Story for a sick pony

Chapters

Let me read you a story
Meeting kindness and loyalty
Joined by Magic and Laughter
Brothers, sisters, and mothers
Shadows of the library
How each spent their day
Broken legs and hurt hearts

Let me read you a story

Story for a Sick Pony

“Colds. Colds-AHHHHHHHCHOOOO-never change,” A little orange pony said as she looked outside and cursed the sunny day, “DARN YOU CELESTIA! Why must you make it so sunny and bright while I am sick.” The little filly looked down on the sheets as she began to think of what her friends are doing right now. She slowly rubbed the warm covers, lamenting her current situation that was leading to her immense boredom. It wouldn’t have been so bad of course, had she actually had anything to do. The problem comes from the fact that she was confined to permanent bed status by her mother and someone she considered to be her sister. Right now, they both seemed like horrible ponies.

“Scootaloo, sweetie, there is some pony here to see you,” Sunny Day said as she opened the door to let a rainbow-maned blue pegasus in.

“Hey there, squirt. How’s the cold treating ya?” Rainbow dash asked as she walked into the door, holding a book in her hooves.

Scootaloo shot Dash a killer look from under her blankets, “I am stuck under the covers, unable to move, and miserable while my best friends in existence are out on a field trip having who knows what adventures. To top it off, my big ‘sister’ is the one responsible for putting me in confinement in the first place!!!!”

“To be fair, you could barely walk when you saw me. You were coughing your head off, sneezing every other word, and you were very hot. I had to make sure you got home and taken care of.”

“But Rainbow, you flew when you were much sicker than I was,” Scootaloo looked down, feeling like she couldn’t live up to her ‘sis’.

“Yeah, but I am awesome,” Rainbow then hugged Scootaloo in comfort, “you are just awesome in training.”

Looking up with a big smile, Scootaloo felt a little better, “Really?”

“Hey. Would I lie to you?” Dash smirked as she said this, “Now, to make you forget what the others are doing I have come to read you a story.”

“Really? Is it another Daring Doo story?” Scoot asked, a little more excited.

“Well, I would but Twilight kind of put me into a Daring Doo restriction for a bit and forced me to get another book. This is still awesome though.” Dash said as she sat next to Scoot, holding out the book.

“Why did she do that?” Scootaloo asked.

“I’ll tell you later...”

“ Oh, well,this isn’t going to be one of those, ‘princess is too weak to be real and needs saving from a bland prince’ stories is it?”

“Naw,” With a smirk, Dash picked up the book and opened the first page, “There was once a beautiful princess.”

“Rainbow Dash!!!!”

“Kidding, kidding,” Dash laughed as she looked at Scootaloo in her eyes, “This story is called, ‘A Farmer’s Journey’.”
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Once, long ago and even further than that. There was an apple farmer by the name of Abby Jack who worked hard everyday to create the food that her town needed to live. She worked and lived alone because, just a few years ago, her brother and sister had vanished without a trace. Not a day had ever gone by without her thinking about them; however, she still tried her best to fill that missing spot in her heart. She would till and toil along the fields, until one day…they went barren.

She was shocked at all of this and didn’t know why. She took great care of the land and the crops, making sure that it was all filled with nutrients and well watered. It made no sense to her and it was a mystery to everypony else she had asked. The days passed, soon turning into a month and still no food could be grown. The ponies of the town had been reduced to barely a meal per day. As AJ (as that was what the ponies called her and would shorten her name to) began to get more and more worried, she heard a knock at the door, “Who’s there?”

“Just a traveling soldier, in need of help,” Said a deep voiced stallion from the other side of the door.

“Come on in,” AJ said, carefully opening the door.

The light green stallion walked in, stumbling on his hooves and covered in blood, “T-thanks, you have no idea how…” he then fainted on the threshold and at AJ’s feet.

“Oh you poor thing, here let me help you up,” AJ said as she lifted up the stallion on her back and walked into the bedroom.

It took a few days for the stallion to regain consciousness and a few more days before he could talk again. In the meantime, the food stores of the town had finally ran out and led the town’s leaders to begin talks of evacuating the little hamlet and going somewhere else. AJ wasn’t thinking about that though, her mind was on the stallion on the bed, “So, what all had happened to you?”

The light green stallion looked upon AJ and then back to the bed, “A failed rebellion is what happened.”

“A Rebellion? WHY? and who are you?”

“The name is Applesnack. I am, or was, a member of a very high military group back at the capitol. We were the king’s most trusted soldiers until we found out about the horrors and secrets that were kept from us. With a little help from some of our spies and infiltrators, we had made some horrifying discoveries about what he was doing and what he was planning, we forged a rebellion to attack. As you can see, the plan failed,” Applesnack said, showing some of the wounds that adorned his sides and the long red gash on his shoulder.

“What kind of secrets did y’all find out about,” AJ asked looking deep into the eyes of the stallion.

“Apparently, the king is no king at all. He is just a powerful wizard who perfected a sealing spell that he used on the real rulers, years ago. He then used some sort of mind spell that wiped the minds of almost everypony in the land, making them forget who the real rulers were. He has then been since trying to control the very planet and put it under his thumb. You might have noticed the recent disappearances lately, he’s the cause. He and his dark rangers have been kidnapping pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies to control everything that lies in his sight,” Applesnack said.

“Wait, a year ago mah siblings were kidnapped. You mean that this so called ‘king’ is the cause of it?”

“Yes,” Applesnack said, “You know, I can’t help but notice that you are believing all of this so easily. I could be lying just to kill you.”

“It’s a gift I have had since I was a filly, Ah call it Truth Sight. Ah can tell when a pony is lying just by looking into their eyes,” AJ said, her eyes not leaving Applesnack, “ And now Ah know what happened to my sibs and where they are. Let me guess, he’s responsible for takin’ away our crops and starving us isn’t he?”

“That’s correct,” Looking down, Applesnack could remember what had happened, “In some of his magical experiments, he discovered a way to take a pony’s natural magical energy and take control of it himself. In this case, an earth pony’s abilty to control plant life and to grow crops. He decided to test it out on this village and stop your crops from growing as a punishment for your not paying of taxes.”

“How?”

`“I didn’t see it, all I saw was the spell and could only hear the screams from the sacrifices.”

AJ took a few seconds to take in the entire news, the revelations and ramifications of all of this were staggering to say the least. More importantly, the very idea that her siblings could be dead and used as tools for this madman’s spell filled her with rage. Looking towards her father’s hat, she made her decision of what she was going to do. She got up, grabbed a lasso and the hat, and walked to the door, “You should be all right to stay here and hold down the fort for me.”

“Wait, where are you going,” Applesnack tried to get up in bed, fearful for the young mare.

“To that dang castle, beat the king, restore the throne, and save mah family!” AJ then put on her hat, a look of steely determination in her eyes. She went to a small cupboard and pulled a week’s worth of food, some of the last she had, and then turned to walk out the door.

“Didn’t you hear what I said,” Applesnack said, “I told you, it was a failed uprising. If the strongest guards in the country couldn’t stop the king, how can you?”

“Because I am a big sister! And ain’t nothing in this world gonna stop a big sister from getting her little sister back!” AJ then walked out the door and into the world.
_________________________

It had been a few days since AJ had set out from her home and the supplies that she had been able to procure had started to run out. Worry had begun to cross her face as she began to think if she were to run out before she could make it to the castle and if she would die. The thought that her sister would die at the hands of a mad stallion filled her with fear and yet drove her on. Looking around the forest trail, she began to wonder if she was even lost now, after all she had no idea where the castle was. Sighing, she decided to ask at the next town, if she could make it that far.

As her walk led her further down the trail, she could hear a weak sounding moan coming from off the trail. Intrigued, she decided to look into it,

Walking off the path, she found that the moaning was coming from a lovely white unicorn with a purple mane. The hair was draped around her eyes as she moaned and groaned in pain, “ Oh pity me, for I am starving and have not but a bit of food to eat. OH woe is me and doom is my compatriot.”

“Sorry to hear that Sugarcube,” AJ looked at the mare, feeling a little down, “Look, Ah have got some food in my sack. T’ain’t much, but here,” with that, she took out her last apple and handed it to the young unicorn.

“Oh thank you, thank you!” The white unicorn jumped for joy as she took the apple from the orange mare with her magic and then turned around, “Here you go Sweetie.”

Looking over the white unicorn’s shoulder, she saw a little white filly nodding in gratitude before looking up at the older mare. Tears were in her eyes as if she wanted to refuse, not wanting to take the food. The white mare then looked at the filly, pushing the apple to her with a response of, “No, you have it. I’ll be fine…I have always wanted to be slim.”

“Wait, y’all are giving it to her?” Aj asked looking at the young filly, “Ain’t ya hungry too?”

“OH yes, dreadfully so; however, my little sister comes before all else,” The white unicorn said, watching her little sister eat.

AJ looked at her saddle and then back to the white unicorn and then decided to sit down with her, offering her some bread, “Look, I don’t have much, just enough for one more day. So here take it and I won’t accept no for an answer.”

“Well, all right,” She then took the bread and began to eat it as AJ sat next to her, “My name is Rarity Bell and this is my little sister, Sweetie.” The little filly hopped up happily in response to this as if to say hello.

“She doesn’t speak much does she?”

“No,” She sighed, “Not since mother and father died. She saw it all you know, the soldiers coming to take our family for ‘use’ and then our father bravely refusing. The struggle that they had and then the brutal murder of both our parents, I was able to take her away and save her; however, she never spoke since.” The unicorn looked at her little sister, eating happily and then getting up to follow a butterfly, “A shame…she had such a beautiful voice.”

The three mares ate and talked all the way through their meal, bonding over the smallest thing while joking about each other’s lives. Soon the meal was done and AJ rose, “Well, time for me to be headin’ off.”

“Off, where?” Rarity asked as she stood up with her sister.

“To the king’s castle, dethrone him, and to save my family,” AJ said, looking ahead.

“What? Are you mad, dear!?” Rarity ran to the side of AJ, “No one has ever made it into that castle and lived. There has been no one who has ever even come close to seeing the king’s face or even touching him. How are you expected to beat him?”

“Don’t quite know that part yet, but I do know that he has my sister and brother. That’s good enough for me, because I will fight the devil himself if I had to in order to save my family.”

Rarity looked at AJ, seeing a look of strong willpower and determination in those eyes, “All right then, I guess we won’t stop you. We’ll join you, come along Sweetie.”

“You’ll what? But why?”

“Darling, I don’t intend to be a wanderer forever. Sweetie needs a home and I need to become a great dressmaker, and if defeating an impossible foe is the only way to achieve my dreams…then I say lets do it!”

AJ smiled, liking the girl’s determination, “All right, lets go.”

The trio walked along the soft wooded path, hearing the large cracking of the branches and leaves beneath them. The night sounds ending up being the only other creatures of company until a bright pink light flashed before them, “WHAT IN TARNATION?” AJ yelled.

“HALT!” The olden pony shouted, a pink robe wrapped around her body, hiding everything except her age and gender, “I am the witch who rewards honesty and generosity. I have seen what you two did back there and will now give you a reward.”

“Wait, how did we earn this?” AJ asked.

“You, AJ, were honest in your goals and intentions, not wanting to trick or deceive anypony in an attempt to gain allies. Thus I reward you with this,” the witch then handed a golden lasso to the pony, “This is an unbreakable lasso of honesty, it makes one tell the truth and will burn the deceivers. As for you, Rarity, you were willing to give all of your food to your sister so she may not starve to death and thus, you will be granted this,” with a flash, Rarity was given a bag, “This is a bag of generosity. It is currently holding food; however, that is not all it can do. Any item that you place in there can be duplicated as much as you want to. Only if, you plan to give said item to others and use it out of the kindness of your heart. As for you Sweetie.”

The little unicorn backed up behind Rarity, a little afraid of the witch. She was then shocked to see a small flute connected by a string appear around her neck.

“This is the flute of emotion, if you were to play on it then the song in your heart will make the music magically appear. If you are filled with rage, then the music will hurt, if you are filled with love and then the music will heal and protect. After all, since you cannot speak your heart for the moment then you must use this to speak your heart.”

In acceptance of her gift and to show understanding, the little filly blew a little into her flute, making a tiny whistle.

“Now, I bid thee farewell. I wish you all the luck the world has to offer, dear AJ.” The witch then vanished from sight.

Author's Note

Special thanks for this fics proofreader- Strays, hope you enjoy his work with helping me.

Yes, I have been on a princess bride fix when I thought of this story. But this is also akin to a story I would listen to from my mother.

Meeting kindness and loyalty

Chapter 2:

Scootaloo’s violet eyes skimmed over the pale yellow soda before her, “Dash, why do they make ginger ale if its only for sick ponies?”

Dash chuckled as she slurped on her own soda, “ I don’t know, maybe it was made by a crazed doctor who wanted to find a way of delivering medicine that actually tasted good,” Dash looked at the drink once more, “It’s like some sort of anti-soda.”

“Speaking of medicine, it’s time for yours, Scootaloo.” Sunny Day said, her orange mane swaying as she walked in the room.

“What? No, Mom, I don’t need it really. I am fine, “ Scootaloo then began to cough a little, “Uh-oh, Dash, Help!” Scoot looked toward her sister with pleading eyes.

“Sorry, but I can’t help ya squirt,” Dash smiled at Scootaloo, “But, I’ll teach you a trick. Just drink it as quick as fast as possible at first. Then quickly drink the soda to wash it down, you’ll barely taste it!”

Scootaloo nodded as she took the med cup from her mother, looking down at the sickly colored liquid, “Ok…here goes.” Scootaloo then drank the medicine as fast as possible and then drank her soda just as fast. However, she still could feel the horrible taste as it past her throat, “UGGH!!!! It still tastes horrible!”

“Hey, I didn’t say it would remove all of the taste, just make it go down quicker,” Rainbow Dash laughed as she saw the frown on Scoot’s face, “Awww, don’t be like that. It did help didn’t it?”

Thinking quickly, she nodded in a very quick agreement, “ So, could you please continue? Please?” Scootaloo let out a small yawn.

“As you wish,” Dash replied, reopening the book.
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Armed with their three new gifts, the three mares walked further and further into the woods. Their journey led them over many hills and a long trail until they had reached the small town of Bismoth, a town that focused itself on its trade and bars. As the three walked around, they took in the local color of the populace, “Ohhh, look at this daring. This hat would be perfect for you,” taking a big white hat, Rarity placed it onto Sweetie Belle’s head.

AJ smiled as she watched Rarity picking out the different clothes for her and sister, thinking about all of the things she is missing out with her siblings right now. Turning to face a passerby, AJ tugged at his shoulder, “ Hey partner. Do ya know where the capital city is and where the castle is?”

“T…The castle?” The stallion looked very nervous as he began to think of the castle, “NOPE! Have no idea where it is, not at all.”

AJ looked straight into his eyes, trying to see just how much of a liar he was. It didn’t take long for her eyes to catch the little white lie in his voice, “Y’all sure about that?”

“Oh most definitely, as a matter of fact I don’t think anybody knows where the castle is. Not even those who live in Capital City. NowIgotogonowBYE!!!!!”

As she watched the stallion run off into the distance, a curious look in her eyes, “Now why did that guy lie to me?”

With Sweetie Belle skipping right behind her, a smile on her face as she wore her little boa, Rarity walked behind AJ, “AJ, Dear, am I to understand that you have no idea where the castle is?” Rarity watched as AJ nodded, “ARE YOU NUTS!? What, did you go off the moment that you found out about your family without an idea of where to go?” As if to empathise her anger, Sweetie Belle looked with a scowl.

“Well, Ah was thinking that the townsfolk would at least know where the home of their king is. At the very least their capital city,” AJ said walking through the shopping district, “Then, Ah was thinking about maybe winging it the rest of the way.”

Rarity facehoofed in response, “Let’s go and ask somepony in of these taverns and see what they know.”

“How about this one?” AJ pointed to a bar that read ‘Barbarian’s Bar and Grill’.

“Uggggh, a place with such uncouth ruffians? I wouldn’t dream of going in there. This place here is much better, ‘Sgt. Butterfly’s Drinkery’. By the way, what are we going to do about money? The bag could duplicate many gold pieces but it would need some coins for the spell to work.”

“Well, ah figured we could take up a few bounty hunting jobs here and there.”

“Bounty hunters? Really? Those uncouth ruffians of that harsh and deplorable profession?”

“HEY! Mah cousin is a bounty hunter, and besides it will be something to practice mah rope on.” Aj smirked as she walked into the bar.

Sgt. Butterfly was a wanted felon, known for 30 confirmed kills and 20 more assumed kills. When he was released on bail, he had decided to set up a small tavern within the town because his other specialty was in fact: bartending. It was why his cutie mark was a butterfly over a mug of ale. When he had set up his establishment, he had set up only one rule for everypony there to follow- no witnesses. As AJ and Rarity walked into the bar, their ears were assaulted by the loud fracas of the ponies drinking and rumbling on the inside, “ Ah am going to get some information, you two can see about getting something to drink,” AJ said as she walked up to the bar table.

Rarity nodded, disgusted by the sight of the ponies around her and the way that they acted. Sweetie Belle walked very close to her sister, a look of worry and fear in her emerald eyes, “Its going to be all right Sweetie. I am sure that despite this place’s vulgar… appearance that the food and drink are simply,” a small shudder escapes her lips as she takes a seat, “marvelous.”

To that, Sweetie gave a disbelieving look to her older sister.

AJ walked up to the bar, looking around for the barkeep as the bar seemed to continue on with its loud and rowdy nature, “Hey barkeep, ah need some information from ya.”

Slowly, a heavyset stallion strolled up to the bar, and looked at the orange mare, brushing a hoof through his red mane as he spoke, “Yeah, what type of information are you looking fer,” he said with a gruff voice.

“Well, first Ah would like to have some Chernobog’s Blood,” AJ said as she watched the barkeep went to get the order from the barrel, “and second, ah want to know where the capital city is.”

“Capital City? Planning on going to see the emperor huh,” Said Sgt. Butterfly as he poured AJ’s drink and handed it to her, “Well, I wouldn’t plan on seeing the castle there, not unless you are good and lucky.”

“Why is that,” AJ asked, drinking from her frothy mug.

“Because of the spell.” Butterfly said, taking note of some of the commotion going on in the back of the bar, “Y’see, the emperor had a team of unicorns put a spell around the castle that teleports it location randomly every 2 weeks. Sure, sometimes it can be in the capital city, but others? It can be as far away as the frozen north. The only way you can have any HOPE of finding it, is either be a unicorn or have a dang good tracking spell on ya.”

“So why is everypony afraid to say that?”

“Because the emperor doesn’t want any potential rebels to find out and get to the castle. So he only told those who live in Capital City about the trick, and the punishment for blabbin’… is death.”

“Well, you don’t seem to have a problem telling me about it.”

Butterfly leaned in close to AJ, their snouts touching each other, “Rule one of this bar, lady…no witnesses.”

AJ stepped back a little as the meaning of the words hit her hard, just as a pony came sailing through the air and hit the back of the bar, “And I will do WORSE if you even THINK about touching mine or my sister’s flank again,” Rarity yelled from the back, her horn still glowing with blue magic. Sweetie Belle, her eyes scrunched up, tweeted on her flute in agreement. In anger, several of the stallion’s friends began to rise from their seats, knives in their mouths drawn while others put a crossbow onto their hooves and began to pull their strings with magic and teeth.

AJ ducked under two thugs kicks as they came up behind her. While crouching, she kicked her back legs at the two goons, bucking them in the chests and sending them both flying back. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the lasso that she had been given and used it to rope in one stallion by the neck, swing him around in a circle to hit a few more men, and then sent him flying across the bar through several chairs. Sgt. Butterfly, watching all of this, slowly got up from behind the bar, walked to the door and changed his sign to close before walking back to his original spot and ducked behind the bar.

Sweetie belle leapt away from the grasps of a few stallions and mares, keeping herself away from being caught. When one mare tripped over herself in an attempt to grab her, she took the time to lift her flute over the fallen mare’s head and hit her head several times with the flute and then whistled a “so there,” from it. Turning around, she saw a few more thugs standing behind her, weapons drawn. Turning around she began to run away, dodging and hitting ponies with her flute where it would hurt the stallions the most. Making it to the safety of her sister’s legs, she watched as Rarity lifted up a few chairs and tables with her magic and threw them at some of the thugs. Some of the mares ducke out of the way before getting hit by the incoming debris and drew their crossbows; however, before they fired their weapons, each one was pulled away by AJ’s rope and onto the ground. As the mares ran to pick up their fallen weapons, AJ reared up and proceed to buck each mare with her front hooves. One stallion lifted up his blade and tried to stab AJ in the back, but was pulled away by a magically controlled curtain that Rarity was using and thrown out the window. AJ turned her head up to Rarity, and smirked a thank you as she ran to join her friend. Four thugs were left as they surrounded the three mares. Taking a step back, they jumped at them in an attempt to jostle them. It failed as Applejack bucked two of them in mid-jump while Rarity smashed the other two with a magically grabbed table. Panting, the girls turned to watch as Sgt. Butterfly grabbed some rope and proceeded to walk to the fallen bodies, “What’s that fer,” AJ asked, watching the unicorn tie up some fallen thugs.

“For these men, I have got to admit, you took them down the fastest that I have ever seen.”

Rarity, arched her eyebrow in shock, “Wait, you wanted us to beat your customers senseless?”

“Yep! See, this here’s a bounty hunter trap as well as a bar. See, after I was caught for all of the murderin’ I had done, I decided to turn a new leaf and bring in the criminals instead. Of course, this place also has the benefit of taking out any possible rebels that’ll pop up in here. Either way, I get a profit.”

AJ took a step forward, “ That’s just underhanded! Those ponies trust you and you just betray them so easily?”

“ Look babe, this is the way I sees it,” Butterfly said as he lifted the last of the thugs to lay them down with the others, “On the one hand, I am taking out potential saviors by weeding out the weak from the strong. On the other, I am cleaning up the streets slowly by letting the so-called heroes take out the undesirables. Either way, I’m helpin’ the community,” he then turned to the three mares,” Tell me, if these mooks were to give ya trouble, would ya have been able to tell me that you would be ready to handle the real threats that lie ahead of ya?”

AJ said nothing, unable to form much of an argument to what he had just said. In a way, he was right, there would be no way they could say they would defeat the emperor if they couldn’t handle some low rate thugs. She simply just put her Stetson over her eyes, turned, and proceeded to walk out the bar followed by Rarity and Sweetie Belle. She may have thought it to be a good idea, but it didn’t mean that she have to like it, “Thank ya kindly for the information,” she said as she walked away.

“Hey, I be careful when you leave town and pass the graveyard,” Butterfly said as he finished the clean up.

Rarity turned around to look at the blue stallion, “Whatever for darling?”

“Because rumor is, that around that area, a ghastly and sorrowful moan can be heard throughout the night. Some say that it’s the victims of the past moaning at their inability to help their loved ones,” As he began his ghost story, the young Sweetie Bell hid behind her sister’s legs, “Others say that it’s a banshee waiting to drag in young fillies and mares so she can feed on their youth and beauty. Still others say it’s a wandering spirit of a lost soldier, doomed for eternity to walk the graves in search of his patrol. Personally, I think that it’s a poor young mare who had lost a dear friend and now can only mourn for her loss.”

“And Ah think that you are just trying to scare us both, come on girls,” AJ said, walking out the door followed by Rarity.

“Don’t worry Sweetie Bell, I’ll keep you safe from any ghost that might come from the cemetery,” the white unicorn said, running her hoof comfortingly through her sister’s light purple and pink mane. The little filly looked up at her big sister with a smile on her face, “AJ, you don’t really think that there really is a ghost within that cemetery.”

“Maybe not a ghost,” AJ responded as they began to walk through the town, “But there is something there in that cemetery, Ah could tell.”

“How?”

“It’s…a gift Ah have,” AJ said , “Ever since Ah have been born Ah been able to see when a pony lies just by looking at them straight in the eye. When Ah can make eye contact, Ah just can feel when they are lyin’ to me. Used to drive mah sis…,” she drooped her head a little, thinking about what is going through her sister’s head right now.

Rarity put a comforting hoof onto AJ’s back and smiled softly, “We’ll save her, on that you can be sure of,” She then turned to see Sweetie Belle shivering in fear, “What’s wrong Sweetie? Oh that’s…why.”

AJ walked up alongside Rarity to look to where Sweetie was standing and looked at the dark and misty graveyard. With the sun down and the night fallen, it gave the graveyard a barren appearance. The stones within the field acting like stone reminders of those lost. Further inside the graveyard was a dead tree with its rocking branches. As the mares looked through the graveyard, they could hear the unearthly moans and cries of a mare that lay deep within the field. Looking confident, AJ took a few steps forward into the field, “Uh, AJ dear,” Rarity questioned, “What are you doing?”

“Ah am gonna investigate the source of that there moaning and wailing.”

“May I ask, why?”

AJ took a few more steps into the graveyard, the ground cracking beneath her orange hooves, “It could be a trapped unicorn in there that might need our help and knows of a good tracking spell.”

“Or, it could be a dirty, mangy, ugly, undead pony that smells absolutely horrid and has a dreadful fashion sense!”

“What, not afraid of walking through a graveyard and meeting up with a zombie, are ya?”

“No, it isn’t the zombie that scares me,” Sweetie Belle looked to Rarity and whistled a ‘it scares me though’ in protest, “ It’s the idea that he might touch me with those cold and undead hands of his,” Rarity shudders, “I shudder at the thought of such an uncouth ruffian.”

AJ shrugged her shoulders at Rarity’s comment as they continued to walk further, “So it ain’t the biting, mangling, or the eating that bothers you, it’s being touched?”

“Yes darling, who knows where that thing has been in his previous life. Now if he took a bath before trying to kill us, it wouldn’t be so bad,” Rarity was then interrupted by a wail of sadness coming from the other side of the tree, “Wait, did you hear that? It came from over here.”

Walking around the tree to where the crying was the loudest, they saw a statue of a pegasus with a lightning bolt cutie mark on her flank. She stood on her hind legs with her arms stretched out protectively as if she was trying to defend a pony. Sitting at the base of the statue, was a yellow Pegasus who was the source of the cries, “Oh, Rainbow…it didn’t work again. I am so sorry for failing you again, please…forgive me,” turning around, she saw the three mares staring at her. Frightened, she let out a small squeak and hid by the tree, “Oh, my. Y…you aren’t guards are you? I must warn you, I am ready to die fighting for my friend, and I am very fierce!”

“No sugarcube, we ain’t part of the emperor’s guard,” AJ said as the yellow Pegasus walked out from behind the tree, her pink mane falling over one of her blue eyes, “The name’s AJ and this is Rarity and her little sister Sweetie Belle.”

“Hello, Rarity, Sweetie Belle,” The demure Pegasus said, in a soft voice as she held out her hoof to shake their hooves.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, miss… ?” Rarity said as Sweetie happily popped out from behind her legs and skipped to the buttery Pegasus.

“Fluttershy,” she said as she watched the little filly walk up to her and nod happily, “Is your sister all right?”

“Can’t talk. Hasn’t spoken since our parents died,” Rarity said, a tinge of sadness in her voice.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” she then turned her head down to the little unicorn, “Maybe you’ll speak again one day when it is really, really important!”

To this, Sweetie Belle whistled in her flute happily.

“So who’s your friend,” AJ asked, walking around the statue, not seeing a plaque.

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said, tearing up a little, “ You see, me and her used to be part of the Three Queens’ royal air force.”

“Wait, Three Queens? I thought we were under the rule of the emperor.” Rarity looked confused.

“Oh I’m sorry, of course you wouldn’t remember, the spell wiped them from memory,” Fluttershy said, clearing her throat, “5 years ago, we had been under the rule of three queens. The eldest, ruled with fair and just laws, the second ruled during the night and would punish the wicked, and the last used love to help guide the other two from becoming corrupt. One day, an evil sorcerer was able to surprise them and overthrow them by transforming them and sending them far away,” Fluttershy then walked over to the statue, putting her hoof onto the base and stare up at it, “Then he put a spell over the kingdom to make everypony forget the queens and accept him as the true ruler.”

“How do you remember this if he had a memory spell.”

“Rainbow had never been one to be fooled by memory spells, especially if they made her betray a friend, “Fluttershy looked down, “Even one like me. She broke free of the spell, found me and helped me to escape Capital City. We had spent 3 years trying to find a way to get the queens back into power.”

“I assume your missions have been for naught,” Rarity asked, putting a hoof onto the yellow mare’s back as she began to cry.

“You see, I am a horrible flyer and Rainbow…was always the one who needed to protect me. She kept pushing me to do my best and was always there for me when I needed her. When we were asked to join the force, she said she would never join without me. When I needed to be protected, she was always my guardian angel, according to her,” she sniffled, “so it was no surprise when one day, as we were on the run from some unicorn guards who wanted to bring us in, this happened. All because I was a worthless flyer.”

“What happened?”

“We were flying through the trees and I got stuck. Rainbow came back for me, even when I told her to leave me behind. She kept refusing to and soon got me out and pushed me ahead when the guards caught up with us. R-Rainbow stood in front of them, protecting me as they unleashed their stone spells at her,” Fluttershy fell to her haunches, crying harder as the memories came back, “When I came back, I found her like this. I had my animal friends help me carry her here, where I thought she could be safe while I tried to cure her. It…its been three years and I haven’t found anything that works.”

Rarity rubbed the crying pegasus’s back, trying her best to comfort her. Then her eyes widen at a thought she had, “IDEA! Sweetie Belle, your flute might cure her.”

Fluttershy looked up, wiping her eyes with her hooves, “How?”

“Sweetie Belle’s flute has a magical healing properties attached to it. A witch said if the song in the heart was good, then the magic could heal.”

“But Rare, Sweetie can’t talk much less sing,” AJ said.

“No, but Fluttershy can. Surely you have a song that you could sing.”

Fluttershy got up, “Well, there is a song that Rainbow and I used to sing together…she joked that it was our song.”

“Perfect, Sweetie you begin to play a tune and then Fluttershy can sing,” Rarity said as Sweetie Belle began to play a tune on her flute. Fluttershy nodded and stood up. Getting to the front of the statue, she cleared her throat and began to sing
Fluttershy-

You've been there for me
No matter what we lose
My best friend since we
Believed in Santa Hooves
You have always stood beside me
And I want to let you know

The magic of the flute and Sweetie’s horn began to glow in perfect synch with one another, flowing from their sources and around the statue. Slowly did the pink energy began to slide itself across Rainbow’s hind hooves and forehooves, causing cracks to form.

I'll be the one who hears your prayer
Don't have to ask me, I'll be there
I'll be the friend you'll never have to do without
When you have nothing at all
You'll still have nothing to worry about
Oh nothing at all

The magic wrapped itself around the torso and neck of the Pegasus, cracking the stone skin to reveal bits of blue fur within. As it continue to entwine itself around her body, her form seemed to become more and more alive.

When I was lost inside
A forest of despair
You always knew just how
To help me find my way
In a world that's so uncertain
I will promise this to you

Soon the magic began to wrap around Dash’s head, breaking it slowly and revealing a rainbow mane on top of the blue head. The magic began to crack open her wings, allowing more of her form to be released.

I'll be the one who hears your prayer
Don't have to ask me, I'll be there
I'll be the friend you'll never have to do without
No...
When you have nothing at all
You'll still have nothing to worry about
Oh no...when you have nothing at all
You'll still have nothing to worry about

A blinding light shines through as the stone prison is shattered.

Oh nothing at all...oh.

Rainbow Dash fell off the base, her hoof to her head as she shook it, “ohhhh, what happened,” she then looked up at the three ponies before her, “WHO ARE YOU? WHERE’S FLUTTERSHY? IS SHE OK? IF YOU DID ANY… “

“RAINBOW!!!!!” Fluttershy yelled as she tackled her dear friend with a hug, tears flowing from her eyes.

Rainbow opened her eyes wide at seeing her best friend, “Fluttershy! You’re all right,” she then returned the hug, nuzzling her yellow friend, “ I didn’t know if those morons back there got you after they stoned me.”

“No, they didn’t. I spent most of the time trying to heal you.”

“Fluttershy, pal, you didn’t need to-“

“I wanted to, you have protected me so much in the past. I wanted to repay the favor and I did thanks to them,” Fluttershy said pointing her hoof to the three mares across from them.

Letting go of Fluttershy for the moment, Rainbow turned to the three ponies and smiled a little, “Hey, whoever you are, thanks for the save. It was boring being like that, being unable to fly around or move. Plus, I think my wings got cramped,” To prove a point, Dash moved her wings a little, wincing, “ who are you guys?”

“How about we get out of this cemetery first, before we begin the introductions, Sweetie Belle over there is starting to look frightened,” AJ said, pointing to the white filly shivering a little behind her older sister.

Nodding, the two pegasi flew behind the three mares as they walked out of the graveyard and back into the city. Walking at a slow pace to take in the town at night, Rarity began the introductions, “My name is Rarity Belle, please to meet your acquaintance, and this is my little sister Sweetie Belle,” in response, the little filly skipped over to Dash to say hi, to which Dash rubbed her mane affectionately.

“And the name’s AJ, please to meet ya, partner,” AJ said, shaking Rainbow’s hoof.

“ So, why were you guys in the graveyard, have a desire to hunt down zombie ponies?”

“No, we were on our way to find a unicorn that has been to the castle before and then see if she has a tracking spell that’ll allow us to find it when we heard Fluttershy crying,” AJ said as they made their way to the north side of the village,

“Looking for an unicorn so you can get to the emperor, eh? Fine,” Dash said, flying in front of the group with Fluttershy in tow, “We’re in.”

Fluttershy turned to Dash, looking a little nervous, “We…we are?” she said with a small eep.

“Why?” AJ asked.

“Look, you got your reasons for wanting to buck the emperor’s face in and so do we. You probably, uhhhhh, want to get a new stetson and I want to find a way to free the Queens,” Dash said, looking at AJ, “The best way to get both done is to team up. Besides, you’re gonna need the fastest flier there is to save your flanks once in a while.”

AJ rolled her eyes, she wasn’t expecting to pick up more companions, “She does have a point, maybe we could use a flyer. All right, you can come along. But why are you bringing Fluttershy, she doesn’t look like much.”

“Oh, uh…wherever Rainbow goes, I go to,” Fluttershy said, lowering her head.

“Besides, she may not look like much, but give her time and you can see how much of a firecracker she can be,” Dash said, a sense of pride in her voice, “Now, we’re wasting too much time talking around here. LETS GO!” She then flew up into the air and took off into the distance.

“HEY! You don’t even know where we are heading,” AJ said, taking off after her at full gallop.

“Neither do you! I just figure we’ll hit an unicorn when we find her!”

Rarity began to gallop after the two ponies as Fluttershy flew next to her,” Is your friend always this, abrasive and headstrong?”

“Well, uh, maybe…yes,” Fluttershy said flying alongside Rarity.

Rarity groaned a little, thinking about working with such a boastful pony, “Oh well, such is life. Come along Sweetie Belle.”

Excited and with a big smile on her face, Sweetie Belle ran after her sister feeling a song in her heart.

Their run took them over many hills along the long trail leading away from the village. A run that had soon left three of the fillies panting for a bit while the two up at the front looked ready to continue their run. AJ turned around and noticed how her other companions were getting tired. Turning around to face Dash, she nodded to the three ponies behind her to show the pegasus how tired they were. Dash nodded in agreement as she landed next to her group and began to look around for a place to camp.

Fluttershy turned her head to look at a nearby white owl resting in the tree. Walking up to it, she began to hoot to it and, in response, it hooted back. Turning to the others as they began to search, “Girls, there is a nice little hill over there that we could rest. Farnsworth said that its out of the way and we won’t have to worry about others bothering us,” Fluttershy said, pointing to the hill a few feet away.

“Who’s Farnsworth,” AJ asked.

“ The owl, he told me his name when I asked him,” Fluttershy said as she led the ponies to the hill.

“Your friend, can talk to animals and understand them,” AJ asked.

Rainbow Dash looked up ahead as she responded, “Yeah she can. See, she’s a druid.”

“A dru-what?”

Rarity walked next to AJ, “ A druid darling, an old order of mages that could control and command nature as easily as a Pegasus can control the weather or an unicorn bend magic.”

“Like me with mah farming?” AJ asked, an eyebrow arched.

“Not quite, more like how an animal handler can command their pets. I have heard stories, but I thought them to be wiped out,” Rarity said, looking at Rainbow Dash.

“Not all of them, they are mostly just been scattered everywhere. Most of them have just been keeping to themselves for a while and others try to pass on their teachings to their kids. Fluttershy learned her druidness-“

“That isn’t a word Rainbow,” Rarity said, smirking.

“Whatever. From her mother and uses it to help me scout around.”

“Why on earth were they mostly wiped out?” AJ thought to herself, deciding to ask that question later as they reached the top of the hill.

Sitting around a small campfire that AJ and Dash made, they began to spend their night eating and talking of their pasts. They began to joke and tell each other stories of times long past, allowing the flames to provide the appropriate scenery for them to discuss anything that they could think of. As Rainbow let an apple warm by the fire, she looked up at the bright moon, “Look at that girls, beautiful isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is kind of lovely. Never took the time to admire that thing until now,” AJ said, looking at the moon.

“Why not,” Asked Rainbow.

“Because, when that moon is shining, Ah am usually asleep. Not much Ah can do in the evening on the farm.”

“You are missing out AJ, you are missing out,” Dash said, “You could do so many cool things in the moonlight, like sneaking around ponies and scaring them. Midnight flying, camping, midnight pranks, all sorts of fun things at midnight.”

“Or better yet,” Rarity added, “Long walks with a mate along a beach while you two are embracing your love for one another,” The marshmallow pony then giggled at the thought while Rainbow and AJ rolled their eyes.

Fluttershy looked to Dash as she watched the moon, “Do you think one of the queens might be trapped up there?”

“Have no idea, I know that the middle child loved the moon though, so its possible,” Dash said as she watched the moonlight began to glow brighter, “Wait, WHAT…”

Suddenly, from within the moonlight, an olden pony wearing a midnight blue cloak appeared, “Greetings ponies, I am the witch who rewards Kindness and Loyalty,” she said from within her cloak, the cloak that hid all but her gender and age, “To you, Rainbow Dash, I give thee a gift for being so loyal that you were willing to sacrifice yourself in order to keep your promise. This,” she waved a hoof and on Rainbow’s right leg, a bracelet with a jagged ruby lightning bolt appeared, “lift the leg and think of a sword and it will form. This,” she continued as she watched did as she was told, lifting her leg and causing a rainbow colored blade to appear with a swish, “is the sword of loyalty. It will never harm a friend and will never betray you, even if somepony else were to obtain it. And as for you, Fluttershy. For your desire to help your friend and to heal her, even when it seemed futile” She said, looking to the little yellow Pegasus, “I grant thee, a shield of kindness,” she again waved a hoof and a ring appeared on Fluttershy’s left leg, a butterfly gem in the center, “When you think of a shield, it form an impenetrable magical shield around both you and your comrades. It will never break and if you were to sleep under it’s pink glow, you be fully healed in the morning. Remember, these are weapons, not toys. I trust that you will use them well. Now, I will take my leave, fare thee well ponies.” And with that, she faded into the moonlight.

Rainbow dash was going to ask questions, but a hoof on her shoulder and a nod from AJ told her not to question when you have been given a gift from a witch.

The night wore on, and the ponies began to get tired. Dousing the flames of their fire, each pony took up a separate position to get some sleep, also ready to move if somepony were to attack. Rarity sat a small distance from the group, Sweetie Belle snuggling up close to her sister as she snored softly. The small unicorn filly rested her head on Rarity’s side as the older Unicorn slept curled around her little sister. AJ sat at the front of the group, making sure she could keep an eye on everypony and kept herself vigilant in case she needed to move swiftly. She looked to the side where she could see Rainbow and Fluttershy snuggled up close to one another. Rainbow’s blue wing was draped over the yellow Pegasus while she rested her head on Rainbow’s shoulders, snuggling up to Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow calmly ran her hoof along Fluttershy’s pink mane, “Hey, Rainbow. Can Ah ask ya somethin’?”

“Shoot,” Dash said, looking down at the Pegasus, glad that she wasn’t hurt while she was stoned.

“What did that witch mean, ‘keep your promise’? Is it why you are so protective of her?”

“Yeah,” Dash looked down at the grass before her, “I was always the small one in any group, my family, friends, school, you name it. I was the runt. So, naturally I was usually picked on. Didn’t mind, I knew I was awesome and I could always prove it in anything, having a great dad will do that to ya. One day, I saw Fluttershy being picked on by a bunch of bullies who thought she was easy prey. I, of course, jumped in and stopped them. She thanked me and we spent some time together for the rest of the day,” Rainbow Dash raised her head, looking to the sky as she smiled, “I found out the next day that the bullies tried again, and I stopped them, again. It soon got to the point where we were hanging out almost day after day. I found out when I visited her home one day, that she had live by herself for the most part, her mom was sick and her dad had run out on her. “

“Why did he do that?”

“He had something against druids and when he found out that she was training Flutters, he left,” Dash sighed, “When I had found out about that, it was when I realized that, for as small as I was, and as much as I could be the runt…there was always someone smaller and weaker than myself. Fluttershy, was one of my first friends, and I couldn’t stand the thought that somepony would pick on her. So, I made a promise to her mother that I would always protect her and be there for her no matter what may happen to me. When I wa inducted to the queens’ royal air academy, I told them to take me and Fluttershy or no deal. When I decided to rebel, I made sure she came with me. I will always be there. You can understand right?”

AJ nodded, a smile on her face, “Yep. When Maw and Paw died, Ah promised that Ah would take care of the farm and my siblings. Ah would always be there to provide for the family Ah was given and nothing would stop me from making sure that they were safe.”

“And that is why you are going off half-cocked into a battle that you may not win, against a foe you may not beat”

“Ain’t you?”

Dash chuckled as she nodded in agreement, “Guess we’re both just too stubborn aren’t we?”

“YEP!” AJ said proudly as she began to fall asleep, “Night Dashie.”

“Night”

_________________________________________________________________________

“And with that,” Dash was about to continue the story when she heard a soft breathing noise coming from the bed, “Scoots? Are you there,” Dash asked as she looked over the bed and saw that the little filly was now on her side, asleep. She held her blanket bunched underneath one leg while the rest was splayed out, “Ok, I’ll read more tomorrow Scoot,” Dash said, as she laid the young filly onto her back and took the cover away. She then unfurled the cotton fabric and laid it onto the sleeping filly, making sure to tuck her in securely. Leaning over the head of the young filly, Dash kissed her on the forehead, “Night squirt, see ya…” Dash tried to turn around, but found herself stopped. She tried to pull again, but still found herself unable to move. Looking down at her hoof, she saw that Scootaloo had taken hold of her blue hoof and wrapped her leg around it. Try as she might, Rainbow could not get free from the young pegasus’ strong grip, “Come on Scoot, I have to…”

“Stay,” mumbled Scootaloo in her sleep.

Dash stopped her struggle as she sighed, looking at her sleeping ‘sister’, “As you wish,” Dash then got into the bed, snuggling up close to the young filly. Laying her hooves over her sister’s sleeping form, she tucked herself in and went to sleep.

Author's Note

I think, I am really starting to enjoy this story, oh and thanks to Zoltanthemagificent and Strays for their proofreading awesomness.

Any notes about this chapter?

Well, I was thinking of having Dashie sing instead of flutters. but It made more sense for Dash to stand her ground to protect a friend

Joined by Magic and Laughter

Chapter 3:

At 11:00 A.M. the rays of the bright and beautiful sun hit Rainbow Dash’s sleeping body, its warmth helping to wake her up. Stretching one of her legs, she let out a big yawn and opened her eyes slowly, “MMM, just what time is it,” turning her head, she looked at the clock, “11:00? Oh that, that is just way too early. Why am I even up at this time of day… oh wait,” looking around the room, she started to notice several differences from her normal room. She looked up and down, left and right, trying her best to remember the events of the previous night. Her answer came when she heard the soft breathing of an small orange filly next to her, the legs still assuming their death grip on the cyan pegasus’ leg, “Oh that’s right, I remember now.”

Smiling softly to herself, Rainbow Dash noticed that the grip was loose enough now for her to slip her cyan hoof away from the grip of the little filly. Getting off from the bed, she fixed up the covers around the orange Pegasus and ran a hoof through her purple mane to kiss her on the forehead, “I’ll be back in a bit, Squirt. The ever-so-awesome Rainbow Dash just needs to head home for a bit to pick up some grub,” Walking to the window, she opened the it slightly to get ready to fly when a smell caught her nose, “Mmmmm, is that pancakes I smell,” turning around, Dash walked quickly out the door and down the stairs.

Down the stairs in the kitchen, Sunny Day was feverishly working at making breakfast for her young daughter upstairs. The orange earth pony began to stir the mix slowly while getting the chocolate flavoring from within the cupboard as she heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the stairs. Turning her head, she looked at Rainbow Dash as she reached the bottom step, “Good morning, Rainbow Dash. I trust you slept well.”

The cyan Pegasus chuckled a little as she looked to the side, “Yeah, I really did. Hope you didn’t mind me crashing in your daughter’s room.”

“Oh I don’t mind at all,” the orange mare said, “Truth is, I came up sometime last night to check up on Scootaloo and saw you both sleeping together. The scene was just so adorable that I just couldn’t bring myself to ruin it.”

“I don’t do adorable,” Dash thought to herself as she watched Sunny pour some of the light brown batter onto the grill, “ Hey, mind if I help? I don’t normally cook, but I can at least make some decent eggs sunny side up.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you,” Sunny said as she flipped some of the pancakes on the grill.

A few minutes passed by quickly as the two continued to work at making breakfast, getting some orange juice and some soda to also accompany the meal. As she sat the food onto the plates to cool, Sunny smiled, “Rainbow, thank you so much.”

“Hey, cooking ya breakfast was the least I could for you,” Dash said, grabbing a plate of pancakes for herself to eat.

“No, I mean doing this for Scootaloo. The reading, training her to fly, being her big sister, all of it,” She smiled as she went to prepare some soup for Scootaloo, “ You don’t realize what it means for her to have somepony like you to help care for her like you have been doing. She has always been a little jealous of the other girls for having big sisters that she could be close to, and giving her a little sister,” a sad look came across her face as she placed a hoof to her belly, “was out of the question. Quick Arrow and I were lucky enough to get Scootaloo into our lives, there was no way we could risk another foal. I could also never train her like you have and with her father out in the field watching the Princesses... well you could could probably guess just how much practice she has had in flight training.”

The cyan Pegasus nodded as she finished up her plate, “I can imagine. A royal guard is a full time job so he probably hasn’t seen her much,” she said, looking over at a picture of a white Pegasus with a purple mane holding a baby Scootaloo above his head.

Sunny walked over to the framed photograph, smiling at the memories of her husband, “Which is why, before she met you and befriended those crusader friends of hers, she had always been feeling down when she came home from school. Then, when you came into her life, things started to change. She’s been perking up, getting a little better in school, trying to fly a little more, and so many other things. You gave her something that I couldn’t… thank you.”

The rainbow-haired Pegasus smiled confidently, remembering how much she had changed when her mentor took her under her wing and became her own big sister, “It’s nothing. I just wanted to lend a helping hoof to a great kid,” Dash flicked a blue ear to some sounds upstairs, “Sounds like she’s awake. I’ll go and take her soup up to her, then I can read to her some more,” picking up a small bowl, Dash walked up the stairs to Scootaloo’s room, who was looking up happily at Dash.

Her smile then frowned a little when she saw the contents of the breakfast, “… Tomato soup. Yay,” she said with a bit of sarcasm.

“Yeah I know, but the doc says you have to eat light,” Dash said comfortingly

“Don’t get me wrong, mom makes great soup…its just that I smelled her pancakes and I really wanted some,” Scoot then frowned a little.

“Well then, I guess you should,” Dash held up the soup a little, “look inside.”

Scootaloo peered inside and saw that there were some tiny bits of chocolate pancakes within the soup, “OH THANK YOU DASH! You’re the best,” a big smile on her face, she happily took the bowl from the cyan mare and began to eat.

“Now then,” Rainbow Dash said, pulling out the book, “you sit and eat, and I’ll read. Now where was I?”

“They had just fallen asleep after Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had just gotten their really cool gifts,” Scootaloo said, some soup residue on her lips.

“Hey, I thought you were asleep by that point,” Dash asked, looking at her.

“Well, I was, I just fell asleep when the they were. I don’t remember cuddling your foreleg, honest.”

Arching an eyebrow, Dash could only retort, “Un huh. Anyway and with that…”

_____________________

And with that, they fell asleep through the night.

The next morning saw AJ awakening with the sunrise, taking in the beautiful warm glow of the morning. Walking around the top of the hill that she and her friends had rested upon, she started to take a look at her surroundings. She looked off in the distance to see the small town that they had just left and then to the right to look at the continuing woods that laid ahead of their travels. Sighing, she began to think about how hard the task ahead of her and her friends were. It would be hard enough to find an unicorn that had escaped from the emperor’s clutches who was alive; but she also had to make sure that she would know how to use the tracker spell as well. Shaking her head, the orange mare knew that she and her friends would succeed, no matter what. Turning around, the blonde maned pony walked slowly over to the sleeping group and bellowed, “HEY Y’ALL WAKE UP!!”

“Oh, goodness. Is there something wrong, did we get attacked while we slept,” Fluttershy asked, getting up from under Rainbow Dash’s wing.

“Darling, can’t it wait? It’s much much too early for us to be getting up and I need some beauty sleep,” Rarity asked, shaking her mane free of cobwebs and wiping her eyes. Behind her, Sweetie Belle blew her flute sleepily in agreement.

AJ tilted her head to the side in annoyance, “Look y’all, we probably have a long way to go before we find any mages around this here jungle and Ah am determined to cover as much ground as possible before the day is done, so get a move on!”

Rarity groaned a little as she laid down her bag of generosity for Sweetie Belle to reach in and grab several apples that they had bought with the last of their money. The little white unicorn almost squealed with glee as she kept pulling out apple after apple from the magical bag. Once they had one for everypony, they began to spread it out for all, “Hey, somepony want to wake up the sleepy head over there,” AJ asked, nudging her head to the sleeping Rainbow dash.

“Here, let me try,” Rarity said as she tried to tickle the cyan Pegasus’ nose with a blade of grass, “Hmmm, she is not a very light sleeper is she?”

“Try yelling in her ear, that’ll do it,” AJ said, munching on an apple.

Rarity gasped at the idea, “AJ, I am a lady and we ladies do not scream in other ponies ears.”

“I know what to do,” Fluttershy said as she walked softly to the sleeping Pegasus and leaned in close to her ear, “Rainbow, there is some cider here with your name on it. All brewed for you.”

“Cider? Why in tarnation would somepony just wake up-“

Dash opened her magenta eyes quickly and then took to the sky, flying around in circles, “Cider? Did somepony say cider, where is it? Who is brewing it? Oh…funny.”

“She has a cider addiction,” Fluttershy whispered beneath her breath to the three mares, who nodded in acknowledgement.

Flying down to grab an apple from the ground, Dash then flew up to rest on a cloud and began to eat, “So, what’s the plan AJ?”

“Ah was thinking about heading north through the woods, maybe we’ll find something like a mage down that way,” AJ said, finishing up her apple.

“Why not south? Capital City is that way and there might be some unicorn mages still left there.”

“Yeah, and there might be a few guards still looking for two pegasi who ran off in there.”

“Eh, it’ll be no problem,” Dash said doing a mid-air back-flip before landing, “With me here, we’ll be able to handle anything.”

“Yeah, and then what will we do when we get surrounded by a whole bunch of soldiers and mages who are all still loyal to the emperor and want us dead? Ah am trying to think stratigerically-“

“Not a real word,” Rarity commented as she looked to the side, noticing the smoke.

“Never mind. The point is, we can’t just go into the capital city and make the big announcement that we are here to beat the tar out of the emperor and free the queens.”

“Why not? It’ll get us to the big bad sooner rather than later,” Dash said, a smirk on her face.

“At the same time, getting the entire guard, mages, and air force on our tails,” AJ said, walking up to Dash.

“Point?” Dash asked.

“The point is-“ Before she could continue, AJ was interrupted by Rarity.

“Excuse me, Darlings. As much as I would love,” she sarcastically said, “to hear your lovely arguing. I was thinking that, perhaps we could check out that small fire in the woods. It might be a campfire or a house that a unicorn mage lives in and they might know of some exiles from the emperor that might know of the tracking spell.”

AJ walked to where Rarity pointed and looked over the hill, seeing the small fire. Shrugging, she added, “Well, it might be worth a look, come on,” she then began to walk down the hill, followed by the others.

In a few short minutes they neared the sight of the fire, coming from a small cabin in a clearing. Standing in front of the house was a violet unicorn mare with a starburst cutie mark. Her horn was glowing as she began to fire spell after spell at an unseen target, “ No,” she fired again, “no,” again, “NO,” and again, “NO!”

“Who’s she shootin at,” AJ asked walking closer to see a pink pony standing in front of the unicorn.

“Com (hiccup) Com (hiccup) Come on Twily, try again. You (hiccup) you (hiccup) can do (hiccup, hiccup, hiccup) it,” the pink mare said, bouncing with every hiccup she made, “That last spell turned me into a cupcake and I love those.”

“Then you tried to eat yourself!” Twilight yelled as she lowered her head in defeat, “I’ll never get this right.”

“Hey! Maybe they can help,” Pinkie said, looking at the mares behind Twilight.

“They? They who,” Twilight then turned around to see AJ and the others. Gasping, she leapt back and charged up her horn, “ Who are you?”

“Whoa there sugarcube, we ain’t here to fight,” AJ said, holding up her hooves in defense, “We just came down here to see who owned this house and who was performing those spells.”

“Oh, sorry about that, I have been on edge lately. With trying to keep hidden from the emperor and trying to help my frie-“ Twilight was then knocked aside by a pink blur. Shaking her head, the violet unicorn walked to a stump where a book lay.

“HI! ThenameisPinkiePietheJest (hiccup) and that, over there, is my best friend, TWILIGHT SPARKLE,” Pinkie then jumped back, unleashing a banner above the unicorn’s head.

“Hello,” the lavender mare said, not looking up from her book.

“Howdy, the name’s AJ and these are my friends,” AJ then pointed her hoof to each member of her party, “ Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.”

“Please to meet you,” Rarity said walking in front while Fluttershy waved a hello behind her.

“Wait…Twilight Sparkle? The Sun Queen’s personal egghead,” Rainbow dash asked, flying up next to Twilight to get a better look.

Sighing, Twilight lifted the book with her magic and closed it, “The correct term is ‘apprentice’ in the magical arts. And yes, I am the same,” the lavender unicorn then put the book in a nearby saddle.

“The correct term is egghead! Every time I asked you to hang out back at the castle with me and Flutters you would ignore me!”

“That’s because I had more important things on my mind than ‘hanging out’,” the lavender unicorn air-quoted as she went to the door of her house to close it.

“Like what?”

“ Studying and reading,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, that’s real exciting,” Dash said, rolling her magenta eyes.

“How did I figure as much,” Twilight thought to herself.

AJ took a few steps towards Twilight, “Hey, wait. You lived in the castle and were this ‘Sun Queen’s’ personal apprentice?”

“YEPPPERS,” Pinkie jumped in, “She could create (hiccup) huge (hiccup) explosions that go boom and BANG (hiccup) and fireballs that could go fooosh!”

The unicorn blushed a little, “Well, maybe not all that.”

“Then you might be able to help us. We’re looking for a court mage that knows a good trackin’ spell that can help us find the castle,” AJ said.

“I do know of a spell,” The purple mare said, turning to the group behind her, “But I can’t help you.”

“WHY NOT!?”

“Because of Pinkie,” Twilight said, looking to the hiccupping pink mare, “She had accidentally picked up a book that had a defensive spell on it that causes the victim to start hiccupping repeatedly after inhaling the blue dust. I have been trying to find a cure for a week now, but every healing spell I used doesn’t work.”

“Oh, is there anything we can do,” Fluttershy asked, walking to Pinkie and looking her over.

“Well, if I had an apothecary I could start trying potions or I could head to a temple a days walk from here that I have heard has a plant that can cure it,” Twilight said as she turned towards the woods.

“ Well then, Ah guess we’ll just have to help ya then,” AJ said, walking up next to the purple mare and putting a hoof onto her shoulder.

The unicorn’s eyes popped out in surprise, “What? No, you can’t, I can’t ask you guys to risk this for me. We… hardly know one another.”

“Look, the way Ah see it, you need help to save your friend over there. We need to get a tracking spell in order find the emperor and save this country. And probably your teacher as well,” AJ looked at Twilight as she then turned to the forest, “We all have a reason for going in there and getting that potion thing, and the best way to get what we all want is to work together, right?”

“But, the thing is-“ Twilight was about to continue but was quickly interrupted by Pinkie.

“OH COME ON TWILIGHT! Let them come with us, it isn’t like you were planning on a potentially dangerous and deadly mission to who knows where(hiccup, hiccup) what is lurking in the darkness to turn you into a purple pony pate pancake alone… were you?”

Twilight looked from one pony to the next, seeing that they were ready and willing to help in anyway possible. She sighed, realizing that it would be impossible to argue with them, “You guys are right, it would be easier if we did this together,” she then raised her head and nodded, “All right, we’ll get the potion and then I’ll lead you to where we can find the tracking spell,” she then turned around and began to walk away.

“AH HA! See, I told you that you could be more friendly if you tried,” Pinkie said excitedly, “Come on Sweetie, how ab (hiccup) out I (hiccup) try and teach you to be a Pegasus,” the pink earth mare then picked the white filly up by the mouth and put her onto her back. Taking flight, Rainbow Dash flew ahead of the group and landed to walk alongside Twilight, AJ began to walk behind the two, and Fluttershy took up the back with Rarity.
_________________

The journey through the woods was relatively quiet and peaceful, with the only sounds to be heard was Pinkie’s fast chattering to Sweetie, Fluttershy and Rainbow’s wingbeats, and Rarity’s singing.

I’ll be the talk of the town

The girl on the go

Yeah,

I’m the type of pony, everypony should know.

Up front, Twilight kept an eye on the map that would lead them on to the old temple with the cure for her friend. AJ walked next to Twilight, watching her study the map intensely, “So, how did you get such a high position as being the queen’s personal apprentice-“

“Egghead,” Dash said, flying above them.

“Anyway?”

Twilight smiled a little at the fond memories of her teacher as she rolled up the map, “Me and my brother were orphans living alone in the capital. Our parents died a long time ago in a tragic fire accident,” Twilight turned her head down at the memory, “ and since then he had been watching over me like a guardian. That’s even how he got his cutie mark, when he protected me from a few gang members with his shield spell. One day, we found out that the princess was holding openings for her school of magic and she had one available that very night. I was quickly accepted and was told to perform for them in an entrance exam. It was-” Twilight shook a little, “Scary. The princess herself was there watching the entire test and my brother was in the back, rooting for me. I knew I had to succeed no matter what, but nothing happened. I tried and tried, but for a while it seemed that I couldn’t give them what they wanted. Then, there was some sort of explosion that had happened behind me that gave my magic a jumpstart. I unleashed a huge torrent of raw magical energy throughout the entire room that might have killed everypony if it wasn’t for the queen helping me while my brother contained the outburst. The queen saw just how powerful I could become if I was trained right, and just how much I could learn if I had the right the training. Shining agreed to let me go, but only if he came with me to watch over me. Interestingly enough, there was some openings in the guards for unicorn mages with his unique talents. So, from then on, we lived in the palace. Him, being trained by the guards and me, as the royal apprentice under the sun queen; although, I think I may have had another duty in keeping the moon queen company.”

“We lived happily…until the day of the coup. We were all shocked by how sudden it all was, the queens barely had time to bring up a defense against him when he attacked. When I had saw what was happening, I tried to stay my ground and protect the queen but…but my,” tears came to Twilight’s eyes as she began to think about the day she lost everything, “Brother decided to do what he did best, protect me. He wrapped me up in a protection spell and sent me far away from the castle when the memory spell activated. I had to stand there and watch as my mother, brother, and some of the only ponies that mattered to me-vanished without a trace in one single moment. I have been wandering the countryside, trying to find a way to save them ever since.”

“And Pinkie,” Dash asked, nudging her shoulder to the Pink mare behind them, hiccupping all the way, “ how did you get to traveling with the hiccupping maniac?”

“When I had got sent away and found out just how alone I was and how the odds were against me, I felt down. I mean…really down,” Twilight said, lowering her head.

“Oh no. Sugarcube you can't mean that you were thinking... ” AJ said putting her hoof to her barrel.

“Everything was against me, my only family were all gone, and I had no one. It was starting to sound like a good option to me,” Twilight said with a sad scowl, “but then Pinkie, the court’s royal jester and party giver, found me. I had only a passing knowledge of her and was ready to tell her to buzz off and leave me alone. Then… she gave me a big hug and told me that it’ll be okay, as long as we’re both smiling. Because, that meant we were still able to do anything we can think of. She then entertained me with a fun story and we ate a cupcake together. We have been ‘acquaintances’ ever since, because she gave me hope and saved my life.”

“You mean, friend.”

“I don’t have friends, I have acquaintances, associates, or assistants. Not friends,” Twilight said as she walked a little further ahead than the others.

A few hours passed by and the seven ponies had decided to rest for the night. Sitting around the soft light of the campfire, they told stories of their lives and ghost stories amongst each other. The began telling each other stories and sang some songs to help pass their time away. Soon, the night wore on and they began to fall asleep around the fire, while Twilight sat a distance away from the rest. She busied herself with reading the map and gazing at the stars as the others began to softly sleep. In time, AJ awoke to hear Twilight saying something to the sky at a small cliff, “Dear… no, no that won’t work. Dearest mother… no. I can't say that,” Twilight took a deep breath and then sat down, “ Dearest Queen Celestia,

It has been a week since I have last talked to you, and I apologize for it. I have been busy trying to save my…friend,”

AJ opened her eyes at that word, and decided to listen a little more.

“From this horrible affliction that had hit her as of late. I have tried every spell I know and nothing seems to work. So I have decided to take a little trip to find the potion that’ll cure her along with some other ponies. I know that one of them is one of the top commanders of the air force and brash and you may not recognize the others… but I am willing to trust them.

“What are you doing over here,” AJ asked as she walked over to the sitting Twilight, taking a seat next to the violet unicorn and looking at the skies.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just writing a letter to the queen,” Twilight turned her head to look at the orange mare’s green eyes, “I know, its sounds a little weird to talk to a queen who might not even be alive but…it’s a tradition,” taking a deep breath, she looked to the stars, “A few days after I had begun my apprenticeship, Celestia asked me to start writing to her about my life every week. She told me that she wanted to hear about my life, because to her, everyday I was alive was one of the best days of her life. A little light for her and her family she used to call me,” Twilight wiped a little tear from her eye with her hoof, “Sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? Writing like this.”

The orange mare shook her head, smiling, “Not at all sugarcube. After maw and paw died Ah would sometimes spend whole nights just telling them everything that had happened to me that day. Ah guess Ah just thought that they were up there in the stars, watching me and my siblings. Trying to make sure that we were both doing fine,” AJ sighed, “Ah haven’t done it much lately, feel kinda bad about that.”

“Hey, sometimes I would do the same thing,” Dash said, flying in next to Twilight and AJ, “Guess I just needed a way to feel like my dad was nearby..”

Fluttershy walked softly to the three mares and sat down, “Mom, bless her wherever she is, used to tell me that: our loved ones never were really gone. They are always watching you, in some-” she let out a small giggle as the wind blew by her mane, beneath her ear, “-special way.”

“Do you think, that our family is there too,” Rarity asked, taking another spot with her party, Sweetie Belle in tow, nuzzling up to her big sister as they sat.

“Of course silly, all of our families are probably up there right now, holding the biggest and bestest party ever,” Pinkie said, hiccupping a little as she sat down with her friends, “and you know what they are saying right now, ‘GO TEAM! You can do it! GO (hiccup, hiccup) and go save Equestria. GO, WIN FIGHT!”

The girls heard Pinkie’s cheers mixed with hiccups and began to laugh a little. Twilight smiled as she watched them laugh with her, before turning her head to the sky, “You know what. I think everyone needs an update about today. Who’s with me,” the girls smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.

Dear maw, paw, mom, dad, Celestia.

You wouldn’t believe what was going on this week. I had found…

Their letter took them through the night, until they had all fallen asleep in a small pile together.

___________________

It is said that, in this land, the trees listen to the world around them and will keep the secrets of man close to them. Sometimes, they will speak these secrets to any who would take the time to listen and are kind to the forest. It is also said, that the rangers and druids used to be able to hear the trees without having to ask for permission, but this is unconfirmed as rangers aren’t always willing to dispense secrets and druids are a dying breed. The point of the matter is, trees can hear the world about them and will give what they hear to ponies if they ask, both for good and for bad. For a tree knows neither evil nor good, just those who are kind to the forest or not. The emperor knew of this and had enlisted rangers across forest lands to hear about those who would hide in the woods or those who would try and betray him. One such ranger had heard from the trees about the late night conversation between the girls and relayed that message across the land and to the castle. There a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail and decked out in golden armor, listened to the report and requested that an earth pony servant take the message to the emperor.

Inside his royal bedroom, the emperor stood in front of the window and pushing back a curtain to look at the rising sun across his land. A smile came across his face as he thought how good it was that he let the queens live, so at least he could have the sun and moon in full operation. He turned to the sound of his door opening as the earth pony messenger came in with the letter in mouth, “thir, methhge thor y.”

Slowly did the emperor walk towards the messenger, his cloven hooves striking the ground, “What did I tell you about carrying objects with your mouth, you unclean heathen,” he then backhanded the messenger and stepped further into the light. The satyr’s horns shone brightly in the morning light as he stepped to the messenger, “Now, you will use the letter opener and then read it to me. I do not wish to touch something that is covered in saliva,” the emperor then walked to the table to pour himself some wine.

“I’m sorry sir, my apologies sir. I didn’t think- “ the messenger said as he began to open the letter with a nearby blade.”

“You’re right, you don’t think. earth ponies aren’t supposed to think!”

“Yes sir,” the messenger said as he looked over the letter, “It appears that the apprentice to the queen, Twilight Sparkle, has been found traveling in the woods towards the Griffon temple ruins.”

“Griffons, another disgusting four legged race. I should subjugate them next,” he chuckled to himself as he drank slowly from his cup, “Ah, so we finally found the prodigal daughter.”

“Yes, sir,” said Poor Service as he continued to read, “ she was seen traveling with former flight cmmdr. Rainbow Danger Dash and prvt. Fluttershy Posey.”

“I thought the mages told me that those two were destroyed. At the very least,” he turned his head to look out the window, “the yellow one would be no real threat.”

“Also traveling with her, is Miss Belle and her little sister.”

“Oh, the fair unicorn is still alive is she. In a way, I am glad that the pegasi soldiers failed in their job to murder the entire family. It will be quite interesting to take in the young mare for my own,” he licked his lips slowly.

“Then we have also reports of her other traveling companions, the former jester Pinkamena Diane Pie,”

“Should’ve killed her the day she threw a pie in my face.”

“and an as of yet unnamed earth pony mare that was said to come from one of the farmlands that was subject to the magical experiment you tried a month ago.”

“Hmmmm, it doesn’t matter who this pony is; she will die along with the other members of her pathetic kind,” reaching over the small table, the red satyr picked up a small flute and tapped his fingers along the metal instrument, “ Now, care to tell me WHY you have come here alone and did not bring along my pegasi air squadron so I can give them orders?”

“W-well, sir, I didn’t think,” Service said, backing away slowly in utter fear.

“That is right, you don’t think. Much like the rest of your four legged brethren, you are only good to serve other, more powerful species. The main difference is,” the emperor said, looking up at the earth pony with a deadly stare, “that, unlike the pegasi and unicorns, you have no real purpose. You are only good for lifting, carrying, and farming the land. I would have you all dead by dawn by extermination squads if we did not need the food that only you can provide,” staring down at the reflection in the metal flute he thought, “A problem I will soon rectify. You lack the magic of unicorns, the skill of pegasi, and any true strength. In short, you are nothing more than useless beast of burden that tend to filthy up items with your mouths. Now, go and begone from my sight you worthless creature.”

Poor service was about to ask about the pegasi guards, but watched as the three of them flew into the room at the sound of the emperor’s flute, “Y-yes, lord Iron Hand.”

Watching his messenger leave, he looked to the pegasi, “Ah, the pegasi, your race is next on the power I want. The princess’ apprentice has been found, along with your former commander and friend. I want you to bring her, Rarity Belle and her sister to me, while killing the earth ponies and the pegasi. Bring me the wings of the pegasi as proof if you must, but incinerate the corpses of the Earth ponies. I do not want them to dirty my graveyards with their presence.”

The pegasi silently nodded and flew off through the window. Iron walked slowly to a picture next to his bed, a sad smile across his face as he looked at the picture of him and his mom and dad. He could remember how his village had feared him because of his ideals, of how he wanted to rebel against the ponies because he believed those with hands and to stand on their own two feet to be the superior species, “Two feet good, four feet bad,” he said his creed to himself as he looked out at the land that he was determined to demonstrate that creed to.

The pegasi air squadron flew off towards the east, where the temple lay. A cruel smile came to their lips as they imagined the pain that they would soon deliver to their quarry. In a few short minutes, they had arrived at their destination, taking the time to glide to some outcroppings that hung on the sides of the ruins and hid there within the shadows. Crouching silently, they did not have to wait long for their prey to start rustling through the bushes. Sneering, they jumped from the stone outcroppings and leapt at their prey with a swift attack.
___________

“And here we are, everypony,” Twilight said as she rolled up the map, “Hippogriff Ruins. Now we need to be careful,” she continued as they walked closer towards the big doors, “The hippogriffs have been known to be very secretive and are always trying to keep their world hidden. So we have no idea what we’ll find in there, on the other hand, they were also great believers in solving the impossible which is why the potion must be in there.”

AJ walked up to the giant stone doors, ancient writings and designs sprawled across the massive frame, “ Hey Rainbow, bet ya you can’t knock down this door. I mean you are a Pegasus after all and they are mighty fragile,” a smirk came across her face as she said this.

“Oh, you are on,” Dash exclaimed as she and her friend turned around and bucked the doors with all of their might.

“Take this door for instance,” Twilight said, pointing a violet hoof to the giant stone doors, “There is probably a huge defensive barrier around it. A type of spell that is hundreds of ages old and armed with a powerful code that we are going to spend a,” A large slam is heard as the doors burst open wide with AJ and Dash’s kick, “few…minutes…slamming…years…worth of…history…open,” the lavender unicorn stood there for a few moments, dumbstruck and her mouth wide open.

“You (hiccup, hiccup) coming in or not silly,” Pinkie said as she skipped into the ruins followed by Rarity and Sweetie, who walked over to her and waved a white hoof in front of her face. Turning her head, Sweetie looked to Rarity with a sad look in her eyes.

“Don’t worry darling,” Rarity rubbed her sister’s mane affectionately, “She is just shocked, she’ll be with us in a few minutes,” turning around she followed the pink mare into the castle.

Elsewhere, the three Pegasus guards were busy beating the tar out of 7 brightly colored bears with symbols on their chests, “Hey guys,” Windsheer said looking to his two armored companions, “I think we’re beating the wrong group of brightly colored protagonists.

“Your point being,” Wind Whistler said with a sneer as she held her hoof to a purple one’s throat.

“None at all, right Silent Wind?”

A large black Pegasus mare nodded in sadistic glee as she punched an orange bear and a pink bear.

“You should care, OH GOD MY LEGS,” said a purple bear as she laid bleeding next to a white bear, a smaller white bear, and a blue bear.

As the seven mares walked slowly through the temple, their noses were hit with the soft smell of roses while their eyes were hit with the full brunt of the darkness within the temple; while looking around, Twilight was able to find a gem that could light up a series of gems alongside the cavern. Their way fully lit, they walked on through the stone temple, listening to the silence that permeated the air of the temple. Treading lightly through the echoing stone hallways, the mares moved through several dimly lit corridors and looked at the widening walkways until they came across a large chasm. Looking to the left and the right, they could not see any way across, “I can’t teleport that far with all of you guys,” Twilight said, looking ahead at the distance, “And I don’t think our two flyers can carry us all.”

“I’m sorry, but I can't,” Fluttershy said, head lowering a little.

“Ah might have an idea, look,” AJ said as she walked a little bit toward the space, “ there’s a very loose pillar over there. Ah can use mah lasso to pull that thing down,”

“And I can grab it with my magic to lower it and keep it stable. That’s brilliant AJ!”

“Thank ya kindly,” AJ said as she brought out her lasso and twirled it above her head before throwing it at the stone column and pull it hard. Tugging at it a little, she made it fall down and towards the pit as Twilight’s horn glowed with a bright glow. Wrapping the falling pillar in a similar glow, Twilight began to move the pillar slowly to lay across the pit in a stable position. Smiling at her good work, Twilight got onto the pillar and walked across it, followed by AJ and the others. Once on the other side of the pit, the 7 ponies walked further and further into the temple, the walls covered with small indents that might have held gems and writings on the walls that demonstrated the history of the hippogiffs and their studies into the fields of healing magic, “Hey, Twilight. What is with all of (hiccup, hiccup) all (hiccup) of these funny writings,” Pinkie asked.

“They’re showing off just what the hippogriffs liked to do the best, try and solve impossible cures,” Twilight said as she and the others walked into a large circular room, “Since their births are a near impossible event anyway, they always wanted to show how anything can be possible under the right circumstances.”

“So, they would also like to make their temples IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT,” Dash said as she flew around the room, looking around the room and its many hallways, “Just where are we supposed to go to next?”

“OOOOOH! I (hiccup) have an idea,” Pinkie said excitedly, “Let’s figure out by a game of eenie miney mo!”

“Pinkie, if we picked the wrong one, then we could die due to a trap,” Twilight said, noticing that Fluttershy was busy talking to a small family of mice.

“You’re right…that would be (hiccup) bad,” Pinkie’s eyes opened wide, “How about, we throw a rock down the hall, then if we hear a giant crush then we know not to go down that way.”

Twilight facehoofed at Pinkie’s solution as Fluttershy came over to Twilight and spoke, “Twilight, if you don’t mind, I may have found a clue,” she then pointed her yellow hoof at the little mouse, “Mrs. Brisby and her family said that they heard the hippogriffs put a hidden gem in the right hallway.”

“You speak to mice?” Twilight asked, then her eyes widened, “You’re druid? Oh this is so fascinating, I have never seen nor met a real druid before, you have to tell me everything about nature magic,” she said, getting up close to Fluttershy’s face with a big grin on her face.

“A hidden gem? Well, this looks like a job for some finesse,” Rarity said as she walked forward and made her magic glow a deep blue, causing the room to glow a soft blue before dimming down once again and a bright blue light shown in the rightmost hallway, “There, the gem was hidden just above that doorway,” the white unicorn smiled as she turned to the others who looked on with awe.

“Rarity, Ah didn’t know you could do that,” AJ said, a little shocked at the spell.

“Darling, I am more than just fashion and glamour. I also have a great eye for beauty and finding something precious in the more drab things and bring it out. It’s…a special talent of mine,” Rarity said as she put a hoof to her chest, Sweetie Belle nodded happily in agreement.

Further and further down the dark hallway did the mares travel, until soon the lights of the light gems began to fade away. Within time, pitch blackness began to cover their entire bodies and prevented them from being able to see much of anything. Even the unicorns’ basic light spells were being swallowed up by the infernal darkness. It wasn’t long after that, did the 7 mares began to bump into each other, walking into walls, and walking backwards a little bit. They continued their struggle in the darkness when they heard, “Hey, everypony (hiccup, hiccup) STOP,” Pinkie yelled as she stood next to Rainbow Dash, “Girls, I want you to keep on talking and I’ll find you.”

“Sugarcube, what do ya mean ‘find us’, Ah can barely see a dang thing,” AJ said,

“There, Dashie,” Pinkie said, pointing Rainbow in the right direction. Nodding briefly, the blue Pegasus flew in the direction that the pink pony pointed.

“Oh, I get it,” Twilight said as Rainbow dash flew her way and picked her up and brought her to Pinkie.

“Pinkie will hear our voices and use Rainbow to fly to us and pick us up wherever we are,” Rarity said as she heard a little flute play to lure Dash to Sweetie’s location. In time, all of the ponies were rounded up and brought to the end of the hallway where a bright light shone behind the pink haired pony. A big smile on her face, she quickly gave the group a big hug and led the group on their way through the rest of the walkway.

Soon their journey ended with them coming to a large circular room with three plants on three pedestals. On each pedestal was a crossbones with a skull or a flower, except one which just had a crossbones. Walking up closely to each pedestal, Twilight began to examine them, “Oh this is just perfect, which one is the right one?” Dash asked, flying away a bit and throwing her hooves in the air as she grumbled some mild obscenities.

“Hmmm, the hippogriffs would want us to know that we could trust in them when handing out the potion. Yet, they would also know that there would be ponies who want to abuse their gifts. So how can they produce a warning to their enemies and yet create a sign of trust? I GOT IT,” Twilight thought to herself as her eyes shot up with realization, “It’s this one,” she then grabbed the flower with her magic and put it into her bag, “Now we just have to walk the way back.”

“Why (hiccup) Why (hiccup) not just use the back (hiccup) door,” Pinkie Pie asked walking up to the violet unicorn.

“Back door? What…” Twilight began before turning her head to see a back door that was just right behind the large circular platform, “Huh, how could I have missed that?”

“Because you didn’t read the sign, silly,” Pinkie said, skipping to the back door, followed by the other mares who could only look on in disbelief.

Once outside in the fresh air and on the green grass, Twilight began to quickly mix the flower in with a few other ingredients to form the potion, “Are you sure this is gonna work, sugarcube,” AJ asked, looking at the light green concoction.

“Yes, I have looked over the recipe several times and I know for certain that this is the right flower,” Twilight said as she finished making it.

“How can you be so sure,” Dash asked.

“Don’t worry, I trus (hiccup) Twily completely,” Pinkie responded as she took the bowl in her pink hooves and began to drink.

“And how can you be so sure that this is the right flower,” Dash asked, looking at Twilight.

“Because, you might want to step to the side,” Twilight said as she and the others moved to the right of Pinkie as she let loose a burp of green flame past them, “Of the sign underneath the flower.”

“Ya mean the crossbones sugar?”

“In one language, yes, the crossbones in an X would mean death to our enemies. However, the hippogriffs wanted to also say ‘we’re your friends, just don’t abuse our trust,’ so,” Twilight smiled as she took the bowl away from Pinkie with her magic, “they put down the X underneath the flower, which in one language that would mean death; however in another tongue that X is something special. It is the mark of friendship.”

Pinkie Pie gasped and smiled as she saw that her hiccups were gone, “THEY’RE GONE THEY’RE REALLY GONE!!!!! OH I am just so excited, I am just so glad for this, You know what we need? A-” Pinkie then grabbed the six ponies in a big hug, “PARTY!!!! Come on, I know of this great small clearing just up ahead,” She then took off in a pink blur towards the small clearing.

Chuckling, Twilight followed Pinkie as the others walked with her, “So, Twilight,” Rarity asked, walking next to Twilight, “How did you cure the hiccups.”

“Oh, you don’t cure hiccups Rarity. The potion only sent those hiccups away to somewhere else.”

“Where,” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said as they walked.
________________

“Hey, did anypony else see that weird green flame,” Wind Whistler said looking up from the beaten body of the bear.

“Nope, not at all. What about you, Silent Wind,” the other Pegasus said as he finished off an apple.

The big black Pegasus shook her head, when she began hiccupping,

Wind Whistler looked worried, “Silent are (hiccup) ok?”

“Wind Whistler, what (hiccup) was that?”

“I (hiccup) (hiccup) have no idea.”

___________________

“And that was the first and last time my mom took me swimming,” Pinkie said, finishing her story and leaving the group laughing.

“That was a funny story Pinkie,” Twilight got to her hooves, and then looked at the ponies in front of her, “Well, I guess this is where we say our goodbyes. Here is the location of the tracking spell and the city that I heard it was in.”

“Goodbye? What do you mean sugarcube,” Aj asked, her head looking on questionly.

“Well, you did your part of the bargain,” Twilight said, handing over the piece of paper with her magic, “and now I am doing mine. I figured you won’t need me anymore.”

“What are you talking about? Of course we still need you, Twilight,” Dash said, landing next to Twilight and looked at her smiling.

“Y…you do?” Twilight asked, looking shocked.

“It’s not so much that we need you here darling, we want you here,” Rarity said, walking up to the purple unicorn.

“We worked so well together and it would be very lonely without you there, helping us,” Fluttershy said, smiling softly.

“You can’t just say that our friendship together ends just because we did ya favor sugarcube. Friends tend to stay around for a bit longer than that,” AJ said, a smile on her face as she put a hoof onto Twilight’s shoulder.

“Friends, but we…”

“Sure, we just met…but give it time and I can bet we will be great friends,” Pinkie said, Sweetie Belle nodding in agreement,” Besides…you don’t really want to be all alone in saving the queens do you?”

Twilight said nothing as she looked from pony to pony and smiled, “No, I wouldn’t. All right, I am coming with you guys.” A smile formed on her lips as suddenly a bright light shone from the heavens and a mare draped in a white robe appeared before the group. The mare’s robe covered everything but her gender and age.

“Hello my dear ponies. I am the witch who rewards Laughter and Magic. I have come bearing gifts for two of you,” The witch said, a smile on her face.

“A witch,” Twilight asked, curious by the voice of the witch and the small traces of the coat that she could see under the cloak. As she tried to look closely under the robe, the witch would turn her head away.

“For you, Pinkamena Diane Pie, I grant you this,” with a wave of her hoof, a small necklace appeared on Pinkie’s neck, “I grant you the light of laughter for your ability to bring joy and light to the ponies darkest moments. The more you feel the bright laughter of your friends nearby, the brighter the light will glow. And as for you Twilight Sparkle,” with another wave of her hoof, a medallion appeared around Twilight’s neck, “I grant you the medallion of magic, in honor of your constant ability in and study of magic.”

“What does it do,” Twilight asked, looking at the back of the medallion.

“That is unknown as of yet, but a clue to the true power of the medallion lies on the back.”

Twilight read the back of the medallion carefully, “When the six lights are united as one, a miracle will happen. What miracle,” she asked as the witch disappeared.

“Nice try sugarcube, but those witches have a tendacy to leave before they explain anything,” Aj said as she walked back to the campfire where the other began to sleep.

“I see,” Twilight said, looking at the spot where the witch was, trying to figure out who she was, “We better get some sleep. The city is a few miles away and I want to get to that tracking spell before the library closes,” Twilight said as she took her position with her new friends at the campfire and settled down for a good night’s sleep.

Author's Note

Thanks to Zoltanthemagnifcent for the preread.

This is the longest chapter I have ever written as a fanfic author...ever

Brothers, sisters, and mothers

Chapter 4:

“You know the worst part of being sick,” Scootaloo said, looking out the door, “When your big sister decides to take a small break for a bit.” She sighed softly to herself, boredom coming in as she waited for the blue pegasus to come back. Looking around her room from her position on the bed, she began to look for something to grab, to throw, or anything to stave off the boredom. The scan of her room soon located the pictures of her and Rainbow Dash that she had placed on her desk. A smile came across her face as she looked at the newest photo of her, Rainbow, Soarin’, and Spitfire standing in a victory pose in front of the coliseum; she took the time to read the autographs from the wonderbolts that Dash had gotten her. For her, that was the second best day of her life. The first being when Rainbow agreed to be her big sister; although, in her mind, there was never any question about it.

Looking at some other pictures, she saw one of her friends all standing together with the Manehatten branch of the Crusaders. Each one standing with their big siblings and all with big smiles on their faces, and seeing this image made her remember some old feelings. She wasn’t afraid to admit it, she was a little jealous of Sweetie and Apple Bloom for having big sisters for a while. After all, they had somepony to teach them the ropes, to be there when they got into small fights or, “To do things that parents can't. That’s why big sibs come first isn’t it? To protect the little guys,” grabbing the picture with an orange hoof, she smiled when she looked at her and Dash, “Especially when… ” She stopped when she looked up at the photo of a white Pegasus holding her above his head, flying to the camera. Sighing, she quickly put the photo back. While it was true that she loved her dad deeply and would cherish each moment with him. She still felt some anger over how many times he would just leave the family for long times and the worry he would cause her mother considering his job as a royal guard.

She shook her head a little, “Stop, I don’t want to think about that,” Scoots said as she continued to look around her room for something to do and soon she caught sight of the book that Dash had been reading. An evil smirk came to her face as she picked it up and turned to the page that Dash left off and began to read:

Dear Squirt,
I knew you would try to spoil the story before I was done and try to be sneaky about it. This is why I wrote this letter, and placed it in front of the page. Because, in the words of a time traveler, ‘shh, spoilers’. I am not about to let you spoil the story before I am done, and I don’t want you to ruin any surprises that this baby has coming. So by the time you have finished reading this line, I should be back upstairs, looking down at you, your supper on hoof, and looking awesome as usual…

Scootaloo arched an eyebrow at this letter and looked up to see her sister, holding her supper on one hoof, and looking as awesome as usual, “Now see, no good can come reading spoilers huh, Squirt?”

Timidly handing the book over to Dash, the young filly let out a chuckle, “Guess not, sorry Dash.”

Rainbow looked down at her sister,” That’s okay, I’ll pay you back later when you get better. Now, while you eat, I’ll continue.”

______________________________________________________________________

The emperor was displeased, most displeased indeed. Not only has he received reports that his personal search and destroy squadron had failed in their mission, but they have also received a curse that his sorcerers say will take them at least a day to cure, “How can this be so,” Iron asked as he put a hand through the bars of a bird cage and fed his Falcon, “ How can my personal Squadron fail in their attempt to find a small group of ponies. PONIES! To make matters worse, two of them were lowly pathetic earth pony morons”

“Well, maybe it was a communication error, sir,” Said Sparkle Glide as he shined some of the cages in the aviary.

“I, CHOSE,” Iron pulled his hand way from the cage, fist clenched in rage, “ MY SQUADRON LIKE A GOD WOULD CHOSE HIS DISCIPLES.” He turned his head slowly to the unicorn cleaning the cage and walked to the unicorn, “and you, a lowly unicorn that denies his heritage by choosing not to be a mage, tell me that they lost their quarry because of a communication error?”

The unicorn braced himself for the retribution as he meekly responded with a, “Yes.”

Iron hand then promptly backhanded the poor unicorn across the room, “Under Staffed.”

A meek unicorn mare with a clipboard cutie mark walked in and looked at the beaten blue unicorn on her right, “Yes sir?”

“Who was on communication duty last night at 8:00,” Iron asked as he walked to a stand next to a large painting of him standing above the four legged creatures.

The young mare looked down at her husband, frowning and feeling down about his pain, “A communications officer by the name of Glimmering Shield sir.”

The black furred satyr’s eyes opened in surprise, “Glimmering Shield? There is no one by that name in the regiment.” He turned to the door, “ We have been infiltrated! From now on, every shift change must be monitored and I want some unicorn mages on standby with detection spells at the ready, am I clear?”

“Yes sir,” Under said, still sad as she looked back at her husband getting up slowly. She lowered her purple head in a bow and left.

“Who would be so bold as to infiltrate my men and try to deceive me?”

If Iron were to look outside of the room at that moment, he would find his answer. A white unicorn, with a blue mane and a golden helmet listened into the conversation intently. A smirk appeared on his face as he heard the false king come to the realization that there was a mole in his precious guard. Turning around, he walked slowly down the hall until he came to an old photo of the three queens. Underneath the photo was the caption that read, “death to the four legged false god-devils.” This message made the stallion growl a little in anger as he reached a hoof to a secret button on the picture. Clicking it caused a secret door to open slowly, revealing a long staircase leading downwards. He headed down as the door slowly closed behind him, the stallion took off his helmet and looked at it with a smile. He had to remind himself to thank the Striped Enchantress for coating his armor with a special magic that made everyone who lived in the castle see him as a blue unicorn instead of his pristine white. A chuckle came to him as he reached the bottom of the stairs and into a hidden apothecary, “Welcome home, Shining. And how goes your scouting,” A zebra said as she began to stir a pot of a blue liquid.

“Perfectly, Zecora,” Shining said as he sat down in his little lair. He was glad that his sister introduced him to the so-called dark enchantress of the under-dark and revealed her to be just a Zebra who wanted to be left alone, “They had no idea that I was spying on them. Not a clue.”

“And of Twilight? What did you discover of her plight,” the zebra said as she walked to a wall and grabbed a few bottles from the wall with her mouth.

“ She is doing fantastic,” Shining said, smiling at the thought of his sister out there, being ok, “ I believe that she may have finally found some friends can you believe it? I thought she was going to be a recluse for the rest of her life and become-,” he stopped himself when he realized that he was about to say,

“Having great friends in this world is a must, especially if they are ones that she can trust. I trust from your mood, that they are ponies who can only do good,” The zebra said, adjusting her cloak and walking to a table to begin mashing up some small roots.

“Well, there are three of whom I haven’t met, but I know of Comm. Dash and Pvt. Fluttershy, as well as Pinkie Pie and they’re great ponies,” With a smile the white unicorn looked at his helm, “ My little Twily is growing up.”

Zecora glanced over her shoulder at the blue maned stallion, “And you are not worried for her? Even if protected, the world is full of great danger.”

A small chuckle came from his throat, “My sister is the greatest mage I had ever known, she’ll be fine. I am sure she’ll find this castle and save the queens,,” looking down at his helm with a sad look, “I know she’ll do a better job than I have in saving them.”

Zecora walked over to Armor and put a hoof to his shoulder, rubbing it in comfort, “Do not feel down Armor. You have done great as an infiltrator. And with your protection, you have helped many of the downtrotten. Those with less power, now don’t feel so dour. This is thanks to their knight, who will stand for their right.”

Shining sighed, “Yeah, but I was a royal guard. I should be out there, facing Iron Hand on my own and taking him down so no one else has to!”

Zecora let out a deep breath as she looked at the young stallion, “ Are you so willing for a sacrifice, that you will not heed good advice? Are the queens’ honor worth it, Oh Shining Armor?”

“They are,” Shining nodded, “On the day that Twilight became the sun queen’s personal apprentice, I vowed to lay down everything for them, even my life.”

“Ah, but there is more, are you not fighting for amore? From what I have seen, you are more than a knight to one queen. One to whom in part, you have given your heart.”

A soft smile came across Shining’s face, “The queen of heart, Cadence. We were going to announce our engagement when the coup happened. I guess I’ll still have to wait.”

“Yes, wait for now Shining Armor, now it is time for supper. Come you doup, I have made some soup,” Zecora said as she went to her cauldron and poured the contents into some bowls.
____________________

Miasma was a small city, not one that you would call extremely bustling but a well to do city nonetheless. Surrounding the large city was the poor district where the Earth ponies live and in the center of the city was what the locals called, “the rich district” where Pegasi and Unicorns lived. It was here that the city held it’s mayoral mansion and its shining golden library, where there have been said to be many magical tomes and tracking spells for the consumption of young mages from all over. From all over the country, many unicorn mages would come to see its bright white doors and golden columns; however, as one purple unicorn has discovered, the problem is… getting in, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT I CAN'T COME IN? THIS IS A PUBLIC LIBRARY,” Twilight screamed in disbelief at the yellow unicorn stallion.

“I said,” he gave a quick comb over of his red mane to fix it after it got mussed thanks to Twilight yelling, “That this library is public only to the pegasi and the unicorn mages of the emperor. Unless you can prove to me that you are a member of the royal mage guild and are in league with the emperor, you aren’t getting in.”

“Well, why all the security,” AJ asked, “It’s not any unicorn not in cahoots with the emperor is going to try and use a tracking spell to hunt him down.”

Perfect Teeth turned away from AJ and looked at Twilight, “ Because, there is still a chance that a rebel unicorn who had escaped his notice might just try and trick me to get to the spell and launch a rebel assault on the castle,” He said, walking across the doorstep, “So, I am going to make sure that everypony who passes through these gates have an official pass that was given to them by the emperor himself. That pass has a spell placed on it that opens the shield that protects the door. Now if you were a Pegasus, I would let you in without problem, but they are not allowed to take out books or scrolls.”

“Seems, rather too complicated if you ask me,” Twilight said, a look of disgust on her face.

“It helps to keep our lord safe and keeps out the Earth ponies from wanting to read,” He said with a grin that showed off his pearly whites.

“What’s yer problem with Earth ponies,” AJ asked, looking a bit angry.

“ Well, miss unicorn,” he said, completely ignoring AJ, “ Much like that heathen that you are lowering yourself to hang around with. They are uncouth, horrible, four legged, beasts of burden that are most likely inbreds that don’t deserve to read or walk on the same land as us.”

A few minutes later found our two girls walking away from the library and heading to the bar that they agreed to meet up in, “Did you have to punch that guy so hard, AJ? I think you knocked out at least 4 of his teeth.”

“They’ll grow back one day Twi,” AJ said as she wiped some of the blood off of her right hoof, “Ah wonder how Rainbow and Pinkie are doing in getting us some cash for a room?”

In the poor district, there are various sections dedicated to entertainment of all kinds, such as stunt shows, “Come one and all! Watch and be amazed by the near suicidal stunts done by the ever fantastic Pegasus, RAINBOW DASH,” Pinkie Pie yelled at the top of her lungs with a flash as small fireworks erupted behind her. Looking upwards to the blue sky, the cyan Pegasus began to do aerial stunts and fly bys through fire rings and fireballs, “ Watch as she tries to kill herself in unbelievable ways. See her dodge death at every turn and give it a kiss goodnight. Hear her yell out catch phrases as she makes spectacular move after spectacular move that your foals will repeat again and again.”

“Rainbow Awesome,” Dash said as she did a triple somersault ,”Really Pinkie? That was the best you could come up with?”

“All the while I will craft jokes that will make the piggies squeal with delight, jokes that will have you rolling, and of course an excellent time for all. Now don’t start throwing bits at us all at once,” The pink mare pulled out a black top hat and held it with her mouth, “Well, aren’t you going to start throwing the coins at us all at once?”

The earth ponies just watched the show with faces of boredom, contempt, and sorrow. Throughout the crowd, there was no sign of any enjoyment to be found. All of the ponies looked as if they were waiting for the executioner to cut somepony’s head off while they away from the sight, “What is wrong with you ponies,” Rainbow yelled as she landed next to Pinkie, “ Can't you guy appreciate any good entertainment around here?”

A Dark green mare with a braces cutie mark walked before the stage that the two stood, “ What entertainment, I’m seeing none!”

“What do you mean,” Dash asked, glaring her magenta eyes down at the mare.

Perfect Fang looked with an uncaring stare, “ All I’m seeing is another arrogant and brash Pegasus showing off to all of us lesser ponies what she can do better than the rest of us. We get it! You are able to fly and we can't. STOP RUBBING OUR NOSES IN IT! Our lives are hard enough under the emperor without you stupid showmares reminding us of what we can't do around here,” By now, her teeth was clenched in rage and she was yelling as she pointed a hoof at the two, “We know we can't control the weather, and we KNOW we lack the magic, but at least let us run our horrible and unfulfilled lives without being reminded of it. AND AS FOR YOU, PINK ONE! How dare you insult your race by hanging around a brash creature like that. You should abandon her right now.”

A few minutes later and the two ponies began to walk away from the poor district, heads hanging in defeat, “Did you really have to punch her so hard, Pinkie? And what happened to your mane and tail?”

“She made me mad. She wanted me to leave a good friend of mine, and I don’t know what you mean by mane and tail.” Pinkamena said, rubbing her pink hoof clean of blood, “Think I may have knocked some of her teeth out.”

“They’ll grow back one day…I think,” The cyan mare said with a chuckle as she tried to ignore the sudden change from the long-haired Pinkie to the ‘normal’, cheerful, poofy-haired Pinkie. she looked down a little, “ Too bad about us not getting the bits. I wonder if Rarity and Fluttershy are having any luck.”

At Barbarian’s Bar and Grill, which was exactly as neat and tidy as its counterpart, three mares sat a round table drinking their milkshakes, “I can't believe how horrid it is around this city,” Rarity said as she drank her blueberry milkshake from a straw.

“Its been like this since the emperor took over,” Fluttershy said, a tinge of sadness in her voice, “ The Earth ponies are treated like dirt while the other two races are treated like demi-gods,” she looked down at her banana drink and stirred it a little, “It's all part of his “two feet good, four feet bad,” policy. He claims that all Earth ponies are dirty and unclean because they have to use their feet and mouths to handle things. You mean that you never encountered it?”

Rarity sighed as she looked down at Sweetie Belle drinking her shake while sitting on a stool, “No. Me and Sweetie kept to the back roads ever since we went on the run and the town we lived in before treated all the races with the same amount of respect and love,” In agreement, Sweetie nodded her head with the straw still in her mouth.

“Yeah, and mister emperor mush-for-brains wants everypony to think different,” Dash said, walking in with a mug of cider in her hoof.

Alongside Rainbow Dash, a pink mare was bouncing happily with her mug in hoof, “ So why is he such a meanie racist-pants,” Pinkie ask as she sat down with Rainbow Dash, who began to chug her cider as fast as she could.

“Rainbow, darling, show some respect at the table and don’t chug down your drink,” Rarity said, trying to teach Dash some etiquette. She gave up on Pinkie when she first met the crazy mare.

“Look, you don’t have a cup of cider for three years and see how you fare,” Dash said, wiping some cider residue from her lips.

AJ saw the five mares sitting at their table and walked over to them as Twilight got their orders, “So, Ah guess you girls failed too? And had to deal with some racism from the town,” she watched as the mares nodded their heads, “DANG IT! What is up with that guy. Why does he want earth ponies to be treated like this?”

“It’s something that he came up with when he was a kid, or so I heard,” Twilight said, bringing in her and AJ’s drinks, “ For some reason, he got it into his head that he and his kind are superior because they stand on two feet and we don’t. He feel like Earth Ponies represent the worst qualities of any of the three races.”

“Well, if he hates four legged guys so much,” Pinkie asked, drinking from her mug, “Then why does he treat the other guys so nicely?”

Fluttershy looked a little down as she moved her drink a little, seeing it empty, “That’s the worst part. I’ve heard some rumors and they are a little scary.”

“What sort of rumors darling,” Rarity asked, getting her and Sweetie a free refill.

“According to this one stallion that’s been spying in the castle, Gleaming Shield, all of this is just a ruse. Once he masters weather magic, he’ll subjugate all of the pegasi like he does the Earth ponies,” Twilight said, drinking her tea slowly.

“Then, once he has a better grasp of magic, he’ll turn unicorns into his slaves and make all creatures that aren’t two legged also into slaves,” Fluttershy said, shrinking a little at the thought.

“All the more reason we need to find a way to get into that library, but how,” AJ asked as she chugged her cider along with Dash, “It’s not like any of us know of any of the emperor’s unicorn mages.”

Sweetie Belle looked over her shoulder as the ponies talked and noticed a mare putting up a flyer. Walking a little closer, she began to read it and saw something that piqued her interest. Eyes raised in happiness, she turned around and blew into her flute in order to get their attention.

“Let us not forget, our money problem as well. We still need to buy new supplies for my bag to work and we need a room to stay,” Hearing Sweetie Belle’s flute got Rarity’s attention and made her turn around to where it came from, “Sweetie, what is it?” Walking closer to the picture she read it to herself and took it to her friends, “Girls check what Sweetie found out.”

Murder in Miasma

(Twilight rolled her eyes, “Oh nice, alliteration. Nice to see them be real clever in their names”)

Come to the city’s premier fighting tournament, prove the worth of your race by smashing the others in the face.

(Twilight then face-hoofed, “Oh, clever wordplay. Who the buck wrote this?”

“Says, ‘flyer written by I. Will’,” Pinkie Pie said, looking at the bottom of the cover)

Compete to prove your strength and raw power. First place winners get 5,000 gold coins, 2nd placers get 2,500 coins, 3rd place gets kicked out of the place.

(Twilight rubbed her temples in pain, “This poster hurts me.”)

Come and face off against the great champion, Mirrored Frame, the unbeaten unicorn.

Twilight looked at the name of the champion with an arched eyebrow, “Wait, Mirrored Frame? Why does name sound familiar.”

Pinkie Pie leaped up and down in her seat, “Oh, I know! He was that perfectionist grump that used to bully you during your first year. I remember how I used to prank him so hard sometimes. If I remember right, he’s currently one of the best illusionists that the emperor has.”

The girls eyes sprung up in the realization of the news as Pinkie said it, “So, if we beat him, not only do we get the money…but we can catch him outside and take his card.”

“As much as Ah don’t cotton to stealin, this might be the only way to do it. We’ll have to make sure he’s too weak to stop us from taking the card,” AJ said, “And then we’ll have to find a way to get these ponies over their racism.”

“Why, if we take down the emperor and then his mind wipe spell and any other spells he has will be wiped,” Dash looked at AJ, curious to what she was getting at, “Won't it?”

“It might not, what if some of these ponies still harbor grudges after we’re done with this adventure?”

Fluttershy looked up from her drink, “Then, they might get angrier and angrier with each other. To where they won't want to work together any more, to the point where they might even want a civil war for all of the crimes that the other did.”

“Right, if we’re not careful, then we could end up in a worse situation than we are now,” Twilight said, drinking her tea, “Magic can't wipe away old hate and it can’t just wipe away whatever wrong somepony did to another. It has be worked on through forgiveness and cooperation. To get over all of this, the ponies need to get over their differences and work together. What they need, is something to unify them and make them forget whatever superiority complexes that they might have. We need a symbol, something to unify them.

“That’s why its going to be me entering that tournament,” AJ said, finishing her cider.

“Why not me,” Dash asked, looking hurt.

“Look, Rainbow, Ah sparred with ya so I know you can be a good fighter. You’re still a Pegasus though and if you win, all they’ll see is a Pegasus winning and showing off how good they are. If Ah win…”

Twilight’s eyes opened up in happiness, “Then they can see how Earth ponies can be just as good as any other ponies. While me and the girls can do some propaganda from behind the scenes as you fight. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, do you two think you could walk around and talk to the crowd, maybe show that none of them are superior. Dash, you could help to work the crowd into AJ’s favor.”

“What about us,” Fluttershy asked, hoping not to get into a fight.

“She might need assistance, so we’ll keep an eye on her from the stands. That way, if she needs any healing supplies, Fluttershy can help. Sweetie, you’ll be with me and Fluttershy,” In a happy agreement, Sweetie nodded quickly.

“We better hurry,” Pinkie said, looking down at the flyer, “It says that the sign ups end in an hour.”

Nodding quickly, the ponies all paid for their drinks and ran off to the coliseum where they got AJ signed up, “Well, if the Earth pony slime wants to die that easily, then let her.” Said the guy at the sign up as he wrote AJ down and showed her where to wait for her turn.

The others, meanwhile, walked into the main stage of the coliseum to find and take their seats, “WOW! This is awesome,” Dash said as she flew up high above the ring that stood in the middle of circular arena. Surrounding the rather large ring were rows upon rows of seats that were capable to sit the entire city plus more if needed. Dash continued to fly up higher along the three story high coliseum, admiring the height, she brought forth a confident smirk as she flew back down. This place was obviously designed so flies could use their natural abilities to their full extent and it made her wish that she was the one competing instead. As she flew by and watched some of the ponies walk in, she thought she caught a glimpse of somepony she thought was familiar, “... No, it can’t be her. She wouldn’t be watching this.”

As Twilight took her seat, she watched as her friends took their positions to begin their little propaganda campaign. Beside her, two unicorn stallions took their seats and watched, “I heard that an earth pony mare has entered, can you believe it,” he asked, a voice of disbelief coming from him, “She is either very cocky, or stupid.”

Twilight smirked as Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle sat next to her, “ I don’t know, maybe she just knows that she is going to win. The skill of a pony can surprise you.”

Inside, AJ was led to her own individual locker room. It was a small cell-like place with a small bathroom on one side and a small med-kit on the other, “The bathroom is for washing and to get the blood off,” Said the large stallion, “The med-kit is for your small injuries. If your limbs get broken, then that is your problem.”

AJ looked up and around her small room, noticing that there were no windows, “Why can’t Ah see out there,” she asked looking up at the intercom meant to announce her next round.

“It’s to prevent the combatants from figuring out a strategy for taking on their next opponent. The fight managers say it makes it more exciting for all,” the unicorn stallion smirked sinisterly as the voice boomed over the intercom.

“Will AJ and Deathlord, please come to their respective rings please.”

The stallion moved aside to let AJ out, “Oh, first round. Guess you won't have to figure out how to beat the other opponents after all. Such a shame that a worthless inbred earth pony hick loses in the first round,”

A few minutes later found the unicorn on the floor screaming in pain, “my baby teeth, I think I lost my baby teeth!!!!!”
_________________

Outside in the arena, the lights dimmed magically as a skinny and sickly looking unicorn came to the center of the ring. Looking around the arena, his tiny legs began to shake as he looked at the audience. On his flank was a megaphone that rocked as his legs shook and he coughed a bit before taking a deep breath, “FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS WELCOME TO MURDER IN MISMA,” Soft Spoken bellowed with a voice that shook the arena, “ LETS GET READY TO RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEE!!!!! NOW TO INTRODUCE THE COMBATANTS AND THE RULES, THE MASTER OF CEREMONIES- IRON WILL!” With that, Soft turned to the side and let a large blue Minotaur step to the ring.

“ALL RIGHT EVERYONE! ARE YOU READY TO WATCH THE GRAND SPECTACLE OF MURDER IN MISAMA,” this question was met with an overwhelming round of applause while Twilight groaned in pain, “ IN CASE THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME IN EXPERIENCING AWESOME CREATURES FIGHTING ALL OUT WAR, HERE ARE THE RULES:

1.) IF THE PONY ISN'T DOWN, THEN IT ISN'T THE END OF THE ROUND. THEY’LL FIGHT UNTIL THE OTHER IS NOT MOVING ANYMORE, AND IF THAT MEANS DEATH… THEN WE’LL APOLOGIZE LATER.”

The girls’ eyes shot up at this rule and looked at the ring with a tinge of nervousness.

“RULE 2) IF IT COMES FROM THE OUTSIDE, THEN BRUSH IT ASIDE!!! THIS IS A BARE HOOVES, HORN, CLAWS, HANDS, AND TENTACLE FIGHTING MATCH, AND FURTHERMORE… NO MAGIC! WINGS ARE FINE THOUGH.”

“Aw, yeah!,” Dash said, flapping her wings a little.

“ BEYOND THAT…ANYTHING GOES FOR THIS AWESOME BATTLE. NOW, LETS MEET OUR FIRST CONTESTANTS,” With an extravagant pose, the bull-thing pointed his massive arms to the right side of the arena, “ FROM THE WORLD UNKNOWN, THE EARTH PONY WHOSE NO PHONY. THE MEAN TREE CRUSHER, THE SMASHER OF DISASTERS, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ,” with a bob of his head and a snap kick of his legs, the lights shown onto AJ as she came out from the side of the arena, only to hear a few claps and cheers followed by some small coughing, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNND TO MY LEFT, HER OPPONENT. THE CREATURE OF MASS DEVESTATION, THE BRINGER OF THE MANE PAIN, THE SMASHER OF THE CLOSED GATE, THE CRUSHER OF FATE, THE HALF BREED FROM THE SEA, THE DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH,” clapping his hands and then thrusting his left arm behind him while holding his head to his fist, “LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDD.”

From the left side of the arena came the strangest beast that AJ had ever seen in her life. Though most of his body was the size of a normal stallion and little bigger than her, it was his top part that made her do a double take. It was like he had the body of a monkey stitched to where the neck and head of the horse should have been. Slowly did the unusual creature walk towards the center of the arena to meet AJ. Only a little intimidated by the monsters size, AJ looked up at the creature and straight into his eyes, “Tell me, is Deathlord your real name?”

“No,” the beast said as he looked down at AJ, “actually my real name is Steve Bustanoggin, but its kinda hard to be awesome with a name like Steve.”

AJ shrugged and nodded in agreement as she went back to her corner as the Minotaur shouted, “ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD BEGIN!” With that call, the large beast (which Twilight later would describe as a Centaur) charged at AJ and reared up to kick her. Moving quickly, AJ leaped back to dodge the front kick and then thrusted the elbows of her forelegs into Deathlord’s stomach. Wincing from the pain of the two hits, the brown centaur uppercutted the orange mare in the chin and then bucked her in the barrel to send her flying across the arena. Sliding along the floor, AJ winced from the sharp pain in her chest and slowly got back to her feet as the centaur walked to her. Raising his right fist, he thrusted it hard into AJ’s side.

The ponies in the crowd all winced at the action, and then turned their heads to look to see if the mare had been broken from the hit. They were all surprised to see AJ not only taking the full brunt of the attack, but was standing there with a cocky smirk on her face. While Deathlord was surprised to see her taking his best punch, AJ used her left forehoof to swat the creature’s arm away and deliver multiple blows to the centaur’s chest and stomach with her elbows and hooves. Deathlord took a step back to try and get away from the combination. Reaching out with his right arm, he grabbed one of AJ’s legs and pulled her closer to him so he could punch her in the face twice and drop her to the ground. Dazed, AJ watched as he reared up to kick her with his forehooves. Moving quickly, she rolled out of the way to avoid getting smashed. A sneer came to the centaur as he slammed his elbow into AJ’s back twice, picked her up by her ponytail and then bucked her across the arena.

Hitting the side of the arena with a loud grunt of pain, AJ weakly got back up and coughed a little to clear her lungs. As she looked up for her opponent, she watched as he reared up and began to slam his fore legs into AJ’s body again and again. Each painful blow laying an obvious welt into AJ’s shoulders and chest; and as the centaur pulled back from delivering so much pain, he reared up to slam both forelegs into AJ. As he thrusted his legs down, he watched in shock as the blonde pony caught both forehooves with her own and began to push him back a few feet with a loud grunt and pushed him to the side. The side of his stallion body vulnerable, AJ bucked her hind legs into his body several times and then kicked his right foreleg enough to break it.

Enraged, the Centaur grabbed AJ’s head by her mane and slammed it into the ground several times and then bucked her into the side, causing her to slide across the ground. As she slowly got back to her feet, she watched as the black haired behemoth walked closer to her, “Thank you for the battle, young mare. You were a fantastic opponent,” He said as he reared up to finish the fight.

“So were you,” AJ said, a smirk on her face, “Shame about the balls though.”

“Balls? What do you,” his answer came to him as the orange mare turned on her forehooves and bucked him in the manhood as hard as she would a tree. The centaur’s eyes open wide in sudden pain as he let out an unstallionly scream of pain. As he got to his knees in pain, AJ turned and bucked him hard in the stomach and chest before uppercutting him with her forehoof and knocking him out.

“AND THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND, THE BLONDE FARMER OF PAIN- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ,” Iron Will shouted as he held AJ’s hoof up in victory.

“What a vulgar way of attacking,” said one of the unicorns setting next to Twilight.

A smile came across Twilight’s face, “Well, it wouldn’t be anything that I would come up with,” she said as Fluttershy flew off from her seat and to AJ’s side, “ But it was ingenious in its attack. I guess that is something that Earth ponies are just good at, being inventive. After all, they need something to make up for their lack of wings and horns.”

The stallion smiled back in response, “Well, I knew about that. I used to have a close friend who was an earth pony. He was smart as a wick and probably one of the strongest ponies you would ever see,” as the memory of a long lost friend came to him, he seemed to forget his previous dismissal of the race, “ I wonder why I haven’t talked to him in a while…we used to be such great friends. How did I forget-“

“Because, about 5 years ago, you got into your head that because you had that horn, you were better than I was,” the yellow earth pony stallion said right behind the blue stallion.

“Oh, I see,” the blue stallion looked up at the yellow earth pony with apologetic
eyes, “Why did I think that again, it was so stupid! Can you forgive me?”

The yellow earth pony smiled, “Hey, you just had some stupid ideas put into your head, sure I could. Maybe later we could get some drinks and we could talk about what we’ve been up to lately?”

A soft smile came to the blue unicorn’s face, “I…I would love to.”

Down below in the ring, Fluttershy was standing next to AJ, “Are you sure you’re ok? Those hits looked fierce and I think one of your bones maybe cracked.”

AJ just shook her head and put a hoof onto her shoulder, “I’ll be fine Fluttershy, you just get back up into the stands and watch out for me.”

Up in the higher stands, Rainbow had been looking at the ponies, “What is wrong with you? She just took down a huge opponent like it was nothing, now let me hear you! AJ AJ AJ, “ as she cheered, some of the crowd mildly began to join in with the cheering.
__________________________________________________

As the tournament went on, AJ fought harder and stronger opponents. Throughout her battles, there were some easily won victories while there some hard fought wins. However, each time she won her respective battles, she gained more and more fans. At what was once a small smattering of ponies were now becoming a large crowd of supporters and fans; some were so into her appearance that one fan would eagerly make jerky movements and grunts before foaming at the mouth and collapsing in a faint. While the battles waged on, it seemed that some of the unicorns and pegasi were beginning to change their outlooks on the Earth ponies. In the stands, the respect was causing their previous prejudices to fade away, as if a spell was being dispelled from their minds. Friendships were being forged within the stands as bets were made and jokes were had at the losing opponent’s expense. Even inside the locker room, it seemed that the moods were lightening up to her as the unicorn stallion that had his teeth knocked out, now offered AJ some medical help in the form of healing potions.

In time, the tournament rounded down until the last two opponents were at the ready to fight. Iron Will strode onto the arena floor with his usual flair while sparklers went off behind him, “FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS, ARE YOU READY FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT,” At this question there was a resounding large collections of cheers and hollers while ponies held up signs to cheer on the last two combatants, “IN THIS CORNER, WE HAVE THE STEELY EARTH PONY HERSELF, THE RAD NAD CRUSHER, THE SNAKE BATTLER, THE CRUSHER OF MIGHT, THE SPAMMER OF KICKS, AAAAAAAAAAAJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ,” As the large Minotaur did a two finger pointing pose to AJ as she came out, a resounding wave of cheers came across the entire coliseum, “AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDD HER OPPONENT, THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPION. THE STALLION WITHOUT A BRUISE, THE MIRROR OF DEVESTATION, THE FRAME WITH THE BEST FAME, MIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRREEEEEDDDDDDD FRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEE,” At this, the smoke cleared away as the unicorn stallion walked into the arena. Shaking his long and flowing red mane, he smiled a pair of pearly whites at AJ. As he strode closer to the center to meet with her, his muscles seemed to ripple underneath his shining white coat.

“I must say, I had never seen an Earth pony get this far in the fight,” He said, with an arrogant tone in his voice, “ If you can still move those lower legs of yours after this fight… maybe I could give them the proper workout that somepony of your stature deserves.”

A frown came to AJ’s face, “ Do you remember what happened to the first guy? Yeah, make a hit on me like that again and you’ll lose any reason to call yourself a stallion.”
Mirrored stepped back a little at that comment, as if his pride had just been insulted. He then smiled maliciously as he readied himself to put this mare into her place. As the announcer began the round, AJ ran to her opponent and began to deliver a flurry of blows to the unicorn stallion. Her orange elbows, hooves, and head were a blur of action as she hit the stallion. Stepping back, she opened her eyes in shock as she saw that she had barely hurt him. Before she had a chance to figure out the situation, the stallion hit her in the face hard with his right hoof and then kicked her right leg with his left. Taking a few steps back, she moved to his side and bucked him with her hind legs as hard as she could. The white stallion only smiled as he took the hit, not even flinching. AJ’s eyes opened in shock as she saw that she didn’t even hurt him and then watched as he brought his right hind leg into AJ’s side, knocking her back hard. Still recovering from that hit, she tried to stand up but the white unicorn stabbed her right foreleg with his horn and sliced her chest.

Panting, she jumped back a little and tried to keep standing despite the pain. The snowy white unicorn had an evil smile as he watched the orange mare get to her feet and charge at him. Dodging a few of her blows, he soon swiped her left foreleg with his right and then slammed his leg onto hers, breaking her leg. AJ let out a painful scream as she felt her leg snap and then felt the unicorn grab her pony tail with his teeth and then slam his foreleg onto her back several times. He then turned and bucked her across the arena, “This is bad, really bad,” Twilight said as she watched the fight ensue, “There has to be something that we can do to help her.”

“How…how can he be doing this Twilight,” Fluttershy asked, tears coming to her blue eyes as she feared for her dear friend, “How can he take so many hits.”

As Twilight watched the fight ensue, she began to think, “He shouldn’t be able to though. He should at least be showing some signs of fatigue right now, or something to show that he’s hurting. The only way that he could be…that’s it! Magic! He’s using magic in someway without the others knowing, but how can I prove it without using magic,” her purple eyes looked around and saw some of the guards watching the stands, “If I use magic to dispel the illusion, then it would look bad on AJ’s part. I have to figure out how to prove it without them knowing…A distraction!”

“COME ON AJ! Don’t let this jerk beat you so easily,” Said Rainbow Dash as she was flying out of her seat.

“Rainbow, come here! I need to talk to you,” Twilight yelled to the cyan Pegasus.

“What is it Twi, can't you see that AJ is in trouble,” Dash asked as she flew down to Twilight’s level.

“Yes I know,” Twilight said, trying not to watch the beatdown that AJ was receiving, “Dash, I need you to tell Pinkie to cause a large distraction in order to keep the guards occupied.”

“Righto,” Dash said as she flew up to where Pinkie was in the stands, “Pinkie, we need a distraction.”

“Ok, but what kind? Big and Flashy, or loud and obnoxious,” Pinkie asked, eyes open in excitement.

“Uhhhh, Big and Flashy,” Dash said, confused a little.

“GOT IT,” the excited pink mare said as she pulled out a large cannon and fired a large and flashy firework into the air and blinding most of the crowd.

As Twilight kept her eyes onto the combatants and away from the flash, “ Perfect! Now lets see what secrets that this guys is hiding,” Twilight thought to herself as she used her magic to detect any illusions on Mirrored Frame. As she subtly wrapped him in some magic, she saw the truth that he was hiding from crowd. That underneath his perfect exterior, was a very beaten and hurt stallion who was keeping an illusion that he was fine, “That jerk! He’s cheating.”

“Oh, my. How?” The yellow Pegasus said as she looked on.

“Hes using an illusion spell to trick his opponents into thinking that they aren’t doing anything and then, when they are discouraged and too weak to fight anymore, he goes in and finishes them off.”

“Does AJ know,” Fluttershy asked, looking on in fear.

“I think she already does, that’s why she still going. She knows that he’s lying and she knows that she is doing something. Its just that right now, hes been able to get too many lucky hits on her for it to make a difference,” a worried expression came to Twilight as she watched, “What we need is something to heal her and to get her strength back. We need something that can turn the odd…I got it,” She then turned her head to Sweetie Belle, “Sweetie.”

The little white filly looked up at the purple unicorn next to her and whistled in acknowledgement.

“Your flute, it can heal and restore with magic right,” a smile came to her as she watched the filly whistle an energetic yes, “Good I need you to play some music. Don’t worry about the guards, they’ll be too busy looking for the pony who shot that firework to see you. Fluttershy, I need you to sing.”

“I…i…in front of all of these ponies?” Fluttershy asked.

“Fluttershy, if you don’t then AJ could die!”

A look of determination came to her eyes as she turned to the fight, “Right, for AJ!”

Putting her flute to her mouth, a smile came to Sweetie’s face as she began to play.

Fluttershy

Takes a deep breath and egins to sing at the top of her lungs, causing some of the ponies around her to notice the small singing voice coming from the stands; and while she sung, Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed a soft pink glow which matched the glow coming from the flute. As she continued to play, waves of soft magical energy began to encircle AJ as she laid there, bleeding and broken.
[
Pinkie Pie

Begins to listen to the song Fluttershy was singing and began to bob her head along with the music. Getting the idea from the way that AJ had started to glow from the spell, smiled as she began to join in with the next verse.

Iron Will watched this take place, and began to figure out what was going on. A smirk came to him as he decided to let it happen, after all he hated Mirrored Frame. His continuous cheating and wins took away from the fun and excitement of watching the new victors trying to win and better themselves. Underneath his breath, he muttered, “Go get him, girls.”

Rarity, watching AJ glow and begin to slowly get up, the wounds on her body slowly dissipating, began to realize what was happening to her friend and began to get into the spirit of the fight.

As Rainbow Dash watched her friend get back up, her wounds fading away. She decided to add her own brand of excitement to the crowd. As she prepared herself to sing, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a pink blue maned Pegasus, “No, it can’t be. Not here, she wouldn’t be here,” Shaking her head free of the thought, she turned to the crowd and pumped her hooves in the air

Rainbow Dash Begins to fly around the stage, getting the other to join in with her.

Mane 4 (feeling pumped)

AJ began to stand up straight and tall, her wounds all but forgotten as she charged at the white unicorn. Mirrored’s eyes opened in utter shock as AJ delivered several blows into the stallion’s chest and face. She then turned to buck his head, but the unicorn ducked under the kick and uppercut her into the stomach causing her to flip onto her back. Walking over to her, the red mane fighter raised his forehooves to bring them down upon AJ. Rolling to her side, she quickly got back up and bucked the stallion to the side.As he reeled from the hit, AJ bucked him again and then backed hoofed him in the face. Stepping back, Frame felt something dribble down the side of his mouth. Wiping his hoof across his mouth, he saw the blood coming out.

Smiling, Twilight couldn’t help but join in with the song as she got up and hoofbumped the air.

Enraged at bleeding for the first time in his fighting career, he began to get mad at AJ and charged at her, flailing his arms and horn uncontrollably and without any form to his style. AJ just began to dodge each blow that came at her, getting him a little more tired from his overexertion.

Dash watched from above and then turned to the crowd, flying around in a circle, “Come on you ponies. Lets give AJ a good show for how much we want her to lay this cheating stallion down. Now, lets hear it for her!”

The crowd looked towards the cyan Pegasus and then back down to the arena. Their eyes glared at Mirrored Frame as he began to lose control of the illusion and the fight. Turning their eyes towards the tried and true orange mare, they too began to join in with the song, causing her to glow even more.

Iron will leapt onto the stands and joined with Sweetie Belle, guitar in hand as he began to join in with the filly in playing a solo.

AJ blocked a few more blows coming in from the stallion as his wound became more and more obvious as the illusion began to dissipate. As he saw his injuries come to light for the first time, he realized what he was doing wrong and began to calm himself. Breathing in deeply, he swerved to the side and used his horn to cut into the back of AJ’s right hind leg. Collapsing to her knees, the unicorn then kicked her with his forelegs twice and then bucked her flank into the side of the arena. Growling fiercely, he began to walk slowly towards the kneeling mare.

As Mirrored raised his hooved to slam them down on AJ’s skull in order to break it, he did not notice the glow surrounding AJ. Swiftly did the two hooves came down on her, and just as swiftly did AJ jump out of the way and bucked him hard in the skull with her rear hooves. This caused the red maned stallion to step back dazed while AJ kicked him hard with her front hooves a few more times

As Mirrored Frame took a few steps back from the blows that his skull got, causing small cracks to form on his horn; his opponent uppercut his chin up and then stroke his neck with her elbow before knocking his head down and headbutted him twice before punching him hard with her forehoof.

Can never bring ME down

Turning around, AJ bucked the stallion hard and sent him flying across the arena, unconscious.

As AJ stood over her opponent, the other girls jumped over the stands and raced to AJ to wash her over in a group of hugs and congrats from all sides, so much so that they did not notice Mirrored Frame slowly get up and walk away with a bad limp. It was not until after Iron Will had given the mare her prize money and her trophy that the mares saw that the stallion had escaped. After thanking Iron Will, the mares went out of the gate to search for him. As Dash flew up into the sky to see if she could find him, she saw the pink Pegasus that she spotted from before fly into a nearby bar, “Oh, it is her,” deciding to hold off on searching for her quarry, the rainbow maned Pegasus flew after her prey.

Luckily for her, she did not have to worry too much about missing Mirrored, who was hiding out in an alley just a few feet away from her. Panting, he began to look for where he would go next; however, that thought was cut short as he was tied up by a golden lasso. Pulling him closer to her, AJ stood in front of him with the other girls at her side, “Ok, lets get a few questions done here. First do you have a card that lets you into the libarary?”

Mirrored growled and was about to make a rude comment, but found himself unable to as he said, “Yes.”

“Where is it,” AJ asked, tightening her lasso a little bit.

“Front right pocket of my uniform,” he said as he moved his suit to show where it was.

“Thank ya kindly,” AJ said as she took the card.

“But, where’s Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy asked, looking around to see any trace of her friend.

“She went off to the bar just a few blocks down. Apparently she spied a cutie Pegasus flying down that way. If I had any self confidence in my stallionhood, I would ask her out; however, I have to compensate for my smallness by being misogynistic.”

Pinkie Pie giggled at the way he was talking, “Oh, this is great. Tell me, do you still sleep with a teddy bear?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think that Iron Will is hot?”

“Yes, but I liked Shining Armor more. He is such a hottie.”

Twilight’s face contorted in sickness, “Oh he’s my brother! Just no.”

“Have you ever written fanfiction?”

“Yes”

Rarity shrugged, “Well, that certifies it…he is a complete nerd.”

“Were you a geek in high school?”

“Yes.”

“Did you ever…”

“Ok sugarcube I think he’s had enough,” AJ said, untying him from her lasso. Chuckling from getting his secrets out, AJ looked to the street ahead, “We need to see what Rainbow’s doing in that there bar.”

Rarity looked at the bar and then back at Sweetie, “You girls go on ahead, I will take some of our winnings and find us a room to stay in for tonight before we hit the library.”

Twilight looked back at Rarity and then back to AJ, “I’ll go with Rarity and then let you guys know when we find something.”

The other girls gave a quick nod as they went down the street to the bar where the stallion pointed out where he saw Rainbow.

Meanwhile, inside ‘Nyx, Zilch, and Nada Booze and Dooze’ Rainbow Dash walked into the bar slowly. Looking over the many patrons and drinkers sitting around the bar and the various tables, her eyes caught sight of the pink Pegasus that she was tracking earlier. Trotting over to the bar table, she ordered a round of cider and sat next to the blue mane Pegasus with a lightning bolt cutie mark, ““ Gen. Firefly, leader of the emperor’s flight team and scouts. Trainer of the elite and one of the best dang fliers around,” slowly did Dash take a drink of her cider, “ So what brings you here… Mother.”

A chuckle came from the Pegasus, “like I need a reason to check up on my daughter now that she’s done being stoned.”

“So that’s all this is, a family visit,” Dash asked, taking another drink from her cider.

“Yes, and I figured I needed to give my traitorous daughter a warning,” Firefly said, looking at the now empty mug of cider, “That once she manages to get that tracking spell, the emperor is going to find out and will send out some attack dogs on you. I should know, I’m one of them.”

Rainbow Dash let out an exasperated sigh, “Should’ve known that my traitor of a mother would be the one who got the job of hunting us down.”

“ I’M NOT A TRAITOR,” Firefly yelled, “I am just too old to try and save the queens by going off onto some foolhardy rebellion idea. Let’s not forget, I am the one who’s been telling the emperor that your little marefriend is nothing to worry about and been keeping what she is a secret,” she said as she pointed a hoof to Rainbow, “How long do you think she would’ve lived without you once mr. “I detest four legged beasts and nature lovers like druids’ found out that she is actually pretty good when she wants to? Answer: DEAD!”

Rainbow Dash was about to say something in defense, but then shrank back down, “First, she is not my marefriend. She is just somepony that I need to protect with my life, just like you used to protect Posey. Second,” Dash let out a sigh, “ I suppose I should thank you for protecting her when I couldn’t. But you are still a traitor to the queens.”

Firefly hung her head low, “Still don’t get it, I serve them better as a mole. Still,” a smirk came to her face as she looked to Rainbow Dash, “I do hope that I do get another chance to hunt you down.” She said, ruffling Dash’s mane with a pink hoof, “Then I get to see if I can out race you this time.”

Rainbow Dash moved away from the affectionate rub, “Like that would ever happen. You know I can beat you ANYDAY.”

“Well see, my little rainbow,” She then kissed Rainbow on the forehead before walking out the bar, “You know, you have your dad’s mane, it looks so cute. OH by the way,” She said, winking to the bar keep, “She’s footing the bill, it seems that her best friend just came into a lot of money.”

“I’M NOT PAYING FOR ANYTHING YOU CHEAPSKATE,” Rainbow yelled to the Pegasus as AJ and the other walked in.

“Who was that,” AJ asked.

“Just a pegasus who wanted the awesome Dash’s autograph,” Rainbow grumbled.

AJ arched an eyebrow as she saw the little white speck in Dash’s eye, “Sure she was. Now, let me pay your drink, Dash. Twilight and Rarity are trying to find us a place to stay.”

Rainbow Dash happily nodded and began to drink as the group of mares waited for Twilight to come back and tell them of the inn that she Rarity located. It did not take them too long to wait as Twilight came in and told them of the ‘Carrot Top Hop and Stop Inn’ just a few blocks down. Paying for their meal, the girls followed the purple mare into the inn and went into their rooms where they slept in preparation for the next day.

Author's Note

Note: Thanks to my prereader and editor, Zoltanthemagnificant and of course...

This
Is
the longest Chapter I have ever written, ever. I never thought this would get this far. Thanks for being here

Shadows of the library

Chapter 5

As the five slept, they were unaware of the villainous ring wraiths that were waiting outside of their inn. Dismountin’ from their black lizard dragin’ thangs, the 5 cloaked guys walked slowly into the inn, menance hidin’ deep bentahe their black cloaks of ever present doomy doom. Slowly creepin up the stairs, they snuck into the room where our brave heroes slept. Bringing out their black blades of utter black darkness they poised themselves to stike at the little ponies.

But that’s when AJ shot out of the bed and then tackle one of them no good varmints! Her muscles a ripplin’ as she proceeded to beat the tar out of the wraith that she tackled to the ground while the other 4 shook a little in their now stained little cloaks. Somehow findin their courage they charged at the cool headed pony, but was she afraid? NO! She just tipped her hat and bucked two of them in the abbadomen and sent them carreeeeeeeeening into the fall, wakin up the other four mares in the room. Twilight, shooting up first, immeatily tried to find a book that told her how to beat shadow thingies, while Pinkie did somethang weird and insane that made the fourth feller fall to the floor in laughter. Rarity began to become over dramatic and began to scream and holler while she grabbed onto Fluttershy for dear life, Sweetie on the other hand sang a hopeful little song that made the idit fourth faint from being bad. This left the sixth one as she began to back away, only to be tripped by RD.

“Wow, you are great Darling,” Rarity said.

“Yes, genius word, genius word, smart talk,” Said Twi.

“Brilliant,” Pinkie said.

“Your awesomeness even gave me back my voice,” Sweetie Belle said.

“................................." Fluttershy said, to the sound of no one, but they knew it was deep and pro…pre… it was exciting.

“ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ,” RD could only say, as she was asleep.

“Whoa Hold it,” Scoots interrupted one of her best friends!

“Thanks for filling in for Rainbow and all, Applebloom” Scootaloo said, looking at the yellow filly sitting next to her bed, “But there are several things wrong with it.”

The yellow filly, rubbed the big bow on her head, “Like what?”

“Well, first, why did AJ being awesome cause Sweetie’s voice to come back?” Scootaloo asked.

“Are ya saying that seeing my sister bein awesome wouldn’t cause a pony’s voice to come back?”

“Well, no, but why during that awesome moment and not when the others are bein awesome, or some of the other times?”

Applebloom’s eyebrows raised in realization, “Maybe they just weren’t awesome enough!”

“Taking down an invincible pony to an awesome song isn’t being awesome enough?” Scootaloo asked, eyebrow arched.
\

“Well, personally I would rather used another song... ” Applebloom said.

Scootaloo chose to ignore that last comment, “Second, how could anypony, ESPECIALLY a former air force captain like Rainbow, sleep through a fight like that? And wasn’t Rarity acting a little out of character for that last moment? She should’ve been there for her little sister!”

Applebloom shrugged her shoulders, “Well, I guess Rarity was just too tired at the moment, and Rainbow could probably sleep through anything,” she then pointed a yellow hoof at the orange Pegasus, “I have a great uncle that said he slept through the resurrection of Discord. And besides, its’ probably just as awesome as what Rainbow had planned next. Uhhhhh, what was it?”

“Well, when they wake up, they’re planning on heading into the library,” Scootaloo said, taking a moment to remember the story from last night.

“A LIBRARY?” Applebloom exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air, “Now what kind of exciting stuff can be found in a library?”

“You be surprised. I can tell you some weird stuff I crashed in on,” Rainbow Dash said, walking in.

“Hey Rainbow,” The two fillies yelled in unison.

“Hey there,” Dash said as she walked next to Scootaloo’s bed, Applebloom jumped off and headed towards the door.

“See ya later Scoot, hope ya feel better soon,” she said with a wave as she walked out the door.

“Well Dash, am I feeling better?” Scootaloo asked with a hopeful look.

“Well, lets see,” Dash said as she picked up a thermometer and put it into the orange filly’s waiting mouth. After waiting for about two minutes, Dash pulled the small glass tube out, “Hmmm, 102. Better than it was when I got you to the hospital, but still not good enough to let you out of bed.”

In response to the news, the purple maned Pegasus put a pillow onto her face and let out a small scream, “I AM NEVER GOING TO GET BETTER!!!!”

Rainbow Dash brought a small smile of affection as she rubbed the filly’s head, “Hey, don’t worry kid, you are. So, why was Applebloom here?”

“Oh, she was here to tell me all about the ‘AMAZING’ field trip that she and Sweetie Belle were on earlier. Did you know that they met up with Babs and they stopped a smuggling ring together?”

“I can bet Rarity was frazzled about that news,” Dash laughed as she brought out the book.

“Who’d think saved them from the smugglers at the last second?” Scootaloo said, only thinking about the rescue that the farmer and fashionista pulled off.

“Tell you what kid: when you get better, I’ll take you to Cloudsdale; Then we can stop our own crime ring and have our own adventure,” Dash said, smirking.

“Really?”

“Yep,” Dash said, opening the book, “Now lets see. Ah, here we are… The sun rose slowly over the small...
_________________________________

The sun rose slowly over the small city, filling it with the warmth and radiance of its golden rays. Inside the inn where AJ and friends were staying, the light of the sun was able to enter directly through the window and onto the eyes of Fluttershy. She opened her cerulean eyes just as the light hit; she woke up softly and let out a small yawn before stretching out her legs. She then looked at the sparkling pink gem that was in the center of the ring she wore. As she watched the sparkle glow, she then watch it slowly fade away, making the gem assume its normal bright luster. Looking around the room, she began to note the disappearance of a glowing bubble of energy from the room, leaving behind only the small sparkles of magical energy. Her searching of the room soon caught sight of AJ, standing by the window and watching the sun rise in the distance, “Oh, AJ you’re awake,” She said as she got off the bed and walked to her friend, “Did you sleep well?”

“Perfectly,” Aj said as she passed a hoof through her mane, “ You know, it’s the weirdest thang. When I woke up this morning, Ah felt as though everything that was wrong with mah body was healed instantly. Like this sore hoof I still had from the fight last night? It was like Ah had never hurt it in the first place.” As if to demonstrate, she lifted up her forehoof and showed how there was no visible marks or bruises on it at all.

A smile came to Fluttershy’s face as she realized what this had meant, “I’m so glad to hear that AJ,” Fluttershy smiled, knowing that the spell had worked, “But why are you awake so early?”

Applejack sighed with an air of happy memories, “Tradition. Ah just have been waking up to the sun rising so much that Ah don’t see much point in staying asleep in the morning and missin’ out on that beautiful sun rise.”

“You’re right, it is beautiful,” Fluttershy said, putting her hooves onto the windowsill and watching the city awaken, “All of the little creatures waking up to their families, gathering their food, and all of them ready to greet the new day.”

Suddenly, a Pink mane pushed in between the two ponies and stretched her legs out the window, “Its almost as if the sun is saying, ‘GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD MORNING EVERYPONY! TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP BECAUSE THERE IS PLENTY OF WORK TO DO!!!!!”

“Well, with a wake up call like that, I suspect that they would have no problem waking up,” Rarity groaned as her head shot up from the loud awakening. Then she began to stretch on the bed a little, letting her body rub against the sheets as much as possible, “Oh, it feels so good to be able to sleep on a bed again, instead of the ground like some sort of wild animal.”

“I agree, that was a great sleep,” Twilight chuckled, “Even my magic feels restored.” Getting up, she brought out her library card, “Now, lets go get that book!”

“Sugar, Ah’m as excited about doing this as you are, but lets get some breakfast first,” AJ said as she put her hat onto her head.

“Breakfast does sound good,” Twilight said as she got off the bed, listening to Pinkie trying to wake Rainbow up, “I do hope that the breakfast is complimentary, I kind of want to save my money for a new robe.”

“Oh it is darling,” Rarity stated as she woke Sweetie Belle up with a small nudge, making the filly awaken with a silent yawn, “I spared no expense in making sure that we have the best room imaginable. So the breakfast is free for the whole time we are here, and I made sure to save enough for each of us to do some shopping together later.”

“Sounds great Rarity,” Twilight said, smelling the food cooking from below, “mmmmm, I can smell the muffins,” her voice was then interrupted by the whoosh of a pink blur that past her by, “ and cider from here,” she was once again hit with a blur of speed, this time it was cyan colored.

“I will be with you girls in a minute, right now I need to do something with Sweetie Belle that we haven’t done in a while,” Rarity said as she took the little white filly in her purple magic and carried her into the bathroom, “We are both going to have a bubble bath before we even dare to try and go off into another dingy dungeon, dusty library, or any other mangy tomb that we might encounter.” With that last statement, she pulled her head back into the room and started up the tub. Using some of her magic, she grabbed a bottle of bubble bath from the wall and poured it into the tub.

Fluttershy looked at AJ as she stood next to the window, deep in thought, “I’ll stay here for a moment too, Twilight. I just need to make sure we have everything,” Fluttershy said as Twilight nodded in response and walked away.

Inside the bathroom, Rarity watched the little unicorn get into the warm tub as the water began to fill with bubbles and water. Walking up to the tub, Rarity pushed back some of her purple mane and began to charge up her magic, “Now, my dear little Sweetie, let’s see if we can’t get you sparkling clean. Hmmmm?” The white unicorn then began to use her magic to lift up a sponge, shampoo, a brush, and a washcloth with magic and brought it over to the waiting filly.

The little filly looked at her big sister with pleading eyes, wanting something else to go along her bath, “Sweetie, what do you want,” asked Rarity as she looked at her little sister. After taking a few moments to realize what she wanted, Rarity let out a small tired sigh, “Sweetie, I haven’t done that in so long,” She then looked at the sad look in her sister’s green eyes, “All right, I’ll do it while I wash you up.” Using her magic, she took control of two bright pink bubbles and began to form them slowly, crafting the soft foam into a bright pink unicorn, “ Once upon a time, there was a handsome unicorn stallion that liked to craft gems. He would make them into all sort of things, like little gem bunnies,” using her magic, she began to craft the images out of the bubbles, “ kittens, hearts, smiles, trees, and so much more. One day, he met this dressmaker who liked to visit his shop frequently. There were two reasons as to why she visited his shop,” she then had the female unicorn bubble come close to Sweetie’s nose, “one was because she liked to use his gems for her outfits. The second was because,” then the pink unicorn bubble kissed Sweetie on the nose,” she loved him.”

“One day, the unicorn said, ‘why don’t you marry me. We go great together and I love you so much.’ To which the lovely mare could only respond, ‘But I CAN’T! You are so much better than I ever could hope to be,” Rarity then began to play with the unicorn mare and stallion, moving them in dramatic ways, making her little sister giggle in the tub, “ ‘How about I prove that we are perfect for one another, you make a dress and I will help with my diamonds. By the end of it, we will make a dress that will put a queen to shame,’ Reluctantly, the mare agreed. So the two began to work on the dress for three months, and at the end of every week the stallion asked the same question, ‘do you believe we go together now, do you see how perfect we are?” Rarity then had the bubble stallion tickle her little sister.

“ When the dress was finished, a beautiful queen came to the couple and was shocked by the dress’ beauty, ‘why, who made such a lovely dress’ asked the queen. To which the unicorn mare responded, ‘why me and my husband of course. See how perfect we are? We make each other shine beautifully,’ and that was when she finally agreed to be married to the stallion of her dreams. Soon, they had two lovely gems of their own,” Rarity then formed two small unicorn fillies out of the bubbles and presented them to Sweetie Belle, letting them dance before her. Stretching out her small hoof, the little filly pointed to herself and then to Rarity, “That’s right, you and me. Do you know what I said when I first saw you,” she chuckled as she watched her little sister shake her head no, “Never before, have I seen such a beautiful or lovely of a gem. She is such a sweetie, and that,” Rarity then kissed her sister on the forehead,” Is how you got your name, and how mother and father met.”

AJ could hear the story from where she stood by the window and began to cry a little as she listened to the end of the tale, “Something wrong?” Fluttershy asked as she walked up behind AJ.

“It’s nothing…Ah’m just being reminded of me and my little sister, and big brother,” AJ said, wiping a tear from her eyes.

Fluttershy looked on in understanding before pulling in AJ for a hug, “It’s going to be all right, we’ll find them.”

AJ pulled away, looking straight into Fluttershy’s blue eyes, “AND WHAT IF WE DON’T! What if, when we get there, we find nothing but a withered husk and a destroyed red bow? What if they’re dead,” AJ yelled, slamming her hoof to the ground, “What if they’re all dead, and its all MAH FAULT!”

“No, no don’t say that. Its never anypony’s fault,” Fluttershy said, trying to offer a comforting hoof.

“YES, it is! On the day they had disappeared,” as the memory came ot her, she let out a small shudder, “I had left the farm to do some selling of our crops. Ah should’ve been back just a bit earlier, but Ah spent a little extra time talkin’ to friends and pallin around with them. By the time Ah had gotten back, they were gone. Ah had tried so hard to find them, Ah looked for months in some small hope that they would be close by. Until Ah had just gave up all hope of seeing them again, and just went back to work. Do you see why its all mah fault: AH SHOULD’VE BEEN THERE!”

“But there was nothing you could’ve done,” Fluttershy said, trying to find the right words to comfort her.

“Don’t you get it! Ah could’ve done somethang, ANYTHANG to keep them safe, but AH didn’t ,” panting rage, she squinted her eyes to stop some of the tears as she slammed her hoof against the wall,” and now, for the first time in mah life, Ah failed my farm, Ah failed to protect mah family, and AH FAILED MY FAMILY! Ah promised Paw on his death bed to always watch over them, but Ah didn’t.” Reaching a hoof to her Stetson, she pulled it down over her eyes, calming down, “Ah promised maw that Applebloom would grow up into a great young mare, but Ah’m about to fail in that as well.”

Fluttershy said nothing as she pulled the crying mare into a tight embrace, letting the orange mare to cry out on her shoulder. She slowly rubbed her yellow hoof along the earth pony’s back, trying to comfort her as the tears moistened her yellow shoulder. They stayed like this for a while as Rarity came out, dressed in a bath towel around her body as Sweetie Belle hopped in after, similarly dressed.

“Besides, darling,” Rarity said as she walked behind AJ and rubbed her friends back, “Thanks to you, you saved me from starvation,” the unicorn stated, looking over to Sweetie Belle as if to show what she would’ve done in the end if she had reached that point, “and Rainbow would still be a statue. Your sister is about to be saved thanks to you. So please, don’t you worry… we will save them, I give my word as a lady,” Rarity said as she hugged AJ, joining in with the group hug.

AJ smiled, breaking from the embrace, “Thanks guys. Come on, lets stop moping and get to eating!”

As they made their way downstairs, they saw that their friends were already into the free breakfast buffet along with some cider at Rainbow’s side and some tea for the others. Getting their plates, the four ponies took their seats alongside their friends, “Did you hear? Firefly has been seen in town lately,” Twilight said, finishing her waffle.

“Firefly? Who’s that,” AJ asked, biting into an apple.

Fluttershy was about to speak up, but a look from Rainbow caused her to let out a squeak and hid behind her pink bangs.

Twilight sighed, “She’s one of the best air fighters in the entire kingdom’s history, decorated several times over. She is one of the fastest fliers I have ever seen, and also, she’s the leader of the emperor’s search and attack unit.”

“Wow! Just think of how big trouble that meanie pants emperor would be in if she knew the truth,” Pinkie Pie said, throwing a cupcake into the air and eating it.

“She does, that’s the problem,” Dash said in disgust, slamming an empty cider mug down, “She’s like me, immune to mind control spells. She’s just serving under his dumbness because she’s just because she thinks it’s the right thing to do,” to finish she crossed her hooves, a bit of anger in her eyes.

“She must have been that mare she was talking to earlier, wonder why she gets her tail all twisted about it?” AJ thought to herself, “Sounds like we don’t have that many friends in the empire that could help us.”

“Well, I do know we have some spies in the emperor’s midst, like Gleaming Shield. Strange thing about her communications though,” Twilight chuckled, “When I hear from her, I get reminded of my big brother,” a smile came to her lips as she began to think of Shining. “ I bet he wouldn’t have let himself get affected by the spell! He… would be too strong for it to work and… ” the purple unicorn sniffed a little, a small tear coming to her eyes.

AJ reached over and gave her friend a hug, patting her back, “Don’t worry about it hun. We all have something we want to make him pay fer,” Aj said, looking at her friend, rubbing a hoof through her friends mane, “and once we get that spell, we’ll all have a few words for him.”

“OOOOOH! How about instead of words, we bring out a big rock that says, ‘you’re a big meanie face’ on it and throw it at him,” Pinkie said jumping in her chair, while Sweetie Belle whistled in response.

“As much as I am enjoying a good talk about rebellion, shouldn’t we be worried about somepony listening in,” Rarity asked as she finished her meal.

Twilight smiled, “Oh don’t worry, I put a cone of silence spell over us just in case somepony wanted to listen in.”

“WHAT,” Pinkie yelled as she put a hoof to her ear.

“I said, I put a cone of silence spell over us.”

“What,” Pinkie yelled again, a smile on her face.

“I SAID…oh wait, is this one of those prank things,” Twilight asked, eyebrow raised as she watched Pinkie nod enthusiastically.

“Good one Pinkie,” Dash cheered as she high hoofed her friend, “ Besides, we can talk about why the emperor is a bastard later.”

“Rainbow, language,” Rarity said.

“No he really is, I found out his mom and dad weren’t married when he was born,” Twilight said, drinking her tea.

“Anyway, we can discuss all of the smart things later. I say, lets have an enjoyable breakfast for right now and then go to that library,” Dash said as the others nodded in agreement.

With their breakfast done, the group trotted out of the inn and made their way to the library. As they walked along the path, Twilight began to think out loud, “I wonder if this means the emperor is onto us.”

“Trust me,” Dash whispered as she flew close to Twilight, “If Firefly were on our case… you would be dead by now and I would be short five friends.”

“You don’t think you could stop her, I mean she is,” Twilight was then interrupted.

“LOOK! I don’t like talking about how that pink traitor is my mother, especially in front of the others, OK?”

“Sorry,” Twilight said, looking down.

“It’s ok, its just.. something personal,” Dash said as she landed next to Twilight as they made their way up to the front door of the library.

“HALT! Do you…oh, its you,” Perfect Teeth said as he looked down at the purple unicorn and friends.

“Yes, and I am sorry for what my friend did earlier,” Twilight said.

“Don’t be, I was being a stupid idiot earlier. Besides, while I was at the dentist to get my teeth fixed, I met this wonderful mare there who also had her teeth busted by a pony. We talked for a bit, and soon we found out how much we had in common. Now I have a date for later on tonight and it is all thanks to you,” Perfect Teeth said happily, “Now if you just show your id card, I’ll let you in.”

“Uh, you’re welcome,” Twilight said, questioningly as she hand the card over, “Here.”

“Thank you… Mirrored Image?”

“Yes. You see, he was badly beaten at the last competition and asked me to get him some new spells to help heal him from his wounds,“Twilight said, a smirk on her face.

“Oh I see,” the unicorn said as he placed the card to the invisible barrier around the library, causing it to dispel, “ Come on in. Remember, only the unicorns can check anything out.” The unicorn then bowed to the 7 ponies as he let them walked through the open doors.

As they stepped into the large domed building, they were greeted by large rows upon rows of bookshelves. Twilight just stood with her jaw slacked and eyes opened in wide amazement as she looked over the wide selection of books leading from the front of the building to the back, with the only break being the center where a reading table stood. The book shelves seemed to reach the high ceiling alongside the marble pillars that lined the walls of the library. Walking forward slowly, Twilight’s lips began to quiver in excitement, “Oh my goddess above! LOOK AT ALL OF THESE BOOKS,” and with a squeal of joy began to race down the rows with her horn glowing with magic as it began to pick up the books, “Lets see: read it, read it, read it, curious about, read it later, read it, read it, need to correct this it has errors, read it, read it, OOOOH Immortal Game I can’t wait to read it again, read it, now who wants to read a fanfic where a girl goes away from her own dimension and is trained by an experienced alchemist while her friends go off searching for her, want to read, want to read, loved it, loved it, correct, correct, need to change, hey I wrote that one!”

As Twilight began to grab book after book, her friends looked on in utter shock and awe at her speed, “Look, I am going to keep an eye on the egghead,” Dash said as she flew up and towards Twilight. She was also muttering under her breath, “and see if I can't find some good books on flight tactics and some really good adventure novels. You girls go and check out where they keep all of the cool spells.”

Nodding in agreement, Rarity turned and walked towards the front desk where no pony sat at the moment. Looking back and forth, Rarity began to wonder where the librarian was. She then reached over a white hoof when suddenly a book popped out, enveloped by a magic aura, “raw, I am the monster of books. Beware, growl!,” Said a small filly voice as she began to open and close the book in synch with her voice.

“Dinky, please don’t try and scare the guest like that,” a female Pegasus said as she walked in from the back room, going under the desk and picking up a small unicorn filly with a blonde mane.

“Ok mom, I’ll go and talk to the little filly instead,” Dinky said, sitting on top of the desk and looking down at Sweetie Belle. Taking out her book she proceeded to make it talk to the white filly before her.

“Sorry about that, sometimes she likes to try and scare the guests,” the blonde Pegasus laughed a little as she turned to the mares in front of her, her glasses doing little to hide her misplaced eyes as one went up into the corner of her socket while the other focused in front of her, “My name is Derpy Hooves, and welcome to the ‘Bright Eyes memorial public library’. If this is your first visit, then have a free muffin.” The Pegasus then dipped her head below the counter and brought out 7 chocolate chip muffins.

“Excuse me, but Ah can’t help but notice that you’re a Pegasus. Ah didn’t think that they would have you working here as a librarian,” AJ said as she took the chocolate chip muffin and ate it.

“Yes, normally they get an unicorn…but due to certain,” with a sigh, Derpy pointed to her mismatched yellow eyes, “problems, they assigned me here. They thought it would the best way I could do work without hurting anything. And it gives Dinky a great chance to read and learn without anypony attacking her because her mom’s a Pegasus,” Derpy said with a smile as she looked down at the little blonde unicorn as she began to play some more with Sweetie Belle, “so in a way, it’s a great job! Must rather be back as the one of the mail carriers in the city, but you know how the emperor’s forcing every pony to do tasks that he wants you to, not the ones you want.”

“I am sorry to hear that, my dear,” Rarity said as she put a hoof to Derpy’s back.

Derpy let out a sad sigh as she looked down at the ground, “It’s ok, really,” her face then perked up with a happy smile, “So what are you girls looking for?”

“Well, you see, my friend is working in the emperor’s conjuration field of magic and wants to see all of the scrolls on that subject. Might you know where the private mage hall is?” Rarity asked.

“The private mage hall is at the end of the building, the hallway on your left. But I should warn you,” Derpy said with a frown, “ The emperor has recently had his unicorn mages put some magical defenses in there to prevent any rebels from getting in and using those spells against him.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll handle any old meanie traps that the mages have in there,” Pinkie said as she skipped off towards the back of the library.

“Oh, and darling, do you mind if you could keep an eye on Sweetie Belle? I don’t want her to go in with us,” Rarity asked, looking down at the young filly as she listened to Dinky talk about everything that came to her little mind.

“I don’t mind at all, Dinky loves to have fillies her age to play with,” Derpy said as she watched her little girl play.

As the girls walked away from the grey Pegasus, they began to look for Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie. Walking through the long rows of bookshelves, their attention was grabbed by a small high pitched yell as a pink blur ran up to them, “Look out guys! It’s a walking, talking, book monster!” Pinkie gasped, pointing to a glowing stack of books with four purple legs at the bottom.

“Twilight,” Rarity asked, grabbing the book that she assume was eye level with the purple unicorn and pulled it out to reveal a pair of violet eyes.

“Oh, hey girls,” Twilight said from behind the stack, “Sorry for scaring you like that, Pinkie. I just saw all of these interesting books that I just had to check out, and of course some that I know are completely wrong and need some correcting,” Twilight said as she walked to the nearby table and placed the 30 foot tall stack down, “So, did you guys find out where the mage hall is?”

“Just at the back and it’s the hall to our left,” AJ said, matter of factly.

“Great,” Rainbow said, dropping a book onto the table from above, “ Then lets get moving.”

“RAINBOW DASH! Can’t you be a little neater than that,” Rarity reprimanded as the 6 mares made their way to the end of the library.

“Nope, not in the least!” Dash had gained a smirk on her face while Rarity facehoofed in exasperation.

As they approached the back of the building, they saw the back split into two hallways. The one on the left reading, ‘mage hall’ and the other reading, ‘conference room’, taking a turn to their left, they walked down the long hallway leading to the hall where the scrolls would be kept. As the hallway continued, the once marble like walls gave way to a more crystalline like form, slowly taking on a black obsidian appearance to match the black carpet that was beneath them. After a minute of walking down the darkening hallway, they soon came across a pair of large golden doors. Emblazoned upon the face of these doors was a long, slender dragon that twisted and curved along the edges of the door until it laid its head on top of the door handles, with its black opal eyes staring down them menacingly as If it was judging them.

“Now, how are we supposed to get through there?” Twilight asked, looking up at the large doors inspecting it.

“By pulling on the handle, silly,” Pinkie said as she put her hooves around the door handles and tried to pull on them, not getting them to budge.

“Hang on, let me try,” AJ said as she went over to the door and bucked it as hard as she could, but failing to get it open.

“You’re not doing it right. Let the master mare get this,” Dash said, taking a few steps back and charging the door with all of her might, only to be stopped by the unmoving doors, “Ok, new plan. AJ, lets ram it together.” Watching her friend nod, the two mares charged at the door, hitting it hard, and still unable to move it.

Twilight began to walk around the door as the Pegasus and the earth pony continued to try and fail to get the door open, “There must be a clue or a trick that we are missing. The card isn’t working, so it must be a thing that tests your intelligence instead. Hmmm?” The purple mare looked down at a small golden plaque to the right of the door, “What’s this? ‘To get to the source of magic, one must look to the eye of the hero’s birth.’ The eye of the hero’s birth? Now what could that mean?”

Pinkie put a pink hoof to her chin as the others, with the exception of Rainbow and AJ, tried to figure out the weird saying on the wall. she began to look around the room for anything that could help and then her eyes caught a glimpse of the dragon, “I GOT IT!!!! It’s the dragon’s eyes.”

“Come again?” AJ asked, putting a hoof to her shoulder and rubbing it.

“See, my granny Pie one time told me this story of a mother dragon and her little colt,” Pinkie said skipping up to the dragon’s eyes.

“Pinkie, what does a story about a dragon have to do with this,” Dash asked, getting her senses together.

“EVERYTHING!” Pinkie exclaimed as she went to the dragon’s eyes, “ You see, the mother was turned into a dragon by a powerful witch when she was pregnant with the baby. After finding someplace quiet to give birth and to protect the child, she had the baby as an egg and sent it down the river to her mother where he could be safe. This egg came from,” the mink mare reached up to the black eye while making a drum roll sound effect, “her EYE! And the baby was fed from that eye till he got really strong and became a hero to his people.” To finish, Pinkie pushed as hard as she could onto the black eyeball, causing it to turn in the socket and reveal a diamond with the image of a small colt within it. As its brother got revealed, the other eye slowly began to turn as well, revealing another crystal eye. Once the two were revealed, the doors sprung to life and began to slowly swing open to reveal the black room behind the large doors

“That was brilliant Pinkie, now with any luck finding the scroll should be ea-“ The doors slammed shut behind her, “-sy.”

Hearing Fluttershy let out a small squeak at the sudden darkness, Rainbow began to look around the pitch black room, “Oh, buck me sideways! Just how are we supposed to find the scroll in this!?”

“Hang on, let me get a light,” Twilight said as she ignited her horn to cast the room in a small bright light. What she saw next caused her to step back and gulp, “Great, shadow wraiths.”

“Shadow-what now,” AJ asked, backing into the circle with the others, her hat tipped in determination.

“Shadow-” Twilight ducked one wraith’s black claw as he swiped at her, its red eyes glowing from within the shadows, “wraiths. Don’t let them touch you!”

“Why?” Dash asked, trying to swipe at some of them with her sword, only to feel one graze its claws along her flank, “Hey! Wat… ch it. Oh god, I am,” Dash then landed onto the ground, her eyes brimming with tears as she put her head under her hooves, “I am so sorry Fluttershy. Please, don’t, don’t be mad. M… mother, what… are you doing?” Her eyes opened wide as she began to fervently look around, “No, MOM! STOP! Their my friends, stop it, DON’T KILL THEM. Why am I not fast enough to save…”

“What the buck’s wrong with her,” AJ asked, trying to back up to Dash.

“The shadow wraiths feed on all of your negative emotions. Your tears, sadness, anger, and worst fears. Once they hit you, it puts an hallucinogen into your body and drives you mad. As you lay there, they’ll drain you dry and leaHHHHHH,” Twilight screamed as two wraiths managed to cut into her back, causing her to collapse to her knees, tears flowing, “Shining, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to kill mom and dad, it was an accident… please, forgive me. Why am I so… worthless.”

“TWI!” AJ yelled as a wraith scratched the back of her neck, “Maw, Paw, Ah am so sorry. Please… please… ” she said as she crumbled to a whimpering mess, unable to move.

“We need to- AHHHHH” Rarity screamed as a wraith slashed her side, making her fall, “Useless, I am so… useless. Sweetie, I am so sorry my talents led to this, I should never have been born. I am such an unneeded thing. I should be dead,” Rarity began to cry,

Jumping away from the incoming wraiths, Pinkie Pie tried her best to collect the others and get to safety, but was clawed in the leg by the red eyed creatures, “Why is it that they doubt me? Do they think I am so pathetic that I can't help them?” Her eyes burrowed in rage, “Maybe I should just let them turn into withering husks. Yes, husks.”

Fluttershy looked on in horror as her friends were crippled one by one, leaving only her left standing. Slowly she began to back into a corner while the wraiths crept in on her, their feet trailing along the floor as if they were crawling instead of walking. Feverishly, her blue eyes darted back and forth, in a vain attempt to see if anypony could help. As the creatures reached their dark claws to flay her
__________________________

“Don’t worry Scoots, they get out of this all right. I can promise you that,” Rainbow Dash said, patting her sister on the back comforting.

“Well, I…knew that. Of course,” Scootaloo said, gently pushing Dash’s hoof away.

“I am just saying that, because everything here looks hopeless and that look in your eyes says that you are worried,” Rainbow said, smiling.

“Well, I’m not. Its just that I am very into the story is all,” Scootaloo said as she got back into her place on the bed.

“Uh huh,” the cyan mare said with an air of disbelief as she opened the book once more and continued.

As the creatures reached with their dark claws to flay her alive, the buttery pegasus closed her eyes in horror as she could feel their claw looming in on her. The feeling of hopelessness, fatality, and fear were overwhelming, but not as much as the knowledge that she may lose her friends in the same way that she had lost her mother when they had found out about her ‘talent’. The idea that her friends were to die caused a burning fire to stoke up within her, making her open her eyes with a newfound courage, “NO!” Her voice surprisingly boomed with a roar as she furrowed her eyebrows in a rage as she took a step forward.

“YOU!” Three wraiths’ claws were swatted away by Fluttershy’s hoof, stopping them from touching her.“WILL!” as she took a step forward, the creatures backed up in fear as they stared into the pegasus’s eyes, feeling as if their souls were burning.“NOT! HARM!” Taking a few more steps caused the wraiths to feel an utter terror in their hearts, this in turn, made their fellow wraiths turn on them in hunger and to leap upon them like a pack of wolves, eating them whole. “MY! FRIENDS!” She shouted, making the monsters in fron of her back away for a moment, clearing the way for her to run to her friends. The first pony that she ran to was Pinkie Pie, who was busy smirking to herself as she watched her friends suffer through their emotional pain, “Pinkie, you have to help them. They’re going to die if you don’t!”

“Why the buck should I?” Pinkie questioned as she swatted the pegasus’s hoof away, “ They are always judging me, underestimating me, and treating me like slime. Just because I joke around alot and try to make them laugh, they think it’s alright to treat me like a stupid foal without any feelings?” Pinkie turned her head to the suffering four ponies behind her, her eyes glaring down on them, “Well, now they can all join in the joke and see how wrong it is to treat a pony wrongly behind her back.”

Quickly putting her hooves around the pink mare, Fluttershy pulled Pinkie into a tight embrace,

“OH Pinkie, none of us here think that about you. We think that you can be a bit silly, but that just helps to cheer us up.”

Pinkie let out a snarl as she turned her head, “You never heard them! You never heard the ponies ignore your news and treat it as a joke. You never lost a family member because they thought you were only playing around when you were calling out for help. Then,they have the nerve to blame you for not helping in time!” The pink mare’s blue eyes began to water as the rage gave way to crying as she put her head to Fluttershy’s shoulder, “ So I’m silly, so I have a little fun, but I can take things seriously when its important. I just…I just.”

Fluttershy said nothing for the moment, just held her friend close to her, rubbing her back, “But we don’t. You, help us forget our worries and make us laugh. Somehow you make us feel hope whenever you do something random. We love you for that, those others are just… just.. ”

“Cads? Meanies? Jerks? Ponies with no sense of taste,” Pinkie asked as she looked up at Fluttershy with a smile.

“Close. I was just trying be nicer about it,” Fluttershy said as she broke the embrace.

Pinkie chuckled as she wiped a tear from her eye, “ You know, you are pretty good at being nice,” A smile came across Pinkie’s face as the pendant on her neck began to glow softly with a pale white light, “You know… I never really cared before about what the other ponies thought of me before. I just liked the thought that at least somepony could be cheered up with my laughs. Why did I even think of that anyway?”

“Because of…them,” Fluttershy said with a small squeak as she pointed behind Pinkie to direct her to the wraiths behind her.

Pinkie turned around slowly to see the monster wraiths behind her, slowly regrouping from their scare at the hands of Fluttershy, “ OH, HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Mr. shadow thingies!” Pinkie smiled as she waved a little nervously, “ You know I was just having a really good laugh with my pal Fluttershy here about how silly it was that you guys made me angry over such a small thing. Ha! I was also think of how many laughs me and my friends are going to have when get out of here.” Pinkie then began to giggle a little more, and the inner light that was shining from her pendant began to glow brighter, making the monsters back up a little. Sneering, one creature stretched out his claw and watched in horror as the light that Pinkie was producing turned his arm into dust.

“Oh, my. Did you see that,” Fluttershy asked as she looked at Pinkie’s pendant.

“ ‘The more you feel the bright laughter of your friends nearby, the brighter the light will glow.’ That’s what it meant! Everytime I’m near you guys, the happier I am and the more I laugh and feel good,” Pinkie said, a smile on her face.

“The light of laughter, can also mean… HOPE!” Fluttershy said, her eyes wide in realization, “Pinkie, if you don’t mind that is, could you keep your light going?” Fluttershy asked as she saw Pinkie raise up a hoof in confidence. Smiling back, the yellow Pegasus ran to AJ first, lifting her up as best as she could and hugging her, “AJ, don’t forget what we talked about earlier, you couldn’t have done anything if you were there. At worst, you might have been caught and you wouldn’t been able to save your family now.” Grabbing AJ’s hoof, she put it to the light that was coming from Pinkie’s pendant.

AJ shook her head, as if she began to get out of a drunken stupor, “Yer right Flutters. Thanks, Ah don’t know what was coming over me to make me think like that.”

“It was them, they’re making us feel our worse emotions so they can drain us,” Fluttershy said as she looked to the others, “I think if we can talk to our friends and get them near Pinkie’s light, we’ll cure them.”

AJ looked to Rarity and nodded back at Fluttershy in understanding. Using her lasso, she pulled Rarity away from an approaching wraith and close to her, “Come on Rare, we need ya. Sweetie needs you, so for crying out loud… SNAP OUT OF IT!”

Rarity looked down, “No, Sweetie doesn’t need me, it was because of my talent that she is homeless and parentless to begin with. If I had never been born with this gift, she would never have lost-“

AJ then grabbed Rarity by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, “She would have then been alone when the emperor wanted her instead.” AJ then wiped a hoof through the purple mane of the unicorn, “Look, you sacrificed everything to make sure that little filly back there had somepony there for her. If you didn’t exist, this world would not only be a little bit dimmer, but our lives would be less brighter because of it.”

Feeling her hoof being taken in her hand, Rarity watched as AJ put the white hoof into the white light of the pendant, which seemed to have gotten brighter as she neared it, “You’re right AJ,” a smile came to Rarity’s lips as she wiped her tear, “Without me, this world would be missing something grand. Besides, if the emperor wants my talent so bad…then he will have to see it up front!”

Turning her head, she used her magic to pull in Twilight closer to the group while Fluttershy began to make a dash towards Rainbow Dash. Putting her hooves under Twilight, the white unicorn lifted Twilight up to her level and embraced her, “Twilight, I know you feel responsible for what happened to your parents and in a way I can understand too. The emperor killed my parents because they wouldn’t give me up for what I could do, they would let me be taken by him for his own. There… are just some things you can not control darling, but what we can do is to make sure we can do our best to take control of our destinies in the future to make sure we don’t mess up again. Then we can be brighter than any diamond.”

Twilight looked up at Rarity, a smile came to her as she placed her hoof into the shining light of Pinkie’s pendant and felt the corruption wash over her, “That’s… that’s what the sun queen always taught me. It’s usually what she would do in order to make my nightmares go away!” the purple unicorn said, sniffling a little as Rarity hugged her.

Fluttershy flew over to Rainbow Dash, noting the weak condition that the normally rainbow maned Pegasus was. Rushing closer to her friend, Fluttershy placed a hoof onto the prone Pegasus and tried to pull her closer to her and away from the wraith that was draining Dash, “BACK OFF!” She commanded with the help of her stare, making the creature snake away, “Come on Dashie, we need you.”

“Go… go a… way,” Dash said, shivering in fear, her voice quaking with her weak raspy voice.

“No, Dashie. We’re not leaving you,” Fluttershy said, feeling AJ stand next to her helping to pull Dash away.

“No,” Dash said, her voice barely above a whisper as AJ and Fluttershy began to drag her away, “It’s not safe, I can’t protect you. Not from her, she’s better than me. It was all of our fault that it happened, it’s all our fault and hers. If she can do all of that, there’s no way I can protect all of you.”

Twilight and Rarity began to use their magic to lift up Dash and bring her to the inner light that was shining from the pendant, “ Darling, you shouldn’t worry about protecting all of us. We’ll be fine,” Rarity said, laying next to Rainbow and placing a hoof onto her’s.

“Yeah, we can handle ourselves sugarcube, don’t ya worry,” AJ said, lifting up Dash, and hugging her.

“After all there isn’t much we can't handle when we are one, right,” Twilight asked as she laid a comforting hoof onto Dash’s shoulder.

“Dash, if something bad happened in the past then I will forgive you. No matter what may have happened back then, it wasn’t your fault. Because I trust you and I know that you will do everything you can to protect us even if the opponent was the sun queen herself,” Fluttershy said as she hugged Dash alongside the others.

Dash began to feel her strength return as she neared the light and began to smile, “You’re right,” the cyan mare then got to her feet as she turned to the wraiths, standing alongside Pinkie, making her pendant’s light shine brighter than before, filling the hall with a bright shining light, “And no wraiths are going to make me forget that I have some ponies that need my help. I don’t care about my past… only what's ahead and I don’t like creeps like you guys standing in my way!”

The bright light continued to fill the entire hallway with it’s shimmering brilliance, covering every corner and causing every wraith that it touched to fade away into dust with an unearthly howl of pain. After a few minutes had past, the room stayed filled with the amazing white light of Pinkie’s pendant, “Uh, Pinkie… is there anyway that you can turn down the light?” AJ asked, closing her eyes, “Ah can’t see a dang thing!”

“I don’t know,” Pinkie exclaimed. She happened to be the only one not blinded by her light as she looked down at the bright pendant around her neck, “There doesn’t seem to be an off button on this thing.”

“The witch said that the pendant was powered by the laughter that you feel around your friends. But we also know it to mean the hope that we bring you, so maybe you could turn both down just a little?” Twilight asked, stumbling around to get to Pinkie.

“I’ll try,” Pinkie said, closing her eyes, making the bright light tone down in its brilliance; however, the pendant still sparkled with a little bit of bright light.

“Wow,” Twilight said as she walked to Pinkie and lifted up the pendant with her magic, “I knew that wraiths were vulnerable to white magic, but I didn’t think that such a powerful source of it would come from such a little pendant.”

“Yeah, when the witch mentioned about it being a powerful light, I just thought she gave me a powerful and really cool flashlight to use,” Pinkie said, playing with the pendant a little.

“What can be cool about having a flashlight?” Dash asked.

“Well, duh. I could make really cool rave parties!”

Fluttershy stared at the empty room, seeing the lack of the wraiths, “Twilight… we didn’t kill all of them, did we?”

“They weren’t really alive in the first place, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, reassuringly, “They were creatures made out of living shadow, just a bunch of constructs with no minds of their own nor souls within them. Just monsters of instinct.”

“ That’s good,” Pinkie said with a smile as she began to walk to some of the shelves, “I don’t want to put anything under the big sleep, ever. I mean, a little nap is ok, but when you are under that big nap, then you can't really enjoy all of the fun things about life. You never get to have any more fun that way, you would just be,” the pink mare looked a little down as she remembered her saddest memory, “gone.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head sadly, “Kid, you aren’t going to live much longer with that attitude. One of these days, you are going to have to fight real ponies that are going to want to kill you and they won’t be beaten just with a smile or a light show,” walking to one of the shelves, Dash put that thought out of her mind for the moment, “ So where the hey is this stupid scroll supposed to be anyway?”

Twilight began to look around the shelves, taking note of some of the conjuration and evocation spell scrolls that lined some of the spells and taking them for herself, “It should be under the divination section, unless the mage’s here before us decided to move it to another section.” Seeing a spell scroll labeled ‘Endure Elements’ Twilight decided to take it and put it into one of the spell pouches of her cloak. “I really need a new cloak.” She thought as she noticed the various tears in it.

Rarity walked by some of the scrolls on enchantment and empowering clothes and chuckled to herself as she looked at some of them. A smirk came to her lips as she pulled out one particular one and read it. Closing her eyes and letting out a small chuckle, she put the scroll back into its holding spot and went back to looking for the spell. Fluttershy flew up to the higher rows of the scroll sections and began looking at some of them herself, taking a particular note of the commune with nature and control nature scrolls. AJ began to look with Dash around another section, as the orange mare looked at some of the more interesting spell selections she began to talk with Dash, “So, Rainbow, what did y’all mean that you can’t protect us from her? Who’s her?” AJ asked.

“It’s not important,” Dash said, shrugging off the question, “ It was just the wraiths making me lose my confidence. No matter who she is or how tough she is, I WILL beat her. Even if it means… ”

“Now don’t start thinking about that, sugarcube,” AJ said, looking at an open scroll and quickly putting it away, “Ain’t none of us here about to give up our lives for anything. “

“How can you be sure of that?” Dash asked.

“Because Ah won't let it, and neither will you,” AJ said, smirking as she looked at Dash. Looking back at her friend, Dash shot a reassured smile, “So… what was all of your fault?”

“Nothing, just something bad from the past and I don’t want to talk about it. What’s past is past. Nothing more I can do about it,” Dash said as she heard Twilight call from the farthest part of the hall.

“Found it! It was in the farthest part of the hall,” Twilight said as she unfurled the scroll.

“Great, now lets read that stupid spell and we can get-” Dash said as she flew up behind Twilight and got a good look at the scroll, “What the buck? How are supposed to read this?” Her magenta eyes then began to look over the words of the scroll.

Pour trouver le Pan du château, vous devez compléter un shadowfax de montagne et de porter une lentille pour voir. Laisser la lentille un faisceau de lumière, même si son visage et dire le sort scrying clos. L'objectif puis le faisceau lumineux vers le château, suivre la lumière au château. Soyez averti jeune mage, si vous n'atteint pas le château dans un délai de deux semaines, vous perdez site du château et tentera à nouveau de trouver un nouvel emplacement ème château

Twilight sighed, “It’s written in old Satyr, a language that nopony has ever spoken in years. What’s worse, it might even be encrypted with a code to trick other mages from reading it.”

“Can ya still manage to translate it?” AJ asked as she joined with the others and looked at the scroll.

“Well, Old Satyr is a very ancient language. It would normally take a pony months to translate all of this into something workable. Even then, they might not be 100% accurate,” Twilight then looked over her shoulder with a smile as they walked out of the hall, “Luckily… I study old languages as a pastime. So it should only take me a day to translate all of this.”

“That’s wonderful darling, that gives us another day to relax and examine the town just a bit longer,” Rarity said as they neared the front of the library. Turning her head, she saw Sweetie Belle trot over to her big sister and gave her an affectionate nuzzle, “Sweetie Belle,” Rarity stated, returning the affection, “Did you have fun staying with the librarian?” To this, the little filly gave a very happy tweet on her flute, “I hope she wasn’t too much trouble, Mrs. Hooves.”

“No trouble at all! She and Dinky got along great,” Derpy said as she watched the 7 walk away, waving goodbye.

As they stepped out into the sunlight from the library, Twilight walked a little ahead of them, “I am going to go back to the inn and translate this scroll. I’ll see you there.”

Rarity looked at Twilight’s cloak and grabbed it with her magic, “And if you’ll permit me darling, I’ll go and see if we can’t do something about this dreadful cloak of yours,” the white unicorn then turned around and looked to Fluttershy, “Come along Fluttershy.”

Quietly, the little yellow Pegasus nodded and flew along with Rarity and Sweetie Belle. AJ walked to the right along with Pinkie, “Me and Pinkie will just take a look around the town then. What are you going be doing, Dash?”

“Just a little fly around, I just need to think about something,” Dash said as she flew off from the others. The cyan mare landed on top of of a stationary cloud and laid her head on top of her hooves. Trailing one of her forehooves along the soft and wet material, she began to look out over the horizon and think about her mother, “Why did I let that thing get to me like that? Do I really think I can’t beat her at all,” Dash asked herself as she rolled over on the cloud and just looked up at the sky, “I’ll keep my promise to her… wont I?”

“And we’ll stop there squirt,” Dash said as she closed the book.

“Why,” Scoots asked, looking up at her sister with half-closed eyes.

“Because you are starting to fall asleep, and we can’t have you missing something important,” Dash asked, smiling, “Right?”

“I,” Scootaloo then let out a big yawn, “ am so not getting sleepy. Not,” another yawn escaped the orange filly’s mouth, “at all.”

“Kid, I am the master of napping and I know what getting sleepy looks like. You’re eyes are starting to droop,” Dash said as she watched the little filly snuggle into the bed, “You’re looking for a nice spot to relax. You are letting your body rest somewhere comfy, while your eyes are slowly closing for the night,” rainbow maned Pegasus then grabbed the edge of the blanket and began to tuck her ‘sister’ in, “ and you are getting too tired to argue. Now, go to bed, I’ll back tomorrow,” Dash said as she kissed Scootaloo on the forehead and turned around to the door.

“Dashie,” Scoot said as she snuggled in, “Thanks, for everything.”

“No prob kid,” Dash said as she walked out, but not before hearing…

“Love you, big sister.”

Dash looked over her shoulder and smiled, “Love you too,little sister.”

Author's Note

Thanks to Zoltanthemagificent for the proofread and to Razed for the proofreading of the previous chapters.

I finally got the chance to write Derpy into a fic. I feel complete now, and there was a deleted scene of Applebloom arguing with Scootaloo about best pony but I cut it out, ok it was written by my editor.

How each spent their day

Chapter 6

The rain hit the outside of the window hard, making tiny little rivers on it as it rolled down the window and onto the sill all the while the wind blew the trees hard. Inside the little house, Scootaloo grabbed some of her blanket and pulled it close to her body for comfort alongside a small Rainbow Dash plush that was made for her. She made a tiny little shriek at the sound of thunder and a bright lightning flash that had lit up the whole sky. Taking a look out at the pouring rain, her thoughts turned to her sister and began to worry for her safety. The storm was one of the rare uncontrolled ones that would spring up in Ponyville once in a blue moon, and this one promised to be one of the worst that the town had ever seen.

Scootaloo’s violet eyes watched in awe and fear as the mighty trees bent and swayed in the wind like they were straw. Another loud crack made her cuddle the plush in fear, “Come on Scoot, it’s going to be all right. It’s Rainbow Dash, she won't end up like Firefly, no… not at all,” the thought of her hero’s mentor and friend made her think about a story that Rainbow shared with her mom yesterday before she fell asleep.

“Its funny that you would put a pony named, ‘Firefly’, in your story Dash. I was just thinking about a young Pegasus with that very name. I always wonder what happened to her, she was so talented,” Sunny said as she began to clean up around the house.

The cyan Pegasus flew next to Sunny and helped to pick up a plate and put it on a shelf, “She kind of had to put her talents to something else,” she then closed her eyes and smiled.

“Like what?” Sunny asked as she swept up dirt with her broom.

“Raising me,” Dash said as she land back onto the ground.

Sunny’s green eyes opened in shock, “She is your mother? What happened? Why isn’t she flying anymore? I can remember some of her shows in the past and she seemed like such a natural.”

“There was this real bad storm years back. I was just a filly at the time, didn’t even have my cutie mark, but I can remember so much of that day. The storm was encircling and blowing through Cloudsdale like it was some hungry monster trying to kill us all. I could remember being so afraid of it and wanting nothing more than just to hide under my bed and wait it out. I would’ve too, if it weren’t for my mother.” Dash chuckle a little at the memory, “ MY mother, the fastest, bravest, and strongest Pegasus I had ever known was right there with me to comfort me and protect me. She told me not to worry about the storm because she was about to handle it, that she would not lose because she had the other greatest Pegasus in the world at her side, my dad Spectrum. I could remember being less afraid when I saw them fly into that black monster without a moment of fear or doubt in their eyes.”

Sunny noticed some tears came to pegasus’s eyes, “What happened after the storm.”

“What do you think? Dad helped to save the day, few ponies died but most lived and the two heroes made it out mostly unharmed,” Dash then sniffled, “mostly. My mom got hit with a giant lightning bolt in the middle of that storm, trying to protect dad. It hit her right in the wings and fried them, making sure that she could never fly again. She would spend the rest of her days watching over me in a chair because of it.”

Sunny looked at the rainbow maned Pegasus and leaned in to hug her, “Oh Rainbow, I’m so sorry to hear that,” the orange pony tightened her embrace of Dash, running her hooves along her back.”

“Hey, it turned out alright in the end,” Dash said, breaking away from the hug, “Even when she was in that chair, she still found a way to be the most awesome mother out there.”

Scootaloo shook her head at the memory, not wanting to even approach the idea that something bad could happen to Rainbow Dash, “She isn’t going to lose to that storm. She is Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in all of Equestria. At 12 she made a legend come true, at 15 she created her own tornado, at 20 she saved all of Equestria, at 21 she became… my sister,” Scootaloo smiled at the last one, cherishing that memory forever. Turning her head, she looked out at the window to watch the storm increase in its fierceness, threatening to break the trees.

Within minutes, however, the storm seemed to suddenly stop and Celestia’s bright sun broke through the dark cloud barrier. Scootaloo watched with happiness as the sun seemed to quickly dry up the pools of water left behind by the storm while the ponies outside quickly began to assess the damage. Turning her head, she looked to the clock in the hope that, now with the storm done, her sister should be back in a flash to see her. At any moment now.
30 minutes pass by and no sign of the rainbow mane or a blue feather. At an hour, Scootaloo began to fidget in fear and worry as she began to cough hard. Thoughts began to run through her mind of several different bad scenarios that could've happened to her that would make her late to see her. Images of Rainbow Dash getting hit by a stray lightning bolt, being torn apart by harsh winds, or impaled by a thrown branch all rushed through her mind in an instant. She let out a sneeze and sniffled at the thought that her mentor-no, sister- would never be able to fly again. Her mind thought back to the story Rainbow said about Firefly and wondered if Dash could ever handle that, or could she handle losing somepony so important to her.

Then, four little words made her heart jump for joy, “Sorry I’m late!” a cyan Pegasus said as she walked into the room, wiping some leftover rain off of her.

Leaping out of the bed, almost forgetting the need to rest, Scootaloo leapt into Rainbow and gave her a big hug, “Rainbow, you’re all right.”

“Of course I am, kid,” Dash said as she let the small filly down and walked back to the bed, “The mayor was just asking me for an explanation on the storm and how it got out of control. Apparently some idiot thought he could handle any storm alive and wanted to show his rotten flank.”

As Scootaloo watched Dash pull out the book she smiled and wiped her nose with her foreleg, “I just thought that with the storm and with that story you told mom.”

Dash then put a reassuring hoof onto Scootaloo’s shoulder, “Kid, no storm will ever stop me from doing what I do best: Being there for ponies like you, got it? Even if a mad god came out of nowhere and told me to stay away and broke every bone in my body, I won’t stay away.” Dash then smiled as she opened the book and began to read.

Rainbow dash laid with her back on the cloud, her wings extended out as she began to think back on what happened to her earlier. A small grunt of disgust left her as she thought of the fear and horror that the monsters had brought upon her. Of how the creatures made her relive all of her fears and regrets in an instant, turning her into a whimpering filly in front of all of them. Running her hoof into the wet cloud, she picked up a tuft of cloud and threw it up into the air before letting it fall back down and hitting her in the face, “I’m not afraid of her, I’m not,” Dash said as the wet cloud broke into many little water droplets upon impact, sliding off her face.

For her, it was true, she wasn’t afraid of her mother. In fact, Dash knew for a fact that in a fair race she could take down her mother without difficulty. The problem was, her mother was a hunter and hunters don’t play fair. Dash turned and rolled onto her belly, taking a look down at the city with the ponies walking about in their normal lives, “It would be easier if I was traveling alone,” she thought to herself as she placed her head on her hooves. “When mom comes after us, there’s nothing stopping her from using her men to attack and hurt the others. Then what am I supposed to do, just focus on taking her down while the others handle the goon squad? Sure the egghead, AJ, and Pinkie could handle themselves in a fight. I haven’t seen Miss Prissy fight yet so I don’t know but she lived this long, so she must have something up her sleeve. That leaves Sweetie and… Fluttershy,” she let out a sigh as she thought of her dear friend, a pony she cared deeply for.

“How can I keep her safe while I fight mom?” Dash asked herself as she felt her cloud drift a little in the wind, “ She could barely put up a fight back in training. How could she handle herself now, and what if the emper-” She shuddered and shook the thought out of her head. The emperor had a hatred for four legged creatures as it was; who knows what his feelings towards beings who could use nature as a tool was. After all it was- “No, don’t think about those morons. They are long since dead, the queens stopped them.”

A shout of success knocked Dash out of her thoughts as she watched the cloud take her to the inn where they were staying in. In the room was Twilight with her hooves in the air as the scroll she was translating hovered before her, “Is she still studying that? I would’ve taken a break by now,” Dash said as she watched the scene from her perch.

“Of course, it was so obvious, why didn’t I see it when I first read it,” Twilight said as she took a small sip of tea that was on her bed, “This scroll is translated into old Satyr from another language that was in Equestrian! He made it so that even when you translate it the first time you might lose something from the first translation. Clever, but I am even more clever,” Twilight said with a smirk as she began to look over her passage and tried to find how it was originally written.

Floating around her in the room were many other scrolls, enwrapped in a violet aura of magic. As she began to retranslate the tracking spell to its original language, she would take the occasional moment to look over some of the spells that she picked up from the library, “Hmmm, Chain Lightning. That might come useful later in case we might need a charge,” Twilight said as she rolled up the scroll and put it into a pile in front of her bag, “Now, what other spell should I learn?” Floating up a scroll that was behind her, she smiled as she read it, “Ah, how about” her eyes opened in fear as she read the top of the scroll.

Fire Orb.

Twilight gulped and shuddered as she read the spell’s title once again, “It’s ok Twilight, you can do this. Its only fire magic after all, red mana, the element of power and destruction. You can do this, its just like any- “ closing her eyes tightly, she turned her head away from the scroll and tried to focus herself, “other spell you learned. You can do it, you can learn a simple fire spell. Just tap into that pool and read.”

Fire Orb.
A basic fire spell that requires time and effort to manipulate the generating and pulsating flames that come from the orb one creates. By tapping into the air and binding it into the ignition source, one can create this moving orb of fire and manipulate it to where one wants it to go. Be warned, since it is a moving ball of fire, it will require a lot of concentr-

Twilight turned away from the scroll as her mind began to get swarmed with memories of back when she was a filly. She could hear the screams of pain and horror as her parents were burned alive by her misaimed spell. In her head, she could see the pair of strong white hooves pulling her away from the fire as it consumed her home and beloved parents. The one thing that continued to go through her mind was, “it was all my fault.” The very memory caused her to lower her head onto the mattress and cry for a few moments, “I’m sorry, so sorry.”

Dash watched from her perch at Twilight’s quick break breakdown. Wanting to be there for her friend, she stood up to fly in and hug her; however, her services were not needed as Twilight raised her head and wiped her tears away, “No, I shouldn’t let that get to me. I’ll just try and read that spell later. Just focus on the tracking spell for now Twilight,” she then narrowed her eyes in determination.

Seeing that her friend had recovered, Dash sat back down on her haunches and let the wind carry the cloud elsewhere. She sighed to herself as she began to think about what Twilight said, if she could tell her the truth about that day. That her mother had suspicions that it wasn’t an accident but something somepony did on purpose. Again, she shook her head, she couldn’t raise Twilight’s hopes only to dash them if they were lies instead. As she floated on the cloud, she could hear talking from down below, looking down from her cloud, she saw Rarity and Fluttershy walking down the street with Sweetie Belle skipping in between them. Fluttering a little closer, Dash tried her best to overhear what they were talking about.

“Lets see, we have 3 loafs of journey bread, a few bushels of assorted fruits and veggies, some cupcakes and muffins, and a very fancy bedroll for us to sleep in. All in all we came out of this pretty well, with about 3,547 gold left over. A good trip if I say so myself,” Rarity said as turned to look back at Fluttershy,” Darling, are you sure you are all right with those bags?”

Fluttershy, who was carrying bulging bags, gave a little nod as she followed behind, “Rarity, are you sure we need all of the beauty supplies that you bought?” She asked with a little bit of a grunt as she followed Rarity down the street.

“Fluttershy, dear,” Rarity began to state as she placed a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, “This city is the first time I have been able to beautify myself in almost a year. I finally have a chance to do something with Sweetie’s mane,” as for emphasis, she rubbed her little sister’s mane, which caused the little filly to smile in response, “and to make myself look simply dazzling again. I refuse to go off into the emperor’s castle not looking my best, NOR will I have my dear friends suffer a similar indignity of looking anything less than fabulous!” To prove her point, she gave a small twirl on her hind hooves and landed to face forward.

“Oh, I see,” Fluttershy stated as she walked behind Rarity, making sure to keep the bags stable, “but you don’t have to go that far for me, I probably wouldn’t look that good anyway.”

“Nonsense, Fluttershy my dear, you deserve to look your best. Why, by the time I am done with you, your inner beauty will outshine all at Capital City and dazzle crowds for miles,” Rarity said as she began to look at the various stores.

At the words, ‘inner beauty’, Rainbow Dash began to see a model of Fluttershy in her head, apologizing to all of the mares for stealing the attention of their stallions because she was too sexy. This thought made Dash chuckle a bit before seeing the image of the sexy Fluttershy turn to her and wink cutely. Blushing a little, Dash shook the thought out of her head and went back to watching the scene.

Down below, Fluttershy and Rarity continued to walk through the streets of the shopping district. All around them, they could hear the noises of the ponies hawking their wares and yelling about who had the best prices over the competition. In certain stalls, some of the ponies even gave small demonstrations of how their blades cut or their jewels dazzled in the bright sunlight. This, accompanied by the smells of the flowers, fruits, and other vegetables gave the area a bright feel of life that one could barely see in the other parts of the city. The three ponies walked by the stalls slowly, Rarity taking the time to examine the different ones before seeing a building marked, “Hard Slice weapon’s and bakery, cut your own cake,” which caused her to arch an eyebrow at the weird description. Shrugging her shoulders with a sigh, she got Fluttershy’s and Sweetie Belle’s attention to get them to follow her. Moving past some of the stalls, the three multi colored mares walked in the building. Taking the time to look around the shop, they saw the walls covered in various swords and axes of different sizes. Sitting in the center of the shop in a round desk was the shop owner, a brown stallion with only one eye and three legs,” Aye, welcome to Hard Slice’s weapon’s and bakery. I be Hard Slice and what can I do ya for today me lassies?”

“Oh, we are just in need of some weapons for ourselves and our friends. Don’t mind us,” Rarity said as she walked to the back of the shop while Fluttershy began to look over some of Slice’s homemade cakes and pies.

Slice looked over his shoulder, past his cutie mark of a cake being cut by a katana and noticed Sweetie Belle looking at his missing foreleg, “Ah, bet you are wondering about this? Well, you see I got my cutie mark when I was trying to be a baker like me momma. The sad thing was, I was only really good at making blades, not using them. So, when I tried to cut the cake for my momma that I had made, I accidentally cut off me own leg. That was when I realized me special talent in baking cakes and making knives. So, at the cost me right leg, I had obtained me cutie mark.” Slice then saw Sweetie point to his eye patch, “This? Well lassie, when they say don’t run with scissors, they mean it.”

Rarity, meanwhile, began to look at some of the equipment before her. She admired some of the artistry and craft of some of the blades, the curves of some of the handles. It wasn’t until she got to the end of the shop that she found some special that caught her eye. With a gasp of awe she walked to the pedestal and stared at the crossbow that laid upon it, “Amazing!”

“Like it, do ya lassie?” Slice said as he turned to look at Rarity, “ That there be one of the finest crossbows to ever come from Capital City. It is made from mahogany wood and is a automatic cocking system while it is still able to slip easily onto the hoof of the user.”

As she looked over the crossbow, Rarity listened to slice describe the weapon, “And the string, is that... ?”

“Yep, the craftsponies found a way to make the string mithril so it will be harder to wear down and break. There even be a side compartment for little ‘surprises’ that ye can add to the arrows if you wish,” Slice said with a smile.

Rarity silently analyzed and studied the crossbow before slowly turning to the stallion, “How much?”

“Fer ya? 2,100 gd,” Slice said.

“Oh I can buy a cheaper crossbow for less than that…but that one is so lovely!” Rarity thought to herself as she looked back at the crossbow before looking back at her ‘opponent’, “My dear sir, you can see that me and my friend are poor ponies from far away. My sister can barely even talk she is so poor, so I can imagine that you would be able to part with such a magnificent bow for… 1,500?”

Slice let out a grunt of disbelief, “Really? A unicorn and a Pegasus poor? BAH! You mares probably have more than I can dream of, but lets say I believe you. I think it won’t bleed ya out too badly if I let you have it for 1,800.”

“Oh, he’s good,” Rarity thought to herself as she looked to her bag of generosity, “I would be using the money on myself, so there is no way I can make more coins. So, I just have to barter HARDER!” She said aloud,” Oh heavens no, sir, it wouldn’t bleed myself too much at all. The problem is,” she nodded her head to Sweetie Belle who was listening to Fluttershy talk about the different animals outside, “I need to save whatever I can to help fix my sister’s mute voice and her friend’s... Defenestraphobia”

Slice looked at the white unicorn with an arched eyebrow, “You kiddin’ right? Fine, lets go with that, I guess I could lower the price to about…1,500.”

Rarity let out a small squeal of glee of victory and a clap of her hooves as she levitated the crossbow to the table along with some chain claws and assorted small bombs, “I will also be taking these, thank you,” she said as she laid the gold in front of Slice and walked out the building. A smile came to her as she examined her weapon while they walked to a nearby clothes and armor shop, “Sun’s glint.”

“What was that, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, the name of my crossbow dear, all ponies should name their weapons after all. It gives them a ‘distinct’ feel to it. So, when the ponies look at you walking with your weapon at your side, they can say, ‘There goes lady Rarity, with her trusted weapon!’ see?”

“I didn’t know you were so into crossbows, Rarity,” Fluttershy said as they walked into the shop.

“Well, not for shooting of course. But there is a certain art to them, the way that you pull the string back, the wisp of air as the string fires the bolt, and the click of the trigger all add to a certain feel that you can’t get with a sword,” Rarity said as she went to the various garments and armor, “Hmmm, now which one of these best says, ‘I will destroy you, but I will look fantastic doing it’?”

“Well, I think maybe,” Fluttershy was about to respond but was silenced when she heard the purple maned unicorn let out a gasp of inspiration and began to grab some of the items off the shelf.

“IDEA!” Rarity sang as she grabbed a simple light purple wizard robe, some pieces of random cloth, with some string of various colors, and one set of light armor. Buying the material quickly she walked out of the shop with Fluttershy in tow and towards a small secluded place, “Sweetie, bring me my ‘equipment’.” With a glow of her horn, she laid out a long mat before her.

“Rarity, what are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked as she watched Rarity lay down all of the clothing and armor that she had just bought in order by size and color.

While Sweetie Belle went into the bags to grab some of the stuff her sister needed, Rarity turned Fluttershy and said with a wink, “Why, I am about to make these clothes shine with beauty my dear.” She then watched as Sweetie Belle brought out a small collection of gems of various colors. Turning to her sister, she smiled down at her, “Thank you, Sweetie Belle. Hmmm, might have to find some more rubies,” Rarity said as she lifted a red gem to her face and looked at the faint glow. Sighing at the lack of gems that she had with her, she floated the ruby along with two sapphires and placed them onto the robe along with several strands of silver silk. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the robe, silk, and gems with her magic

As she controlled the thread and gems, the needle seemed to make an accurate dance with the gems, making sure that they fit perfectly along the sides of the robe. Concentrating, she made sure to keep the gems secure while not ruining the robe or breaking the silk that was made to hold the gems down tightly. As if she was handling a piece of fragile glass, she made small and intricate cuts to the light purple robe while tightening other areas with the thread to make small pockets. With a final glow of her horn, she focused her magic onto the 3 gems that were on the robe and made them glow with a bright color. As they glowed, they begin to sink into the robe itself, disappearing one by one. As the red ruby melted into the robe, it made a bright light purple star burst onto the sides of the robe where Twilight’s mark would be. Focusing on the other two gems, Rarity began to make the sapphires bleed into the robe, turning the remnants into lovely sparkling stars that littered the robe, giving it an elegance that would show off the user’s magical prowess.

As Fluttershy watched the entire scene take place before her mesmerized blue eyes, she began to realize just what Rarity was, “Are you an enchanter?”

“Of a sort, it’s my talent after all,” Rarity said with a smile as she looked to the three gems that adorned her flank, “You probably have heard the story I told Sweetie Belle in the bathroom, the one about how our parents met and fell in love?” Rarity watched as Fluttershy nodded, “ Well, its all true there’s just more to it. My father, well, he was able to take those gems and imbue them with so many magical properties and my mother? Well, she would be able to make dresses that seemed to glow with magic and when I had gotten my cutie mark they decided to pass on those gifts to me. Of course I took to it like a natural, but I could do more than what they did. I could make dresses that were as strong as steel, capes that burned like fire yet cool to the wearer, hats that would protect against cold, and so many more. I was more than enchanter, I was an artist that could make the world shine with my clothes!”She then lowered her arms and sighed sadly, “ It… was for those gifts that the emperor wanted me.” A frown came to her as she began to work on some of the other clothes that she had bought, “About three years ago, when Sweetie was about seven, a few of the emperor’s thugs came to my house and demanded of my father to let me be brought to the castle. He told them that he would not let his daughter be used as a tool by the emperor and if he wanted me to work for him that he would have to pay for my work like everypony else.” Slowly she wiped a white hoof along her face to remove a tear, “ That, was his last stand he would ever make. Me and Sweetie Belle were busy at the time, getting gems so I could make another masterpiece, but I had forgotten something important. So I had sent Sweetie to the house to get it for me, and she had gotten there right when the thugs began to kill our parents ruthlessly. She watched everything that day and to worsen the blow, they came to kill her next when they saw her. Seeing that she was late, I followed her back home right when they were going to cut her legs off.” Rarity took a glance back at her sister, and then lowered her head, “I don’t think I will give you a description of what happened to them next. Needless to say, with the exception of their leader, they will never bother anypony again. I took Sweetie Belle and we have been on the run ever since.”

“Oh, I am so sorry,” Fluttershy said as she gave Rarity a soft embrace.

“Oh, it’s no big deal anymore. I can still use my talents for my own and I know things will pick up when we take the emperor down and reinstate the Queens,” she then took a longing look to Sweetie Belle, a look of sadness in her eyes, “Oh look, I have talking about myself for a while. What about you darling? Just what does a druid do, I have never seen one.”

“Well, nothing much really. We just have the ability to talk to animals and… this,” upon saying this, the yellow mare closed her eyes and held out her left hoof to a plant. Letting out a slow breath, she began to concentrate on the plant. For a few moments, the plant did nothing but sit there on the sill, but soon it began to extend and grow. It’s stem began to extend from its place and grow towards Fluttershy, wrapping itself around her leg.

Rarity watched in amazement as Fluttershy made the plant let go of her hoof and return to normal, “You can control plants too?”

“Oh not control, we never try to control anything. I just ask nature if it would like to help me out with something or if I can borrow some of it’s power. I never like the idea of forcing my will on anything,” Fluttershy said, looking down at the ground beneath her hooves.

“I see, but that doesn’t seem to be a reason for why any group of ponies would want to hunt you down,” Rarity said, remembering what Twilight had mentioned about druids a few days ago.

“It wasn’t the way we interacted with nature, it was just how we did it. Nopony knows how it got started, most hate groups rarely need a good reason to start mindless killing,” Fluttershy said, “ but one day some ponies with a grudge against druids and the way we lived began to hunt and kill us. It wasn’t until somepony was able to tell the queens that all of the killing stopped, but it was too late.” The pink mane Pegasus sniffled a little, “ The ponies who still practiced the art went into hiding and tried to hide their talents from the world. When my dad married mom, he just thought that he was a good caretaker… until he found the truth. He called me and her freaks and left her when she was sick.”

Rarity watched as the memories came to her Pegasus friend and offered a hug to her, rubbing a hoof along her back, whispering how it would be ok.Rarity smiled as she hugged the pegasus, glad to have a pony she could talk to about her problems, and a good friend that she felt would know how to lift her up. Letting go of her friend, she turned back to her clothes and went to work.

Dash watched the scene from up above and turned her head away, “How could I tell her,” she thought to herself as she began to remember her mother. Her thoughts drifted along with the cloud she was on as she remember how her mother told her about the druid killings. She made a small growl of disgust as she could hear her mother tell her, “Look, I know you care for her a lot. I do too, she’s like another daughter to me, but there is something you need to know. Our family… your great-grandmother, was the one who started the killings. It was all her fault that there are so few druids left out there.”

Those words had hit her hard when she had heard them, that it was her family that was responsible for ruining Fluttershy’s life. It was because of what they did that Fluttershy’s father called her and her mother a ‘dirty unclean freak of the world’ and walked out on them. It was because of her that the yellow pegasus’s mother was so sickly and died. Dash had never found out about this until she had started protecting Fluttershy and they had became friends. Dash had formed a very deep and strong bond with the yellow Pegasus, caring for her as if she was family and in turn she treated her like her personal guardian, a hero. Dash let out a deep breath as she ran her hoof along the cloud deep in thought, a bit of fear in the back of her head. Deep inside, she was worried that the strong bond that she had formed with her would be broken into pieces if she ever found out about the past, “Just another reason to be her guardian. Somepony needs to make up for what those jerks did to those druids,” Dash said with a growl, “She deserves it, after all.” Taking one last look back at the place where her friends were, she smiled and thought back to her promise when they had first escaped from the emperor, “ I promise you, Fluttershy, no matter how hard things get or how bad things become, I will always protect you. Always.”

Dash laid back onto her back as the cloud drifted away in the wind, a smile on her face as she began to back in the sun. Her ears began to twitch at the sound of a pony talking very quickly and actively. Chuckling to herself, she turned onto her stomach to look down at the orange and pink dot as they walked through the streets of Miasma. Taking a hold of her little cloud, she moved it just above street level to watch and listen in on the conversation that the two were having.

“And that is why I was no longer allowed in the castle’s mess hall. Though Queen Celestia thought it to be hilarious,” Pinkie said as she skipped alongside AJ who was taking all of this in stride.

“Ah have to say Pinkie, you have got some of the weirdest stories that Ah have ever heard,” AJ said as she shook her head in disbelief.

“You think that’s something, I had an uncle who thought he was actually part fish,” Pinkie said with a big smile, “Of course he then found out that he was actually part bull.”

AJ opened her eyes at this in utter shock before shaking her head to snap out of it, wanting to put that bit of info under the ‘don’t ask’ file and instead chose to look around the city. She was impressed by the way things seemed to have changed in the few days that they had come there, especially after her win at the tournament. When they had first arrived in the city, the unicorns and pegasi who used to keep to the inner city where the library and some of the more expensive shops were, are now in the outer city mingling with the earth ponies and treating them like equals. A smile came to her face as she watched the upper class ponies finding things within the shops that they had never seen before, or talking to friends that they had not seen in awhile. It was if a new world had been opened to them, “Ya know Pinkie, Ah think our little plan worked. Look at all of them,” AJ said as she looked over the streets.

Pinkie watched as some of the unicorns were talking with one another, “Well duh! Of course it did, the only reason why everypony was being a huge grump to the Earth ponies was because the emperor is a big meanie!” The pink mare then skipped along with AJ to look at some of the shops before running ahead of her, “They would never really think any other pony was less than a great pony unless some grump told them so. Look over there,” With a twirl and a grab of a nearby cake, the pink pony pointed to two ponies at a café, “just yesterday those guys were thinking that they hated each other, now they’re best friends again!”

As Pinkie continued to talk at length to her friend, the unicorn was talking to his friend, “You know,” he said as he took a huge bite of his potato chip, “I remember us being good friends, but it seems like 5 years ago I just felt like you were scum. I don’t know why I ever did that.”

“You know, it’s faint, but I can almost remember a time when you unicorns didn’t hate us Earth ponies because you had magic and we didn’t,” the stallion said as he placed a hoof to his chin, “As a matter of fact, we used to get along great. You know, I think its because of the emperor that the other ponies are like this.”

At that moment, Pinkie Pie popped up in between the two stallions, “Of course it was all his fault. That guy is just a big stupid dork who likes to trash ponies weaker than him. He also likes to force everypony else to bow down to him, and guess what? He’s planning on treating unicorns and pegasususus the same way after he is done with making every earth pony miserable.”

“He is?” The unicorn stallion asked, a look of shock in his face, “It does make sense, why would he stop with one race when he could make us all lower class citizens?”

“Worse than that, look at all of the families he ruins with this, look at how many relationships he destroys with his STUPID ideas,” the earth pony added, “When an earth pony tries to move up in the business world, a unicorn buys him out and puts him back into the poor part of town. When an earth pony so much as tries to form a relationship with anypony else, the ponies just shun him… or worse. Even the kids can’t go to school without being abused. If this keeps up, the only guy who will have any life to live in this world will be him and we will be forever subservient to him.”

“Hey! You know what you should do?” Pinkie Pie asked, her blue eyes darting back and forth between the two stallions, “You should gather every pony who thinks like you guys and meet up somewhere so you can form a huge, ‘NO Thank you!’ party and throw it for the emperor to show him a thing or two.”

The two stallions looked back at the pink pony, and then each other in confusion before a smile of realization came to both of their lips. The unicorn was the first to speak, “You’re right, but where can we have meetings for this little, ‘surprise party’, that can be secret from the rest of the world so the emperor doesn’t spoil the surprise.”

At this, Pinkie Pie brought out a library card, “ Well, I know of this fantastic library that is in the city that has a wonderful librarian. It’s protected by a spell that will only let you in If you have this and the librarian is nice enough that she won’t do and blab to anypony to spoil the surprise!”

The earth pony stallion looked down at the card and back to the pony, “Thanks!” With a smirk he turned to his unicorn friend, “Look, you gather any unicorns or pegasi that want to fight and I’ll get the earth ponies together and we can talk more about our little… party.” The stallion said as he watched his friend nod and get up to run off.

As the two stallions ran off to get some recruits, AJ walked up next to Pinkie with a shocked look in her eyes, “Pinkie Pie, Ah think ya just started a revolution.”

“Well, DUH! That was part of the plan right? To make everypony see that the emperor is being a big racist dunderhead and then get them to see that ponies are better when we all are one big happy family and then get them together to help us take down the big meanie.” Pinkie Pie said this with a big smile on her face as she looked off in the distance, then she turned to AJ and flipped back her mane in a confident manner, “I am not just a pretty face you know, I has brains.”

“Yah, you do have that Pinkie,” Aj said chuckling as she put a hoof to her hat and rubbed it. Then she remembered about what Pinkie had said back at the library, “Hey, Pinkie, about what you said back at the library, when those wraiths got ya.”

Pinkie looked at AJ, putting a hoof to her chin in trying to remember. After a few seconds, her eyes widen in memory, “Oh yeah, that! It was nothing, just a bad memory from a long time ago about my granny.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it,” AJ asked as they headed towards the inn while the sun began to set in the distance.

Pinkie quickly nodded, “Yep! I made my peace about it a loooooooooooong time ago. Those ponies just didn’t get me and never realized that I could be serious at times and reasonable, even when I am at my happiest and jokeist. I know that my real friends,” at this she draped a leg onto AJ’s shoulder and pulled her into a small hug, “will know when I am joking most of the time or trust me enough to look into something I say. Even when they don’t, I know they’ll apologize later or at least,” Pinkie then looked at AJ with a smile, “can have a big joke about it all later.”

AJ looked back at Pinkie with a smile, “Yeah, we would Pinkie. We would,” and then she returned the hug.

Rainbow Dash watched this scene from above on her perch, smiling. Turning her head up to where the cloud was drifting, she decided to take off from her perch and fly back to the inn. As she flew, she began to think about the armies at the emperor’s disposal and her mother. Her mind drifted to what type of horrors and pain that the emperor’s elite could bring upon those six ponies that she had decided to befriend and protect. Could she actually do it? Could she keep them safe? It was something that was burning her, and would continue to nag her for the rest of the flight. Quickly, she shook her head to try and get the thought of her mother and the challenges up ahead out of her mind. She looked up to the window of the inn and focused on the flight as she flew through the window and landed on the bed.

Outside of the inn, AJ and Pinkie Pie met up with Rarity’s group. After conversing and exchanging greetings, the five mares walked inside and bought some drinks to bring up to their room. Walking up the stairs and nearing their room, they could hear Twilight muttering to herself over the scroll. Putting her hoof to open the door, AJ was almost knocked back by the exclamation from within the room, “I GOT IT!!” Twilight yelled.

Their eyes opened wide in anticipation as they opened the door and went inside to see a Twilight hopping for joy, while Rainbow Dash put a pillow over her head to hold back the noise. Pinkie Pie quickly walked in and took her seat, “You figured out that scroll? AWESOME,” she said as Rarity handed out the drinks to everypony in the room.

“Yes, though I have to admit that it wasn’t easy at first,” Twilight said as she took the offered drink in her magic, “You see, at first there were certain words and phrases that didn’t make any sense given the context of the sentence. So I began to break down why it didn’t make any sense and why were certain words were organized the way they were, well it took me about an hour to figure it out, but then it hit me,” Twilight said, putting her hoof to her forehead, “It was so obvious that I should have seen it before.”

“What was?” Asked AJ as she drank her cider.

“The scroll had been translated earlier from a completely different language, so of course the words and sentences would make zero sense! Once I had a handle on that, the translation became easy for me,” Twilight said, a smirk on her face.

“What did the scroll say,” Fluttershy asked, drinking from a small juice glass.

“Basically, it translated into, “To ye who wishes to travel to the Castle of Pan, travel ye to the mountain of Shadowfax. Take a truth lens to the top of the mountain and wait for the light of the holy sun to hit the lens, then ye must read the enclosed scrying spell. Once this is done, the spell will light the way to the castle and will guide your way. Be warned, if you do not reach the castle’s location within two weeks, the castle will vanish and you will have to cast the spell once more’,” Twilight read.

“Oh perfect, the idiot made up a time limit,” Dash said, hitting the mattress of her bed and taking a drink of her cider.

“Well, depending on how we travel and if we run into any ‘detours’ then the limit shouldn’t be that much of a problem,” Twilight said as she rolled up the scroll and put it into her bag, “So, did everypony enjoy their day.”

“Oh, I most certainly did, I even bought everypony gifts,” Rarity said as she turned to her bags and used her magic to pull out the items. The first she pulled out was a light purple wizard’s robe with light blue stars aligning the sides, “For Twilight, I made a brand new wizard’s robe. Here, put it on,” Rarity said as she handed Twilight the robe, “ I used some magic to make it carry more things in its pockets, while at the same time making sure that you don’t feel any weight from the materials you carry. Oh and there is something more, Pinkie?”

“YES,” Pinkie asked as she stood next to Rarity.

“Mind putting this match to her robe?” Rarity requested as she stuck a match and handed it to Pinkie.

“Are you nuts, Rarity? It’ll burn it,” Twilight said.

“Trust me, darling,” Rarity said with a smirk as Pinkie put the match to the robe. Like magic, when the match touched the robe, it immediately went out, “I also enchanted it to be fire resistant. It won’t stop a fireball completely in its tracks, but it will make sure that you won’t get burned too badly.”

“As for the others,” Rarity smiled as she brought out some of the items she had bought, “I got Pinkie some smoke bombs, darts, and some chains. AJ, for you I made some enchanted leather garments that don’t only shine, but add some protection against ice and make you a little stronger then you already are. Fluttershy and Dash, sadly they shops didn’t cater too much to pegasi; however, a true artist never lets that get her down,” she then brought out some light wool vests, “I used the last of my gems and the wool but I think it looks lovely.”

Fluttershy looked down at the light yellow vest on her, “It’s lovely Rarity.”

“A little itchy, though,” Dash said as she scratched the neckline of the vest.

“Wool does that when it first comes on, Darling. Give it time and it will be comfortable. Not only that, but the magic in those vest will help protect your wings from incoming projectiles. Just be careful, too many hits or too strong of an attack will break the enchantment and will leave your wings vulnerable.”

The girls all offered the signs of gratitude and began to talk about the rest of their day and offered some interesting stories from their past. As the talk went through the night and the fires burned down to a cinder, AJ noticed that Rainbow Dash would sometimes look out the window sadly. In her mind, she began to remember that she seemed to avoid talking about her mom or anything about her life outside of the air force, “Something on your mind, sugarcube?” AJ asked.

Rainbow Dash finished the last of her cider and looked at the empty cup, mourning its loss, “Huh? Oh, nothing, just thinking to myself.”

“ That’s a great pastime, Dashie! I love to have long thoughts to myself, helps me to think of some great ideas for jokes and ways to make others happy,” Pinkie said as she bounced on the bed, “Like this one time, I thought of this great pie gag that involves 15 catapults.”

AJ shook her head in an attempt to forget what she had just heard, “Thinking about what?”

Dash took a look at the six ponies in front of her, she knew that she couldn’t tell them that she was afraid of fighting her mother and her hunters, “I was just thinking, this is it. We are actually going to go out and find this jerk. We are actually going to go and kick this guy’s flank from here to whatever hole he crawled out of,” she said, chuckling and putting her hoof behind her head. She was hoping that, by putting all of her fears and worries behind a mask of courage and confidence, she would be able to fool them into not seeing her worried, “You know, once he finds out that we have this scroll, he is going to send everything after us. His best soldiers, hunters, rangers, and anything else he has at us. I hope you all are ready for this, it won't be easy.” She finished with a smirk.

The others looked at Dash as she said this and then back to each other. Pinkie Pie was the first to speak, “Well, I’m ready,” the pink mare smiled as she watched the others look at her, “Let him throw his best at us, because he doesn’t reall have the best with him…I DO! I have the best farmer, magician, flier, dressmaker, animal caretaker, and singer in the whole of Equestria. I also have the best friends out there,” Pinkie said as she smiled wide, “and, as long as I am with you guys there is nothing that I will fear ever!”

Twilight looked at Pinkie and began to smile, “I wonder, will we free them together and can I conquer that fear of mine?”

AJ looked down at her leather covered hooves and thought of her family trapped in the castle, “Don’t worry y’all, Ah am coming to save ya. You can count on it!”

Rarity looked back at Sweetie Belle, and then back at the others, “I don’t know if you forgive me for ruining your life, but I promise you, I will give everything to make your life better. Everything, and they will be there for you.”

“I may not be as strong as them,” Fluttershy thought to herself, “ but I will do whatever I can to be their support. Even if I am a freak.”

Rainbow Dash looked back at all of them, a cunning smile on her face, “Don’t worry, I’ll give everything to protect you guys. No matter what the emperor throws, I’ll take it.”

Pinkie Pie looked back and forth between her friends and smiled, “Face forward, have a big smile in your heart, and live a life without any regrets. That’s what my granny always said to me. I have already moved on, and now its time to see the future with my new friends.” Pinkie then began to tap her foot to start a beat, Sweetie Belle took the cue and began to play a music on her flute. Moving her head and tapping her hoof, Pinkie Pie began to whistle a slow tune to match the tune of the flute before beginning to sing.

Pinkie Pie

When the night has come

And the land is dark

The girls began to smile and move their heads along with the music, feeling the urge to sleep coming over them.

As the music began to fade, the girls began to fall asleep quietly in their beds. Luna’s moon hung high over head as if to be a guardian to watch over them and to protect them in their adventure to come.

_________________________________________________________________

Iron Hand sat in his throne looking at the group of ponies from the various cities and towns awaiting an audience with him to discuss the various problems that they had. He looked down at his wine glass and rubbed his temple as he did so, wanting so much for this session to be over. This was what they never tell you when you take over the kingdom, all of the chores and duties that you must supervise over. The raising and lowering of taxes, the laws one must make or revoke, the treaties, the trade agreements, and all others just seemed to mix together in his head in a swirl of utter boredom. He let out a sigh of exasperation as the next pony came in to talk about water rights or something else that seemed rather small compared to the grander plans, “On the other hand,” he thought to himself with a smile, “I do enjoy enlightening the pathetic beasts of burden to my improved way of thinking. I have already subjugated the worthless earth ponies and turned them into proper second class citizens. Soon, the pegasi will fall to the same fate and then the unicorns. Then they will realize how worthless the four legged creatures are, and will relish being under the thumb of their proper two legged masters.” Chuckling to himself, he drank a little of his wine when the next petitioner came to him, “Then I will put in a proper ruler in my place, someone who is more fit than I am to rule in my stead and will keep my ideals in place; all the while, I will go forth and spread my teachings to the rest of the world.”

Suddenly, the emperor’s thoughts were interrupted by the slamming open of the doors and the rushing in of the messenger, “Sire, sire! I bring news,” panted the young green unicorn as she reached the throne, “I have some important intel from Miasma involving subject TS.”

Iron hand’s brow furrowed at this news as he stood up from his throne, “Leave us, I wish to speak with the messenger in private.” As the crowd of ponies left the throne room, the satyr looked down at his servant, “Speak.”

Greenhorn nodded as she pulled out a scroll and began to look over it, “It seems that the 7 ponies that you had sent the scout team to search for were seen entering and leaving a royal library in the town of Miasma yesterday. We have reason to believe that they have found the tracking spell to find the castle.”

“And why is not one of my hunters here to deliver this message?” Iron asked, the vocal tone in his voice not showing a sign of annoyance or anger.

“Well, according to Windshear, they were distracted by the subjugation of a small mushroom village of little blue men called Smurfs. They are currently leading these people into a cauldron to make gold coins to add to the treasury,” Greenhorn said as she read another scroll.

Iron chuckled as he poured another cup of wine, “Well, I guess that is a good use of their time. More cash in the treasury is always a good benefit to the economy and will lessen tax burden on the populace.” He then turned to his messenger and placed a hand onto the arm of the throne, “Now, to the rest of the message, are you sure it was the unicorn Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes sir, a purple unicorn with a starburst cutie mark. She was being followed by Air commander Dash, Lt. Fluttershy, Jester Pinkie, the madame Rarity and her sister, and finally the farmer who we have identified as AJ. Since this was a royal library we connected the dots on their purpose.”

“I see,” the emperor said as he took his seat, “Bring out my generals, it is time for a conference.” He said with a smile.

It took only an hour for his elite generals to arrive within his throne room. He couldn’t help but smile at their efficiency and perfect timing. Arising slowly, he walked to the first one, a pink Pegasus with a blue mane, “Leader of the Hunter Squadron, Firefly,” She said, saluting and throwing her chest out.

He walked to the next pony, a tall blue Pegasus stallion with one wing and a long scar across both eyes, “ Commander of the Rangers, Lighting Arc!” He yelled, giving a salute.

He looked down at a smaller orange unicorn with a yellow mane; her face was hidden beneath her white cloak, “Head of the mage strike team, Flower Petal.” She said as she bowed respectfully.

With a commanding voice, the three generals yelled out in unison, “Reporting for duty, sire!”

“Ah, welcome my beloved generals,” Iron said as he looked at the three before him.

“Beloved, ha! We’re just your own tools aren’t we?” Firefly said to herself as she looked at Iron with a bit of disgust.

“The reason why I have called you three here today, is that apparently Twilight Sparkle has made herself known to the world in the first time in the 5 years since I have been in control,” Iron stated as he sat in his throne and rubbed the arm of his chair, “That is not all, apparently she has been seen with the traitor Rainbow Dash. Much to my surprise as you have reported to me that you encased her in a stone prison, Flower.”

“I did sir,” Flower said, her voice shaking in disbelief, “I had her cornered and she stood defiantly against me as I fired the stone spell on her. I made sure that the enchantment was something that no po-“ she stopped herself before saying pony, “no one could ever break. It was supposed to be a permanent solution sire.”

Firefly held back every urge to leap at Flower and kill her on the spot, instead choosing to grind her hooves into the marble floor, “So it was you that stoned my daughter. You are so lucky that she is ok again or else I would have killed you when this meeting is over. I am glad that Fluttershy was able to find a way to keep her safe, the mare is something else for being so fragile.” Firefly thought to herself as she smirked.

“Firefly!” Iron bellowed out, “I understand that you were seen leaving Miasma two days ago when Twilight Sparkle and her team were seen in town. Why did you not report to me the existence of your daughter alive and unstoned when you saw her?”

“Because sire, I was off duty for one,” Firefly said, a confident smirk on her face, “And two she was not an obvious threat to me at the time. I thought that, with her three year ‘grounding’, that she would learn better than find a way to oppose your rule. I was wrong,” Firefly said as she then crossed her hooves, “Now before you reprimand me or punish me, may I remind you that me and my hunters are the only ones that have a chance of taking out Rainbow Dash and I am the only one with the speed to outpace her.”

Iron rolled his eyes in anger, he hated to agree with her and he hated her cockiness even more, “ Be that as it may, we apparently have a small rebellion starting up thanks to those 7. Lightning,” he said as he pointed a finger to the one winged Pegasus, “I want you to gather your rangers and await in the fields 10 miles south of the city. You will then ambush the 7 and attack. Then you are to bring Rarity, Twilight, and Sweetie Belle to me, alive and pure. You are not to, ‘indulge’ in any of your recreations with those three. However, can do whatever it is you like to the other four as you and your men wish.”

Firefly watched as Lightning licked his lips slowly, “Sire, I must object! Me and my hunters are swifter and far more cunning than his rangers, it should be us that take on these rebels.”

“No, we have tried cunning and magic on some of these rebels before. IT is time, for brute power, intelligence, and ability,” Iron said as he drummed his fingers along each other.

“But if you kill them, that’ll make them martyrs,” Firefly said.

“What is the matter, Fire? Afraid I’ll break your friend,” Lightning asked.

“No, but I know how the people think. We kill a team like that, we will give them a cause to rally behind. Better to let them live,” Firefly said, glaring daggers at Lightning, “and break the people’s spirits rather than to give them a symbol.”

“This is why I am going to let three of them live, so I can so how easy it is for us to break a pony’s spirit by taking away the Queen’s student. I’ll also give the championship belt back to Mirror to remind the ponies how the Earth ponies are nothing more than worthless dreck that should never be allowed on the same planet as the rest of us,” Iron said.

“Says you, Posey had more balls and raw strength than you ever had,” Firefly said to herself.

“Now, go and follow my orders,” Iron said as he sat back down.

“Yes sir!” The three said as they walked away from the throne

As the three left the throne room, a female unicorn with an electric blue mane watched as they exited. A look of horror came to her as she put a hoof to her mouth, “Oh, Twily,” Gleaming Shield said as she looked back in the throne room, “Watch out. They’re coming for you, please be careful.

As Sunny listened to the story coming from upstairs, she smiled to herself as she cleaned up around the house. Dash had seemed to brightened up the house and her little girl’s life whenever she was around. She was thinking about everything that had been happening since Dash entered her life when she heard a knock at the door. Turning around, she walked to the door and opened it. Seeing a grey Pegasus holding a letter, she took the letter in her mouth and opened it. Upon reading the letter, she dropped it in shock, letting it fall to the ground.

Author's Note

Special thanks to the always awesome Zoltanthemagicifent for the editing

Yes, I decided that they would be getting some armor while I wanted to set up some stuff to hit down the line

Broken legs and hurt hearts

Chapter 7

Sunny Day let out a shuddering breath as she looked to the fallen letter, her orange hooves on her mouth as the eyes began to water with tears. She began to shake her head slightly in the vain hope that this was a dream and that what she had been given was just an illusion brought upon her by a constant fear that had always been with her. Getting onto her hooves, she walked over to the letter and began to re-read it, trying to see if there was something, anything, that would tell her that this was a sick prank done to her by cruel ponies. However, her hopes were all dashed as she looked at the letter closely and saw it all: the official seal of the princesses, the unique hoof-writing, the signature, the paper, all of it screamed to be official writing, and there on the top of the page, was three letters that she hoped to never see in her life.

M.I.A

“M…Missing in Action,” Sunny said under her breath, the tears now not stopping from flowing in her eyes. To her, those were the second three most terrifying words that she could’ve read, next to K.I.A. She knew the truth though, those three letters might as well have said, “Your husband is gone and there is no way knowing that he’ll ever come home again. He might as well be dead right now.” Again she dropped the letter and closed her eyes as she began to cry hard onto a nearby table stand, “Swifty, you moron! You PROMISED ME! You promised me that you would never try anything stupid that would put yourself into danger, you PROMISED!” Tearfully she looked at the wedding band around her hoof, “You told your daughter that she would see you again. Am I supposed to call you a mangy liar to her face? How can I tell her that her father’s never coming home?”

Pulling her head away from the table, she sniffed and wiped her tears away from her eyes as she remembered that she would have to tell her daughter this news as well. Her legs shaking with fear on each step, she made her way to the stairs and walked up them. As she reached the top stair, she heard Dash beginning the next part of the story for her little sister. Taking a deep breath and holding the letter in her hoof, she decided to let Scootaloo finish listening to the story before she breaks her daughter’s heart.

“Ok Scoot, get ready, because this part is going to be fun…”

Firefly walked down the long hallway of the castle, grumbling to herself the entire path. The anger was obvious on her face as she would sometimes hit the wall nearest to her or any guard that was unfortunate to get in her way. The coldness of the floor and the hallway was doing little to quell the fiery anger that was in her heart. Turning to a nearby window, she unlatched it before hearing, “Problems, traitor?” A young male voice was heard from the room across from the window.

A smirk came to Firefly’s lips as she turned to face the stallion who said it, walking into the room, “I am not a traitor. Even if I was, better to be an alive traitor than an alive coward, Shining.”

As Firefly walked into the room and closed the door, Shining Armor took off his helmet and revealed his true face, “I’m no coward, Firefly!” Shining growled.

“Oh really?” Firefly asked, a smirk on her face as she walked by Shining, “Then what do you call it when you are doing nothing but hiding behind disguises, running into the shadows, and hiding yourself away from those that need you?”

“It’s called subterfuge, and its certainly better than flaunting your betrayal all over the castle grounds, waving it like a flag for everypony to see,” Shining remarked.

“Subterfuge, so that’s what’s it called,” Firefly said, smacking Shining with her blue tail as she showed her lightning bolt cutie mark, “when one abandons family and the Queens for some hair brained sense of duty.”

Shining let out a sigh and looked to the ground, “It was the only way I could keep my promise to the queens and to protect my baby sister. It was either this or be slaughtered like every other unicorn that tried to resist the mind spell and stand up to the emperor.”

“And you actually think you have been doing a good job keeping your little ‘promise’,” Firefly said, finding a sofa to lay on, “Do you think that they intended for you to hide in the background and abandon your little sister?”

At this, Shining glared in anger, “I DID NOT ABANDON TWILY!! She’s strong, intelligent, and brave. I’m confident she could handle things alone, without me.”

Firefly scoffed at this, “Oh no? Then I guess I just imagined the five years that she spent alone with the jester as her only friend. Five long and painful years that she spent all alone without you, thinking that her brother, her only family LEFT, was dead. Slaughtered like so many others,” the pink mare then looked accusingly at her friend, “Do you know what I caught her doing on the day of the coup? That little sister that you claim to love so much,” Firefly let out another scoff, “She was so broken by the thought of being alone, her only family gone, the queen she loved like a mother gone, and that she was made a target by the bastard that did all of this because of her talents that I found her standing on a cliff with a knife in her magic. Let me tell you this, Shiny, that knife and her throat looked like they were to become VERY close friends.”

Shining took a step back, his face recoiled in horror, “ Celestia, no. She… She wouldn’t have. You’re lying!”

“I’m not. She was” Firefly said, looking at him, “Losing your entire world can do that to a mare. I’m just glad that Pinkie had seen her at the time and saved her, otherwise I would’ve done so and then told her about your little plan.”

“NO! You promised you would not spoil my secret,” Shining said.

“Oh, you mean the big, ‘destroy the enemy from inside out and create a rebellion through my hidden efforts by making sure that the world believes that I am dead’ plan? The one that ends with you finding a way to save the queens, marrying your marefriend, and your sister running into your arms all happy that you are alive?” Firefly looked as Shining lowered his head, “Do you really think that it will end like that or is it going to end like I think it will, with Twilight very ticked off at the stallion who SWORE to protect her with his dying breath. What do you think is going to happen when she finds out, I’ll tell you. She’ll punch you hard in the face and then disown you… is that what you want?”

“At least I know she’ll be ok,” Shining said in a low voice.

“And what makes you so sure that this plan will work? What’s going to happen when you lose that disguise and they find you?”

“It won’t. It got me through five years of hell so far,” Shining argued.

“And that won’t last forever. One day they’ll find you, and then they will KILL you and then I’ll spend the rest of my life flying by your rotting corpse as it hangs from the parapets,” Firefly said, slamming her hoof down on the cushion, a little bit of tears in her eyes, “ and then what’s little Twily going to think about you then?”

Shining could only close his eyes in response and look away from the blue maned pegasus in front of him, “At least then… I’ll really be as dead as she believes.” Shining then raised his head, his eyes determined, “And what about you traitor? What kind of plan is this, a parade of disloyalty and making your daughter hate you? Do you think that the queens wanted this? Do think that this is what Posey-“ he couldn’t finish his sentence as he was punched hard across the room and into a dresser.

“Forget rule one, Shield boy?” Firefly asked as she walked away from her punching position and went to a fridge to get a bottle of cider, “Don’t EVER talk about Posey, don’t even think about her, and don’t even think you knew her. She was worth at least two of you!”

Slowly, Shining Armor got up and looked at a picture frame that hit him on the head that fell from the dresser and looked at it. It was a picture of Rainbow Dash as a filly being held up by Firefly in a hug as they floated up in the sky. It didn’t take him to long to remember what room he was hiding in: Dash’s room. Putting down the photo, he let out a sigh, “They were so close once,” he thought to himself, “I’m sorry, I forgot how close you were to her and how much you cared for her.”

Firefly poured herself a glass of cider and drank it slowly, “You have no idea,” She said sadly as she looked at a picture of her on top of a yellow earth pony mare, hugging her neck.

“The point still stands,” Shining said as he got back onto his hooves, “How is being a traitor any better? You’re working for the enemy, the exact same creature that ruined my sister’s life as well as your daughter’s and her friend’s! He’s determined to put us all under his thumb and destroy our way of life piece by piece until he our souls in his mitts! And you are parading around working for him!”

“This is the only way I can be sure my daughter is safe,” Firefly said, pouring another glass, “I can still lead my hunters and make sure nopony innocent can get hurt.”

“Fine job you’ve done protecting her so far,” Shining said, “She spent the last three years in a stone statue.”

“AT LEAST SHE WAS ALIVE,” Firefly yelled, slamming the glass onto the table before turning her head to a suit of blue colored pegasus armor, the yellow lightning bolts across the back and front glimmering in the sunlight, “And it wasn’t my fault that she was caught by Flower’s unicorns, it was because she was determined to stand up to those maniacs and protect her friend. They were maniacs, and she knew it. She knew she had no chance of winning, but she needed to protect that filly of hers from everything that could hurt her.”

“Sounds like somepony we both know,” Shining muttered under his breath, “And now she is awake and out of the stone prison traveling with my little sister and some random ponies and about to face the rangers. Y’know the group of elite soldiers that KILLED the last group that tried to rebel.”

“Oh please, Lightning is an easy guy to take down. I should know, Dashie was responsible for his broken wing,” Firefly said, a smirk coming to her.

“She can handle herself, but what about them?” Shining asked, watching as the blue maned pegasus turned her head away in response, “Do you remember what his ‘recreation’ usually involves? Long, slow, and painful evisceration, and that is when he wants the pony to enjoy it.”

“Your sister will be fine, trust me… I’ve met the farmer, and she could easily make Lightning loose his other wing as well as make him a mare for life,” the pink mare then chuckled at the thought before drinking another glass, “Hahaha, I think your sister has just picked up some unbelievable companions.”

“What about you,” Shining asked, a stern expression on his face.

“What about me? Other than I am awesome, of course,” Firefly asked, the smirk never leaving her face.

“You know the emperor likes to keep his mages close to him and only use their power in case of emergency, so who does that leave to hunt them down? OH YEAH,” Shining said, pointing a hoof at Firefly, “You and your little band of hunters.”

Firefly let out a hearty laugh before walking to the mannequin that held her daughter’s old armor, running a hoof along the back, “Well then, I guess me and Dashie will finally get to see which one of us is the best.”

Shining took a step forward, slamming his white hoof down onto the floor, “This is not a joke. Your hunters are wild and almost uncontrollable, you’ll fight one on one and fair. They won’t, they’ll play dirty and use what they can to hurt the others.”

“Ah, you worry too much, Shield-boy. The guys won’t do too much to your little sister,” Firefly said walking by Shining Armor and slapping his flank.

“What about you?” Shining asked, looking straight into Firefly’s aqua eyes.

“What about me?” Firefly asked back, looking a little surprised.

“

You two combined are the hardest headed ponies that I have ever met, you both have an unwavering sense of loyalty and a stubborn streak as long as Celestia’s mane! I’m afraid that, when you do have that battle to see who is better, it’s going to end with one of you dying,” Shining yelled, a worry look on his face, “And I am sorry to say, even though you have been a great friend, that… she’s going to win and I am going to have to hear that you are dead. Do you really want that, for Rainbow’s last thoughts of the greatest hero that she ever knew to be that of a pony who is nothing more than a traitor,” he then wiped a white hoof along his eyes to wipe some tears away, “For her to always hate you because you betrayed everything she had ever thought about you?”

Firefly let out a sigh as she opened the door for Shining to go out, “If it means that she is safe and alive, then let me take every sin that she’ll throw at me. Let me die as a villain in her eyes.”

Shining took a long look at a photo on the table, this one of a filly Rainbow Dash hugging her mother tightly as both of them began to cry, “I think she wants you to die as her mother and a hero instead,” he then put his helmet back onto his head and allowed for the illusion magic to turn him into a mare.

“Just go,” Firefly said as she turned her head to the doorway and let Shining-Gleaming run out the door.

“Ohhh, so that’s what the shouting was,” a slightly high pitched voice said.

“Flower, were you listening to all of that,” Firefly asked.

“Well, not clearly,” she said, skipping to the side of Firefly and looked into her eyes, “all I heard was some muffled shouting and some thumping.” Turning her light yellow eyes to the room, she looked at the bottle of cider, “Oh, wining and dining them, huh?” Flower then tucked Firefly’s chin and whispered in a throaty voice, “I thought I was the kinky one in this group.”

Firefly angrily swiped the hoof away from her chin, “It's not like that, I was just talking to the new recruit.”

“That’s right,” Flower said, taking a flower in her orange hooves and lightly nibbling the petals, licking a little, “You had eyes for only one delicate flower in this castle. Now she is gone, gone away,” her tongue then licked the flower petal into her mouth, “More’s the shame. I have heard on the grapevine that the yellow earth ponies taste like sweet butter cream. But I don’t think I need to tell you that, after all I think we all had a taste at one time or another… didn’t we?”

Firefly’s face contorted in a silent rage as she swiped a hoof at Flower, only to miss her target,” Never talk about her like that!”

“Testy! All I was doing was discussing the dead, it’s not like I wanted to make her a meal or anything. I tried necro before, it’s quite disgusting, y’know? Besides, I know you know how she tasted, just like your daughter has probably been having plenty of fun with that freak pet of hers,” Flower said, a cunning smirk on her face.

“She hasn’t done anything like that, she is only trying to protect and care for her as much as she can,” Firefly said.

“Oh, I know.” Flower then licked another petal off, slowly, “She’s going to continue to care for the little freak for a while, spending time acting like the heroic savior in some fairy tale. Then, when the little mare is at her most vulnerable, she’ll find some hidden spot and steal the mare’s innocence. Then, she’ll throw her by the wayside, abandoning the little freak like the garbage she is.”

Leaping at her, an intent to kill in her eyes, Firefly slammed Flower against the wall with her hoof against her neck, “Listen here, my daughter will never abandon ANYPONY! She will never misuse them at all! GOT IT!?”

Flower walked behind Firefly, smiling, “Oh, I know that. That’s how I was able to get her the first time,” with a shine of her horn, she dismissed the clone, “ She was so determined to protect that little innocent flower that she threw herself in front of my stone spell. I wonder though, if this time, I’ll get to her first, or maybe hit Dash with an immobilization spell and make her watch as I play with the little freak.” Flower said as she walked away with a skip in her step.

Firefly turned her head away in disgust. She never did like Flower and her team. Opening up the window in the hallway, she leapt through it and flew off into the sky.

Glimmering Shield began to run through the halls of the castle and down the stairs until s/he reached the basement, where the letters were stored and sorted. Slowly s/he opened the door to reveal the Sparkle Family Secret, the one responsible for sending out the letters to everypony in the family: a baby purple dragon, “Shining! What are you doing here?” The dragon asked happily.

“Spike, I need you to send a letter to Twily, it’s very important. Tell her that the rangers are coming for her,” Shining said as he took off his illusion helmet.

“Yes sir!” Spike said as he quickly began to write down the letter.
_____________________________________________

“Momma, Momma,” squealed a little purple unicorn filly as she ran into the writing room.

“What is it, my little mage?” Asked a white grey unicorn with a purple and white mane as she looked up from her writing.

“Look, look at what I can do,” Twilight said as she concentrated on her horn, making it flare up in a purple glow. The tip of the horn was then covered in a blaze of flame that slowly came off the horn and into the air, folding itself into a small ball, “See!? I can make fire magic!”

“Oh, that’s spectacular my little Twilight,” Velvet said as she knelt down hugged her little girl, “Just be careful of fire magic, don’t want to kill again now do we… murderer.” She said the last part with a bit of guff ness to her voice, as if someone was burning her vocal cords.

“Murderer, what do you mean-MOTHER!?” Screamed Twilight as she backed away from her mother, whose face was beginning to burn away by white hot flame and leaving behind burnt muscle and bone. Falling onto her rump, she began to back away in utter terror as she watched her mother burn before her eyes, one of her mother’s eyes melting away slowly leaving only a socket left.

Getting up to run away, she quickly bumped into the tough forelegs of a big stallion. Looking up, she let out a scream of terror as she looked up at the burnt and decayed face of what was her father. Walking to her slowly, the last traces of a mane began to fall from his head while the charred pieces of flesh would fall off, revealing the muscular tissue underneath, “You really should be careful of the fire, you little brat,” As he spoke, his white teeth would slowly blacken and rot away, “Now you killed all of the things you cared about.”

Shaking her head, she turned around and ran in an attempt to find her brother. Running through the hallways of the house, she watched at the white walls and rooms started to blacken and rot away. In various rooms boards began fall from the ceiling and crashing into the floors below. Turning her head upwards, she watched in horror as the ceiling began to crackle and break into smaller pieces, leaving big holes with fire in them. Her heart racing, she quickened her pace to the end of the hallway where her brother’s room laid, “Shining! Help, it’s mom and dad. They, they… oh my.”

“Hey, Twily,” Shining said, as a mare made of flame began to lick his chest and neck causing the coat to burn away and the flesh beneath to crackle, “Like my new marefriend? Hot isn’t she?” Laughed the white unicorn as the fiery mare continued to lick and kiss his body, making each part burn away.

“AHHHHH!” Screamed Twilight as she ra quickly to the left and leapt through the window, only to find her six friends standing front of the house, enveloped in flame. Their bodies dancing and writhing within the flames as it consumed them. They began to moan with pain and pleasure as the flames took to their bodies like lovers, caressing and pleasuring them with the touch of fiery tendrils. As they danced, they began to chant.

Fire is for the pain

Flames are for killing

Burning is for dieing

The power of fire is

The way to make you food for hell

Fire is hate

Flame is destruction

Burning is death

Beware the power of fire

It will only lead to the end

Twilight began to look around her as the flames became a circle of ponies on fire as they walked to her, each one grabbing her legs and forcing her onto her back. The fiery ponies then began to lay her down onto the ground, spread-eagle while a large pony with a flaming spear began to approach her. Struggling in vain, Twilight’s eyes opened up in horror as she watched the stallion approach her with his spear raised, “No, no! P… please, NO,NO! SOMEPONY HELP ME!” She screamed as the long flaming rod touched her collar bone and began to trail down her body, cutting open the body and letting loose flame creatures of all types.
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“TWI! Wake up, you’re having a horrible nightmare,” AJ yelled as she began to shake Twilight lightly, her orange hoof shaking her shoulder hard.

“ A nightmare? Yes, that’s all it was. Just a creation of mental imagery created by my subconscious during the REM stage of the dream cycle due to my own personal trauma of what happened to me as a foal. This and nothing more,” Twilight thought to herself as she began to rationalize her thoughts. Sitting up in the bed, she looked at AJ, “You’re right, I was having a nightmare, thank you for waking me.”

A worried look came to AJ’s face as she laid down on the bed with her friend, “Want to talk about it, sugarcube?”

“No, not really, this is something I can get through myself. It’s a stupid little irrational fear, after all.” Twilight said, smiling a little as she felt her friend’s hoof on her back, “So, where are the others?”

AJ looked to the door of their room of the inn, “Well, Rare decided to make some last minute shopping trips to make sure we have everything and took Sweetie Belle with her. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy are all going out to get some breakfast for all of us. Ah decided to stay here with ya in case you woke up before we got back. Oh,” AJ said, her eyes widening in realization before pulling out a letter from her hat, “and you got a letter.”

“I wonder who’s it from?” Twilight asked as she took the letter in her magic before opening it, “Wait, how do you know it’s for me, no pony knows I’m here.”

“Well, Ah wouldn’t have figured it out until I read the emblem on the letter,” AJ said, pointing to the starburst on the front of the letter, the same as the mark on her flank.

Twilight raised an eyebrow in curiosity before taking the time to read the letter.

Two the cuiitie purplle unii ghhat I meant the other day. The how arre you taoday, an Iam grate er about you. Ah have far fallen for you in love hard. Can’t ou see howm uch Ieve fallin in love winth you? Belase tell be that you care a ful lot of me too?
Signed, Gleaming Shield.
Ps. I’ll always love you, be careful. You will always be the best.

AJ crooked an eyebrow at the reading of the letter, “What in tarnation was all of that?”

“It’s a poorly written love letter. Obiviously somepony doesn’,” Twilight then stopped in mid-sentence as she reread the letter, “Wait the way that this is written and spelled. If I just edit it a little and bold every spelling mistake.” Within a few moments Twilight had bolded every misspelled word and grammar error.

Two the cuiitie purplle unii ghhat I meant the other day. The how arre you taoday, an Iam great er abouts you. Ah have far fallen for you in love, hard. CCan’t ou see howm uch I’ve fallin in love wigth you? Belase tell me that you cancare a ful lot of me too?

As Twilight reread the letter to herself with the bolded letters in the forefront, she now could read it as.

Twilight, the Rangers are coming, be careful.

Twilight arched an eyebrow at this weird message, “The rangers?”

AJ rubbed her hoof curiously, “Applesnack mentioned something about that too. He said that his rebellion was squashed by the Emperor’s dark rangers, but he didn’t tell me more than that. Know anything about them?”

Twilight shook her head, sadly,” No, I don’t. I never spent much time away from Celestia, so I have never heard of any group called The Rangers.”

“They’re fairly new,” Dash said, overhearing Twilight, “They only got instated five years ago by the emperor, after he had culled some of the more rough and cruel ponies from Equestria.”

“OOOOH, I think I heard about them,” Pinkie said as she jumped onto the bed, eating her hay sandwich, “ aren’t they like a bunch of angry meanie faces that like to crush ponies just because they breathed wrong.”

Nervously, Fluttershy nodded, “They’re absolute beasts. They like to take prisoners just to slowly break them down before they kill them. OR leave them so broken that the pony wants to die. Their leader is a pony called-“

“Lighting Arc,” Dash said, drinking her cider slowly, “I wouldn’t worry too much about him. He’s nothing more than a brute of a pegasus who believes more in raw power than any art in flying.”

“Sounds like you know him pretty well,” AJ said, finishing her sandwich.

“Know him? I was the one who cut his wing off,” Dash said calmly, a smirk on her face. Looking up, she could see the shocked looks on her friends faces as well as Rarity who had just came in, “It’s no big deal really. We were in a fight, he was doing something that could’ve hurt somepony and I stopped him. There was no other choice.”

“But to ground him permanently?” AJ asked, “That seems mighty harsh.”

“Trust me, it was necessary. He didn’t deserve to fly if he was going to continue to abuse it,” Dash said, looking at her wings as they flapped a little.

AJ was about to prod further, but was stopped by a hoof from Rarity, “AJ, darling, there are somethings that a lady prefers to keep to herself. Now, if we are all done, lets go.”

The others nodded in response and quickly began to pack up before heading out the door. Heading out of the inn, they watched as some of the other ponies began to mill about and work through their day. Pinkie Pie let out a soft sigh, “It feels kind of bad that we have to leave so soon, this place seems to be really picking up.”

“Well we gotta keep moving,” AJ said, “don’t know when that castle is gonna disappear on us.”

“Yeah, I know,” Pinkie said, before turning around and giving a big wave goodbye, “Bye everypony!”

Unbeknownst to the seven ponies, a very large stallion with one wing watched them from a distance. As he watched the rainbow mane fly above them, his scar where his left wing once began to ache, “It’s them all right,” he said in a thick accent that seemed to have come from Trottingham, “ I recognize that mane and coat anywhere.”

“Want to attack them once they are out of the city boss?” Asked one of the pegasi flanking him.

“No,” Lightning said, watching the ponies leave, “They’re heading north, through the Calming Fields. I say we fly ahead and lay in wait for them there so we can pounce. RANGERS GO!” He then waved a hoof and had his team take to the air.
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A few days upon leaving the small city of Miasma, the 7 adventurers began walking north through the soft green fields known to the populace as the Calming Fields. All around them lay almost endless fields of green grass that would be colored by small spots of bright flowers. The hills across the land would gently swept up and down to allow for the traveler to feel only a small bump across their journey, all this went along with the soft Spring breeze to allow for a calming feeling that would go across the traveler’s body then down into their spirit. Pinkie Pie would jump to the front and the back of the party, trying her best to take in everything around her while letting the wind blow by her to make her giggle a little. Twilight took to the middle of the group and began to listen to the groups conversations while trying to sort out her spell craft for the rest of the day. AJ, Rainbow Dash, Sweetie and Rarity were at the front of the group and were taking in the almost endless horizon of green fields, “Is there a problem, AJ?” Rarity asked of the orange mare.

“Ah was just thinking about the pony Ah left back home, he was badly injured and was only recovering from his wounds,” AJ said.

“I’m positive that he’ll be ok, AJ” Rarity said as she walked next to AJ, watching Sweetie Belle skip alongside her.

Dash kept to the air, flying just above their heads, “Yeah, if he was tough enough to get away from those rangers, then I think he can get back to health without your help.”

AJ nodded in relief and continued on her way with her companions. Fluttershy, meanwhile, kept to the back of the group, listening to the sounds of the various birds and animals around her. It wasn’t until they were quite aways from the city did she notice that the animals had stopped talking, all except for one, “What?” Fluttershy asked, her ears twitching at the sound, “Be… ware?” Turning her blue eyes skyward, she looked up at a small bird flying overhead.

“What is it,” Twilight asked, hearing Fluttershy and waving a hoof to stop her friends.

“That bird, it’s saying to, ‘beware, bewar-ARRRG!” Fluttershy screamed as three arrows sailed through the air and struck her right leg and side.

“AMBUSH,” AJ yelled.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Dash yelled, flying to her side.

“Oh my,” Rarity screamed as she ran to Fluttershy, “We have to pull them out.”

“No, d-don’t pull it out,” Fluttershy whimpered as she struggled to stand, “It’ll only make it worse. Sn-ap it off first, then get some cloth. I… I’ll tell you what to do next.”

Pinkie Pie then her tail twitch and her knees shake, before looking up to the sky. Her eyes widen in horror as she screamed, “INCOMING!!”

Looking above them, the seven mares watched as a hail of arrows soared through the sky and towards them. Squinting her eyes through her pain and blood loss, Fluttershy concentrated on the magical braclet on her left hoof and conjured up a giant pink translucent shield over them that managed to block all of the arrows, “T-t-there, got it,” she said, weakly as she felt herself losing a little more blood.

“There, I got some leftover cloth,” Rarity said as Rainbow finished snapping off the end of the arrows.

“G-good, now tighten the cloth down around the arrows to st-st-ablize them,” Fluttershy then winced as another volley of arrows hit.

As Rarity began to work feverishly to stabilize the wounds, Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight, her magenta eyes carrying with a look of worry, “What’s going on, Twilight? She shouldn’t be weakening this fast.”

Twilight watched as Fluttershy let out another moan and then looked as the latest volley of arrows subsided. It didn’t take her mind long to make the link, “That bracelet of hers, it’s connected to her mana.”

“SHE’S NOT A UNICORN TWI!” Dash yelled.

“She still has mana, Dash. The exact same type of mana that you have, the mana that allows you to control the weather and fly. That’s what it’s using as a power source,” Twilight then looked back as Fluttershy let out another moan, “and it’s draining her dry. At this rate, she won’t be able to take anymore hits until…”

“No, Twi, please don’t say she’ll die,” Pinkie said, a twinge of fear in her voice.

“No, she won’t die. She’ll pass out though from the lack of mana and sleep for a while,” Twilight said watching another volley of arrows came at them.

As the other ponies continued to talk about the situation, AJ began to listen to the arrow storm hit them again. She began to realize something, “They ain't real.”

“WHAT?!” was the collective response.

“Some of those arrows aren’t real. Look at them,” AJ said pointing to the sky full of arrows, “we should be hearing a bunch of arrows hitting us, but we ain't. Ah’m only hearing about four or five of them hitting the shield.”

At the sound of illusion magic at work, Twilight immediately closed her eyes and started to concentrate hard. Her horn glowing a bright blue to show her tapping into the blue mana pool, she began to call upon a scrying spell. In her mind, she could feel the mana of her friends nearby, a small collection of other ponies, and in the distance, a unicorn, “Fluttershy, I need you to open part of the shield for a moment,” Fluttershy wearily nodded, “ Rarity, I want you to fire a shot to where Fluttershy opens the shield, there’s a unicorn out there that needs to be shot.”

Nodding in agreement, the white unicorn brought out her crossbow and aimed it, her eyes focusing on the shot as a dressmaker would with a needle and thread. As the small window opened for her, Rarity pulled the trigger on her crossbow and let the bolt fly through the air, passed the archers and right into the shoulder of the spellcaster, knocking him out of the spell. Straightening her Stetson, AJ looked ahead as Fluttershy finally gave out to weakness and lowered the shield, “Alright then, lets show these homeboys how we do it COUNTRY STYLE!” AJ then yelled as she ran out into the field where seven pegasi were about to take flight.

Rainbow Dash, after checking to make sure Fluttershy was alright, took to the air in a rage, “I could care less about the small fry, I just want the idiot!” and with that, took off to the air above them and flew off.

“GUYS, wait!” Twilight tried to yell at the two mares, before turning to Fluttershy and making a makeshift fort of stone to keep her safe, “Rarity, Pinkie keep an eye on her. I need to take out the unicorn before it causes us anymore problems.”

With a curt nod, Rarity turned to Sweetie Belle, “Sweetie, get next to Fluttershy and stay there.” With a tweet of response, the little filly ran next to the fainted mare. Turning around, she watched as five pegasi began to fly towards her and her three friends, their crossbows drawn. Rolling out of the way where Fluttershy slept, she readied her crossbow and fired two shots, striking two airborne pegasi right in the chest and forcing them to the ground. As the two pegasi tried to recover from the arrow wounds in their right chest by pulling out the offending object, they heard a very loud screeching sound from behind them. Turning around, they could see a pink pony holding a long line of elastic material stuck between two wooden pillars. It did not take them long to realize what was going to happen, and even shorter to see the pink pony release the band and hit them with it. With a subtle “eep” the band hit the two pegasi and sent them flying through the air and to points unknown.

“Pinkie, how did you-“ Rarity asked as she jumps from the shots of three pegasi.

“Oh, I just used some of those rubber bands that you bought plus those poles you needed for practice,” Pinkie said, ducking under an arrow shot, “Hey! I was talking to my friend,” Pinkie said as she loaded up the slingshot and fired, missing the pegasus, but leaving room for Rarity to shoot.

Elsewhere, Twilight began to run towards the unicorn that had produced the spell, teleporting in short bursts to avoid getting shot at by the pegasi. Once she reached the unicorn in question, she lowered her head and charged up her horn in a violet aura. The dark blue unicorn with the red mane chuckled, “So, if it isn’t the princess’s pet, Twilight Sparkle,” Red Rose then ran her hoof through her mane and chuckled, “I’m not really impressed.”

“I’m sorry for disappointing you, ma’am.” Twilight said, being as formal to another unicorn as she could, “Now, unless you want to be impressed, I’d advise you to back down.”

Red again let out a little chuckle before charging up her horn and generate the liquid orbs, “How about, no.” She said, launching the three orbs at Twilight. As they neared their target, the three orbs turned into three sharp ice spikes and picked up momentum. Thinking quickly, Twilight formed up a purple barrier that blocked the three shots. Dropping the barrier for only a moment, Twilight’s horn glowed a bright white and fired a white ray from it that froze the air around it at Red’s hooves.

As the ray came at her, Red jumped out of the way, but not in enough time to stop the ray from hitting her hind leg. Letting out a grunt as she hit the ground, she struggled to get back up on only three of her legs. A small chuckle escaped her mouth as she fired a colorless ray from her horn that pushed Twilight back, followed by three ice spears.

Seeing the three spears coming towards her, Twilight quickly rolled out of the way. However, she then saw an arrow made of a green fluid fly towards her, leaving her with little time to duck. Lowering herself to the ground quickly, she managed to dodge the arrow but was still scratched along her back. Letting out a small scream of pain at the arrow’s acidic touch, she looked toward her opponent with a growl and lowered her horn to the ground, making Red look on in curiosity. The blue mare’s curiosity was sated when the ground beneath her opened up in a wide crack, making her slip in with a yelp.

Before Red was trapped by the fissure, she quickly used a teleport spell to get out and back onto the ground. Looking up at Twilight, she let out a small chuckle and sneered at her opponent, “This is going to be fun.”

AJ ran out into the field and watched as two pegasi took to the air in order to shoot from above. Straightening her stetson, she reached behind her and pulled out her lasso to begin twirling it above her head. Tossing the rope at one of the airborne pegasi, she lassoed the airborne pony by the neck and then gave the rope a sharp tug with her mouth, slamming the pegasus into his comrade. As they crashed to the ground, AJ ran to where they landed and leaped onto their backs, slamming her forehooves onto their heads and knocking them out.

As she stood over the downed pegasi, her ears began to perk at the sound of rustling grass. Raising her head, she looked around as 8 pegasi arose from the grass: two of them wielding crossbows, while the rest held blades in their mouths and attached to their wings. Turning to the green pegasi with the crossbows on their hooves, ready to fire, she ran straight at them. As she ran headlong to the two foes, she had to make a quick swerve to dodge one bolt, but taking one in the shoulder, AJ delivered a crushing right hoof into the foreleg of one of the pegasi and breaking the foreleg along with the crossbow. Using her left hoof to deliver a knockout uppercut to the pony in front of her, she raised up with her hind legs and bucked the pegasus behind her in the chest with an audible crack.

As the pegasus fell backward from the blow, AJ quickly moved to step on the crossbow and break it. This small distraction cost her, however, as three of the pegasi quickly flew in and slashed at her back, cutting deeply. Collapsing to the ground in pain, she swept one of her forehooves to trip the pegasus to her left and rolled back on her feet. Seeing only the three before her reminded her of the three behind her, of which she ducked and jumped out of the way to keep an eye on. Now facing down 6 pegasi, what followed was a series of dodges and attacks by the six warriors, a dance of blades and kicks that moved along the green dance floor.

Though she was dodging most of the hits and was able to deliver some blows back, the damage to her chest, legs, and back were beginning to show. She had to make an opening soon, and one came to her as she ducked under one of the pegasi’s slashes. Grabbing his foreleg with her own, she pulled him into the way of one of the pony’s killing strikes, letting the blade slash across the back and wings of her pony shield. Dropping the downed pegasus, she spun around to buck the opponent straight into the chest, breaking the ribs and making him drop his dagger. Picking the blade up with her mouth, she turned her head and threw the dagger at a flying pegasus and hit him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground.

Panting and feeling the blood trickle from the wounds on her legs, she looked up at the three pegasi in front of her. Defiantly, she put her hoof to her Stetson and straightened it, before raising her left hoof and waved it at her opponents, the smirk on her face never leaving her face. With a yell, the three pegasi leapt through the air at her and, in a few quick blows, took the three down in seconds. Stumbling a little, she walked away from the group, only to be bucked hard on the side by a powerful kick. Slowly getting up, she looked at the opponent who struck her and looked on with horror.
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Rainbow Dash flew quickly towards a large blue pegasus, a scowl on her face as she yelled out, “Lightning!”

The pegasus with the scar across his face winced at hearing his name yelled by the cyan pegasus, “Ah,” he said, rising and feeling the phantom pain of his missing wing, “Welcome. Dash.”

“Fancy seeing you here, dirt head,” Dash said, referring to the brown mane that decorated the stallion’s head, “ and here I thought the emperor only wanted talented flyers in his army.”

Lightning let out a small growl as he put a hoof to the scar on his left side, “I would still be a talented flier, if you didn’t take that away from me.” He said, his tone never changing from the low growl tone.

“Aw quit your whining,” Dash said without a tinge of sympathy, “You got what you deserved for being a big bully.”

“I was only demonstrating the great gift of our people, Dash,” Crack said, getting up and walking in front of Dash, “it’s a better fate than wasting those talents on the freaks and those retarded earth ponies.”

“My friends are not FREAKS!” Dash said, leaping at Crack, only to be punched hard and sent flying.

“Earth ponies are freaks and retards, only good for farming and serving those of us higher on the food chain. Those of us who have some real skills that require real talent to prefect are meant to hoard it over the earth bound creatures, while they… well, I think you can see,” Crack said, walking next to a brown Earth pony stallion. Walking slowly, the one winged pegasus put a hoof to the stallion’s head and moved the mane from the forehead to show a series of stitches, “Allow me to demonstrate. Do you know what these scars are for?”

Rainbow slowly got up, shaking her head to clear the ringing, “N-no.”

“See, he was a member of a failed rebellion a few months back. He had the audacity to think we could be defeated by the likes of them and, as he found out, he was wrong. Now, I couldn’t see us wasting such wonderful talent, so me and a few unicorns went into the soldier’s skulls and cut out some of their frontal lobes. So now, they are what all Earth ponies are meant to be, brainless creatures of the soil that will use their raw strength for the good of the empire. Thus, they have fulfilled their true use in this world. But I think she needs a better example… Crackle, kill.”

“Crackle?” Dash asked as she leaped to the side to avoid the charge.

“Yes, a set of triplets: Snap, Crackle, and Pop.” Lightning said, a smile on his lips, “they were known as the Crispies squadron, back when they had brains.” He chuckled as he watched Dash and the Earth pony begin to wage a quick battle.
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AJ struggled and grunted under the weight of the Earth Pony stallion above her, his forehoof pressed tightly against her neck. With the way her eyes were beginning to droop, she knew that she had only about a minute before she would pass out. Lookin’ down, she adjusted her hind leg in between the mindless stallion’s legs and raised her hind leg right in the stallion’s sensitive spot. Though he did not look like he could realize the pain, it did make him loosen his grip enough for AJ to uppercut his chin and to roll out of the way.

Getting up, she quickly began to try and regain her breath as she watched the stallion paw at the ground, “BUCK!” Her mind yelled to herself as she realized the stallion was going to charge at her. Leaping to the side in time to get out of the stallion’s way, leaving him open for her to spin and deliver a hind leg straight into the stallion’s side. A smile crept to her face as she watched the stallion stumble a bit, but then look on in shock as he turned to her as if the blow did nothing.

Growling, the stallion went up to the orange mare and reared up on his hind hooves. Putting in additional weight into his attack he struck AJ’s shoulders with both of his forehooves and then wailed his hooves against her head. In an attempt to slow down the assault, AJ delivered a hard headbutt to the stallion and then wailed on his head with a series of blows before bucking him hard in the chest. She smiled when she felt something give, but was then shocked to watch him spin around buck AJ hard with his own hind legs and sent her flying through the air.

AJ slowly got back up, holding her right leg to her chest and panted, “What the BUCK is wrong with this guy. Ah hit him in the chest, Ah felt something break in there, Ah HEARD something break in there, but that guy keeps coming!” AJ then watched as the stallion pawed the ground once more, getting ready for another charge. Smirking and spitting out some blood, the young blonde mare stood her ground and waited. Her eyes became focused on the stallion before her, watching him, reading his charge, her lids narrowing as they looked at her target. Slowly her breathing became as place her forehoof back and braced herself. With a roar the stallion charged at her, and in response AJ thrusted her left hoof out as hard as she could into the charging stallion’s skull.

The force of the punch made the stallion reel back and lumber from side to side, until he finally collapsed to the ground. Watching as the stallion lay there motionless, the farmer turned around and began to walk to where Rainbow Dash was fighting, “He was dead already, he was dead already,” she mumbled to herself, tilting her hat over her eyes.
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Rarity stumbled back a bit as she tried to hide behind the little cover she had left. As she did so, she let out a yelp of pain and looked to her left foreleg, her white coat now being stained red with the blood that was oozing out of the two arrow wounds. Looking to the side, she smiled as she could see that her friend and sister were all right while also looking over at how Pinkie was doing.

Pinkie Pie let out another cheer as she fired another round at the two remaining pegasi with her catapult, the third having been already taken out by a shot from both of the mares. A smile on her face came easily to her as she fired her next round, taking out the second pegasus and leaving only one left. Though she had some wounds on her, the pink mare gave a hooves up to her friend. This joyous victory was soon ended by a charging stallion that bucked Pinkie Pie hard into the rock shelter that Twilight had made to protect Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle. Struggling to get up, Pinkie Pie let out a yell as she looked down at her right foreleg and noted that it bent the wrong way, and with an attempt to ignore it she tried to push herself up. However, she did not see the stallion come up behind her, place his hoof behind her head and slam it to the ground hard several times before picking her up and slamming her hard to the ground.

“Pinkie!” Rarity yelled and got ready to shoot, only to see a pegasus aim and fire a shot at Sweetie Belle. Not having time to think, the white mare leapt in front of the shot and took the arrow into the side of her chest. A scowl across her face, Rarity fired a shot into the pegasus’s chest, taking him out of the sky. Turning to the stallion as he continued to wail on Pinkie, she brought out her crossbow and fired a few rounds at him, hitting his chest and stomach when he read up to finish Pinkie off. With a growl, he turned to Rarity and raced to her.

Her eyes widened in horror before she could ready a shot as the stallion punched her hard in the face, and then slammed her head into the ground hard like he did to Pinkie Pie. Lifting her head up, he bucked her hard into the cover wall. Struggling to get up, the stallion bucked her hard into the wall twice before punching her hard in the side of the skull. With a shudder, the white unicorn collapsed to the ground in a heap, her blood spatter along the wall in a circle.

Raising his hoof up for a killing blow, a very loud, “YEEEHA!” Was heard as Pinkie Pie leapt up onto the back of the stallion and wrapped her forehooves around his neck tightly, “Come on, big guy, let’s go for a ride. WHEEEEEE!!” Pinkie squealed with glee as she tightened her grip around the stallion’s neck as he tried to buck her off. Her grip never loosened as the stallion bucked harder and harder, until he finally collapsed in a heap from the stranglehold.

Limping, Pinkie Pie made her way to the unconscious Rarity, a light giggle coming to her, “Hey, Rarity, guess he didn’t,” Pinkie Pie coughed a little as looked at the various bruises and wounds that littered her barrel and stomach, “Want to play.” She then coughed a little, leaving a trail of blood onto her hoof, “Mind if…I sleep here…for a bit?” She asked as she collapsed.
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The ground around and in front of the two unicorns was a destroyed mess of turned up ground, frozen grass, and shattered rocks. Twilight stared down her opponent, panting a little as she could feel the sweat slide down from her brow and down her snoot, tiredness from using so many spells was catching up to her. Her opponent was faring no better, though, as she was breathing hard and had just barely managed to shrug off the effects of some of Twilight’s cold and wind spells that left her hind leg useless and several wounds on her body. Red let out a low growl of frustration and rage as she produced two fireballs on her horn sent them flying forth.

Twilight’s eyes opened wide in utter terror as she saw the flaming orbs coming at her fast, “NO! Stay away!” She screamed as she erected a stone wall in front of her quickly to absorb the damage from the fire balls, turning the walls into two stone pillars. Putting her hoof to her chest in fear, she quickly tried to calm herself down by slowing down her breathing. Turning her head to her opponent, her eyes began to narrow in determination, a glare coming from her. Her eyes then looked up to the two stone pillars and then she smirked as she thought of the spell to use to finish the fight. Pointing her horn towards Red, she began to charge up her mana within her horn to make it crackle and snap with tiny bolts of electricity. Continuing to envelop her horn with a small dome of white electricity, she turned her eyes to Red and focused on her target with a spear like focus.

Red arched an eyebrow at the actions of her purple opponent, trying to find out what she was doing. Her curiosity was soon replaced with fear as she watched her launch a forked lightning bolt from her horn to the two pillars. Once the split lightning bolts connected with the pillars they then leapt from the stone work and back onto Red, hitting her hard on both sides. Red let out a horrifying scream as she felt the lightning surge through her body, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and the fine hairs of her coat snap and burn at the touch of the lightning. Her body began to twitch and writhe in pain as the lightning began to fry and shock her body, making certain parts of her tender flesh suffer painful burns.

After a minute of electrocution, Twilight stopped the spell and freed Red from her trap. Taking a few steps toward the fallen blue unicorn, Twilight began to hope that she didn’t put too much power into her lightning and that she did not kill her opponent. As if to reassure her, Red Rose shot her head up in pure rage and wrapped her horn in a bright cyan flame. In horror, Twilight took several steps back as the unicorn erected a giant wall of fire between her and Twilight. The young violet mare stood there, her body paralyzed at the sight of the blue flame as she heard Red laugh as she ran off, “We’ll meet again, Twily.”

As the fire roared in front of her, Twilight fell to her haunches and watched the flames with wide eyes. She did not move or run as she just watched, tiny shivers going through her as the flames continued to burn itself out.
_____

Dash flew a steps back from her Earth pony opponent, a small trickle of blood coming from the side of her lips as she looked at the pony before her. Though her body was covered in bruises,cuts, and she was currently favoring her left side, she was still ready to go for a few more rounds and as if to show it, she slowly wiped the blood from her lips definitely, smirking. Her magenta eyes looked over her foe and couldn’t help but to appreciate that, for everything that the behemoth had done to her, she had done double to it. The deep cuts, the scars, and the fact that that his left foreleg was now limp was all she needed to see to know that the stallion was hurting, “What the buck is wrong with this guy?” Dash thought to herself as she watched him stumble towards her, “It’s like everything I did to him meant nothing! Just what is this locomitize or whatever thing anyway?”

A sinister smile came to her as she brought up her hoof blade to her face, “Well, let’s see him ignore this.” With that, she launched herself at the lumbering stallion, flying around in a small circle and slashing at him in a rainbow blur of speed and agility. Landing right behind him, she placed her hoofblade to her chest and turned her head over her shoulder, looking at the stallion with a smirk as he collapsed on his now useless leg.

“Beautiful,” Lightning said as he stood up, straightening his wing and extending the wing blade that was attached, “Just as expected of the former commander. It’s just a shame that I am going to now beat you when you are at your weakest, I would’ve loved to fight you when you were healed.”

“Why, is it because you know you could NEVER win otherwise?” Said Dash as she smirked, her hoofblade sheathed,

“Spoken like a true bully. Always having to hide in big bad packs to help you pick on the weak and defenseless.”

“I am not a bully, it’s just that I would prefer to show off the strength and skill-“ He began but was interrupted by Dash.

“Oh, don’t give me that bull. You are only using that as an excuse to hide all of that fear that’s hiding in you. To me, you are still that, “Dash continued, watching the one-winged Pegasus’s eyes flare in pure rage, “weak little colt that ran behind his mommy when he was frightened. The same little colt that had to keep begging the teachers to give him another chance whenever he failed, that grew up to be a monster that wanted everypony to suffer like he did.”

“SHUT THE BUCK UP,” Lightning yelled as he leapt at Dash with wing-blade extended. Dash could only smile as the two’s blades collided with a musical ting. The two struggled with their blade lock as their eyes locked onto one another, each with their own message and desire. What Dash’s were laid back there where she left them, while the stallion before her only had the look of a pony that wanted her dead. The two broke away from their blade lock and stared at each other, wanting to await for the other to present an opening to the other.

… Patience was never Rainbow Dash’s strongpoint…

Not wanting to wait for an opening to present itself, Dash flew at her foe, the two’s blades hitting and striking each other in a rapid volley of blows and strikes. Like a pair of dancers on a green dancefloor, the two ponies began to strike at each other, their swords flashing and gleaming with the lowering of the afternoon sun. It did not take long, only a few seconds at most, for their clash to end and for the two fighters to land on the other side of one another and their backs to one another. Slowly Dash put her hoof to her left leg as it began to trickle a small bit of blood down her cyan leg. Quickly, she turned to the foe she had been fighting with, smiling as she saw the gash on his chest, “There, another scar to add to your collection. Enjoy.”

“ Why you-OOOOOf,” He yelled as a pair of orange hooves bucked him hard in the side, sending him flying to the ground.

“Howdy Rainbow,” AJ said, panting as she walked to her friend, “is this that friend you were talking about?”

“Yeah, kind of a pushover though,” Dash said, smirking. “ I didn’t think he was worth your time so I decided to deal with him.”

AJ watched as the blue stallion got slowly back up, “ Why thank ya kindly, Dash. But you see, he did some horrible things to those stallions and Ah figured Ah need to repay him in full.” With that she straightened up her Stetson and glared down her opponent.

The stallion let out a low growl as he prepared to strike down the two ponies,but then had to turn around quickly when he heard Red Rose calling him, “Sir, we need to retreat. I’m low on mana, most of our team is down, and our stallions are all beaten.”

“But I have the commander at my mercy and I am about to kill her friend,” Lightning said.

“Sir, please, as your right hand mare I beg of you to rethink your desire for revenge,” She said, panting as she looked into her commander’s green eyes, “ I barely was able to weaken Twilight Sparkle and I am afraid that if you fight those two as you are and manage to kill them… Twilight Sparkle might have just enough mana to kill you sir. And I can’t bear to see that happen… SIR.”

“But they-” Lightning began.

“They can wait,” Red said, holding Lightning’s chin in her hooves and looking him straight in the eyes, “if you run you can always have another chance, but if you die then I… I mean the team loses something special. Now I can use what’s left of my mana to teleport us and the team out of here. Then we can regroup and strike again at full strength. Sir, I beg you, please trust me.”

The stallions eye’s soften a little as he looked at the unicorn before him, “Ok. Let’s go.”

With a smile, Red’s horn glowed brightly and teleported the entire group away from the field, leaving it barren except for the cyan mare and her friend. With a grunt of frustration, Dash slammed her hoof to the ground while AJ placed a hoof onto her shoulder. Before they turned to head back to the others, they Twilight yell as she ran up, “Guys!”

“Twilight,” AJ said, looking at her, noting how tired she was, “You alright, sugarcube?”

“That’s what I should be asking you,” Twilight said, looking at the damage that had been done to her two friends, “ you look like you have been trampled.”

Turning her head to where the Pegasus and the unicorn once were, Dash remarked “You should see the other guys.”

Turning to look back towards the road where their friends laid, Twilgiht let out a deep breath, “I hope that the others are ok though. The pegasi… OH MY CELESTIA, PINKIE!” Twilight screamed as she ran to the fallen ponies, laying there in small pools of blood.

“RARITY!” AJ called out as she ran to the two ponies, Dash flying right behind them.

“Sweetie Belle, you ok kid?!” Dash yelled out, hoping that the pegasi didn’t try and kill the little unicorn filly. A sorrowful flute sound played from behind her as the little white filly was playing some music right behind her and hidden next to Rarity’s body, “There you are.” Dash said, a smile on her lips as she landed next to her.

Fearfully, Twilight began to look over the two bodies, “They aren’t… ”the words couldn’t escape her lips.

AJ placed a hoof to the two mare’s necks, “No, they ain't,” AJ said, letting out a sigh of relief, “They are just really badly hurt. What they need is some medical care and a lot of rest.”

“Well, we should be fine then,” Dash said, flying behind the cover and picking up the still sleeping Fluttershy and then looking back at the still sad Sweetie Belle, her eyes watering with tears as she looked up at Twilight, “ Lets’ just wait till Flutters wakes up and have Sweetie over there play her music to heal every pony up.”

“I don’t think the magic is that simple,” Twilight said as she looked to the others, using her magic to create a small sled for the three mares, “First, Fluttershy is going to be in that sleep of hers for the next two days. Second, look at Sweetie Belle,” she then pointed a violet hoof to the little filly as she began to nudge Rarity, trying to wake her up, “is she in any condition to play anything? You told me that her music is empathic.”

“Empah-whadda?” Dash asked, her eyebrow arched.

“It means that her music and magic are tied to her emotions,” Twilight said, “And right now, she is filled with worry and fear for her three friends. Who is to say what might happen if she plays now.”

“Twilight,” AJ said “Sweetie’s been playing since before we got here.”

Her eyes opened wide in shock and horror she ran to the bodies of her two friends and used her magic to look them over. A sigh of relief came to her lips, “It’s all right, the music just put the girls into a magic sleep for the next few days. But, we’ll have to hurry.”

“Why?” AJ asked as she helped Dash to place the three girls into the sled.

“Because in that time, the spell will wear off and then… they’ll-” Twilight stopped herself, closing her eyes to hold back the tears.

“We won’t let that happen!” Dash said, “We can't!”

“We can’t head back to Miasma, it’s two days away, but the next town,” Twilight said as she brought out a map, “Is only a day away.”

With a nod from the two other mares, they quickly began to make their way to the town. The sun beginning to fall over the horizon much like how their own hopes and feelings happiness were falling as opposed to the happiness they had when they had left the town. Now all that was there was a feeling of doubt and despair.

______________________________

In an encampment on top of a hill about a few miles away, Lightning watched the road that led to the town that sat underneath Mt. Shadowfax with a sneer. Though his team was badly beaten, he knew it was just a small bump in the road and the little rebels were soon to die. He softly chuckled to himself at the thought of Rainbow Dash broken, plucking her feathers out of her wings one by one while his ponies would torture and maim the farmgirl, “Well, somepony is happy.” Red said as she walked up to the blue Pegasus and sat down next to him, giving him a cup of the rum that she had bought from the town.

“Just thinking about seeing Dash again, and the things I will do to her when I get my hooves on her,” he then had a look of concern, “How are the ponies?”

“Of our company, we probably only have 10 that would be ready for another fight,” Red said, looking behind her, “and we can’t use our stallions.”

“Shame,” he said, before looking back to Red and rubbing his hoof through her mane, ruffling it, “And how are you?”

“Never better, that mana potion that the town makes did wonders for me,” the blue unicorn said with a smile, “Makes me ready to beat Twilight Sparkle when I see her again.”

“Oh, you have a plan?” Lightning asked.

“Yes,” she said with a smile, “It seems that our little perfect student has a big fear of fire. It looks like she can’t even stand to see a little firebolt.”

“Oooh, you play dirty,” Lightning said as he nuzzled the smaller blue unicorn, “ I guess that is what the witch gets for messing with most powerful unicorn in Equestria.”

“I am not,” Red said with a blush.

“Yes you are, and don’t think I won’t brag about you as much as I can,” Lightning said.

“Oh I expect it,” Rose said as she ran a hoof through her mane, she then looked up at Lightning, “Hey, lightning?”

“Yeah,” Lightning asked.

“Promise me you’ll play it smart against Dash when you face off against her, ok? I don’t want to lose you,” she said.

“I’ll be fine, watch me,” Lightning said, bringing in the mare into a hug and kissing her cheek.

“You better keep your word,” Red said as she looked at Lightning and nuzzle in close to his neck, “Big Brother.”

That night, the wounded travelers found a place to rest that would be safe from any surprise attacks. As Twilight sat down with her three sleeping friends, Sweetie Belle walked up to her and nudged her softly, “Can’t sleep huh?” Twilight asked as she watched the filly shake her head sadly, “I know the feeling, you’re worried about them and… you probably think you made things worse,” she then listen to the filly make a sad confirmation noise on her flute, “Oh, Sweetie, don’t think that. You did wonderfully.”

The little filly looked up with sad eyes, as if she was hoping that Twilight was right.

“Yes, you did. See, when you played your flute, you made a magic spell that was able to encase your sister and Pinkie Pie inside a magical field of energy that responded to the worry that was in your heart. The music saw that you were worried for them and mixed in with the magic to put them in a position where they could be safe enough for somepony to help them. If you didn’t, then the wounds they had would’ve killed them,” the violet mare smiled as Sweetie Belle’s eyes opened up wide in happiness, “ You see Sweetie, you saved them. You’re a hero,” Twilight said as she nuzzled the little filly.

From within the bushes, a pair of yellow eyes looked to the small camp, a smile creeping along the being’s face. Quietly, the being in shadow crept along the shadows to look at where AJ had gotten up and walked away for a bit, then she turned her head to look at Rainbow Dash as she rubbed the forehead of Fluttershy before kissing it. The creature’s eyes then narrowed as she focused on the blue Pegasus.

“Wait, who is it?” Scootaloo asked, on the edge of her bed, “Who’s watching them?”

“Well, I’ll tell you tomorrow squirt,” Dash said, helping the little orange foal into bed, “For now, bed.”

Sunny walked in quickly as Dash was getting up, “Wait, there is something I need to tell Scootaloo.”

“What is it,” Dash asked.

“It’s about her father, Swift Arrow,” Sunny said, looking down as she held the letter in her hoof.

“DAD!?” Scootaloo asked, happily, “What about him? Is he coming home? OH I can’t wait for him to meet Dash. Oh this is going to be-“

“He isn’t coming home,” Sunny said, the tears coming to her eyes uncontrollably.

Scootaloo sat on her bed in shock, “W-what?”

“This is a letter from the Royal Guard, its says that your father went with a small squadron of guards to the desert on a mission,” Sunny said, holding in some of her sobs as much as she could, “he and the others were looking into a rash of disappearances that were happening to some of the trade caravans in the area. They had been keeping contact with Canterlot with communication for the past week that they have been searching; however, the last message that they got was two days ago and they haven’t been able to contact him.”

“You mean… he’s gone?” Scootaloo said, tearing up as Dash held her close and gave her a big hug, rubbing her back.

“Yes, the letter says he’s M.I.A, Missing in Action. But that means-“ Sunny said but was interrupted by her young daughter.

“That he’s just missing and he’ll be back soon right?” Scootaloo said, breaking away from the hug and looking at her mother with wide hopeful eyes, “I mean, just because you are missing doesn’t mean he can’t be found, right?”

Slowly Dash got up and walked to Sunny, grabbing the letter in her hoof, “Right, squirt. This thing is just saying that they don’t know where he is right now. Watch this, in a few days your dad’ll be home with a big grin on his face and wide open arms.”

“Really?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yep, now you head to bed and go to sleep and he might get here even faster.” Then Dash looked to Sunny and tucked her chin, “I promise, he’ll come home… watch me.” And with that, she walked down the stairs and out the door, taking off into the moonlit night.

Author's Note

And with this, the stage has been set for a temporary story teller to take Dashie's place

And only my proofreader, Zoltan the magificent, knows who it will be.

Yes, I wanted to set up a plan like this for Firefly just to show the differences in thinking; shes straight forward, while Shining is being smart. Who is right and who is wrong? I'll leave that up for you.