Flurry Heart's Story: Elements Assemble!

Chapters

2. The Ball Begins
3. A Not-So-Tempting Offer
4. A Ticket to Ponyville
5. Uncle Spike!
7. Rampage of the Red Beast
8. The New Elements Are Chosen
9. You'll Never Be Alone
1. Morning in the Crystal Empire
6. Lunch with the "Teacher Six"

2. The Ball Begins

Chapter 2

Flurry stepped daintily down the stairs to meet her parents just outside of the main ballroom before the event began that night. She was wearing her dress and was ready, but appeared rather panicky. Her parents were waiting just behind a door with a pony servant applying a bit more makeup to Cadance’s face.

“Flurry, there you are.” said her father as she walked up to them.

“I’ve got the dress. Do I look okay?” Flurry asked, nervously.

“Better than we imagined dear. Oh, I almost forgot.” said Cadance as she used her magic to take out a small shimmering, periwinkle tiara. She untied Flurry’s bow from her hair and placed the tiara on top of her head, much to Flurry’s dismay.

“Mom, come on! I love my bow.” she whined.

“I know dear, but we want you to look ready for the occasion. Princesses wear tiaras at balls like this. It will make everyone in that room very pleased to see you. Plus, it’s the same color as Auntie Twilight’s tiara.”

Flurry rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.

“Okay. I’ll wear the tiara.”

“They’re about to open up. You ready, kid?” said Shining Armor.

“I’m ready.” Flurry responded, already sounding tired.

Through the door, the voice of one of the servants could be heard introducing the royal family.

“Presenting, the royal family: his and her majesty, King Shining Armor and Queen Cadance, joined by their daughter, Princess Flurry Heart!” he said.

The two large doors in front of them opened up and they all walked in gracefully. The crowd of high-class ponies before them tapped their hooves together or stomped them on the ground lightly in applause. Flurry forced a smile out but could not help but look nervous still. Her parents smiled and waved and she did the same. Her father then cleared his throat and spoke to the masses.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, thank you all for being here tonight. To start off an exciting summer, we welcome you all to the annual Crystal Empire Ball. We put this ball on every year to celebrate our unity and the peace we have had since the day my sister, Princess Twilight Sparkle, became the leader of Equestria…”

As Shining Armor was speaking, Flurry looked over the crowd and eventually saw Crystal Clear, Lavish Laurel, and Prism Blaze. They waved to her as she waved back, but the looks on their faces looked more like taunting smirks than genuine smiles. These three were the children of several representatives in the court and would usually act friendly to Flurry, but she could tell they were just doing it for attention. Flurry never really had the courage to tell them to stop. All the lessons of friendship she had learned from the Journal of Friendship kept her from stooping to their level so she just played it nice. She saw Lavish whispering into Crystal’s ear and then into Prism’s. Flurry could tell she was probably mocking her appearance and letting the others know what she thought of her dress. Flurry had forgotten how shiny and conspicuous her dress was, causing her to feel a bit embarrassed in front of all these ponies.

“…with that said, everypony enjoy our grand ball!” Shining Armor said, finishing his speech.

The ponies in the audience began to disperse and some started to make their way to the horderves while others sought out their acquaintances to make conversation with. Flurry rested her eyes from looking at the crowd for fear it would increase her anxiety. Seeing the audience not look in her general direction made her feel far less nervous and her heart started beating at a normal rate. Cadance put her hoof on Flurry’s left shoulder.

“You’re doing great so far, Flurry.” she told her.

“Thanks, Mom.” Flurry said, flatly.

“It looks like Crystal, Lavish, and Prism want to talk to you.” Shining said, pointing to them as they motioned for her to come over.

Flurry’s eyes opened wide and then they began to zoom back and forth. She gulped and smiled anxiously.

“Oh… um, yeah, I guess they are.” She said as she walked slowly towards them, trying to keep her balance and move as gracefully as possible and not make a fool of herself.

“Ah, Princess! How lovely you look!” said Lavish in her thick Trottingham accent.

“Yeah, you really are, how shall I put it…the belle of the ball!” Crystal added as she and Lavish both giggled to each other.

“Hey guys. Sorry if the dress looks a bit too attention-seeking. It was my parents’ idea.” Flurry said, smiling cautiously and looking through the top of her eyes.

“Oh, it looks absolutely stunning, Princess.” said Prism, the only boy in the group. “A royal like yourself deserves the best. After all, you wouldn’t want anyone at this ball to think you’re just another ordinary, country-dwelling, nopony now, would you?”

“Oh, well, like, of course she doesn’t, Prism!” Lavish added. “Flurry’s a princess and she’s here to let the whole world know, right, your highness?”

“Yeah, let’s not talk about me anymore, guys. How have you guys been doing?” Flurry said, wanting so much to change the subject as it was making her uncomfortable.

“Oh, well, you know us: same old, same old. Our parents just keep doing their work, we keep going to school, and we get richer by the minute. Nothing special or anything.” Crystal replied while smiling, rolling her eyes, and spinning her hoof around in front of her.

“Yeah, we’re nothing special. Right, Prism?” Lavish added.

“Oh of course not, Lavish. We’re not royalty.”

Flurry lowered her head and rolled her eyes.

“Geez, they’re not even being subtle anymore.” she said to herself. “Alright, I get it, you guys are jealous of me and want me to feel guilty or something. Gosh, I wish I could just light right up in their faces! Now, now, Flurry. Just be calm. What would Auntie Twilight do?”

“Oh, I say, Princess, are we making you uncomfortable at all?” Lavish asked, sarcastically. “Cause that just wouldn’t feel right.”

Flurry took a bit of a deep breath and then put on a smile.

“Look guys, there’s no need to compare ourselves to each other. This ball is meant to celebrate the Crystal Empire’s unity and love. We’re all equal here. You three are no different from me. We’re all ponies under one banner of harmony.”

The three of them paused and looked back and forth at each other momentarily as if they didn’t understand a word she just said. Finally, Prism spoke up.

“Why yes, Princess. You make a valid point. We apologize if we came across as condescending. We wouldn’t want to ruin your perfect night.”

His voice still sounded sarcastic, almost as if he hadn’t changed his mind at all, despite what he said. Crystal and Lavish both exchanged glances with mischievous smirks. Flurry hadn’t convinced them of anything, but there was no sense in trying to anymore. She had to simply play it cool and not give in to what they were tempting her to do.

“Excellent!” Flurry replied, still smiling. “Well then I guess we can go about our business and enjoy the ball. I’m going to go speak to some of the other attendees and make the most of this event.”

Flurry walked off, still wearing a smile and behaving rather confidently to see if that would at least work.

“Sounds like a plan, Princess!” Crystal replied as she walked past them. “My, she’s so elegant. I’m sure nothing will go wrong for her tonight.”

“Totally! Hehehe!” Lavish said as she and Prism both joined Crystal in snickering as they walked off towards the punch bowl at the dinner table.

Flurry walked on, smiling and waving to the other ponies as they waved back and bowed politely as they complimented her.

“Good to see you, Princess!”

“Your highness, that dress becomes you!”

“Aw, doesn’t she look adorable!”

The comments they made were nothing but high praise and it was coming across as forced and disingenuous. All the attention she was getting made her want to be anywhere else. She continued to smile and wave as her throat got a little sore and her heart was beating faster. More of the aristocrats in the room directed their attention to her and the voices around her seemed to get louder. She was just about to run off until suddenly a familiar face she actually wanted to see walked right in front of her to block the view from the others. She looked up to see her favorite magic teacher: the renowned unicorn wizard, Starswirl the Bearded.

“Princess?” he said with a concerned look.

“Starswirl! Boy am I glad to see you!” Flurry replied.

“You look frightened. Is everything alright?”

“Eh, maybe we should talk somewhere else. You wanna go get some punch or something?”

Starswirl looked back at the crowd and then put his hoof around Flurry and walked her over to a nearby table where she poured herself a glass of fruit punch. She took a long sip of the punch and then exhaled deeply.

“Getting a little too much attention here, Princess?” Starswirl asked her.

“Yeah. I wish I didn’t need to be at this crazy ball. Crystal Clear, Lavish Laurel and Prism Blaze didn’t help either.” she replied.

“I had a fear the crowd would be a bit much for you. Maybe you should just stick with me the rest of the night. I’ll keep them away from you if too many gather around. Looks like some of them are already getting the message that you need to be left alone.”

“Thanks. It’s been only a few days since summer break started and I already feel like I can’t get a break at all. The older I get, the more these politicians and aristocrats treat me like they need me to do this or that to prove just how royal and special I am or something. I just wish I could-”

“Princess! There you are!”

Flurry jumped and her eyes widened at the sound of the voice of Principal Polished Hooves. He was the head of the education system in the royal school as well as all the other schools in the Crystal Empire. He used to be a staff member of Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot, but had a promotion some time after Twilight was crowned leader of Equestria. While not nearly as gifted as Starswirl or Twilight, he knew a thing or two about magic and used his leadership to head the education in the Empire with poise and perfection. He was strict with how he handled the schooling system, but he also came across as far too high-class and voracious to Flurry. She wasn’t that fond of Polished Hooves and tried her best to avoid him at gatherings like this, but obviously she could not escape him in such an environment.

“Oh! Uh… Principal Polished Hooves! Good to see you, sir!” Flurry said, putting her fake smile back on and bowing politely.

“Princess, my have I been looking for you! I won’t say what exactly since I want for it to be a surprise, but when they make announcements later, I have a very special offer for you.” he told her.

“That… sounds great, sir! I mean I do love surprises. I…um…can’t wait to see what you’ve got for me!”

“Trust me, it will be a life-changing opportunity you can’t say ‘no’ to. Why, all the young fillies and colts in this empire would give anything to have what you are about to be offered, Princess. Well I best be off now. Just be sure to stay till the very end of the ceremony!”

“Thank you, sir!”

Flurry waved at him as he walked off to hobnob with other aristocrats in the room. After he was far enough and she had turned herself back towards Starswirl, she dropped her smile, covered her face with her hooves and groaned in disgust.

“I was about to warn you about him, Flurry.” Starswirl said, putting his hoof on her head. “I heard something about him giving you some special offer at the end during announcements.”

“What does he want this time? To give me more crystal fountain pens with his signature on them so my writing improves or something?” she grumbled.

“No, I think he’s thinking of giving you a scholarship.”

“A scholarship? To where? I do my own schooling in the palace with you and several other teachers, what more could I need than that?!”

“That’s never enough for Polished Hooves. He wants everyone in the most prestigious schools and if someone is gifted enough or belongs to a royal family, he sees them as a valuable asset.”

“Maybe I should just sneak off to avoid all this. Or pretend to be sick and get to go to bed early. I’d much rather be in bed.”

“That’s probably not a good idea, Flurry. Just stay close to me. I might try to see if I can convince him to skip out on making the announcement tonight and talk to you about it privately another time.”

“DO IT.” Flurry whispered loudly as Starswirl looked behind him to see only her snout sticking out from underneath the tablecloth. She zoomed back under and disappeared.

Starswirl sighed. He didn’t feel like trying to make her stay out in the open at this point. He could already see it was doing no good for her, so he let her hide away from it all. Suddenly, he heard Crystal, Lavish, and Prism as they walked by, talking about Flurry.

“Did you hear that, girls?” Prism said. “Principal Polished Hooves wants to give a very important offer for Princess Flurry Heart!”

“Oh gosh! Like, lucky her!” Crystal replied.

“It’s too bad she’s not around at the moment. Perhaps she’s hiding from all the attention. I’d be nervous if I was going through what she is right now. Hehehe!” Lavish added while giggling.

Starswirl rolled his eyes and began to rub his forehead with his hoof.

“I knew this was a bad idea.” he said.

3. A Not-So-Tempting Offer

Chapter 3

One hour later, Flurry was still underneath the table, safe from the rest of the ponies in the ballroom. She spent her time reading more of the Journal of Friendship, which she had hidden underneath her dress in case she got bored. The chapter she was on now was one written by Rainbow Dash. The lesson to this chapter read as follows:
Dear Diary,

Training with Spitfire and Fleetfoot for the Equestria Games was totally awesome. I mean, they're Wonderbolts and really know their stuff when it comes to flying. And when they asked me to fly with them as part of Team Cloudsdale, I gotta say, I was totally tempted. But there's Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps from Team Ponyville. They may not be the strongest flyers…well, let's face it, they're not the strongest flyers, but they sure get an A for effort! And they represent the home team of Ponyville. And as Pinkie says, "P for Ponyville."

Still, I can't deny it. I LOVE to win...really, really love it! But if I ever gotta choose between winning and being loyal to my friends...I'm always gonna choose my friends. 'Cause as much as I love winning, I love them waaay more!

-Rainbow Dash

“Oh yeah, I think this was another one of those special chapters that involved the ‘keys’ they received and then used to beat Tirek a few months later.” she said enthusiastically as she turned the page to the chapter summary. “Wow, this is exciting! I can’t wait to see what it’s like when they all get-”

Suddenly the tablecloth moved up and Flurry jumped and squealed as she saw her parents looking straight at her.

“Flurry?! How long have you been down here?” Cadance asked her.

“MOM! DAD! Um…only a minute or two! Hehehe…” Flurry said as she hid the journal behind her back.

Shining Armor used his magic to lift the book towards him.

“Flurry, did you sneak off to get this while the ball was going?” he asked her sternly.

“No, I had it hidden in my dress the whole…er, I mean…” she said as she stumbled with her talking.

“Flurry, dear, there’s a ceremony happening. Ponies everywhere want to talk to you. It’s rude to just hide away from all of them like this just to read a book.” Cadance said.

“But Mom, I’m really not enjoying myself! Seriously, I don’t feel good.” Flurry said, angrily, trying not to let her voice be heard by others around them.

Shining Armor put his hoof on her forehead for a few moments.

“No temperature. You’re not coughing or sneezing. Sounds like you’re just making excuses, young filly.” he said

“Dad, that’s not what I meant. I just can’t stand this ball! Everypony’s been treating me differently. You should have heard Crystal, Lavish, and Prism earlier.”

“Don’t worry about those three. We need to be ready. Apparently Principal Polished Hooves is getting ready to give you some award or a special offer to the Crystal Empire Magic Academy.” Cadance added.

“I know, that’s why I was under here the whole time! Starswirl said he’ll probably-”

They were interrupted by the sound of someone tapping a glass with silverware. The murmuring in the room stopped and everyone looked toward a nearby stage with a podium set up.

“Attention, everypony!” called Principal Polished Hooves as he set the glass and spoon on a plate that a nearby servant was holding. “We are about to begin our special announcements.”

“That’s for you, Flurry!” Cadance whispered to her daughter.

“UGH! I can’t do this!” Flurry moaned.

“Flurry, you’re going to be alright.” Shining said, putting his arm around her as she nervously tapped her hooves on the ground.

“First of all, since this ball is put on by the royal family every year, I thought it would only be fitting if we gave a very special honor to the princess herself: Flurry Heart!”

Everypony in the room clapped and all eyes immediately turned to Flurry once again. Her heart began to pound faster than ever before and sweat dropped from her head. She looked in the crowd and saw Starswirl who looked like he was trying to tell her that he couldn’t stop Polished Hooves from doing this. Flurry stood motionless for a moment. She took a deep breath and then exhaled and tried to calm herself down. There was no way of getting out of this so she figured she might as well go with it and try her hardest to not mess anything up.

“That’s your cue, sweetheart! Go on!” Cadance said as she nudged her daughter forward a little.

Flurry took a gulp and walked forward. Her heart was still pounding fast, but she did her best to suppress her emotions and just ignore everyone around her. She walked forward with the ponies stepping out of the way to make a path for her. By the time she had gotten to the stage, she felt a little better, but she was still very nervous.

“Thank you, Princess! We are honored to have you here tonight.” Polished Hooves said into the microphone at the podium. “Now, tell us: how goes your schooling in the Crystal Empire?”

He used his unicorn magic to hover the microphone over to her while he used a backup. She started talking into the microphone, but it caused the speakers to make a brief loud noise. The audience laughed a little and Flurry did the same to humor them. She then cleared her throat and tried again.

“Hello everypony. I’m pleased to be here. Now, um…my schooling, you say? Well I’m definitely pleased with it. My teachers say I’m one of their best students and I’ve learned some of the most powerful magic spells from Starswirl the Bearded…”

The audience took a quick moment to clap for Starswirl as they all turned to him. He looked around and bowed his head in respect. They then stopped and turned back to Flurry.

“Yes, he’s the best magic teacher I’ve ever had. I’m very thankful for my schooling, sir. I couldn’t ask for a finer education.”

“Well then, Princess, how would you feel if I were to tell you that there is a finer education out there for you?”

Flurry knew right away what was about to happen. He was going to give her a full-ride scholarship to the magic academy. She wasn’t sure what to think of this.

“Uh, there is?” she replied.

“Indeed. I have spoken to the board, and we have decided to offer you a scholarship to the Crystal Empire Magic Academy!”

The audience applauded loudly and some of the ponies started cheering for her already.

“Wait, what?” Flurry said, surprised.

“That’s right, Princess! You have excelled faster than any student we’ve seen before, your grades are straight A’s, and Starswirl has given nothing but the highest possible praise for your efforts. We’ve been talking about it for a while now and we think it’s time you move on to greater things in CEMA. A princess such as yourself deserves nothing less.”

“Even though I’m only ten years old?”

“Age means nothing to us. We have accepted ponies as young as you before, just like Celestia accepted our grand leader, Princess Twilight Sparkle, into the School for Gifted Unicorns at about the same age. We would be honored to have you there, Princess. What say you?”

Flurry stood there, confused and bewildered at everything that she just heard in the past minute. She wasn’t sure what to say in response to this. She looked at her parents in the audience. They both had big smiles on their faces and were nodding their heads up and down. Flurry then remembered the friendship lesson she had just read in the Journal and thought that maybe she was going through a similar moment. Rainbow Dash chose to stay with her friends and represent them instead of the Wonderbolts; perhaps Flurry was meant to do the same with this offer to the Academy, only she wasn’t choosing friends over it and she didn’t want this scholarship to begin with. She wondered if maybe she had been living that life all along: being forced to learn too much and not get out enough to make friends that were as adventurous as her and longing for a simple lifestyle. Ironically, her aunt Twilight started off as a regular unicorn that didn’t want to make friends and loved her studies more than anything. If Twilight had accepted such an offer, she never would have found her friends and they never would have used the Elements of Harmony to defeat many villains. Flurry knew this scholarship wasn’t for her, but it wasn’t as if there was much for her to look forward to anyway. Turning down this offer to the Academy certainly wasn’t helping to better the situation, but accepting it would only make things worse.

“Uh…sir, I don’t think I’m sure I can make a decision at this time…”

“Oh I understand, Princess. This is a big step for you. Though it would be very helpful if you could decide soon since classes will be starting in two weeks.”

“Wait…two weeks?!”

“That’s correct. CEMA does summer schooling starting this year, but I’m sure somepony of your upbringing is fine with such a change and will tackle the responsibility rather well.”

“Um…not really, sir. I mean I just finished my school year and was looking forward to three months of free time just like practically everypony else has.”

“Oh, hahaha, of course you do.” Polished Hooves said as he laughed a little while the audience laughed with him. He then stopped and walked over to Flurry. “Listen Princess, everypony wants a good holiday to relax at times, but there is nothing more fine than a serious education to prepare oneself for the world ahead, especially one who is going to become the leader of her own country one day…”

“Well yeah, but-”

“…and your parents had a bit of tough schooling as well, but they went right through it. You will be amongst some of our finest students in the academy.”

“But sir, I’ve taken classes with other great students too. Not that I don’t want to be around the CEMA students, but this just seems like a bit too much for me. I’m not too sure I can say yes to this on such short notice, especially right before summer vacation.”

Polished Hooves looked like he was starting to get scared about being humiliated in front of everyone else. With tension in his voice, he continued trying to coax Flurry into accepting his generous offer.

“Oh, but Princess, did I mention we also have the finest magic-teachers in CEMA? I mean, Starswirl isn’t in there, but we do have some very gifted unicorns from all over Equestria that teach classes and with how great you already are, and the fact that you are an alicorn and can no-doubt learn a bit faster, you will certainly become very powerful! Why, one might even say one day you will rival Twilight Sparkle herself! We would be honored to have an alicorn like that in our school!”

Flurry looked into the audience and saw her parents smiling nervously. Even they didn’t seem too fond of this offer now. Starswirl was off to the side, looking very displeased and shaking his head back and forth as if to tell her that she should not accept this offer under any circumstances. Feeling as though she was just being taken advantage of, her eyebrows moved down and she slowly began to scowl at the smooth-talking unicorn before her.

“Is that was this is really about?” she said, angrily as the ponies in the room began to gasp. “You want me in there to treat like some trophy because I’m an alicorn princess? I’m sorry sir, but I’m starting to feel like this offer isn’t for my own benefit but yours!”

The entire room was in an uproar as they began to murmur to one another over Flurry’s outrage. Shining Armor and Cadance rushed forward to get to the stage and calm everyone down.

“Everypony, everypony, please!” Shining frantically called out as he stood between his daughter and the already-scared, snobbish principal. “Look, my daughter has had a rough night and I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. Principal, maybe now isn’t the time for Flurry to join the CEMA just yet.”

“That’s right, maybe she should wait till next year instead. I’m sure she might be ready by then.” Cadance said with her wing around Flurry, but Flurry had already had enough.

“No, Mom. This school isn’t for me. The answer is no.”

The entire audience gasped loudly and Polished Hooves buried his face into the podium.

“I’m sorry everypony, but just because I’m a princess doesn’t mean I have to be in the most prestigious school in the Empire. Honestly I’d rather attend a quaint little schoolhouse in Ponyville. At least they have summer off.”

More ponies gasped even louder at hearing this remark. Some of them already began to fire back.

“Ponyville schoolhouse?! Why, I never!” said one pony.

“Who could possibly turn down such an offer?!” said another.

Shining tried his best to calm them all down.

“What she means to say is it’s a bit too much…Flurry? Where are you going?”

Flurry jumped down from the stage and angrily stomped off past the crowd. Shining and Cadance ran after her, calling her name as Crystal, Lavish, and Prism watched Flurry scamper past them.

“Aw, well isn’t that just said!” Prism said, sarcastically.

“Poor poor princess! Looks like she’s not ready. Hopefully she gets over it someday and learns to pony up.” Crystal said while acting dramatic and putting her hooves to her cheeks.

“Oh please, Crystal!” Lavish replied. “With an attitude like that, I don’t even think she’ll ever be ready to lead the Crystal Empire. Hehehe!”

The three of them snickered brutishly as Flurry used her magic to force open the doors and run out of the ballroom. She left them open for her parents to follow her out. Shining and Cadance made their way through the entrance and closed the doors behind them. Flurry stopped running and just stood there, waiting for her parents to scold her.

“FLURRY!” Cadance called. “Flurry, please! What’s gotten into you?!”

“I knew I shouldn’t have gone to this ball tonight.” Flurry responded, still sounding irritated.

“Look, we know Principal Polished Hooves didn’t make such a great impression, but did you really have to take it that way?” Shining asked her.

“Well what would you have had me do instead, Dad? Lie and tell him I was okay with it?”

“Flurry, we get that you don’t want to go to the Academy, it’s understandable, but you could have handled that better.” Cadance added.

“Handled it better?! Look, I know you guys are king and queen, and you’re my parents so I’ll do what you say, but I’m not just going to do everything these crazy aristocrats out there expect me to do! I don’t want to go to that school and I don’t want to be around all these snobby, rich ponies who just suck up to me all the time!”

“Flurry, please stop it! This isn’t becoming of a princess!” Shining barked.

“Well…WELL MAYBE I DON’T WANT TO BE A PRINCESS!!!”

Flurry used her magic to remove her tiara and threw it to the floor. The tiara clanged and rolled over in front of Shining and Cadance. The king and queen didn’t know how to react. They were both horrified and confused and weren’t sure they could be angry with their daughter anymore despite her outrage. She had every right to be mad. Flurry stood there, angry and breathing heavily until her breath slowed down and her face started to look sad as she realized what she just did. Her lip began to quiver and she rushed off to a nearby stairwell that led to her bedroom, crying as she ran.

“Flurry!” Cadance shouted.

Starswirl came in beside them and tried to block them from going after her.

“No. Let her be.” he said.

He watched as they stood and hung their heads in grief. At the top of the stairs, Flurry disappeared behind a door, still weeping. Starswirl closed his eyes and could only think of how Flurry was not only right to turn down the scholarship, but also needed to get away from this life. There was also another reason why Flurry needed to make friends. It was something he had had a deep discussion with Princess Twilight about. He needed to let the king and queen know this and they needed to know now.

“Highnesses, I think it’s time we discussed your daughter’s future.” he said.

“Do you mean…” Shining began to say.

“Yes, Shining Armor. Your sister was right. It’s time.”

4. A Ticket to Ponyville

Chapter 4

Flurry lay on her bed with her head buried halfway into her crossed arms. She had been crying for quite some time now, alone in her room, after what happened at the ball. Her tears were starting to dry up now, but her eyes were still misty and her cheeks still red. There was a box of tissues next to her and about a dozen used tissues wadded up on the ground around her bed. She began to sniffle and used her magic to pull out one of the tissues to blow her nose. After disposing of it, she sighed deeply and began to look around her room. Much of it was cluttered in her belongings of a privileged life, but none of it mattered to her right now.

Over on her studying desk was a small photograph of her, her parents, Spike the dragon, and Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends. She used her magic to bring the framed picture to herself and set it down in front of her on the bed. She opened up her arms and held it in her hooves. Everyone looked so happy in this picture. It had been taken over a year ago during her ninth birthday party. That party was thrown for her in the Crystal Empire. Flurry had only been to Ponyville a few times before and was having a hard time remembering the last time she was there. She only got to talk with Twilight and the rest of the “Mane Six”, Spike, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, Trixie and Discord, but there were still many others in Ponyville. She felt like there was something she was really missing there.

Her mind then turned back to her home and she could not help but feel misery and lonesomeness just thinking about it. Summer break was starting, but what was the use? There would be nothing fun to do. She was just a princess and she was expected to do many princess things even during vacation. Already, ponies were pressuring her to attend summer school and she was afraid she’d be forced into going. With her outrage downstairs, it was likely the entire kingdom would learn of it and just spread rumors about her. She said what she needed to say to Principal Polished Hooves, but she also snapped and made herself look bad to all the other ponies in that room. Hopefully anyone hearing about it would take her side and understand that the principal was being very unfair and shifty with his scholarship offer, but what if they all were disappointed with her? Had she already given herself a bad name for the whole kingdom this night?

Flurry then heard the door creek open and light shone into her room from the hallway. Shining Armor and Cadance entered and closed the door behind them. She already knew they were probably very upset too and were not in the mood for scolding her any longer, but she would still have to apologize. She had been facing the opposite direction of her door so Shining walked around to the other side. Cadance hopped up on her bed next to her and put her hoof around her daughter. They both had removed their royal clothing and regalia. Clearly they just wanted to talk as her parents and not as a king and queen.

“Hey. You alright, kid?” Shining asked her.

“Feeling a little better.” she said flatly. “I’m sorry I yelled at you guys and made a fool of us in front of all the others. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You had every right to be angry, sweetie.” Cadance said, rubbing her on the back a little. “We knew Principal Polished Hooves was going to offer you that scholarship, that’s why we really wanted you to go to this ball tonight.”

“You already knew about it?” Flurry asked with her ears perked up.

“Yeah, but he didn’t say anything about how they were starting summer school this year.” Shining added. “We don’t think it’s a good idea either so we won’t make you go. We’re sorry we put you through that. It probably would have been better to just let you skip the ball.”

“Thanks.” Flurry said, slumping back onto her bed with her ears moving back down.

“Dear, is there something that’s been troubling you lately?” Cadance asked her.

“I’ve been fine, it’s just I’m bored with the way things are in my life. I get that I’m a princess, but if you look at all the adventures that Aunt Twilight had even after she got her wings, I wonder why I can’t do the same. I just want to have some fun for once and make some friends, but it’s hard to find friends around here when a lot of the ponies my age are all stuck-up like Crystal, Lavish, and Prism. I try being nice to them but they’re just so snooty. Why does being a princess have to be so hard?”

They were all silent for a few moments. Shining observed the picture Flurry had in front of her. He and Cadance both exchanged glances until Cadance smiled and turned back her daughter. She took out Flurry’s bow and tied it up behind her head. After she was done, Flurry sat upright and looked confusedly at her mother. She then turned to her father as he set her copy of the Journal of Friendship down in front of her.

“You’re right, Flurry.” Shining said. “Maybe it’s time we let you get some fresh air.”

“What do you mean?” Flurry asked, holding the journal in her hooves.

“Open it up, dear.” Cadance said, pointing to the journal.

Flurry looked down and noticed the journal had a small piece of paper sticking out of its right side. She opened it up to find a train ticket.

“Is this a ticket…to…to Ponyville?!” she exclaimed.

“Your father and I have arranged for you to spend some time there. We sent a letter to Twilight earlier and she replied saying you can stay at her old castle in Ponyville with Uncle Spike and the others.” Cadance said as she got down from the bed and walked over to stand next to Shining.

“Uncle Spike is gonna be there?! Shouldn’t he be helping Twilight back in Canterlot?”

“Twilight asked him to stay with you in Ponyville to be your body guard while you’re there. He’s anxious to be with you and get a bit of a break himself.” Shining responded.

Flurry stood upright on her bed and held the ticket high in the air with her magic. She jumped on the bed several times, wearing a smile from ear to ear.

“THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!” she squealed, flying forward to hug both of them. “This is just what I needed!”

“We knew you were going to really want this, dear. We’re sorry we didn’t think about it any sooner.” Cadance said.

“And don’t worry about everyone downstairs.” Shining added. “We asked the entire audience to be respectful and not talk about what happened. Principal Polished Hooves won’t say a word either. He’ll probably get some sneers from the other staff members if he does. When you come back, I’m sure things will have changed and the royal life will be a little easier.”

“How long can I stay there?” Flurry asked, landing on the floor.

“We’re not too sure just yet; maybe a week or two. Your father and I will talk it out while you’re gone.” Cadance replied.

“I promise you guys I’ll spend my time wisely and learn some things.” Flurry said, proudly. “And I’ll make a new friend or two like Twilight did when she first went to Ponyville. I’m so excited to get started!”

“And we’ll be excited to hear your stories when you come back, dear.”

Flurry put the ticket back in her journal and closed it up. She closed her eyes and sighed contently. A relieving coolness moved down her body and her face was no longer hot and red from all her crying. She was ready to have a good night’s sleep and prepare to finally set out to do something different tomorrow.

That next morning, Flurry walked through the streets of the Crystal Empire, accompanied by two guards, carrying her bags for her. They would be her escorts into Ponyville until she was left in the care of Spike. She thought of him as she walked past his large crystal statue that was erected in his honor after he saved the Empire from King Sombra. Although the statue was very large, she giggled at the thought that he used to be as small as he was depicted in it. Spike had grown much bigger now and was like an older brother to her. She sadly didn’t get to see him all the time, but she was excited to finally spend more time with him and hopefully get to talk to Twilight and the others when they weren’t too busy with their jobs. Starlight and Sunburst were all on break too since they worked at the School of Friendship and only had a few staff-related duties during summer vacation. They lived in Twilight’s old castle and would be assisting Flurry with her stay as well.

A little further on, Flurry and the guards came to the train station where the train was already awaiting them. She saw Starswirl standing at the station and rushed forward to meet him.

“Starswirl!” Flurry shouted as she embraced her magic teacher.

“Princess, it’s good to see you this fine morning.” he said.

“I’m guessing Mom and Dad already told you I’m going to Ponyville to spend some time there?” she asked.

“Oh yes, in fact I’m the one who suggested they send you.”

“Wait, it was your idea?”

“Well, it was your aunt’s idea, but I passed it along to your parents. Twilight has been keeping an eye on you lately through my letters and she thinks…well, she’s aware you’ve needed some time away from the Empire lately. I convinced your parents, though I’m sure they would have let you go anyway.”

“Thank you, Starswirl!” Flurry said, hugging him a second time. “After last night, I really want to make this all better and I think Ponyville is the best place to start.”

“I have a good feeling you will find adventure in Ponyville, Flurry. We will all be keeping in contact with Spike and the others to see how you are doing.”

“Do you think I’ll do something huge like Twilight when she first went there?”

“Oh, you will, my little pony. You most certainly will.”

The train blew its horn in the background. Flurry’s guards both picked up her belongings and headed for the door. One of them walked over to the conductor and gave him her ticket.

“We best get a move on, your highness.” said the other.

“Take good care of her on there.” Starswirl called to the guards as they nodded in response. “Run along now, little one. Adventure awaits you.”

Starswirl nudged Flurry and she ran off into the door in front of the guards. They followed after her and allowed her to pick a seat nearby. Several ponies watched her walk by, knowing she was the princess. They looked curious to know why she was boarding this train with two guards and why she looked so excited. Flurry found an empty seat and sat down while the guards sat in the seat across from her. She looked out the window to see Starswirl waving to her and she waved back with a big smile on her face.

“Bye Starswirl!” she said silently.

The train blew its horn once more and the engine started up. Flurry felt herself lurch forward a bit and then the train slowly moved and built up speed. She watched as Starswirl disappeared down past the end of the caboose and she could no longer see him. Tall grass and random signs close to the tracks sped by as the castle and entire city before it moved slowly. It began to get smaller as the train moved further away from the Empire. Finally, it went through the pink shield and snow started hitting her window. The Empire was barely visible through the shield and eventually the snowy winds obscured it completely. She was already far from home and for the first time ever was going to be spending a week or two away from her parents and the Empire.

Flurry couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous, but she was still very happy this was happening. After a rough night, she was finally ready to put all her troubles behind her and do something fun. This would be a chance to get out of her comfort zone and challenge herself with a new environment and new friendships.

5. Uncle Spike!

Chapter 5

The train continued to move south, where Ponyville resided not too far from Canterlot. Flurry had been re-reading the first chapter of the journal where Twilight logged how she met her friends and then encountered Nightmare Moon and defeated her with their help. She felt the need to go over this chapter again since she too was heading for Ponyville for a similar reason. She found it interesting how Twilight originally did not want to go to Ponyville to make friends; she was just focused on figuring out how to stop Nightmare Moon’s return. Things were very different this time. Flurry actually did want to make friends, but there was no sign of a villain causing trouble, and she hoped nothing of the sort would occur. What was most important was that she would have the opportunity to relax and do something worthwhile besides all her boring princess duties back at home.

She took a quick break from reading to look out the window. To her excitement, she saw the Canterlot Mountain with the capital city on the edge of it. The train was already nearing its destination. She put her book back into one of her suitcases and watched out the window to see if she could locate Ponyville. The view of Canterlot disappeared behind some trees, but she knew Ponyville would appear eventually. A few minutes later, she started seeing pastures and cottages. A little further on, they were finally in Ponyville. The train began to slow down until it came to a halt in front of the station. The horn sounded and the train hissed and let off some steam. Some of the other ponies on board finally began to file out and Flurry’s guards got down from their seats.

“We’re finally here, Princess. Are you ready?” one of them asked her.

“More than ever!” she said, picking up her bags as the guards carried her suitcases for her.

They trotted out of the train and onto the platform of the station. The guards led her to the exit and they walked out onto the dirt path leading into the town. Flurry had a big smile on her face and was looking around at the town, trying to find sights she hadn’t seen before. The last time she was here was for the holidays a few months ago. Ponyville looked very different in the summer. A few ponies stopped what they were doing and looked out to see Flurry walking with her guards. Some of them started whispering to each other.

“Is that Princess Flurry Heart? I wonder what she’s doing here?”” said one.

“Spike told me she’s going to be spending a little time over at the crystal castle. I can’t remember why though.” said another.

Flurry smiled and waved to other ponies that noticed her to let them know she was happy to be visiting. She would still be treated like royalty here, but at least none of them would be as high-nosed and annoying as the ones back at home.

A little further on, they came to the path leading them to Twilight Sparkle’s crystal castle. Some of the staff members of the School of Friendship lived here. To the right was the school. There was nothing going on there at the moment since vacation had just started, but she noticed a pony mowing the lawn and another one helping to move some crates around. No doubt they were cleaning up after the school year had ended and preparing for any summer activities that would take place there.

In no time at all, Flurry and the guards were in front of the castle doors. Suddenly, the doors already started opening and out came Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst talking to each other. Starlight Glimmer was a bright lavender pony with purple hair with aqua highlights. She had her hair in a bun and wore glasses and was carrying some saddlebags with tons of books in them. Next to her was her old friend, Sunburst. He was also a unicorn who had a bright orange coat and burnt orange hair. He had white fur at the end of his legs and on his nose bridge. He wore large round spectacles and a forest green cloak with a brooch that resembled his cutie mark, but lately he had also taken to wearing a wizard’s hat. He had his beard grown longer and a mustache above it, sporting a look very similar to that of Starswirl.

“Well I’m just glad the school year’s over. Boy am I down for some R and R!” said Starlight to Sunburst.

“Starlight, look! Flurry’s here!” Sunburst said, tapping his friend on the shoulder.

“FLURRY HEART!” Starlight called.

“STARLIGHT! SUNBURST!” Flurry said as she dropped her bags and rushed forward to hug them.

Flurry didn’t remember it since she was a baby, but Sunburst used to be her “royal crystaller”. After she was too old for this, he moved to Ponyville and became Starlight’s vice principal while she was put in charge of the school after Twilight became the new leader of Equestria. She still got to see both of them every time she would visit Ponyville for special get-togethers or they would come to visit the Crystal Empire. She knew them as well as she knew all of Twilight’s friends.

“How’s our little crystal princess?” Sunburst said.

“I’m so happy to see you guys!” Flurry responded.

“Well we’re happy to see you! How long are your parents going to let you be staying?” asked Starlight.

“I don’t know, but I’m just so happy to be away from the Empire and having some time in Ponyville and not just cuz it’s a holiday or somepony’s birthday!!” Flurry said, excitedly.

“Well Starlight and I were just about to go head out to talk with the mayor about some important matters with the school. Spike is inside still cleaning the place up. He’ll be surprised to see you!” said Sunburst.

“Awesome! Well hey, will I see you guys later?”

“Definitely! We’ll be coming back to the castle after we’re done with the mayor and we’ll cook a special meal for you!” Starlight said.

“Also, Spike said he’s going to take you into town after you’ve finished unpacking and wants you to meet the former students who took out the Trio a while ago.” Sunburst told Flurry as he and Starlight began walking back into town.

“Oh, you mean the ones who are teachers now?”

“Yup. Sandbar and the others. They heard you were coming and wanted to stay in touch.”

“Okay! See you guys later! Thanks again for letting me stay here!” Flurry called to them as they waved. She then turned back to the guards who started walking in the front double doors. “Alright, sirs. Once I find Spike, you guys can head back to the train.”

The guards opened the doors and they all walked in to see the inside of Twilight’s crystal palace. Flurry had been here many times before, but this time seemed very special somehow now that she knew she’d be staying longer. Just over to the right she could see Spike making his way towards them. He had been dusting a nearby bust statue and dropped everything he was doing to come meet her. Spike was a chubby, purple dragon with a bright green underbelly and darker green spikes going down his head, back and tail. Flurry remembered him back when he was still a tad bit smaller but was beginning his adolescent phase. He had gotten his wings not long after she was born and was an accomplished flier now. Spike was a lot smaller back then and stood even shorter than most fillies, but he had grown as tall as her father. Despite his round appearance, he had grown very strong and could lift objects heavier than him, which helped out a lot with doing house chores. He had always been a regular go-getter for Twilight and never said no to a request for her. He was the most loyal and friendly dragon Flurry had ever met, and she would often refer to him as her “uncle” since he and Twilight had somewhat of a brother and sister relationship all these years.

“UNCLE SPIKE!” Flurry said, lunging into his belly and rapping her hooves around him.

“There’s my favorite little princess!” Spike said, hugging her back and giving her a noogie on her head.

“I’m suuuuper excited about this stay, Spike! You have no idea how boring it’s been in the Crystal Empire.” Flurry said as she flew around him, flapping her wings.

“Hey, don’t sweat it, kid! Twilight told me about the ball last night. Sorry you had to go through that, but we are gonna do some awesome stuff while you’re here!”

“EEE! I know!” Flurry squealed.

“Alright Spike. We’re going to leave her in your care now. Watch after her.” one of the guards said as they both bowed to him.

“You can count on me, fellas! I’ll protect her like she was my own little hatchling.” Spike replied, patting Flurry on the head.

The guards walked out the door and Spike went over to close it. He then turned to Flurry, who could not stop smiling.

“Well, now that you’re here, I’ll show you to your room and we’ll get your things unpacked. I cleaned it up for you and put in a few little gifts here and there.” Spike said as he picked up Flurry’s suitcases with ease and started walking down the hallway.

“This is going to be the best vacation ever, Spike.” Flurry continued. “Last night was pretty rough, but I’ve practically forgotten about it now that I’m here.”

“Those three kids bothering you again?”

“Yeah, but I also got this scholarship offer to the Crystal Empire Magic Academy, which sounds nice and all, but get this, it was for summer school!”

“WHAT?! No way! Who in their right mind would go to summer school?!”

“Yeah, it was so weird, and the guy offering it to me just wouldn’t take no for an answer so I just kinda told him off.”

“Niiiice!” Spike said, putting his fist up in the air for Flurry to give him a hoof-bump.

“Thanks, but I kinda looked bad in front of the others and Mom and Dad weren’t too thrilled. They figured out that I wasn’t happy though and they let me come here after Starswirl and Aunt Twilight suggested it.”

“Yeah, Twilight’s super stoked that you’re here too. She’s a bit busy right now with some political stuff but she said she’ll be able to visit you tomorrow.”

As they were walking on, Flurry looked to her right to see the large room where the “cutie map” could be found. It looked exactly as she remembered it: a large, round table with seven crystal chairs seated around it. Six of them represented Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, while the seventh one right next to Twilight’s was for Spike which had to be rebuilt to accommodate his much larger size now. Hanging from above were the roots to Golden Oaks Library: the hollow tree that Twilight used to live in before it was destroyed by Lord Tirek and then refashioned into a chandelier. It had tons of little crystal shards hanging from it with photographs inside of some of the most memorable moments Twilight had with her friends. Flurry had seen this before but found this sight to be even more amazing now that she would be spending lots of time in this castle for a short vacation. She was so amused by the chandelier that she almost didn’t notice a small blinking dot on the round table map below. The holographic image of Equestria was barely visible and there appeared to be some bright shiny orb glowing over it somewhere. Flurry walked in a bit closer to see if she could make it out until she heard Spike.

“Uh, hey Flurry, whatcha doin?”

“Oh, sorry Spike, I was just admiring the cutie map, but…should it be doing that right now?” she said pointing to the map, but the glowing orb could no longer be seen.

“Doing what?” Spike asked.

“Oh. That’s strange. I thought I saw something glowing over it, but maybe I’m just seeing things. Does it still do that whenever it calls somepony to go solve a friendship problem?” she asked.

“Sure does. It’s called a few other ponies in Ponyville in the past few years every now and then, but things have been kinda lax lately. Ever since Twilight became princess, there hasn’t been a single major attack from any villains or any huge conflicts out there. I guess Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis’s defeat was a sign to every other evil creature to not mess with us now that Twi’s in charge. Hehe.”

Spike began walking back out the door to continue to the upstairs while Flurry followed him. She looked back one more time at the map to see it was still not glowing anymore. She wondered if it had been trying to tell someone that there was a friendship problem, but she didn’t think much of it and continued on to her room. She would have plenty of time to look into it later.

7. Rampage of the Red Beast

Chapter 7

Flurry lay quietly in bed, trying to fall asleep. She had had a delicious supper in the dining room earlier with Spike, Starlight, and Sunburst and then spent some time talking with them in the library. Everything had gone fine that night, but she could not help but still wonder about the map. Feeling it was still not too important, she decided to look into it another time and get some rest. She slowly started to drift off until she heard the call of her name in the form of a deep female voice.

“Flurry Heart…”

Flurry opened her eyes and jolted a bit. She looked around in her room to see no one there. She continued to stare and then decided it was just her imagination or she was starting to have a dream. She snuggled up to her pillow and tried falling back to sleep. A few moments later, the voice called gain.

“Flurry Heart…”

Flurry woke up a second time to see once again that no one was in her room, however, this time a bluish-green glow, blinking on and off, was illuminating the room. She stood up on her bed and looked behind her to see nothing, but the glow could still be seen shining on the wall, though she also noticed it was following the shadow of the top of her hair. The glow was right behind her head and following her. Suddenly she looked in a mirror on a small cabinet nearby to find it was coming from her bow.

“What the…what’s going on?! You’ve never done this before, bow!” she said, frantically.

“Princess…”

“That voice! Who’s there?! Show yourself!”

“The map, princess.”

“The…the map?”

It became clear that whatever she saw earlier in the roundtable meeting room was no doubt very important. This voice was trying to draw her attention to it. She hopped down from her bed and opened the door to walk down to the meeting room where the map was. Once she got there, she could already see the same blinking light coming from the crack in the door. She opened it up to find the map had the same glowing orb hovering over it, only this time it was in the shape of Flurry’s bow and it was positioned right over the old Everfree Palace. Flurry stared in amazement at the map.

“What is happening? Is there a friendship problem I’m supposed to solve this late at night?” she asked.

“The map is calling you, princess.” the voice said to her.

“There’s that voice again. Who are you?”

“I am the Spirit of Harmony.”

“The…the Spirit of Harmony? The teachers told me they’ve met you before.”

“Yes, I guided them once in the form of Twilight Sparkle, but I present myself to you in my true voice. You are needed for an emergency, princess.”

“An emergency? What’s happening? Is it in the Everfree Palace?”

“It hasn’t happened yet, but he is coming.”

The hologram on the map zoomed in on Ponyville and showed a red orb hovering over it.

“If he finds the Tree, he will destroy it. You must find the New Elements and stop him.”

“The Tree? You mean like the Tree of Harmony over in the palace? And what are the New Elements?”

“They are yours to find, princess.”

“But how will I find them? I’m assuming you’re talking about the Elements of Harmony, but weren’t they destroyed by King Sombra?”

“You must find their wielders. They are nearby.”

“Wielders?! How am I supposed to find them with such little time?!”

“Trust your instincts, little princess. You already know much about the history of the Elements and the Magic of Friendship. You will find the wielders of the New Elements. There is no time to waste. Hurry now!”

The hologram on the map began to fade away, but it focused in on the red dot and slowly transformed into a large red beast that resembled a dinosaur-like creature. It had glowing blue eyes with slits, two sharp horns on his head and spikes going down his back and tail. He lifted his head back and roared. The hologram completely vanished and the room darkened, but Flurry’s bow continued to glow.

“Wait, come back! I need to know more!”

“Flurry?” said a familiar voice behind her.

Flurry turned around to see Starlight and Sunburst entering the room and turning the lights on. They were apparently still awake doing some late night studies in the library together.

“Starlight! Sunburst!”

“Flurry, what are you doing down here?” Sunburst asked.

“The map! It was calling me! Something about stopping this monster from destroying the Tree of Harmony! The Spirit said I need to find the New Elements of Harmony!” Flurry said, looking back at the map, frantically trying to find a way to get it to show them the hologram.

“Spirit? Wait, do you mean the Spirit of Harmony?” Starlight asked.

“Yes! I could hear her talking to me!” Flurry responded.

“Flurry, it’ll be alright.” Sunburst said, putting his hoof on her shoulder. “I’m sure what you saw was just a dream. The Elements of Harmony are no more and I highly doubt there’s-”

Suddenly, they felt a rumble outside of the castle. All three of them stopped talking and listened as they heard the sound of ponies screaming and objects smashing.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Starlight said, nervously.

They all ran out of the room and into the corridor that led to the front door. Starlight opened the door with her magic and they ran out to find several ponies running away from Ponyville. The town was in fact under attack from the same creature that Flurry saw in the hologram.

“That’s him! That’s the beast the map showed me!” she called.

“Whoa, what is that thing?! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Sunburst said, adjusting his glasses.

“I don’t know, but it’s going to destroy the whole town if we don’t get help! I’ll go alert Twilight right now!”

“But Starlight, there won’t be enough time!” Flurry called back to her.

“Flurry, come on inside! It’ll be safer!” Sunburst said.

Flurry looked to the town and back to Sunburst. Reluctantly, she followed him inside. Sunburst closed the door with his magic and they both ran down the corridor to find the library.

“Flurry, go down to the lowest level. You’ll be safe down there just in case that thing tries to destroy the castle too.” Sunburst said, handing her a small candle that he lit with his magic.

“Uh…alright.”

Sunburst ran off to the library. Flurry could see Starlight was already speaking with Spike in there and she quietly walked in.

“Spike, I need you to send an emergency letter to Twilight!” she called to Spike.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Spike asked.

“Ponyville’s under attack! Flurry, do as Sunburst says. Go down in the cellar and hide there. Spike, when you’re done, go down there with her and keep her safe.”

“Got it!” Spike said, saluting to Starlight and then preparing a quill and paper. “Alright, I’m ready.”

“Ahem! ‘Twilight, it’s Starlight. We need you in Ponyville, STAT! Bring your best guards with you. There’s a horrible beast rampaging through the town. I don’t have much time to explain. Be quick!’ Alright, did you get that?”

“Yeah, I haven’t written that fast in a while!” Spike said, rolling up the paper. He blew his dragon fire onto it as the paper faded away into ashes and green flames, traveling through the air at high speeds to Canterlot.

Out in the hallway, Flurry continued to the cellar with her candle. She noticed her bow was still glowing.

“This isn’t good. I have to find the Elements, but I won’t be able to do it at this rate. How will I even know who…”

She stopped walking and looked to her side at a portrait of the teachers back when they were students. It was a picture taken of them when they graduated from the school several years ago, wearing their gowns and caps. Suddenly, the answer came to her.

“…wait. That’s it!” she said as she dropped her candle to the ground and rushed back out the front doors.

She ran into Ponyville, doing her best to avoid the monster. She could not see him at the moment because he had moved on to another part of town, but she could already see some of the damage that had been done to some of the buildings. Some lanterns had been knocked over and there were a few ponies running around. Suddenly, she tripped and fell into a hole in the ground. She shook her head around and looked to see the hole was actually a footprint that came from the beast. It had three large sharp toes and a very wide base.

“Whoa, this thing must be really big. What kind of creature is it though? I don’t think I’ve seen any monsters like that in any encyclopedias before.”

Just then, she could hear very loud footsteps behind her. The ground began to shake and tiny little stones flew up in the air and back down. She looked behind to see ponies running past her and the monster just a few yards away. This mysterious creature stood well over ten feet tall on all fours. He appeared just as monstrous as she saw him in the hologram, only much more fearsome up front.

“FOOLISH PONIES!! WHERE IS IT?! WHERE IS THE TREE?!” he roared with a monstrous, booming voice.

Flurry leaped out of the footprint and did her best to escape by flying, but he had already spotted her due to her glowing bow.

“YOU! Tell me where the tree is, little one!! I have grown tired of searching this miserable town!” he hollered to her.

“I know what you want, monster!” she said to him. “You’re not getting the Tree! The Elements of Harmony can stop you!”

“HA! Foolish girl! The Elements are no more! If you won’t tell me, I WILL FIND OUT MYSELF!”

The monster’s horn began to glow an evil shade of green and he zapped her with a small beam of light. Flurry was about to fly away, but she was already too late. She fell to the ground as the beam began to beat down on her head. It was surprisingly not very painful, but that was because he was not actually trying to harm her. Starswirl had told Flurry about spells like this. The beast was casting a mind-reading spell and trying to extract information from her memories.

Inside the head of the beast, he saw quick snippets of everything Flurry had witnessed on the map. He heard the voice of the Spirit of Harmony telling her where the Tree was; however, he did not hear the part where the Spirit told Flurry about how she can find the wielders of the New Elements.

“Ow…” Flurry said as she dropped to the ground.

“So that’s where it is.” the beast said.

“FLURRY!!!!!!” shouted a voice from above.

Flurry looked up to see the voice belonged to Spike. He landed right in front of her with his wings spread out wide in an attempt to look intimidating to the monster. Flurry got up and Spike looked back at her.

“Flurry, stay behind me! I got this!” he said. “Pick on someone your own size, monster!”

“Impudent dragon! I already have what I need!” the beast replied.

Flurry and Spike watched as the monster reared away from them and turned towards another road in the town. He quickly dashed off towards the Everfree Forest.

“Flurry, are you alright?” Spike asked her.

“I’m fine, but-”

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again! Starlight told you to go to the cellar!”

“But Spike, that thing is going to destroy he Tree of Harmony! Remember when I thought I saw the map glowing earlier today?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“That was it! It was trying to warn me about this creature. The Spirit of Harmony was talking to me while I was looking at it. She told me he’s going after the Tree and I need to find the new wielders of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on. You spoke to the Spirit of Harmony?”

“Yes, and I think I know who the Elements are calling to.”

“The Elements? But they were destroyed by King Sombra years ago.”

“I know, Spike, but the Spirit told me. Look at my bow. Don’t you wonder why it’s glowing like this? The image on the map showed my bow hovering over where the Tree is in the Everfree Palace.”

“Okay, but who do you think the Elements are meant for this time?”

“The teachers. They’re the ones, Spike.”

“Well, that does make sense. They did use the whole rainbow thing on the Trio a while ago. Still, what I don’t get is the part with the Elements of Harmony. Wouldn’t we technically not need them since we didn’t use them against the Trio?”

“That might be it. Don’t tell them about the Elements just yet. We won’t have time to look for them and the teachers might not actually need them, but we have to get to the teachers now. Where do they live?”

“Thankfully they live right down the street he took. I’d say it’s too dangerous for you to go, but we might need you if what you say is true. There must be a reason the map called you there. Hopefully…”

“Alright, quickly then! We need to go get them now before it’s too late!”

Over on the other end of Ponyville, inside a large cottage just outside of the Everfree Forest, the teachers all relaxed, playing games and eating snacks. Silverstream and Smolder were playing pool on one side of the living room while Yona, Sandbar, and Gallus all sat in some couches as Ocellus prepared some snacks. Ocellus came in with a tray full of cookies for them and they began to eat.

“Silver, Smolder, here’s more cookies when you guys are ready!” she called.

“Alright, Smoldy, I’d say I’m ready for a break now. How about you?” Silverstream asked her dragon friend.

“If it means more chocolate chip cookies, I’m in!” she said, rushing over to the tray to take two cookies.

“Well guys, you think Flurry can handle Ponyville for a few weeks?” Gallus asked the others.

“Totally! We gotta find her some friends in town though. You guys got any good ideas?” Sandbar asked them.

“Ooh ooh! The Cake Twins! They’re gonna love her!” Silverstream said.

“How about Apple Twins? They also very nice!” Yona added.

“How about Rainbow Dash’s son, Storm Streak? Think she can handle him?” asked Gallus as the others laughed.

“Flurry’s going to have a great time.” Ocellus added. “Though I do think it would be nice if we could convince her parents to stay a little longer. Two weeks just doesn’t seem like…whoa…WHOA, WHAT’S THAT?!”

“EARTHQUAAAAAKE!” Silverstream squawked as she grabbed hold of Gallus.

The entire house began to shake as some rumbling could be heard outside. The balls on the billiard table bounced around and some fell down the holes. They all got down on the ground and covered their heads, but the rumbling slowly faded away and the shaking stopped. They could still hear loud thuds in the distance outside, but they got softer and softer as time went on.

“Something just ran by the house!” Gallus said as he rushed outside to see what happened.

The others followed Gallus out. They looked around and saw large footprints on the dirt road, leading in to the Everfree Forest. They could also see some trees being knocked over as something rampaged through the foliage.

“What the hay was that?” Smolder asked.

“GUYS!!” shouted Spike a few yards away.

The teachers all looked in the other direction to see Spike and Flurry flying towards them. They stopped right in front and began panting as Flurry tried to speak.

“We…have to…follow that monster! The cutie map was warning me about him earlier and he’s going to go try and destroy the Tree of Harmony!”

“WHAT?!” Gallus said as the others gasped.

“He’s gonna get the Tree?!” Silverstream said, anxiously.

“Yes! See how my bow’s glowing? I looked at the map and it showed my bow hovering over the Everfree Palace! It also showed me that monster in Ponyville while he was in there earlier! We have to stop him!”

“Then what we all waiting for?! We go get monster now!” Yona said, running off into the forest.

“Yona, wait up!” Sandbar called, trying to catch up with her.

“Well if what Flurry’s saying is true, we don’t have much time to waste! Come on, guys!” Smolder said, flying off.

The rest of them followed close behind, rushing down the new cobblestone road through the Everfree Forest that had been constructed recently for ponies who wished to visit the Tree of Harmony.

“Please please please don’t let us be too late!” Flurry prayed as she flew toward the forest.

8. The New Elements Are Chosen

Chapter 8

The Everfree Forest was rather peaceful that night. The only sounds that could be heard were the noisy crickets chirping and night owls screeching. The sounds of snapping tree branches and loud footsteps interrupted this ambience. Out of the forest, on the edge of the cliff right before the Everfree Palace ruins, came the mysterious red beast that had terrorized Ponyville earlier. He stopped in his tracks and looked towards the palace to see a bright blue and pink crystalized structure popping out from inside the ruins. This was undoubtedly the Tree of Harmony.

“There it is.” he said.

The beast leaped over the small canyon and onto the bushy ground before the front entrance. He walked up the steps into the entrance and looked up at the tree. It was large and impressive, but he wasted no time in making sport of this sacred monument the Equestrians cared deeply for.

“Down with this pathetic shrine! FOR THE HORDE!!!”

He rushed forward and rammed into the front end of the Tree with his horn. He continued to swing his head around, shattering the pillars and the balcony just above the lower door, causing some crystal shards to fall down to ground.

“STOOOOOP!!!” called several voices behind him.

The beast turned around to see Flurry Heart, Spike, and the six teachers rushing in to stop him.

“That’s our Tree! Leave it alone!” Smolder snarled.

“Foolish creatures! Your precious tree will be shattered whether you like it or not!” the beast replied.

“Just what do you want with the Tree anyway, monster?!” Gallus demanded.

“That is none of your business!” the beast replied.

“Well we not going to let you take Tree away from us!” Yona barked. “Tree is important to ponies and other creatures in Equestria! You want Tree? You get past us first!”

The beast growled and then ran towards them. Spike and the teachers all ran to meet him and began to attack, while Flurry flew away behind a rock to remain safe and think of some way to help. Spike and Smolder leaped in the air and blew fire down on the beast. He closed his eyes and allowed the fire to rain down, but it did no good. His armor was so thick; he could barely feel the heat. While his eyes were closed, the other students had their chance to attack. Silverstream carried a huge rock and then dropped it on top of his head. It crumbled into several pieces, but did little damage. Behind the beast, Gallus and Smolder began to yank hard on his tail and started to drag him. He began to lose control but quickly began to swing his tail back and forth and sent them flying into a nearby wall. Suddenly, he was lifted high in the air by a rock that appeared out of nowhere underneath his belly. He looked under to see it had beady, blue eyes. Ocellus had transformed into a rock right underneath him.

“Changeling, your skills are pathetic! You should have remained loyal to the Queen, then you may have some worth!” he said as he stood up on top of her and began to stomp with his front legs. Ocellus closed her eyes and winced at the damage that was being done to her. In this form, her body temporarily possessed the sturdiness of a rock, but just as a rock can easily crumble, this caused her a lot of pain. She could no longer take it and transformed back into her true form as the beast began to fall down on top of her. Luckily, Sandbar dove in and pushed her out of the way and they both just barely missed being crushed by him. Spike landed on top of the beast and began stomping hard on his head while blowing fire at him. The beast finally had had enough and spun around, firing small green energy pellets in all directions out of his horn. They all dodged the blasts and hid behind rocks.

“He’s too strong!” Sandbar called to Gallus.

“Yeah, we can’t just keep doing the same thing to him!” Ocellus added.

“Ocellus is right! How do we stop this thing…or protect the Tree for that matter?” cried Silverstream.

“Yona have idea!” said Yona as she ran out to meet the beast. She put her head down and angled it so her horns would fit right around the beast’s larger horn. The brave yak pushed as hard as she possibly could against him. She made sure to do this while she was close to the front entrance of the old ruins. He finally gathered himself up and pushed even harder. Yona’s cloven hooves scuffed against the rocky ground and caused dust to kick up in the air. Finally the beast pushed her out of the entrance and she tumbled down the stairs.

“AGH!! UGH! OW! OOOF!” she grunted as she landed on the ground with a thud.

The beast snorted out of his nostrils and turned around, only to find he had fallen for Yona’s trap. Everyone else except Ocellus was now between him and the Tree. The beast looked above to see a giant, monstrous insect carrying Yona over him. The insect placed her back with the others and then transformed into Ocellus. Everyone made a battle ready stance to get ready for anything. With Yona’s strength and everyone else’s abilities combined, they still hoped to defeat this monster.

“You are all very resourceful…” The beast said. “…but I have great power you fools have yet to see!”

“Bring it, ya big bully!” Smolder taunted.

“We could do this all night!” Sandbar added.

The monster growled at them and they all growled back, but then noticed something brightening behind them. They all looked to see Flurry with her horn glowing rather intensely. Sparkles began to orbit around it. She was building up her energy.

“Flurry? What are you doing?” Ocellus asked.

“Stand back, guys.” said Flurry. “Starswirl taught me this one. If I could just build up enough magic…”

Flurry hovered in the air and her horn continued to glow so bright, the monster was nearly blinded by it. She flew towards the beast and directed her horn at him.

“TAKE THIS!!”

Flurry blasted a huge beam at the beast. He defended himself from the blast with his horn and the energy surrounded it, but rather than causing him any damage, he absorbed the magic instead. Flurry fell to the ground, weary of her overuse of magic and had a hard time getting back up. The monster charged up his horn and then directed the blast back at her.

“FLURRY, NOOOOOO!” Spike screamed as he jumped in front of her.

The blast hit Spike right in his belly but quickly bounced back like a ball being thrown into a stretchy net. The blast was returned to the beast and sent him hurdling into the entrance where he was covered by rocks that fell from the structure. Spike was thrown off to the side where he lay on his back with his eyes spinning around and small stars circling his head.

“SPIKE!!!” Flurry called as she ran to go check on her brave dragon bodyguard. “Spike, are you okay?!”

“Ugggggh. Yeah… just barely. Guess this thing really does come in handy…” he moaned as he patted his large belly that was tainted with a black burn mark.

Flurry looked back at the others. They had worried looks on their faces. They may have caused enough damage to the beast, but Spike was injured and Flurry had used up almost all of her magic she could possibly conjure.

“Stupid, fat dragon.” the beast sneered as he stood back up. “You will not be able to fight any longer. And the rest of you will not survive against me. Now get out of my way!”

“NO!” they all shouted.

“No one’s touching the Tree of Harmony.” Gallus added. “This tree was sent to us for a reason, and we’re going to protect it with all we’ve got!”

“We could really use the rainbow now.” Ocellus said, recalling the time they fought Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow years ago.

“What do we do?” Flurry thought to herself. “This monster is still too strong and it’s just the six of them now. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they’re not the Elements of Harmony…”

“It’s okay, Ocellus.” Silverstream said. “Rainbow or not, we’re the teachers of the School of Friendship, and our teamwork is our best weapon! You hear that, monster!? The odds are against you!!”

The beast growled and got ready to charge them again.

Suddenly, on the ground in front of Flurry, she saw six crystal shards that had fallen from the Tree where the beast had smashed it earlier. They stood up in a vertical position and began to glow. They were white at first but then started to glow blue, green, brown, orange, pink, and aqua. Based on the teachers’ confidence and acknowledgement of their teamwork, Flurry knew right away what was happening.

“Spike, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Flurry asked.

“Huh? Are those…”

“Yes! Yes, that’s them!” Flurry said with a smile on her face. “I was right! They are the Elements!”

The shards floated over towards the teachers and the beast began to look worried.

“Guys, you’re the new Elements of Harmony!” Flurry called to them.

“What?! But they were destroyed!” Gallus said.

“I know. King Sombra may have destroyed the old ones that Twilight and her friends had, but the Elements…the TRUE Elements are never gone. So long as there’s harmony somewhere, so long as there’s evil that needs to be vanquished, they can always come back. In the same way you guys used their power against the Trio, I guess this means they can return in their physical form when needed. Nightmare Moon and Sombra tried to destroy he crystals, but they can always come back. These shards came from the same Tree the old ones did, and now they’ve found their place.”

The shards shone brighter and started to form a golden structure around them that took on the form of a large, regal necklace. They resembled the ones that Twilight and her friends had worn, only this time the shards retained their original shape and the necklaces were all sized according to each wearer and were adorned with symbols that related to them. Gallus’ had large bird wings along the side, Silverstream’s had a bird wing on one side and a fish fin on the other, Yona’s had two large horns, Smolder’s had scales all over it and dragon wings with smaller horns, Ocellus’ had insect wings, and Sandbar’s had several turtles surrounding the shard in the center.

“Flurry, you did it!” Spike said as he got up and dusted off his belly.

“What?! No! NO!! THIS CAN’T BE!!” the beast cried out.

“You clearly underestimated us, monster.” Flurry continued. “Whoever you are, whatever you want, you’re not going to take our Tree that easily! GET HIM, GUYS!”

The teachers all closed their eyes and began to levitate into the air. The light from the Elements shone brighter and brighter and suddenly, a rainbow beam spun around them all and was instantly flung right at the beast just as he tried to run away. It hit him hard like lightning.

“AAAGGGHH! NO!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!”

His carapace began to crack all over and green light shone through the cracks. Finally he burst into a huge explosion and a green column of light shot up into the sky where it eventually dissolved in the stratosphere. The entire ruins were full of nothing but light for a moment, until it returned to normal.

Flurry huddled up next to Spike and he wrapped his arms around her to protect her. They both had their eyes closed, but were still smiling over the imminent victory. They finally opened them as the teachers floated back down to the ground. The entire area where the beast was originally standing was covered in green flames that were slowly dying out. In the center was a smaller black object, covered in smoke. It began to move and grunt in pain. Whatever it was, it sounded like the beast they had just fought, but his voice was not as low and booming. The creature tried to stand up, but stumbled. They could all see bluish, translucent wings and a frill on his head that had the same coloring. His eyes were the same shade of blue as before, only they were much larger and bug-like. There was a sharp horn protruding from his forehead instead of his snout. It was covered in tiny holes, as were his legs. The dust finally began to settle and they all saw him in his true form. The red beast was a changeling all along, though much bigger and taller than the rest. He finally stood up but was panting heavily as he looked around.

“A…a changeling?!” said Gallus as everyone looked in confusion at their enemy.

Ocellus walked forward to the changeling, looking rather confused.

“Sir…what happened to you? Why aren’t you whole like the rest of us?” she asked.

“Because I CHOOSE not to be!” he snarled. “There are still many black changelings left, foolish girl, and we are still loyal to the queen!”

Ocellus backed away to her friends as the evil changeling continued to rant.

“My name is General Scutellum. I lead my people in the absence of Queen Chrysalis, but mark my words: I will avenge her one day! THE HORDE SHALL RISE AGAIN!!”

He turned around and spread out his wings. They began to buzz loudly like helicopter blades and he jetted off into the night sky. Ocellus flew high in the air to get one last glimpse of him. She nearly followed him to ask more questions, but it was clear Scutellum was not interested in talking anymore. She looked concerned and sad for him, but was comforted by Smolder and Silverstream who had flown right next to her. They put their arms on her shoulder and she smiled. The three of them returned to the ground to celebrate their victory with the others. The teachers cheered happily and gathered around to examine their new armaments. Flurry and Spike walked over to join them.

“Flurry, look, your bow stopped glowing!” Spike pointed out.

“Oh, it did?” she replied. “That means I’ve completed the quest the map sent me on! Who knew I’d be tasked with finding the Elements of Harmony!?”

“Flurry, you’re amazing!” Silverstream squealed as she hugged the little alicorn filly.

“That was so awesome! I had no idea we’d be chosen to actually wear new versions of the Elements!” Sandbar said, showing off his necklace.

“Yona so pumped! We teachers really kick butt out there!”

“Oh, and look, guys! They even healed the Tree!” Smolder said, pointing to the pillars in the front and the balcony that Scutellum had smashed earlier.

“So that guy was a changeling all along, eh?” Gallus said, looking out into the forest.

“I’m a bit surprised he was. I knew there were some black changelings left out there; I just wasn’t aware they had gotten that powerful. I’ve never seen a changeling drone that big.” Ocellus said.

“Well at least he’s not going to be seeing Queen Chrysalis any time soon.” Sandbar said.

“I wonder why he was acting on his own though and didn’t bring an army.” Gallus said, stroking his lower beak.

“Eh, who knows?” Spike said, shrugging. “The guy probably just wanted to cause some trouble out here and decided to go after the Tree of Harmony.”

“Yeah, but why would he go after the Tree?” Flurry asked.

“The Tree is the last reminder of the Elements of Harmony and it acts as a safe haven for ponies and other creatures all around.” Gallus told her. “That’s why we had this special road made to lead us straight to the ruins. The Everfree Forest isn’t even quite as dangerous anymore now that Ponyvillians actually have a reason to walk through it. I guess this ‘General Scutellum’ just thought he’d take out one of Equestria’s most important landmarks to try and bring down our hope.”

“Well we sure showed him!” Smolder said, pumping her fist in the air as everyone else did the same.

“Impressive work, New Elements.” said a voice behind them.

They all turned to the Tree to see a bright light shine on the balcony. A few moments later, the light faded out and Princess Twilight Sparkle appeared. She had grown taller in the past eight and a half years and her hair had also grown longer. At this time, she wore a periwinkle set of regalia instead of the golden crown that she was given by Celestia and Luna during her coronation because it was a bit big and she felt she needed to mature further before she could wear such a regal crest. Her tiara resembled the Element of Magic that she wore back when she discovered that she and her friends were to use them to stop Nightmare Moon. She opened her eyes, smiled tenderly and began to graciously fly down to the ground.

“TWILIGHT!” Flurry happily called as she flew in to hug her beloved aunt.

“Flurry Heart! I knew you’d do something amazing when your parents sent you here.” Twilight said.

“Is that why you encouraged them to send me here?” Flurry asked.

“I’ve been seeing that monster in my dreams. I had no idea he was a changeling, but I had a feeling he would do something. I wanted to give you an important test, Flurry. You’re so gifted in your knowledge of the Elements of Harmony; I had a feeling you’d figure out the mystery behind the creature’s true identity and how to beat him. I wasn’t sure it would involve the Elements, but I too have been communing lately with the Spirit of Harmony. It seems the Elements were meant to come back in their physical form, and it’s no surprise they’ve chosen such heroic wielders.”

“Will we ever be required to use them again, Princess?” Gallus asked.

“I’m sure there will be more opportunities, Gallus.” Twilight replied. “The Elements work in rather mysterious ways.”

“What about that changeling?” Ocellus asked. “He said he’s leading in his queen’s absence. I’m sure they won’t be a problem, will they, Twilight?”

“Actually that brings me to some bad news. I regret to inform you all that Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow have all broken free of their stone prison.”

They all gasped loudly at Twilight’s announcement.

“WHAT?!?” Silverstream screamed.

“They’re free now?!” Flurry said.

“Where they go! We find them and take care of them, Princess!” Yona said, angrily.

“There will be no need for that right now, Yona.” Twilight said, putting her hoof in the air. “The time will come one day for us to face them again. For right now, I think the only one we’ll really need to worry about is Chrysalis. She still has her shape-shifting abilities and could regroup with Scutellum and the others. Meanwhile, I’m going to try finding Cozy Glow’s parents and talk with King Scorpan about his brother.”

“This is gonna be one crazy summer.” Spike added. “Those three are gonna to do something pretty big, I’m sure.”

“You’re right, Spike. We all need to be alert, but we should also be ready for them to take a chance at redemption. I’m just glad the Elements are back and we’re all here like this. I’m so proud of all of you!”

Gallus gave Flurry a noogie and the teachers all gathered around her to praise her for the help she gave them. Spike walked over to Twilight and she stood up to hug her number-one assistant.

“Thank you for watching after her, Spike.” she told him.

“Always happy to help.” he replied.

9. You'll Never Be Alone

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

1. Morning in the Crystal Empire

Chapter 1

The cold winds howled violently against the pointy rock formations in Northern Equestria. Deep, snowy drifts were covering the frozen wasteland. Dark clouds surrounded the majority of this snowy area, but beyond the large, magical canopy, stretching on for miles, was the Crystal Empire. It acted as a glass container that would not let in any of the snow or cold temperatures. Any snowflake landing on it would instantly vaporize. The canopy rose so high into the atmosphere above the low-hanging clouds, that it usually allowed the sunlight to shine through and produce enough heat to protect the Empire from the freezing temperatures.

Just about a mile past the barrier, various crystal formations could be seen, which served as housing for the ponies that dwelled there. The sun had just begun to rise over the frozen mountains that could be seen beyond the canopy, and the town began to wake up. Roosters started crowing and ponies inside the houses opened their windows. In the town below, crystal ponies walked out into the open to do their jobs and children began to play. At the very center of the canopy was the royal palace, where the royal family resided. It was made out of an indestructible, crystal material. The legs of the palace had roots going into the ground hundreds of feet below, making the palace sturdy as ever. Between all of the legs was the Crystal Heart, hovering and spinning in midair between a stalactite and stalagmite. This artifact held the source of power that created the canopy to protect the Empire.

Towards the middle of the palace was a balcony with a large fancy door leading to a bedroom. Inside slept Princess Flurry Heart. She was the daughter of King Shining Armor and Queen Cadance and currently the only known, natural-born alicorn in Equestria. She slept peacefully under the covers of her bed until a small gemstone on the table next to her bed began to blink on and off while making a magical chime to wake her up. She slowly opened her bright cyan eyes and then used the magic from her horn to remove her covers. She then pressed firmly on the gem and it stopped. She sat up in bed and yawned deeply before using a comb to tidy up her magenta and aqua mane. A long ribbon that matched the color of her eyes floated over to her and she used her magic to tie it up into a bow in her mane. She did the same with a smaller ribbon that she tied in her tail.

Hopping down from her bed, Flurry stretched a bit and then levitated a book towards her. Her entire room was cluttered with fancy decorations, toys and stuffed animals that her parents had spoiled her with over the years, but there was only one thing that Flurry was interested in right now, and that was the “Journal of Friendship” written by her aunt, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her friends. It was a diary documenting important lessons in friendship they had learned for several years straight when Twilight was sent to Ponyville to make friends and eventually earn her place as Equestria’s new leader. Flurry wanted so much to live the same life her beloved aunt had lived and was very drawn to the lessons in this book. She opened it up to a page with a small bookmark in the center that had a photo of Twilight and her friends. She began to read aloud to herself.

“Lesson Fifteen:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them, and sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way.

Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

After she finished reading this excerpt, she stopped and looked out into the town below while moving the book next to her.

“So that was when aunt Twilight first encountered the ‘Pinkie Sense’.” she said with a smile on her face. “Pinkie told me all about that one.”

She continued to leaf though more of the pages to check the length of this chapter. After each friendship lesson was a chapter-long description of the events that took place around it.

“This part’s probably gonna be a bit too long to read before I head off to eat breakfast, but maybe a little more reading won’t hurt until it’s time to-“

She was interrupted by a knock on her door and a voice that could be heard coming from one of the royal mistresses.

“Miss Flurry Heart? Are you awake?” she asked through the knob.

“Oh, yeah. I’m up, Pearl Shine, you can come in.” Flurry called back.

The young unicorn mistress came in holding a feather duster and a tray with some treats on top.

“Your breakfast is ready, your highness, and after you’re done, your mother and father would like to speak with you.”

“Okay, thanks. Tell them I’ll be down there in a few.”

Flurry used her magic to bring forward a small table and Pearl Shine set the tray on top. She then left the room as Flurry began to sip tea from the cup she was served.

“I wonder what Mom and Dad wanna talk about? I hope it doesn’t have to do with the ball tonight. Hopefully I can talk them out of going to it this time. I can’t stand those things.” she sighed before biting into a small piece of toast.

A few minutes later, Flurry left her bedroom and walked downstairs to the royal throne room where her parents were seated. King Shining Armor, the brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle, sat there in his robe and crown sporting a well-combed beard he had grown out over the years. Next to him was his beautiful wife, Queen Cadance, who now stood above him due to her natural alicorn ability to grow taller than most ponies when they reach their forties. They were both very happy to see their daughter.

“Hey there, kid! Did you sleep alright?” Shining Armor said as he got up and walked toward her and rubbed the top of her head with his hoof.

“I slept okay, Dad. Just been catching up on the Journal of Friendship lately.” Flurry said as she used her magic to lift the book to show her parents.

“Yes, we knew that would make a great birthday present for you. We’re glad you’re enjoying it.” Cadance replied.

“So, you both wanted to see me?”

“Yes. Your mother and I just wanted to show you the gown we had commissioned for you to wear tonight at the ball.”

“Oh.” Flurry said as the smile on her face suddenly dropped and she looked nervous.

“We know you’re not into wearing fancy dresses, but we did our best to make this one simple and not draw as much attention.” said Cadance, using her magic to open a nearby box and reveal a sparkly dress with puffy sleeves. Despite her promise that it would not attract too much attention, it was a bit too sparkly for Flurry’s taste.

“Um…okay. It’s definitely not going to draw that much attention, but it’ll still draw some.” Flurry said, sarcastically.

“Alright, so maybe it is a bit loud, but your mother and I just couldn’t stand the thought of putting you in something too mediocre.” Shining Armor replied.

“Try it on, dear. We made doubly sure it’s the right size this time.” Cadance begged her daughter as she moved it in front of her.

Flurry used her magic to put the dress on. A few moments later, she had successfully pulled her front legs and head through it. She seemed to be comfortable enough, but still wasn’t that impressed.

“Well it’s not as tight as the last one was. The puffs are soft enough. I dunno, it’s just…not really…me.”

“You look adorable, sweetheart.” Cadance said.

“I agree with your mother. You’re going to really shine at the ball tonight.” Shining Armor added.

“I don’t want to shine, I just want to fit in.” Flurry said, flatly.

“Hey, you’re going to do just fine. I know it’s hard being around the other royal ponies and having to put up with them being a bit snooty at times, but that’s just how some of them are. They care deep down. Trust us.” said Shining Armor, putting his hoof under his daughters chin.

“Are Crystal Clear, Lavish Laurel, and Prism Blaze going to be there?”

“Yes. Everypony who’s related to our royal staff and the politicians in the court are welcome to palace events.” Shining explained.

“Those three…are…a little too hard to make friends with.” Flurry grumbled.

“Don’t worry, Flurry.” Cadance added as she put her wing around her. “I know some of the kids your age in the courts are a bit too posh, but just keep your chin up and be confident. Let them all know you’re a princess and you can do this.”

Flurry sighed and closed her eyes and forced a smile for her parents.

“Alright. I’ll do it. For you guys.”

“That’s the spirit, kiddo.” Shining said, patting her on the head. “The ball’s going to happen at six tonight. You’re on summer break with no homework to have to worry about, so you’ve got all the time you need to prepare.”

“You’ve got this, sweetie.” Cadance said, patting her daughter lightly on the head.

Flurry carefully removed the dress to save it for later that night and bowed politely to her parents and then went off.

“I’ve got this.” she said. “I hope…”

6. Lunch with the "Teacher Six"

Chapter 6

After unpacking and getting settled into her room, Flurry was ready to go see the sights of Ponyville. Spike walked her through the town, showing her a few spots she hadn’t been to yet. They didn’t stop at any of them since they were going to meet the teachers first, but Spike promised her he’d take her to them throughout her stay. She kept getting stares of amazement from random villagers. They were friendly; though Flurry was getting a little tired of hearing them refer to her as “your highness” over and over again. It only reminded her of the things about home that she didn’t like, but she did her best to be nice to them and just wave back politely.

“Princess! So nice to have you here!” said one stallion she walked past.

“Oh, your highness! Welcome!” said a mare on the other side.

“Getting a little annoying, eh?” Spike said to Flurry.

“A little.” she replied. “It’s okay. I know they’re trying to be nice.”

“Well anyways, I think that about does it for the more tourist-focused center of town.” Spike continued as he pointed towards various streets. “Down this street is the town hall. If you take a left when you get there, that’s the street that eventually takes you back around to where we started at the castle. This bridge leads to Sweet Apple Acres where Applejack and her family live, that street can take you to Sugarcube Corner and the Carousel Theater, which used to be Rarity’s old boutique when she lived here, this little dirt road leads to Fluttershy’s cottage right on the edge of Everfree Forest, and it’s a bit far from here, but Rainbow Dash’s house is way over on the other end of town on a little street just outside of Ponyville.”

“So they all still live here except Rarity. What about Pinkie? Is she in Ponyville at the moment?” Flurry asked.

“Pinkie and Cheese went out a few weeks ago to work on a string of events happening all over Equestria. Ever since she started dating him, they’ve been traveling all over the place, planning all sorts of crazy parties.”

“I wish she were here.”

“Oh don’t worry. Once she finds out you’re visiting, she’ll make it here. I promise.”

“Good. I really want to see if I can get at least one chance to visit the rest of Twilight’s friends.”

“Yo, Spike!” called a voice from behind.

Spike and Flurry turned around to see a colt with a spring-green coat, shaggy aqua-colored hair and a cutie mark of three sea turtles. This was Sandbar, the earth pony in the “Student Six” group who rose to prominence after they stopped the crazed young filly, Cozy Glow from draining all magic from Equestria. He was the easy-going, chill member of the group and was a teacher at the school like the rest of them.

“Sandbar! There you are!” Spike said, giving him a hoof-bump. “Flurry, this is Sandbar. Sandbar, Flurry Heart.”

“Your highness, it’s great to have you here!” Sandbar said, bowing politely to her.

“It’s great to finally meet you, Sandbar! And it’s okay, you can just call me Flurry.” she giggled.

“Oh sorry, your hi…er, I mean Flurry.” he said, bashfully. “Well hey, I got the rest of the gang together over in front of a new hayburger joint in town. You guys ready to hang out there?”

“Oh you know it! Flurry’s having the time of her life so far. Right, Flurry?”

“You bet!” Flurry said, happily. “Sorry I didn’t get to see you and the other teachers any other time I was here, Sandbar. I’ve heard so much about you guys; how you stopped Cozy Glow and then helped out when she and Tirek and Chrysalis all attacked Canterlot.”

“Aw yeah. Those were the times.”

A few minutes later, Sandbar had led Flurry and Spike to a nearby restaurant where his friends were waiting for them. At one end of the table was Gallus the griffon. Gallus was the de facto leader of the group. He started off as a loner and a rule-breaker when he first attended the School of Friendship, but he quickly grew fond of all the others and they bonded well throughout their years in the school. Sitting next to him was his now-girlfriend, Silverstream the hippogriff. She was the bubbly, scatterbrained member of the group. She was more mature now than she was in her youth, but still enjoyed a good laugh on many occasions. Beside her was Smolder the dragon, the more gutsy and daring member, who started off much like Gallus, but also developed a soft side over the years. On the other side was Yona the yak and Ocellus the changeling. Yona was the large and loveable girl who spoke with broken grammar and sometimes didn’t know her own strength, but had grown very sociable with non-yaks ever since she entered the school. Ocellus used to be rather timid, being a changeling who reformed some time during the changeling rebellion that King Thorax led against Queen Chrysalis, but she grew very fond of the others and was very well educated. They were all listening to Gallus as he was going on about some of his plans for the summer after a long year of teaching.

“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I for one could really use another trip to Fillydelphia some time this year.” he said.

“If you’re going, I’m goin with ya, sweetie.” said Silverstream, hugging him.

“Alright. Any other takers?”

“Depends on when Gallus and Silver go. Yak not sure if it line up with her schedule too well. Might need to visit family at some point in Yakyakistan, but Yak try.” said Yona.

“I wanna see if I can make it. Filly’s pretty awesome during the summer.” Smolder added.

“Let’s not forget about Flurry, guys.” Ocellus said. “She’s gonna be here for a few weeks and we need to help her make friends around Ponyville.”

“Yeah, it’s just too bad she can’t stay longer. Twilight’s letter made it sound like she really hates the Crystal Empire.” Smolder replied as she leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head.

“Aw, I’m sure she doesn’t like HATE hate the Crystal Empire.” Silverstream said.

“Well she not have good time there for sure.” Yona added. “Teachers need to be there for her. Princess Flurry have great time in Ponyville.”

“Speaking of which!” Gallus said pointing over to Sandbar as he brought in Flurry and Spike.

“FLURRY HEART! Welcome to Ponyville!” Silverstream squealed.

“Alright Flurry, you’ve already met me, so this is Gallus, Silverstream, Yona, Smolder, and Ocellus.” Sandbar said, pointing to all his friends.

“Hey, everyone!” Flurry said, waving to them. “I’ve heard all about you guys, and it feels great to finally see you in person.”

“We’re happy to finally see you too, Princess.” said Ocellus.

“She prefers Flurry, Ocellus.” Spike teased.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I mean Flurry.” she said, nervously.

“Princess is fine, just so long as it’s not ‘your highness’ or ‘your excellency’ or ‘your worship’ or something. It kinda weirds me out when the delegates say that to me and my parents back at home.” Flurry sarcastically explained as she sat at the other end of the table.

“Well hey, we’ll make you feel as comfortable as we possibly can here in Ponyville.” Smolder replied.

“We all happy you here, Flurry!” Yona chimed in. “Summer vacation just start and other teachers really happy to finally be on break, and we even happier we get to help you out with making some friends in Ponyville!”
Flurry smiled cheerfully.

“Thanks everypony…er, I mean evercreature.” she said, nervously.

“Eh, you can say ‘everypony’, we’re used to it.” Gallus said just as the unicorn waitress pony came by to drop off a few appetizers that the others had already ordered.

“Alright guys, here are your appetizers. And your meals will be ready in…OH!” she said as she noticed she was in the presence of royalty. “Princess Flurry Heart! Your highness, I was not expecting you to dine at our little restaurant!”

“Oh it’s no problem, ma’am. I’d just like a small, well-done hayburger with ketchup and some ice water.” Flurry responded.

“Of course, Princess! We’ll have it right away!” the waitress said as she ran off with sweat drops going down her forehead. She ran past the swinging double doors to the kitchen entrance and shouted to the workers. “Look alive, everypony! We’ve got royalty out here! Make that hayburger the finest ever!”

Everyone looked back to Flurry who already looked a bit disappointed. Even though she had just gotten done telling the others that she would prefer to not be called “your highness”, she knew she’d have to put up with it coming from other ponies in the village. She looked up to Spike who was shrugging his shoulders while smiling. Doing her best to not want to act moody in front of everyone, she smiled back to remain positive.

“So tell us, Flurry, was it difficult making friends back in the Crystal Empire?” Gallus asked.

“Eh, sort of. The ponies around me are usually too posh and high-nosed. There are a few that are kind of nice in my class, but I feel like they just want to be my friend so they can brag that they know the princess or something.”

“Well, that’s not very nice.” Smolder said before popping a small fried mushroom into her mouth. “Don’t worry, Flurry. We got this. We’re gonna make sure we find the right friends for you here!”

“Hehe, good rhyme, Smoldy!” Silverstream giggled.

“Thanks, but I’m scared I won’t have enough time.” Flurry replied. “Mom and Dad made it sound like I’m just going to spend about two weeks here. That’s a good long vacation, but I wish I could stay longer is all.”

The teachers all paused for a minute and exchanged glances until Gallus finally spoke up.

“It might not be a lot of time, but we’ll get it figured out.” he said. “The six of us are on break for the summer and we have a few school-related duties to do, but we’ll do our best to make your stay worthwhile. There’s still a lot we can show you, and you can hang out with us any time. Some of the ‘Mane Six’ might be available for a visit too.”

“And I’m obviously available any time, Flurry.” Spike said, patting her on the head. “Well guys, here’s to Flurry!”

“Here’s to Flurry!” the others chimed in.

Spike put his glass of water that had already been prepared for him in the air and the others grabbed theirs while Sandbar picked his drink up with his mouth and then placed it on top of his hoof. Spike continued the toast.

“May she have the best summer vacation ever and make some awesome friends and continue to prove that friendship is magic!”

The others sipped their drinks and Flurry blushed while smiling gratefully. Suddenly, the waitress and several others came in next to Flurry with her meal already done.

“Your burger, your highness…” the waitress said as she put a fancy, diamond-studded plate in front of Flurry with a large lid covering it. She lifted the lid and revealed that there was way more than just a burger underneath.

“Thank you…oh, um…” Flurry said as she looked confusedly at the platter.

“…with extra crispy, seasoned fries. And for your drink, we brought you the water like you asked, but here is a large chocolate milk with a striped swizzle straw.” the waitress continued with a big smile on her face.

“Uh, thanks, but…”

“And for desert, one of our extra special chocolate mousse cakes with a cherry on top!”

“Thanks.” Flurry said, flatly.

“It’s all on us, your highness! It’s the least we could do for our special guest!”

As the waiters all left, Flurry stared at the food before her and then laid her head on the edge of the table, looking miserable. All the others looked worried, but Spike finally spoke up.

“You, want us to help eat some of that for you?”

Flurry looked at Spike and then a smile finally appeared on her face.

“Yeah, that would help." she said. "You guys can fight over the cake; I’m not in the mood for any dessert. And feel free to have the fries and chocolate milk."

“With pleasure.” Smolder said as she took a pinch of the fries.

“Well, are we that surprised? This place is known for its service after all.” Sandbar jested as the others began to laugh.

Flurry joined in with the laughter and felt a little better now. Even with some of the townsfolk treating her a bit too highly, she already felt good around the teachers and Spike. She knew her time in Ponyville would be worthwhile.