Equestria's Outcasts

Chapters

Hammered Out - ReWrite
Pumps And Jacks
Silence and Thunder
Burning Day
These Trials 5
New World
Revelation
Summons
Gifts Of Joy
Shades Of The Past

Hammered Out - ReWrite

Hammered Out

Note: Equestria's Outcasts takes place in an alternate version of Equestria, so many things will be different. Ponies are not entirely kind to one another, and many are disgruntled with their lives.

"Every dog has his day. I hope my day comes soon." Hammer sat in his workshop just outside Ponyville, reading a little bit of history. The current book he was reading was about an age-old tale of six elements: The ancient Elements of Combat. There was a legend that went hoof-in-hoof with the tale.

It told of two Alicorn sisters.

The younger sister would raise the sun to signal the time for day, and the older sister raised the moon at night, to bring peaceful sleep to the creatures of Equestria. But one day came where the younger sister refused to lower the sun. She wanted all the ponies of the land to stay awake, and play in the sunshine. The older sister, in futility, tried to explain the purpose of night-time in relation to sleep, and tried to reason with the younger sister. But the younger sister's heart was cold, and became filled with resentment and anger, turning her into Solar Flare, an evil mare of blinding brightness. The older sister used the Elements of Combat to seal her younger sister for several thousand years inside of the sun.

"But when the eve of the Summer Solstice is at hand, the four stars - North, South, East, and West - will appear in the daytime sky, and aid in her escape." Hammer closed the book, unsure of what to think.

"I know I've heard of these Elements of Combat before, but it's been a long time. Haven't even been NEAR a library since I was a little foal. Well, this cart won't finish itself." Hammer was an inventor, and he took great pride in his work. But today, he wasn't helping somepony fix their wagon wheel, or their boat; today, he was working on a pet project of his, a small cart engine.

"Now just get that piece in there, and tighten these bolts here, and reattach the main coupling, and there we go! Piece of cake!" He walked away to write down the invention's specifications, when he heard a loud hissing noise, like air coming out of a tire. He checked everywhere. He then checked the engine on the cart. The pressure had built up too much, and it appeared as if it was going to explode at any moment in time. "Oh crap, oh crap! DUCK AND COVER!" The explosion tore his workshop apart, sending him flying several metres away. He had been covering his head the entire time.

"Man, I'm lucky to be alive! That was TOO close!" He heard a pony clear their throat behind him. He turned around, and saw a large crowd of ponies standing behind him, holding torches, shovels, and hoes.

"Mr. Hammer, if'n you please? You've been mighty kind to us folk here, but we reckon you're gonna blow up the town at some point! We want you ta leave, as soon as ya kin. Got it?" Hammer smiled sheepishly, but that smile became a shocked expression, and then a worried look, as he scanned the crowd.

"Everywhere I go, nopony wants me around. Well, I guess this is a wake up call." He trotted over to the wreckage of his workshop, and fished out his Book of Legends, and his tool bag. The pony crowd had begun to disperse as Hammer sullenly packed up what was left of his belongings. "Only one place left. I sure hope this is a good idea." Hammer began trudging towards the Everfree Forest, the one place where he could work, and nopony would bother him or tell him to get lost. It was also ripe with raw materials for use. It made him sullen, but also giddy at the thought of all the metals, woods, and gems he could use.

He wandered around, unsure of what to do next.

"Maybe if I found a clearing, I could begin work on a whole NEW workshop! I know! I'll call it Hammer's Wheelworks!" He chuckled underneath his breath as he pulled out a small hatchet from his tool bag, and started to chop away at a tree nearby. The thought of such a grand workshop spurred him on, chopping down tree after tree, in an effort to gather as much lumber as possible. That task complete, he prepared to start construction.

About ten days, twelve falls, and six nose bleeds later, it was done. And it was beautiful, as far as Hammer was concerned. He had never made something like this structure; most of his workshops had been provided. He opened up the front door, after finally clearing out his nose after the last bleed, and trotted around from room to room, memorizing which room was what. He even had a second floor, where his room was.

"Well, this place is perfectly built, if I do say so myself. It's kind of lonely, though." He stood up straight.

"No, I don't need anypony. All I need is my workshop, and a barrel full of raw materials." He pulled out the Book of Legends, and began reading again.

The Elements of Combat were six elements, each created after a specific element of combat, for when one fought the enemy. There was Ability, Knowledge, Duty, Honor, and Strength; these were known. The six and final element has never been documented.

"It WOULD be pretty cool, I guess, to be a wielder of these elements." He put the book down on a workbench. Just before he set it down, he realized that he had actually WANDERED into the workshop part without even realizing it. "Eh, heh. Guess I've got to pay more attention. Well, guess I'll try again with the cart motor. I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong! The parts attached together perfectly!" He threw his plans against the wall, incredibly exasperated. "This doesn't make ANY sense!" He cantered out of the workshop, grabbed his Legends book, and trotted up the stairs to his room on the second floor. When he reached the door to his room, the floor began creaking, a LOT. "That's DEFINITELY not a good sign. Nevermind, I'll fix it in the morning." He set his book on the nightstand, set his bag down on the bed as a pillow, laid down, and promptly fell asleep. Almost immediately he began stirring, like a nightmare was going on.

And oh, what a nightmare it was! Hammer could see a version of himself, dark brown coat, black flowing mane and tail, his green work jacket, and his blue floppy hat. But it wasn't him; it galloped around, causing pain, destruction, and death to all around it. *This is what you will become, Hammer, if you do not change who you are. *

Hammer awoke with a start. He was sweating, and panting, as if he had run a marathon. He couldn't sleep, and that nightmare was enough to convince him that, for tonight, he didn't need sleep. He walked back down to his workshop, picked up his plans, and began working on revision. He couldn't concentrate, and began looking around the workshop. It was quite orderly, more than any of his other workshops; he always said it was his mother who beat organizational skills into him. There were large cabinets bolted into the walls, which would end up holding many metal ingots, and wooden planks. There was a furnace for smelting metal, and heating the workshop if it got cold, and his workbench, which was now covered in papers, even though it was the second time he had used it. His mind wandered back to when he had been a small colt, admiring his father's workshop.

"Father, why do you do such a thing as this?" A young Hammer was watching his father repairing watches. His father stopped, and glanced at him.

"If I don't work, we don't eat. And if we don't eat, you can't grow up to be big and strong, my little Hammer." He patted his son's head, and returned to his work.

Hammer often got up in the middle of the night, at that time, to work on his own things. His father always gave him parts to play with, since he didn't really have any PROPER toys, and he had no friends to play with. Hammer eventually made a clock that played music every hour. It was a personal song favourite of his father's, "When Ponies Come Marching Home." When his father awoke the next morning, he rushed downstairs to find a fast asleep Hammer sitting at his workbench, with a music-playing clock. That had been Hammer's very first invention.

Hammer returned to the present day.

"The Music Man Clock; they were pretty popular for a while. Father WAS pretty happy about that. Why the heck am I even talking about this? It's not like anypony's listening anyways." He sat back in his chair, when he heard a sudden knock at his front door. Getting up off his rear, he opened the door to a female unicorn who appeared to be bawling her eyes out. "Hey, come inside! Don't stand outside, it's cold out there at night!" He brought her inside, and had her sit down on a chair in his kitchen. "Now, first things first. I want to know who you are, and why you were crying." She stared at him, and began bawling again. Slightly ticked off, Hammer decided to try another tactic. He brewed a small cup of tea, and handed it to her. As she began drinking, he noticed she wasn't like any unicorn he had ever met. Her mane and tail were bright red, while her coat was a deep blue, and her eyes were pink, like some flowers he had seen in the Forest when he had been working on building his workshop. "So, what's your name, miss?" She looked at him, and sniffled.

"I'm Pumpjack. From yer sign outside, I reckon yer Hammer." Hammer nodded. "Well, then, Mr. Hammer, kin I stay here? I got no place else to go." Hammer laughed.

"Finally. Now I have a REASON for the other rooms! What the heck was I thinking, though? Five extra rooms? It's not like I'm going to have four more ponies come in asking to stay here!" Pumpjack smiled slightly and snickered. "Miss Pumpjack, if you want a room, you can have the one at the base of the stairs. But I-" It was too late, She was already in her room.

"Rude. Still, she probably needs it. I've never seen ANY mare bawling their eyes out before." He stood outside in the cool, fresh night air. It was a refreshing thought, being outside. The stars were out, and it was strangely calming for Hammer. "A pony can change his or her stars. You just have to work for it." He leaned up against the door, still staring up. "Every pony has a dream; mine is harder than I ever could have imagined. Every invention since the Music Man Clock has exploded, burned, melted, or short-circuited. It's as if my own dream is mocking me." He sighed, and looked down at the ground. "Tomorrow's a new day; better not keep it waiting any longer." He returned inside, and shut the door. The light facing the WheelWorks sign turned off as well, and outside, the Forest was in utter darkness. Hammer stared out the window of his bedroom, and attempted to go back to sleep. Within the hour, he was snoring his happy little heart away, no nightmares, or dreams.

Tomorrow was DEFINITELY going to be a good day.

Pumps And Jacks

Hammer awoke to hammering and the sounds of steel being pounded. Groggily, he stood up. When he opened up his bedroom door, he could see a light on in his workshop. Rubbing his eyes with his hoof, he slowly descended the stairs, his vision slightly blurry from sleep. When he got to the entrance to his workshop, he was greeted with the sight of Pumpjack building something out of smelted Iron.

"Pumpjack, WHAT are you doing?" She looked up at him sheepishly, a hammer in her mouth. She spat it out before she decided to talk to Hammer.

"I'm building a pump. There has to be some kind of water source nearby, right?" Hammer shook his head.

"Pumpjack, what are you even DOING in here this early in the morning?" She stopped, seeming to be deep in thought.

"I can't get one thing out of my head; the reason I'm here. The reason I had to run from my hometown before they found out what I accidentally did." Hammer walked up beside her, and tapped her on the back.

"Go ahead, you can tell me." She walked out of the workshop when he said that, and trotted over to the kitchen. The sounds of banging pots and chopping could be heard emanating from the kitchen. When Hammer got over to the kitchen area. Pumpjack had already made him, and herself, breakfast. Hammer looked at her quizzically. She shook her head and sighed. "I find it easier to talk when you're eating." As Hammer began eating, Pumpjack began her sad, sad tale of her and her pumps.

She had gotten interested in pumps when she was a little filly. She had lived on a frontier town, similar to Appleloosa, and they had always had a problem with irrigation. Her father was a farmer, and he always gave her metal that he found in their field when he was tilling the barely arable soil. She began playing around with it, and in a little while, she began making parts out of it. She was asked a few years later how she did it. She never knew why, she just knew she 'knew' how to build pumps. Each part became a piece, and each piece fit into the pump like a jigsaw puzzle. Her father often watched her during the times she was awake, as she worked with a single minded purpose towards building the pump.

About ten or eleven days later, the pump was completed. Her father directed her to a site where they had once drawn water. She planted her pump, and switched it on. The pump rumbled to life, and it began drawing out water. Her father was incredibly proud, and immediately shared the good news with every pony in the town.

"My daughter is the greatest filly a father could want! We won't have a drought this year! She made a pump that's drawing out water RIGHT NOW!" Everypony in town galloped to see this 'pump' in action. It was drawing out a continuous supply of fresh water, and everypony celebrated the very first Frontier Pump Day.

Now fast forward fourteen years. Pumpjack was a full grown mare, and she was the most sought after pony in the entire town. She wouldn't look at most of the stallions in town, mostly because her work came first. There came a day when her first pump broke down. It had lasted for fourteen years, being used only in droughts, of course. She was asked to fix it. When she got to the pump, it lay in pieces all over, as if somepony had smashed it, and left the pieces there as some kind of testament to their cruelty. She sighed and picked up the pieces of the pump, levitating the pieces back into place. But when she turned on the pump, water wasn't what came out. Raw sewage came flowing out. An investigation later found that sewage had been leaking into the aquifer for some time. One pony came forward, and placed the entire blame on Pumpjack's water pump. The ponies were quick to turn on her, after all she had done for them. They chased her out of town, her crying the entire time. She ran for a long time, and eventually made her way to the Everfree Forest.

"That's when I spotted yer workshop, Hammer. I would've hated to sleep outside in the cold." Hammer patted her on the head.

"That's just horrible what that one pony did! Why would he do something like that?" She looked at me, and sighed.

"She. It was a she, and she was plumb jealous o' me. She too had wanted to do pumps, but it was more because she wanted ta compete with me." Hammer laughed. Whoever that pony had been, she was vindictive, but also not unlike his siblings, before they threw him out of his home, and tried to do inventing themselves.

"Somewhat like what my family was like. My brothers were all jealous of me, and got my parents to cast me out, and they tried their hand at inventing. Let's just say that it was night-time, and it turned to day for about four seconds." Pumpjack laughed hard enough that tears began flowing from her eyes.

"Yer a far cry from what I pegged ya as, Hammer. Ya had one loony family!" She turned to her pump. "Yer motor doesn't have no fuel pump, Hammer." Hammer walked over, and took a look. He nodded at his motor.

"Every time I've built a fuel pump, it's always ended up detonating the motor, and blowing up the entire cart. I kind of gave up on it." Pumpjack stared at him, and silently went to installing her pump on his motor. He watched as she quickly attached and connected hoses, and wiring to the pump, and was in awe when she finally welded the pump onto the motor. She flipped the switch on the cart's control panel. Hammer hid behind the door to his workshop, afraid of it exploding, and taking him out with it. Instead, it roared to life, as it should have when he first tried making it. Pumpjack laughed.

"Well, that pump's one beauty. No two pumps I build are ever the same. Roarin' like a dog, purrin' like a kitten. I tell ya, sounds like success ta me." As Hammer was about to prepare the cart for a test drive, a grey Pegasus, wearing black-framed glasses, with hair as black as night, zoomed through the window. He stood up, brushed himself off, and looked at the cart.

"I wanna CATCH A RIDE!" He began circling the cart, while Hammer and Pumpjack stared at him in disbelief. "I mean LOOK AT IT! You can paint it all kinds of pretty colours ta boot!" He began hopping around the cart, laughing away as if he'd found a long-lost toy. "It's a motorized vehicle! IT'S A MOTORIZED VEHICLE! WHEE!" Hammer had to buck the Pegasus into the wall before he even acknowledged that Pumpjack and Hammer were even there. Hammer got right up in his face. It was obvious he wasn't happy.

"What in the high heavens do you think you're doing?! You can't just barge into other pony's workshops and expect to test drive a motorized vehicle as soon as you see it!" The Pegasus seemed to be upset by that sentence. He stared at Hammer.

"You all get along now." Hammer stood between the Pegasus and the cart.

"You're not taking my cart, and that's final." The Pegasus backed up.

"WHOA! Didn't mean no harm by asking, sir. I mean, I heard it from pretty far up in the sky. I can't help myself when I get near motorized vehicles; I was a test driver for a while; my Cutie Mark proves it!" And it indeed proved the Pegasus' claims. His Cutie Mark was a wheel with wings on it, signifying a talent with motorized vehicles.

"Well, I guess so. You're cleared then. I have a hard time trusting other ponies, especially Pegasi, since my workshop two years ago was destroyed by one. Don't ask the particulars; he got away scot-free." The Pegasus stared at Hammer, then smiled.

"You seem like a good pony. My name's Scooter, and I'm a test driver!" Scooter began laughing his head off as he sat on the cart, waiting for the workshop's large front door to open. Hammer stood by the switch to open it, reluctant to let the Pegasus test drive his motorized cart.

"Don't worry! She'll be back in one piece!" Hammer opened the door, and Scooter gunned the cart, blasting through the open doors. He was long gone before Hammer closed the workshop doors. Pumpjack looked at him in shock.

"How could ya trust that Pegasus? He barged right in, and plumb begged ta use yer motorized thing. Plumb rude, I tells ya. Plumb rude!" No sooner had she finished saying that when Hammer heard the motor roaring right outside the workshop door. Opening the large door, he backed up quickly to get out of Scooter's way before he would accidentally trash something.

"HOO-WHEE! That's some ride! By the way, I don't think I caught your name, sir." Hammer smiled. As he began speaking, his smiled literally melted off his face.

"I'm Hammer, this is Pumpjack. Welcome to the Wheelworks." Scooter began laughing in giddiness.

"WHEELWORKS! WHEELWORKS! YEAH!" He began bouncing around again. Hammer stopped him, and asked him a very important question.

"Why are you even out HERE, Scooter? No Pegasus I've met EVER comes near the Everfree Forest. They think it's haunted or something like that." Scooter laughed, but then a worried, and depressed look came over his face.

"I got kicked out of Cloudsdale. They said they got no use for a Pegasus who preferred to be on the ground, driving. Didn't really care, either way." He perked up, the thought of an idea playing out across his face. "Hey, could I stay here? I mean, I don't got no place to go. It would be nice to stay in such a nice place, too." Hammer shook his head and sighed.

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this, but fine. You can stay here, Scooter." Scooter started bouncing around, YET AGAIN, and bounced all the way to the kitchen, where falling pots, and some insults were overheard. Hammer laughed and rubbed his forehead. "That Scooter's going to be a trouble maker. Still, he SEEMS honest enough." Hammer began writing down the plans for the cart motor. For him, with Pumpjack's fuel pump, it had been a momentous achievement.

Pumpjack cantered into the kitchen, and witnessed a fairly embarrassed Scooter, covered in pots, and trying to get them off of him. She chuckled under her breath, and began pulling pots off of Scooter.

"Ya clumsy foal! Ya kin hurt yaself pretty terrible if'n you do that again." Scooter stood up and laughed.

"I'm nigh indestructible! Nothing can hurt-" He didn't even finish his sentence before Pumpjack lifted him up with her magic, and threw him against the nearest wall, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Indestructible? I doubt that."

Hammer walked into the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. He arrived to see Scooter and Pumpjack playing a strange game with pots and jar lids. He shook his head and sighed.

"You're both going to end up driving me insane! Pumpjack, you're better, but SCOOTER! Why do you have to be such a troublemaker?" Scooter shrugged. He stared at Pumpjack's pot, and tried to toss a lid in. It bounced off, and hit Hammer in the eye. Scooter looked up.

"It's just my nature. I can't help it that I'm so rambunctious!" Hammer laughed. He then proceeded to pick up a lid, and throw it at Scooter.

"Just don't do that again, okay, Scooter?" Scooter stood up, but ended up falling over laughing. He got up again, and put a pot on Hammer's head.

"Yes SIR, General Pot!" He fell over laughing again. Hammer looked pleadingly at Pumpjack.

"This pony doesn't make ANY sense." Pumpjack used her magic and picked Scooter up off the floor. She walked away, still holding him suspended in the air. He quickly learned it wasn't smart to tick off a unicorn, and began trying to get free. Pumpjack knocked his head into the door frame to get him to cut it out.

"You ain't gettin' out o' my grip, ya blasted varmint. If'n ya please, don't get around destroying the workshop. Hammer worked hard on it, ya see?" Scooter sat still. His head was still pounding from her smashing him into the wall. He didn't want to risk any kind of permanent damage.

"Okay, I'll behave; just put me down!" Pumpjack set him down quite roughly. "Fun killers." Hammer just sighed and shook his head.

"And he says they don't want him around because he prefers to drive." Hammer showed Scooter a room he could have. Scooter bounced into the room, flopping down on the bed, and promptly falling to sleep. "Must have been dead tired, or he's just being an annoyance." Hammer left the room, Scooter still snoring away. He walked to Pumpjack, and began planning out the motorized cart's shape with her.

"There'd have to be enough room for at least four ponies, especially a Pegasus. The Summer Solstice Festival is in three days. Imagine their faces when we arrive in town DRIVING. They'd die of jealousy! Ha!" Hammer and Pumpjack shook hooves, and began work on the exterior of the motorized cart, which they decided to call the Phoenix. They worked throughout the day, and most of the following night.

When they completed the framework and detailing, it was a beauty to behold. The paneling worked perfectly with the shape of the vehicle, and there was enough room for a few extra motors to make the cart move faster.

"That's one great vehicle right there, Pumpjack. I doubt I'd have finished it so quickly without your help." Pumpjack smiled, and got inside. It seemed very roomy.

"Try it out, Hammer! Yer gonna love it!" Hammer hopped in the driver's seat. It WAS really comfortable.

"They'll EXPLODE with jealousy when they see this! Ha ha! Well, I should hide the keys, so you-know-who won't try to take it and test drive it before we get a chance to use it. I tell you, Pumpjack, Scooter's a troublemaker, but I think he's got good intentions in his heart." Pumpjack laughed at him quite vigorously. "The road to an early grave is paved with good intentions." They opened up the door, to see a curious pony sitting outside, watering a small plant in a pot using a small bottle of water. She seemed quite fragile, that filly with a green olive coat, and bright green hair. When they opened the door, she stood up quickly, and bowed her head as if to apologize. She mumbled what sounded like an apology, and raised her head, revealing smiling green eyes, and one doozy of a nervous smile. Hammer walked up to her slowly, and tried starting a conversation with her.

"Hi, my name's Hammer. I was just wondering, what are you doing all the way here, in the Everfree Forest?" She looked up at him, the nervousness slightly disappearing from her face. She sat down, and spoke in a quiet and timid voice.

"Hi. I'm Beanstalk. Ponies were mad at me, and tried to be meanies by destroying my bean plants. I had only one left, and this was the only place where I could grow it in peace." Hammer patted her on the head, a gesture which seemed to alarm her. Hammer backed up, sat down, and held up his front hooves apologetically.

"I'm sorry. Those of us here at the Wheelworks, we're kind of in the same situation. We're all here because ponies were mad at us. You're welcome to grow your plants out here, as many as you want." When Hammer had said this, Beanstalk leaped at him, and squeezed him in an incredibly tight hug. Her voice was positively BUBBLING with happiness. Her voice was significantly higher in pitch when she spoke.

"I'm so happy! You're the first pony to be nice to me ever, so I'll call you my big brother!" She squeezed him again, that time much harder. Hammer was having a hard time breathing.

"That's... all.... fine..... and.... dandy. Could.... you..... STOP..... squeezing.... me?" She stopped, realizing she was hurting her 'big brother'.

"I'm sorry, big brother. I didn't mean to. Please don't be mad." Hammer was breathing deeply, and turned back to Beanstalk.

"Just never do that again. That REALLY hurts. You're definitely a farmer, Beanstalk; you've certainly got the strength." She smiled sweetly at Hammer, like a little sister would. He walked her inside, and gave her a choice of rooms. She kept insisting on the room next to his, and wouldn't take any other rooms; in the end, he gave in, and let her have the one to the left of his. Pumpjack was smiling smugly as Beanstalk jabbered away at Hammer about beans and all their healthy uses. He looked like he was about to fall asleep. She walked in, and interjected in the middle of Beanstalk's monologue.

"I know yer oh so happy, Beanstalk, but ya gotta know when ta quit silliness, and be serious. Hammer's plumb about to fall asleep on ya, and yer still jabberin' on like he wasn't! Please, let Hammer be." Beanstalk pouted as she trotted out of the room, content to sleep in the room to the left of Hammer's. Hammer looked at Pumpjack.

"Thanks for saving me, yet again. I don't think I could take anymore of that. It's tiring enough to deal with Scooter, but now I have a filly calling me 'big brother'. Of all the things, my life had to end up like this. Well, it's not ALL bad, I guess."

Silence and Thunder

Hammer left Pumpjack to tend to Beanstalk, who seemed very tired after whatever ordeal she had just gone through. He decided to take a walk outside. He trotted quickly through the front door, and admired the morning beauty of the Everfree Forest.

"They really think this place is haunted by the ghosts of the dead? Give me a break." He kept walking, trying to clear his head. Beanstalk, Scooter, and Pumpjack were enough to cause his mind to fry right now, and he needed to think of other things. He came to a clearing, where it seemed sunnier than the other places he had passed on his way. In the middle of the clearing was a strange box. When he opened it, he found a strange book, entitled 'The Lightning of the Earth'. He picked it up, and sat down to read it. Just before he started, he heard a large sonic boom, followed by six more. The only thing he saw that seemed to be connected with those sounds was a pony zipping by at an incredible speed. Taking a look at the book, the first chapter was on the legendary 'Zap Ponies', or Earth Ponies that could move at incredible speeds. Watching the pony zip back and forth, he realized that whoever that was, he needed to talk to him. He walked carefully out of the clearing, and called out to the speeding pony. "Hey, wait a second!" The pony tried to stop, but tripped, and was sent flying head over heals for another ten feet, ending up sliding, with his head in a pile of dirt. Hammer laughed as the pony pulled his head out, and stared at him with a beard made of dirt.

"Hey, you might want to wipe your face off, ha!" The pony – it was clear now it was an Earth Pony – stared viciously at Hammer, and began speaking rapidly in a British accent.

"You bloody foal! You could'a killed me, you know? I've been getting be'er at me Sonic Rocket manuever, but your foolhardy stunt could have cost me!" Hammer fell back laughing. The pony wasn't very amused. "WHAT'S SO BLEEDING FUNNY! I'm talking to you, dang it! Listen to me!" It only served to make Hammer laugh worse. Eventually, Hammer regained enough self-control to be able to talk without laughing.

"Don't take it personally. I just wanted to ask you a question." He held up the book. The pony was absolutely shocked.

"My parents said that had been stolen! Where did you find it?!" Hammer pointed at the metal box in the middle of the clearing. "But why? Why would they get rid of me book in one of their strong boxes, and not tell me? I tell you, every bloody one of me relatives is bloody knackered! Bonkers! Nuts!" Hammer looked at him.

"Are YOU a 'Zap Pony'? From your speed, I'd think you were." The pony looked at him proudly.

"Yes, quite. I am Hermes, the Lightning Earth Pony!" Hammer looked at the pony. His yellow mane, and yellow tail, were positively pulsing with electricity. His dark yellow coat was a bit more normal, but the main thing that proved his statement was his eyes. They LOOKED like they were full of lightning.

"I'm Hammer. Pleased to meet you, Hermes. You're probably pretty hurt from the 'fall', so I guess you can come to the Wheelworks for a bit." Hermes looked a little bit dejected. Apparently he didn't like admitting he was hurt, or he might seem weak, but would accept a little help.

"Fine, then. Take me to your Wheelworks."

Hermes stood still in front of the Wheelworks, seemingly astounded at the construction. He stared at Hammer.

"Blimey, mate, you built this thing yourself? That's a right pain, if you ask me. But still, solid work. Can't argue with that." Hammer shook his head in amazement. This pony really had no idea what he was walking into. Hammer opened the door to Scooter and Pumpjack attempting to get Beanstalk down from a tall shelf. Hermes walked in, and shook his head. "Bleeding foals, if you ask me." Scooter turned around, and glared at Hammer.

"Stop standing there, and help us get Beanstalk down, Hammer!" At the mention of Hammer, Beanstalk flung herself off the shelf, right onto Hammer. She was positively bubbling with happiness, which, unfortunately, meant she was crushing the air out of Hammer's lungs. She started bouncing up and down.

"Big brother! Big brother! You're back! I don't really trust these two-" she motioned to Scooter and Pumpjack, who appeared very angry and exasperated. "-but I'm glad you're back! Oh, who's this? He looks * gulp * SCARY! Eep!" She ran behind Pumpjack, who just shook her head.

"I reckon he might have a story similar to y'alls. Name's Pumpjack. I build pumps, and I built that there pump on Hammer's cart thingomabobber." Hermes cantered up to her, held up her hoof, and kissed it. She drew it back sharply, slightly confused as to what the strange pony with electrified hair was doing.

"Charmed. My name is Hermes, the 'Lightning' Earth Pony. The moniker 'Lightning' refers to me mane being electrified and all." She nodded at him. Scooter walked up.

"Name's Scooter. I'd like to get to know ya, but right now, I'd rather CATCH A RIDE with Hammer in his motorized vehicle." When he finished saying that, he began bouncing around, saying 'motorized vehicle' over and over. Hammer rubbed his face with his hoof, and didn't respond. Beanstalk looked at Hermes, who offered a hoof in friendship. She hid even further behind Hammer. Hammer laughed.

"Guess you can't win 'em all, Hermes. She's a strange one, Beanstalk. Insists on calling me her 'big brother.' Don't even bother trying to sort THAT one out. Even I don't get it." Hermes stared at Beanstalk with a quizzical expression, as if he was trying to discern what kind of pony she was. He gave up after a short while.

'Strange, indeed. Now, if you would so kindly show me to an empty room? I'd like to have a room for me own." Hammer sighed and nodded.

"There's two that are not currently occupied. There's one upstairs, near Beanstalk's room-" Beanstalk gave out a strangled squeek at the thought of Hermes' room being next to hers. "-or you could just take the room available here on the ground floor." Hermes stared at Hammer, and then began to laugh.

"You know what? You're a right good friend, Hammer! No pony has ever let me have something to call me own! They usually ignore me and then bugger off somewhere. Thank you!" He hugged Hammer, who had had enough hugging for that day.

"Okay, okay, please, no hugs. Or Beanstalk will-" He turned around, and Beanstalk squeezed him in one of her incredibly tight hugs, crushing the breath out of him. Pumpjack and Scooter had to literally PRY her off of Hammer. Scooter pushed Beanstalk back and looked her in the eye.

"You're gonna kill Hammer by doin' that! Don't do it again, PLEASE?" She nodded, and sat down with her lower lip out, pouting. Hammer, coughing, stood up.

"Well, you're welcome, Hermes. You know, tell you what. I'll modify the motorized cart so it can fit six. Making it fit five would be kind of silly, and preparing for a sixth pony would be better. Well, I'll be back in a bit. Don't anypony try anything funny while I'm gone. I don't want to come back to the Wheelworks on fire!" He hefted his hatchet, and galloped out the front door. Everypony looked at each other in silence. Not one was ready to cross Hammer yet.

Hammer was about to start chopping trees when a mare about his size tapped him on the shoulder. Her mane and tail, brown like earth, seemed perfectly suited to the nature of the trees in the Everfree. Even though her hooves were muddy, her tan coat was not even soiled one bit. She was a curious unicorn. She walked past him, and held out her hoof. A squirrel jumped down, and ran off into the bushes. She turned back to Hammer, and began lecturing him in quite a loud voice.

"How dare you interfere in the natural workings of the Forest?! If I was inclined to fight, I would wipe the floor with you, you RUFFIAN!" She attempted to try to take the hatchet from Hammer, but he kept it just out of her reach. Her tone of voice and expression shocked him a little.

"Now just hold on there, miss. I'm not trying to interfere in anything. I'm just trying to get some lumber to fix up one of my inventions, Now, would you kindly move out of the way?" She stood between him and another tree. He was getting a little bit annoyed. "Would you GET out of my WAY?" She shook her head.

"I will not move out of the way!" Hammer was starting to lose his temper, and it could show. He could barely hold onto the hatchet while resisting the urge to bury it in this unicorn's face.

"Move, now, or I'll do something I'll regret later." She got the message, and quickly moved out of the way. He walked over to a fallen tree, which seemed just hours old, and began chopping it into even lengths of lumber. The unicorn watched him with intent, as she apparently had never seen a pony work with a hatchet before, and it fascinated her. She tapped him on the shoulder when he had finished two small stacks of planks.

"What's that?" She pointed at the hatchet. Hammer held it up for her to see.

"This? This is a hatchet. It's for chopping down trees. That's WHAT it's for, but I use it to fashion planks as well. DON'T grab it there, you'll cut yourself." He knocked away her hoof from the sharp blade of the hatchet. She stepped back, pulled out a small book, levitated a pencil out, and entered something in it. After she finished, she put the little book, and pencil away, and looked at Hammer.

"I would guess that you live somewhere nearby, correct?" He nodded. He held out his hoof for her to shake. She didn't seem to get the gesture, and bowed her head slightly in response.

"I'm Hammer, by the way, miss. I didn't catch your name back there." She looked at him with a slight tilt of her head.

"Hammer? I think I've heard of you before." He froze. If she knew about his bad luck with his old workshops, then- "No, nevermind. I must be mistaken. I may have gotten confused with the old stories of Blast Hammer, the unicorn." Hammer smiled. At least somepony besides himself read the old stories. The legend of Blast Hammer hadn't been a PARTICULAR favourite of his, but to each his, or her, own. He began walking back to the Wheelworks, when the unicorn galloped up beside him.

"I'm Deepwood, by the way. Nice to meet you, Hammer!"

When they arrived back at the Wheelworks, Hammer saw that Beanstalk was waiting for him.

"Oh no, not again!" Just as he finished his sentence, Beanstalk leaped on him yet again, but didn't squeeze him. As he got up, he saw Pumpjack smiling through the front window. "Well, I guess, welcome to the Wheelworks, Deepwood." He opened the door, where Deepwood, and even Hammer, were introduced to an amazing sight. Pumpjack had apparently been busy. Scooter was setting up some device on the ceiling, and Pumpjack smiled at Hammer.

"I found these here plans sittin' out on yer workbench. I thought, what the hay, I'll try my hoof at it. Turns out I got some kinda eye for detail, that sort of thing." Hammer wasn't really listening; he was staring up at the device on the ceiling. It started up, and began spinning. Scooter turned the lights out, and Hammer realized what it was. He had drawn up plans a long while ago for a sort of miniature planetarium, which could be attached to a ceiling, and it would shine out the heavens for all ponies in the vicinity to see. He sat down, a small tear in his eye.

"This is just, well, amazing. There's really no words to describe it. You all, * sniff *, you all are my friends. Friends do this sort of thing for each other." He smiled an incredibly large smile. Even Beanstalk saw his smile in the darkness. Scooter turned the lights back on after about five minutes.

"Y'all know this is one cool machine! I'd like one for my own!" Hermes was apparently standing on the upper landing, on the second floor, as his voice could be audibly heard.

"Better than anything me blasted foals of parents could dream up. They were astronomer ponies, but they always left me to me own devices, really. That's a right piece of work, Pumpjack." Hammer looked at all of them, and laughed. He had friends, REAL friends, that showed they cared. Deepwood spoke up, but instead of her booming voice of before, it was a bit more quiet.

"Um, Mr. Hammer? What EXACTLY do you do here?" He turned around and faced her.

"I'm an inventor. See that motorized vehicle over there?" She looked where he was pointing, and her mouth opened in amazement. "Pumpjack helped me, but I mostly built it." Deepwood looked at Hammer.

"I'm a nature observer. Observe, but never interfere. That's the number one rule for me. I've seen all the animals in the Everfree, from the cute bunnies, all the way to the chimera-like Manticores." Hammer had to think for a second.

"What's a chimera?" Deepwood looked at him as one pony might look at another who has been in some dark place for many years without current information. She sighed, seeming exasperated, and continued on.

"A chimera is a creature that appears to be made of many creatures seemingly attached together, or at least, pieces of creatures." Hammer sat down.

"Like a dog with the head of a sheep, or something?" Deepwood nodded.

"Precisely, though many chimera are products of a strange power in the Everfree Forest. It doesn't affect ponies, but if there is any animal caught inside a field where such a power is present, it will combine with the next animal that wanders into the field." Hammer ignored the last part, and was over near the stairs, reading the calendar.

"Hey, you ponies know the Summer Solstice Festival is in about a day, right?" Everypony there except Deepwood nodded. She seemed absolutely confused.

"What's the Summer Solstice Festival?" They all looked at Deepwood as if she had just asked who moved the sun and moon.

"It's a celebration of the longest day of the year, and of the day that Solar Flare was defeated and imprisoned in the sun." Deepwood nodded.

"Sounds interesting! Can't wait!"

Burning Day

A day later, Hammer, Beanstalk, Pumpjack, and Deepwood piled into Hammer's motorized cart, which he had expanded slightly for Hermes and Scooter. Hermes refused the offer of a ride, purely because it felt better for him to 'zap' along, instead of going slowly. Scooter wasn't going to sit in the same vehicle as Pumpjack; he was still somewhat scared of her. Hammer shook his head in laughter, and powered up the cart. It rumbled to life, as it had done when Scooter test drove it. Scooter opened the door of the shop, and pushed the cart out. As they started driving, faster and faster, Hammer remembered something incredibly important.

"Hey Pumpjack, what kind of fuel did you rig my motor to use?" She smiled, and held up a jar. Hammer almost fell out of the cart, laughing. The cart was getting incredible speeds, off of nothing more than apple juice. "Well, I guess we're good for the environment. Here we GO!" He gunned the motor, and sped away. Scooter sped up, while Hermes broke the sound barrier and blasted towards Ponyville. They believed the day to be the same as every other day.

But the events that would transpire later in the day, would change their view of the world, forever.

Hermes was the first to arrive, taking a look at the fine foods laid out on the tables. Many mares stared at him; some even fainted. He was barely even interested in them; he was more interested in what filled his belly than what filled his head. The smells, the sights, it almost made him break out into song. He kept himself under control, as he did not want to be thrown out of this celebration. He heard the cart rumbling along, and smiled. They were on time, and quite punctual too. Other ponies around became very frightened at the sound, but some became angry when they saw what was making the noise, and who was driving it. Hammer was laughing in quite a loud manner, as the cart ground to a halt. Four ponies with pitchforks advanced towards the cart, but didn't get very far. Pumpjack and Deepwood levitated the weapons out of their hands, and jammed them, prongs downwards, into the dirt. Deepwood was seemingly angry with them.

"Don't you ruffians know any better? What, you think this beauty of a machine is going to explode? HA! I laugh in your face! HA!" Hammer hopped out, an even BIGGER smile than before on his smug face. Pumpjack walked up beside him, a smile about the same size spreading across her face.

"You foals. You would have heard an explosion coming from the Everfree if this cart's motor had blown up. You can thank this unicorn for the pump keeping it from blowing up." The four sat down, a little in awe. Hammer had come back, when they didn't want him in town, and this cart had not blown up at all. Pumpjack stepped forward.

"An' if'n any of ya varmints try nothin', I'll thrash ya six ways to Sunday!" They backed up then, afraid of the Frontier pony. Beanstalk stepped forward, a large bowl on her back.

"I hope this works for food. It's a kind of bean dip, and if you have any chips made from corn, they go well together." One of the four got up, and walked towards her.

"Well, I guess we'll let Hammer and his friends be here for the celebration. It's for everypony, anyways. Welcome to the Summer Solstice Festival! The festival itself lasts for three days, and today is actually the eve of the Solstice. When the sun rises tomorrow, some ponies are saying Princess Luna herself will come and bring us the greatest rising of the sun in the history of Airtseuqe! Now, miss, just put the bowl over on those tables near the town hall, and Hammer, welcome back. There ARE those who weren't glad you left, but still understood the dangers if you stayed." Hammer looked at him and laughed. This pony was always incredibly serious.

"The main reason my engines blew up was because I couldn't build a pump that could withstand the pressure. This unicorn here-" he pointed at Pumpjack. "-she's the one who built the fuel pump. Without her, I would probably have had my head blown all the way to the library." The other pony laughed, and walked away. Hammer shook his head in amazement. "Even though it's been literally about thirteen or fourteen days, it still feels like it's been around a year. No pony ever treated me with that much kindness. EVER." Pumpjack looked at him sideways. She hadn't known about HOW badly Hammer had been treated; she only regarded him as the kindly, youthful owner of the Wheelworks. Hammer looked at her, trying to gauge her thoughts. He gave up after a minute, and began wandering through the crowd. He wasn't as well received as Hermes had been; he didn't particularly care anyways. Beanstalk came galloping back after she had set the bowl on the table.

"Big brother, there are GAMES over there! PLEASE come with me and play them? PLEASE?" Her eyes became as wide as saucers, which was too much for any pony to take. Hammer held out as long as he could, but even he couldn't resist how cute her little, sad face was. He patted her on the head.

"Sure, I guess I'll go with you. Hey Pumpjack, keep an eye on Scooter. Deepwood, don't just stand back and DOCUMENT how ponies interact, do some interacting yourself!" He was saying it as quickly as possible, because as soon as he agreed, Beanstalk began dragging him away towards some games that had been set up; in particular, she was dragging him to a Brother-Sister race that was set up near the outskirts. She began bouncing up and down, bubbling with excitement. She could hardly wait to get started. Hammer stretched to prepare for the race. He never liked racing, but Beanstalk had dragged him to this game, and he was now expected to participate. He shook his head in amazement.

"Why do I agree to things like this?"

The referee for the race pulled the switch on a pop-box, and a loud CRACK was heard. Each grouping of siblings raced forward, with Beanstalk near the middle, Hammer running as fast as possible, mostly to keep away from the pony behind him who apparently hadn't heard that he was allowed to be at the festival, but was to leave afterwards. The pitchfork kept almost hitting him. Hammer veered away, startling the pony with the pitchfork. He rushed back, and knocked the pony down.

"Serves you right! No pony is going to get me with a pitchfork!" He kept running as fast as possible, laughing his head off. Soon they were finished the first part of the race. He and Beanstalk were at the second stage first, where they were to eat an apple rhubarb pie as quickly as possible. Hammer tossed his up and downed it with one giant CHOMP. Beanstalk stared at the pie, and ate it quite quickly, like a squirrel would eat nuts. Within seconds, they were finished the second stage, and moved onto the third. The third stage involved the younger sibling directing the older sibling through a series of obstacles, while the older was blindfolded. Beanstalk was unsure of that part, but Hammer reassured her, and tossed her up on his back. She tied the cloth over his eyes, and he set himself to go. Unfortunately, it was more of a fight to get through the obstacles. Beanstalk wanted to go slowly through them, but Hammer wanted to get done quickly.

"Go left! LEFT!"

"Beanstalk, direct me THROUGH the obstacle, NOT AROUND IT!" Eventually, they made it to the end, and Beanstalk removed his blindfold. He turned around, and saw that three of the obstacles were broken. He turned, with fire in his eyes, towards Beanstalk. She smiled nervously.

"Uh, sorry?" They didn't have enough time to argue that point, as the other sibling teams were catching up. Next was the mud pit hurdle challenge. Beanstalk leaped over the straw pile, only to fall straight in the mud. Hammer hopped up on the straw and jumped easily over the pit. He fished Beanstalk out, who shook the mud off of herself. She was beaming. "Let's keep going, big brother!" He tossed her up on his back, and kept leaping over the mud pits. Eventually, they reached the finish line. They crossed the finish line, to a completely silent audience. Many seemed angry, and that anger was directly pointed at Hammer. Some picked up pitchforks. Hammer shook his head, and rubbed his forehead with his hoof.

"What's with these ponies and pitchforks? Not a single club, or two-by-four anywhere!" Pumpjack and Hermes heard the commotion, and hurried over. Deepwood watched from a distance, sitting on top of a rather distraught Scooter.

"What are ya doin' ta Hammer?! Ya oughta be ashamed of yerselves! Just 'cause he won, and not of o' yer OTHER teams, that gives ya the right to harm him?" Pumpjack was putting herself between Hammer and the crowd. Hermes thundered in, silencing those ponies who were going to attack Hammer. He bellowed at them in the loudest voice he could muster.

"You FOALS! You're no be'er than common thugs if you harm a hair on me friend's head! Put your weapons down, or go against me!" Almost all of them set down their weapons, and sat back down. The others in the stands, who had just sat there and not done anything, were waving at Hammer. Those ponies had acted as his friends and protectors when he was little; apparently, they still thought they were his friends. Hammer took the trophy for the race in his mouth, and tossed it to the second team coming through the finish line. That team almost got hit by the trophy, but they didn't care.

"I don't need a trophy. There's no real use for it, and I need things that have usefulness, or attributes that make them amazing or astounding." He walked away with his friends who had been there. Deepwood slammed her book on Scooter's head, quieting him down.

"Stop squirming, or I'll beat you senseless!" Scooter mumbled his next sentence. If Deepwood would have heard it, it would have sounded like this.

"Warn me before you try to beat me senseless. You're not good at timing."

Later, well into the night, royal trumpet blasts resounded through the air. The signal for everypony to gather at the Town Hall had been sounded. Hammer trotted up to Deepwood, and motioned for her to get off the now completely bored Scooter.

"Yo, thanks, Hammer. I am not CATCHIN' A RIDE, 'specially with Deepwood! She's BORING!" Hammer laughed.

"That was the signal for everypony to congregate inside the Town Hall. Luna's going to give a speech, or something to that effect!" They all galloped towards the Town Hall, smiling. Friends they were, and would ever be.

When they arrived at the Town Hall, it was utterly quiet. Strangely enough, every pony inside the Hall was as quiet as the grave. The royal orchestra, which was sitting near the front, cantered up onto the stage, and began the anthem of Airtseuqe, "Lunar March." Hammer couldn't help but join in.

"When black turns into light, when night turns into day, we follow our great leader, Luna, with what she will say. The ponies of Airtseuqe, hold your heads up high, as we watch the moon set, and the sunrise in the sky! For Luna, we will march into the night. For Luna, we will march, even in the morning's light. For Airtseuqe and all the lands around, we hold our heads up high!"

Everypony was smiling. It was the greatest part of being a pony of Airtseuqe. That anthem gave anypony a sense of pride in who they were. The Mayor stood forward, and in his husky, rough voice, he welcomed everypony.

"Welcome, everypony, to the Ponyville Summer Solstice Festival! And now, a speech from our Princess, LUNA!" The curtains on the upper floor parted, revealing, well, nothing. Luna was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a beam of light shone through. As Hammer watched the sky, he saw the four Compass stars of North, South, East, and West approach the rising sun. As they 'contacted' the sun, a cloud of fiery, red smoke flew in. In a blaze of flames, a mare, burning with anger and hatred, appeared. She was the brightest white, with a burning blue mane and tail. She wore armor that glowed like hot coals in a fire, and her helmet showed her symbol, a bright yellow sun. She surveyed the crowd, and began laughing. The Mayor pointed at the mare, and several Royal guards sprang up from the crowd.

"Arrest her! She knows where the Princess is!" The burning mare blew fire at them, and yelled at them.

"Back away, FOOLS!" She looked at them all. "Has nopony read the stories? Did nopony see the signs? HA!" Hammer walked forward, fear in his heart, but bravery glistening on his face.

"I did. I saw the Compass stars, and I saw every part of the prophecy unfolding." She stared at Hammer with a burning stare.

"Ah, at least ONE pony knows the prophecy. And if you know the prophecy, you know who I am!" Hammer gulped down his fear, and a challenging expression spread across his face.

"You're Solar Flare, the one who was prophesied to return, and spread burning day across Airtseuqe! You won't get away with this!" Solar Flare laughed, and snorted flames, setting the roof of the Town Hall on fire.

"I've already gotten away with kidnapping the Princess! You will never stop me!" She turned into a fiery ball of red smoke, and burned through the front doors of the Hall. Hammer galloped to the door, and bucked it open. Ponies began screaming and trying to gallop for safety. Hammer and his friends were the first outside. The scene inside the Hall was not significantly better than the scene outside. Solar Flare had kept up on the prophecy. That evil mare was raining fire down upon Airtseuqe, starting with Ponyville. Ponyville was literally burning to the ground, and Hammer couldn't stop it. An idea sprung into his head. He faced his friends.

"Follow me, I think I know of a way to stop Solar Flare!" Nodding at each other, they galloped back to the motorized cart.

Hammer pulled out his Book of Legends, flipping quickly to the section on Solar Flare and the Elements of Combat. He began reading aloud.

"It is said that only the legendary six Elements of Combat have the magic capability for defeating Solar Flare. Only five are known: the Elements of Strength, Ability, Knowledge, Duty, and Honour. When all five Elements are in the vicinity of one another, and a 'spark of emotion' occurs, the sixth element is revealed, and the power to defeat Solar Flare is realized!" They looked at each other. Hermes was the first to speak up, to everypony's surprise.

"Hammer, we'd be'er find these Elements of Fighting-"

"Combat."

"-Combat as soon as possible! What's it say about the location?" He read on to find the location.

"They are located in the deepest valley in the Everfree Forest, Cataclysm Valley, where the ruins of the Castle of the Alicorn Sisters rest."

They reached the edge of the Everfree Forest. Each one of them stood strong, ready to fight the good fight for Airtseuqe. Hammer stamped his hoof forward.

"One for all!" Pumpjack, Beanstalk, Hermes, Scooter, and Deepwood stamped their hooves forward as well.

"And ALL for ONE!" They galloped into the Everfree Forest, unaware of the burning cloud of red smoke that was seemingly following them.

The cloud rematerialised into the form of Solar Flare. She began laughing quietly.

"Cataclysm Valley. I remember that place, where Luna and I once ruled. I was a fool for thinking we could have ruled together. Even if I have to burn this land to the ground, I WILL RULE AGAIN!"

Hammer and his group, still unaware of the cloud of red smoke, returned to the Wheelworks to prepare. Hammer constructed a small pair of binoculars from what was lying around his workshop. Beanstalk watered her plants, and put them inside a small dirt pit that Pumpjack had dug for her, to protect it from Solar Flare's fire. Pumpjack was saying her thanks to her friends, a small grouping of plush animals sitting in her room. Hermes was having a hard time standing still in the foyer of the Wheelworks, while Scooter put on his crash helmet. When they had all completed their preparations, they met outside the Wheelworks. With one voice, they all cried out.

"SOLAR FLARE, WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!"

These Trials 5

They galloped from the Wheelworks, towards the direction that Hammer believed was the way to Cataclysm Valley. As they came to one area, a cloud of red smoke, still unnoticed by Hammer and his friends, caused rocks to fall into the river nearby, causing the river to be filled with rapids, making it incredibly dangerous to cross. Pumpjack sat down, a little depressed.

"How the hay are we s'posed to cross THAT! It's impossible!" Beanstalk smiled at the river. She walked up to Hammer, not even saying a word, and pulled out his hatchet. Hammer was about to knock it out of her hands, when she spoke through her teeth.

"I know thith lookth dangerouth, but trutht me." She trotted over to a nearby tree, and started chopping it down. As Hammer watched, he realized Beanstalk was swinging that hatchet with more brute strength than he could possibly muster himself. After about seven or eight of her chops, the tree came down. She trotted back to Hammer, dropped the hatchet back in his bag, and returned to the tree. Pumpjack was about to go help her with her magic, when she saw Beanstalk drag it slightly to the river. She walked to the other end, and hunkered down. She wound up for a buck, and kicked the tree with as much as she could muster. Hammer could have sworn she had a slight smile on her face when she bucked that tree. Even Deepwood looked up from her book when a loud THWACK was heard, and the tree sped across the water until it was wedged between two of the rocks in the river, forming a handy log bridge. Beanstalk turned around, facing Hammer. "See what I made, big brother? We can cross now!" Hammer couldn't argue with that. She hadn't felt dejected at the obstacle; she had just found another way around it. He tapped the others, who looked up, and leaped up, seeing the log bridge. Rather than ask who built it, they naturally assumed Hammer had built it, and thanked him. Hammer walked up to Beanstalk.

"They all said thanks for building the bridge, Beanstalk."

They hurried over the log bridge, which was quite sturdy. Even Hammer was surprised. As they finished crossing, the path ahead split into two paths. They sat down at the crook in the path, and deliberated. One path APPEARED to be completely clear, while the other wound around a cliffside. Hammer examined each path. He faced his friends, and belted out a statement.

"The path that looks clear is the opposite direction to where we want to go. The path that looks dangerous, that's the path to Cataclysm valley." Pumpjack appeared genuinely afraid of the path they were to go on, and rightly so. No sane pony would have taken that path under normal circumstances, but these were extraordinary circumstances. Solar Flare was burning the land of Airtseuqe in an attempt to regain her rule. Hammer looked up. The sky was still slightly like twilight, the few hours before morning, but it was red, red like the color of blood. It made him shudder. The moon itself was a deep red, and the clouds in the sky were smoke clouds from nearby towns. Solar Flare was moving fast, so they had to as well. He sped up to catch up with the group; they had already pulled ahead, worming their way as quickly, and safely, as possible. They reached a cliff, and the bottom was barely visible. Almost everypony sat down, feeling defeated. A pony would die from a fall from that height. Pumpjack, however, assessed the situation. She tapped Hammer on the back.

"Hammer, I'm gonna need that ol' hatchet o' yours. I got me an idea." He pulled the hatchet out, and gave it to her. There were some long grasses nearby, and as Hammer watched, she began chopping the grass, and laying it out in a long fashion like a- Hammer stopped. She couldn't be.

"Pumpjack, are you going to tie your own rope?!" She turned, and merely smiled at him, starting the intertwining of the plant fibers. As she worked, she sped up, moving faster and faster. Beanstalk and Scooter stood beside Hammer now, amazed at the speed Pumpjack was working at. She finished each section, and twisted it tightly, to remove as much moisture as possible. Hammer rubbed his hoof on his forehead. It was a shame; he was the inventor, and he hadn't thought of that. He was being too quick in giving up. He faced the cliff, and gave a small, whispered speech to the cliff.

"Courage and determination are what guide me. Nothing will keep me from my friends, and my goal." Hammer finished his little speech, and returned his gaze to the grass rope Pumpjack was making, or rather, had finished making. Tying each section together, she fashioned a long rope that she secured around a nearby rock. Scooter refused the rope, flying down Beanstalk as he floated to the base of the cliff. Pumpjack held the rope tight as Hermes, Deepwood, and Hammer slid down. Hammer slipped about halfway, and landed on his rump. Deepwood slipped as well, and landed on top of him, crushing a rather loud groan from Hammer.

"Deepwood, get off me. You're crushing my ribcage." She hopped off of Hammer, and helped him to his feet. Hermes hopped off the rope, and smiled smugly at Hammer and Deepwood. Hammer was coughing, trying to breath properly. "Hermes, wipe that stupid smile off your mug, or I'll remove it myself." Hermes laughed, and zipped around. Hammer wouldn't have bucked him. Okay, he would have, but not very hard. They were almost to the outskirts of Cataclysm Valley.

When they arrived at the outskirts, Deepwood stopped them. A low growl and snarl could be heard emanating from the path ahead. She pulled out her small notebook, and flipped to a page near the middle. She began reading out loud.

"Chimera – An amalgamate creature. Signals other creatures to stay out of its territory by a series of low growls and snarls. Generally very friendly, but will not hesitate to attack if feeling threatened." She walked forward, and looked around the corner. The chimera had its tail trapped under a boulder, and was thrashing out at any passerby. Deepwood patted Beanstalk on the head. "Come with me; I'll need your help." Beanstalk complied, and followed Deepwood, not fully understanding the unicorn's plan. When they reached the chimera, it tried thrashing out at them with its scorpion-like tail, but to no avail. The tail was still firmly stuck. Deepwood pointed to the boulder. Beanstalk didn't get the message. "Beanstalk, would you PLEASE move the boulder off of this creature's tail?" Deepwood began petting it behind its ear, keeping it calm so that it wouldn't try to kill her when Beanstalk moved the boulder. Hammer couldn't bear to watch, it seemed so likely that those two would die. He heard a rumble, a loud snarl, and a snap. Fearing the worst, he peeked out, and saw the chimera licking Deepwood and Beanstalk. He walked up to Deepwood, a little amazed, and confused.

"How'd you know that would work? It seems quite improbable that THAT plan would have worked." Deepwood tossed Hammer her book.

"Flip to page 36. You'll know why." Sure enough, page 36 DID explain how she could do that with the chimera. She had documented almost every scrap of information she had uncovered about the chimeras, and it had pretty much saved their necks. He nodded at Deepwood, and tossed the notebook back to her.

"You need this more than I do, Deep. Let's keep going. Mr. Chimera will probably want to go back to his family, if he has one." She nodded, and plodded forwards, leading everypony in the group this time. Scooter was flying overhead, and was watching for Solar Flare to pop out at any moment. Unfortunately, if she had, their journey would be over, and the world lost. Hammer was just glad that wasn't about to happen.

They arrived at a large clearing, which seemed very strange. It was bare earth, no vegetation of any kind. Beanstalk dug at the ground with her hoof, saddened by the lack of plants. Hammer looked at her, and sympathized with her. She loved plants. They began walking towards what appeared to be the exit, and found that plants grew up in their path. A gout of flame blew up through the ground on the other side. They retreated to the middle of the clearing. A fog bank began rolling in. They couldn't see each other, and were hard pressed to fumble their own way around in the dark. Scooter was pulled away by a pony that looked almost like his brother. He frowned at Scooter.

"You're a fool, Scooter. Your duty is to Cloudsdale, not to these surface dwellers. Come back to Cloudsdale, and I'll have you reinstated." Scooter looked around. He saw no other pony. Hammer was feeling around. He bumped into Beanstalk and Pumpjack, who had bumped into Deepwood and Hermes. Scooter was missing.

"SCOOTER? SCOOTER?! SCOO~TER!" Scooter heard their cries for him. He turned to what appeared to be his brother.

"Yes, my duty WAS to Cloudsdale, but my duty now is to my friends, and to the defeat of Solar Flare!" The pony he had been talking to turned into ash in front of him, and disappeared as fiery, red smoke. The fog began clearing, and Scooter saw his friends tearing up, not being able to find him. He walked up to them, and announced in a loud voice that he was still there. "Yo, what's up? Y'all really thought I would abandon this group? My duty is to my friends, and to our goal!" They all hugged him, even Beanstalk, who, unfortunately for Scooter, and fortunately for Hammer, squeezed him incredibly tight. When she let go, he was gasping for air. He turned to Hammer, while catching his breath. "I won't laugh at you again when she does that. That REALLY hurts!" Hammer laughed at Scooter. Empathy was a real virtue, and it was good for anything. He stopped laughing, and glared at Scooter.

"You'd better not laugh- wait, you were laughing when Beanstalk squeezed the breath out of me?!" Scooter flew up, smiling.

"Nah, but y'all should see the look on your face!" Hammer gave up trying to knock Scooter down, and started plodding forwards again.

As the group moved along, Hammer noticed something he hadn't about the group before. Everypony, except for Hermes, was walking along with a terrified look on their faces. Hermes was a mask of determination, of what seemed a good sense of what was right in the situation. He couldn't help but smile.

They reached a small clearing, about four clicks from the ruins of the Palace of the Alicorn Sisters. Some ponies appeared before them, smiling, and laughing.

"You all think Hermes is a liar, a pony who can only talk big. Somepony like him doesn't deserve to be with you."

"He's HORRID!"

"AND he smells!" Hermes looked at Hammer, and the rest of the group, with a quizzical expression. He was finding that hard to swallow. His expression turned to worry, but then Pumpjack spoke up.

"Hermes, pardner, yer our friend. All o' us had somethin' bad 'appen to them 'fore they came to the Wheelworks, and you was lied to by yer own kin. We wouldn't do nothin' like that ta ya! Friends dun do that!" Hermes was faced with a choice: believe what the strange ponies said, or believe his friends. He could feel the proverbial demon and angel fighting over the choices. He swallowed his worry, and anxiety, and faced the strange ponies.

"You're wrong. My friends believe in me, and honour me with their friendship. I will not forsake them because of some falsehoods! Begone, foul demons!" The 'ponies' screamed, and charged off into the distance. If they had watched closely, they could have seen the burning eyes of Solar Flare watching them. She was FURIOUS!

"They, they can't be! Who ARE they?! No matter, they won't defeat me!" Hammer and his group galloped forward, the expression of determination showing on their faces. Hammer's face was a mask of courage and determination, and he was not going to back down. His friends had all proven themselves; it was high time he did. They reached the outside of the ruins of the Palace of the Alicorn sisters, and stomped the ground when they stopped. The ruins were expansive, and a light could be seen issuing from the central chamber's windows. The Elements of Combat, they had to be in there, and Hammer and his friends were not going to let Solar Flare get between them and the Elements.

New World

Author's Note: This story was my original fanfic, created by my hand, first on paper, then typed out and edited. It was the first time I had ever decided to type out a story from something I had written down.

Anyways, Chapter 6! I hope you all enjoy!

Hammer waved everypony back. He was going in, and he didn't want any of his friends getting hurt. He tried the door, but didn't have much luck. Taking a few steps back, he bucked it as hard as he could, cracking the lock, and causing the door to slowly swing open. As he entered, he saw what the glow was. The Elements of Combat, they were real! As he approached, he noticed they were solid stone balls with 5 symbols on them; one was a half-gear with a hammer attached, another was a book with a question mark on it, the third was of a pony saluting, the fourth was of a shield, and the fifth, and final one there was a pony holding up a large weight. He trotted back outside.

"I'm going to need your help, guys. These seem quite heavy." Beanstalk galloped inside, and began lifting the stone balls with ease. As they brought the stone balls down, each one that came into contact with them began glowing. When it was removed from the pony it reacted to, it stopped glowing. Hammer pulled out the Book of Legends, and flipped through.

"There's nothing on how to activate them! Gah, what do we do now?!" As they all stared at the Element balls, they began to float, and move away from them. While the others were dumbfounded by the strange movement of the Element balls, Hammer began chasing after them. They began spinning, as if they were a whirlwind. Hammer could barely see a small amount of magic energy flowing in the middle, as if a rift was being created. He charged headlong into the whirlwind, and found himself in another area, facing none other than Solar Flare. He looked around. His friends were not there. He returned to facing Solar Flare, and gritted his teeth. He set his jaw in a determined expression. "Whatever you just did, you're going to pay for doing that!" He galloped up to her as fast as he could go. He started kicking right and left, his emotions exploding, as if a fireball had detonated inside his mind. He was not going to let Solar Flare deter him from returning the world to a normal state. Airtseuqe would be free.

********-----------------------------------------********************

Pumpjack saw Hammer charge headlong into the whirlwind of magic, and disappear with a shimmer, as if he teleported away. She shouted at the others, rousing them up to go find Hammer. A tower far across the ruins had light coming from the room at the very top. Deepwood noticed the tower. Scooter, and eventually everypony in the central chamber saw the light. Pumpjack's nervous face turned to one of pure shock.

"Always makin' it harder. Well, we go, after Hammer!"

********-----------------------------------------********************

Hammer couldn't land one hit on Solar Flare, while Solar Flare was just dancing around, burning him every time he got close to scoring a hit. He had several burns on his back, legs, and hooves. He fell over, the pain overwhelming him. His mind began replaying images. When he'd built the Wheelworks, when he'd met Pumpjack. When Scooter had flown in the window, and Beanstalk had chosen Hammer as her 'big brother'. When Hermes had fallen face-first, and slid along the ground when he had met Hammer, and Deepwood being considerate to a squirrel. He got up, the pain slowly ebbing away. His mind was screaming for him to stop, but another part of him made him stand, made him face Solar Flare. His face was not one of determination, but one of intense emotion. Indeed, there was no emotion to fully describe just WHAT he was feeling. All he knew was that if he was going to die, he would die for Airtseuqe, fighting for his homeland's freedom. Solar Flare teleported behind him, and reared up to stamp him into the ground, when voices were heard coming up the stairs. Hammer turned to the voices, and felt a spark go off inside of him. He couldn't explain it, but he was going to fight, and he was going to win. He stood up tall, and cracked his neck. Pumpjack and the others came running through the door, spotting Hammer, burned and hurt badly, but still standing, and Solar Flare, who was about as shocked as Hammer was.

"You idiots." He faced the rearing Solar Flare, and bucked, as hard as he could. He hit her squarely in the chest, knocking her backwards. As she was falling, she teleported herself near the Elements of Combat, and stamped the ground. The Element balls bounced once, and shattered. Pumpjack was about to scream, when Hammer held up his partially burned hoof. "You think you can destroy the Elements of Combat, just like THAT? Well, you're in for a shock. You're WRONG!" Solar Flare appeared confused.

"But I destroyed them! They're laying in pieces! HOW CAN THEY NOT BE DESTROYED?!" Hammer smiled.

"Because the spirits of the Elements of Combat are RIGHT HERE!" Solar Flare stared them down, a shiver of fear creeping up her back. Hammer continued, not pausing at all.

"Beanstalk, who moved a tree impossible to move without incredible strength, represents the Spirit of STRENGTH!" One of the piles of pieces glowed, and floated over to Beanstalk, who reared up. A steel chestplate appeared, clamping firmly to her body, a clean shade of green. A small 'badge' appeared in the crystalline centre of the chestplate. It was shaped like a pony holding a great weight made of solid iron, the Badge of Strength.

"Pumpjack, who used materials from the wilderness to overcome the cliffside obstacle, and help us all down, represents the Spirit of Ability!" A chestplate, exactly the same as the one Beanstalk had one, only slightly bigger, came out of another pile of pieces near Solar Flare, coloured a deep red. A badge, the shape of a half-gear, with a hammer attached, appeared on the crystalline centre of her chestplate, the Badge of Ability. The mare of blinding brightness and burning day was becoming very agitated at this development.

"Deepwood, whose knowledge of the Chimera in the Everfree allowed us to help one, and pass it without harm, represents the Spirit of Knowledge!" Another chestplate, this one coloured blue, came out of another pile of pieces, and slid firmly onto Deepwood's chest. A badge, appearing like a book with a question mark on the from, appeared on her chestplate, the Badge of Knowledge. She reared up in a menacing sort of fashion, which made Beanstalk giggle. Solar Flare was becoming increasingly alarmed.

"Scooter, who decided what path he would follow, and who he would follow, without a second thought, represents the Spirit of Duty!" Scooter stood still, watching the glowing mass of pieces float over to him, forming a chestplate that fit firmly over his body, a calm shade of grey, clamping once it was on. The symbol that appeared on his was of a pony saluting, the Badge of Duty. Solar Flare was visibly shaking in fear then.

"Hermes, who, although shadows of ponies told him lies that he could not tell were lies or truth, he chose to believe his friends, and refute the lies of the shadows. He represents the Spirit of Honour!" The final chestplate appeared, a bright shade of yellow that fit with his mane. The symbol for him appeared, a small shield with a blue centre, the Badge of Honour. Solar Flare stamped her hooves back down as she watched the five ponies receive their Element plates.

"But you only have five! The 'spark', it didn't happen!" Hammer smiled with the most courageous smile he could muster.

"When I followed you here, I was charging after the Elements. During our fight, when I heard my friends' voices, I felt it. A spark, of courage, that leaped in my heart. That was what allowed me to harm you, Solar Flare. I won't back down now, because once I realized what I needed to do, nothing could stop me from finishing that goal! I represent the Spirit of BRAVERY!" A steel helmet, coloured jet black, floated down from above him. The glow that had accompanied it dissipated, as it dropped onto his head, a perfect fit. The final symbol appeared on the forehead section of his helmet, a flag with a golden pole, the Badge of Bravery. Solar Flare reared up in fear, trying in desperation to find somewhere to hide from what those six were about to do. Hammer closed his eyes and focused. When he reopened them a few seconds later, they were glowing white, a blinding white. The glow first enveloped him, and then Pumpjack, and finally it spread to the others. Solar Flare was in a blind panic then, snorting flames, and running around in circles in fear. As the white glow built up in intensity, a large ball of energy appeared above the six ponies. It started off small, but began to grow as each Element's power was added. It reached full potential in a matter of minutes. The one thing Hammer said before they fought a last time, was not him speaking.

"For Airtseuqe, you SHALL not rule!" A large, rainbow-coloured beam of energy shot from the ball, and enveloped Solar Flare. She began rising in the air. She was snorting flames, and desperately trying to get out of its grasp, but she couldn't do anything. She was powerless against these elements.

********-----------------------------------------********************

In another world, six ponies stood up to face a similar enemy, a mare of eternal darkness. Their Elements created a rainbow that shot at the mare of darkness like a wave, engulfing her in a rainbow tornado.

********-----------------------------------------********************

Solar Flare's armor began peeling away, eliciting shrieks from the frightened alicorn. As the final piece of armor disappeared, she fell to the stone floor, tears in her eyes. Hammer walked up to her.

"You've caused a lot of trouble, Celestia." A loud voice agreed with him, and a black ball of energy floated in through the window, the sun rising behind the form materialising out of it. Hammer and his friends bowed, their princess in their midst. Luna walked up to Celestia, who was incredibly afraid of her older sister.

"Celestia, my dear sister, we were meant to rule together. Let's put our past differences aside, and work together." Celestia stood up, with tears in her eyes, and leaped at her older sister, giving her a big hug. But not all was as it seemed. Hammer looked up. His friends looked up as well. A rift had appeared behind the two alicorns, where the shreds of Solar Flare's armor were. They all rushed at the Princesses, and managed to shove them out of the way before a large burst of energy came out of the rift. It blasted across the Everfree Forest, and it engulfed Hammer's Wheelworks, removing it from where it was. Luna and Celestia were incredibly surprised and shocked to see that all six were gone. There was no explanation for what had happened. It had just happened.

********----------------------------------------**********************

The rift on the side where the mare of eternal darkness had once been opened. The two alicorns, with the six ponies wearing their elements, were stunned as six ponies, wearing armor, came FLYING through the rift. Hammer slammed into an old booksheld. Beanstalk slid along the ground, slamming into a white unicorn with a purple mane. Scooter shot out, but caught himself and flapped his wings once for a gentle landing. Deepwood landed on top of Hammer, squeezing a muffled scream from Hammer's poor body. Pumpjack slid on her back, and hit a wooden door, knocking it over, and falling down a bunch of stairs. The ponies who had just witnessed what happened didn't ask questions. Neither did the alicorns. They ran, and fast.

********-----------------------------------------********************

Hammer was the first to stir. Deepwood was still out, and STILL lying on top of him. His head pounding, he pushed her off of him onto the floor, and took a look around. Everything seemed similar, but there was one big difference. It was brighter than it had been before. The sun did not appear to be up, as if the events of the night had not happened.

********-----------------------------------------********************

Several clicks away, where the alicorns and ponies had run off to, Hammer's Wheelworks popped down, as if it had always been there. That gave them a shock, and sent them ALL off running again.

********-----------------------------------------********************

Hammer stood up. Everypony was stirring, but Luna and Celestia were nowhere to be found. He looked out the window, then turned back to his friends.

"Maybe they've gone back to the Summer Solstice Festival, for the solar eclipse!" Every four years, it had become a tradition on the day of the Summer Solstice Festival to create a solar eclipse to celebrate. It was four years since the last one, and Hammer was a little excited. But, as he watched the sun come up out the window, nothing spectacular happened. The sun just ROSE. But what surprised him wasn't that the sunrise was boring, it was where they were. Everything, EVERYTHING was brighter and more cheerful, and for some reason, that struck hard on Hammer.

"We're not in Airtseuqe anymore. Where in the high heavens are we?!" Pumpjack bounced up, and stood beside Hammer.

"A good 'dea would be ta look fer shelter 'round here. I know this place's still standin', but it's a ruin." Hammer definitely agreed with that. Pumpjack spoke the same line to everypony else, and they all agreed as well. They left the ruin, which

seemed much smaller than the one they had entered.

********-----------------------------------------********************

As they cantered along down the road in the Everfree Forest, something incredibly familiar caught Hermes' eye.

"Oy, mates, you might want to take a look a' this." Hammer stopped, turned around, and was greeted by the sign of the Wheelworks.

"It's the WHEELWORKS! How is that even possible?!" Deepwood shook her head.

"It defies common knowledge, but it could have something to do with the rift we tried saving the Princesses from." Hammer shook his head, utter confusion taking over.

"This- But- WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

********-----------------------------------------********************

A small filly was wandering through the Everfree, when she came upon a group of ponies arguing about some 'rift' or something. She didn't quite understand, but the one thing she did understand was that they were new, and somepony from the nearby town needed to introduce them to everypony. She sat there, debating what to do.

********-----------------------------------------********************

Hammer noticed the little filly, and trotted over to her, a worried look on his face. She stared at him straight, and he stared her down.

"Hello. Could you tell me where EXACTLY we are?" The filly looked at Hammer with a weird expression.

"You aren't from around here, are you? This place's the Everfree Forest, and you're in the land of Equestria." Hammer had to step back. Equestria. So they were no longer in Airtseuqe. This made things incredibly complicated. He returned to his group with his startling information.

"We are not in Airtseuqe. We are in a land called Equestria." They all stopped speaking, and stared at Hammer.

After a long pause, they were able to order themselves to respond.

"WHAT?!"

Revelation

Hammer was nearly beaten to pieces by his friends when he had delivered his information. They couldn't believe it. They were in a strange, new world? No, it was Hammer playing tricks on them. Hammer squirmed out of their grip, and faced them.

"You think I'd play a trick like that on my own friends? I wouldn't. It came as a shock to me as well, but haven't you noticed? The world's, well, happier, and somewhat more colorful." The others looked around. They actually hadn't noticed that. Pumpjack walked forward, and stared Hammer down. She scared him slightly.

"So whaddya think we oughta do, Hammer?" He thought for a minute.

"If this land is somehow linked to Airtseuqe, then the worlds might be similar, but just reversed. They could have their own version of Ponyville here." At the mention of Ponyville, they all heaved a sigh of relief.

----********

The young filly had been watching them discuss where they were, and a strange name kept coming up. A land called 'Airtseuqe.' She got up off her hindquarters and booked it to Ponyville, intent on telling the most intelligent pony that she knew of.

----********

Hammer looked at all of his friends.

"So it's settled then. We enter their version of Ponyville, and examine what is different, and, if possible, recruit somepony into helping us out of our strange predicament." They all nodded as best as they could, the Element plates still on. They returned to their path that they believed would lead them through the Everfree Forest.

----********

After about an hour of trial and error, they eventually made it out of the Everfree. Hammer had to catch his breath.

"Okay, whose bright idea was it to make chimeras HATEFUL of ponies? That's just messed up!" Deepwood nodded, and opened her book.

"This whole world deserves its own book for how nature works. There are things we don't understand here." Hermes glared at Deepwood.

"Great, mate, bleedin' brilliant. Now I suppose we just WALK up to those creatures, and ask, 'Oh, would you mind standing still for us? We want to write down how you react to ponies.' You're a bloody fool for thinking that, Deepwood. We'd be be'er off steering CLEAR of any creatures here in this land." Deepwood looked down, a little bit saddened. Hammer kept trotting, looking around for any signs of something similar nearby. His friends, bickering amongst themselves at that point, turned and saw him going forward, and decided to catch up. Hammer crossed the final ridge and was greeted with a familiar sight, except that it was, well, pink.

"You all see that, right? Ponyville is coloured pink." Hermes had to rub his eyes before he believed what he saw.

"Bloody hay! That's not right at all! That's just, erm, wrong!" Beanstalk walked forward, and ignoring the pink colours, she announced where they were in a voice louder than she usually spoke.

"YAY! IT'S PONYVILLE!" She charged down the hill, not aware of an orange Earth Pony pulling a cart up the road. Hermes saw the danger, and 'zapped' to Beanstalk, who was just realizing what might just happen. He pushed her out of the way, but ended up crashing into the cart himself, knocking both the orange pony, and IT over. Hermes went tumbling, and the orange pony stood up, slightly dazed.

"What the? Who did that? Come out, ya varmint. Ya gotta be considerate to them ponies working!" She apparently hadn't noticed it was Hermes who had ran into her, because as she turned around, she saw Hermes rolling head-over-hooves down the hill, screaming bloody murder as he couldn't stop.

"BLEEDING BRILLIANT! I AM NOT ENJOYING THIS! HAMMER!" Hammer heard his name called, and booked it from the group. Going downhill meant he could pick up more speed, but that also meant that he had to move that much faster to catch up with the rolling Hermes. He righted the overturned cart, and faced the orange pony.

"Just going to borrow this for a minute or two." Before she could protest, he was already rolling down the hill, a smile of determination spreading across his face. He was accelerating much faster than he would have been if he had been galloping.

"Wait up, Hermes! I'm coming!" A crowd of ponies had gathered at the end of the road, which ended in the town square of the pink Ponyville. Hammer's mind began racing, and he was waving wildly for them to move, or they might get hurt.

"MOVE! SCATTER! JUST DON'T STAND IN THE WAY!" The crowd didn't get what he meant at all. Hammer was finally overtaking Hermes, so he extended his hoof as far as possible, and grabbed that pony's hoof. Dragging him onto the cart, they looked up to realize that the crowd had NOT dissipated, and in fact had gotten larger. Hermes glared at Hammer.

"You're a bloody fool, you know that?" Hammer shrugged, and then they collided.

Hammer went flying straight for the pole in the centre of town, unable to keep from slamming into it. Hermes had hopped out before they had crashed into what was apparently the orange pony. How she had gotten in front of the cart that easily was beyond them. Hammer picked himself up, and brushed his Element helm off, before pulling it off.

"Good thing I was still wearing this, or that could have been messy." The crowd stared at him, but parted to let Hermes, Pumpjack, Beanstalk, Scooter, and Deepwood through. As Hammer and his friends congregated in the middle of Ponyville, they were getting strange looks from the crowd.

"What are those?"

"They aren't from around here."

"Why was the brown one so reckless?" Hammer motioned for them to pull off their Element plates, when a lavender unicorn came barreling in front of them.

"I came as soon as I could. Thanks, Dinky." The young filly smiled, and cantered away. The lavender unicorn looked them over, then held out a hoof. Hammer guessed it was a greeting, and returned the gesture in a hoofshake. The lavender unicorn seemed pleased at that, and her face became less tense.

"May I ask who you are?" Hermes stood forward, and stood proudly tall.

"I am Hermes, the Lightning Earth Pony!" Deepwood stood forward, and kept writing in her document book.

"I'm Deepwood. This is very interesting. Interesting indeed." Scooter stepped forward, a huge smile across his face.

"Name's Scooter! I love anything with more 'n 3 wheels!" The lavender unicorn was taken aback for a minute or so. The ponies in front of her seemed strange indeed. Hammer stepped forward, held his hoof across his chest, then held it up, pointing at the sky, a traditional Airtseuqe greeting.

"I am Hammer. May life treat you well." Beanstalk stepped forward, though she was shaking from fear. So many new ponies, it was enough to make anypony afraid, though the others may have been afraid to show it. At last, Pumpjack stood forward, seemingly indifferent to the unicorn in front of her.

"I'm Pumpjack. Now, if'n ya please, y'all gotta go now, and oughta leave us alone." The unicorn turned around, and motioned for the crowd to leave. They all dejectedly left, sad to not be able to greet the newcomers. The unicorn faced Hammer and his friends again.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. Welcome-" Hammer interrupted her.

"-to Ponyville. We know. Where we come from, we have a version of this, except it's not so........ pink." Twilight seemed strangely interested in this, but didn't have a chance to ask, as five more ponies came into the square. Twilight flipped around, and faced her friends.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie! Good thing you're here. Now-" The pink Earth pony standing behind Twilight, whom Hammer naturally assumed was named Pinkie Pie, pulled out five necklaces and a crown. She passed them out.

"They might be meanie faces, who knows?" Hammer put back on his helmet, and stared them down. This came as a shock, as the six they had just met stared at the symbols on their armor. The one called Fluttershy backed up and hid behind Rainbow Dash. Applejack seemed to have her interest piqued with Hammer and his friends. Twilight stared, somewhat in shock.

"Your symbols, they're like Element symbols!" Hammer and his friends stood up proudly.

"We hail from the land of Airtseuqe. We represent the Elements of Combat!" At this, the six Hammer and company had just met stood back, and put on their articles.

"We live here, in Equestria, and we represent the Spirits of Harmony!" They almost began fighting with their respective elements, when three little fillies came barreling through. One stood right in front of Hammer, and stared at him intently. He stared back, slightly confused as to what was going on.

"Uh, who in the high heavens are these three?" Applejack and Rarity grabbed two of them, and held them for safety, as if they were siblings. The one in front of Hammer just kept staring at him.

"You got a problem, little one?" The filly had apparently been trying not to laugh, as she fell over in convulsing fits of laughter. Hammer backed up, slightly confused and alarmed. Rainbow Dash fell over laughing, as well. Hermes seemed quite irritated at this.

"Hammer, we're wasting our bloody time. Let's leave, go BACK to the Everfree, and sit tight in the Wheelworks." At the mention of the Everfree, EVERYPONY who was from Equestria, and standing in that town square, froze. It was as if a blizzard had come through, and everypony had become an ice block. Scooter waved his hand in front of Rarity's face.

"They've lost it. Let's just go. This is just weirding me out." That was felt across the whole group, as they slowly backed away. As they turned around, however, those six were in front of them, AGAIN, this time with their mouths wide open.

"You LIVE in the Everfree? Aren't you scared?" Pinkie Pie bounced around them, seemingly ignoring the fact that they lived in the Everfree Forest. She was babbling on about something, but the one part that came out clearly enough was something about a party to celebrate the new ponies. Hammer looked at Hermes, who stared at him. They were both confused immensely, and that wasn't helped by the pink pony bouncing around them, acting as if it was a game. Hammer knocked her over to get her to pay attention.

"Get a grip on reality! We're outcasts here, not the sort of ponies you want to be getting involved with!" Pinkie just stared at him, a huge smile spreading across her face again.

"That's why we need to welcome you! You all need friends!" Hermes panicked, and 'zapped' away. As soon as he did, Rainbow Dash sat down on the ground, jaw down so low it could have fallen off at any point. Hermes returned, holding the Book of Legends.

"Hammer, got your book. Should shed some light on our world for them." He handed it off to Twilight Sparkle, who immediately began delving into its pages ignoring EVERYTHING. Rainbow Dash got over her shock enough to stare at Hermes.

"How can you be that fast? Let's race!" Hermes nodded. A race would be a good step to asserting his superiority over a mere Pegasus.

"From 'ere, to the nearest farm. That should be good." Rainbow Dash nodded, and took off, Hermes running fast behind. About five minutes later, Hammer could barely hear six loud booms, Hermes' Sonic Rocket.

"Miss Twilight, we need a way back home. Isn't there anything you can do?" She looked up from the book.

"Your world is very alien in nature. War, famine, Celestia was the one who became evil. Incredibly strange." Her friends fell over in shock. Hammer laughed.

"Must be too much to handle. Worlds like ours are never meant to collide, and yet they have."

Summons

Twilight looked up from the Book of Legends again.

"You have a celebration on the eve of the longest day of the year. The Summer Solstice Festival." Hammer nodded. He enjoyed the one he had gone to, even if it had been ruined by Solar Flare appearing.

"It's an amazing celebration. Every pony group who comes must bring a food item. From our group, that little one there, Beanstalk, she brought bean dip she had made herself. Never got to taste any of it, but it looked good." Hammer licked his lips. He was actually quite hungry.

"While we're on the prospect of food, may we get some? We're pretty hungry." Applejack had walked away when Hammer had mentioned he was hungry, and returned with a cart laden with apple-related goods.

"We got apple pies, apple fritters, apple turnovers, caramel apples. We got it all!" Hammer tentatively trotted over, and placed a coin down.

"I guess I'll take a pie. By Luna, I'm hungry." Applejack stared at him with a shocked look.

"Dun you mean, 'By Celestia?" Hammer shook his head.

"Different worlds, Applejack. Luna's the older princess in our world, and by Luna, we serve her with fervour." He broke into singing the Lunar March, the anthem of Airtseuqe.

"That's an interesting song, Mr. Hammer. What is it, exactly?" He stopped staring at the sky, and returned his gaze to Twilight.

"That was the Lunar March, the anthem of Airtseuqe. We sing it at every celebration, and every Airtseuqe pony sings it with happiness. Airtseuqe thrived under Princess Luna. I'm guessing, since Equestria seems to be sort of a polar opposite to our world, you've had prosperity under Princess Celestia, am I wrong?" Twilight nodded, a slight frown crossing her face.

"We don't have an anthem. We serve her with all we are, and she takes that as enough." Hammer laughed and smiled.

"The Lunar March was created by a pony of Airtseuqe in honor of Luna." A small purple-and-green dragon ran up behind Twilight, waving a letter frantically.

"Twilight! You've got a letter from the Princess!" Twilight, grabbing it with her magic, opened the seal, and read it aloud.

"To my dearest and faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. I have seen the newcomers as they have revealed themselves. If you may, I would like to speak to the one called Hammer, the inventor. There are matters that I must discuss with him." Twilight put the letter down.

"So, less than a day here, and the Princess wants to see you." Hammer shook his mane in amusement.

"I wonder what Celestia wants to talk about? Whatever it is, I've got a gut feeling that says it's not good at all."

Celestia had sent a royal flying chariot for Hammer, with guards and everything. Unfortunately, it didn't make Hammer feel important; it made him feel like a prisoner of war. Stepping inside the chariot, it WHIZZED off into the distance. Hammer did everything possible to stay inside the chariot, as the speed at which they were traveling was faster than anything he had ever experienced before. They landed at the Royal Castle in Canterlot, where Celestia, in regal glory, was waiting.

"You are Hammer? Come with me, we have pressing matters to discuss."

They entered Celestia's study, where she offered a chair to Hammer. He declined, and laid down on the couch nearest the door.

"So what's so pressing that you pull me away from those I know?" She stared him down.

"First, please be more courteous to the ruling party. It will help your cause in the long run." Hammer stared at her.

"By Luna, you're strange. I'm familiar with the Princess, to some degree, in Airtseuqe. She was interesting, to say the least." A voice from the other side of the room startled him.

"I'm INTERESTING?" A young Princess Luna came out of the dark at the other end of the study, and stood in the light. Hammer smiled.

"By the dark of the moon, it's really you, Princess." He got up, and bowed before her. Luna stared quickly at Celestia, perturbed by Hammer's actions. She tapped him on the back.

"Are you okay?" Hammer stood up, and looked at her.

"Yes, I'm quite well, thank you." The realization of his actions hit him.

"Oh, whoops. Sorry. I'm not from Equestria." Luna stared him down.

"Apparently. Where ARE you from?" Hammer laid back down on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"I'm from the polar opposite of your world. I come from Airtseuqe, where YOU, Luna, are the older Princess. Celestia was filled with jealousy and hate, and transformed into Solar Flare, the mare of blinding brightness, and burning day. I can see that your world is the exact reverse." Luna stood still, taken aback.

"I-I'm the older sister in your world?" Celestia was just as shocked.

"And I turned evil and tried to destroy Airtseuqe?" Hammer nodded.

"It may come as quite a shock to you all. I also think you're probably wondering about this helmet." Luna noticed the helmet he was wearing, since he just mentioned it. The flag on the badge area gleamed with a bright light, the intensity of Bravery.

"What kind of helmet IS that?" Hammer smiled, and stood up.

"If I had the Airtseuqe Book of Legends with me, I could probably explain it better. This helmet is one of six legendary elements, which my friends and I used to defeat Solar Flare. They are-" Luna interrupted him.

"The Elements of Harmony?" Hammer shook his head.

"They are the Elements of Combat. After Solar Flare was banished to the sun for five thousand years, there were wars fought, trying to keep the Griffin Oligarchy, and other countries from destroying the way of life in Airtseuqe. Our world revolves around the fact that we must fight in order to keep living." Hammer stopped, and wondered what his friends were up to.

Hermes was having the time of his life, running faster than Rainbow Dash could fly.

"Come ON, Dash, keep up! I can't bloody wait all day!" Dash, sweating and breathing heavily, was floating slowly towards him. She began falling out of the sky. Hermes 'zapped' underneath her, and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Careful now, mate. You don't want to bugger yourself now, do you?" Dash nodded, and laid down on his back.

"How... can... you... run... so... fast...?" She was out of breath, and her pride was hurt. She had been beaten, multiple times, in a race, by an Earth Pony. He was a good deal older than her, so he knew more tricks than she did, but Earth Ponies weren't supposed to move as fast as he did.

"That's the fun of it. I'm a, well, rare breed of Earth Pony. In Airtseuqe, I'm called a Zap Pony, in reference to how I appear to 'zap' from one place to another. I learned to control the lightning inside me body, and that allows me to move meself much faster than normal." Dash started snoring on Hermes' back.

"You bleeding foal. Tired out already. Well, better get back to Ponyville. They'll be missing us something fierce if we don't get back soon."

Deepwood was hanging out with Fluttershy, but the entire time, she had tried, in vain, to keep Fluttershy from interfering in the way of nature.

"Fluttershy, non-interference is the best way." Fluttershy merely smiled, and fed her rabbit, Angel.

"Oh, no. Without me, these animals wouldn't eat at all. I'm the main reason they're around." Deepwood shook her head, and rubbed her forehead. She had to deal with the fact that Airtseuqe was more natural in the way it worked.

"Sorry. In Airtseuqe, everything works by itself. The only time the sun is actually raised using magic is during the Summer Solstice Festival, if my information is correct." Fluttershy gave Deepwood a sideways glance.

"You come from a strange world." Hermes came zipping through the gate in front of Fluttershy's home, and stopped quickly. Unfortunately, Dash didn't slow down that well, and knocked him face-first into the dirt. He quickly got up, sputtering, and spitting out dirt.

"Bleeding hay, that was tough. She's 'eavier than she looks." Dash moaned. Fluttershy stared quizzically at Hermes.

"What happened?" Hermes laughed, and fell over in his mirth.

"She couldn't take the fact that I beat 'er every race she tried. I'm guessing her pride was hurt in the process." Fluttershy smiled.

"Rainbow is still a great flier. Woohoo!" Dash slowly got to her feet. She was swaying slightly, trying to keep her balance.

"You win, Hermes. You're faster." Hermes smiled, but the smile turned to a look of alarm as Dash fell over on the ground, out cold.

"Well, THIS is just bleeding fantastic." Fluttershy tried picking up Dash to take her inside, but she was having a small problem lifting her. Deepwood levitated Dash onto her own back, and carried her inside Fluttershy's house.

"This world is not normal, if you can consider our world normal. Everything is COMPLETELY opposite, by Luna!"

Gifts Of Joy

Hammer opened his journal. It had been two months since they had crossed over through a strange rift to this land. Staring up at the ceiling, he sighed, and picked up his pencil.

"Journal Entry, Month of Ire. We arrived over two months ago, from our homeland of Airtseuqe. Our stay has been pleasant, but I still am trying to figure out a way to return home." He looked out the window, at Beanstalk playing in a snowdrift. Ire, in Airtseuqe, had always been the month where it snowed, so he had assumed that it was Ire. Hermes was building a snowpony, and Deepwood was arguing with Fluttershy on how to deal with hibernating animals. It tickled him inside. He returned his attention to the journal.

"My friends seem to be settling in well. To tell the truth, I do kind of like this land better than Airtseuqe. The ponies here are friendly, not cold and heartless. Well, I still can't figure out the motives behind Pinkie Pie. She makes not one ounce of sense." He glanced over to a gift-wrapped package sitting on his desk.

"It's close to Christmas, the one day every year where ponies in Airtseuqe, no matter who they are, give gifts to those who are dearest to them. My friends know the traditions, and I think Pumpjack's been spending at least seven hours each day for the last few days preparing for the eve of the greatest holiday of the year. I'm not that excited myself. Christmas always brings bad memories for me. My parents would always get my siblings toys, and leave me alone. Still, doesn't matter anymore. End of entry." He closed the journal, and slid on his winter jacket. It was cold outside, and he didn't want to feel it. As he trotted out the door, he was greeted by Scooter's shouting.

"Merry Christmas, Hammer! Whoa, y'all get along now!" Deepwood was about to smack Fluttershy over the head with her book.

"Seriously, Deepwood, the world works differently here. I'm just glad that we get to spend Christmas in a peaceful place, though." Fluttershy looked at him sideways.

"What's Christmas?" Hammer laughed and snorted. He looked at her, and saw she was actually serious.

"Oh. Well, it's a winter holiday in Airtseuqe, where, no matter who you are, you give gifts to other ponies, usually those closest to you. It's the jolliest holiday in the Airtseuqe calendar." Fluttershy smiled.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful." Hermes restrained Deepwood, making her drop her book.

"Well, everypony, I'm going to Ponyville. I need to pick up some metal for what I've been working on." He galloped away, a huge smile on his face.

"If I can just finish the last panel, the device will be complete, and we will be able to return home!" He shut his eyes, and imagined every pony in Airtseuqe celebrating Christmas. It made him feel warm inside, even if he would never get to celebrate it there. He opened his eyes just as he ran into Twilight.

"OOF! Oh, Twilight. Sorry, wasn't paying attention." She stood up and brushed herself off.

"No problem. I was on my way to see you and your friends, anyways. We wanted you to join us for our winter holiday, Hearth's Warming!" Hammer sighed.

"That's probably not going to happen, Twilight. You see, my friends and I, we celebrate a different holiday, called Christmas. We give gifts to each other, mementos that mean the greatest thing to us. It's an Airtseuqe holiday." Twilight smiled at him.

"That sounds nice. Maybe you could show Ponyville what it's like?" Hammer backed up.

"Well, I've ACTUALLY got business in Ponyville, but I might take you up on that offer, Twilight! See you!" She waved, and galloped towards the WheelWorks. He chuckled, and continued his trek towards Ponyville. He was quite happy for the path that some Pegasi had cleared for him and his friends, so they wouldn't have to trek through the snow like pioneers. Winter for Hammer was beautiful, and allowed him to think, and ponder.

"Slow down there, nelly. Don't want ya hurtin' yerself, now." Hammer tried to stop, but slid right into Applejack.

"Ah, what in tarnation?" She turned, and saw who it was.

"Ah, mighty sorry, Hammer." He got up, and shook himself off.

"No need, Applejack. I don't have time to talk, though. See you!" He galloped off again, hoping he didn't run into any more of those six.

His wish had come true, as the rest of his trek had been uneventful. Stopping at a local store, he picked up metal sheets which they had kept for him.

"Thanks, Keep. I owe you one." He flipped him four Airtseuqe coins, to which he glared at him.

"We don't accept play money here." Hammer stared him down.

"You realize that because I'm not from Equestria, I don't have the same money as you, right?" They leaned in closer, glares clashing. A pony who was about to ask a question backed away, seeing sparks between the two.

"Keep, those are worth the exact same amount as an Equestrian coin. The only difference is Luna on the coin." Some ponies in the store gasped.

"We only accept coins that have Celestia on them, Hammer!" Other ponies gasped. Hammer faced them.

"That's SLIGHTLY annoying. Could you go somewhere else and do that?" They left, slightly disappointed. Hammer turned to see Rarity plop three coins down on Keep's counter.

"That should do quite nicely." Hammer just stared, his jaw dropping. She turned to face him.

"Am I that stunning?" Hammer shut his mouth, and shook his head.

"Not really, Rarity. Keep here wouldn't accept my money because it has Luna on it. They're worth exactly the same." Keep pulled out a scale, and balanced out two coins, one being the Lunar coin, the other being the Solar coin. They were perfectly balanced.

"Whaddya know, you WERE right. Heh, should have just done this in the first place, huh?" Hammer nodded.

"Thanks, Keep. And thank you, Rarity. I'll be on my way-" Rarity cut him off mid sentence.

"You're not going out in that TACKY grey jacket, are you?" Hammer looked down at his jacket. It had been something that a classmate had given him on Christmas back in Airtseuqe, when he was in school. It was a dark grey, and it felt very comfortable.

"I don't see anything wrong with it." Rarity looked him up and down.

"Oh, but EVERYTHING'S wrong with it! The colour, the style, the SHAPE! This won't do! Come with me." She began dragging Hammer away, under protest.

"Hey, NO! I LIKE THIS JACKET!"

She dragged Hammer all the way to her Fashion Shop, where she slid the grey jacket off, and had him try on six different jackets. Each one he shrugged off, and each time he tried to get his own jacket back.

"Now, this one might work." Hammer stopped. It was dark green, but the seams were bright green, like wires. It looked incredible, but his jacket was one of his greatest treasures ever.

"I'm sorry, but no. That grey jacket was a gift from somepony, and banish me to the sun if I ever give it up." Rarity looked sideways at him.

"Is that even possible? How would one even be that horrid to be banished to the sun?" Hammer shook his head, and frowned.

"You won't understand, even if I tell you, Rarity." He looked at his grey jacket, his greatest treasure, and looked at Rarity. If he was going to show Ponyville what Christmas was, he would have to start with this pony. Picking up the jacket, he laid it in front of her.

"This is my greatest treasure, and I would like you to have it, Rarity." She stood back.

"Why are you giving me THIS of all things? Why not, well, a ruby, or a diamond?" He glared at her.

"Jewels mean nothing to an inventor. They have no practical purpose. That jacket has not worn out in the seven years I've had it. It's gone through fires, through explosions, and come out without a scratch, tear, rip, or scorch mark." She stared at him.

"But why ARE you giving me this." He smiled at her.

"In Airtseuqe, we celebrate a holiday called Christmas, where we take our most prized possession, wrap it up, and give it to another pony as a present. It's a holiday of giving, which is quite beautiful in Airtseuqe." Rarity looked at the jacket, a look of astonishment crossing her face.

"And you're giving your most prized possession to me? Well, uh, thank you, Hammer." He bowed his head in acknowledgment. Rarity looked around her shop, and settled her eyes on the green jacket. She picked it up with her magic, and settled it around Hammer's shoulders.

"You may have this." Hammer looked at the jacket. He stared at Rarity.

"But why?" She smiled a huge smile at him.

"Every jacket, dress, and suit that I make is a dear treasure to me. I want you to have this, as a memento for your holiday." He slid the jacket on, it feeling much nicer as a gift for a holiday that wasn't even celebrated in Equestria.

"Well, uh, well, thank you, Rarity." He trotted towards the door, a grin creeping across his face. He turned around, remembering something.

"Oh! Merry Christmas, Rarity!" She waved at him, somewhat confused.

Hermes zoomed into town, stopping right beside Hammer. Rainbow Dash flapped doggedly towards them, clearly showing signs of exhaustion. She settled down on the snow, and panted.

"I lost! Again!" Hermes smiled.

"You'll get be'er, mate. Don't you worry." Hammer stared at the two. Rainbow Dash was wearing a necklace made from wire he had given to Hermes for something that Hermes was working on. It was in the shape of a lightning bolt. Hermes was wearing a jacket with Rainbow Dash's Cutie Mark sewn on the back.

"I guess you've already explained to her what Christmas is, then, Hermes?" Rainbow Dash nodded.

"It sounds like an awesome holiday! Just right for a Pegasus like me!" Hammer laughed. Hermes poked his jacket.

"I don't think I've seen that before, Hammer. Where'd you get it?" He looked away, smiling.

"Well, Rarity now understands our holiday. I gave her my jacket as a gift. The grey one? It's gone through so much, it seems like it's practically indestructible. She gave me this jacket for a present." Pinkie Pie bounced past, Scooter flying beside her. Scooter was wearing a hat made out of a pie tin, and some old cans. Pinkie Pie was holding a toy car, made from wood and metal scraps. He smiled.

"Those six, our counterparts in this world, they're more understanding of us than I realized. Well, I've got to get back to the WheelWorks. See you all there!" Hermes stared at Rainbow Dash.

"Okay, one more time."

Hermes plopped down in his workshop, pulling out his device. It was a small generator-like device that, in theory, could duplicate the rift they entered through. He had no idea if it would work. Dragging out a small metal sheet, he bolted it onto the outside of the device, completing the final panel. Standing back, he admired his work.

"This would be the greatest Christmas present of all, if this worked." He opened the doors of the garage, and dragged the device a safe distance from the WheelWorks. As he set about preparing the device, a loud howling echoed through the Everfree Forest. A snowstorm was rolling in. Dialing the power up, he stood back, and hoped for the best. Lightning jumped from panel to panel on the device, while the centre began to glow. A large ball of white energy appeared, growing bigger, until it expanded into a large transparent disc. Picking up a rock, he tied a message quickly to it, and tossed it through.

----******

A portal appeared in the Mayor's office in Airtseuqe's Ponyville. He stared as a rock came flying through, crashing right onto his couch. He pulled a message off, and read it aloud.

"To Airtseuqe. We saved you. We, the OUTCASTS, saved you. Now hurry up and find a way so we can get home!"

----******

As the rock came back through with a reply, the rift machine exploded, throwing Hammer into a snowdrift. The snowstorm abruptly stopped, as if it had been connected to the rift machine itself. He popped his head out of the snowdrift.

"Just great. And here I thought I would get to see home again. Let's see what the message was." He picked up the rock, and nearly dropped the message.

"Hammer, Luna and Celestia were looking for you for two months. Just WHAT have you gotten yourself into?!" He crumpled up the message, and tossed it aside. There was no point in writing another message as a reply, the machine was destroyed. He sat down in the snow, a single tear sliding down his face.

"It's over. It's all over. That was the only way I knew of sending us back, and it blew up in my face. We're not going home." Deepwood trotted up beside him, and patted him on the back.

"Hammer, you did what you could. Without help, none of us will ever see Airtseuqe again. Equestria may be fun and friendly, but it's not our home. We're Outcasts, Hammer. We're Equestria's Outcasts." Hammer looked up at her with a straight face.

"It's hard, knowing that we could be here either a short while, or forever. It's really hard, Deepwood." A squeak from behind made Hammer stand up and flip around. Fluttershy was standing there, her face completely white.

"H-Hammer? L-look behind y-you." Hammer slowly turned around, to come face to face with what looked exactly like him, except it was darker, like a doppelganger.

"No. That's just not possible." The Shade laughed.

"Oh, but it IS possible, Hammer. A byproduct, if you may, of the rift machine's detonation. I am you, but worse." Hammer clenched his teeth, and stood there, unsure of what to do. The Shade merely walked away laughing.

"Until we meet again, Hammer. When we do, I will take what is mine, and destroy everything! HA HA!" The Shade disappeared, as if it had never been there. Hammer collapsed, his eyes completely blank.

"No. It can't be. I'M a destroyer?" Twilight Sparkle galloped up, and stared at Hammer.

"I heard the explosion. Just what happened." Hammer stood up, a dead expression on his face.

"I ruined everything. Now my shadow is loose, and he wants everything to burn." Twilight nudged him with her horn.

"Don't worry. Come on! Bring your friends, we've got a surprise for you!" Hammer and Deepwood looked at each other. Deepwood shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

When they arrived in Ponyville, it was quiet. WAY too quiet for Hammer's taste. As he and his friends arrived in the town square, ponies burst out from everywhere, and shouted in unison.

"Merry Christmas!" Hammer shook his head, while Hermes laughed.

"Well, mates, this is a new twist. How in Airtseuqe did they even know about Christmas?" Rarity walked forward, wearing Hammer's grey jacket, albeit with a few additions.

"I told them. After Hammer's immense kindness, I couldn't keep it from others. So I told them all." Pumpjack looked around.

"Would ya look at that? Every pony in Ponyville came!" Beanstalk smiled, and raced towards Applejack, her "Big Sister."

"Big Sister, this is amazing!" Applejack held her at leg's length from her.

"Now hold on, sugar cube, I ain't your big sister." Beanstalk stared up at her with puppy-dog eyes. She couldn't look away.

"Fine. Just today, though." Beanstalk squealed with excitement, and began bouncing around. Pinkie Pie came from seemingly nowhere, and joined her in bouncing around the celebration.

"I can't believe this, Rarity. You did this, for us?" Rarity nodded. Ponies all around picked up gifts, and gave them to one another.

"This is what you said, right? Each pony gives their favourite item as a gift to somepony they hold dear." Hammer nodded and laughed.

"Yep. That's what I said, all right. But this, this is just spectacular! This is the best Christmas ever!"

Shades Of The Past

The heat was oppressive. Hammer had forgotten how cool the Airtseuqe summers were, and he was once again wishing he was back there. As he turned over in his bed, his sweat left stains everywhere on the mattress. His mind kept going back to the Shade he had accidentally created.

"I will destroy everything!" The Shade could do anything, and ponies would think it was him.

----********

Hammer awoke with a start. He could smell smoke, and he was definitely sure he hadn't let Hermes cook anything. As he looked outside, he saw a shadowy figure standing at the end of the road. It was Shade, his doppelganger.

"Are you proud of me? Their village was weak, defenceless. Nothing like Airtseuqe. Don't worry, I already took care of your precious Rarity. She won't ever wake up from her nightmare!" The Shade galloped away, while an angry mob from Ponyville moved towards the Wheelworks. Hammer approached them alone. He sensed treachery. He stood in front of them.

"Hammer, you tried to hurt us! After all we've done to help you! How could you?!" They had him surrounded.

"It... wasn't me. I just woke up."

"Lies! I saw it with my own eyes!" Rarity spoke up, stepping forward. She sounded like Rarity, looked like Rarity. Hammer could tell, however that it was the Shade. How the rest did not see, he did not understand. "He's a monster!" Hammer looked away, tears beginning to flow from his eyes.

"Fine. If you believe the falsehoods of a Shade, then why should I be around?!" He galloped off into the night, leaving them to scratch their heads.

----********

Hammer sat by a tree he had hidden a small token of his by. He looked at the old faded photo of his friend in Airtseuqe. The tears bounced off the plasticized surface as he sobbed. As he cried, no pony ever came. Zecora stared out of her window at him, wondering what to do. She had heard the news, but she did not believe that Hammer was capable of such things. A roll of thunder above her hut, and it began to rain. Putting on a hat, Zecora made her way over to Hammer.

"What is it, young one? That goes and dims your sun?" She stood back when Hammer turned the other way.

"Just leave me alone. It's just like back Airtseuqe. Chased out of a place that finally accepted me. Beanstalk, Scooter, Hermes." He sighed, his head low. "Pumpjack, Deepwood. They're all better off without me." Hammer stared up at the sky. He stared to sing softly, letting the tears flow.

"Whenever I look at the sky,

I am always wondering why

the world doesn't slip away.

Forever takes a long time to come..." He couldn't finish the song. He started crying again. Zecora glanced around. None of his friends had come to find him. It worried her. She entered her hut again, and brought over Applebloom.

" Appleboom, a secret in trust, to not divulge is truly a must." She whispered in her ear, sending Applebloom scurrying back towards Ponyville.

----********

Hammer got up and trotted away, deeper into the Everfree Forest. Strange animal calls did not bother him. A few Manticores crossed his path, but he did not care. He had lost the last thing that mattered to him, and he could not bring himself to rectify it. He had his pack with him, which contained the broken pieces of the portal machine he had attempted to build. He sat down in front of a tree and began tinkering with it. He was alone, but that was fine with him. After all, it was just like before. The world felt so close to Airtseuqe it wasn't funny.

----********

Three days passed, and Hammer had not returned to the Wheelworks. Applebloom had tried to let the townsponies of Ponyville know about the Shade, but they would not believe her that Hammer was not the one who had attacked them. Hermes began to worry.

"Pumpjack, where d'ya think Hammer is, mate?" He paced back and forth. Everypony in the Wheelworks was stressed. It was not like Hammer to just simply disappear like that. Just as Hermes was about to go out, the door to the Wheelworks burst open, and a battered and bruised Hammer fell onto the front floor. Beanstalk cantered up to him, poking him with her hoof.

"He's... very badly hurt. Deepwood, could you help him?" Beanstalk stood to the side as Deepwood helped Hammer stand. She walked with him as they made their way to his room. She set him down, Hammer dozing off as soon as he hit the mattress. She shook her head.

"Just what happened to you, Hammer?" As she was about to go downstairs to get some bandages, a great earthquake rippled underneath the Wheelworks. The building started to groan and shake. Beanstalk burst in through the door.

"Deepwood! Something's going on in the Everfree! There's a... scary light. It looks like blood." Beanstalk and Deepwood left Hammer to rest and galloped outside. The light outside was red and stifling. A column of light tinted blood red was shooting up from deep in the Everfree Forest. Hammer hobbled out, staring at the light.

"No. It can't be..." He sat down, his eyes wide in fear and shock. Hermes, Scooter and Pumpjack stood by him, staring as well. Hammer's Shade stood in front of them.

"'It's the end of the world as we know it!' Ha ha! I told you I would destroy everything! First Equestria, then Airtseuqe!" He was about to gallop away when Hammer stood beside him, anger shining in his eyes.

"You took my form to exact revenge on others that imprisoned you. You tried to kill me when I used my portal device, and it nearly sucked you into it. We will find a way to destroy you, Shade. Be sure of that." The Shade pushed Hammer onto the ground and galloped away, laughing maniacally. Hammer turned around to see Twilight and four of her friends. Rarity was not among them. "Twilight? What's going on?" She wordlessly galloped up to him and helped him up.

"Rarity hasn't come out of her Boutique in three days. I know Ponyville isn't exactly friendly towards you right now, Hammer, but you're the only one who can enter. We can't get the door open." Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all nodded. Deepwood stood forward.

"We won't leave him to do this alone. We are, after all, together in this. The Shade took Hammer's form, but he has made one fatal mistake." Deepwood smiled and laughed, the first time any of the others had seen so. "He messed with the wrong mare." She, and the other four of Airtseuqe, stood beside Hammer. Twilight nodded and let them go, staring at the column of light.

"This is bigger than us, girls. We'll need their help too if we are going to fight this thing."

----********

Hammer bucked the door of the Boutique open to find Rarity lying on the floor. Articles of clothing swirled around the room as if something was controlling them. A glow from Rarity's horn was the source. Hammer approached her tentatively, as if she would suddenly leap up and try to eat him alive. Poking her, he tried to see if she would wake. The clothing fell to the ground. She stood up, eyes blinking.

"Just what... oh my." She looked out the door to see the column of light. Hammer stood beside her.

"The work of a Shade. He put you in a nightmare that Equestrians could not break you out of. This is bigger than just your world, Rarity. This encompasses mine as well. Your friends are waiting at the Wheelworks. Let's go."

----********

Rarity stood behind her friends as Hammer and his friends stood behind as well. Hammer stood in front of them all, preparing for what lay ahead.

"We all know who we are. We come from different walks of life. That no longer matters now. This is bigger than any petty squabble I had with the townsponies of Ponyville. This is bigger than Equestria. We are fighting for our right to survive, to live, to love, and to die a decent death. Today, Harmony and Combat fight as one!" He galloped forward, leading the charge into the Everfree, with both groups following close behind.

----********

As Hammer approached a cliff, stone floated in front of it, as if it was a bridge. The landscape was becoming more twisted, with scarcely any living animals or plant life as they moved closer to that column of light. Hermes zipped across, barely even touching the stones. Each of them went one at a time, tentatively in case the stones fell. As the last one, Beanstalk, finished crossing, the stones fell, shattering on the ground far below. They were walking inside of a terrible nightmare, except for the fact that they were still awake.

"Hammer, what will happen if we fail at this?" Rarity was beside him, her fear evident on her face.

"We will all die. No Equestria, no Airtseuqe. Nothing. It will be as if they never existed." Another tremor ran through the ground, comparable in strength to the one that could have toppled the Wheelworks. Beanstalk tripped and fell, sliding a little bit on her front. Hammer helped her up, making sure she was okay before continuing. "These tremors are strange. They rumble the ground, but don't crack it. An interesting thing, isn't it, Deepwood?" Hammer turned to see Deepwood already documenting it. "Classic Deepwood." The two groups continued until they cam upon a large obstacle. Deepwood approached it, running her hoof along its side.

"Old stone... ancient glyphs and symbols?! Hammer, this might very well be an ancient Airtseuqe Stone Guardian!" She found grooves in the side and began to haul herself up the side. Hammer laughed, letting Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ferry him and all of his and their friends up.

"I would say your hypothesis is correct, Deepwood! They were mentioned in the Book of Legends, page 65. Old Guardians that protected Airtseuqe from the Shades, shapeshifters with otherworldy powers. They were impressive, to say the least. Well, in their artist representations. Find a stone dais! That's how they're activated!" Hammer was reading from the Book of Legends, Pumpjack having brought it along and was now levitating it in front of him.

"I think I found it!" Pinkie Pie, who had found her own way up, was bouncing happily around a raised stone dais. Three large gems were in a symmetrical pattern, perfectly set. Hammer pressed them in the order that seemed appropriate for them, and backed up. Lines across the Guardian lit up as it started to rise. Every pony leaped off to keep from being thrown off. The Guardian bent over and spoke.

"I feel that a Shade has returned. I must go. Stay away from the columns it might create. They only bring death." The Guardian walked towards the light, which now was much farther away than before. Against the Guardian's wishes, Hammer, Twilight, and their friends followed closely behind. Pinkie Pie and Scooter trotted beside each other,, holding two somewhat large bags. When the Guardian stopped at a large chasm, they opened the bags. Scooter had the Elements of Combat, while Pinkie Pie had the Elements of Harmony. They handed them out, making sure everypony was ready before continuing.

----********

As they came to be only a few miles away from the column, the landscape became twisted, with a red tint of blood. Hammer stopped the group before another large chasm. He glanced around and noticed an inscription on a stone nearby.

"'The path may not always be seen. Faith will always point your way, if you let it.' Stay back. I'll test this out." Hammer stood at the edge of the chasm, heart pounding. He breathed deeply and stepped out. Almost as soon as he might have started falling, a large stone raised underneath him. "'The path may not always be seen.'" As he stepped forward, stones continued to lift to keep him out of the chasm. When he glanced over at the other side, he though he saw the Princess Luna he knew, the eldest of Airtseuqe, lifting up the stones. He moved faster, not relying on each step he took, but faith that his hooves would take him across. When his hooves pressed on the other side, a click resonated, the sound bouncing throughout the chasm. The stones raised upwards and locked into place, allowing the rest of the group to cross the chasm. Hermes patted Hammer on the back.

"Don't worry, mate. We'll take the Shade out. He's got a lot to bloody answer for." As they passed by, Hammer wheezed a little bit from shock. That chasm had seemed bottomless. He did not know why he had let himself do that.

----********

As they moved away from the chasm, shadows of other ponies, seemingly from the past, danced across the stone walls in the small canyon they had entered. The shadows screamed as sharp, flowing shadows pierced them, with physical blood spraying all over the walls.

"'And the mortals could not fight the Shades, as the shapeshifters were too crafty and sinister to be defeated by them. But the Guardians fought for them, leaving when the last Shade had been sealed away. So ended the First Era of Airtseuqe.' Their souls have remained with me since then, each one's fear fueling my power. They cannot help themselves, nor can they help you. The time of mortals ends, and the reign of blood, and fire, and darkness begins!" The voice appeared to come from the very walls. The shadows disappeared, to be replaced with the shadow of Hammer, laughing maniacally. "You believe with your power alone you can destroy me! Ha! Your power could never even cause me a single iota of pain!" The shadow disappeared, leaving flames where it had been.

----********

They closed in on the area where the column of light rose from. If they could have been any closer, they would have been able to touch it. Shadows of everypony, past and present, stood staring at the light. Mayor Mare was among them. Hammer watched them closely.

"'The light brings death.' The Shade uses a pony's shadow against him, or her." As he watched, the Guardian thundered in, standing in front of a large black swarming mass.

"Shade, you have needlessly endangered mortals. I have no choice but to destroy you. Sealing you was the worst possible thing to do to you." As the living watched in horror, the Shade entered the Guardian, the lines across it changing to red.

"But, Guardian, we are on and the same now!" It glanced down at the 12 Element users. "Your time is done. The seas will boil, the land will be set aflame, and your sun will be blotted from the sky!" The Shade stared at Hammer as he stepped forward.

"You won't get that far! As long as we have the Elements of Combat and Harmony, you will never be allowed to destroy the world!" The two groups began charging their Elements, the energies from both activating at the same time combining, creating a whirlwind of rainbows and energy. The Shade's voice dropped its mocking, arrogant tone and took on one of fear.

"N-no! W-we can coexist without pain! No! Don't hurt me!" The combined release of energy from the Elements exploded in a giant wave, rolling across the land, the corrupted landscape returning to what it had been before. The Shade began to shriek, rising in pitch to a near-banshee-like howl. The ground cracked around them as the Shade began to break apart under the assault. The shriek suddenly stopped, the column of light dissipating. Twelve shadows stood in front of the Element users, letting the rest return to their respective ponies.

"We are the ones that came before, wielders of the Elements. We were given them to defend our world. You must understand, what we are about to tell you is the truth. Airtseuqe and Equestria... were once one and the same, a world called Piety. However, when the Shades attacked, we split the worlds with the Elements to save both. Inadvertently, we created two vastly different worlds: one where war was well-known, and innocence was rare, and a world of pure happiness, sunshine, and innocent naivete. We... are proud." The twelve disappeared, leaving more questions to be answered than had been. As Hammer, Twilight, and the rest of the Elements turned to leave, they were faced with three glowing ponies of all three species.

"We are the Guardians. You may not understand, but we are proud of you all. You have shown the true essence of purity of heart, mind, and soul, and that if you work together, you can defeat any evil." The ground rumbled. "However, the damage the Shade did to the barrier between the two worlds is irreparable. Airtseuqe and Equestria will become one once more." As they watched, the Guardians brought them into a different plane of life, and brought them into space to witness the event. Two planets shifted into one another, the continent expanding to encompass the two countries. Hammer looked at Twilight, who had been musing.

"So... Airtseuqe and Equestria..."

"Are one and the same." Hammer felt Rarity nuzzle up beside him.

"Our worlds are the same. Who would have guessed?" When the worlds had finished shifting, the Guardians left the two groups of Elements in the centre of Ponyville. The two different Ponyvilles had combined, creating a much larger town.

"Well, it looks like we might be safe after all-" A three headed dragon flew overhead, heading towards Canterlot. "Nevermind. Come on! Let's go!"