Supernova

by Phazon

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 11516

Harmony is threatened internally and externally when a possible seventh Element surfaces.

When the existence of a possible seventh Element of Harmony is revealed, the Mane Six set out to find both the artifact and its rightful bearer. But as soon as the Elements are united, the bearers face an onslaught of enemies new, old, and unimagined. As circumstances become increasingly dire, a close friend of theirs seems to be more involved than any of them would have realized, or than even he would have realized. Perhaps more involved than he should be…

Can harmony and the ponies who fight for it survive against the forces, both external and internal, that threaten to destroy them?

Part three of the Forest Green series and the sequel to Recurring Nightmare. Another shift in prominent characters and tone convinced me to make this a sort of separate story arc. Reading the first two will make it much easier to follow along with this installment. Also, before you prejudge this story, let's make a few things clear. I never said that the 7th Element would go to any OC. I never said that the Romance tag was for an OC x Mane 6 pairing. And I certainly never said that the 7th Element was real.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-27 00:52:08 UTC

Helios

Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood within the throne room of Canterlot Castle. Each pony in the group wore a gold necklace around her neck. In the center of each necklace was a gem that matched the cutie mark of its wearer. Of course, there were two exceptions. The first exception was Twilight, who was wearing a gold tiara with a star-shaped magenta jewel. The other exception was Zero Volt, the only stallion among the seven of them, who idly lifted his left foreleg to check his watch. The seven of them had been summoned to the castle by Princess Celestia herself, apparently for some urgent matter.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” The seven of them turned around to see Celestia entering the throne room.

“What is it, Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Celestia said. “But from what I know, something could be very wrong.” The seven of them fell silent. They waited for Celestia to explain to them whatever crisis had surfaced, a few of them growing apprehensive. “I trust that all of you know what Tartarus is.”

“Ain’t that the prison for all those evil creatures that would run amok all over Equestria if they sprung loose?” Applejack asked.

“Yes,” Celestia said, “and I’m afraid that one of those creatures has escaped.”

The seven of them gasped. Fluttershy clasped her front hooves to her mouth. Pinkie Pie screamed in terror and started running around the room, but apart from her and Fluttershy, there was little deviation in their shocked reactions.

“What kind of creature exactly?” Zero Volt asked. “Tell us, Princess, what are we dealing with here?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know,” Celestia said. “Many of those creatures have been imprisoned for so long that any historical records of them have been lost over the centuries. Even if we did know the nature of them, something has been interfering with my magic ever since this one escaped. As a result, I have been unable to properly observe it. What I do know is that this monster is somewhere near Vanhoover.”

“How do you know that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’ve been receiving reports from Vanhoover about temperatures reaching as high as one hundred fifteen degrees,” Celestia said. “The city’s weather ponies wouldn’t schedule such a heat wave, and they have found it impossible to lower the temperature.” Celestia stepped toward the group and stopped in front of Zero Volt. She tilted her head down, bringing the tip of her horn to his forehead, and cast a spell on him. The spell completed almost instantly, though Zero Volt stood still, slightly dazed even after Celestia lifted her head back. “I’ve already sent a reconnaissance team to the edge of Tartarus to investigate how the creature escaped. Your task is to go to Vanhoover and find that creature.”

Pinkie Pie, who had been running around the room and panicking throughout Celestia’s briefing, finally came to a stop directly in front of her. She raised her hoof up to her forehead and saluted the princess, a look of determination set on her face. “You can count on us, Princess!” she declared. Pinkie still held her determined look across her face even as she brought her foreleg back down. At least until she started screaming again. She was about to start running around the room and resume panicking, but Applejack got in front of her. She placed one hoof in Pinkie’s mouth to suppress her screams and another on her chest to keep her still.

Celestia looked at the entire group, even at Zero Volt, who had just shaken himself off from his disorientation. “I’m sure you’ll do fine, but bear in mind that we don’t know the nature of this escaped being,” she said. “Even though you have the Elements of Harmony, I advise extreme caution.”

“We understand,” Twilight said. She and the rest of her friends started to group around Zero Volt. “Volt, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, more or less,” he said, holding a hoof to his head. “Have you ever had somepony beam a couple of images into your mind all at once?”

“More often than you’d think,” Rarity said. “Does this mean you can take us to Vanhoover now?”

“Yeah. Is everyone ready?” The seven of them all grouped together, making sure they were all in physical contact with one another so that Zero Volt could teleport them.

“Volt, one last thing before we go,” Twilight said. Zero Volt turned his head to face her. “When we find out who or what this escaped prisoner is, could you not say ‘Who?’ when it gives us its name?” Zero Volt raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m just sensing a pattern here, one that I’d rather not have to deal with.”

“Okay…” Zero Volt said. At this point, the seven of them had already grouped together, so he decided to shrug it off and get on with the mission. He closed his eyes and pictured Vanhoover in his mind. Though Celestia had shown him several images of the city, one particular location stood out to him. To get a clear picture of their target destination, he focused on certain details of that location, whether they were transient details like the cloud patterns and the foliage on the scattered trees or fixed details like the pathways that cut through the grass and a nearby ice cream parlor. Once the image was clear in his mind, a green flash filled his and his friends’ visions, and they disappeared from Canterlot.

The seven ponies reappeared at their destination, a park in Vanhoover. However, a wave of heat washed over them as soon as they reached the park. They all stumbled and groaned momentarily, each overcome by the sudden spike in temperature around them. “Ugh, how hot did Princess Celestia say it was here?” Rainbow Dash asked. “One-fifteen?”

“Yeah, she did,” Twilight said. Looking around, she noticed that there wasn’t a single pony outside. There weren’t even any pegasi flying above to manage the weather. She turned toward the buildings and streets near the edge of the park, reasoning that the citizens were probably trying to stay as cool as possible indoors. “Does anypony else think we should have come with water and maybe a few hats?”

“That certainly would’ve been a good idea,” Rarity said. Holding a handkerchief in the air with her magic, she applied it to her face and removed a few beads of sweat that had already formed. “I just know that this heat is going to ruin my mane.”

“Oh, quit you’re whinin’, Rarity,” Applejack said. “Ah deal with this every day when Ah’m buckin’ for apples.” She lifted a foreleg to her head to wipe the sweat from her brow. “Whew, though Ah usually get a bit of shade from the apple trees.”

Rarity wasn’t paying attention to Applejack. Instead, she was focusing her magic on a particular spell; one that she hoped would alleviate the effects of the heat wave on them. After a few seconds, she had gathered the magical energy necessary, and the desired effect of her spell began to manifest. At the same time, the others started to notice the immediate area around them getting darker, though when they looked more than a few feet in any direction, the rest of the park and city were still brightened by the afternoon sun. By the time they looked up, a light blue screen had formed above their heads, blocking most of the sunlight shining down on them.

“There,” Rarity said, panting more from the heat than from any difficulty in casting the spell. “That should make things easier.”

Her friends all turned to her, each of them a bit perplexed. “What did you do?” Twilight asked.

“I cast a reflective screen above our heads so that the sun won’t bear down on us while we’re here,” she said. “Sometimes I use that spell around the boutique so that I don’t have to hold several mirrors in the air all at once. It’s a very simple spell, and I’ve grown quite adept at it in the last few years.”

“It’s not helping much with the heat,” Rainbow Dash said. By this point, she was beating her wings at several different angles, not to lift off of the ground, but in a vain attempt to fan parts of her body. “The heat’s coming from down here, not up there.” Rainbow was partially right. The cause of Vanhoover’s temperature spike was somewhere in or near the city itself, and Rarity’s spell wouldn’t do anything about that. However, as brutal as the heat already was, the summer sun had only exacerbated the situation before Rarity cast her spell.

“At least it’ll take the edge off,” Fluttershy panted. “But how do you think we’re going to find that escaped creature?”

“Didn’t the princess suggest that it was causing this heat wave?” Zero Volt said. “Maybe it’ll get even hotter the closer we are to it.”

“Like a game of hot or cold?” Pinkie Pie asked. The heat was even sapping her enthusiasm, and she could only manage a weak smile at the idea of playing a game.

“Yeah, but instead of cold we get hotter,” Rainbow said. “I’ll fly up and check out the city from above.” She stopped using her wings to fan herself and started flapping them to take flight. It didn’t take her very long at all to pass through Rarity’s reflective screen, and as soon as she did, she could feel the sun’s heat against her back and wings again. The first thing Rainbow noticed as she flew up was that, in some ways, her ascent was a little easier than it usually was. Apparently, the unnatural heat wave had heated the air around her, giving her some powerful thermals. Of course, she was still struggling under the heat wave itself. In addition to her sweating and panting, she could even feel the sun glaring down at her, seemingly helping to try to bake her alive. Considering the tradeoff she was dealing with, she decided that the stronger thermals weren’t worth dealing with this heat.

Before long, Rainbow Dash ascended high enough above the city and started looking around. From this altitude, it was even more apparent that the ponies of Vanhoover had either sought shelter or evacuated. For at least a mile in every direction, every street and every area of the park was deserted. There was one exception however, and Rainbow noticed it when she turned in the direction of the town fountain. From where she was hovering, she could see that it was a pony, a pegasus to be exact, with a white coat and an orange mane. The pegasus also had a large body, perhaps as large as Celestia herself, but Rainbow was more concerned about the fact that this pony was in the middle of this heat wave in the first place. Either way, it was enough to convince her that something wasn’t right about this pegasus.

Rainbow Dash flew back down to meet her friends. “Hey, Dash,” Zero Volt said. “Did you see anything out of place?”

Rainbow Dash touched down and pointed in the direction of the city. “There’s a pegasus standing next to a fountain over there,” she said. “That sound out of place to you?”

“Nopony in their right mind would be out in the middle of this heat,” Rarity said.

“That’s not true,” Pinkie Pie said. “We’re all here and we’re in our right minds.” Almost all of them looked at Pinkie Pie, apparently with the exact same question on the tips of their tongues. “Maybe he’s friendly.”

“Friendly or not, it’s worth a look,” Applejack said. The seven of them started off toward the city. Rainbow Dash led the way on hoof, choosing to say on the ground rather exerting herself too much. While no one else was in the streets at the time, the seven of them occasionally saw indications that everyone else was inside. There was movement in some of the buildings, either from any ponies inside or from fans. There was even the odd air conditioner droning on in the background, cooling whichever house it was installed into.

Eventually, they reached the fountain and found the pegasus Rainbow had mentioned. As they approached the stallion, they noticed a few details that she had been too far away to see, namely his yellow eyes and the bright yellow circle that comprised his cutie mark. The pegasus turned and noticed them as they arrived near the fountain.

“What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Do you have anything to do with this heat wave that’s going on?”

“Yes, I am,” the pegasus said slowly. “In fact, I’m the one causing it.”

“Then you’re the creature who escaped from Tartarus recently,” Twilight said. “Who are you?”

“I am…” the pegasus started to say.

“Helios,” Zero Volt interjected.

“Wait, what?” Twilight said.

“Who?” Pinkie Pie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted, slightly annoyed.

“You know who I am,” Helios said.

“Nope, never met you before in my life,” Zero Volt said. The six young mares around him all stared at him in disbelief, but he paid them no attention. “But you’re something like a deity of the sun, aren’t you? In fact, you once were the sun, right?”

Helios stayed silent for a moment. He scowled at the ponies in front of him before responding. “Thousands of years ago, I was bonded to the sun,” Helios said. “I controlled its position in the skies above, until your kind took it for yourselves and imprisoned me in that pit! But now that I’m free, I will soon reclaim the sun as my own. When I do, I will hold it above this land without reprieve and burn you all.”

“So… water not under the bridge,” Zero Volt said. “Okay, I’ve heard enough. Girls, fire when ready.”

“Don’t order us around, Zero,” Rarity said. At this point, she and the others already had the same idea in mind and were now activating the Elements of Harmony. Five of them transmitted their power to the Element of Magic, and their bearers floated above the ground. Once they were ready, the Elements unleashed their magic on Helios, consuming his entire body within a multicolored beam of their power. A few seconds later, the Elements stopped, and the bearers floated back onto the ground. However, when the magic they unleashed faded away, Helios stood where he was, completely unscathed.

“Odd magic that you’re using against me,” Helios said. “But that was a futile effort nonetheless.”

“I-I don’t understand,” Twilight said. “How could the Elements of Harmony not work?”

“Yeah, that’s starting to get a little old,” Zero Volt said as he moved his right hoof to a blue scabbard strapped to his side. Sheathed within the scabbard was a sword with gold markings running along its blue crossguard. Once he grasped the hilt between his hoof and fetlock, seven glowing spheres of light emerged from his sides and forehead and entered the hilt. He drew the sword from its scabbard, flipped it around his hoof by its grip, and held it outward with his hoof gripping it tightly. As soon as the seven glowing spheres transferred into the sword, a soft white glow enveloped its blade.

“You bring a piece of steel against the wrath of the sun?” Helios asked calmly.

“You’d be surprised what this piece of steel can do,” Zero Volt said. He teleported in front of Helios and slashed horizontally at him. Helios jumped back and flapped his wings, evading the sword swing. Flames erupted momentarily from his feathers as he spread his wings, and when he flapped them, he threw those flames at the ground in front of him. Zero Volt teleported again to avoid those flames as they hit the ground, setting fire to what they touched.

After avoiding the sword slash, Helios landed on the ground again and folded his wings, only to feel something slicing into his right side. He turned and saw Zero Volt, who had just slashed into his side with the sword. Zero Volt swung again, but Helios lifted his right hoof and used it to block the swing. Fire coursed through Helios’ hoof as he held back the glowing white blade of the sword.

Zero Volt struggled against Helios, but found himself unable to throw back the hoof that was blocking his blade. At the same time, he began to notice how much hotter it was in Helios’ proximity. While the rest of Vanhoover was under an unusually brutal heat wave, his face felt like it was being held too close to an open furnace. Even more sweat poured down his face, and he continued to push back against Helios’ hoof.

Meanwhile, Helios found himself somewhat surprised, not by Zero Volt himself, but by the sword he was holding. While parrying the sword, he had enveloped his hoof in flames in order to render the blade unusable. However, the sword’s blade was not softening or warping against the heat and force exerted by him. He tried to push harder against the blade, only to find himself overbalancing on his right hoof when Zero Volt teleported away. Helios quickly put his hoof back down and balanced himself again when something suddenly slashed his left flank. He was about to look back, but saw Zero Volt teleport to his right side again.

Zero Volt slashed at Helios’ right side again, this time cutting into his shoulder and slicing through his right foreleg. He teleported again, but when he reappeared in front of Helios and saw him, something surprised him. He remembered cutting through Helios’ foreleg, and could even see the wound around that leg. However, and despite all logic, Helios was still standing on what should have been a severed leg. Not letting the anomaly stop him, Zero Volt started hacking away. As he attacked, he began to note how much he’d improved ever since the princesses told him to get trained as a swordspony. Only four months ago, he couldn’t even swing a sword without losing his balance. Now he was careful to keep himself steady with each swing, occasionally shifting or twisting his body to keep his weight on his other three legs.

Within a few seconds, Zero Volt had made several slashes through Helios’ chest, forelegs and even his neck. Yet even after all the damage he sustained, Helios seemed unfazed by the assault. Zero Volt would have continued his attack, but before he could make another swing, his two-second warning activated. Anticipating a threat, he stopped attacking and teleported several feet back. A second later, Helios’ entire body burst into flames, but he continued to stand still, staring at the seven ponies ahead of him. Zero Volt was a safe distance away from Helios, but despite the relatively short fight, he already found himself exhausted. Much of his body was drenched in sweat, and he was panting from both the heat and his exhaustion. A few seconds later, his legs gave out, and he collapsed on the ground, releasing his grip on his sword.

Meanwhile, Helios glared back at the seven ponies in front of him, every square inch of his body still aflame. After a few seconds, the flames finally died away. When they did, all of Zero Volt’s work over the last minute had been undone. Every wound, from the deep gashes in his sides and chest to the somehow harmless dismemberment of his forelegs and leg, had been completely healed by the flames.

“Enough,” Helios said. “I don’t have time to waste on you. I can sense the pony who controls my sun, residing in a baroque castle in the center of a mountaintop city. Once I reclaim it from her, you’ll burn with the rest of your kind.” Helios’ wings erupted in flames as he took flight. He turned and started to fly southeast, in the direction of Canterlot. Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends walked over to Zero Volt, watching Helios as he left Vanhoover behind.

“Did he really just call Canterlot Castle baroque?” Rarity said. “As in extravagant and overdone?”

“I’m not surprised,” Rainbow Dash said. “His idea of architectural style is burning down Equestria.”

“Zero, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked. She walked in front of Zero Volt and placed a hoof on his forehead, only to pull it back almost immediately. “Oh dear. You’re really hot, aren’t you?”

“Wait,” Zero Volt panted. “Were you all standing there the whole time? Why didn’t you try to help out?”

“Because we already brought out the big guns a minute ago,” Rainbow said.

“Because watching you jump around with a sword is fun!” Pinkie added.

“Because if any of us should be assessing how deadly our enemy is, it should be you,” Rarity added.

“All good answers… I guess,” Zero Volt said before standing back up. He picked up his sword and returned it to its scabbard. “Now that Helios left, I’m guessing Vanhoover will start getting cooler. Let’s head back to Princess Celestia.”

“Agreed,” Twilight said. “We need to warn her about Helios and think of a new plan.” She and her friends all huddled together, making sure they were all in contact with one another. Once they were all ready, Zero Volt teleported them from Vanhoover, bringing them all back to Canterlot Castle.

“You’ve returned,” Celestia said. “But you have not stopped the escaped prisoner.”

“We’re sorry, Princess Celestia,” Twilight said. “The Elements of Harmony didn’t work on him, and neither did Zero Volt’s sword. Now he’s coming here to attack you.”

“This is very troubling,” Celestia mused. “What else did you learn about him?”

Twilight opened her mouth, but hesitated to explain what they had found out about Helios. She turned to her friends, who all looked amongst themselves. One by one, they decided that Zero Volt should be the one to explain everything, and all looked at him. “His name is Helios,” he said. “Before your reign, and even before Equestria was founded, he controlled the sun’s position in the sky.”

“That would explain why I am having difficulty controlling the sun with my magic,” Celestia said. “Yet it doesn’t explain why he was imprisoned in Tartarus, or why the sun is now controlled by equine magic.”

“Actually, those two kind of explain each other,” he said.

“I see,” Celestia said. “Then the unicorns imprisoned Helios and used their magic to control the sun.”

“Hard to say why,” Zero Volt said. “Either they did it to have a bargaining chip for getting food or they thought they could give the earth ponies a better harvest by creating a summer season. Considering what race relations were like back then, both accounts have their biases.”

“I’ve never heard of any of this,” Twilight muttered. “And I’ve read a lot about Equestria’s history. Volt, where are you getting this information?”

Zero Volt didn’t respond at first. Twilight took a step toward him, and the others started to turn in his direction. “I’m a little embarrassed to say,” he said, awkwardly looking to his left.

“Come on, Volt,” Rainbow Dash said. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“Well…” Zero Volt said, still hesitating. “I’m getting this all from a voice in my head.”

The eyes of every single mare in the throne room widened. They all exchanged glances amongst each other, occasionally looking back at Zero Volt as well. Eventually, Applejack stepped toward him slowly, trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible. “Yah feelin’ alright there, Volt?” she asked. “Maybe yah’d like a glass of water or apple juice?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Yah sure ‘bout that?” she said. “Hearin’ voices in your head usually ain’t normal.”

“Yeah I know.”

“Normally I would agree,” Celestia said. “But this voice in Zero’s head seems to know more about our current predicament than we do. As for the predicament itself, I may have an idea.” The others turned their attention to Princess Celestia. “You are all familiar with the Elements of Harmony as they are now: Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, Honesty, and Magic. You’ve seen their power firsthoof, and have used them to perform several miraculous feats. However, the Elements of Harmony were mere legend when Luna and I first learned of them, and when we first set out to find them, the legends spoke of seven, not six.”

“Are you saying that there might be another Element of Harmony we haven’t found yet?” Twilight asked.

“It’s possible, but I can’t say for certain,” Celestia said. “Even after my sister and I found the other six, we were unable to find a seventh Element. When we used them to seal Discord in stone, we decided then that the seventh Element wasn’t necessary. Years later, I considered the possibility that it simply didn’t exist.”

“Well if it does exist, we could use the extra firepower, right?” Zero Volt said.

“Firepower?” Twilight said. “You don’t get how the Elements of Harmony actually work, do you Volt?”

“To be fair, you girls only ever use the Elements as a tactical weapon,” Zero Volt shot back. Twilight didn’t respond to his comment, at least not verbally. She waited three seconds before flexing a set of muscles on each of her sides, revealing a pair of lavender wings. Fully stretched out, her wings were visibly larger than those of her pegasus friends, though still nowhere near as strong as Rainbow Dash’s. “Okay, I’ll give you that. Anyway, if there is another Element of Harmony, let’s go out and find it.”

“Not so fast, my little pony,” Celestia said. “Even if a seventh Element does exist, we still don’t know where it is hidden. More importantly, we don’t know who its chosen wielder is.”

“Okay, then we’ll hold auditions for its wielder after we find it,” he said.

“It is not that simple,” Celestia said. “By nature, the Elements of Harmony invariably set trials before those who seek them. Only the chosen bearer of an Element, one who stands as a paragon of its virtue, will be capable of passing its trial. To borrow your analogy, the audition is held while you search for the Element, not after you find it. However…”

Celestia briefly concentrated her magic and conjured six ancient rolls of parchment in front of her. She laid out the scrolls in a row on a nearby table. Carefully, she unfurled the pieces of parchment and motioned the Element bearers and Zero Volt to look at them.

“That doesn’t mean that we cannot begin a search for the seventh Element,” Celestia said. “These scrolls give the location of six shrines scattered throughout Equestria. Each of these shrines once contained one of the Elements of Harmony, where Luna and I first found them. Those shrines may hold clues to the location of the seventh Element.”

The seven of them grouped around the table to study the scrolls individually. Each scroll identified one of the Elements and gave the location of the nearest town to that Element’s shrine. Some of them also gave directions to the shrine starting from that town. “If we split into groups, we should be able to search these places more quickly,” Twilight said. “Volt, since we can both teleport around Equestria, the groups should form around us.”

Without warning, Pinkie Pie popped her head out from between Twilight’s forelegs. Apparently, she was lying on her stomach directly underneath Twilight. “I call Twilight’s group!” she chirped, apparently unaware of the surprised reactions of the rest of the group, or even Twilight’s bewildered reaction to having her suddenly appear directly under her. “Come with us, Dash! It’ll be fun!”

“I’ll go with Zero,” Fluttershy said, walking up next to Zero Volt. That left Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash to choose a group. Rarity decided to join Zero Volt and Fluttershy, partly because their group still lacked a unicorn. Rainbow Dash joined Pinkie and Twilight for no better reason other than because Pinkie seemed more enthusiastic about it. Applejack, the last to join a group, went toward Zero Volt to make sure both groups would have the same number of shrines to search. With the two groups complete, Twilight and Zero Volt each took three pieces of parchment from the table. They gave them one last look before rolling them up and putting them away.

As soon as they were ready, the seven of them all turned to face Celestia. “While you search for the seventh Element, I will be screening the citizens of Equestria for anypony who may be its rightful wielder,” she said.

“But what about Helios?” Twilight asked. “He’ll be here at any minute to attack you.”

“I have already thought of that,” Celestia said. “For him, I am going to need some outside assistance.”

“Outside assistance?” a voice echoed throughout the throne room. The eight ponies in the room all looked around for its source, though most of them knew who it belonged to. “If you want my help, why don’t you just ask? Though I do find it ironic that a little bit of chaos is exactly what you need right now.” At the end of that last comment, a draconequus appeared from under the carpet that cut through the room. Despite the lack of any discernible bulge to indicate that anything would be under the carpet, he emerged completely from under it and hovered above the ground. “Discord, Spirit of Disharmony, at your service.”

“Who?” Zero Volt said. Suddenly, they all heard an audible smack. They looked back at the table, which Twilight had apparently slammed her head onto in frustration.

“You’re that other friend that these six ponies made a while back, aren’t you?” Discord said, offering his paw for Zero Volt to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, even if you did once refer to me as a ‘failed biology experiment.’”

Zero Volt accepted Discord’s paw with his hoof, though he also cocked an eyebrow at him. “Uh…” he uttered in confusion. Discord rolled his eyes at him. Using his power, he produced an image in front of Zero Volt. Zero Volt examined at the image, apparently of one of the stained glass windows in Canterlot Tower. The window depicted the battle between Discord and the royal pony sisters, featuring Celestia and Luna circling around a petrified Discord. “Okay, so that’s you.”

“Oh, come on,” Discord said. “Don’t you remember calling me a failed biology experiment?”

“No, but that sounds like something I would say as an offhooved comment,” Zero Volt said. “I mean, if Dash ever said that something needed to be about twenty percent cooler, she’d probably forget having said it by the end of the week.”

“Anyway,” Celestia said. “Discord, I need you to prevent Helios from reaching me or causing any damage to Canterlot. Feel no need to hold back when you engage him.”

“I would never dream of it,” Discord said. “But first…” Discord snapped the talons on his left claw, and several storm clouds formed above the heads of Twilight and her friends. A downpour immediately started over them, causing the seven of them to cry out, partially due to surprise and partially in discomfort. After a few seconds, they were already soaked, and they glared at Discord. “What? You all needed a shower.” The seven drenched ponies continued glaring at him. However, the expressions of some of them softened, Fluttershy’s in particular. After a while, Discord produced seven towels in front of them. Each towel floated in front of one of the ponies, its color matching that of the corresponding pony’s coat. “Towels?”

Each of the ponies stepped out from under the clouds and grabbed a towel. They all took a minute to dry off, though a few of them took a little extra time to fix their manes. Meanwhile, Discord removed the clouds from inside the throne room, as well as the puddles of excess rainwater that had remained on the ground. As soon as Twilight and her friends were done, they all returned to their groups. Twilight already had her group’s first destination in mind, and once Rainbow and Pinkie were nearby, she cast her spell. A magenta flash swallowed the three of them within a split second, and when it was gone, so were they. At the same time, Zero Volt waited for Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity to group around him. As soon as they were in contact with each other, he teleported the four of them out of the castle.

Treading a Familiar Path

The skies above Cloudsdale were clear that afternoon, much as they would be on any other afternoon. Being so far above and disconnected from the surface of the earth, the cloud city had no need for any other weather phenomena like rain or snow. This meant that, apart from a few discreet anomalies within the city, this day was going to be much like any other in Cloudsdale. The first of those anomalies occurred at the center of Cloudsdale, when a small spark of magic rapidly swelled into a bright magenta flash.

The flash of light dissipated almost as quickly as it appeared, and in the center of it stood three young mares: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. The three of them looked around. In particular, Pinkie took a few steps forward, wearing a typical smile on her face as she took in her surroundings. A realization came to her seconds later, causing her to blink and her smile to wane. She looked down and scuffed her hoof against the clouds.

“Uh-oh,” Pinkie Pie said just milliseconds before her legs fell through the clouds. Rainbow Dash spread her wings and lunged toward her. She quickly grasped Pinkie’s tail with her teeth, managing to catch her before she could fall through, and beat her wings to keep both of them aloft. With her mouth occupied, all she could do was turn her head and shoot a look at Twilight.

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Twilight said. Focusing her magic, she quickly cast a cloudwalking spell on Pinkie. When the spell completed, Rainbow lowered Pinkie back down. Pinkie Pie stood up on her hooves again, her weight now well supported by the clouds.

“The first place we’re looking is here?” Rainbow said.

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “One of the shrines that held the Elements of Harmony should be somewhere in Cloudsdale.”

“That’s kind of hard to believe, Twilight,” Rainbow said. “It’s one thing to find some ancient temple in the middle of a forest or deep underground, but not somewhere in an airborne city made of clouds. Besides, I know Cloudsdale pretty well, and I don’t remember there being any shrines here.”

“Maybe it fell,” Pinkie said.

“If that’s the case, then we’d have to search the ground below Cloudsdale,” Twilight said. “But I don’t want to do that just yet, not until we’re sure that the shrine isn’t up here.”

The three of them started to think about where the shrine might be, Rainbow Dash in particular. Having grown up in Cloudsdale, she knew the city better than just about any of her friends. “If this shrine was here when the princesses were looking for the Elements of Harmony, then it’s what, at least a thousand years old?” she thought out loud. “That’s gotta make it one of the oldest places in all of Cloudsdale.”

“It’s probably a lot older than that,” Twilight said. “And if it was built to keep the one of the Elements hidden, I’m guessing that it hasn’t seen any renovations since.” This last thought gave her an idea. “Rainbow Dash, is there a municipal archives building in Cloudsdale?”

“Municipal archives?” Rainbow said, raising an eyebrow at Twilight. “What, you mean like a hall of records? Uh, let me think.” Normally, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t know offhoof where the hall of records for a town would be. As well as she knew Cloudsdale, it wasn’t the type of location that would normally catch her attention. Since she’d spent much of her time in Cloudsdale as a filly, it was definitely not something she would have noticed. Yet oddly enough, she could swear that she was familiar with the location. “Yeah, I think I know where it is. Follow me.”

Still hovering above the clouds, Rainbow Dash flew off in one direction, keeping a steady pace. Twilight and Pinkie followed her, trotting down the same road to keep up with her.

* * * * * * * * * *

Green light flashed outside the main entrance of Canterlot Castle. A few Royal Guard ponies stationed around the castle grounds noticed the flash and turned toward the entrance, readying their halberds. The green light faded after only a fraction of a second, and four ponies stood in its place. The guards quickly recognized three of the ponies, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy, and returned to their patrol, knowing that the three of them were often at the castle at the princess’ invitation.

Meanwhile, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy all looked around the castle grounds, surveying their new surroundings. Zero Volt also looked around, but his gaze was set far off in one particular direction. “Visibility’s good,” he said.

“The first shrine we’re looking for is in Canterlot?” Rarity asked.

“No, not here,” Zero Volt said. He pointed up toward the sky, past the city and toward a tall mountain that overlooked them. Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, was built into the side of this mountain, but the mountain itself rose far above the city limits. “Up there, at the top of the mountain.”

Fluttershy gazed up the side of the mountain, anxiously taking a step back. “W-We’re climbing all the way up there?” she said.

“Looks like we are,” Applejack said. Noticing how anxious Fluttershy was, she gave her an assuring smile. “Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing. We’re not gonna let yah fall.”

“She’s right, Fluttershy,” Zero Volt said. He smiled at Fluttershy and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You’re not going to fall, and we’re not doing any climbing. If I can see high enough up the mountain, I should be able to get us to the top with a few easy teleports. Even if you did fall off, any one of us could easily catch you before you fell too far.” Applejack lifted a hoof to adjust her hat, where she kept a lasso ready to use. “That is, assuming Rarity’s magic can actually lift a fully-grown pony.”

“Stand still for a few seconds and let me show you,” Rarity shot back. “I promise I’ll put you back down afterward.”

Applejack chuckled at the two of them. “Soon as y’all are done bickerin’ like an old married couple, we can start movin’,” she said.

“Hey, I’m ready when you are,” he said. Seconds passed without any of them moving, and Zero Volt frowned at them. “Seriously, I’m your mode of transportation. I’m only ready when you are.” Applejack and Rarity each placed a hoof on him. Fluttershy gave an apprehensive glance at the mountain peak, and then turned back to Zero Volt. Taking a deep breath, she lifted one of her hooves and placed it on his back. Now that they were ready, Zero Volt closed his eyes and focused on the mountaintop above Canterlot. Despite how far it was, he had a picture of the peak in his mind, including a ledge that he could barely make out at the top of it. A green flash surrounded him and his friends, and when he opened his eyes, the four of them were standing on that ledge.

Rarity and Applejack each took a few steps away from the group to survey their surroundings. Though the very peak of the mountain was still about two hundred feet above them, they had found a flat, sizable ledge to stand on at this altitude. Zero Volt inhaled deeply through his nose, feeling the wind blow through his mane before exhaling and looking at the sky. Cloudsdale was visible in the distance from where they were, but the skies around them were clear at this altitude. Zero Volt stepped toward the edge and looked down the mountain. Ponyville was only visible as a collection of dots with adjacent farmland and forest, but he had a better view of Canterlot, including its castle.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy stepped away from the edge and moved closer to the side of the mountain. Turning toward the mountain itself, she saw a set of heavy stone doors built into the rock wall. A small pedestal was built into the ground a few feet away from the door. Fluttershy stepped toward the door slowly, coming to a stop in front of the pedestal, and saw an X-shaped slot in the center of it.

“Yah find somethin’, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. Rarity and Zero Volt turned toward her. The three of them approached Fluttershy and examined the heavy doors for themselves. “Looks like we found what we were lookin’ for.”

Zero Volt nodded. He looked down at the pedestal in front of their hooves and back at the doors. On the right side of the doors, he noticed a weathered bronze plaque in the rock. Writing was engraved in the plaque, and even though the lettering had been partially eroded, he could still read what it said. “‘Prove that thou can endure the day without bloodshed. Strike thy blade that it faces this door, and return it untainted when night falls on the land.’”

“That must be what this pedestal is for,” Rarity said.

Zero Volt walked back to the pedestal and looked down at the X-shaped slot carved into it. The slot was aligned so that one of its arms lay parallel to the doors while the other lay perpendicular. Zero Volt drew his sword and held it over the pedestal. He aligned the blade so that it was parallel to the doors and lowered it into the slot. The blade fell about a foot into the pedestal before it reached the bottom. Orange light shone up through the slot and illuminated the sword for a few seconds. Once the light faded away, Zero Volt drew his sword out.

“It said we have to come back after sunset, right?” Fluttershy said.

“Ah think so,” Applejack said. She looked up at the sun’s position in the sky, while Zero Volt checked his watch. “Means we’ve got another five hours before comin’ back. We should go look for the other two shrines to pass the time.”

“Until then, all I have to do is not make anything bleed for the rest of the day,” Zero Volt said, putting his sword back in its scabbard. “Sounds easy enough. Alright, soon as everypony’s ready, we’re heading to Albaneigh. The next shrine is about five miles south, so we’ll have to go on hoof from there.”

“You’ve been to Albaneigh?” Rarity asked.

“Once.”

“What’s it like?”

“Manehattan’s better.”

As soon as the four of them grouped together, Zero Volt teleported them off of the mountain. When they reappeared again, they were standing near the edge of a forest on the outskirts of Albaneigh. A few houses stood around them, while the city itself could be seen further to the north. The four ponies soon regained their bearings, and Zero Volt pointed them toward the forest.

“Since we’re going to be walking for a while,” Zero Volt started, “does anyone mind telling me who this Discord is?”

“Discord is… a former foe of ours,” Rarity said. “Like he said back at the castle, he’s the Spirit of Disharmony.”

“Disharmony, huh?” Zero Volt said. “I can see how that would clash with the Elements. So why’s he floating around freely in the castle?”

“The princess asked us to reform Discord a year ago,” Fluttershy said. “He was horrible at first, but he’s not so bad now that he’s seen the error of his ways.”

“Ah don’t know,” Applejack said. “Pouring all that rain over our heads wasn’t very nice o’ him.”

“He only did that because we had come back from Vanhoover, remember?” Fluttershy said. “He even gave us all towels to dry off. He just wanted to have a little fun, that’s all.”

“Guy’s got a sense of humor, I’ll admit that,” Zero Volt said. The four of them continued their trek through the forest. “Why can’t I get a villain like that?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly,” Rarity said, raising an eyebrow at Zero Volt. “Did you just say you would have wanted to contend with Discord?”

“Not necessarily him,” he said. “Just someone with a sense of humor. So far, all I’ve gotten was a smug fratricidal jerk, an ageless omnicidal sociopath and a pyro with a grudge.”

Rarity shook her head at him. “You know, Zero, sometimes I think you’re a bit touched in the head.”

“Was he really that much of a threat?”

“As an immortal trickster and the antithesis of the Elements of Harmony, yes, he was,” she said. “You can imagine our reactions when Princess Celestia asked us to release him and attempt to reform him. Though if we could change the subject for a moment, I’d like to bring attention to one other thing you said earlier. Specifically, your hypothetical scenario where Rainbow Dash would say ‘twenty percent cooler’, which isn’t as hypothetical as you might think.”

“Wait, she’s actually said that before?” Zero Volt asked.

“You’d be surprised.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“When have I ever said ‘twenty percent cooler’?” Rainbow Dash asked. She, along with Pinkie and Twilight, were still walking through the streets of Cloudsdale. The latter two still trotted behind her while she hovered in the air, craning her head to face them.

“Duh, it was two years ago!” Pinkie Pie said. “Rarity was making our dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, and you told her to make yours about twenty percent cooler, remember?”

“Not really,” Rainbow said incredulously.

“Well you should,” Pinkie said. “That’s like one of your most famous lines.”

“Sounds like more of a throwaway line to me,” Rainbow said, shrugging her shoulders. A second later, she had an idea, and a smirk formed on her face. “I mean look, I know how awesome you guys think I am, which I am, but I didn’t know you all hung on my every word.”

Before Rainbow Dash could react, or even notice, Pinkie Pie leapt onto her back. The sudden impact took her by surprise, and she flapped her wings harder to compensate for it, as well as the extra weight. She managed to keep the two of them in the air while Pinkie brought her forelegs around her neck, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Of course we do, Dashie,” Pinkie said. She then picked up one of her front hooves and tousled Rainbow’s mane, much to her annoyance. “I remember everything you say.”

Meanwhile, Twilight glanced at the two of them and laughed quietly to herself. At the same time, she wondered whether Rainbow Dash’s most recent comment was meant to be tongue-in-cheek or was simply a product of her ego. ‘It’s probably both,’ she thought. Nevertheless, another part of Twilight’s mind still remembered why they were walking through Cloudsdale in the first place, and she decided to remind her two friends of it too. “Rainbow Dash, are you sure we’re going the right way?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow grunted, still trying to manage the Pinkie on her back. “We’re almost there, I think.”

After traveling a few more blocks, the three of them stopped in the middle of the road and looked up at an enormous building ahead of them. Several cloud columns supported the four-story building, and a row of steps led up to the front entrance. Just above the entrance, the words ‘Cloudsdale Hall of Records’ were engraved in the cloud material. While the building wasn’t as large as the weather factory or the Cloudiseum, the hall of records spanned roughly six city blocks, making it the largest building in the vicinity.

“That’s Cloudsdale’s hall of records?” Twilight said. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t notice a building this big while you were living here.”

“Last stop, everypony off!” Pinkie said. She jumped off of Rainbow’s back, landed back on the clouds, and trotted up the stairs toward the front entrance. Rainbow Dash and Twilight exchanged glances for a moment before following her up the stairs and entering the building.

The Cloudsdale Hall of Records was every bit as massive on the inside as it was on the outside. Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie stood in the entrance hall and looked around. Several different chambers were on the ground floor, each one connecting to the entrance hall through its own arched doorway. A spiral staircase stood at one corner of the entrance hall and connected to the higher floors of the building. There was plenty of space in the center and in between each bend of the spiral, in case any pegasi opted to fly in between floors instead of climbing the stairs. The three of them would have continued scanning their surroundings, but a voice called out to them.

“Rainbow Dash?”

The voice was a familiar one, or at least it was to one of them. Standing by the doorway to one of the connecting chambers was a cyan pegasus mare with an orange and amber mane, one that Rainbow Dash quickly recognized. “Lightning Dust?” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same question,” Lightning Dust said. “I work here as an archivist, at least when I’m not training.”

“Okay, so maybe you can help us out,” Rainbow said. “We’re trying to find something in Cloudsdale, and Twilight thought this would be a good place to start.”

“I didn’t expect Cloudsdale’s public archives to be so expansive,” Twilight interjected.

“That’s because the information here goes back hundreds of years,” Lightning Dust said. “This place has copies of birth records, local laws passed in Cloudsdale, not to mention the weather history of every town in Equestria on file. There are even a couple of basement floors full of old records.” A smirk formed on Lightning Dust’s face, and she gazed throughout the halls of the building. “This place is actually big enough that I can get some training done even while I’m at work. I’ve spent a lot of hours maneuvering in between all the shelves and sorting all the records as fast as possible.”

“Nice,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m a weather pony back in Ponyville, so I’ve got a lot of space for training while I’m at work. I’ve even got a practice field that I use in my spare time.”

The smirk on Lightning Dust’s face was then replaced by a frown, and she glanced back at Rainbow Dash. “Well lucky you,” she muttered.

Rainbow noticed the shift in her tone. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she quickly confronted her. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she said. “Don’t tell me you’re still sore about getting kicked out of the Wonderbolt Academy.”

“Maybe I am,” Lightning Dust said bitterly. “And maybe I think the wrong pony got to stay in the academy.”

“Are you nuts?!” Rainbow Dash said. By now, her voice was loud enough to echo through the halls of the building. “Do you have any idea what you almost did to my friends? You almost got them killed when you lost control of that tornado. That’s why you got thrown out, because of your reckless stunts.”

“Refresh my memory, Rainbow Dash,” Lightning Dust said through gritted teeth. “Which one of us got tossed out of that tornado, and which one of us cleared all those clouds with it?” Lightning Dust became silent after that and waited for Rainbow Dash to answer her. She didn’t get a response, and instead, Rainbow gave her a silent, unwavering glare in return. “Yeah, I thought so. I guess you and I both know which one of us deserves to be a Wonderbolt and which one of us doesn’t.”

The two of them glowered at each other for the next few seconds. Though neither of them spoke, they both showed contempt for the other. However, while Rainbow Dash’s glare was filled with anger and disgust, Lightning Dust’s expression showed her derision toward Rainbow.

The glaring came to an abrupt end when the two of them heard something coming from the side. Both pegasi turned her heads and raised an eyebrow at Pinkie Pie, who had stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at Lightning Dust. Pinkie pulled her tongue back in and pouted at Lightning Dust. The stares she received from them didn’t discourage her, especially now that she’d made her point.

Rainbow Dash was the first to turn away from Pinkie Pie. She brought her face closer to Lightning Dust and glared at her again. Lightning Dust noticed and turned to face her with her own glare. “One, I’m at least as good a flier as you,” Rainbow seethed. “I’ve got the skill, the speed, and the reputation to prove it. Two, I never said you were a bad flier. In fact, I think you’re a great flier, and if it wasn’t for your attitude problem, I’d have gone to Spitfire and vouched for you a long time ago.”

Under any other circumstances, Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash would have continued their argument. Their feud was cut short however when they heard a distant, yet loud roaring sound coming from outside. The four ponies all walked outside and tried to find the source of the noise. A fireball streaked across the sky above Cloudsdale, catching the attention of the four of them. Lightning Dust wondered what it was as it flew overhead, though for a brief moment, she could have sworn that the fireball that a ponylike shape to it. “What is that?” she asked.

Twilight watched the fireball as it continued southwest, in the direction of Canterlot. “Lightning Dust,” she said. “As much as you and Rainbow Dash need to clear the air, we’re in a rush here and we need your help. Can you tell us when a property in Cloudsdale was last built on or developed?”

“I can probably find out by looking through property sales and zoning records,” Lightning Dust said after giving it some thought. “What do you need me to find?”

“We need to know if there’s any part of Cloudsdale that hasn’t had any development in over a thousand years,” Twilight said.

Lightning Dust’s jaw dropped as she stared at Twilight in utter disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said. “Property gets sold and built on all the time. Not only are you asking me to believe that there’s someplace that hasn’t been touched in a thousand years, but you want me to look through every square inch of Cloudsdale to find this imaginary plot of cloud? How am I supposed to do that?”

“You’re the archivist, you figure it out,” Rainbow Dash said.

Lightning Dust shot a dirty look at Rainbow Dash. Despite the simplicity of the request, she was being asked to do something that would involve hours of tedious searching through archived documents, all for something that probably didn’t exist. Another glance at Rainbow Dash made her wonder if that was actually the point, that this might just be some stupid joke played on her by the pony who got her kicked out of the Wonderbolt Academy. At the same time, she also doubted that Twilight, a princess, would waste her time on such a prank, and she still didn’t know what to make of the fireball that flew toward Canterlot.

“Second floor, follow me,” Lightning Dust said. She turned and flew toward the staircase, leading Rainbow Dash and her friends. Halfway toward the stairs, she stopped. “One more thing.” She turned around and hovered in front of Rainbow Dash, facing her with another glare. “I don’t need your help to get into the Wonderbolts, got it?” She didn’t wait for an answer, and instead turned back toward the stairs. Though taken aback, Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie followed her.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ten minutes later, Lightning Dust was staring at a piece of parchment spread out over a table. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were scattered throughout the room, all looking through some of the second floor archives. She however was studying the large piece of parchment in front of her, occasionally looking back at a few documents on the side of the table. The more she looked at it, the more convinced she was that she had what those three were looking for. Lightning Dust considered calling them over to tell them, but when she looked up, she noticed Rainbow Dash walking toward Twilight. Twilight stood two shelves away skimming through several documents that were floating in the air, so she was within earshot when Rainbow started talking.

“How much longer do you think this is going to take?” Rainbow Dash said quietly.

“She said it could take a few hours,” Twilight said. “Even with the four of us searching, we might be here for a while, and we still have to find the other two shrines.”

“Maybe we should go look for them now and leave this to Lightning Dust,” Rainbow said.

“If you need to be somewhere else, you could just go,” Lightning Dust loudly interjected, not bothering to look up from the table. “No one’s stopping you.”

Twilight and Rainbow looked up at Lightning Dust. “You sure you don’t mind keeping up the search until we come back?” Rainbow said.

“Oh no, don’t worry about it,” she said snidely. “It’s not like I have anything else to do while I’m here.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Rainbow shot back. “Pinkie, we’re heading out!” She and Twilight waited a few seconds as Pinkie Pie dropped what she was doing and walked toward them. As soon as they were together, Twilight concentrated on the next location they needed to go to and used her teleportation spell.

After the three of them teleported away, Lightning Dust was the only one left in the room. She picked up everything from the table she was working at, making sure to roll up the large piece of parchment in front of her. She wasn’t interested in giving this information to Rainbow Dash anymore, or at least not yet, and her next step was to find someplace to hide these items.

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity were making their way through the forest. They had left the outskirts of Albaneigh behind them about four miles ago and were continuing on in their search for the next shrine. The sun rested high above them, shining down on them through the forest canopy as they made what was a rather uneventful journey. The four of them spent much of the last hour taking in the sights along the way, even Rarity, who might normally have been expected to complain about the long walk. Apart from the sound of their hooves against the ground, the forest was quiet all around them.

However, after about three miles into the forest, things began to feel different to them. As they looked around at their surroundings, the four of them started to feel uneasy. Occasionally, one of them heard some rustling in the underbrush or noticed some movement. A slight breeze blew through the forest, so they assumed it was just the wind or a small forest animal the first few times.

Fluttershy was the most anxious of them, staying as close to her friends as possible as they went. Another bush rustled nearby, causing her to flinch at the sound. “Does anyone else get the feeling that we’re being watched?” she murmured.

“You too, Fluttershy?” Applejack said.

Zero Volt also kept his guard up, looking to his left and right as he went. He had a few ideas in case something happened, and at the moment, they all involved teleportation. “I’m guessing no one still thinks that’s just the wind,” he said.

“Wind doesn’t rustle the branches one at a time,” Applejack said. She picked up a rock on the ground and balanced it on her hoof. “We’re being followed.”

Holding the stone on one of her hooves, Applejack eyed the surrounding trees and bushes. On her left, she noticed some movement behind a few shrubs and hurled the stone in that direction. The stone collided with something when it landed, and a pained grunt sounded from behind the shrubs. Applejack’s eyebrows furrowed, and she began to step toward the direction of the grunt. But before she could take more than a few steps, a large gray hand reached out of the ground and grasped her foreleg.

“What in tarnation?!” Applejack yelled out. But before anyone could help her, several more hands emerged from the ground around them, each one a dull shade of either blue, brown, or gray. The hands, or rather the creatures they belonged to, rapidly clawed their way out of the ground. Within a few seconds, a dozen of these burly canine creatures surrounded the four ponies, including three that appeared from behind the forest underbrush and one that was clutching one of its eyes.

“Diamond Dogs!” Rarity gasped. She tried to run toward Applejack, but was stopped when one of the creatures blocked her path. Applejack tried to pull away from the one that grabbed her foreleg, but couldn’t break free of its grasp.

“Let go of me!” Applejack said. “What do y’all want?”

“Leave now,” one of the Diamond Dogs said. “Ponies not welcome here.”

“Absolutely not!” Rarity said. “We have some business to conduct here of the utmost importance, and you will not stand in our way. Now release our friend or el-”

The Diamond Dog in front of Rarity placed one of its hands over her mouth, cutting her off in midsentence. Fluttershy frantically looked around at her friends, unsure of what to do and too scared to move even if she did, when another Diamond Dog moved behind her. The creature tackled her from behind and pinned her to the ground before she could do anything.

At the same time, Zero Volt looked from one Diamond Dog to the next, even more paralyzed than Fluttershy was. As he glanced at each of the large, menacing creatures, he could hear dogs barking loudly in his mind. He saw their big, sharp nails, as well as the bared teeth of a few of them, and his left hind leg felt numb. In fact, all of his legs felt numb, but the left hind leg felt worse than the others, especially around the two scars on it. Only his right foreleg could move anymore, and it was near his left side, where the hilt of his sword was.

One of the Diamond Dogs stood behind Zero Volt. With its claws extended, the creature jumped toward him, attempting to hold him down. Two seconds before it could reach him, Zero Volt’s eyes flashed for a split second, and in the midst of everything he was thinking, feeling, and remembering, he glanced behind him. He reached for his sword, and with one quick movement, he drew his weapon, leapt out of the Diamond Dog’s path, and swung his blade. The blade’s edge briefly came into contact with the left side of the Diamond Dog’s throat, but it was there just long enough and cut just deeply enough.

The Diamond Dog felt a sharp pain in its neck as it landed back on the ground. It placed a hand against its throat and, feeling wetness, pulled it back. Much of its hand was covered in blood, and even more blood was pouring from the wound in its neck. At the same time, Zero Volt stared at the puddle of blood forming in front of the Diamond Dog. Pain shot through his left side, and his breathing became quicker and more erratic as he started to remember the sight of blood from somewhere else.

“Zero!” Fluttershy shouted from a few feet away, horrified after seeing everything that had happened. Freeing her hind legs, she bucked the Diamond Dog that had pinned her down, causing it to release her, and ran toward Zero Volt. “Zero, put the sword down,” she pleaded. The sword already hung limply in Zero Volt’s loosened grip, but he did not respond to Fluttershy. Fluttershy placed her hooves on his shoulders. “Zero, look at me.”

For a moment, Fluttershy’s hooves had shaken Zero Volt when she grabbed ahold of him. He looked up at her, seeing the pleading look in her eyes, then down at the sword and the blood on its edge, and the back at Fluttershy. Further away, Applejack and Rarity were watching the spectacle in shock. The Diamond Dogs that had held them had since loosened their grasps, allowing the two mares to step away from them.

“Calm down, Zero,” Fluttershy said softly, yet quickly. Though she herself was finding it hard to stay calm, she was doing everything she could think of to coax him. She raised a hoof to the side of his face and started stroking gently. “Just calm down. It’s going to be okay, Zero. It’s going to be okay. Please, Zero, put the sword down.”

The sword fell from Zero Volt’s grip and clattered on the ground. Zero Volt placed his hoof back down. He looked at Fluttershy, maintaining eye contact as she gave an assuring smile and continued to stroke the side of his face. However, when Fluttershy turned back around, what she saw was far from assuring. The injured Diamond Dog lay on the ground, trying to stop the bleeding by pushing against the injury with its hand. Most of the Diamond Dogs stood behind it, growling angrily as they slowly advanced.

Fluttershy grew worried, both for her sake and for Zero Volt’s. She looked back at him and saw that he wasn’t much better. Despite her efforts, he was still terrified, still in shock, and still needed help. A look of determination replacing Fluttershy’s worried expression as she turned back toward the Diamond Dogs. She stood directly in front of Zero Volt and spread her wings, adopting a protective stance as she stared down the creatures. “Leave him alone,” she said.

“That pony hurt one of us,” one of the Diamond Dogs said, pointing at his injured friend.

“We demand payback,” another dog said. “Give him to us. Blood for blood.”

“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Fluttershy said. She gave a quick glance to the bleeding Diamond Dog. “And hurting him is not going to help your friend. Look, I’m going to try to stop the bleeding, but I can’t do that if you hurt Zero. If you leave him alone, I can save your friend.”

The Diamond Dogs turned toward one another to discuss Fluttershy’s offer. Meanwhile, Fluttershy stood still in front of Zero Volt, keeping her wings outstretched and maintaining her assertive gaze. Rarity had fainted at the sight of the blood a while ago, and Applejack was dragging her toward Fluttershy and Zero Volt. After a few seconds, the Diamond Dogs turned back toward Fluttershy. “Okay, you stop the bleeding,” one of them said. “But you had better save him, or else.”

Fluttershy reached behind Zero Volt’s mane and pulled out a pack filled with medical supplies. She made toward the bleeding Diamond Dog, stepping through the puddle of blood, and placed the pack nearby along with a few of her own supplies. Before long, she was able to pinch the nicked blood vessel and stabilize the dog. However, the injury had to be closed properly, and that wasn’t possible in the middle of a forest.

“I stopped him from losing any more blood, but I can’t properly treat him here,” Fluttershy said. She looked up at the rest of the dogs. “We have to bring him to a hospital. If any of you want to go with him, then come here.” A few of the Diamond Dogs walked over to her. Fluttershy then turned to look at Zero Volt. “Zero, I need you to teleport us to the nearest hospital.” Zero Volt didn’t respond, and instead stared blankly at her. “Zero!”

Zero Volt’s head perked up. He saw Fluttershy sitting in a pool of blood with an injured Diamond Dog and thought he remembered her saying to get them to a hospital. The nearest one was in Albaneigh, and he remembered where in the city it was. Applejack had brought Rarity’s unconscious body toward Fluttershy, and as soon as Zero Volt walked toward them, he teleported them, the injured dog, and several of the other dogs out of the forest.