The Midnight Zone

Twilight’s head popped out of the fountain in Ponyville town square. Several ponies looked at her in confusion. Twilight stepped out of the fountain. Thankfully, there wasn’t any Darkness here. The street lights had been fixed, and were illuminating the square.

“You’re back!” called Applejack, coming over.

“Hi!” said Rainbow. “Been a while since I’ve last seen you guys.”

Spike and Fluttershy came over.

“We have to find the Elements of Harmony!” said Twilight.

Find the Elements. Unite the Elements. Use the Elements.

Twilight and her friends passed Zecoras, and headed deeper into the Everfree Forest than they’d ever been before. Twilight had remembered that the Elements were inside a book, that was on an altar, that was in a forest.

The Everfree Forest was the only forest that was as deep as the one she’d glimpsed, and Rarity and Pinkie backed her up.

There was only one path through the forest once you passed Zecoras, and it was very seldom used. Twilight didn’t even know anyponies who used it. Weeds and foliage covered the path, everfree.

“This is ruining my dress!” exclaimed Rarity.

Twilight’s mane got stuck on a long vine. “Ow!”

“This isn’t very fun,” said Pinkie, tripping over a gnarled tree root. “How about we play I-spy? I’ll start! I spy with my little eye, something pink.”

“Is it that pink flower over there?” asked Fluttershy, pointing to a large pink flower a few feet off the path.

“It is!”

“Alright,” said Applejack. “I spy with my little eye…” she looked around. “Something green.”

“Oh come on!” said Rarity. “The whole forest is green!”

“Is it that green fern over there?” asked Fluttershy, pointing to a small dark green fern.

“How’d you know?”

“Fluttershy’s very good at this game,” said Pinkie.

“Um–can I, uh, be the, uh, pony who picks a, um, thing?” asked Fluttershy.

“Sure,” said Twilight.

“Okay, then um, I spy with, uh, my little eye, some–er, uh, thing, um, red!”

“Is it that tree trunk?” asked Twilight, pointing to a strangely red tree trunk.

“Good try, but it, is not.”

“Is it that reed?” asked Rainbow, pointing to a reed in a small pond.

“Oooh, almost.”

Applejack pointed to a red rock. “That rock?”

Rarity looked at a red toad. “That toad?”

“My cupcake?” asked Pinkie, pulling out a cupcake, and eating it.

“It was a ladybug,” said Fluttershy, admiring the small red, black spotted bug.

“Mow,” said Pinkie. “D’gor really good at dis gabe!”

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy.

“The Altar!” said Twilight.

Across a large ravine, there was an altar. It was cracked, and mossy. Vines had wrapped around one of the pillars. Half the top had cracked off. Twilight realized that Celestia’s memory of it, truly was a thousand years old.

“Wow,” said Rarity. “This is much older than it looked in Celestia’s flashback.”

“But look, the book’s still there!” said Pinkie.

There was an old rope and planks bridge that spanned the chasm, but it had fallen.

“I can’t teleport over there,” said Twilight. “There can’t be any magic in the Everfree Forest, I guess.”

“No worries, I’ll just fly over there, and fix the bridge,” said Rainbow.

Rainbow flew over the chasm. She looked down. The chasm was at least five hundred feet deep. As a Pegasus who lived in the clouds, it didn’t bother Rainbow in the slightest.

What did, were the three ponies flying directly towards her.