Twilight, with Spike still on her back, arrived outside the Carousel Boutique. And after that, they’ll go to Rainbow Dash’s home.

Spike brushed his plates on top of his head.

"How do I look? Are my plates straight? Is my breath fresh?" The dragon exclaimed. He exhaled into his hand and smelt his breath. “Fwoo! I forgot to brush.”

Twilight ignored her assistant. She knew of his crush on Rarity, regardless of their difference in species. That part didn’t disturb her too much, but didn’t he think he was too young for her?

"I'll take that as 'great'," Spike said.

Twilight smirked and she rolled her eyes before opening the door to the boutique, causing the small bell above her to ring.

The back of the room was crammed with leftover dresses from the Grand Galloping Gala, and Rarity could be seen standing next to the ironing board, ironing Twilight's dress from the Gala up until she noticed Twilight entering. It was a good thing that it wasn't one of those Everfree Forest creatures that wrecked the place. Even if it were, it would be a huge mess.

"Oh, Twilight, there you are!"

"Hi, Rarity!" She closed the door behind her.

Rarity placed the iron upright on the ironing board, and she walked right over Twilight.

"What can I do for you, darling?"

"Well, Princess--"

Suddenly, something blue crashed through the window next to the entrance, and then crashed into Twilight, causing Spike to fly off of her back.

While on the floor belly first, Twilight glanced up, and saw cyan hooves and a multicolored tail over her head.

Twilight growled. "Rainbow Dash! Do you have to do that?"

"Sorry." She muttered.

Rainbow Dash may be the fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria, but she was also infamously clumsy.

Rainbow rolled off of Twilight, they stood up, and then brushed the dust off with their right forehooves.

"Rainbow Dash, what happened to you?" Rarity asked as Spike stood up.

"Don't tell me," Twilight said with her eyes half-closed. "She failed to practice again..."

"Well, maybe, but let me explain." Rainbow hovered in midair while performing a somersault. "While I was practicing my routine for the Wonderbolts…” She then raised her forehooves high in the hair. “I saw a huge storm cloud…” Then she pointed south. “Further south from here," Rainbow swept close to the three. "I tried to contact the other weather patrol, and they said…” Rainbow shrugged. “'We didn't see that coming'.” She then landed on the floor with all hooves. “So I went out to find you, and... you know the rest."

"That's funny, no storm could ever appear without the Pegasi’s work.” Twilight scratched her chin.

"I'm not kidding, that cloud just kept expanding."

"I know what you said. We’ll talk about this later.”

Rainbow sighed as she crossed her forehooves. “Okay then.”

“Anyway, Princess Celestia is setting up for a Friendship Day Celebration in three days." She pointed towards Rarity. "Rarity, you'll be in charge of the guests with Pinkie," Then to Rainbow Dash. "And Rainbow, you would make sure the sky is clear, and--"

Rainbow interrupted her. "Wait, wait, wait, wait! There's a celebration for the day we defeated Nightmare Moon?"

Rarity raised her eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah, that's what I've been noticing," Twilight said.

After an awkward pause...

"O...kay, now that we have everypony on the list, you all go to the library, and meet with the others,” Twilight said.

"You got it!" Spike saluted.

“I’ll see you when I find them to make sure they’re here, and let me know when they’re already at the library.” Twilight ran out the door and off towards the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

As soon as Twilight left, Rainbow, Rarity and Spike strolled out of the boutique and then arrived at the library for a few minutes.

Rainbow opened the front door and stepped inside.

Rarity’s ears folded back against her head at Rainbow’s rudeness as she followed. "Ugh! Aren't you kind enough to hold the door for somepony?"

Spike glanced at the two as he stepped inside.

"What? I'm first in line." Rainbow shrugged.

Spike slammed the door shut behind him.

"Don't you remember the phrase 'ladies first'?"

Rainbow's eyes were half shut. "Uh, I'm a mare. Who do you think I am? A-"

"Oh, never mind!” Rarity grumbled.

They all looked around realizing there’s nopony else except them.
“It looks like they’re not here.” Rarity’s stomach grumbled. “And I'm also hungry."

“When was the last time you ate? Have you been eating breakfast?” Rainbow questioned.

“I was busy ironing our dresses from the Gala, thank you very much.”

"Well, go fetch something to eat while you’re at it."

"Why don’t you do it?" Rarity contended.

Rainbow stood on her hind limbs, and crossed her forelimbs. "Heh, I don't cook that often."

Spike stood between them. “Alright, how about this? Why don’t I go to the kitchen to serve food for Rarity, while you two stay here, and talk?”

Spike walked towards the kitchen.

While he disappeared into the kitchen, Rainbow jumped onto a nearby sofa, and sat on it while leaning against the back cushion.

Rarity gasped. “Rainbow Dash, you’re ruining the couch!”

Rainbow shrugged. “What did I do?”

Rarity pointed at the sofa. “Look at the seat cushions. They’re all wrinkly.”

“So what? There’s nothing wrong with wrinkly cushions.”

“And keep your back straight when sitting on it.”

“My back is fine.”

Rarity used her telekinesis to levitate Rainbow off the couch, and then Rarity casually brushed the seat cushions.

Rainbow growled.

Rarity paused until she finished brushing the cushions.

“This is how you sit down.” She then carefully sat on the too-comfy couch, and straightened up her back. She exhaled happily.

Rainbow facehoofed. “I think you're being so prissy,”

“I’m not prissy. Ponies that never sit right really bothers me.”

“Come on, Rarity. Sometimes ponies do that when sitting down, even when they’re not lazy. I could sit on something wrong or right whenever I’m lazy or not. Or whenever I sleep right or wrong.”

Rarity’s eyes were half-closed. “Do you hear yourself when you talk?”

Rainbow stood in front of Rarity. "Look, I get it. I know you're trying to be as casual as possible so you could prefer to live in a city as a fashionista, even though you've been mining for gems despite being a germophobe."

Rarity's eyes darted diagonally upward. "Well, yeah."

"Maybe you should try to be heroic when saving your friends after all we've defeated Nightmare Moon and saved the world."

"I, uh, don't think being heroic wasn't always a smart idea."

Rainbow laughed. “Nah!”

"Uh, girls? You need to come and see this." Spike called.

Rainbow groaned, then pulled herself off the too-comfy couch, and trotted into the kitchen.

Spike stood next to the white tablecloth, looking at a yellow sticky note that was attached to Twilight’s book containing the Elements, and right next to it was a plate with two stacks of leftover pancakes.

Rainbow tilted her head. “Whose pancakes is this?”

“That’s Twilight’s.” Spike said. “I guess she forgot to finish breakfast.”

"And is that the note?" Rarity asked. “What does it say?”

Spike grabbed the note, and read it out loud, while Rainbow and Rarity looked over his shoulders.

Dear Twilight,

While I'm aware that you left these pancakes that morning, I left this note just to inform you that I’m going to prove to you that I'm right. I'm going to get Applejack for help because I'm going to head off to...

Rarity and Rainbow looked at each other in horror. "'The Everfree Forest'!?"

Spike widened his eyes. "I'll go get Twilight!"

He then ran out of the door in a blink of an eye, leaving the note floating in mid-air and then falling to the floor.

Rarity glanced at the two stacks of pancake, licking her lips, and Rainbow noticed her.

“Uh, Rarity? Are you gonna eat that?”

Rarity quickly shook her head. “What? No! I’m not gonna eat some leftovers. It’s got germs in there.”

“That pancake looked like it wasn’t eaten this morning.”

“Are you sure about that?” Rarity groaned.

“Well, suit yourself if you’re hungry.” She trotted towards the living room.

Rarity glanced at the pancake, then to Rainbow and then back to the pancake. Her stomach rumbled.

Twilight arrived at Sweet Apple Acres after her long trek throughout Ponyville, and she gasped. It seemed like a small tornado had ripped its way through it. The rows of tall corn plants were mostly trampled into the mud while the fences were reduced to splintered wood. Most of the animals were missing while others cowered underneath the shrubs in fear. The neatly painted chicken coops looked like they had been smashed by something big. She could see through the jagged edges of the broken boards.

She saw Big Mac rebuilding a chicken coop that was halfway finished, and Apple Bloom’s not here because she’s at school, but there’s no sign of Applejack and Pinkie, and presumably, no Fluttershy since she saw her last time at the farm. Fluttershy started acting suspiciously all of a sudden after she complained whatever she saw was an ‘animal’. Whatever the creatures were, they seemed to escape from the Everfree Forest, and started to cause trouble to Equestria, just like what happened during the Parasprite incident.

Twilight walked towards Big Mac. “Big Mac, what happened here?”

Big Mac responded. “Ah woke up frum uh long nap wheyun Ah heard noises outside, an wheyun Ah walked outside, Ah noticed everythin' wuz in ruins.”

“Did you find what caused it?”

He pointed at a footprint on the ground.

It seems that it belonged to a bird, but about a foot long, and its third toe was like cut in half, just like the rest of the footprints that lined towards the direction of the ‘Dome-heads’ from the direction of the Everfree Forest. This keeps getting worse.

Twilight had to focus on finding Applejack or Pinkie Pie.

“Have you seen Applejack or Pinkie Pie?”

“Nnope. Last tahm Ah saw her was this mornin', when shay tried tuh wake may up.” He replied.

Oh, I see. He seems to be more of a heavy sleeper than Applejack.

“Okay then. I’ll go look for her.” Twilight said. “Do you want to help me?”

Big Mac held a hammer in his mouth. “Ah wish Ah could, but Ah’m rilly busy.”

“Okay. Keep up the good work.”

Twilight walked away while Big Mac continued on fixing the chicken coops, and then searched around the barn to find Applejack. I wonder where Applejack could’ve been? Hmm, I heard Fluttershy said she came here for some apples so… She turned towards the Apple Tree Orchard from behind the barn. Maybe they’re somewhere in here…

Twilight trekked around the barn, and then disappeared into the orchard. Once inside, she could smell the sweetness of apples all around her. Her stomach growled and she remembered that she forgot to eat breakfast. But Twilight needed to stay focused and find Applejack and the other two.

“Applejack? Fluttershy? Pinkie?” Twilight called. “Where are you? We’re supposed to be at the library for the celebration! Hel-lo!” She sighed. “Where could they possibly be?” She then shouted again. “Applejack! Flutter-”

Suddenly, Twilight heard something scratching a tree trunk nearby.

She looked around. “Someone there?”

She then heard the same noise again, and she approached one of the apple trees nearby.

“Applejack, is that you?”

To investigate, Twilight used her spell to teleport behind the tree.

“Applejack, I need you to- huh?”

What’s scratching the tree wasn’t Applejack, and it wasn’t some-’pony’ else. It was ‘something unexpected’.

A small green-back (and brown striped) creature, a bit slightly shorter than her flank, reached out towards one of the apples while hanging against the tree trunk with its forelimbs. It had a head of a chameleon, but its eyes and beak were similar to that of a parrot, and its tail was short, stumpy, and lined with quills.

The creature landed its forelimbs on the ground in a quadrupedal stance, and glanced towards Twilight showing its orange face, yellow body, and grey belly.

Twilight then recognized that animal since she read that from a non-fiction book about fossils and paleontology, written by Dr. Saurian Rex, called ‘The Last Dinosaurs in Equestria’, but this ‘Leptoceratops’--a ceratopsian dinosaur closely related to the famous Triceratops--this doesn't look like the real thing when it's its frill was covered of bark and its quills are flowers.

Just then, a head of some sort of a red eagle with a long lizard-like snout crawled out of the canopy of the apple tree above the ceratopsian-like creature, and then revealed its fire-color feathered wings with three-fingered claws. Twilight realized that this bark-frilled herbivore wasn’t the only one, and this one looks a small predatory dinosaur, maybe a velociraptorinae-like creature like an Acheroraptor but had golden claws and it's more colorful than its real-life counterpart, that was going for the ceratopsian-like creature right beneath it.

The 'raptor' jumped down the tree and then latched onto the 'Leptoceratops’s' back. While its prey thrashed around like a bull, the 'raptor' used its two hooked golden talons on each toe to grip onto it, keeping itself from getting flung off.

Twilight couldn’t stand how vicious the creature was; if the fight is over, Twilight would be the monster’s next meal. So she ran off towards the barn. Twilight glanced back to make sure it wouldn’t see her…

Twilight collided into something fluffy, and she fell on her back. Twilight looked forward, and she saw what she ran over was a large red ostrich-like dinosaur with three rows of orange horizontal stripes, a long straight tail, and three-fingered supinated hand claws.

Isn't that supposed to be an Ornithomimus? Because that is like bigger than an ostrich. She thought.

The 'Ornithomimus' squawked furiously, and kicked dust toward Twilight. The dust sprayed all over her face, forcing her to cover her eyes, and then she ran blindly towards the opposite direction without knowing where she was going, but she had to keep running from where she encountered those angry-looking monsters. Twilight couldn’t see a thing with all the dust in her eyes, all she saw was a blur.

Twilight tripped over something hard, maybe a rock, and she fell face-first against the soil. Twilight wouldn’t dare to look around, or try not to clean her vision. Her heart was beating at a fast rate, and her tears flowed out of her dust-coated eyes. She was being tortured by fear and distress caused by the monsters she encountered.

Twilight remembered Fluttershy’s encounter with the creature from the Everfree Forest, and Applejack’s encounter with the dome-heads. It could be the dinosaur-like creatures were connected to the creatures her friends’ encountered. She knew they could be out there, and they could be watching her.

It turns out they did when she heard footsteps. Twilight wouldn’t dare to look towards the source. Not only she was still blinded by the dust that covered her eyes, but she knew the monsters could still be out there. Twilight shoved her eyes against her forelimbs, and sobbed. Twilight remembered that she had faced Nightmare Moon and other threats like the Parasprites or Cockatrice, so all she had to do is to stand and fight… if she had someone on her side.

“Twilight?”

Twilight heard a familiar voice coming from nearby. She jolted her head up, and rubbed the dust off her eyelids to make sure it doesn’t get into her eyes.

She opened her eyes. “Spike? Is that you?”

The blurry world around her cleared out, and she saw Spike standing in front of her.

“You okay?”

Twilight sighed in relief, and then she hugged Spike tightly. “Oh, Spike. Thank Celestia, you found me.” And why didn’t the dinosaurs catch up to me?

“O-kay.” Spike croaked. “I don’t know what happened to you, but we have a situation.”

Twilight stopped hugging. “I know. I need to find Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie to-”

“It’s not that.” Spike said. “You need to come to the library quickly.”

“But what about them?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

Twilight raised her left eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain to you when we get to the library.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay.”

Twilight and Spike then hurried out towards the orchard exit to Sweet Apple Acres.

Author's Note

While my old editor isn't available for some reason, I hired a new editor, raven618, to take his job.

Edit: Originally, this chapter's going to have Twilight going to Canterlot to meet with Celestia and Luna who told her about the origins of the Elements of Harmony only to witness the invasion of the Storm King just like the movie version but with minor changes, like adding guards, before Twilight was saved by Rainbow Dash at the end from impending doom, but the storyline was changed due to a criticism that stated the reason for Twilight's urgency was "not as strong as like it to be", and was also convenient to the plot to allow Twilight to meet the princesses to talk about the subject of the origins of the Elements of Harmony, introduce the concept of the Elements of Nature, and also to allow Twilight to witness the invasion of the Storm King.