witherleaf!” she yelled.

“I didn’t do it!” she managed to compose herself fast enough to call out. It wasn’t convincing.

“Then why are you laughing?”

“Complete coincidence.” Great line, now maybe if Twilight was brain dead that might actually work.

Luckily for Witherleaf, Livewire was more of a problem right now, so Twilight turned her attention back to her. Pinkie was trying to calm her sobbing daughter down. “No, we are not going to banish you,” said Pinkie.

Livewire looked at her with matted fur and unbelieving eyes, “Not even imprison me in the place where you banish me?”

“Not even imprison you,” Pinkie brushed away the tears and was finally getting her to calm down. “Have you done anything worth imprisoning you for?”

“I don’t’ think so.”

“WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID!” And just like that Livewire had another breakdown.

Flurry could only turn to stare at Witherleaf. Even as her mother’s head snapped to the side so fast she should have gotten whiplash. “You’re grounded, one week!”

“You had an out,” Flurry whispered, dumbfounded.

“I tried really hard not to, but did you see her face!”

It took another few minutes to calm Livewire enough that things could continue. Everyone had gathered near the stage as asked. Twilight began once more, “As you all know by now, we have lost our connection to the Elements of Harmony, but we have not lost hope. It is time for a new generation—your generation— to take up the mantle and become the next Bearers of the Elements!”

She set the box on the edge of the stage and opened it so everyone could see inside. The famed Elements of Harmony set in the box, now little more than hunks of stone. They held the shape of their last bearers cutie mark, but by their seemingly bland appearance, Flurry couldn’t understand what was so impressive about them.

Twilight took a stack of cue cards from her bags and prepared to give the next part of her speech.

“How long is this speech going to be?” Witherleaf asked. Twilight gave her a look, like she was debating grounding her again.

“Yeah, Twi, you think you can cut your speech short,” said Rainbow Dash, with Applejack nodding at her side.

Twilight threw a hoof into the air and the cue cards slipped from her grasp, raining down on the stage. “Fine we’ll skip it—I only spent the last two days writing it,”

“You can always read it to us later,” Fluttershy offered.

She shook her head, “No, it’s fine, let’s just move on,” Twilight said. “We want each of you to try and activate one of the elements. We don’t know if any of you are the chosen bearers yet, but we can still try. I also want you guys to think of this as a team building exercise.” The children groaned as one, voicing their excitement. “While you are trying to activate your element, help each other out, offer advice and just see where it takes you.”

“Hey, Ballpoint,” Rainbow called. “I bet you want to be the Element of Loyalty just like your awesome mom?”

Ballpoint shot a hoof into the air, a look of glee on his face, “I want to be the Element of Magic!”

“That’s… my boy,” Rainbow said, her enthusiasm having clearly waned.

Fluttershy trotted off the stage and around the gathered children to where Shade Cloud sat away from the group. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Shade Cloud’s muttering was too quiet for anyone to hear. Fluttershy put a hoof under her chin and rose her face up. With the other hoof she brushed the hair from her face. “Talk to me.”

Shade Cloud looked down but answered her mother, “I don’t want to be an Element of Harmony, because then I would have to hang out with those ponies, and I’ll have no time for my drawing.”

“Shade Cloud listen to me. Even if you turn out to be one of the element bearers you’ll still have plenty of time for your drawings, regardless I want you to take this seriously, interact, socialize, and try out the elements. Promise me you will.”

Still not looking at her mother, Shade Cloud gave a reluctant, “I promise,” satisfied, Fluttershy made her way back to the stage.

“Your mothers and I have things we have to take care of back stage so we will be leaving you to yourselves. Any questions before we go?”

Flurry Heart raised a hoof, “Aunt Twilight, I don’t have a cutie mark yet, so how could I possibly be one of the bearers?” Sixteen and still no cutie mark, for a normal pony that would be unheard of, but alicorns were different. Celestia and Luna had both been in their hundreds before getting theirs. Oh the joy of waiting.

“In truth, we don’t know if the elements require a pony to have a cutie mark at all. Think of this as a way to try and get your cutie mark,”

“Yes, Aunt Twilight,” At least this won’t be as bad as when she had to go to Cutie Mark Crusader Camp.

***

At the very back of the stage was a set of triple mirrors Twilight had installed for just this occasion, all of them were one-way. Standing on the other side of the mirror, Twilight and the parents watched the children tentatively as they examined the elements.

“Remind me again why we have to hide?” asked Applejack. “I’d think it be better for us to be in there help’m, seeing as those were ours not too long ago.”

“You know the trials we went through with Nightmare Moon to discover our elements,” Twilight asked. She nodded. “Now imagine if our parents were there… watching us,”

Applejack’s body visibly shook but she nodded. “I see you’re point.”

***

Not too surprisingly, Ballpoint had taken the Element of Magic and was now waving it around, trying to activate it. Livewire had taken Laughter and was quietly examining it at the back of the group. The others had yet to pick something and seemed rather uncertain about what to pick.

Flurry had no interest in them so stayed back. She didn’t believe she could get her cutie mark from this. She had heard enough stories from her father about how Twilight had to face random threats from monsters, all because they were the element bearers, to know that she wanted nothing to do with them.

Witherleaf stepped up to the box and withdrew the Element of Loyalty and Kindness. From today alone Flurry could already say that she should give up any hope on Kindness. As for Loyalty, she could see it, although it had to be better than other options. Witherleaf dropped them both back into the box and picked up the element of generosity. An unexpected choice.

Witherleaf called over her shoulder, “Hey, Two-Face, catch.” she threw the priceless and irreplaceable element of generosity, like it was a ball. Jazmin caught it in the air with her magic. “You’re good at kissing ass, so that should be a nice fit for you,”

Snickering could be heard from the other kids. Jazmin held a strained smile. She walked back to the box and placed her element back in before taking out the Element of Kindness. “My calling is clearly kindness; you could say I’m destined for it,” she said while placing the amulet around her neck.

Shade Cloud looked at Jazmin from where she sat, a slight grin on her otherwise perpetual frown. “Can a bitch even be considered kind?”

Jazmin spun around, her strained smile almost gone, “Can a sociopath even be considered a pony?”

The two held the stare for a long moment before Shade Cloud looked away. She trotted over to the corner she was in when Flurry first arrived and pulled out her sketch pad. Jazmin on the other hoof was speaking to her element, “Oh great Element of Kindness show these uncouth ponies how kind I am,”

Witherleaf stepped away from the box and trotted to Flurry’s side. “I don’t trust this,” she said. “It’s got Friendship Cult writing all over it, and I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“Ok, what’s the deal with this cult you keep going on about,” Flurry asked while looking at her.

Witherleaf glanced around conspiratorially, “My mother is secretly trying to get everyone in Equestria to join her cult. Where everyone in it has to be friends with everyone— no matter what— have a smile glued to their face, and pretend to have a super upbeat attitude,”

‘So it’s like being at home, but everywhere,’ Flurry reasoned. “Ok, that’s scary,”

“Exactly!”

“This has gotten boring fast. Do you have any more snacks?”

Witherleaf gave a snort and smiled. “Do you even need to ask?”

The two of them went back to their seats and Witherleaf brought out a new bag of Root Weed. Feeling… much better, they passed the time by watching the other kids.

Golden Apple trotted up behind Ballpoint and snatched the Element of Magic from the air. “I’ve decided I want to be the Element of Magic,” he declared.

Ballpoint turned on his hooves, fixing a stare on the pony nearly twice his size, “Hey, give that back, I called it first!”

“Yeah so, no one said it was first come first serve, now beat it, dork,”

Ballpoint lashed out with his magic and grabbed the element. He nearly ripped it out of Golden’s hoof, but Golden grabbed it with the other hoof. “Stop being dumb! Earthens can’t use magic, everyone knows that, so why don’t you go get the Element of Kindness instead!” Ballpoint yelled, and pulled with both his magic and hooves, but Golden was not letting go.

“No, the Element of Kindness is gay! Why don’t you get the Element of Generosity and learn to share!”

“I said let it go!” Ballpoint cried angrily and sent his free hoof into Golden’s face. Golden was staggered but still held on. He returned the punch in kind. Perhaps it was due to his anger or stubbornness, but Ballpoint managed to take the hit and send one back. The two stood there, one hoof on the element and the other swinging.

Witherleaf and Flurry laughed from their seats. Flurry didn’t know what she found funnier? That an earthen bully couldn’t take away something from a unicorn half his size, or that Ballpoint thought he could win a hoof fight. The other kids had also stopped to watch the brawl.

“Oh my Celestia, will you two just stop already,” Jazmin yelled. “Just give the baby back his toy! I’m sick of hearing you two fight, and why is a mud pony even bothering with magic? What’s next, are you going to try and fly?”

Not a sound could be heard. Ballpoint and Golden had stopped their fight mid punch.

Witherleaf finally chimed up, “That is why I call her Two-Face!”

Jazmin gave her a forced smile, “Oh, Princess Witherleaf, you should get the Element of Laughter, because you certainly love your jokes,”

“Speaking of jokes,” Livewire called out, jumping to the center of the room. “This reminds me of one. Why do pegasi live in the clouds?” she paused, giving time for everyone to think it over.

***

Pinkie Pie launched herself at the mirror and clung to its surface, “Don’t tell that joke!” she pleaded, making Twilight suddenly glad she had the forethought to have the room sound proofed.

***

“Because it’s the only time they can get their head out of their flanks. If Witherleaf and Flurry weren’t holding onto their chairs they would have fallen off from laughing at this point. She was right to pick the Element of Laughter, or was that the Root Weed talking, Flurry couldn’t really tell anymore .

“I’m not even a pegasus and I find that offensive,” said Ballpoint. Golden took the moment of distraction and tried to jerk the element away, but Ballpoint held firm and the fight was back on.

Livewire dropped on her flank and began muttering to herself, “I failed. I failed,” looking ready to tear up at any moment.

***

Twilight slowly turned her gaze to Pinkie, whose eyes were darting around the room. “Exactly what kind of jokes are you teaching her?” she asked, her eyebrow raised.

“The type that should never be said outside of family!”

“Hello girls, sorry I’m late!” From behind them Rarity trotted up from the back entrance. She gave everyone a beaming smile. “I thought that contract would take all day to get through, but enough of work. How is my Jazmin? What element did she pick? Oh I hope it’s generosity like me, of course I would be happy with whatever she picked.”

No one seemed to have the heart to speak, Twilight was no better. She stepped away from the mirror and pointed. It would be easier than explaining. Standing in the center of the room, Jazmin was pointing to the other kids and yelling, “You two are mud ponies, and you two are featherbags, princess or not. It’s just a fact of life that unicorns are the superior race; we have proven that time and time again! The sooner you get that through your country bumkin heads the better off you will be.”

Rarity stared quietly for nearly a full minute, her face emotionless. Finally she turned to Applejack, “Applejack, dear, do you have a shovel I could borrow?”

“I think so, but why?”

“So I can bury my daughter after I kill her, of course!”

Turning her back on the mirror Twilight addressed the girls, “Before we start committing foalicide I have another form of punishment that I think will be far more… satisfying.”

***

It was another ten minutes before the adults returned. By that point everyone was in a full blown argument. Names were being called, Livewire was crying, the boys were still fighting, and Witherleaf and Flurry were laughing in-between insults of their own, just to add a little fuel to the fire.

Any semblance of order was lost.

“ENOUGH!” Twilight’s voice reverberated through the room and shook the glass. Everyone froze, their attention fully on her. “What part of this is supposed to be teamwork?”

Five voices yelled, “They started it.”

“Don’t give me that, we’ve been watching this entire time. We saw everything!”

“Everything?” Jazmin asked, suddenly looking worried. It was then she saw her mother on the stage. “When did you get here?”

“Yes, young lady, everything.” Rarity trotted down the stage with that declaration. Jazmin stood unmoving as her mother approached her.

“Momma, I can explain,” Rarity didn’t give Jazmin the chance and slapped her hoof against her cheek.

“You must have lost your mind to speak such vulgarity! Neither your father nor I have ever spoken such rubbish in front of you. I will be having a very long talk with your father about this,”

Applejack looked down at her son from the stage, “I hope you like buckin’ apples, cause I got a whole field of’m with your name on it.” Golden Apple just hung his head. He seemed smart enough to know not to bother arguing.

Rainbow glided off the stage and over to her son. With a hoof she raised his face up to hers to see the skin around his right eyes was already swelling. “Now you have a black eye, anything to say for yourself?”

Without hesitation Ballpoint said, “The Element of Magic is mine!”

“Like apples it is, that element is mine!”

“Enough!” Both mothers yelled. “One more word and I’m tanning both of your hides,” Applejack added.

Fluttershy stepped off of the stage and look to where her daughter had hidden away. “Shade Cloud, come here,” She said with no hint of kindness. Shade Cloud rose to her hooves and trotted over, her eyes on the ground. “I thought we agreed you would participate,”

“I-I did—“Shade Cloud tried to defend herself but Fluttershy wasn’t listening.

“Was that before you called Jazmin a bitch, or after you snuck off without even looking at the elements?”

“Umm… after,”

Fluttershy took in a breath and held out a hoof, “Give me your sketch pad,” Shade Cloud looked shocked but hoofed over the pad. Fluttershy’s irritation only seemed to grow. “Don’t play games with me, young lady. Hand them all over.

Shade Cloud was gritting her teeth and muttering under her breath, too low to hear, but Flurry didn't need to hear to know what she was saying. She pulled out another five sketch pads from her saddlebag and placed them onto Fluttershy’s hoof. “From now on you are not to take any sketch pads out of the house. You can still draw at home, but it’s time you get interests outside of drawing,”

“Why are you doing this to me!” Shade Cloud cried with the stomp of a hoof.

“I asked you for one thing, Shade Cloud, one! I’m sorry, sweetie, but this is for your own good,”

“You’re ruining my life!” Shade Cloud turned, spread her wings, and shot out of the building. In that moment Flurry Heart had never been happier that her mother wasn’t there.

Twilight placed a wing over Fluttershy, who returned a thankful smile, but her eyes were on Witherleaf and Flurry. It was not the ‘I’m going to take us out for ice-cream’ look the two were hoping for. It was never that look?

“I knew this was a trap!” Witherleaf called.

“A friendship trap!” Flurry added and they both laughed again. It wasn’t even that funny but Flurry couldn’t stop herself. ‘Wow, I’ve had too much Root Weed.’

Twilight trotted over to stand in front of them and examined them closely. Their dilated eyes were clearly on display, and Witherleaf was trying to hide her bag of snacks with a wing. Twilight grabbed ahold of the plastic bag, only for Witherleaf to give a shout in protest. “What kind of snack is this?” she asked.

Witherleaf was fumbling with her words but Flurry spoke up first, “A bitter one,”

“Yes, very bitter and not to your liking,”

Taking out a single root Twilight placed it in her mouth. Both girls winced for what was coming. Flurry could almost read Twilight’s mind by her reaction. It wasn’t that bitter, there would be a slight tingling on the tongue as she chewed, and in just under a minute she would start to feel it.

When her eyes narrowed they knew the game was over. ‘Oh well, we’re in this deep, may as well keep digging,’ thought Flurry. With a short flair of her horn, Twilight hit both girls with a detoxification spell, and the buzz faded nearly as fast.

“No! My buzz!” Witherleaf cried. She fell to the floor like she had been stabbed.

“What was wrong with them?” asked Pinkie.

“They were high!” Turning back to her oh-so-grounded daughter and niece, she asked, “Where did you get this from?”

“Why outside, of course,” Flurry said, far too innocently. Twilight didn’t look like she believed it. “Why, Aunt Twilight, is there something wrong with them?”

“Let me get this straight, you picked random plants off the ground and ate them?”

With a beaming smile of someone who’s telling nothing but lies, Flurry explained, “I heard it was a local custom to try out the flora,”

“I could almost believe you falling for something like that,” Twilight said, then pointed at Witherleaf with a hoof. “But you?”

Witherleaf righted herself, “Hey you know what they say: when in pone,”

Flurry facepalmed. It was the only response she could muster for a moment.

“Don’t worry, I know another local custom: cleaning all of the smut off the castle walls from when the local baby dragon ran wild. And there is another punishment for you. There is another punishment for all of you!” she raised her voice at the end to be heard over the sound of bickering children and their mothers.

Twilight stepped away from us as she spoke, “Your mothers and I had a long talk before we came back here. We have decided that for the remainder of the school year all of you will be attending class together. Not only that, but all of you will be required to spend six hours together on weekends,”

There was a short moment of silence before everyone erupted into chaos. “What!?”

Flurry almost wanted to laugh, and this time not from the Root Weed. “Aunt Twilight, the school year just started. My mother will never allow me to be away for that long. I bet she’s counting down the seconds until my return, as we speak,”

“I will deal with your mother myself, but rest assure you will be attending.”

Flurry jerked her head away in a very unladylike manner. “I think I prefer the gilded cage,” she muttered.

Jazmin looked up to her mother, her eyes pleading. “Momma, please, you can’t mean to have me take a train twice a day just to attend class with… these ponies,”

Rarity smiled softly at Jazmin, “No, dearest, I do not,” Jazmin visibly relaxed, clearly unaware of the other hoof about to drop. “You will be living here in Ponyville for the duration of the school year. Twilight has already offered to provide you with boarding.”

“I have to live with commoners! Do you know how hard it is to get the smell of mud out of your coat?”

“Another word from you, young lady, and you will be using generic manecare products,” Rarity said, her eyebrow rose in challenge.

“You wouldn’t?”

“Try me?” Jazmin was silent after that.

“If there is nothing else, I think we should end this for today. It will take a few days to finalize the details on everything, so everyone meet at the castle on Monday for class.”

With nothing else to say everyone filed out of the building, not many heads were held high. As everyone trotted out, Livewire asked her mother, “Am I grounded?”

“No you’re not grounded, but we are going to have a talk about when some jokes should and shouldn’t be told.”

***

Rarity took Jazmin back to Canterlot to pack her belongings for the move. Twilight escorted her two troublemakers back to the castle. When they entered she ordered both of them to go change into work clothes and find some buckets of water. They groaned but obeyed. With a tired sigh she entered the round table room; six crystal chairs set around a large table, one for each of her friends and herself, as well as a smaller one for Spike that was now too small for him. Spike was in the room, sitting at Rarity’s chair, and holding a squirming Magma in his arms.

Spike had changed a lot since the time he was just her little assistant. He was now seven feet tall with a large pair of thin wings on his back. His green spines had grown out along with his muzzle, and of all things Spike was a father now.

Magma took after his mother, Ember, far more than he did Spike. He was a light blue with a purple underbelly. Two small dots on his forehead showed where his future horns would grow in. Magma was currently crawling on Spike trying to get at a gem he was holding.

“Spike, we’re back,” Twilight said as she trotted up next to him.

“How was your trip?” Spike gave Magma the gem he was so desperate to get and set him back into his lap to eat.

“Long, and my day was even longer.”

“So no luck with the elements I take it.”

Twilight rubbed her forehead as she thought of the best way to phrase it. “The only way it could have gone any worse is if we tied the elements onto a manticore and wished the kids the best of luck… no, maybe that would have been better.”

When Magma realized Twilight was there he dropped his gem onto the table and reached out for her with his arms. “Pony! Ride!” he called.

Twilight gave him a smile and patted his head. “Sorry, Magma, maybe later. So how long will Magma be here?”

Seeing that he wasn’t being picked up for a ride, Magma picked up his discarded gem and began eating once more. Spike watched him with the crack of a smile. “At least a week I would say. Ember kind of shoved Magma in my arms, and told me that if she sees us before the week is up she would let her father make good on his threats to kill me.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I did the same to Flash when Witherleaf was young; sometimes a mother just needs some alone time,” Twilight glanced out to the hall. “Speaking of mothers, I have a very important call to make.” Spike gave her a sympathetic look.

Twilight ascended the stairs to her room and entered quickly. Flash Sentry was nowhere to be seen, but given the time of day, he was likely still at the barracks. Twilight would have plenty of time to catch up with her love, but first duty called. She pulled off her regalia and set them in a display case before walking over to a round mirror on the wall. Despite its looks this wasn’t a mirror, but the latest in communication technology. It cost too much magic for the average unicorn to use and was quite expensive, so it was mostly only used to communicate between regions. Still it was a testament to the advancement of technology.

She placed her hoof at the base of the mirror and channeled magic into it. Normally, the magical channel would only open if the unicorn on the other side was there to open their end of the link, but Twilight had a feeling that even if Cadence wasn’t there herself she would have a servant on standby, just in case.

The mirror swirled and color rearranged itself, after a moment she was staring at a worried looking Cadence. “Twilight, is something wrong? Is it him, did he show up?”

Twilight held up a hoof to try and slow down the stream of questions. “Everything is fine,” Considering the subject at hoof, she chose not to mention the minor incident with Flurry Heart.

Cadence took in a breath, “I know Flurry Heart is almost grown, but it’s just so hard to not worry when she’s away. But I only have six more days.”

Twilight couldn’t help but give an uncomfortable chuckle, something that Cadence clearly noticed. “About that.”

Prologue: How the Shadow met the Heart

Although I don’t recall my age, I do remember when we first met in the streets of the Crystal Empire. Me, the street rat, whose daily concern was deciding if I was going to spend my time looking for food or a new place to sleep. And her, the pampered princess, who was born with a silver gem encrusted spoon in her mouth. In a normal world it would be unlikely that two ponies from such opposite worlds would ever meet, let alone become friends. However, our lives had never been normal from the start, but I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself.

I dusted the snow from my gray coat and black mane as I entered the Empire for the first time. I sat on the ground as a wave of heat washed over me, sending my head spinning. Ponies milled about in the far distance, yet none of them had taken notice of me. I was at the edge of some sort of market, with stands setup in a large circle. Merchants cried out their low prices to passersby, and customers haggled over goods. For a time all I could do was sit there and watch them. They were fascinating, so like me yet so different.

My curiosity burned away the nerves that bound me to that spot. I rose back to my hooves and galloped to the closest crystalline blue building. I wanted to get a closer look at them. I glanced around the corner and watched two mares talking about the prices of imported apples being too high. One mare held a shiny red apple in a hoof as she talked. I felt a strange feeling in my stomach, like it was growling at me. The stand next to the mares was nearly overflowing with apples. They wouldn’t miss a few apples, I reasoned.

It was a good twenty feet from where I was hiding to the market stall I eyed, with nothing but colorful ponies in-between. Just as I pondered how to get over there a feeling overcame me. It was a strangely familiar feeling that wrapped my whole body like a blanket. The edges of my hooves were beginning to wisp away into black smoke. The smoke traveled up my hooves until it consumed all of my body. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid when this happened. It felt like this was simply a part of me I had forgotten, much like trying to walk on a hoof after it had fallen asleep.

I spent a few moments adjusting to the new form, before the wind blew my way and brought with it the smell of apples. I sunk into the ground and traveled through the very shadows themselves. Hitchhiking onto passersby, I rode them until I was close enough to my target and detached myself from them. I hid underneath the tablecloth of the apple stall, and focused on turning back into a pony. I pictured in my mind what it was like to be a pony, to have ground under my hooves, and found my body whole once more.

I could see the blue hooves of the apple seller from where I hid. Now how I was supposed to grab an apple from the top of the table without being seen, I had yet to work out. I considered trying with my smoke form, but I wasn’t sure if I could grab it like that or not. I thought on the matter just as I felt a strange breeze next to me. Slowly, I looked to my side and stared into the wide eyes and smiling face of a pale pony.

I screamed.

I jolted up fast and hard enough to send the stall sprawling on its side. Apples were send rolling everywhere, and the apple seller was already yelling as I ran past. I didn’t focus on any of that, just the filly with the smile that never faded. The moment I took off running she spread her wings and leaped into the air. Ponies shouted as I raced past them. I jumped over and under the other market stalls in hopes of losing the pony who I knew was still following me; I could feel her smile bore into my back.

My hoof caught on an uneven piece of stone and sent me rolling. That was likely the only thing that saved me as my pursuer landed just where I would have been moments before. The menacing smirk of the pony looked out of place with a mane of purple and blue curls. I quickly got to my hooves and ran off in another direction.

I left the market stalls behind and turned right into the first alleyway I came across, but at the sight of a dead end I knew I had made a wrong move. I tried to turn my body to smoke, but the winged death was already on me. We rolled on the ground until she was on top of me. I covered my face expecting the worst. I felt a firm, yet gentle, bop on my nose. “You’re it,” She declared in a fit of giggles.

At the confused look upon my face, she got off of me and allowed me to move into a sitting position. Now that I got the chance to look at the pony without running for my life, I noticed something strange about her. In addition to the wings on her side, was a horn on her head. Was she a winged unicorn or a horned pegasus?

“I’m Flurry Heart,” she said.

I continued to look at her strangely, she was so familiar. I knew I’d seen something like her before, but I couldn’t remember. A hoof waved in front of my eyes as the pony called out to me, “Can you hear me? I didn’t hit you that hard did I?”

“Yes, I can hear you,” I said with a grunt. I sat up straighter and puffed out my chest. I wasn’t going to let this Flurry look at me like I’m some weakling. She didn’t even hit me—fly into me, sure—but not hit, because bopping does not count as hitting. “Why were you chasing me?”

“Oh, I saw you do that cool trick of turning all smoky, so I wanted to asked how you did it. I can fly, teleport, fly, go invisible, and… fly, but I can’t do something like that. I’ve been trying to get Sunburst to teach me how to shoot lasers from my eyes, but my mom won’t let him.” she gave a huff and ruffled her wings. “She never lets me do anything fun,”

“Yes… I see.” I had no idea what to say to her, and really didn’t want to stay to listen. While I found her form curious, that quickly waned once she started talking. She kept talking about herself, apparently she was something called an ‘alicorn’ and a princess to boot. However, she seemed far more focused on what she was saying then what I was doing. I slowly moved myself into an isolated darkened corner and changed myself into my smoke form.

Just as I moved to merge myself with the shadows a golden dome wrapped itself around me. “Shields!” Flurry Heart stopped in her monologue to add. “I can also make shields. My dad showed me how. They’re really easy to do once you figure them out. Are you any good with shields?” She asked me as she drug the dome to her face. I threw my smoke form against the shield wall recklessly, but after just a few attempts it was clear that she wasn’t growing a bit tired. Me, on the other hoof, was finding out that staying in that form was rather exhausting. I had also figured out that I could still, in fact, feel my stomach rumbling.

With little choice I returned to a pony, more tired than when I started. I glowered at her from my shield prison, determined at the very least not to answer any of her questions, and then she asked her next question. “So… what’s your name?”

I blinked. Then blinked again. My name, that was in interesting question. One that I wasn’t too sure on the answer. Of course I wasn’t going to tell her that. I had my pride. “I’m not telling,” I informed her with an upturned nose.

“Oh come on! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!” She jumped up and down as she begged, but I remained steadfast. She tapped her hoof on the ground and for a moment, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. When her face lit up and her smirk returned I suddenly had a bad feeling. “Well I have to call you something, so I’ll just give you a name!”

I shook my head frantically. This sounded like an awful idea. She nodded quickly, clearly she disagreed.

She looked around the alley as if looking for inspiration, and found it in a trashcan. “How about Trash Heart!”

“No!”

“Ok, than Trash Sparkles, or Trash Fire. ”

“The word ‘trash’ is not in my name!” I loudly declared.

With an expression of almost complete victory, she stepped closer. “Then tell me your name so I can stop guessing.” I crossed my hooves and looked away from her and muttered something out too low to hear. She raised a hoof to her ear. “What was that?”

“I don’t know!” I admitted at last. I was surprised to see a look of confusion on the fillies face. “I can’t remember my name,”

Her look of confusion slowly turned into a deadpan, which far more quickly changed into something trying to hold back a tidal wave. A tidal wave that broke through, like the resistance was made out of sand, and Flurry Heart broke down laughing. Now the laughing didn’t overly bother me, not even the hoof pointing, but I thought the rolling around and banging her hoof into the ground was a bit much.

The shield holding me popped a moment later. It didn’t seem like she was very good at controlling her magic. “It’s not that funny,” I tried to keep my face neutral, having her see how much it was bothering me would somehow feel like a loss.

She picked herself off the ground and wiped the tears from her eyes, and managed to asked through a gasp of breath, “How can you not remember?”

I just shrugged my shoulders. It wasn’t like I tried to forget. I was pretty sure it started with an S… wait, what comes before S? Was it a T or W. No matter, “It makes no difference what my name is.”

Flurry Heart was going to say something, but at the sound of hooves approaching we both stopped to listen. “They found me already,” Flurry muttered. I slipped back to the shadows just as two crystal guards rounded the corner.

“Princess!” they called. “Where have you been. You know you’re not to leave your escort.” the guards continued fussing over their runaway princess, spouting words of worry for running off like that. Neither guard seemed to notice me, so focused on their princess they were. With my darken coat I blended into the background seamlessly, but kept my body still and my breathing quiet to not drew their ire.

Flurry gave out an audible growl. “Ok, I’m coming!” The guards turned to escort her out of the alley, but before she turned to follow them she looked to where I was hiding. She watch the way the shadows played off my face and smirked once more. “I’ll see you around, Shadow.”

Shadow. Well, it was better than Trash Fire.

***

It had been a week since I arrived at the Crystal Empire, and it had been far less eventful than my first day. I kept out of sight of other ponies as best I could. Call it paranoia, but I never felt safe around others. Flurry Heart didn’t really seem to care. She had a strange knack for finding me no matter where I was, and that night was no different.

I set up a temporary home out of some boxes at the back of a fancy restaurant. Sitting on my makeshift table was a tomato I fished out of a trashcan. It wasn’t that bad looking, apart from a small rotten spot. I was trying to angle my knife to cut off only the bad spot when a gasp at my front door gave me pause. Well, the hole I cut in the side of the box, but door sounds better.

Flurry Heart’s head was poking inside and staring at my soon to be dinner. “Tell me you are not about to eat that?” She entered my house and took a seat at the other side of my table.

I looked from my meal to Flurry. “Why, do you want some?”

She jerked back with a look of disgust. “Eww, that’s gross, Shadow. How could you eat that?”

“It’s not that bad looking?”

“It. Smells!”

I leaned forward and gave the tomato a quick sniff. It wasn’t quite pleasant, but compared to some of the things I passed on in the dumpster, it wasn’t too bad. “So I guess that smell wasn’t me.”

Flurry facepalmed. She grabbed a hold of my hoof and pulled me along with her. “You’re coming with me,” She declared. She pulled me out of my box home and wrapped a wing around me. “Hold still,” As her horn began to collect magic, I realized she was preparing for a teleport.

“Hey what about my home. This isn’t the safest neighborhood, you know.”

With her eyes closed and focused on her magic she answered, “Your box will be fine.”

“You say that now, but box theft is on the rise. I should know, it’s how I got all of mine.”

One bright flash later and we stood at the base of the crystal palace. It stretched up into the sky, far higher than I could see. Flurry led us to one of the side entrances to the palace, and by how effortlessly she avoided the guards I got the feeling her sneaking out was a normal thing for her.

We went up a few floors until we emerged into a large open spaced kitchen. A refrigerator and stoves lined one wall while spice racks lined the other, with long table separating the two sides. “Have a seat,” said Flurry, until she noticed that there were no chairs in the room. “Or just stand, I’ll have dinner ready in a moment.”

“You’re cooking?” If the disbelief wasn’t clear in my voice it was all over my face. Flurry, however, didn’t seem to notice or just didn’t care. She open the cupboard one by one until she found what she was looking for: bread, peanut butter, and some red jam.

“I don’t actually know how to cook, so this will have to do.” She spread the peanut butter and jam on to some bread before pressing them together. She placed one of the sandwiches on a plate and passed it to me. I stared at it for a long moment. “Just eat it, it’ll taste better than that tomato you were trying to eat.”

I had my doubts, but I was hungry. Hesitantly, I lifted the sandwich to my mouth and took a bite. The explosion of flavor that hit my taste buds was a mixture of creamy goodness and sweet delight that I thought impossible. I didn’t so much as eat the rest of the sandwich as I inhaled it, crumbs and all.

Flurry smirked. “So, do you want another one?” I frantically nodded my head. She pulled back my plate and set out two more pieces of bread. “Shadow, you know how you said you can’t remember your name. Well, do you remember anything else, like where you came from?”

I gave her a shrug in answer. I had tried to remember but could never get past the sound of roaring wind and the blinding snow. “Before coming here, all I remember is walking through the snow,”

Flurry paused in her sandwich making to stared at me. “By snow, do you mean the Eternal Blizzard?”

“Um… I guess so.”

“Why would you be walking through that? How did you not freeze to death?” She raised a hoof before I could give an answer. “Let me guess, you don’t remember,” I nodded. She sighed and slid the plate back in front of me with a new sandwich.

I bit into the sandwich, but this time savored the taste. “I’ve got a question,” I said between bites. “Why do you keep coming around me?”

Flurry licked the peanut butter from the butter knife with a look of thought on her face. “Because your weird.”

“Weird? How am I weird?”

“How are you not?” Flurry said in answer, a bemused look on her face. “You live in a box, eat trash, turn all smoky, and can’t remember anything past a week ago. That is so weird! But that’s ok, I’m weird too. I’m the only alicorn in my class, and crystal ponies can’t use magic like I can, so I’m used to being the weird one.”

I tossed the last bit of my sandwich into my mouth. That word, ‘alicorn’, why was it so familiar. And more importantly, how does any of that make me weird? “I believe you when you say you are weird, but I think your weirdness has clouded your mind. I am perfectly normal.”

Flurry gave a snort in protest. “Says the colt who has all of the weirdo magic.”

“Says the filly with weirdo wings!”

“Well your face is weird.”

“Your voice is weird.”

“Your—“ Flurry Heart stopped as her ears jumped up and pointed towards the door. “You need to hide, now!” She didn’t wait for my answer as she grabbed my plate and placed it in the sink.

I had no idea what had gotten into her, but I wasn’t going to just sit around. I ducked down at the corner of the table just as the doors opened. I couldn’t see who it was from my position, but I could hear them. Clopping hooves drew closer and Flurry spoke up quickly, “Mother, what are you doing up so late?”

“I should be asking you that,” her mother said with a sigh.

Curiosity beckoning me on, I peeked around the table to get a look at Flurry’s mother. When my eyes fell upon the pink alicorn with a curly mane, my blood froze. I could hardly breathe as a fear I’ve never known filled me. My hooves shook, and it was only the fact that I may be heard that kept me quiet.

“I’m just getting a late night snack,” Flurry explained.

“This is why I tell you to eat everything on your plate.” Flurry’s mother motioned toward the door. “Come on, back to bed with you.”

Flurry hesitated for a long moment, drawing a raised eyebrow from her mother. I could tell by the way she was looking everywhere but in my direction that she was worried about me, but I didn’t need her worry. What I did need was for her to get her mother away from me so my hooves would stop shaking.

“Is something wrong?”

With a quick shake of her head, Flurry trotted past her mother. “Nope, nothing wrong. Let’s go.” Flurry led the way out of the room and the door shut behind them.

I waited for a long moment as the voices of those two slowly disappeared down the hallway. When my breathing had slowed and my hooves calmed, I turned into my smoke form and fled the palace with all haste.

That night I had a nightmare, the first real dream I could remember. I was a stallion with a flowing red cape and crown adorning my head. I stared at the Crystal Empire as it was wrapped in a pinkish barrier. From the other side stood Flurry’s mother, Cadence the dream whispered her name to me, and she was smirking at me. The dream changed and I was in the Empire, riding a pillar of black crystal. I was about to win… something, I wasn’t sure, but the feeling of victory was all consuming. But then, in the blink of an eye, Cadence appeared and my body shattered into a thousand pieces. I awoke after that but I couldn’t fall back asleep.

***

Time past and before I knew it six months had gone by since my arrival in the Empire. My relationship had improved with Flurry Heart a bit. We weren’t ‘friends’ more like someone you tolerate because they keep showing up no matter how many times you move your house.

Flurry would often sneak food out to me in my, rather luxurious, box palace. She had once offered to talk to her parents to let me live in the palace with her, but I always turned her down. I wanted to keep as much distance between me and her mother as I could. The nightmares were simply too vivid.

It was an average afternoon when I flew into her room through the open window. The moment I touched the ground I cast off my smoke form. Flurry had all but given up trying to get me to teach her how to do that. I had tried once, but I wasn’t sure how to explain it outside of ‘think you are smoke’, so we never got too far into it.

Flurry Heart was at her desk reading school books. She didn’t acknowledge my presence, but that was normal when she was focused on other things. I brought the flower from my back and slipped it under her face as she read.

Leaning back, she looked at the flower. “What is this?” she asked.

“A gift, I thought you may like it.”

Flurry Heart looked over the flower. Her eyes glowed and she looked at me with an excited expression. “It’s an Ice Lilly!” Flurry lifted the flower up to smell it.

“What’s so special about an Ice Lilly?”

“Mother says that they can only grow in spots where the cold and warm air mix. If you give them to someone they’re supposed to be your true love,”

“Really?” I asked, taking an uncomfortable step back.

“No, wait… I think that was roses. Then what where these again… I forgot.”

I let out a laugh under my breath, and got rewarded by a ball of paper to the face. She looked over the flower a few more times before she asked, “Ok, what do you want?”

“What makes you say that?” I asked in my most offended voice, though by Flurry’s raised eyebrow she wasn’t buying it. Rats, I was hoping to mesmerize her with a gift before I asked for a favor. Flurry remind quiet, giving me all the time in the world to answer her question. “Ok, Fine. I need you to show me how to teleport things. That restaurant I’ve been staying behind is threatening to have my home hauled off if I don’t move it,”

Flurry gave a sigh. “Shadow, why don’t you just stay here?”

“Rejected!” I quickly shot her down. I did not want to go down that road right now, not when that restaurant could come for my home at any time. Besides, Flurry wasn’t stupid. She knew that her mother unnerved me.

Flurry looked to the flower in her hooves as an unsettling smile crossed her face. “In that case, what will you do in exchange for my help?”

“What do you want?”

“You know I just remembered what this flower means: If you give it to someone that pony will promise to always be your friend.”

I didn’t like were this was going. “That’s fascinating. You learn something new every day,” I said with an uneasy chuckle.

“So if you want to save your precious boxes, you have to accept this flower from me and be my friend, forever, and ever, and ever.”

“Your evil,” I muttered as I stared at the flower twirling in her hooves. She just continued to smile her wicked smile. On one hoof there was my home to consider, I just had the bowling alley installed. On the other hoof, be buddy-buddy with her. She had me against the wall and she knew it. I hung my head in defeat and took the flower.

“Excellent, now since we’re friends let’s have a tea party!”

And so it began.

***

It was just a few days after Flurry’s birthday and a year since my arrival. Flurry had just returned from a trip to Canterlot, but I managed to convince her to come to the lake with me that night, she agreed when I told her about the meteor shower. She snuck out and met me at the market district, and together we headed for the lake.

When we arrived I escorted her to a small picnic spot I had set up in advance. It was nothing special just a blanket, so we didn’t have to sit on the ground, and a basket with food and drinks I had taken from the palace’s kitchen.

“It was nice of you to invite me out here… what did you do?” said Flurry, a skeptical look in her eyes.

I rolled my eyes. Of course she would think I did something. Granted, I normally would do something nice for her before I asked for a favor, or that time I broke one of the cups in her tea set. “You are the one always complaining that I never do anything nice without strings attached.

Our eyes were locked on the sky as the first meteors appeared, soon followed by dozens more.

“That is true,” she pushed me playfully. “Besides, it’s better to watch it with others then by yourself.” her eyes drifted over to me. “Thank you for dragging me out for this.”

“If you like me dragging you out then maybe I should do it more—“

Flurry Heart was fast when she wanted to be, and equally as clever. I never saw her lips coming. I wish that moment could have lasted forever.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

“Flurry Heart!” A voice that sent shivers down my body called out, Cadence stood behind us. Just like always, the mere sight of her sent my blood running cold.

We broke apart with a good foot between us. Cadence stared at me with a look of confusion that quickly turned into pure horror, “Sombra,” she whispered.

That name was like a glass of water being thrown on my face. I pushed that thought out of my mind, that wasn’t important now. I needed to focus. I needed to… stop my hooves from trembling.

“Mother, I’m sorry I snuck out without telling you, but I wanted to see the meteor shower,” she glanced over to me as if realizing I was still there. I guess she thought I would have run off by now, but I wasn’t just going to leave her. “This… is my friend, Shadow, he’s not from around here—“

“Flurry Heart, come here, now!” Cadence said. Her eyes never left me. I don’t even think she listened to a word Flurry said.

Flurry didn’t move, just looking between me and her mother. As we stood there in a standoff, I could hear more hooves running our way. I steeled myself and through a hoof around Flurry. If nothing else I would get her out of here. “We’re leaving!”

For a moment I was worried Flurry wouldn’t want to go, but at her devilish grin and her words of, “DO IT!” we teleported away.

We reappeared at the other end of the Market District. We didn’t have much of a head start, but it would be enough if we hurried. We started galloping the moment our hooves were on ground again. We cut through rolls of market stalls, leaping over the unused tables just to save time.

“Where are we going?” Flurry asked. There wasn’t a hint of fear in her voice. If anything she sounded happy.

“I don’t know, maybe we can hide in one of the other districts,”

“Yes, and if we can get to the train station maybe we can stowaway to Equestria!”

It was a wonderful idea. In Equestria we would be just normal ponies, well not Flurry, but we could hide her wings with magic. We could be free. We could be together.

I never saw the blast of magic that knocked me away from Flurry and sent me rolling into the market stalls. It was an expert shot, of that I had no doubt. To not only have the confidence to avoid Flurry Heart and hit my right side, but to match our galloping speed while doing it. I didn’t need to look from the wreckage to know that it was Shining Armor who fired it.

I tried to get to my hooves but my body was in too much pain. Flurry tried to gallop to me but was caught in a bubble of magic. “That’s enough, Flurry Heart!” Cadence said, as she flew down from the air.

She was fast.

“Mother, stop it! He’s my friend!”

“Cadence, get her to the castle. We will deal with this here,” said Shining Armor. He ordered the dozen Crystal Guards to move in to surround me.

Flurry was screaming, begging them to leave me alone, but they weren’t listening. She was being dragged away and there was nothing neither she, nor I could do. Rage filled me. Rage at my helplessness, at the longing for power that wasn’t there, at wanting to protect her— that was all that mattered.

So I gave into the anger.

I rose back onto my hooves. The guards moved to restrain me, but they couldn’t stop me anymore. The whites of my eyes became green as the purple mist poured from them. I poured all my anger and hatred into one all-encompassing scream. If I could not have a happy ending then nothing could. I would break the world, I would make it bleed.

Black crystal spires burst from the ground around me. The Crystal Guards stopped in their tracks, and I could taste their fear. Shining Armor was yelling at them to attack, but they were paralyzed. Some were already falling back. The ground was ripping open, sending the market stands hurtling to their doom below.

The realization that grown stallions were about to wet themselves at the sight of a foal made me roar with a maddening laughter. More and more crystals were braking from the ground, knocking aside some guards and forcing the rest back. The ground itself was being corrupted by my anger. Good, let it burn in my rage. Let them all burn!

“Shadow!” An angelic voice called out to the darkness that ate away at my mind. “Shadow!”

No! I didn’t know what I was doing anymore. Most of the district seemed to have been consumed by the black crystals. The guards were forming a wall in front of Cadence, while trying to keep themselves from being impaled on the crystals pillars that ripped out of the ground at random. I cut my power to the magic and tried to stop it, but it was out of my hooves.

It was then I saw Flurry Heart. She was still inside her bubble, just outside of the affected area, her mother standing guard in front of her. Flurry was staring right at me. She had seen the whole thing.

It was an odd time for strange thoughts to run through my head: Images of us sneaking our way to Equestria, taking on some silly fake names, taking over some abandoned house and working together to restore it. So many little things were running through my head and I had no Idea why.

I changed myself into smoke and disappeared into the night.

Chapter 1: The Teenage Princess

It’s been six years since the day Shadow was ripped from Flurry Heart’s life. She hasn't seen his face since that day, and her life has been one of a gilded bird. Rising from her bed Flurry began her morning routine. She sat out the dress She would wear that day across her bed before taking a seat at her desk.

As she reached for the brush to comb out her mane she spotted an Ice Lily sitting across the desk. Picking it up she lifted it to her nose, and memories of her youth, playing along the Empire’s border, played through her mind. Flurry may not be able to see Shadow anymore but he’s still out there, watching over her.

When her preparations were done she left the room, donning a dress of swirling blue and silver. She trotted down the hallway with the elegant and pose expected of royalty as she headed for the throne room. It would have been faster to run or fly but Flurry Heart had an “image” to maintain, as her mother would often say. It was just another way for her mother to control her every action.

She approach the throne room door and two crystal guards pushed it open for her to enter. Her mother was sitting on the throne in full regalia. Standing before her was Flurry’s aunt, Princess Twilight Sparkle, wearing her own purple regalia, and her cousin, Witherleaf: a jade pegasus mare with a blue mane and a single purple stripe.

Flurry Heart put on a face of a filly delighted to see her cousin again, but inwardly she was groaning. Witherleaf held the same look as she approached. Flurry didn’t hate Witherleaf, they got along well enough, but their parents wanted them to continue one of their old traditions, one they both despised. they had to dance.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake.” In front of their mothers and a hoof full of guards, they performed the most humiliating dance that has ever been invented, and they danced it like pros.

“Flurry Heart, you missed breakfast,” Cadence spoke.

Flurry rose and stepped forward to answer her, “My apologies, mother, but I got caught up reading and overslept.” her mask showed innocent regret and Cadence’s displayed parental concern. They had each worn their mask for so long that it was difficult to tell if the emotions were genuine, and either due to stubbornness or pride, neither one wanted to be the first to find out for sure.

“Be more mindful of the time, Flurry Heart, your rest is important.”

“Yes, mother.”

“Now if you will excuse us, Twilight and I have some business to discuss, so why don’t you and Witherleaf go spend some time together.”

Flurry smiled. “Of course, mother.” Putting a wing over Witherleaf she guided her out the door.

They were nearly to Flurry’s room when Witherleaf tried to push away, “There’s no one around so back off already.”

Flurry pulled her in tighter and whispered, “My mother has eyes everywhere, so wait until we get into the room.”

“Damn, you’re paranoid.”

“You bet your flank.”

When they entered the room they broke apart. Witherleaf went to lie on the bed while Flurry set back at her desk. The book she had been reading the night before was still lying there open. It was the collected history of Sombra, what little there was to know about him. Flurry had often wondered what would happen if Shadow was Sombra and what that would mean for them. More than once she had woken from nightmares about Sombra revealing some master plan of how he used her, yet most of those dreams involved her mother yelling, “I was right!”

“I love this bed!” Witherleaf groaned into the pillow. “It’s so much softer than mine. What gives? I’m a princess too, how did you get the better bed?”

Flurry turned the page in her book and skimmed over it. The current chapter was talking about what Sombra did with the slaves. Most were given the mundane task of manual labor or made soldiers, while other slaves were given far worse tasks, ones that gave the slaves a short life expectancy. When a pillow hit the back of her head she remembered the question she was asked. “I’m the future ruler of the Crystal Empire, so my title actually means something. I swear, when I’m queen I’m repealing that law about outlawing the title of queen and king. That, or become independent and then their laws won’t matter anymore.”

Witherleaf rolled over on her back. “I thought the Empire was considering going independent, that’s the rumor anyway.”

“They’ve been considering it since I was one, but at this point I think they’re too use to Equestria solving their problems for them.” Flurry turned in her chair and looked at Witherleaf. “What is the news from Equestria?

“Let’s see, Uncle Spike brought his hatchling over… what was his name… Magma, I think. Anyway, he’s learned to breathe fire, and the other day he snuck into my greenhouse. Need I draw you a picture.”

Flurry Heart couldn’t stop from letting out a quick laugh. “Was it a total loss?”

“No, me and mom managed to save most of it, but all of my special plants were lost. Months of feeding, watering, and keeping my mom from figuring out what they are, down the drain. Unfortunately, mom wouldn’t let me force feed the little bastard my remaining supply of nightshade to test out just how good dragon poison resistance is.”

By the brown leaf cutie mark, most ponies would assume that Witherleaf’s talent is just in growing plants, but few knew that her true passion lay with growing plants with an intoxicating effect. Flurry only knew because she was there when her cousin got it.

“Oh and speaking of my special plants.” Witherleaf jumped up from the bed and trotted to the door where she had left her saddlebags. She fished out a plastic bag packed with small roots.

“This is my latest creation. I call it Root Weed; it has very few side effects and the buzz last quite a while. Want some?”
She poured some out on a hoof and popped them into her mouth. She gave a small shiver as she chewed them. “So good.”

“Why not.” Flurry took the offered bag and ate a hoof full. They were bitter but not entirely unpleasant. It took a few minutes but her head started to go light and she felt a bit more relaxed, not by much just enough to be noticeable. They passed the plastic bag back and forth and with each hoof full of the stuff Flurry ate she felt better and better. “Has anything else happened in the world?”

Witherleaf gave a shrug. “It’s as boring as ever, I’m guessing you already heard about Discord?”

Flurry raised an eyebrow. “No, I haven’t heard anything about Discord. What did he do now?”

“He took over the country again—how did you not hear about it? Your mom was there.”

“My mother and I don’t speak much.”

“I see, no matter. I guess it has to do with my mom and her friends losing their connection to the Elements of Harmony,” Witherleaf explained as she upended the last of the Root Weed.

Flurry nodded. The former elements bearers didn’t suddenly stop being friends with each other, but as Shining Armor had explained to her, it was closer to their time with the elements running out.

Witherleaf tossed the bag to the side. “So there I was…”

***

Witherleaf brushed her teeth as she prepared for bed. She was in one of Canterlot Castle’s guest rooms her family were staying in. Her mother had been going back and forth all week since the elements turned to stone. Just as she finished rinsing out her mouth the light from the window caught her attention. When she saw the moon chasing the sun through the sky while barking like a dog, she knew things were bad.

Witherleaf left the bathroom and trotted into the sitting room to find her father. Her mother had disappeared almost as soon as they arrived in the city, leaving Witherleaf and her father to their own devices. Her father, Flash Sentry, was standing near the two pane window, while he slowly put his golden guard armor on.

“Hey dad, I don’t know if you noticed—“

“I noticed,” Flash answered as he slipped the helmet over his head. “Of all the times for that Draconequus to go on a rampage. Witherleaf, I’m heading out. You are to stay here until your mother arrives.”

“But,” Witherleaf barely got that out before Flash hit her with a look that only fathers seem to possess. The type that said it wasn’t up for debate. “Yes sir.”

Flash lifted up her pouting face with one hoof and gave her a soft smile. “I’ll be back before you know it.” Flash didn’t want to leave, but Witherleaf was old enough to take care of herself, and as an officer in the Guard he had duties he needed to attend to. Without another look back, he left and locked the room behind him.

To Witherleaf’s credit she managed to wait a whole two minutes before opening the window and flying out. It was like her father had forgotten that she had the attention span of a pegasus. She couldn’t fly very far with all of the cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk, the thought of trying to wash that out of her coat did not sound fun, so she angled her body for the small garden below her rooms window.

Not really sure where to go first Witherleaf headed to the throne room. She could always use the excuse that she got lost. She had to make a detour a few times, one hallway was blocked by a waterfall that was solid as stone, and another was overgrown by a plastic plant.

When she entered the throne room she expected to see one of the princesses giving out orders, like in those war plays of the olden times, but what she found was all four princesses turned to stone. Twilight wasn’t completely stone yet, but it had already taken over her lower body and was rising fast.

“Witherleaf,” Twilight called when Witherleaf entered the throne room. Of course she was facing right at the door.

Witherleaf trotted over to her and tried to keep from laughing. “So how’s your day been?”

She ignored the question and, by the look in her eyes, Witherleaf could tell she was in full lecture mode. “Witherleaf, listen to me, I don’t have much time. I know you must be scared, but I need you to be brave for me,” Yeah, she wasn’t scared, like not even a little. What was so scary about Discord?

“You have to stop Discord! Go to the vault and gather the Elements of Harmony, after that find Jazmin here in Canterlot and head for Ponyville. The other children should be there, you know who they are. You must become the next Bearers of the Elements and save Equestria!”

The stone was slowly rising up her neck now and Witherleaf knew she didn’t have much time, so she had to make this good, “No, I don’t want to join your friendship cult.”

“Witherleaf! This is serious!”

“No.”

“You go get those elements and save Equestria right now, or you are grounded, young lady!”

Witherleaf snorted out in amusement. “You can’t ground me. You’re a statue now.”

Just as she was about to give an angry reply the stone closed around her head. Judging by the look on her face, Witherleaf knew she was going to be grounded for this. With little else to do, and a desire to not spend the next year locked in her room, she decided to go see Discord and try to get some time off her punishment.

When she got out into the courtyard, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out where Discord was. Flairs from Discord’s magic were lighting up the top of the Tower of the Sun and Moon, where Celestia and Luna raise the celestial bodies each day. All around the tower cotton candy clouds were spawning from nowhere and flying off into the distance. As Witherleaf made her way over, she passed a formation of Royal Guards fighting off hordes of vegetables, complete with little arms, legs, and faces, wielding knives and forks. Flash Sentry was at the front of the group and yelling over the battle, “Give them nothing, but take from them everything!”

Seeing as her father had everything in hoof, she continued until she reached the base of the tower a few minutes later. Looking up that the vast height of the tower, Witherleaf had never been so glad to be born a pegasus. With a quick flap of her wings she flew into the air and reached the top in a few seconds. Discord stood on the balcony waving his arms, like a maestro conducting a symphony.

He smiled down on her as she trotted to his side, his arms never stopped moving. “Hello, Witherleaf, what are you doing out? I thought your mother would have placed you in some chaos proof box by now.”

“She probably would have, but you kind of turned her into stone,” she explained.

“Then consider yourself lucky. Shell I also turn your father to stone?”

Witherleaf quickly shook her head. That maybe going a bit too far. “But can you do something to Silver Song? That stupid mare is always making fun of me because I live in Ponyville.” Discords answer was the snap of his talon. In the far distance she could faintly see a house rise into the air.

“Cool, anyway, do you think you can turn my mom and the other princesses back to normal, please?”

“No,” Discord replied without giving it a second thought.

Witherleaf stuck out her lip and put on a sad face. It worked on her father, so she may as well try it here, she reasoned. “Come on, Discord, they don’t have the elements anymore. They literally can’t stop you without them, so why not make a game out of it? You like games.”

He gave a heavy sigh and looked at the pouting pegasus, all while his arms threw out chaos magic. “It’s not that I’m worried they’ll stop me, but you’ve seen your mother when she’s in full lecture mode. It’s so annoying,”

Witherleaf couldn’t argue with that. Twilight had once lectured her for an hour on the proper order in which to do your homework for maximum efficiency. That being said, she couldn’t just back down now. It was her only chance to avoid being grounded… probably. She put as much wine into her voice as she could manage, “Discord!”

“Ok fine!” Discord grabbed a passing cotton candy cloud, swirled it around a stick, and handed it to Witherleaf. “Here’s a late night snack for you. The princesses are released; now off to bed with you. Honestly, you ponies are lucky you’re so cute.”

“Thanks, Discord.” With cotton candy in hoof she flew down from the tower.

She was making her way back to her room when she turned a wrong corner and ran into all four princesses. Twilight took one look at the cotton candy and glared at her. “Hey, you can’t ground me. I got Discord to let you go.”

The other princesses shared a quick look among themselves, before continuing on, while Twilight spoke between clenched teeth, “Go to your room and stay there until your father arrives. We will deal with Discord.”

***

“That does sound like Discord, so how did they stop him?” Flurry Heart asked. They had moved to the far wall from the bed and were just sitting next to each other, feeling… great.

“They cornered him in Fillydelphia and bombarded him with petrification spells until they stuck. Just to be safe, they place stones infused with harmony into the discord statue,”

“How long do you think that will last?”

“A month, maybe a year at most. No matter what they do it’s never going to be as effective as using the elements. I think that’s why we came here today,” Witherleaf explained. “Mom didn’t tell me what this trip was about, but I got the impression that it was about the elements in some way.”

‘So Twilight’s visit has something to do with the next element bearers. Could she think I’m one? Unlikely. No, she probably wanted to use Shadow as target practice.’ Flurry thought to herself. She wasn’t sure if it was merely her curiosity or all of the Root Weed she had been eating, but she suddenly had an amazing idea. “Want to go spy on them?”

Witherleaf looked at her and blinked a few times, “You mean spy on our moms in their secret meeting that we’re not supposed to hear… of course I do!”

They rose from the floor and stretched out their legs. Flurry cast two quick spells over them; the first was an invisibility spell while the second was a noise dampener spell. She didn’t know if her mother had ponies that watched her or if it was some kind of magic surveillance, but these two spells should take care of both problems. Across the hall from the room was a servant corridor that had been sealed off and hidden from view. The corridors ran the length of the castle and were meant for servants to traverse the grounds while remaining unseen, but after Cadence took over it had been sealed off.

Flurry beckoned Witherleaf closer and wrapped her in a wing. Teleporting with others had never been her strong point, yet perhaps that wouldn’t be the case if she didn’t spend so much time locked away, but as it was she would need Witherleaf to be as close as possible. She closed her eyes and pictured the target. With a flash they were gone. They reappeared just past the wall and into the corridor.

“This is not quite what I had in mind when you said you wanted to spy on them,” said Witherleaf, as she gazed around. The corridor was barely large enough for both of them to stand side by side. Witherleaf trotted over to what looked like a vent with ornament designs on it and looked through into the outside hallway.

Witherleaf giggled even as she tried to speak, “Hey, have you ever caught someone getting it on before?”

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, Witherleaf.”

Witherleaf stepped back over and poked Flurry in the ribs. “Have you… have you?”

Flurry Heart walked past her even as she said, “It’s not like I stay to watch.”

The laughing sound Witherleaf emitted made Flurry wonder if the noise dampener spell would hold out. Witherleaf followed through the tight and winding corridors. Flurry didn’t know exactly where their mothers were, but she had a good idea where they could be. Getting there from her room would have only taken a few minutes, but the corridors looped away from her mother’s study, forcing them to take a long detour around.

It took them another thirty minutes to reach the study, and by that point Witherleaf constant fits of giggles were beginning to great on Flurry’s Root Weed soaked mind. Through a vent she could see Cadence and Twilight sitting across a table from one another, a steaming pot of tea set between them.

“I don’t like this,” Cadence began. “He’s still out there. I can feel it in my bones, he’s just waiting for us to lower our guard.”

And there it was, the single thing that had all but destroyed Flurry’s relationship with her mother. So many times she had tried to get Cadence to understand that Shadow is not Sombra, but it would always turn into a shouting match between the two of them. These days it was considered a taboo topic.

Twilight took Cadence by the hoof to comfort her. “And we will stop him, I swear that to you, but you can’t keep Flurry Heart trapped here.”

“Why not!?” Cadence pulled her hoof away as she cried. “She is safe here, and you want to take her to Ponyville!”

Flurry’s ears peaked up at this new revelation, it was starting to get interesting.

“Cadence, when was the last time you saw Flurry Heart smile?” Cadence looked taken aback by the question and could barely get a 'what' out. “She is surviving here, not living. She needs to be around fillies her own age. The other girls and I are getting our kids together to see if any of them could be the next element bearers. Even if Flurry Heart isn’t one of them, she should still go to make friends.”

Cadence was quiet for a long moment. She took several long sips of her tea before speaking again, “What if Sombra shows up?”

“Ponyville isn’t that little out of the way town anymore, we’re large enough to be considered a city now. That doesn’t include the guard regiment stationed there, all of whom will be on high alert for any suspicious ponies. And don’t forget, I am the former Element of Magic.”

Cadence gave a small smile and took Twilight’s hoof again. Hearing enough Flurry turned and walked away. ‘It appears I’m going to Ponyville, so I guess I’ll get started on packing,’ she thought. Witherleaf followed shortly after and they headed back to the room.

When they entered the room Flurry dispelled the magic on them. “Oh this is just priceless; mom wants you to be friends with those losers.”

Flurry went to her closet and picked out outfits suitable for the country environment. “I don’t even remember them. I met them once at some reunion my mother forced me to go to.”

“As I said, losers, every last one. So, when our moms talked about ‘Sombra’ where they talking about your stalker?”

“It’s Shadow not Sombra, they are just confused. How did you hear about that?”

“Oh my mom told me, by the way that’s a secret so don’t tell anyone.” Witherleaf put a hoof to her lips in mock secrecy.

“I’ve tried to get my parents to understand that Shadow isn’t Sombra, but they don’t want to hear it and I’m tired of saying it,”

“Does he really stalk you though?”

Flurry stopped picking up dresses and stepped out of the closet to answer her, “He watches over me.”

“Aww, that would almost be sweet… if it wasn’t so creepy,” Witherleaf received a glare in answer.

A few minutes later a knock on the door came with a guard informing them that their mothers had summoned them to the throne room. The two of them wasted little time in arriving. Cadence stood next to Twilight and together they addressed Flurry Heart.

“Flurry Heart, I talked it over with your mother and we want you to come stay at my castle in Ponyville for the week. We have a very special event planned that we want you to partake in.” Twilight said, smiling widely and awaiting a response.

Witherleaf put a hoof under her chin and began to think aloud, “A special event you can’t tell us about. In Ponyville, the heart of friendship. Why this almost sounds like—“

“If you say the word ‘cult’ you are grounded.”

Witherleaf dropped her hoof and remained quiet.

“What is your answer? Do you wish to go?” Cadence asked.

Flurry gave it an appropriate few seconds of pretend thought before giving an answer, “No.”

“What!?” They both said in unison

“I said no. The last time I got to leave the Empire you sent a dozen guards to follow me around. I couldn’t even go into a clothing store without them checking the place for traps. It was humiliating. If I have to deal with that again then I’d rather not go.”

Twilight facepalmed. “There is no need to worry. There will be no guards accompanying you around,”

Flurry Heart was skeptical of that claim to say the least, “Really?” She asked, a hint of hope in her voice.

“Yes, however, there are conditions,” Cadence was quick to inform. “You may not leave the region of Ponyville unless Twilight is there to escort you—this is non-negotiable. Secondly, I expect you to obey Twilight’s word as if it was mine. If you can agree to that then I will have no objections, and your father has wanted you to get out of the castle for some time, so I know he will have no objections.”

This time Flurry did not pretend when she thought it over. It was a far better deal than she had been expecting. An entire week without having to deal with her parents or the army of servants. “I agree,” she said. It was simply too enticing not to go.

Twilight’s smiled only grew, “Pack a bag, Flurry Heart, we’re leaving first thing in the morning,”

Chapter 3: The Darkness in the Ice

Ponyville had changed much over the years, but at its core it still clung tightly to its small town roots. It was easy to see if one knew where to look; the way the flower seller greeted each pony by name, the way the air seemed to hum with energy, even in the placement of the buildings and how no matter where you went the path would always seem to draw you back to the city square. Yes, Ponyville was a city, yet out of the many cities that Shadow had visited few could claim to have held onto that core.

Shadow sipped at a fruity tea drink, a local special at the cafe he sat at. Of course to the outside observer that saw him, all they would see was a lime green unicorn with a camera around his neck, sitting alone on the patio. A simple tourist, nothing more. Though Cadence and her lackeys were the group that hounded him the most, he would be a fool to think that Twilight would be any less dangerous.

Even now he could feel the magic that coursed through the city, like a vain, it ran through the streets and crisscrossed into a web that blanketed the city. It was a net, one that at the slightest use of dark magic, would light him up like a star in the sky. He had seen them before and knew how to be wary, but it was no less annoying. It was simply another burden that he would take on, and do so gladly, if only for the view that came with the cafe.

Though the view was not the best, Shadow could still see the Friendship Castle, and the alicorn washing the side of the building with a long handled mop. Several times he had to stop himself from snapping a picture of Flurry Heart in a jumpsuit with the grumpy face that made him want to laugh. He finished off his drink and signaled to the waiter for another.

It was those quiet moments that he could reflect on what brought him to this point, and why, no matter what, he had to continue on his path to the very end.

***

Six years ago

Shadow ran that’s all he could do, through blinding snow and the deafening roar of the wind. He didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t care anymore. She had seen him, was that why he always hid from other ponies, because a part of him knew he was a monster?

Shadow flew through the air, like a dark flair ripping through the storm that howled against him, desperate to put as much distance between himself and Flurry Heart as he could. Until at last his exhaustion won out against the pain and he crashed into the ground, carving out a strip of snow as he landed. He was too tired to hold the spell together, so he laid half buried in the icy powder a mere pony, too tired to stop the tears from falling. Shadow felt a numbness that had nothing to do with the cold that lashed against his thin coat. He wanted to lie there, to be buried in the snow and be forgotten. Perhaps he could have if not for the call.

Like a siren's song, it called to him. It wasn’t music, but more of a feeling, a direction to follow. Having nothing back the way he came, Shadow chose to follow it.

And so he did, one agonizingly cold step at a time, barely able to see a few feet in front of him. With nothing but time, the blizzard could not keep his thoughts away forever, and before long he found himself pondering that last day. Could he have done something different? What if he had not run when Cadence found them? He pondered them all, each thought weighing upon the next, until they were more of a burden then the snow that fell down on him.

He was overwhelmed with a feeling of triumph when he emerged at the edge of an icy gorge. The snow was too blinding for him to see how wide this gorge was, but it was deep enough that he couldn’t see the bottom.

Shadow could feel the call somewhere down there. He had regained enough strength to use his smoke form and flew down. A few feet from the edge he found a thin layer of ice on the wall, so thin that he could almost see through it. Solidifying a hoof, he slammed it into the ice and could feel the vibration run through it, but he didn’t have the momentum to break it, hovering in the air like he was, nor did he have the energy to spend trying to beat the ice down. However, there was another option. Shadow moved to the other side of the gorge and rushed at the wall. At the last possible second, he changed himself back into a pony.

He smashed through the ice with his weight alone and landed hard on a patch of ice. Right away his mistake became obvious, he had come in too fast and was now sliding uncontrollably down farther into the tunnel. Too tired to transform again so soon, all he could do was hold on. The walls were brightened by the ice that sped past him, casting everything in a shade of blue. He slid quickly down and around corners, up short hills that launched him onto the next icy patch.

Shadow flew out of the tunnel as the end of the road ejected him into a large open room several feet below. He landed in a pile of snow that ringed a small pond. The pond had a perfectly round ice platform in the center with a connecting bridge to it. Dusting the snow from his body he trotted to the edge of the pond. The sound of crunching ice echoed off the walls with each step of his hoof. The cavern seemed almost unnatural, it was simply too perfect. The water was crystal clear enough to see the bottom, leaning down he took a drink and soothe a burning in his throat he didn’t know he had.

“What do we have here?” another voice spoke, seemingly everywhere and nowhere. It took Shadow a moment to realize that the voice was coming from the Call. The voice was the Call.

His eyes turned to the platform and from every corner, from every shadow, the darkness poured in. It swept over him and fell upon the ice like a tidal wave. The shadows molded together and took on the shape of a pony. As the shadows turned into darken fur and piercing eyes, Shadow could do nothing but stare. The older stallion held the face of someone he had only seen in his dreams, who watched him with a look of indifference, but there was no mistaking who this was: Sombra.

His body was in tatters; many parts were simply gone and replaced with twisting shadows: his right leg and eye, parts of his ribs on his left side, his hoof on his left foreleg, and even his horn was only a broken bone. He looked like he was being pieced back together bit by bit.

“Hello, my Horn,” Sombra said. Despite the distance his voice was clear.

“W-what,” that was all Shadow could stammer out. His mind was stalling. There was too many questions running through his head, but one stuck out to him: Why did Sombra call him 'his horn?'

Sombra moved to take a step and the image of his body shuttered, blinking in and out. Shadow thought he was seeing things, but before he could think about rubbing his eyes, Sombra blinked in front of him. Shadow fell back on his flank and stared wide eyed at the stallion that towered over him. Sombra’s face took on a dark tone as he looked down on the colt before him. “I said you are my horn,” he touched the jagged bone protruding from his forehead. “And I have waited a very long time for your return,”

Shadow pushed himself back to put as much distance between them as he could, but he knew it was pointless. “I don’t understand, what do you mean I’m your horn?”

“You were born from my magic. In the event that my body was destroyed and I couldn’t regenerate, my horn would create another me. Think of yourself as a backup plan to ensure that I live on. But it would seem the spell triggered prematurely when I was blown apart all those years ago.”

“I’m just a backup,” Shadow repeated in bewilderment. He wanted to scream in protest, to declare that he was not just some clone, but a part of him knew it was true, the little question that had plagued him just fell into place: why he had no memory before coming to the Empire, why he could use the smoke form so easy yet not explain how he did. Being so close to Sombra the call was so strong. It was like a lullaby telling Shadow to curl up at his hooves. He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He just needed to focus on the present.

“That you are, and quite an inconvenience. If I had your power from the start I could have fully regenerated, and be on my way to reconquering the Crystal Empire.”

Sombra was after the Empire, Flurry Heart. Her name jumped to the forefront of his mind, overriding any fear and the pull of the call. Shadow knew it, as he gazed into Sombra’s demented eyes, that she was in danger. But what could he do, a mere fly before a spider.

“What’s wrong, my Horn? You seem so… shaken,” He smiled down, clearly finding amusement in this. He reached out and tapped the tip of Shadow’s horn. Shadow jerked back as he felt something tearing away from him. Sombra touched his hoof to his own stub of a horn, and it grew ever so slightly. “Oh, Horn, you have been a very bad pony. This ‘Flurry Heart’, how she haunts your thoughts. Oh, and she’s the daughter of one of those wretches that robbed me of my victory.” A cold smile spread on his face that sent a chill down Shadow’s spine. Sombra looked off into the distance and continued to speak aloud. “Yes, yes, that could work. If I kidnap this Flurry Heart those vermin would do anything to get her back, though it’s doubtful they would give up the Crystal Empire that easily. Yes, this could work.”

He wanted to take her. He wanted to make her cry, to make her suffer. “I won’t let you!” the words were out of Shadow’s mouth before he knew he had spoken them.

Sombra looked down at him like he had forgotten the colt was there. His cold expression hadn’t vanished “Is that so, and what, Little Horn, are you going to do to stop me?”

Shadow felt the attack before it came and dodged to the side just as a spear of shadow impacted the ground, knocking the snow into the air. It was clear to see that he had overstayed his welcome, yet the reality of the situation was that he couldn’t win. Maybe if he could summon those black crystals again, but he had no idea how to do that. To make things worse he hadn’t eaten in days so he wasn’t even sure how long he could transform into smoke. Shadow chanced a quick glance at the tunnel he came in from, to get his bearings, it wasn’t too far. There was a chance, but only one.

Shadow threw balls of snow as fast as he could scoop them up. Sombra laughed as he smacked them away with the mist that cloaked him. Shadow dodged whenever the spears attacked, but those were slow. It was painfully clear he was being toyed with.

Sombra knocked away another three snowballs before his face dropped. “This is just sad, and here I thought you would surprise me. It matters not, let us end this.”

Another spear attacked, forcing Shadow to the side and right into the path of his awaiting shadow tendril. It wrapped around his throat and cut off his air. It brought him over to hang before Sombra, who looked at him like Shadow was little more than a tedious chore he had to take care of. Shadow was clawing at the tendril, barely able to breathe, but he had to wait. Just a little closer. He had no idea how Sombra planned to ‘reabsorb’ him but he hoped it was close and personal, for his sake.

Sombra loosened up on the tendril just enough for him to speak. “Any last words,” He teased, savoring the moment

“Yes,” Shadow gasped out, and mumbled out some gibberish.

“What was that?” Sombra leaned in just a bit closer. In that moment, Shadow swung his leg to hit Sombra’s one good eye with all of his might.

Sombra let out a cry and dropped the colt to the ground. Shadow didn’t waste this chance, using what little strength he had left to turned into smoke. Just as the spot he had fallen was hit by a dozen shadow spears, there was no hesitation in their strike. He flew into the air and headed for the tunnel entrance.

“Very well, Horn, no more games!” Sombra’s voice reverberated through the cave, dripping with rage.

Shadow passed through the entryway and black crystals erupted from the tunnel walls. he weaved his body around them and sped up the winding path. He couldn’t slow down; the black crystal was consuming the tunnel nearly as fast as he could fly. He squeezed through small gaps in the crystals that would have trapped him in pony form, but was trivial as smoke. Shadow could see the light of the exit, but behind him he could hear Sombra, “You can run, Horn, but know I will find you. I will always find you!”

Shadow broke into the light and banked up hard. The black crystal erupted from the entrance like a geyser, barely missing him. He rose out of the gorge and aimed for the Crystal Empire. He would not let Sombra have her.

Shadow collapsed at the border of the Empire where the cold air met the warm. His chest rose and fell in time with his heart. He didn’t have anything left. It was night already and his body wanted rest, it begged for it. But he was so close; he just needed to see if she was ok. As he rose off the ground he noticed a nostalgic sight that his hoof had uncovered: a blue Ice Lilly. The sight alone gave him just a bit more energy.

Flurry Heart’s room was protected with countless unseen wards. But they were thinly placed enough that Shadow could slip past them. Still he had to be careful, one misplaced step, or careless spell, and the whole of the castle would come down on him. He had nothing left to escape with.

Flurry was asleep on her bed. She was safe. Shadow didn’t want to wake her, so he simply placed the flower on her pillow. She couldn’t see him, not anymore, but he would watch over her. He wouldn’t let Sombra or anyone else hurt her.

Shadow leaned down and whispered into her ear, “I’ll always be your friend.”

Chapter 4: First Day of School

It was finally Monday, the day when classes were to start. For some reason Twilight and the other mothers all seem to think that forcing their social outcast children to spend time together was going to spontaneously blossom into friendship. Flurry Heart didn’t hold out much hope for this plan.

Her mother on the other hoof, seemed to think it did, because according to Twilight she had given her ok for Flurry to attend school here, and would be sending the rest of her belongings in a few days. Flurry didn’t believe it. Not that Twilight was lying, but there was no way Cadence would give in so easily on this. Flurry had the feeling there was a lot of begging, arguing, tears, and maybe a pact with a daemon or two. She kept expecting Cadence to show up with an army of Crystal Guards to take her back, a fact that was becoming less likely every day, and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

Flurry stared at the clock for a few more minutes before finally rolling out of bed. No matter how much she kept staring time wasn’t going to stop for her. Unlike her bedroom in the Crystal Empire, the one she was given in Twilight’s palace didn’t have its own bathroom. Apparently, the designer had gone for a more classic style. According to Twilight, the castle didn’t even have indoor plumbing when she first got it, but when your architect is a tree that is to be expected. Flurry left her room and trotted down the hall to the bathroom. As she approached, she immediately regretted not getting out of bed sooner.

Witherleaf was camped out in front of the bathroom, clearly waiting her turn. “Good morning, Flurry,” she said while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “You may be better off going to a different bathroom. Jazmin has been in their for an hour now.”

Flurry groaned in irritation. How was it that in a castle with ten bathrooms they were always fighting over the same one. Flurry banged on the door and shouted, “Jazmin, hurry up!” There was no answer, only the sound of running water.

“Why are you girls not ready yet?” Both girls looked away from the door to see Twilight approaching them. “Class will be starting in a few hours, and I am not going to have you be late when the classroom is in the castle,”

Witherleaf pointed to the door. “It’s not our fault, Jazmin won’t get out of the bathroom.”

Twilight rubbed the spot just below her horn. “Celestia give me strength,” she muttered, before lowering her hoof and saying, “Use. Another. Bathroom!”

“But this one has the biggest tub,” Flurry pointed out quickly.

“Yeah, and all of the good shampoo is in there as well.”

“Flurry Heart, use the bathroom in my room. Witherleaf, take some of the extra shampoo from there and quickly get ready,” Twilight stepped past both of them and banged her hoof on the door. “Jazmin, you have ten minutes, wrap it up.”

With directions given they headed off to get ready for their first day of school.

***

The class room was located on the first floor near the library. With a bit of magic, Twilight had merged a few empty rooms together into one. Seven desks were lined in two rows across from a large blackboard. Most of the light in the room came from the large window in the sidewall. When they entered the classroom, Flurry Heart was surprised to see Livewire standing in there, staring at the desks with a look of indecision. “Why are you here so early?” She asked, stepping closer inside.

“So much for my few moments of quiet before class,” Jazmin muttered, as she walked passed and took a seat in the front row.

Livewire turned quickly on her hooves and waved to everyone. “I just showed up early to pick out the best seat.”

Why she needed to pick out a ‘best’ seat was left unsaid. Flurry looked to Witherleaf who had the same question in her eyes, but shrugged and trotted off to one of the back desk. Flurry pointed to the closet desk and asked, “Why not this one?”

“Because I don’t want to join the circus,” the answer was immediate and spoken as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Flurry looked to the desk than back to Livewire. “I’m going to need some clarification here. What does a circus have to do with anything?”

“Oh that's simple, that desk is closer to the teacher’s desk, so if I sat there I would always be called on to answer questions. But because I don’t know the answers, everyone would laugh at me. Everyone would tell their families about me, and before you know it all of the city would be laughing at me, leaving me no choice but to run away to join the circus.”

Flurry stared at her, slacked jawed, for a long moment. “You put a lot of thought into this, I see.”

She smiled wide while nodding her head. “Mom says that I should always think about my actions before I do something.”

It was doubtful that was what her mother had in mind, but Flurry wasn't willing to bring that subject up so early in the day. She took the seat next to Witherleaf and faintly heard Livewire whisper, “So much for that seat.”

Shade Cloud was the first to arrive. She stood at the door and eyed everyone, like she was trying to determine if this was just a bad dream. Witherleaf and Jazmin both seemed content to ignore her. With a defeated sigh, she dropped her head and shuffled over to one of the back desk, before pulling it with a loud grading noise to the corner.

The other two arrived shortly after and quickly took their seats, leaving Livewire little choice but to take the last open seat in the front. With everyone seated all we could do was wait impatiently for Twilight to begin class. Witherleaf had already dug out a bag of her Root Weed and was munching on them. “Should you really be eating that stuff now?” Flurry asked.

“You can’t expect me to get through school sober, can you?” Witherleaf said as she offered the bag. “Want some?”

Flurry shook her head. “I would like to be able to follow along with the lessen.”

The door to the room open and Twilight trotted inside, levitating a stack of books behind her. She placed the books on the teacher’s desk, at the front of the room, and turned to address the class, “Good morning everyone. I know this school term is going to take some getting used to for all of us, but let’s try to get along and have a good time.” Deadpan looks and silence greeted her in response. She cleared her throat. “Anyway, we have an announcement to make before class can begin. I’m sure some of you were under the impression that I would be your teacher, unfortunately I’m too busy to teach you myself.”

‘Wait a second, if Twilight wasn’t the teacher does that mean…’ Flurry thought as a cold realization washed over her, ‘oh no… no, no, no!’

“I’m sure everyone has met her before, nonetheless let me introduce her.” Twilight waved a hoof at the door just as a unicorn mare trotted in. “My former student, Starlight Glimmer.”

Flurry’s head hit the desk with an audible bang. It was one of the few good things about having to school here, not having to deal with her. Now she was stuck with her again, so much for looking on the brighter side of things.

Witherleaf gave her a curious look. “What’s wrong? Is she a member of the friendship cult or something?” she asked half-jokingly. But as Flurry turned her head with an incredulous look, Witherleaf’s face fell. “She’s not really, right? They wouldn’t do that to us, would they?”

Oh the poor naive mare, Flurry couldn’t help but pity her. She still held out hope that she would escape this school year with her dignity intact, Flurry held no such hope.

“I have to be going,” said Twilight. “But I’m sure Starlight has everything under control.”

“Not to worry, Principal Twilight.” Starlight gave Twilight a wink to which they both started laughing.

“Kill. Me. Now.” Shade Cloud muttered from her corner of the room.

The door closed softly when Twilight exited the room. Starlight stepped up to the chalkboard and wrote out her name. “As this is our first day, I thought it would be a good idea for each of us to come to the front and tell a little about ourselves.” Starlight gave a smile that was simply too happy, it was always too happy. “I’ll go first. For the last few years I’ve been living in the Crystal Empire, serving as Flurry Hearts personal tutor. My interest include, reading, studying magic, and kite flying.” When she was done with her introduction she took a seat behind her desk. “Now who would like to go first?”

Witherleaf enthusiastically shot out a hoof. “Me, I know this one… I mean, I’ll do it.” considering she had just finished off the entire bag of root weed, Flurry thought it would be entertaining.

“I like your enthusiasm, ok go ahead.”

One could only guess at the thought process in which Witherleaf tried to flit from her seat to the front of the room. But by the way she jumped from her seat she barely had her wings extended before she rammed into the ceiling with a loud ‘oaf’ and spiraled back down onto the floor. Starlight was out of her seat before Witherleaf hit the ground. “Are you alright!?”

Golden Apple was wiping tears from his eyes as he laughed. “I’ll give you a five on the takeoff, but a three for the landing.”

Witherleaf shook her head as she stumbled back to her feet. She looked up to the ceiling like it was the reason she fell, and not the blatantly stupid idea to fly indoors. “Did someone lower the ceiling, because I can’t remember it being that low.”

Seeing that Witherleaf was unharmed, Starlight let her worried expression fall. “That would be the reason flying in doors is not allowed.”

“Oh yeah… I forgot.”

When Starlight took her seat once more she took a deep breath before her wide smile returned. “Now your introduction.”

“Right, that’s what I was doing,” said Witherleaf, she faced everyone and began. “My name is… um… that is, the thing that I call myself… isss not important right now. Everyone knows my name, so let’s move on to the stuff you don’t know about me. Like did you know I like flying, well I guess every pegasi likes flying, but did you know to really be good at flying you have to know yourself inside and out.” She spread her wings and showed off her green feathers to the class. She turned her head to admire her appendage. “Look at these beautiful… WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT!” She started running around in a circle, like a dog chasing its tail, as she ran after her right wing. This went on for near a full minute until Witherleaf tripped and fell face first onto her wing. Her head jerked up a moment later. “It was lent, just lent! Crisis averted!”

The class was in an uproar now, no one was even trying to keep a straight face as everyone laughed at Witherleaf. Witherleaf didn’t seemed to care and started laughing along. That was of course until Starlight lost her patience. With a cry of “Quiet!” The room fell dead silent, except for Witherleaf, of course, who still didn’t seem to care. “Witherleaf, look me in the eyes,” Starlight said with a stern expression.

Witherleaf untangled herself from the floor but didn’t look at the teacher. “Miss Starlight, I don’t think my mom would like you coming on to me like this. I think it’s best if we maintained a student teacher relationship.”

“LOOK. AT. ME!”

Slowly Witherleaf turned her head to face a very annoyed Starlight. “You have very pretty eyes.”
The moment her bloodshot eyes were in sight, there wasn’t a soul in the room who didn’t know what was coming next when Starlight started shifting through the notes on her desk. “I can explain!” Witherleaf tried to defend herself, yet as Starlight’s horn was wrapped in a blue aura, she tried to scramble away, but was far too sluggish to have any hope of dodging, and the spell hit home. “No, my buzz!”

When Witherleaf had calmed, Starlight pointed to the desk. “Just take your seat. I will be informing your mother about this later.” Under her breath she added. “I can’t believe I actually needed that spell.” once more Starlight took in a breath and switched back to her happy persona. “Who would like to go next?”

With far less flair than Witherleaf, Jazmin trotted up to the front of the room. “Let’s just get this over with,” she muttered. With a deep breath she began. “Before I was forced to enroll in this laughing stock of a school, I had a life. I was friends with some of the social elite… ok I was friends with their children, but that is still quite an accomplishment for someone my age. I was building a social circle that I could have used to get ahead in life, but now it’s all gone! Once word got out about how I’m being forced to school with you inbred country bumpkins, my social status crumbled to dust. My life is over!” Jazmin looked over to were Witherleaf and Flurry was sitting and her tone became all too chipper. “Not counting you, Flurry Heart, Witherleaf, naturally.”

“Naturally,” They answered as one, the sarcasm dripping from their voices.

“That was not quite what I had in mind,” said Starlight, as Jazmin took her seat. Eyes darted elsewhere as she looked over the students before her. “Raspberry, why don’t you go next?”

Livewire jumped when her name was called. She glanced around the room, as if expecting there to be another Raspberry. She pointed to herself and asked, “Um, me… are you sure?” Starlight confirmed with a few encouraging words. Enough to get Livewire to the front of the room and stay relatively calm. “So, I’m Raspberry Pie, but everyone just calls me Livewire. Moms says it’s because I’m the life of the party.”

“Tell that pegasi joke again!” Golden shouted.

“NO! That joke is forbidden, but I know something just as good.” from her mane, she pulled out two party poppers and held one in each hoof. She pulled a string with her teeth and red confetti shot out of each. “Ta da!” She cried with a wide smile on her face, as the confetti floated through the air.

“We’re not five!” said Jazmin.

“But… I-I thought everyone liked confetti,” her confidence waned as she mumbled. She looked at the party poppers in her hooves for a long moment before throwing them in front of her, both of whom hit Ballpoint in the head.

“Why me!” cried Ballpoint. Livewire ignored him and trotted back to her desk, her head down.

Starlight didn’t say anything as Livewire took her seat, but mouth the words “just a few more,” she looked to the colt who had just spoken up, “Ballpoint, your—“

“No,” he interrupted, while propping his head on a hoof, a bored expression on his face.

“Excuse me?”

Ballpoint set up straight and looked at her. “Miss Starlight, this entire activity is pointless. We already know each other enough that we are well past the point of introductions, so can we please move on?”

“But…” Starlight stumbled for her words as she looked over everyone. “Does anyone else wish to go next, anyone at all?” Heads were ducking down, everyone was trying to find something else to do, even Shade Cloud was trying to blend into the shadows like a discount Batmare.

Starlight’s eyes fell on Flurry Heart with some vestige of hope, but was quickly dashed when she started examining the wood surface of her desk. She didn’t have as much of a problem being there as everyone else, it was still better than the gilded cage. However, growing up Starlight had wanted her to gain a few friends, even if she didn’t want them, and would have her play endless amount of her ‘friendship games’ with other fillies over the years that now she wanted no part in them.

Starlight’s shoulders sagged visibly. “Fine! We’ll skip them for now.” Starlight grabbed the stack of books on her desk with magic and past them out. “We’ll move on to math.”

Golden Apple glared at Ballpoint from the back roll. “Thanks a lot, dork. Now we have actual work to do.”

“You could have volunteered at any time,” Ballpoint countered.

“No way, that’s gay.”

A book slammed down on Golden’s desk and Starlight almost growled as she said, “It’s time for math, save the discussion for after class.”

‘She kept that smile going far longer than expected,’ thought Flurry. Opening up the textbook she had the feeling it was going to be a long day.

***
“Freedom!” Witherleaf cried as she flung herself out of the classroom door and onto the floor.

“No need to be so dramatic,” Starlight called out from her desk. She read over stacks of worksheets, as the rest of the children gathered their belongings to head home. Flurry Heart was just about to follow along behind Witherleaf when Shade Cloud stepped into her path and blocked the way.

The two stared at each other. Flurry’s uncomfortable smile meeting Shade Cloud’s deadpan look. Flurry had no idea what to say, apart from the day she arrived, she had yet to properly speak with the overly quiet pegasus. When the awkwardness seemed like it would never end, Shade Cloud spoke, “Do you like Sugarcube Corner?”

Flurry had to blink a few times at the strangeness of the question. “I don’t understand?”

“Just answer the question!” Shade Cloud snapped, causing Flurry to flinch back.

“I, um, don’t hate them. They have good food if you don’t mind sweets.”

“Good, that’s good,” said Shade Cloud, almost unsure of what to say next. “In that case, we’re going to Sugarcube.”

By the constant deadpan look, Flurry wasn’t sure if she was being asked or ordered to go. She didn’t have much in the way plans, her schedule had been unusually bare since her arrival in Ponyville. Though she wasn’t too keen on spending time alone with this mare; she still remembered that passing comment Witherleaf made about a knife. Looking around the smaller pony, Flurry could still see Witherleaf picking herself off the ground. “I see no reason I can’t go, but why don’t we bring Witherleaf along?”

Flurry didn’t miss the flash of irritation on the pegasus’ face. “No,” Shade Cloud said simply and to the point.

“Did someone say Sugarcube Corner?” Called Witherleaf as she poked her head back into the room. “Also I’m like five feet away, so I can still hear you.”

Shade Cloud glared at Witherleaf with her one visible eye, and gave a loud huff. “I thought you were still grounded?”

Witherleaf smiled, that nothing good will come from this smile she had perfected to a tee, as she answered. “In my mother’s ever growing attempts to get me to join her cult, she has agree to let me off early if I ‘hang out with friends,’ and I have the feeling we’re in the same boat there. Unless, of course, you’ve suddenly grown fondness for cults and all things friendship.” she placed a wing over Shade Cloud as she added, “Ready to go, buddy?”

Shade Cloud turned sharply and stomped out the door, “It’s for my drawings, It’s for my drawings,” she muttered the whole while.

In a tucked away booth at Sugarcube Corner three ponies sat. Witherleaf and Flurry Heart sat on one side with Shade Cloud on the other. Each side stared at the other as a stiff atmosphere clouded the group.

“Wow, look at this place,” Witherleaf said, more to fill the quiet than to say anything meaningful. “They’ve got tables and windows, and is that a new coat of paint on that wall. It’s completely different from the last time I was here, like a week ago,”

A tall young pegasus stallion trotted up to the table. He had a light golden coat with his brown mane combed back. He wore an apron and held a notepad in a wing. “Sorry for the wait, what can I get you?”

“Pound Cake, it’s been like three minutes! What took you so long?”

With his free wing, Pound gestured around the room. There were only a few other ponies in the normally bustling bakery, which wasn't entirely unsurprising given the time of day. Most of their business came from the early morning and late evening hours, their group just so happen to hit the lull in the day. “My parents had to make a supply run, Pinkie is making deliveries, and with Pumpkin off at school, I’m on my own here,”

“Ah, one of those days. I can totally relate to that,” said Witherleaf, and was rewarded with three pairs of inquisitive eyes. “What? I’m a very relatable pony.”

“Anyway, we will have three banana splits,” said Flurry. Pound nodded and quickly jotted the order down before trotting off.

Turning her attention to the melancholic pony, Flurry asked, "Why did you ask for me to come out with you?"

Shade Cloud glanced off to the side, looking from the groups of ponies that filled the room. “My mother said I should bring someone here, and that if I could make some friends she may consider giving me back my sketchpad. But it doesn’t matter, I just have to put up with this until my father returns from his trip.”

“I meant why me specifically?” Flurry clarified. Before Shade Cloud could consider the question another pony trotted up to their booth.

“Hi everyone,” said Livewire, as she shifted her weight from one hoof to another. “W-what... a surprise to run into you here.” From the stares of the three mares, Livewire felt like she would brake, but held her shaky smile.

“Yeah,” Witherleaf agreed. “It’s almost like we talked about coming here in front of the class or something.”

“I know, what a coincidence. Anyway, I was thinking... since you guys are here, and I’m here, maybe...”

“Maybe you could go pick up our order for us?” Witherleaf interrupted. “That’s a great idea. Pound is taking his sweet time,”

Livewire gave a forced laugh so abrupt that even the other tables could tell she was faking it. “Of course that’s what I was talking about. I’ll, um, go take care of that.” Still laughing, Livewire all but ran to the back of the bakery.

“Was that necessary?” asked Flurry. As entertaining as it was to watch the many ways in which ponies could make Livewire squirm, it was starting to become quite pathetic.

“Hey, do you ask why starving ponies eat grass?”

“I hate her,” Shade Cloud chimed in, as she watched the pony disappear behind swinging doors. “Her lack of a backbone is disgusting,” She looked over to Witherleaf. “And I hate you. You’re just plain annoying. I also hate Golden Apple, Jazmen, and that know it all Ballpoint. But I don’t really hate you Flurry, that’s why I asked you,”

“Thanks... I think.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, I don’t like you. I don’t really know you well enough to hate you, and compared to the others, well I had to pick someone.”

Flurry wasn’t sure how to take that, but thought it would be best for everyone involved if she just considered it a compliment and moved on. “Don’t worry, Flurry,” said Witherleaf. “For her that’s practically a declaration of love.

Shade Cloud looked as if she was going to voice her thoughts about the pegasus once more, but Livewire returned with their order. She place a bow fill with bananas, ice cream, sprinkles, and all topped with a single chary in front of each mare. “That’s everything,” said Livewire. “Now that you have your order, do you think that... maybe... I mean if it’s not too much trouble, if I could—”

Whatever she was going to ask was abruptly cut off by Pound Cake, as he called from the back of the bakery, “Raspberry, can you take the order of the ponies who just came in?”

Livewire teetered for a moment, looking between the group before her and to Pound, who watched waiting for an answer. The mental struggle she was having lasted only a moment as she called back to Pound, “No problem, I’m on it.” With great reluctance she trotted off to the other table.

Flurry watched her for a moment, feeling less and less in the mood for the sweet snack. Witherleaf, on the other hoof, shoveled the biggest piece of ice cream she could fit onto her spoon in her mouth, not a care in the world. Shade Cloud took a single bite but pulled the bow away with a grimace.

“Is something wrong?” Asked Flurry.

“No, I just don’t like ice cream. It’s too sweet,”

“You don’t even like ice cream!” said Witherleaf, somehow facehoofing while shoving in more ice cream.

Shade Cloud looked over to the hanging clock. With a relieved sigh she rose from her seat. “I’ve been here long enough for it to count as ‘bonding,’ so I am going home.” Without another word she trotted away from the table.

“Nice speaking with you, I guess,” called Flurry.

Witherleaf took the abandoned bow of ice cream and dumped its contents into her bow. With little apatite left, Flurry looked around the room. More and more ponies were showing up as the evening drew closer, one of whom made her do a double take. On the surface he looked like a normal unicorn stallion, but it was the camera that hung from his neck that drew her attention. There were many reasons a pony may be carrying a camera, but to be carrying one and just happen to come to the same building as too princesses, it left little room for doubt in her mind. A reporter.

“Reporter incoming,” Flurry warned, motioning her head to the door.

Witherleaf stopped in her feast long enough to see who Flurry was talking about. “Probably just a tourist. It is tourist season.”

“Perhaps, but I would rather not stay to find out. I’m returning to the castle,”

“I guess that means you don’t want your ice cream than?” Witherleaf asked as Flurry began to walk away, keeping her mind on the most important thing.

“You can have it.”

“Awesome!” Witherleaf had barely drug the third bow over before Livewire returned to the table.

“Sorry, I forgot to give you this,” Livewire placed a check on the table. Witherleaf looked at the check, than to the door where the other two had gone through, than back at the earthen standing before her, before stopping on the check once more.

“Are you kidding me!”

Chapter 5: And Days Go On

Raspberry Pie sat at a booth at Sugarcube Corner, staring down at her morning cupcake. It’s pink frosting taunted her with its sweet goodness. It was the antithesis of her life made manifest. Oh how she was having such a good morning. She got a letter from her father that said he would be back in town by the end of the week, she and her mom even sung a song about it. She had stopped in to top off her good mood with a snack before school, but she got the cupcake with too much frosting. Her life was now over. She couldn’t simply not eat the cupcake, because than she would be too hungry to make it through school, but if she ate it. She could only stare at the fate that awaited her.

“Raspberry, are you ok?” She was pulled away from her torment by a stallion, whose gaze was like a fresh morning breeze. She looked into Pound Cake’s dark eyes and for a moment lost herself. She stared into those brown marbles and forgot her troubles, but as a hoof waved in front of her face she was brought back into the moment.

“Oh…um…Yes, I’m ok.” Raspberry looked down at her cupcake.

“Is there something wrong with it?”

“Well, not really… it’s just that this cupcake has more frosting than normal, so if I eat it I’m going to get tired of sweets before I even get to lunch. But because I’ll need to keep up my energy to get through the rest of the day, I’ll have to eat more sweets at lunch, only adding to my growing distaste for sweets. By the time I get home I’ll loath the mere sight of sweets, and when my parents find out about this I’ll be kicked out of the house and have nowhere to go… and … and, Pound Cake I don’t know what to do!”

Pound Cake gave a long and heavy sigh, with an expression that said he wasn’t surprised by the out burst. He stepped around the table and picked up the roll of silverware that rested at the edge. He fished out the fork from the napkin wrapping, and with one swing of his hoof, he knocked the frosting off of the cupcake. “Raspberry, you need to learn to deal with this stuff on your own.”

“I know.” Raspberry took the fork that Pound had left on the plate and pushed the frosting farther away. Her cheeks burned even as she thought of what to say next, “But I can always count on you to help me.”

Pound rolled his eyes. “Yeah sure, it’s not like I have anything better to do, between learning to run the shop and contemplating the fact that I’m never going to leave Ponyville, helping you is practically the highlight of my day.”

“Do you really mean that,” Raspberry asked, her eyes growing large, oblivious to the meaning behind the words.

“Yeah, whatever.”

From the corner of her eye, Raspberry caught sight of Ballpoint walking past the window. She didn’t know Ballpoint that well, but like her mother said: Every opportunity is one in which you can make friends. What better way than on the walk to school. She tossed her cupcake into her mouth and ate it in one bite. “I need to head to school, see you later, Pound.”

Ballpoint followed the stone-laid path in front of him. His nose was buried in the book that he kept suspended with magic. The current book he was reading, The Chronicles of Clover, was a biography of Clover the Clever and the trials she went through in developing her spells. Though it wasn’t his normal reading, it was still far above the likes of Daring Do, who his mother still insisted was based on a true story. He was expected to believe that characters such as Ahuizotl were real. He would have found it laughable, but his book wasn’t free of faults. In one chapter the author described how Clover chased a thief into a realm of hairless apes and had sealed away a powerful artifact there. Though only mentioned briefly, it showed that even the best of authors could give way to whimsy.

“Hi, Ballpoint!” A pink annoying plea called to him from behind, making him lose his concentration. He walked faster, hoping she would take the hint. His hooves clopped on the wooden bridge, as he looked for where he had left off. He had just spotted the line, when Livewire hopped onto the bridge railing and jumped into his patch with yet another cry of, “Hi, Ballpoint!”

With his nose in a book and his ears flat against his head, Ballpoint ran straight into the mare. Both of them fell forward, Ballpoint’s book flew from his grasp and over the side of the bridge, into the waiting water below. They were quick to right themselves. Livewire stammered out an apology as she rubbed her hooves in embarrassment. Ballpoint wasn’t even paying her any attention, instead he was watching his book sink lower and lower into the water. Livewire followed his eyes and her ears fell back.

“I am so sorry! I didn’t mean—“

Ballpoint stopped her with the rise of a hoof. “Don’t bother, I have another copy at home.” And his mother thought it was dumb to have multiple copies of the same book. “What do you need, so early in the morning, that I had to trip over you?”

Livewire gave an uncomfortable laugh and let her eyes dance around, until they fell on the clouds above. “Um… nice weather today.”

Ballpoint wasn’t expecting much from the mare, yet he was still disappointed. “Quite, now if you will excuse me. I need to get to school,” he move to pass her, yet if there was one thing he had learned since his time at the new school it was to never have high expectations for the fools around him. Because, no matter how low you set them they will still find a way to come up wanting.

Livewire turned quickly as Ballpoint stepped off the bridge, and said something that made him stop in his tracks, “I want to talk about sciencey stuff. I know a lot about it, and I know you know a lot about it, so I thought we could talk about science and magic… or something like that.”

Ballpoint just stared at her for a long moment, as she tried and failed to keep from fidgeting. He briefly wondered how the others may react to this revelation. Witherleaf would find endless means to make fun of her. Golden Apple would use it as an excuse for more of his overcompensating nonsense, as if two marefriends wasn’t enough. Jazmin would just go along with whatever Witherleaf and Flurry Heart said. As for Shade Cloud and Flurry Heart, he wasn’t too sure, but probably not much of anything, given their aloof attitudes. Yet knowing all of this, he found himself oddly intrigued about what Livewire may know, if anything at all. He stepped closer and asked, “What are Starswirls first three laws on magic?”

“One, the strength of the spell is directly proportionate to the mana put into the spell. Two, It is impossible to fully restore your own mana with rejuvenation-type spells, as some mana is always lost. Three, all spells, no matter their complexity or their power, can last no longer than 1444.8733 unicornion time, translated to modern time tables and that would make it roughly one thousand years,” Livewire finished in one long breath, a proud smile on her face.

Ballpoint had to touch his face to ensure that his jaw hadn’t fallen off. It was right, everything she said was word for word. Ballpoint narrowed his eyes. It was exactly word for word. “Tell me, what is your opinion on Clover the Clever’s spell: Kinesummon Du Jugate, one of the first known summoning spells?”

“Oh that spell was amazing. Clover was really ahead of her time.”

Ballpoint rose and eyebrow. “Really, even after she summoned aliens from another dimension that ate half the ponies present?”

“W-well, um… she couldn’t have known that was going to happen, and I mean they stopped the aliens in the end.”

“Oh of course, they only ate a third of the continent and a few million ponies.”

Livewire nodded rapidly. “Yes, while that was bad, a lot of ponies focus on that and not how amazing the spell truly is.” Livewire stopped as something occurred to her. She knew enough history to know that the number of ponies in the world had only recently reached the millions. She kicked at the wooden planks beneath her as she meekly asked, “None of that happened, did it?”

In response, Ballpoint began to walk away. “Wait!” Livewire cried once more. “I can explain.” She trotted to his side and kept pace with him.

“Just tell me,” Ballpoint asked. “How did you know the first three laws?”

Livewire answered with a sheepish smile, “I paid attention to the books you always read, so I checked a few of them out of the library and memorized all the parts I thought you would ask about… is that weird? I don’t want to come off as weird. I just wanted to talk with you, but you are always reading, so I thought that if I read some of the stuff you read we would have something to talk about. And… well that’s it. ”

Ballpoint didn’t answer. He was certain that if any of the others were in his place now they would undoubtedly ridicule Livewire, and perhaps for good reason, yet Ballpoint found her oddly admirable in her pursuit of knowledge, if not overbearing. It certainly moved her above the other peons in their class. How many of them even knew what Starswirl’s first law was, Flurry Heart perhaps, but the others likely didn’t even know who Starswirl was let alone his laws. “So, can we walk to class together?”

“We are heading to the same place, at the same time, on the same path, so at this point it’s rather unavoidable.”

“Yay!” Livewire cried jovially. “It’s unavoidable.”

***

Golden Apple place yet another bucket of apples onto the cart, not even half full with his days quota. Though some may argue that he could get his work done faster if not for the two beauties, that he spent most of his time watching, but he wasn’t one of them. He leaned against the cart and took a short breather. Among the field of apples the mare with a honey coat and a mane of thick dark curls bucked a tree with precision of an expert. But that was to be expected, as he had taught Honey Oak himself.

The apples fell from the tree in mass, down onto the ground, completely missing the buckets. Golden sighed, at least she could buck them well enough. The blow of the wind drew his eyes up to the teal blue vixen that soared above with her blond mane in two pigtails. With wings out stretched, she angled her body for the tree across from Honey Oak. Rain Dancer hovered at her target, and much like a dragon flapping it’s wings downward, the wind flowed past Rain Dancer and through the tree, sending every lose apple to the ground. Not a one hit the bucket.

Rain flittered to the ground, her chest puffed out proudly. “I got twice as many apples as you, Honey! You saw that didn’t you Golden?” Golden just gave a nod as he watch the two bicker.

Honey Oak turned up her nose has she shouted back from the other side of the cart, “Yeah, well I got two trees to your one. You take too long flappin’ about,”

“I have to build up speed!”

“And while you’re out flying me and Golden have to do all the work.” she stepped around the cart and leaned against Golden, “Isn’t that right?”

If Golden Apple had learned only one thing from his father it was that you never, EVER, take sides when mares are going at it, especially when those mares are your marefriends. He put a hoof over Honey and stretched out the other for Rain, who eagerly trotted into his embrace. “Now, now, you two, there’s no need to fight. I could have never done so much today if not for both of you two helpin’ out,”

“I see you three are as busy as ever.” At the sound of Golden Hay’s deep voice the group broke apart.

“Hey, dad, we’re just, you know, takin’ a break.” Golden Hay looked to the apples that littered the ground, and to the cart yet to be filled with the afternoons quota.

“I can see that. I’ve finished my section for the day so thought I’d come see how you and your – helpers— were doing,” said Golden Hay as he turned his gaze on the two mares. “Thanks for the help, ladies, but I think it’s time ya headed on home. His mother and I would like for him to finish his chores before sunset.”

With a pouting lip from both mares they answered as one, “Yes, Mister Hay,” they leaned in together and kissed Golden Apple’s cheek.

“I’ll see you first thing after school, Golden,” said Rain Dancer.

“I’m counting down until this weaken,” said Honey Oak.

The two mares were down the road, and long out of ear shot, before Golden Hay turned back to his son. “Now I know we agreed to let your marefriends help out on the farm, but if the three of you together can’t fill one cart your mother is going to throw a fit,”

“Well if I wasn’t being forced to go to this school.”

Hay held up a hoof to stop the rant before it could go on. “I know. I know, and it’s because your mother made this decision on her own that we’re let’m come over, but she’s bein’ more stubborn on this than Granny during zap apple season.” Golden Apple looked away, irritation clear on his face. “Look, I’m not a fan of this either, but for the time bein’ just put up with it. At least until the semester is over.,”

Golden held his look of irritation yet nodded, consigned to his fate. “Yeah, I understand.”

Hay gazed around the field once more. “Need any help with all this?”

“No, I can handle this much.”

“Good, try not to be late for supper.”

After nearly an hour, Golden loaded the last of the baskets, filled to the brim, onto the cart. He whipped the sweat from his brow and admired the last of his work. Just as he was about to strap himself into the cart to take it to the barn, a voice startled him from behind.

Golden spun around quickly, nearly stumbling over his hooves at the sight of a unicorn with a dangling camera around his neck. “Where did you come from, and why are you out here?" Asked Golden.

“I guess you could say I got lost,” said the unicorn. “The name is Snap Shot,”

Golden looked to the rolls of trees that surrounded them. “Lost is an understatement.” He pointed down one roll and gave out the directions back to Ponyville

Snap Shot smiled in thanks. “While I’m here, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

Golden looked down at the camera. “Should have known,” he muttered. He walked to the front of the cart and began to hitch himself on. “You can ask, but that doesn’t mean I’ll answer.” Golden began a slow trot down the field to the sound of snapping twigs and a squeaky wheel.

Snap Shot kept pace at his side. “Fair enough, than I will ask and you can answer whatever you feel like.” Golden gave no reply as Snap shot began his questioning. “According to the news the Heroes of Equestria have decided to place their children in a private school together,”

“There’s also Flurry Heart.” Golden added.

“Quite, the sheltered princess of the Crystal Empire. Tell me what’s it like having her in your class?”

“About the same as having the other princess in my class,” Golden quipped.

“I get the feeling that you are a rather popular stallion, so perhaps you will know what kind of foods Flurry Heart likes, or the types of gifts she would like?”

Golden looked at the unicorn as they walked, an eyebrow raised. “I don’t exactly pay attention to what she eats, I’m too focused on … other parts,” he finished with a cocky smile.

“I see, than I have only one more question for you: Is Flurry heart happy?”

Golden stopped on the path, letting the dust kicked up by the cart settle around them. Snap Shot wasn’t the first reporter to come around asking questions. Though they didn’t come around too often, being a child of a national hero, he’d dealt with quite a few of them. He always followed his mother’s advice to give them just enough information to answer their question, but not enough to write a story on. Yet this reporter seemed to already have a story in mind and was fishing for justification, with how single minded he was in his questions. “Listen, I don’t know what your interest in Flurry is, but I can tell you right now that if Twilight catches wind of you asking around she’s going to personally throw your flank out of the city.”

“I see,” Snap Shot lowered his head into a bow that even Granny would say was old fashioned. “Thank you for your time.” he rose once more and began a slow trot out of the orchard.

“If I had to give an answer to that question,” Golden shouted to the unicorn. “It would be yes, she is happy. She may try to hide it, but I’ve caught sight of a few smiles myself.”

“Once again, you have my thanks,” with nothing more said Snap shot left the orchard.

***

Shadow trotted away from Sweet Apple Orchard at a steady pace. He wasn’t expecting to get much information out of Flurry’s worthless classmates, although he got more than he was expecting. Still it seemed if he wanted any reliable information he would need to go to Flurry Heart herself.

The thought of finally facing her after so many years made his shoulders sag and his mouth run dry. Yet he had too. His time was precious and he couldn’t linger in the city forever. Even then he could hear the subtle whispering of the Call in the back of his mind, the ever present reminder of Sombra.

But that left another issue he had to deal with before he could think of facing Flurry: What would he say? They hadn’t so much as exchanged letters in six years. Maybe he should start with something small, like the weather. Everyone had something to say about the weather.

Yes. This could work.

Chapter 6: Kites!

Jazmin awoke on a bed that was too big for her size, yet not soft enough. Not that she was complaining. It was a marvelous bed with sheets that rivaled the best her father could buy, but that was to be expected when staying in the personal castle of a princess. Though the Friendship Castle was far more sparsely decorated than the Cantlerlot palace, and it lacked a certain elegance that could only be gain from a city like Canterlot.

Jazmin pulled her sheets closer and enjoyed the feeling of silk against her fur. She had set her clock to wake her an hour earlier then the others, so she could afford to linger in bed without fear of the good bathroom getting stolen.

“Pony!”

Jazmin snapped open her eyes and her blissful feeling faded quickly. She leaned over the edge of the bed to confirm that she wasn’t hearing things. Sadly she was not, staring up at her with sapphire eyes was Magma. Jazmin’s eyes slowly grew wide as she spotted her Pommel Scarf in the hands of that overgrown lizard, one end hanging out of his mouth. She nearly fell out of bed as she jolted for the scarf, but Magma showed surprising reflexes and jumped back out of her reach. “You drop that right now!”

Despite her demanding tone, Magma only giggled with a grin on his face. Keeping the scarf in his mouth, Magma ran to the other side of the room on all fours. “I’m not going to chase you,” Jazmin said. Only to leap off the bed a moment later in a failed tackle that Magma easily slipped away from. Her hair was an unkempt mess, sleep still clung to her eyes, so as far as she was concerned she couldn’t be held responsible for what she was going to do. “Fine, if you want me to chase you, I will!”

With a squeal of delight, Magma raced from one side of the room to the next, jumping off the desk, knocking over shelves, and always managing to stay just out of hoof reach. Jazmin briefly wondered if Magma’s agility was from his dragons heritage or if this was normal for all kids his age. But if she was being honest with herself, she was holding back. She was three times his size and could probably end this quickly if she really wanted to, but doing so may harm the lizard. That was also why she wasn’t using her magic, it was far too early for her to properly concentrate and casting blindly was dangerous, far too dangerous even for a Pommel Scarf.

Magma leaped onto her bed and bounced his way onto her dresser, knocking off a few books in the prosses. He stopped there and watched her, waiting to see which way she would go so he could run the other way. Jazmin fainted to the left long enough to get Magma to go where she wanted, and with her hooves outstretched, caught him midair. She landed on her back with the squirming hatchling in her hooves. Holding him firm with one hoof, she quickly snatched away the scarf while he focused on trying to get free.

She let him go a moment later and he bolted across the room, his smile as wide as ever, only to realize he had lost the scarf. He tried running back over and grabbing the scarf, but simply holding it in the air was enough to keep his little claws off of it. “Play, play,” he said pitifully, as his eyes grew watery.

Jazmin looked to what was left of her Pommel Scarf: it was ripped from both claws and teeth, stained with disgusting drool, and she could already see where the edges were unraveling. With a sigh, she tossed the scarf back to him. “This is why I didn’t bring the good collection with me,” she muttered. “Now take it and stay out of my room.”

She turned to gather her things for a bath and hoped this was not a sign of a bad day.

***

Jazmin stood in the field behind the castle, along with the rest of the kids in her class, as they watched Starlight float an unmarked crate in front of them. She set the crate down and smiled to the class. “So, I’m sure all of you are wondering why we’re outside instead of in class.” She waited, eagerly looking for someone to actually guess, but only got yawns and sleepy stares in return. As if expecting such a result she carried on all the more chipper. “Well, I’ve been talking with Twilight and we’re in agreement that all of you need more team building exercises! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Ballpoint raised a hoof and asked, “We’re missing math for this?”

“Shut it, dork,” quipped Golden Apple. “We’re missing math for this.”

Starlight opened the crate and took out several pre-packed and ready to assemble kite packs. “So for our first team building exercise, we will be flying kites!” Jazmin hadn’t flown a kite since she was a foal and the entire idea seem rather juvenile to her, but she would admit that it was a nice change of pace from being stuck in the stuffy room all day. “Now I know all of you are ready to have some fun, but first everyone is going to be forming groups of two.”

Without hesitation, Witherleaf shouted, “I call Flurry!” Considering how those two had been glued to each other’s side since Flurry’s arrival she wasn’t too surprised, nor was Starlight for that matter.

“Hold on, groups will be decided by drawing names.”

Jazmin suddenly missed the stuffy room. Starlight stepped up to Witherleaf and held out a small pouch for her. Reaching inside, Witherleaf reluctantly drew out a slip of paper. She read the name and her face fell. “Miss Starlight, I don’t want to be teamed up with Golden Apple!”

“Yes! Score!”

Everyone ignored Golden. “If he does anything inappropriate just let me know and I will tell his mother,” said Starlight.

“Oh, Sweet Celestia no!” Golden’s outburst only seemed to draw a smile from Witherleaf, and from Jazmin’s own experience with the mare, smiling was never a good sign.

“Come on buddy,” Witherleaf said in an upbeat tone as she walked over to the stallion. “Let’s go work on our kite.” Golden held an unsure expression but followed along.

Starlight held out the bag for Flurry Heart who quickly took a name. “Ballpoint,” she read aloud.

Ballpoint trotted over. “Could have been worse, not that it could have been better,” he muttered. Strangely Jazmin felt a spike of magic around Flurry that just as quickly dissipated. Flurry took a few deep breaths before following along with her partner.

As Starlight stepped up to Jazmin, she realized how slim her options were. There was the overbearing Livewire on her left and the psychotic Shade Cloud on her right, no matter which one she was teamed up with she was sure to have a headache after this. When She moved to take a name from the pouch, Starlight pulled back her hoof and gave Jazmin an option she didn’t realize she had nor did she want.

“Seeing as there are only three of you left, the rest of you will form the last group.”

It was true, no matter how much she tried to deny it: today was a terrible day. Shade Cloud just looked on with her gloomy face, she looked about how Jazmin felt, while Livewire seemed to be on the verge of doing a happy dance.

“Before everyone begins,” said Starlight. “I have two things to add. The first, no magic, hooves and wings only! The second, the first team to get their kite in the air gets a free dessert from Sugarcube Corner on me, and remember to have fun!”

Golden set out the supplies for the kite on the grass. Going by the picture on the front of the packet the end result would look like a blue diamond-shaped kite with tassels hanging off the end. It shouldn’t take them too long to complete and get into the air, that is if his partner would stop laying on her back and help. “Are ya forgettin’ that we’re supposed to be a team on this?” Asked Golden.

Witherleaf leaned her head back and looked at Golden from her spot on the ground. “What are you talking about, I am helping? Teams are made up of those who give orders and those who carry them out, and seeing as I’m clearly the leader here, that leaves you to assemble the kite.”

“And where did ya hear that from?”

“My mom of course, well… I mean she didn’t say that, but she bosses everyone around enough that I kind of figured it out. I guess leadership just runs in my blood.”

Golden set the instructions to the side as he turned to stare down on Witherleaf. He wanted to win. He only got so much money from chores every week and most of those went to keeping his marefriends happy, so he would take any opportunity for free dessert that he could. “And do ya think Starlight would agree with ya if I told her?” He said with a smug expression. He figured she was going to use the threat of his mother against him if he acts ‘inappropriate,’ not that he would do something like that. He was a perfect gentlecolt, but he could also play that game.

Witherleaf blinked, her face deadpan. Slowly she rose into a sitting position and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she looked to be on the verge of tears. “It was the way he looked at me,” Witherleaf spoke, but clearly not to Golden. “I could feel him dressing me with his eyes. It just felt so… inappropriate. I just… I don’t know if I can go on like this?”

Golden let his head fall. It was probably his own fault for thinking he could go tit-for-tat with Witherleaf. “Fine, ya win! I’ll do the work myself.”

“See, now you’re being a team player,” Witherleaf said, and laid back down.

Flurry Heart read over the instructions once more. The design was a simplistic one, just a box-shaped kite. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to put together, yet somehow she and Ballpoint were left staring at what was supposed to be a kite, but instead looked more akin to a reject decoration from one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. “You did something wrong,” accused Ballpoint.

“Me! I was reading the directions, you were the one who couldn’t follow simple orders.”

Ballpoint grumbled under his breath as he began to disassemble the kite. “Let’s not waste time talking about your mistake, and just fix this.”

Twelve feet. That was how far Flurry could throw him with her magic, thirteen if the wind was on her side. She took a few deep breaths to let the impulse pass, crushing every insolent voice was not the way of royalty, no matter how much easier it would be. “If you think you can do better then you read the directions and I’ll put it together,” she said.

After taking out the last of the metal rods, Ballpoint flattened down the fabric. “Very well,” he said and took the paper from Flurry. “Just try to follow along."

It took them ten minutes to complete their latest attempt at rejected art. Flurry was aware that something was wrong within the first few directions but kept quiet about it. More to prove her point that she did nothing wrong, yet now she was starting to wonder if the directions were at fault.

“Now what did you do wrong?” Flurry looked at Ballpoint and stared, her sharp glare boring into him. “Maybe we need a new approach,” he corrected.

“I’m open to suggestions.”

“I don’t suppose we can just use magic?”

Flurry glanced across the grassy field to where Starlight was occupied with putting together her own kite and already had made far more progress then the two of them. “I won’t tell if you don’t.” Flurry offered.

“Deal!”

Jazmin looked through the packing the kite had came in, to ensure they had not forgotten anything, as Shade Cloud put the final touches on it. Livewire, on the other hoof, had been jumping back and forth between them asking how she can help, but there wasn’t enough work for the three of them to begin with. She and Shade Cloud each did their part to put the kite together while speaking to each other only when necessary, yet Livewire was already on her nerves. She never thought she would see the day when she preferred the company of Shade Cloud.

“So are you sure there’s nothing I can help with?” Livewire asked again.

Jazmin took out the bundle of string and pushed the roll into Livewire’s grasp. “Unwind that—quietly—we’ll need it soon.”

Livewire eagerly went to work and unwound the string hooffuls at a time. “Umm, Jazmin, can I ask you a question?” asked Livewire as she worked.

Not even a full minute. “Is the answer to that question paramount to you completing your job?”

Livewire looked to the string in her hooves then to Jazmin. “Yes, it is,”

“Do you even know what paramount means?” Added Shade Cloud.

“Please let me ask a question!”

“Fine, just get it over with,” said Jazmin.

“You know how last week when we were in the City Hall and you started going on about how unicorns are superior, is that really what you think?”

For a moment Jazmin felt the need to point out that question had nothing to do with her job, but that would involve speaking with her more than necessary. “I have been instructed by my parents that I am not to share my opinion on the superiority of the unicorn race, ignorance is bliss so they say.”

With a raised eyebrow from a single visible eye, Shade asked, “Your parents said that… exactly?”

“I may be paraphrasing a bit,” Jazmin explained. “But seeing as you are asking about it, I see no reason I can’t speak on it. Yes, that is what I think, what about it?”

“So, I guess that means you only like unicorns?” Asked Livewire, her ears folding back.

Jazmin could only roll her eyes at such naïve logic. Perhaps it was these simple misunderstandings why her parents wanted her to refrain from speaking about it. “I am not so narrow-minded as to hate someone for simply not being born a unicorn. I simply acknowledge the superiority of unicorns.”

“In that case would you… um, theoretically speaking, be willing to befriend an Earthen?”

Again Jazmin found herself rolling her eyes at Livewire’s obvious ploy, but played along nonetheless. “Theoretically, yes I would.” Livewire’s face brightened and she happily finished up her work. Jazmin half expected for the mare to pester her with more foolish questions, but she seemed content with that for now. And Strangely enough, Jazmin didn’t feel annoyed at Livewires questions. It was rare for someone to hear her view on unicorns and not turn up their nose and try to argue with her.

At the sound of barely contend laughter, Jazmin slowly looked over to Shade Cloud as she fiddled with the kite. “What’s so funny?”

Shade locked eyes with her, a grin on her face. “I was just wondering: If you think Unicorns are so great, then why are you always kissing the flank of royalty?”

Jazmin mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to form a proper response. “I don’t kiss anyone’s flank, you uncouth charlatan! There are certain benefits to having friends in the right places, I am simply being practical and trying to secure those connections.” Jazmin could feel a heat rise in her as Shade’s grin only grew wider.

“And you’re saying that doesn’t make you a flank kisser?”

Jazmin took a step closer to the mare until only the kite was separating them. “Yes, that is what I’m saying. And you know what else, I can’t stand you! The way you skulk around and act like you’re just too cool for everyone else, but you’re nothing but a sad pathetic loser who will be stuck in this city for the rest of your life!”

Livewire took a spot to the side of the two glaring mares as she did her best to calm them down, “Come on, why don’t we get back to working on the kite. I’ve got the string all ready.”

“Shut up!” They both yelled, causing Livewire to cower away.

Shade Cloud brushed away the hair from her face and stared with a deadpan expression. “Since we’re being honest here, you are fake. Your mannerisms, that snobby accent of yours, all fake. You put on whatever charade you need to just so you can stare down your nose at everyone else, but unlike the other ponies in our class, they don’t try to be something they’re not. That Nickname Witherleaf calls you, Two-Face was it, rather fitting if you think about it. That’s the only time your real personality seeps out from your facade.”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Call you what… Two-face?”

Livewire jumped in between the two of them. “That’s enough!” She said with her hooves outstretched in front of the two mares.

Crack

Slowly the three of them looked down to see Livewire hooves going through the kite. The energy in the air deflated as they realized what this meant. Finally, Shade asked the question they were all thinking, “Who’s going to tell Starlight?”

As the first kite rose into the air, from Golden Apple and Witherleaf’s group, Starlight moved away from her own kite to check on the progress of the kids. As fun as this had been, they would need to start wrapping things up soon, she still had a full day of lesson plans to get everyone through. The kite from Flurry’s team was in the air next, which surprised Starlight. She expected Flurry to win this easily; perhaps she was simply having an off day.

As Flurry’s kite rose to its apex in the sky she heard a yell from Golden Apple, “The sky is mine now, loser!” His kite veered to the side and slammed into the other.

Ballpoint took the rains from Flurry with a competitive look in his eyes. “You think your flawed piece of fabric can beat our aerodynamically superior kite. You will fail, just like with your pathetic attempt to steal my element.”

Starlight could only shake her head as the two kites began to ram into one another. But as she stood there she realized there were only two kites in the sky. She looked around the field until she spotted the other three huddled together and bickering. They didn’t notice as Starlight trotted up behind them, though their voices was too hushed for Starlight to make anything out. With a loud clearing of her throat, the three mares turned to face her.

“Ladies, would you like to tell me how your kite is coming along.”

Jazmin nudged Shade Cloud as if to prod her to speak. Shade Cloud however simply returned the gesture. It was Raspberry Pie who trotted past the others and placed the broken kite in front of Starlight. “What happened?” Starlight inquired. Jazmin and Shade Cloud were avoiding eye contact and Raspberry ears were laid back in guilt. “Raspberry, tell me the truth. What happened.”

“Um…that is,” Raspberry mumbled. She looked over to the mares at her side, both of whom were watching with bated breaths. “It was an accident. I wasn’t watching where I was going and tripped on it. I just wanted to be helpful, but I only ended up getting in the way.”

Jazmin and Shade Cloud both shared a wide-eyed look and, as if being of one mind, shook their heads. “Yes, that’s exactly what happened.”

Starlight didn’t need to be an expert to know she wasn’t being told the whole truth, but seeing as they were getting along so well she chose not to pursue it. “Accidents happen, Raspberry, you don’t need to blame yourself. Tell you what, after class, I’ll take everyone out for dessert, how about that?”

Raspberry’s face beamed. “Really?”

Starlight gave a happy nod. “Now I just need to stop the others from fighting and we can head back inside.” Starlight looked over her shoulder to where the two kites were wrapped around each other, held aloft by magic and pure stubborn will.

As Starlight trotted away both Jazmin and Shade Cloud turned on Livewire. “Why did you cover for us?” Asked Jazmin.

“Yeah, you could have got us in serious trouble if you wanted.” Said Shade.

Livewire smiled at them with far more energy than a moment ago. “That would have been mean, and besides are were a team right?”

“I suppose we are,” said Jazmin. She considered herself big enough to admit that Livewire saved her. She could only imagine the ways in which her mother would ground her, thoughts of generic manecare products alone made her shiver.

“So since we are a team, we should hang out.”

“No,” both Jazmin and Shade said as one. Though Livewire had saved her that did not entitle her to any special treatment. She turned away along with Shade Cloud, who stopped to say one more thing.

“If you get any funny ideas about changing your mind and telling Starlight the truth, remember that we can also tell her that you lied.”

Livewire lost a shade of coloring. “But…but if you do that I’ll get kicked out of Ponyville and have to go live in Cloudsdale disguise as a pegasus. But I don’t want to learn to fly… I’m scared of heights!” The distance between Livewire and the mares slowly grew as they continued to walk away. “Seriously, don’t tell anyone!”

Chapter 7: Field Trip and Ancient Riddles

On top of a hill overlooking Ponyville, a stallion stopped with his wagon in tow. He was a grayish brown pegasus with a black and purple mix mane. His back hooves were bound to makeshift wheels that allowed him to walk, but those had never slowed him down, it did, however, make flying a rather awkward affair. His name was Stellar Eclipse, and relaxing on the wagon seat behind him was his partner, Cheese Sandwich. The two of them had been business partners for a few years now. Cheese would put on shows, be they just birthday parties or more extravagant events, and Stellar would hock his wares to anyone looking for a souvenir.

“Looks like we’re finally back,” said Cheese.

“Yep, don’t take this the wrong way, Cheese, but I hope it’s a good long while before I see you again.”

Cheese gave a hardy laugh and smacked the seat next to him. “Oh, Stellar, maybe you should put on the show and I should do the selling because you are a riot.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Stellar began the slow trip down the hill. “Guess I’ll see you next month.”

***

Shade Cloud set at her kitchen table as she sketched out a design, humming a tune. She wasn’t sure where she heard the song but it had been stuck in her head since she woke up that morning. She didn’t look up at the sound of clopping on the hardwood floor that marked her mother’s entrance into the kitchen.

Fluttershy stepped over to her daughter and nuzzled her, Shade Cloud awkwardly tried to scoot away until Fluttershy broke the hug. “Good morning, sweetie. What are you drawing?”

“Our guest,” said Shade. She had yet to add any color or fine details, but the basic shape of a draconequus was complete.

Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed at the picture before her. “Please tell me that doesn’t mean Discord is free?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“Are you trying to imply that you don’t want to see me?” It took both of them a moment to realize where the voice was coming from as the sketched draconequus began to move around on the page. “I came straight here once I broke free to see my dearest of friends.”

Fluttershy was normally a very soft spoken mare who rarely raised her voice to anyone, so Shade was rather surprised at her sharp tone. “Friends?” Fluttershy yelled. “You weren’t thinking of your friends when you took over Equestria again!”

Discord let out a puff of air, which appeared as drawn lines moving across the page. With a snap of his claw, he vanished and reappeared a moment later standing over them. “To be fair I was thinking about you, I was just thinking about causing chaos more, and really isn’t that what’s most important here?” At Fluttershy’s continuous glare a light bulb clicked on over Discords head. “I know, why don’t we have tea like the old days.”

With a snap, the room was engulfed in white light. When it faded Fluttershy found herself sitting in her living room across from Discord. Shade Cloud was seated on a stool wearing a pink bow and dress that Fluttershy would dress her in when she was a foal, but now only seem to put her in a foul mood. Sitting in the center of the group was a table with a pot of tea and a plate of cookies. Discord was sipping at his drink happily. “So, Fluttershy, how was your day?”

Fluttershy ignored the question and asked one of her own, “What happened to you being reformed?”

“Oh, I am reformed. That’s why we are having tea.”

“Then why did you suddenly betray everyone who put their trust in you?”

Discord tossed a cookie into the air. A snake-like tongue shot out of his mouth and wrapped around the snack before pulling it back behind his teeth. “The answer is rather simple,” he said as he chewed. “It was Tuesday.”

Fluttershy blinked. “What?”

Discord grabbed the side of his chest and opened it like a cabinet as he reached inside and took out a calendar before flipping to that month. Each day was marked with one task, most were marked with “chaos,” while others said, “visit Fluttershy.” On a particular Tuesday however, it was marked with “take over Equestria.”

“Are you really expecting us to just take you back in until what, you get bored or something?”

“…Yes,” Discord said with a hopeful look in his eyes.

Fluttershy rose from her seat and stomped to the front door. She opened it and looked to Discord. “I’m sorry, Discord, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Until you have earned my trust again, I don’t think you should come over.”

Discord stood and held out the plate of snacks, “But we still have cookies left.”

Fluttershy jerked her nose up and pointed out of the house. With his head slumped over and his tail dragging behind him he walked out. She had just closed the door and stepped a few feet away when a knocking stopped her. She gave a huff and swung around to open the door. “Discord I thought I told you…” Fluttershy stopped mid-rant when she saw the wheelchair-bound pegasus standing at the door. “Stellar!” Fluttershy threw her arms around him and practically drug him inside.

Shade Cloud quickly stripped off the pink dress and bow and ran to her father, joining in with a hug. “It’s so good to see you two. I almost want to leave so I can do it again,” said Stellar.

Fluttershy pulled back to give him room to breathe. “How was your trip?” she asked. But before Stellar could get an answer Shade Cloud piped up.

“Dad, Mom is being completely unfair. She’s forcing me to go to this awful school, and won't let me take my sketch pad out of the house!”

“Sweetie, your father just got back, don’t start on him yet,” Fluttershy chastised. “And if you want to take your sketchpad out with you, all you need to do is make friends.”

“I don’t want to make friends with those ponies!” Shade cried back.

“Then make friends with other ponies! You are too young to not have friends.” Fluttershy shot Stellar a look for him to help. Stellar wasn’t completely out of the loop, he had been getting regular messages from Fluttershy during his time away.

“Now there’s no reason Shade Cloud can’t take her sketchpad with her and still make friends.” Said Stellar.

“Don’t make me the bad guy!” said Fluttershy.

“I’m not making you the bad guy!”

Shade Cloud gave a huff in frustration. “So you’re siding with her!”

“That’s not what I said,” Stellar tried to explain but Shade was already stomping off.

“I need to get ready for school.”

When Shade Cloud was out of sight, Fluttershy turned on him. “Is it so much to ask that you support me in my decisions, Stellar. I don’t want to play the bad guy. I would love nothing more than for Shade Cloud to run into my hooves when I come home, but that can’t happen.”

“I, um…”

Fluttershy didn’t bother staying to listen. Discord had put her into a foul mood as it was, so she chose to leave before she said something bad. Stellar just stood in the living room for a moment, alone. “So glad to be home,” he muttered.

***

Flurry Heart stood in a line with her other classmates, just past the entranceway of the Friendship Castle. They were weighed down with saddlebags of school supplies for this impromptu field trip, not that they knew where they were going. She, much like the others, hadn’t been given much of a notice about this trip, but by the way Twilight had been snickering and giving little hints all of yesterday, they knew something was going on.

“Is everyone ready for a field trip?!” Starlight called. Livewire gave a predictable shout of excitement, but everyone else was staying quiet. Flurry herself was choosing to withhold any form of “excitement” until she knew exactly where they were going. However, Starlight had other ideas. “Let me rephrase that, who wants to go back into class and study history?”

“Field trip!” Everyone shouted, even managing to cover up Ballpoint’s mumbles of disappointment.

“Excellent, so glad everyone is excited. Now once Twilight gets…”

“I’m here!” Called Twilight as she emerged from the library, her own saddlebags full to bursting with books. On her back was Magma, holding on to the saddlebags straps with a happy smile on his face. Spike followed close after with more books in hand. She walked over to stand by Starlight side. “Are they excited?” Twilight smiled.

“I think they are.” Starlight smiled wider.

Witherleaf groaned as she said, “They're doing that thing again.” It was at times like this that Flurry could see what Witherleaf meant by a cult, and she found it no less unsettling.

“Where are we going?” Asked Ballpoint with a raised hoof.

Twilight happily answered, “To the Castle Of The Two Sisters, deep in the Everfree forest.

Livewire looked like she lost a few shades of color. “T-the Everfree, full of timberwolves, manticore, and ursa majors.”

“Oh my,” Flurry interrupted. “That does sound troubling.”

“Don’t worry, Livewire, they only attack if they can sense your fear… or was it if they don’t sense your fear?” She shrugged. “You’ll figure it out.”

Flurry rolled her eyes, still unsure why Livewire let Witherleaf get to her so much, perhaps she would ask that… maybe. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to sit through one of her rambling stories.

“Let’s not waste daylight everyone,” Twilight pointed with a wing. “To the Everfree!”

“Ride!” Magma cried from atop Twilight.

The walk through the Everfree was relatively uneventful. Livewire kept jumping at every noise while Twilight explained the history of the castle, prior to the Lunar War. As the group moved farther into the forest Twilight’s lecture was cut short when Witherleaf spotted a patch of blue flowers on the edge of the trail. “Hey, Mom, check it out, Poison Joke,” she called and drew the attention of the group.

“Well don’t touch it,”

“Really, I was only going to eat one,” Witherleaf said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Twilight turned with a look that could only rightfully be called a ‘mom glare,’ which sent shivers down the back of anyone foolish enough to look. “I mean, yes ma'am.”

Flurry Heart took a closer look at the flowers, yet maintained a careful distance. Though it may have only been the color, the sight of the stubby little flowers brought memories to her mind of her own blue flowers and the promise they represented. It brought forth memories of a friend she had not seen in so very long.

“As nice as flowers are, can we get going?” Jazmin wined, a tired grimace on her face. “This saddle bag is heavy, it’s too hot, and my hooves are getting dirty.”

Before Twilight could move to speak, Witherleaf eagerly spoke up. “Wait, can we take some with us?”

“And what exactly do you need Poison Joke for?”

Witherleaf’s ears fell against her head, indecision on how to answer was clear on her face. “That’s… not important,” Flurry had a good idea why she wanted the plants, and suddenly hoped she wasn’t putting that in her Root Weed. However, Flurry let that fear pass as strange side effects from something like that would have made themselves apparent by now.

“If it’s not important then you don’t need them.” Without another word, Twilight turned and began to lead the group away. “Now I believe I was talking about the first summer sun celebration, or as it was referred to back then…”

The group emerged from the forest on the edge of a canyon that cut the forest in two for a mile wide in both directions. On the other side of a rickety rope bridge was the ancient Castle of The Two Sisters; it’s high walls, green from moss and age, stood in defiance of time, more a testament of its architect than any magic that may have been cast on it.

“Please tell me we are not going to be walking over that?” Asked Jazmin. She stepped forward and placed her hoof on the first wooden plank, only to jump back at a dangerous sounding crack.

“Yes, I suppose it’s seen better days. Starlight, mind giving me a hoof?” Starlight and Twilight both stepped up to the bridge, magic already building in their horns. “How are your transmutation spells?”

“I guess we will find out.” Both mares release their magic and let the energy flow over the bridge. Broken planks repaired themselves, only to merge with the planks next to them and form one solid walkway. The tattered rope, that had yet to snap after all of these years, transmuted into a silver liquid that just as quickly hardened into steel rods to hold the bridge in place. With a shaking of the ground, bright green plant roots broke free from the canyon wall and rose up to support the new weight of the bridge.

When the spell had died down, Twilight turned to Jazmin to ask, “Better?” With an open mouth, she nodded. “Then let’s get going, we need to be back home before nightfall.”

The castle door groaned an ear aching sound as Spike pushed them open for the others to enter. Dust covered everything in the entryway, and bits of the stonewalls had broken away and added yet more filth to the ground, leaving the wall with a pockmarked look. The group moved forward through the open room and out to a narrow hallway until they came upon a room with two empty seats, each one with a banner hung over it, one with a moon and the other a sun.

“Everyone,” Twilight said as she turned to face the group. “Welcome to the Castle of the Two Sisters.” Twilight took a moment to breathe in the stale air and look around the place, nearly falling apart yet so full of history. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been back here.”

“I would say before you had Witherleaf,” added Spike. He took off the bag from his back and began to unpack, setting the books down on the throne steps, however, the kid's eyes were all drawn to an embroidered box that Spike took out last, which anyone would recognize as the box that carried the Elements of Harmony.

Witherleaf knocked away lose stones on the floor with an unimpressed look. “Yeah, quite the… history here.”

“I know it may not seem like much, but it was here that my friends and I, your mothers, became the bearers of the Elements. So before Starlight begins her lesson, I would like for all of you to try and become attuned with the Elements once more.”

“This worked out so well last time, Witherleaf interrupted. “I can’t believe we haven’t done this sooner.”

“And that is why Starlight, Spike, and I will be supervising all of you.” With a look, Spike opened the embroidered box and set the stone elements down on the steps leading to the twin thrones.

Flurry wondered if perhaps she could sit out this exercise, seeing as there was seven of them but only six elements, and mayhaps she could have if not for the idiotic boys of her class.

Ballpoint and Golden Apple both rushed forward with a cry of, “I call the Element of Magic!”

Golden used his larger size to push Ballpoint out of the way so he could be first, only to wince as his back hoof was pulled out from under him. Twilight watched on with a look of pure amazement. They each sabotaged each other in turn to prevent their rival from traveling the last five feet, but unable to travel the last few feet themselves.

“Enough!” Twilight said with an exhausted tone. With a burst of magic, the boys were separated with a blue aura holding them in the air.

“As I was saying! Unlike last time, we will be deciding who gets what element, and seeing as the two of you have such a hard time getting along,” Twilight sat them both down and levitated the Element of Kindness over to them. “You can both work with the element of kindness. I want each of you to pass the element back and forth while saying nice things to each other.”

They both looked down to the artifact and then to each other, neither willing to be the first to give in.

“How about this,” Starlight said as she stepped forward. “If you don’t want to play along, then when we get back to class you can write a ten thousand word essay on the history of this castle.”

Ballpoint smiled like he had just won a prize. “I’m fine with that.”

“Your report will be on Daring Do. I believe one of her books involve this castle.” Ballpoints face quickly fell, and with a deep sigh, he picked up the element and looked begrudgingly at Golden Apple.

“Now for the rest of you,” said Twilight. One by one, she levitated the elements to the remaining kids. Flurry wasn’t sure if there was a specific reason behind how the elements were distributed or if it was just random, but somehow she ended up with the Element of Laughter. She didn’t get the joke.

Jazmin stared at the Element of Loyalty in her hoof as if she just found out it was an out of season fashion accessory. “How exactly do I attune with loyalty?”

“Oh, I’ve got a book for that,” Spike enthusiastically informed. He looked through the pile of books that were stacked on the ground until he found the one he was looking for, 101 Facts About Loyalty, and passed it over to Jazmin, who stared at the book as she gave an extended “thanks.”

“Now for the next hour I want everyone to try and connect with their element, but don’t feel pressured, just see if you can feel a connection with it,” said Twilight. “After that, we’ll move on to touring the castle.”

Flurry Heart moved away from the others as they began to work with their own elements, with the obvious exception of Ballpoint and Golden, who had little choice in the matter. Though few of them seem to take the task very seriously, it was clear for her to see that the others were genuinely trying to activate their elements, be their reason moral obligations, obeying the parental figures in the room, or something Flurry was unaware of. Even the recluse Shade Cloud was participating in her own way, staring at her element of generosity and thinking who knows what, and Livewire was walking around to everyone and saying truthful things with her Element of Honesty. It’s not that she didn’t understand, there was a certain level of pride in knowing that you could be one of the chosen bearers of the elements. However, she just could not see herself in that role.

Flurry Heart took a seat in a window, overlooking what was at one time a garden, but now not even weeds would grow among the fallen rubble and dried dirt. The Element of Laughter dangled from her hoof, it’s pale stone a shadow of its former glory, and somehow she was supposed to connect with the element, yet her mind chose to linger on old wounds.

“You’re doing it wrong,” said Witherleaf. Flurry looked from the window to her cousin who had the Element of Magic resting atop her head. “The first step for the Element of Laughter is to smile.”

“I’m not quite in the smiling mood, I’m afraid. How about you, feeling magical?”

“Mom says it’s technically the magic of friendship, but I’m not so convinced on that.” Witherleaf began to explain with an exaggerated hoof. “I mean sure, it was friendship for my mom, but maybe it will be something different for the next bearer.”

For a moment Flurry’s worries seemed to fade as her curiosity was pinged. “Such as?”

With a hoof to her lips and a thoughtful expression on her face, she answered, “The magic of procrastination.”

“The Princess of Procrastination, I think that title could work for you.”

Witherleaf shrugged. “Too much work. Anyway, enough about me, what has you so down? I know this castle isn’t the most exciting thing ever, but it’s still better than being stuck in class.”

Flurry looked past Witherleaf. Everyone else seemed for too preoccupied to worry about them eavesdropping. Starlight was watching the boys as they begrudgingly said nice things to each other, Twilight and Spike were flipping through books for one thing or another, while Magma ran around between the groups. Still, Flurry motioned Witherleaf closer before whispering.

“I was thinking about Shadow.”

“Shadow?” It was a moment before realization flashed across Witherleaf’s face. “Oh… your stalker.”

Flurry Heart tried to keep the annoyance from her voice. “Yes, the stalker. I… I guess I just miss him. It’s been years since I last saw him and the only reason I know he’s still around are the flowers he sends me, but in truth, I don’t even know if they are from him.”

Witherleaf rubbed her leg with a hoof, almost unsure of what to say. “Have you tried sending him mail?”

“Ignoring the fact that my mother and Aunt Twilight would use it as a chance to track down Shadow, I wouldn’t even know where to send it, or if he would respond.”

Witherleaf took a seat against the wall and looked sidelong at Flurry. “I’m not trying to get between you and your obsession with the stalker, but have you considered the possibility that he doesn’t feel the same as you? He sends you flowers, sure, but I get sent holiday cards from my uncle in Cloudsdale every year, yet that’s the extent of our relationship.”

It took several long moments for Flurry Heart for to process the words. Could that be it? The reason she had not seen him in years was that he did not want to see her. It made a certain kind of sense. He had avoided capture for years, so it shouldn’t have been too hard for him to see her when she was alone, yet he didn’t. Not once in six years and that realization made her heart sink.

Witherleaf saw the way Flurry’s face fell. “Oh come on, it's not so bad. You know it could always be worse.” Flurry raised an eyebrow. “I mean, you could have gotten the Element of Generosity, like Shade Cloud, and have to deal with Livewire.”

Witherleaf pointed across the room to where the two mares sat, staring each other down. Livewire fumbled with the element around her neck as she tried to speak, “Shade Cloud, sometimes when you say things… it makes me nervous.”

Shade Cloud stared her down with a deadpan expression. She quickly glanced over to Twilight but found little solace there. “If this goes on much longer, I’m going to very generously make you nervous.”

Flurry Heart covered her mouth to hide the grin and to muffle the giggles from escaping. “That’s so mean.”

“Yeah, count your lucky stars on that one,” Witherleaf said with a playful push.

***

Magma was bored. He sat on his haunches and busied himself by tearing out the pages of some dusty tome. The ponies were too busy to give him a ride around and his father wouldn’t give him more tasty gems to eat, so he sat there, slowly ripping the pages into strips and enjoying the sound.

“Magma,” a voice carried on the wind whispered his name, yet as he looked around no one else seemed to have noticed it. He rose to his feet just as he spotted a white mist drifting in from the hallway. “Magma” it called to him. His eyes grew wide with excitement and his legs couldn’t stop from giving chase after the mist, yet the closer he moved towards it the farther the mist retreated into the castle.

***

As the allotted hour Twilight had set aside for the group’s time with the elements came to a close, Flurry was feeling better about her unease with Shadow and her longing to see him, but she wasn’t dwelling on it anymore.

“So bored!” Witherleaf cried with an open mouth yawn.

“Yes, I’m not sure what else I can do to connect with this element.”

“You can try telling jokes,”

Flurry scoffed at the idea as if she would embarrass herself with such poor attempts. “And how is the Magic of Procrastination?”

“I’m not sure, I don’t think I’m procrastinating hard enough, but it’s so much work!”

Spike rushed past them with a clear look of worry on his face. He looked around frantically, overturning every fallen stone, looking behind and under the thrones, until Starlight placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Spike, what’s wrong?”

The commotion had drawn the attention of everyone, who watched on with raised ears.

“Have you seen Magma?”

Now that it was mentioned, Flurry wasn’t sure when the last time she saw the little lizard. She looked over to Witherleaf, who gave only a shrug.

“No, I haven’t,” Starlight finally answered. She turned from Spike and called out. “Has anyone seen Magma?” There was murmuring from the others but no one spoke up.

Twilight quickly joined the other two adults. “Spike, when was the last time you saw him?”

“He was here, I took my eyes off him for a minute—tops— I don’t know where he could have gone.”

“Just take a deep breath and let's think about this,” Twilight said with a soothing tone. “If he’s not in the throne room then he must have wandered into the castle, but he’s small so he couldn’t have gone far.”

“Twilight, this castle is huge, and you know how many secret paths this place has.”

Twilight paced back and forth for a few moments, her wings ruffling in thought. Finally, she stopped with a fast turn and a smile on her face. “I’ve got it!”

Without giving more detail, she cast a spell on the ground. Within a moment, the ground was lit up with glowing hoof prints that marked a crisscross path, going all over the throne room, to the point Flurry couldn’t distinguish one set of prints from another.

“Now we just need to eliminate the pony prints.” Twilight cast another spell, causing all but two sets of dragon footprints to disappear. The first set was larger than the other and led in a straight path to Spike, while the other one was sporadic and ran around the room until trailing out into the hallway. “That way!”

Twilight followed the trail with Spike and Starlight hurrying behind. Everyone else in the room collectively looked at one another and as one rose to give chase; Flurry Heart slipped her Element around her neck before joining.

The trail led through the winding halls of the castle and out into the courtyard in a solid unbroken line, as if Magma knew where he was going. They continued until they came to the bridge leading back into the Everfree, but instead of going over the bridge, the trail verged off down a side path in the stone, leading down into the canyon. It was so out of the way that if not for the trail leading the way, Flurry would have never noticed it.

Twilight stopped as she reached the stone steps. She looked to Spike and Starlight with a confused look. “If he went this way you don’t think he went there, do you?”

“I don’t really see where else he could have gone,” said Spike.

“Where did he go?” Ballpoint asked, stepping to the front of the group.

The adults all turned as one with blinking eyes as if they just realized they were followed. “Why didn’t you stay in the throne room?” Twilight asked.

“Why would we stay in the throne room?” Countered Shade Cloud.

“We can worry about them later,” said Starlight.

Twilight nodded. “Everyone, you are to remain here. We will be back as soon as we can.” Twilight turned to step down the path when she stopped to look back once more. “I mean it. Stay here!”

They were well out of sight and the sound of their hooves had long faded, “So we're following?” Asked Witherleaf.

“Of course!” said Golden Apple. Almost everyone nodded along with him, except for Livewire who shook her head frantically.

“Are you crazy! They told us to remain here; you’re going to get in trouble.”

Witherleaf shrugged without much of a care for the timid mare. “Find stay behind. Alone. By yourself.”

“Isn’t this place haunted, at least that’s the rumor I heard,” said Shade Cloud half-heartedly, as if it was just a random thought in her head.

Livewire looked between the two mares, “I-I” she sputtered before finally lowering her head in defeat. “Fine, I’ll go,”

“Then let’s stop wasting time and go before this spell wears off,” said Jazmin. She took lead and step down the narrow path first. Flurry tried to keep her eyes on the steps as she followed and not the drop that awaited any who slipped and fell, wings or not it was an unpleasant idea. There was a stillness in the air as they made the slow walk down the path; the magical trail guided them but it wasn’t difficult to follow. As the group made it to the ground level, they followed the trail to an unremarkable looking cave.

From the slippery slope of a rocky path to a dark dank cave, Flurry stepped in and the others followed after.

The group inched their way through the cave, the light from the outside was the only thing that kept the shadows at bay, yet as they delved deeper the light was slowly replaced with the warm blue glow of something farther in that beckoned them on. “I have a bad feeling about this,” said Livewire, sticking to the back of the group.

“You have a bad feeling about everything,” quipped Shade Cloud.

“That doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

“I’m starting to get a bad feeling as well, where in the world is that light coming from?” Said Ballpoint, much to Flurry’s surprise, yet she realized that unlike Golden he wasn’t putting on an air of bravery.

Flurry was royalty—true royalty— unlike how the title was used in Equestria. She had been taught since a young age that one day many ponies would come to depend on her and that in a crisis she must be the one to help the ponies and not the other way around. Though the current situation was far from a crisis, she still felt the responsibility to step forward and alleviate the fears of the others. With her head held high, she stepped to the front of the group and said, “I’m moving forward. If anyone is too scared than return to the entrance and we will meet up with you once we leave.”

Golden puffed out his chest in a predictable show of bravado. “I’m not scared of anything.”

“I didn’t spend all day hiking through dirt to turn back at the sight of some creepy lights.” Said Jazmin.

With a look into their eyes, it was clear to see that the others felt the same, that is with the exception of Livewire, who looked to be on the verge of bolting for the exit. “Livewire, are you going back?”

Livewire looked to the light of the exit and to the strange light that awaited them onward, the indecision was clear, yet with a deep breath, she gave a shaky resolve. “If the rest of you are going, I’ll go too.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Not really, but I’ll go.”

Having wasted enough time, and not wanting to give Livewire time to think it over, Flurry pressed on with the others sticking close behind. The further into the light they ventured the easier it became to see the crystals embedded into the wall that sparkled in the dark. They followed these crystals like beacons in the night until the group emerged out of the tunnel and found the source of the light.

“Is that what I think it is?” Flurry asked open mouthed.

“That is without a doubt what you think it is,” said Ballpoint, equally stunned.

In the large open chamber, crystals covered the ground in pockets, emitting a soft light, yet it was nothing compared to the crystal tree that stood tall in the center of the chamber. Its branches spread out wide and nearly touched the ceiling; in five of the branches were left empty sockets with a sixth one on the base of the tree. Each socket closely resembled one of the Elements of Harmony the group carried with them, and it left only a single impression on Flurry as to what she was seeing: The Tree of Harmony.

At the base of the tree, sitting on his haunches was Magma, who stared longingly up at it. Twilight, Starlight, and Spike all stood around him, more interested in the tree than Magma by what they could overhear. “I don’t get it. Why would the tree call Magma here?” Spike said.

“I’m not sure, but there must be a—“Twilight was cut off as Livewire’s voice echoed through the cave.

“This is amazing!”

The three adults turned back to look at the group. “Never mind, I figured it out.”

Livewire received a few annoyed looks for the outburst, but Flurry paid it no mind and stepped forward with the others to the tree. “So this is the Tree of Harmony?” she asked. “Mother has told me stories of it since I was a filly.”

Twilight looked back to the tree as a look of nostalgia came over her. “Yes it is, but as always the reason why it does anything remains a mystery.”

“I wish I had my sketchpad.”

“It’s pretty, but does it do anything?” Jazmin asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, in a way you could say it’s because of this tree that we have so much harmony in Equestria. With its help, we were able to stop some of the most dangerous threats to Equestria, Tirek, Discord, and in a way Chrysalis. Even when Equestria wasn’t in danger it showed us how to bring friendship to all throughout the land.”

“So the Tree of Harmony is the true mastermind behind the cult,” Witherleaf spoke softly, but with the echoes in the cave, it was hard not to overhear. “This explains so much.”

“Yes, well, that was until we stopped receiving friendship quest.”

“Why was that?” Asked Livewire. “Was everyone already friends?”

Twilight gave a shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t know for sure. However, I think that perhaps the Tree knew how busy our lives had become, between our jobs and families it was growing difficult to find time for friendship problems. I do wonder if that was why we lost our connection to the elements.”

Twilight placed her hoof on the roots of the tree as her face became a wash of differing emotions that Flurry couldn’t recognize, but whatever she was thinking no one expected a response from the tree. The radial light from the tree intensified, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. As the light touched each of the gathered ponies, the Elements they wore unlatched themselves from their host and flew towards the tree to hover in front of it. A strangely feminine voice spoke, yet no one was quite sure where it was coming from, “Bearers of my elements, former and future.”

“The tree is speaking,” Flurry said in astonishment. Her ears not wanting to believe a tree could speak, even a magic tree.

“The wheels have turned once more. New bearers are needed to stay the influence of the serpent. Heed thy words and seek my elements. Heed thy words and know thy elements. Heed thy words and become thy elements.”

The cave grew still as the words faded from the air. Few knew what to say fewer still wanted to be the one to speak first, yet Ballpoint was not one of them. He rushed forward and cried out to the Tree. “Tree of Harmony, tell me: Am I the element of magic?”

The light from the tree pulsed twice and the flow of the wind picked up. “You are the Element of Magic, or you are not. The Element of Magic is the strongest of the elements. The Element of Magic is the weakest of the elements. Know these words. Understand these words. And you will know if you are the chosen wielder.”

Confused, yet Ballpoint seemed satisfied by the answer, though Flurry herself wasn’t sure what to make of it. Shade Cloud was the next step forward as she asked about the Element of Kindness. Flurry had to do a double take on that, she could see Shade Cloud with many of the elements, but she had as much of a chance of getting that element as Jazmin did.

Before the tree could answer, Jazmin and Livewire both stepped up to ask about the Elements of generosity and laughter. When the tree spoke again it’s light was dimmer and its voice seemed weaker. “Look to the former bearers for guidance. Seek their wisdom, for they know more then they let on.”

Flurry felt a shiver down her spine as if some unseen eyes were turning on her, and when the tree next spoke she heard it clearly in her mind and not carried on the wind. “Child of the heart and shield, a great burden is placed upon you. One that could shift the wheel yet again. Look to the darkness and you will find answers. Look to those around you and you will find support. Look to the shadow and you will find hope. A hope that will light many fires in the coming days.” The words faded from her mind, words she realized, as she looked around to see everyone still staring at the tree, where for her ears only.

Twilight was staring blankly past the tree muttering softly to herself that sounded like, “It could speak all this time.” Spike snapped his fingers in front of her face and brought her back to reality.

“Twilight, don’t you have something you want to ask?”

Twilight shook her head and refocused her eyes. “Yes, of course.” She answered “Tree of Harmony—“

The radiating light pulsed once and grew dimmer still. “Speaking this way is tiring, draining. I must rest.”

“Wait! I still have so many things I want to ask you about!”

“Tired. Must rest.” The light from the tree faded until it could no longer keep back the darkness from the cave, it’s light was dull but held still. With what little light left, the group gathered and left the cave.

It was strange, before that moment no one in her class really took the idea of becoming the next Elements of Harmony seriously, but now the energy that swept over the group was electrifying. The entire walk back to the castle the group energetically talked about how they would unlock the elements. Golden Apple and Ballpoint pestered Twilight for advice on the Element of Magic, to which she gave only half-heartedly paying attention.

Flurry let the group slip to the back of her mind, too focused on her own thoughts to care, and the message from the tree. She didn’t understand what it meant or why the tree couldn’t just tell her what it wanted her to know instead of pointless riddles. Was there some kind of rule that said you can’t just have the answer spelled out for you. Whatever the answer, It left her with the feeling of her stomach twisting up.

The group was exhausted by the time they emerged from the Everfree and back into Ponyville, as the sky was fading red with evening lights. Looking to the group behind her, Starlight said, “I think we can call it a day here, If you are not going back to the castle then you are free to leave now, just make sure you head straight home.”

“Yes, Miss Starlight,” said the group as they departed, leaving only Flurry Heart, Witherleaf, and Jazmin behind.

The much smaller group slowly made their way through the empty Ponyville streets to the castle. Spike was looking over a parchment as he walked, occasionally he would glance to Magma sleeping on Twilight’s back. “Twilight, I’ve been going over what the Tree of Harmony said, and I think this wheel is a reference to time, perhaps how the Tree gauges time.”

Twilight nodded at this. “That could be, Wheels have been used to reference time before. The real question is what is this serpent the Tree spoke of?”

“Well, you certainly look like you had a long day.” Everyone stopped as Discord appeared in the sky above them.

“Never mind, I figured it out.” With an expression that said Twilight wasn’t even surprised to see Discord, she added, “Could you have not waited until next week to break out?”

“Twilight, I know what you are thinking, but I can assure you that I’ve turned over a new leaf.” To emphasize his point, Discord moved his hand, like pulling a string, and a halo clicked on over his head. “I have seen the errors of my way and repented… be sure to let Fluttershy know about that; she’s been rather unreasonable all day.”

“I can’t imagine why that would be.”

“So where did everyone go while I was out, a school trip from the looks of it.”

Twilight and Starlight both seemed hesitant to answer, and Flurry wondered if it was due to the Tree of Harmony. However, Witherleaf quickly spoke up, “We went to see the Castle of the Two Sisters, which was kind of boring, but then we saw the Tree of Harmony—“

Discord scoffed in disgust. “Oh her,” he said with far less energy. “I will have you know that whatever she told you is a complete lie.”

Twilight’s ears pinged and she looked on curiously. “You can speak with the Tree of Harmony?”

“Of course not!” Discord was quick to cut down that notion, causing Twilight's ears to fall back against her head, however, Discord wasn’t finished. “Like I would ever speak to that overgrown acorn, four millennia of having to deal with her and she has said nothing but lies, mostly about me, but all lies.”

“Well, Discord, I’ll tell Fluttershy about your… new leaf.”

“Excellent, in the meantime I think I’ll get her a gift. A puppy, no she has a dozen of those. I know, I’ll get her a mongoose… but where to find them.” He snapped his clawed hand and vanished from the sky.

“Should we… do something about him?” Asked Starlight, keeping her eyes on the sky in case of the draconequus showed back up.

Twilight could only give a tired sigh for a moment. “No, the general rule with Discord is to leave him be unless he’s causing mayhem. We’re still repairing the damage to Fillydelphia.”

***

When Flurry Heart entered her room, she unlatched the strap on her saddlebag and let the heavy bag slide off onto the floor, spilling out its contents. She could clean it up in the morning when she had the energy to care. Tired as she was, it was still too early to sleep and dinner would be served soon. She sat at her desk and combed out her mane in front of a large mirror to make herself presentable.

“Hello, Flurry Heart.”

The brush fell from her hoof. The voice that she had heard in her dreams was here, deeper than she remembered but she could never forget that voice. Slowly she turned in her seat to a darkened corner of the room were a gray coated unicorn stood watching her. He was not the colt she remembered but a handsome stallion with a styled back black mane.

“Hello, Shadow.”

Chapter 8: Reunion

It wasn’t a dream, Flurry Heart realized as she stared slack-jawed at the stallion in her room. He wasn’t a hallucination or trick of the light. “It’s really you, after so long.” She said. A part of her wanted to reach out and touch him, but a lingering fear that he would turn into mist if she tried held her back.

Shadow stepped to the bedside window and pulled the curtains to the side. The last rays of the evening sky shone through the window, bathing Shadow in its warmth. Her mouth was dry. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, yet they could not escape her mouth.

Shadow looked to her and held her mesmerized with his gaze. He raised one hoof out and asked, “Would you like to go on a walk with me?”

“Yes,” a part of Flurry’s mind spoke without hesitation, yet the more reasonable part of her mind had to ask, “How? I don’t know how you got in, but Twilight would have reinforced the wards by now. She’ll know the moment we try to leave.”

Shadow gave a cocky grin. “Twilight always lowers some of the wards when she leaves, otherwise she would set them off every time she comes home. As for getting out,” Shadow pointed down to the ground. Flurry looked down to the rug under her hooves. The ornate rug that had become such a common sight to her that she barely saw it, now had a magic circle drawn on it. Magic circles were an advanced form of magic that she had barely studied on, yet she knew of that one by the sheer fact that it was restricted to the highest class of mages. It was a long-range teleportation spell that had the unique property of bypassing wards.

“You ruined my rug.”

“I improved your rug.” Shadow stepped into the magic circle and once more held out a hoof for her, and this time she took it.

The smell of pinecones carried on the wind was the first clue as to where Flurry had arrived. All around her were pine trees with not a trace of Ponyville in sight. She stood on a stone surface within yet another magic circle, a receiver to the one in her room perhaps. She made a mental note to brush up on her study of Magic Circles.

With a slow breath to steady her beating heart, she looked to Shadow, whose gaze was held by the treetops. Far slower than she could stand, he turned to lock eyes with her and with a tone that spoke of confidence, he said, “Nice weather?”

Nice Weather. Nice weather! The words echoed in her mind, causing her eye to twitch. “Nice weather!” She repeated. Her right wing lashed out on its own and slapped against Shadow’s face, her left wing, however, was completely under her control when she slapped him. “You idiot! Idiot! Idiot!” With each word she cried, Flurry unleashed a torrent of blows with the soft tips of her feathers.

Shadow covered his face with a hoof as he back away. “Hey, calm down, what did I say wrong?”

Flurry let her blows relent. Her feathers were a ruffled mess and she was breathing heavily through her nose. “Six years, Shadow! Not a single word from you in six years, and now you show up out of nowhere to talk about the weather!” The anger she felt just a moment ago evaporated, leaving behind a pain that had festered for so long and echoed within her voice. “Shadow, where have you been?”

Shadow’s face fell. He took in a breath with a look of resignation. “I’m sorry. For weeks now, I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to approach you, but I’ve screwed up it seems.” He looked off deep into the forest. “Walk with me, there’s something I want to show you.”

Flurry was hesitant. She wanted answers now, yet when he moved away, she found herself keeping pace.

“What do you remember about the night I left?”

“I remember everything quite well.” Flurry Heart wasn’t sure how she could ever forget the night that changed her life. To her parent’s self- assurance that they were protecting her, to the black crystal that erupted from the ground at shadows cry of pain, oh yes she remembered.

Shadow nodded somberly. “For a very long time, I’ve been traveling, looking for answers and learning what I could. The Minotaur Legion taught me to fight without relying on my magic, the goats of Ramhalla showed me the true depths of dark magic, and that is only the tip of the things I’ve seen. I visited you when I could find the time, if only to make sure you were safe, but I could never stay long without risk of being discovered.”

As Flurry pondered his words, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was hiding, but that was not something she wanted to dwell on now. “Why couldn’t you have come to see me? In six years, how could you not find a single moment to let me know you were ok?”

“It’s… complicated.”

Complicated? So complicated that he couldn’t take a few minutes to explain it to her. “Shadow, Please—“

“We’re here,” Shadow spoke loudly enough to drown out talk of anything else. He pushed aside the shrubs with his magic and for a moment Flurry forgot about the subject. Before them was a pond of shimmering water with lily pads floating on its crystal surface. Rocks were stacked at the far edge in a way that allowed the water to flow from one stone to the next in a mini-waterfall. The entire scene was made complete with a colorful ring of flowers that marked the border of the pond.

“Beautiful,”

“Really?” Shadow’s eyes lit up as he looked to her. “I’ve been steadily working on it for the past week. I wanted somewhere we could speak in private, but no place seemed good enough, so I made someplace myself.”

At his words, Flurry realized she had yet to question where they were. “It’s lovely, but where exactly are we?”

“Don’t worry, we’re only in the outskirts of Ponyville, in the Whitetail Woods.”

“And this location just happens to be outside the range of Twilight’s detection magic.” Shadow’s only answer was a knowing smirk.

Flurry stepped to the water's edge and dipped a hoof into it and watched as the surface rippled. From the reflection, she could see Shadow walking up next to her. “The Minotaur Legion and Ramhalla, you must have traveled to the entire world by now.”

“Not all of it, but not for a lack of trying,” Shadow said with a laugh. “I never forgot about you, I even remember that your favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“That’s not my favorite food.” Flurry interrupted. In fact, it had been a long time since she had such a sandwich. She wasn’t sure why she stopped eating them, perhaps she grew tired of the sweetness of the jelly, but for whatever reason, it had been years since she last had one. She locked eyes with Shadow. Before her stood, not the naive colt who couldn’t even remember his own name, but a stallion who had traveled the world and grown wiser from it.

She, herself, was no longer the innocent filly who thought to rule a nation meant smiting ponies with laser eyes. She had matured from hardships and lessons learned to understand what it takes to lead ponies. “Shadow, do we even know each other anymore?” She looked into his eyes, longingly, searching for answers, but found only the same longing staring back. “I’m not the same filly I once was, and you’re not the same colt I met in the market district.”

Shadow broke off the gaze and looked into the pond. “No, I’m not that colt. I haven’t been since the night I left.”

The thought that the colt she once knew was gone filled Flurry’s chest with a numbing pain. They were just strangers now. Strangers, yes, she realized with a smile, but they didn’t need to stay strangers. “Then let us start over.” Flurry took the lead and gave a bow of her head. “I am Princess Flurry Heart, first in line to the Crystal Empire; it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Shadow gave a nod of his head. “The pleasure is mine, I assure you. I am Shadow, a fragment of the former tyrant King Sombra.”

Sombra. The sleepless nights, the endless fights with her parents, all because she assured with every fiber of her being that he was not Sombra, yet she was wrong. Unconsciously, she took a step back, an act that Shadow was keenly aware of.

“I am not Sombra!”

“B-but you just—“

He would not let Flurry’s confused words stop him. “I was born of his magic… the details are not important, but know that I am not nor have I ever been Sombra.” Slowly, carefully, he inched forward and took hold of Flurry’s hoof. “I believe that one should be judged on their actions and not how they were born. We were only together for a short time, but do you truly think I could be Sombra?”

Flurry shook her head, unable to get the words out for several long seconds. “No, I’ve never thought that.” A sense of awkwardness fell between the two of them, with neither knowing quite what to say next, but Flurry broke it with the first thing to cross her mind. “Nice weather.”

They managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before erupting into laughter. Shadow caught his breath and said, “I’m glad I got to see you before I left.”

Flurry gasped as if ice water flowed through her veins. “But I just got to see you again, so you can’t leave now!” If he left now would it be another six years before they see each other again? How much farther would they drift apart and could she ever hope of closing such a gap. All of these questions and more poured through her mind, as all she could do was silently beg him to stay with her eyes.

“I, um, misspoke. I’m leaving, yes, but not for another few weeks at least,” Shadow said, as Flurry’s face became watched with relief. “I still have some business to take care of here.”

“That’s great!” Flurry looked up to the sky and noticed how little of the evening light was left. “I need to get back before I’m missed.”

“Yes, we wouldn’t want all of the city guard to come looking for you. Do you need help getting back?”

Flurry shook her head. “Activating the runes shouldn’t be as difficult as setting up the magic circle.” She lingered for a moment, her hooves not wanting to move, and her eyes stayed locked on Shadow.

“You can’t leave if you don’t move,” Shadow said jokingly.

Flurry smiled back. “I suppose not. Thank you for coming back, Shadow.”

Shadow gave a bow of his head. “Have a good night, Princess of the Ice Lilly.”

Finally able to tear her gaze away, she moved to walk away but before she did so she said one last thing, “I’ll leave the magic circle in my room, do come visit.”

***

Shadow watched Flurry disappear into the underbrush and out of his sight, yet he could still practically see the butterflies that danced around her head. He, however, felt only dread for what he had said. He looked to one of the large stones nearby and pondered if repeatedly bashing his brains in would help knock some sense into his head, not that it would help at that point.

He knew it was dangerous to let his emotions lead him; his Master had made it clear that he needed a logical mind to keep his magic under control, yet one look into those eyes and his logical mind melted away. He agreed to stay in Ponyville for another week at least, but he needed to leave NOW if he was to face his rival. He was strong enough to take on Sombra and hopefully defeat him, and the sooner he did that the safer everyone would be.

Shadow plopped down on the ground, unsure of what to do. If he was honest with himself, he wanted to stay, to just be a normal pony and not constantly training or trying to develop some new magical trick to use against his rival. It was only a silly dream, but if only for a little while, he wanted to experience it. Through the Call, he could feel that Sombra was still hiding in that icy cave, yet to move after all of these years, so what were a few more weeks before he faced him.