After about half an hour, Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie had finally left the cornfields and entered a bright and airy forest. The trees mostly resembled the ones back in the world Twilight had left, however there were a few that were completely new to her. She asked Pinkie about them.
"Sorry, I don't know," the scarecrow replied, sadly. "I've spent my whole life in that cornfield. Everything else I learned from ponies who happen to pass through it, and like I said they don't stay long enough to talk to me. When I have a brain I'm sure I'll know everything about these trees and tell you."
"Thanks, Pinkie," said Twilight, "but I don't think that's how-" A low rumble from her stomach interrupted her. "Excuse me." She rummaged in her bag for something to eat, only to it completely devoid of anything edible.
"Spike! You ate all the food!"
"Sorry," said Spike, looking guilty. "I get hungry when I'm tired, or transported to magical lands, or threatened by witches."
Twilight gave the biggest eye roll she could muster, and then looked around. There was a group of apple trees to the left, and each were laden with luscious, bright red fruit. Each of them shone like rubies in the sun.
"That's fortunate." Twilight approached the nearest tree and picked on of the apples with her magic. Just as she was about to taste it, a branch smacked it away from her face.
"What's the big idea?" said a gruff voice coming from the tree's mouth.
"Sorry, I was just so hungry and-" Twilight shook her wildly and looked at the tree again. Situated in the middle of the trunk was a face. "You can talk?!"
"Magic!" said Pinkie Pie mysteriously, waving her front legs around in a whimsical manner.
"Yeah, we can talk," replied the tree, "and we don't appreciate ponies taking our apples."
The other trees all voiced their agreement.
Twilight tried to reason with them. "But apples are supposed to be taken away and eaten. That way the seeds are exposed and planted, so more apple trees can grow and spread across the land. It's part of your reproductive cycle."
"Huh. We didn't think about that, Ted," said one of the apple trees.
"Shut up!" the first one retorted. He snatched one of his apples and threw it at Twilight. "Go away!"
"Ow!" Twilight grabbed her shoulder where the apple struck.
"Let's get out of here!" yelled Spike, his hands over his head as he too was pelted with apples.
"Hang on!" Pinkie grabbed Twilight's bag and held it open in front of them like a shield, catching all the apples that came their way. Once the bag was full, she closed and raced down the path, the other two running after her.
Once they were out of range, they stopped to catch their breath.
"Good thinking, Pinkie," said Twilight, catching the apple Pinkie tossed to her.
"Hey," called Spike, a little way ahead. "What's this?"
The mares reached Spike who was prodding a blue metallic statue in the shape of a pegasus mare with a rainbow mane and tail. It was leaning against a tree, and the amount of rust upon it suggested it had been abandoned years ago.
"Strange," said Twilight, tapping the statue's head.
"Urrrl kin."
All three of them gasped when they heard the sound. It seemed to have come from the statue.
"What the-?"
"Urrrl kin."
"She's saying 'oil can'," said Pinkie. "I speak muffled," she explained when Twilight raised an eyebrow.
They looked around and saw an oil can on the ground a few steps away. Spike retrieved it. "I guess she means this."
The oil can was quickly put to work, lubricating the metal mare's legs, wings, neck, jaw and any other joints they could find. Gradually the metal loosened, and the statue stretched out every inch of her body.
"Aah!" She opened her mouth to its fullest extent. "Thanks a lot. I thought that I would never move again." She flapped her wings vigorously and hovered a few feet above the ground. "It feels so good to be able to fly again! I'm Rainbow Dash, the Tin Woodspony."
"I'm Twilight, and this is Spike and Pinkie Pie." Twilight gestured to each member of their group in turn. "What happened to you?"
"I was practising some of my moves," explained Rainbow Dash, performing a few somersaults to demonstrate, "and then I saw somepony on the path, watching me. I decided to show 'em my best stunts, and she seemed impressed. We talked a bit about how awesome I am, but after a few minutes she got kinda...annoyed. I asked her why and she said that I was arrogant." The pegasus landed and looked downwards. "I tried to brush it off, but I started believing her. I thought about other times where I was kinda self-absorbed, and I felt a pain in my chest. Not a normal kind of pain. More like...something was missing. I tapped myself a few times and realised that I was hollow. That I didn't have a heart. It explained why I'm not so good at emotional stuff, why I'm not so considerate of others, and why I don't have any friends." She slumped onto the ground. "I guess I got so bummed out I didn't notice that I was rusting."
Pinkie Pie, who had been struggling not to cry during this tale, suddenly let out two fountains of tears from her eyes and wailed uncontrollably. "That is so sad!"
"Yeah," agreed Spike. "I thought this was supposed to be a comedy."
Twilight walked to Rainbow Dash's side and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't worry. You have friends now. You can come with us to the Emerald City."
"We're gonna see the Wizard!" exclaimed Pinkie, who had now perked up. "She's gonna get me a brain!"
"The Wizard?" asked Rainbow Dash, curiously. "Maybe she could get me a heart!"
"Then what're we waiting for?!" Pinkie Pie immediately started bouncing again down the yellow brick road.
"You're gonna have to get used to that," Twilight told Rainbow Dash as she put the oil can into her bag.
"I don't think I'm used to it yet," muttered Spike.
"This is gonna be sweet!" Rainbow Dash took to the air again and started following Pinkie. "Come on, you two!"
All four were in high spirits when they managed to catch up with each other. They swapped back stories and discussed what the Emerald City would be like.
"Duh!" said Pinkie Pie. "Made of emeralds, of course!"
"Sounds delicious," sighed Spike, licking his lips.
"Is the poor baby dragon hungry?"
They stopped at the new voice. Then, right in front of them, a burst of green flame appeared then settled to reveal Chrysalis, cackling cheerfully.
"I see you've made some friends." She sneered at Twilight. "Unfortunately they won't be able to help you, and if they knew what was good for them they wouldn't try to anyway."
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash flew higher and raised her hooves threateningly. "You don't look so tough!"
A beam of green light narrowly missed her, and she flew back down again.
"If you do try and help this girl," said Chrysalis, addressing Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, "you will be taken care of just like her." She pointed at Pinkie. "You will be thrown into my fireplace." She pointed at Rainbow Dash. "And you will be melted down into paperweights. Have fun on your little trip!" She cackled again as another burst of green fire enveloped her and disappeared.
"That's the witch that's after you?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Yikes."
"What was the point of that?" asked Spike. "She didn't really do anything."
"It's probably so the audience doesn't forget about her," answered Twilight.
"Who could forget that?" Pinkie Pie gestured wildly at were the witch had just been. "Well, no matter how scary she is, I'm still gonna help ya, Twilight."
"Me too," said Rainbow Dash. "I'm not gonna let her stop us from meeting the Wizard!"
"Thank you so much," replied Twilight, her spirits lifted again. "I'm sure together we'll get through this."
"Woohoo!" cheered Pinkie. "Weeeee'reeeeee-"
"This isn't a musical, remember," Spike told her.
"Oops. Sorry!"