Applejack and Pinkie Pie made their way back to the hotel, taking the elevator to the floor the room they were sharing was on. The two of them went into their room and laid in the separate beds, Applejack yawned tiredly and looked at Pinkie Pie.
"Thanks for making my birthday so much fun, Pinkie Pie," said Applejack smiling.
Pinkie Pie smiled back to Applejack and yawned herself "You're welcome, AJ! I always do my best to make sure my best friends have the most super fun birthdays!" said Pinkie Pie.
Applejack nodded in agreement “You sure do a good job of It Pinkie.” Applejack turning to look out the window after hearing some thunder "Looks like we're in for a loud and stormy night Pinkie, you’re not afraid of thunder are you?" asked Applejack.
Pinkie Pie waved a hoof dismissively "Don't be silly, I haven't been scared of thunder since I was a filly!" said Pinkie Pie smiling slightly nervously. A lightning bolt struck suddenly near the outside of the hotel turning out the lights in the entire building, Pinkie Pie shrieking in response and darting under her bed sheets, the sheets and bed shaking as she shook.
"Relax Pinkie it's just a little thunder," said Applejack squinting to see Pinkie hiding under the sheets in the dark. Another lightning bolt struck nearby lighting up their room in a flash of light, to their surprise another pony was in the room now standing in front of the door.
"You should both be afraid, very afraid in fact," said King Sombra. Lighting up the room now with his magic.
"King Sombra! I thought we dealt with you at the Crystal Empire!?" said Applejack now with a scared look herself.
Pinkie Pie poking out her head now from the sheets she was under "Hey it’s that meanie head Sombra again!" said Pinkie Pie shaking scared still.
"HI! My unicorn horn survived, and was sent flying into the darkness of this city where it thrived and I was able to rise again! Now you don't have the Crystal Heart or your friends to stop me!" said King Sombra laughing maniacally. His horn glowing with his dark magic and pointing it at Pinkie Pie, zapping her with it. Causing Pinkies body to start being enveloped in crystal.
"Applejack run!" cried out Pinkie Pie before her whole body was encased in crystal.
"Pinkie!" shouted Applejack darting out of her bed and making a run to the window, having no choice being her only escape now.
"Oh this ought to be good, going to jump out the window and save me the trouble? How thoughtful of you," said King Sombra grinning, deciding to watch as Applejack jumped out the window.
"Help!" shouted Applejack as she fell, nothing to save her from hitting the pavement. Applejack was falling fast covering her eyes with her fore hooves as the pavement was getting closer, until, she was saved by a familiar sounding pony.
"Hey silly, you're not a pegasus! You shouldn't be jumping out of windows like that!" said the pegasus holding onto Applejack before gently setting her down on the pavement.
Applejack turned to the pegasus looking stupefied she saw the white mare with a yellow mane and tail looking like the spitting image of Pinkie Pie as a pegasus. "Uh, Pinkie Pie?" asked Applejack.
The pegasus looked confused and shook her head "Who me? I’m Surprise silly! Who are you?" said Surprise smiling at Applejack.
"I'm Applejack, you sure look a whole lot like my friend Pinkie," said Applejack snapping back to the current situation "Oh no Pinkie! She got turned into a crystal by King Sombra!" Applejack turning her head to look back up to the window she had jumped out of.
"Oh! Oh! Can we be friends too!? Can we pleeease!? Also I don’t know who this King Sombrero guy is but he sure sounds like a big ole meanie head! I wonder if he wears a big ole meanie hat and a big ole meanie mustache," said Surprise giggling.
Applejack giggled slightly before getting back to being serious "Uh sure thing sugarcube we can be friends, listen though I need your help, my friend Pinkie Pie got turned into a crystal and I bet that King Sombra is planning on making all of Manehattan into his slaves!" said Applejack.
Surprise gasped in shock "Not Manehattan! It’s my most favorite of places to go on vacation! But what can we can do to stop him?" asked Surprise.
Applejack thought for a while before getting an idea "I've got it! We need the Elements of Harmony to defeat him, but there's no way we can make them work now, even if we did go back to ponyville and get the others Pinkie Pie is stuck as a crystal!" said Applejack sighing with dismay.
Surprise looked curious at the mention of the elements “Hey I know what those are! Pinkie Pie is the element of laughter right?” she asked.
Applejack nodded her head and said “That’s right, I’m honesty, Rainbow Dash is loyalty, Fluttershy is kindness, Rarity is generosity and Twilight is magic. You seem like you could represent the element of laughter yourself, but I don’t know anypony else around here that could take the others places let alone Twilights,” She sighed and looked solemnly at the ground.
Surprise had to think hard about this, she plopped her rear on the ground and propped her chin up with a hoof “Elements…elements…” and then it hit her “Hey! I know some ponies that might be able to help, but would we even be able to summon the elements?” she asked looking concerned at Applejack.
Applejack shrugged she was unsure “I honestly don’t know sugarcube, but we don’t have much time to figure that out either. Fact is I know for a fact Sombra ain’t going to let nopony leave especially not me. If you think you might know some other ponies around here that can represent an element of harmony than we best find them before Sombra does,” said Applejack.
Surprise nodding in agreement and looked around in the sky for a moment then smiled “You betcha! I know where one is already, I was flying with Spitfire when I saw you jump out of your window. I thought you were trying to fly too but then I saw you didn't have wings so I knew something wasn't right!” said Surprise
Applejack smiled and said “Well I sure do appreciate you rescuing me like that sugarcube, but you know I can’t fly so you’re going to need to fly up there and find your friend,” Applejack raising a hoof up to point to the sky briefly.
Surprise giggled and smiled “Oh right! Silly me, I’ll have to go catch up with her. We should meet up somewhere safe later, there’s a secret place we can meet at southern end of the city. You’ll see a sun and moon banner on the wall there, just knock with your hoof twice and say applesauce!” said Surprise.
Applejack nodded confidently “I’ll be there for sure, but who are these other ponies that you mentioned earlier that might be able to help? We’ll have to find them and get to them to your safe place,” said Applejack.
Surprise looked thoughtful for a moment before responding “Well there’s me, Spitfire, Lyra, Cheerilee, you and Trixie,” said Surprise.
Applejack looked at Surprise with a mix of confusion and some anger “Did you say Trixie?! That egotistical unicorn ain’t got nothing on her mind besides how “great and powerful” she is. There’s no way Trixie would be of any help to us sugarcube,” said Applejack calming down some after her brief rant.
Surprise smiled softly and said “That may be true AJ but she’s the only unicorn I know here that shows her magic abilities. Besides she’s been doing a lot of magic shows here in Manehattan and I think deep down she might really want to have some friends for a change,” Surprise putting a hoof on Applejacks shoulder “It’s the only choice we have, and if it’s one thing Trixie will hate is the fact that some other powerful unicorn is trying to steal her fans,” Surprise giggled some.
Applejack giggled as well and smiled at Surprise “Well I guess we don’t have much of a choice either way sugarcube, you should go find Spitfire and Trixie. I’m sure I can manage to find Lyra and Cheerilee around here somewhere and we can all meet up at your safe spot in a few hours. Just try to keep Trixie from leaving on her own to fight Sombra, knowing her she’ll try to take him on by herself,” Applejack rolled her eyes and grunted softly.
Surprise waved her hoof dismissively and said “Don’t worry AJ I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave before you arrive with Lyra and Cheerilee so we can all face that big meanie head Sasquatch!”
Applejack laughed at Surprise “That’s Sombra, Surprise, but we best get going. Don’t have time to be standing here and chatting while he’s on the loose. I’ll see you later sugarcube,” said Applejack who smiled and waved before turning to start trotting quickly down the alley towards the street.
Surprise flew up and shouted “Whatever, don’t worry I won’t let Samba get any of my friends!” she waved in Applejacks direction while watching her run off, Surprise turning around to fly off in the other direction to find Spitfire.
As Applejack ran down the alley towards the street she heard the sound of a trashcan hitting the ground. She turned around quickly and shouted “Who’s there!” she stood firmly in place looking cautiously where the trashcan had fallen. A black cat popped its head out from the can and meowed at Applejack. Applejack sighed with relief at that hoping that she hadn't run into Sombra already “You shouldn't scare a pony like that little critter,” she shook her head. Applejack turning around to trot off quickly again down the alley.
Once Applejack had gotten a good distance away from where the trashcan had fallen over the black cat disappeared into the shadows of the alley. The glowing evil eyes of Sombra appearing in the shadows “So that’s their little plan is it? Think they can destroy me?! Ha! Not this time, I’ll make sure those little ponies don’t get in my way ever again!” he announced turning his horn to the trashcan and blasting it into ashes then laughing maniacally.