"Right, we need to find the elements. Now, If I were a creepy alicorn trying to take over Equestria, where would I hide the only things capable of defeating me?" Twilight asked.
"OOH OOOH! I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW!!!!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing up and down.
"Anypony have any Ideas? Anypony?" Twilight asked, ignoring the hyperactive pink earth pony. Everypony, except Pinkie, shook their heads.
"OOOH! ME ME! PICK ME!!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
"Fine, where would you hide them?" Twilight finally gave up.
"Oh, it's not where I would hide them, silly, it's where Back snooty would hide them." Pinkie Pie said happily, whilst bouncing around Twilight.
"Well, where would she hide them then?" Twilight asked, sighing.
"Right there!" Pinkie Exclaimed, a hoof pointing to a window in a fallen tower. On closer inspection, you could tell that there was some sort of stone structure in there, and if you looked even closer, you could see five, individual, spheres each encrusted with a stone gem.
"...uhhh, wow, thanks Pinkie Pie" Twilight was lost for words, she didn't expect the crazy party pony to be able to find something that easily.
"Now, Rainbow, you need to be careful on that wing, I would suggest no flying for several days." Fluttershy's soft voice could be heard from somewhere to the left of Twilight.
"Ughh, I know that Fluttershy. You don't need to remind me." Came Rainbow's reply.
"What in the hay did you do to get like that anyways Rainbow?" Applejack asked.
"Yes. You look absolutely dreadful, you're covered in mud, you look like you've been crawling through the jungle for several hours and you're practically a bush, what with all the brambles stuck in your mane and tail." Rarity was complaining. "Really darling, as son as this is over, you are coming with me and Fluttershy for a spa treatment, no buts."
"WHAT! No way I'm going for a spa treatment! You can plead and complain about how I look as much as you want. I'm not going to the spa."
"I said no buts! You are going to the spa!"
"MAKE ME!"
"Maybe I will"
"TRY IT!"
"GIRLS!" Fluttershy shouted.
"Stop arguin', y'all can decide who's going to the spa and who ain't after all o' this is over." Applejack said
"Yeh, there's no point arguing now because then we would all be saddy waddy and upset with each other and we won't be able to agree on anything and then we might not agree on how to use the elements and if they are supposed to work in harmony and we are all upsetty and non-harmonyey then the elements won't work and then we won't be able to stop Miss pokey smokey and then she will take over Equestria and then it will be eternal night forever and then we will all be under her rule and forced to work for her and her beasts and we will never see the light of day again and then all the plants will shrivel up and die and we won't get enough food because Queen meany will have taken it all, and we will be forced to eat the scraps of food we can find and pony's will start to starve and we will get weaker and with it being eternal night all the timber wolvies and the manticories and the beasties will come after mhphh mmmmpphhh!" Pinkie was cut of short by Applejack's hoof.
"Look, we need ta stay focused on this 'ere task o' ours." Applejack said calmly. "Twilight, how d'ya think were gonna get up there to the elements o' harmony?"
"Well, the tower doesn't look like it's connected to this part of the castle so we're going to have to find another entrance. Rainbow Dash, can you and Fluttershy go round that way and try and find a way in, Applejack, you and Rarity go that way, Pinkie Pie, go and see the townsponies, make sure they're ok and ask them if they can help look for a way into that tower." Twilight ordered. Everypony nodded and started to carry out their orders, the only complaint came from Rarity.
"ew ew eeeww! There is mud everywhere and these brambles are getting stuck in my mane! My coat is being ruined, I'm starting to look as bad as Rainbow Dash, or Applejack after she's finished her chores! As soon as this is over, I'm going for a deluxe luxury spa treatment."
"Ah'm right here ya know!" Applejack shouted.
Twilight just rolled her eyes.
"What are we gonna do Twilight?" Spike asked, he had been silent up until now.
"Well, now that we've gotten rid of those cray ponies, lets try teleporting up there, the paths I sent them down, shouldn't reach anywhere where they can get to the tower and Rainbow Dash can't fly so she can't follow, Fluttershy can fly but I doubt she'd try." Twilight answered.
"So, we just going to leave them here? Searching for something they most likely wont find? I thought you said you would make friends for the princess, isn't that why you told Rainbow to get out of there when the beasts caught us?" pike questioned.
"No, they are not my friends, I said I would make friends but not with these crazy ponies. And I told Rainbow Dash to get out of there because I knew she would come back to rescue us."
"Wait, you only told her to get out so she could save you? Wow, way to go on completing Celestia's task." Spike grumbled.
"Anyway, just hold onto me, I'm going to teleport us up there." Spike jumped onto Twilight's back and held onto her neck, while she cast the spell, unfortunately, Twilight ended up only teleporting herself, and Spike fell to the floor with an 'oof'.
Twilight found herself standing alone in the room with the elements in.
"YES YES!! I DID IT! Now, to get them down." Twilight whispered. After she got all five down she pondered for a minute. "Ummm, how do these work, where is the sixth, and are these the ones we need? Oh, I really wish that I asked Rainbow Dash for more information on these, hmm, how does she know about this stuff, I wouldn't say she was one for studying and she'd probably die before getting caught reading. Maybe I could cast a spell on the elements to make them reveal which ones they are and where the sixth element is." With that, Twilight began to cast a search and reveal spell, as she was halfway through casting, a laugh broke her concentration.
"MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You think that you can defeat me with the elements! Ha, maybe so, but you can't defeat my minions." Seven enormous beasts walked/flew into the room and stood protectively in front of Nightmare moon. "See, they are not destroyed by the elements. And with every passing hour they grow stronger and stronger." As if to emphasize her point, all the beasts glowed a dark blue and grew bigger. Using her magic, Nightmare moon picked up the elements and smashed them into the ground.
"NO! THE ELEMENTS!" Twilight screamed.
"MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Nightmare moon cackled. "You cannot beat me!" with that, she lit up her horn, so did the beasts, well the ones with horns, Twilight could feel magical energy in the area and she knew that they were planning on firing that energy at her. So Twilight lit up her own horn with magical energy. As all the beast fired, Twilight put up a shield, it wasn't very strong, but it held most of the assault back. Quickly, Twilight fired her own beam of magic at Nightmare moon, which was deflected by one of the beasts. Nightmare moon and Twilight both fired a beam at each other, the beams collided and were trying to push each other back. Nightmare moon was easily winning, at the last second, Twilight managed to dodge out of the way, and Nightmare moon's magic beam hit the wall, making it crumble slightly. Twilight charged at Nightmare moon, horn glowing. The beasts and Nightmare moon, charged at Twilight, their horns glowing. Just when the beasts fired, Twilight teleported to behind Nightmare moon and shot a beam of magic at her. This caught her off guard and Nightmare moon was zapped in the back. Nightmare moon got back up and charged her horn, but she wasn't casting another spell, she seemed to be fueling the beasts energy. Every beast in the room was glowing dark blue and getting bigger. In a few seconds, each beast was about twice the size they were, a few more seconds and they were twice as big again. Now, they were huge, at least ten times bigger than the largest manticore. One of the beasts powered up something in their paw, it seemed to be a fire ball, another was powering something up in their mouth, an, an ice ball. All around Twilight, the beasts were summoning up a natural element each and charging it, ready to fire. Lastly, Nightmare moon was standing at the front, her horn charged and a huge orb of dark energy hovering just above it. Twilight braced herself and put up a shield in front of her. She scrunched her eyes closed and turned her head away ready for her demise. But her demise never came, she had heard the beasts and Nightmare moon fire, she had heard the breaking of her shield, but she didn't feel the agonizing pain. Actually, now that she thought about it, she had felt something grab her, but she hadn't really processed that information.
"You alright sugarcube?" Came a voice she did and did not want to hear.
"Yeh, you were just standing there ready to take you're beating! Why didn't you kick Black Snooty's big moon butt?" Came the voice of the annoying cotton candy pony that she, again, did and did not want to hear.
"Uhh, Egghead, hello. Equestria to Egghead. You there?" Came another voice Twilight dreaded to hear yet felt so much comfort around.
"Ughh, yeh, I'm here. What happened? And how did you guys get here?" Twilight asked, trying not to grit her teeth.
"Oh, umm, Spike told us everything, umm, sorry. If you don't want us here, we can just go." Fluttershy said.
"No no, it's ok. Really. Thank you for coming girls, but, how did you get here?"
"Dash, 'n' Flutters found a bridge that lead us into this 'ere tower." Applejack said.
"Right, and where are we?" Twilight asked.
"We're in some room of the castle darling." Rarity said.
"Where's Nightmare moon?"
"Upstairs looking for us, she was really mad when we took you, she screamed!" Pinkie Pie bounced around the room.
"Well, lets get back to her, but first we need a plan." Twilight decided. Suddenly there was an almighty crash and a roar of displeasure that came from above them as the ceiling started to collapse.
"Better think o' one quick then Twi! Nightmare moon's found us!" Applejack shouted, running out of the way of the debris.
"Sneaky, Twilight Sparkle, but I've found you now!" Nightmare moon cackled. Then Nightmare moon flared up her horn and encased the main 6 and Spike in a dark blue magical dome. "Try and find you're way out of here, while I go and take the throne!"
"NOOOOO!" Twilight screamed, desperately trying to escape but to no avail. It was dark inside the dome, Twilight could hear her friends screaming and shouting. "EVERYPONY! CALM DOWN!"
"T-T-Twilight? umm W-what just h-hap-p-p-pened?" Fluttershy managed to stutter out after she stopped screaming. Everypony was calmer now, well, they were calm until Rarity started screaming her head off and pointing at something in the darkness. Everypony looked in her direction, in front of her was a glowing, blue, face. It was the face of a timber wolf, it's mouth open, ready to snap shut on it's prey. Then, Fluttershy screamed and was pointing at another face. Again, one of a timber wolf. Applejack screamed next and then Rainbow Dash. The faces seemed to be closing in on them, pushing them back against one another. Then they all heard laughing. They turned their heads and saw Pinkie Pie seemingly having a conversation with the timber wolf face, and even telling jokes.
"PINKIE??!!" Everypony shouted.
"What in tarnation are ya doin?" Applejack asked, a bit frightened.
"Silly, Applejack. They just wanna have a bit of a laugh is all!" With that, Pinkie Pie started laughing uncontrollably whilst telling ridiculously bad jokes. "What kind of train eats to much? ... A CHEW CHEW TRAIN!!" Everypony let out a groan before laughing, "Knock Knock?"
"Who's there?" Rainbow Dash asked
"Exam"
"Exam who?"
"Exam and chips! *Pinkie goes into fits of laughter* Ok, ok, Three stallions are walking down the road, two of them walked into a bar .. the third ducked." During all of this, the timber wolf faces had started to disappear with all the laughing. "Right, ok, one more, What's the difference between a piano, a tuna and a pot of glue?"
"I, heh, don't know Pinkie. What is the difference?" Twilight asked, trying to calm herself.
"Well, you can tuna piano, but you can't piano a tuna!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Twilight was laughing quite hard now, she didn't know why, these jokes weren't even some of the best jokes, it was just something about Pinkie that made Twilight laugh. "You forgot the glue. What about that?"
"Oh, I knew you'd get stuck there, Twilight!" Everypony laughed. It took a few moments but the implications finally got to Twilight and she burst out laughing with everypony else. A few minutes had passed but finally, everypony was calm again.
"That was fun!" Pinkie shouted bouncing up and down. "Too bad that those timber wolf faces had to leave, I didn't even get to finish my conversation with Paul!" Nopony questioned who Paul was.
"So, Twilight. Any idea how to get out?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Sorry Rainbow, I don't. I guess I could try casting a counter spell, but for that to work I need to know what spells Nightmare moon used."
"I could help trying to figure that out darling." Rarity suggested. "I'm not brilliant with magic, but I do know the basics on counter spells."
"Thanks Rarity, that would be great! Now, let's see, can you try and figure out what spell cast the dome? I'm going to see if I can find out how many spells she cast." Twilight asked.
"Certainly darling" Rarity replied, already casting the appropriate spell.
"What do we do?" Rainbow Dash asked
"Umm, just, search around, see if you can figure out how big this place is, or find any weak spots in the walls." Twilight ordered.
"ON IT!" Rainbow said, leaping into action and flying upwards. She had expected to find the ceiling in a matter of seconds, but after several minutes, she was still going. She looked down, it was completely dark. "Twilight??" she called out as loudly as she could. No response came. "Anypony??" She shouted. Still no response.
--
After Rainbow Dash flew off, Applejack ran off towards her right. She couldn't see any walls, just darkness, but she assumed that the sides of the dome weren't too far away. Oh how wrong she was. She had only been running for a few minutes but was already starting to feel tired. "Maybe its just that ah was walkin for so long earlier." She said aloud to herself. "Right, I'll turn back an' let Twi know about how far this 'ere dome we're stuck in goes."
--
Pinkie Pie bounced of in the opposite direction to Applejack, not really trying to be fast. She was humming to herself and had a gigantic smile on her face. Then, she noticed that one of the timber wolf faces from earlier was following her. "HI PAUL! You wanna hear some more jokes?" The timber wolf face nodded. "OK, Knock knock." The timber wolf head shrugged,(well, shrugged as much as a head can) to say
'Who's there'.
"Apple!" Again, the timber wolf head shrugged,
'Apple who'
"Knock knock."
'who's there?' Pinkie Pie did not question the voices suddenly talking, just as long as they found her jokes funny.
"Apple!"
'Apple who?'
"Knock knock!"
'Who's there?'
"Apple!"
'Apple who?'
"Knock knock."
'Who's there?'
"Apple!"
'Apple who?'
"Knock knock."
'Who's there?'
"Orange!"
'Orange who?'
"Orange you glad I got rid of all those Apples!" Pinkie laughed.
'What's wrong with Apples?' Came Applejack's voice 'Ah'm an Apple! If y'all don't like Apples y'all can say it t' ma face!'
"No nonononono! That's not what I meant! It's a joke! Applejack, I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" Pinkie Pie shouted, now feeling bad.
'Ah don't think ah want to. y'all insulted mah family! In fact, ah don't think ah wanna be you're friend anymore.' Applejack's voice came again
"I'm sorry!" tears began to well up in Pinkies eyes. She didn't want Applejack to stop being her friend. "I can make it up to you! It was only a joke, honest! I didn't say anything bad about apples, just that we, 'hypothetically', had a lot of them!" Pinkie Exclaimed. "I Pinkie Promise that I'll make it up to you! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Pinkie sang whilst doing the appropriate hoof movements. She even stuck a real cupcake in her eye. The voice was a bit put out by this and decided to leave before the mare suddenly pulled out her party canon. Just then Pinkie decided what the best course of action would be at that moment.
"I KNOW! I'LL THROW A PARTY! RIGHT HERE! IN THIS DOME! IT'S THE BEST TIME AND PLACE!" As she said it, Pinkie Pie pulled out her party canon and fired it into the air sending out a tonne of confetti, streamers, candy and everything else you would find at a party. The voice decided to move on swiftly.
--
Fluttershy decided that she would go to her 'north' to the left of where Applejack went, and to the Right of where Pinkie Pie went. She started flying in that direction, hoping that the edge of the dome was near and that she wouldn't be in the dark too long. However, she was still flying in the same direction several minutes after leaving, she was getting worried now, she was all alone in the dark. Nopony could hear her screams when something frightened her, and if they could, they weren't answering.
--
Spike decided to stay with Twilight, she might need him.
--
Rainbow Dash, after a few more minutes of flying, heard a voice.
'You can't make it!' The voice hissed.
"Wha- Yeh I can!" Rainbow Dash slowed down a little.
'No, yo~ou ca~an't!' The voice sang
"I can to!" Rainbow retorted, Rainbow slowed a little more.
'No, you can't. Because if you could, then you would have gotten there by now.'
"I can make it!" Rainbow slowed down even further, though she didn't notice her deceleration.
'No, you can't, you're just worthless, you can't make it! Nopony has ever even given the slightest thought to you being a wonderbolt! You'll never get into the wonderbolts. You're too lazy, too arrogant, too proud of yourself, and that is what's stopping you. If you tried harder, you would have stopped your race and caught Fluttershy all those years ago.'
"Fluttershy was fine and I-" Rainbow was cut off by the voice.
'You didn't know she would be at the time, DID you? NO! You are too arrogant, to selfish, you don't deserve to have Fluttershy as your friend. She is much to kind and innocent. You will never be good enough to get into the wonderbolts and you know it! Everypony knows it! Nopony believes in you! They never did!'
"NO! I didn't know Fluttershy had fallen! And I will get into the wonderbolts! I will get to the top of this place!" Rainbow was starting to lose confidence, in truth, she had actually noticed Fluttershy falling, but she carried on because she assumed Fluttershy would catch herself. After all, Fluttershy could actually fly, just not very well. Plus, if she had stopped to catch Fluttershy then: one, She might not have caught her in time. Two, either Hoops or Dumbbell would have won the race and would have carried on teasing both fillies, and three, Fluttershy might have actually caught herself proving Dash's attempt to be pointless.
'You did know Fluttershy fell, you just didn't want to lose did you? You wanted to be the best flyer ever, didn't you! Well, your ego stops that from ever happening. Your ego will forever be too big, and eventually nopony will like you. Your friends already don't they just pretend to. They don't like hanging around with you, they just do, because they cant get away from you. None of them like you! Do you know what they do as soon as you leave? They let out a sigh of relief and say "Thank Celestia she's gone." Don't try to deny it, you know it's true. You've seen the way they look at you whenever you drop by, whenever you turn up. Why do you think Twilight got you to leave when my minions pounced on you? Hmm? It was to see if you would. And guess what! You did! You abandoned your "friends" in their time of need!'
"No! Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight and Spike are all my friends! They have to be! They are-they--are they?" Rainbow Dash had come to a complete stop now, tears welled up in her eyes. What if they weren't her friends. What if this voice was correct. It was correct about a lot of things already, and she had seen the way ponies look at her when she say's Hi.
'Are they your friends though, I just gave you all the reasoning you need to prove that they aren't. When have they ever offered to do something for you? Hmm? How many times have they done that? They haven't have they? No! But when have they asked you for something? You've lost track on all the times they've asked, how many times Applejack has requested specific weather for her farm, how many times Rarity has asked for you to be a model for her, all the times Pinkie Pie has asked you to help her with her pranks, that may sound fun, but it's pretty obvious that Pinkie is just using you so she can have fun. And don't get me started on Fluttershy, she has requested all sorts of things from you! But, they are just examples of why they aren't your friend, how about examples of why you aren't their friend? You've never offered to do something for them have you? Sure, you may not really ask for much from them but that's just the point, you never ask. You just do. They don't like you and they have a lot of good reasons as to why they don't. So, why not make some new friends. Friends who do like you and don't care if you're arrogant or big-headed. Friends like me. I believe that you can, I believe that you can make it. Prove me right Rainbow Dash. Show me you can make it to the top and I will be your friend. I will grant you anything you want and you'll get a chance to show everypony else that you can.' The voice egged.
Rainbow Dash had tears stained onto her fur. This voice was right, nopony believed in her. Hay, nopony believed that she could do a sonic Rainboom, even if they had seen her pull it off. The voice was convincing, it believed in her, it wanted her to prove herself, it wanted to be her friend. While everypony else just pretended to be her friend this voice actually wanted to be her friend. And, it had said that it could give her the chance to prove herself to everypony. To prove that she could do all those things. Rainbow Dash decided that she would show that she could get to the top and so darted upwards with an even greater speed than before, to prove everypony wrong. She would make friends with this voice and leave everypony who never believed in her, never liked her, never wanted to be her friend, just wanted to boost their business, or to prove that they were better with friendly competitions, or have fun, behind. Wait, why was she in this dome again?
--
Applejack had decided to turn back after several more minutes of running. She couldn't keep running for much longer, she was far too tired. Soon, Twilight and Rarity came into view. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were with them, Fluttershy just flying down to meet them too. "Twilight!" Applejack called. "Twilight, this place goes on forever!"
'Does not!' Rainbow Dash shouted, for some reason, her voice sounded slightly off. 'I got to the ceiling in a matter of minutes, it's just larger than we thought. You must have been slacking Applesmack! Either that or you're lying!'
"This 'ere dome does go on forever RD! And Don't accuse me o' lyin! Ah'd never do that!" Applejack retorted, hurt. Rainbow Dash had never accused Applejack of lying before, nor had she accused her of slacking.
'Well you must have done Applejack, because Me and Dashie both found the sides of this dome!' Pinkie Pie said.
'Yes, and, umm, I found the edge too.' Fluttershy stated.
"But ah ain't lyin! Ah'm tellin the truth!" Applejack shouted. She realized that all of her friends voices sounded rather odd, but she couldn't tell why.
'Yeh you are lying! And to prove it, I'll go the way you come from and find the edge!' Rainbow Dash shouted in Applejacks face before shooting off in the direction Applejack had come. In a few minutes a soft clang was heard and a few minutes later Rainbow Dash came back.
'I told You I'd find the edge! I even whacked it just so you could hear! You must have been either slacking or lying!' Rainbow Dash accused.
'Maybe she was doing both!' Pinkie Pie shouted
'Maybe Rarity could make Applejack tell the truth, you know, with some frilly dresses, some make up and possibly a spa treatment!' Twilight exclaimed.
'That would be awesome darling!' Came Rarity's reply. Wait a minute... Did Rarity just say 'Awesome?' Applejack shook her head, no, she couldn't have, Rarity would never say that. But then Rainbow would never accuse Applejack of lying, maybe once or twice when they first met, but, now? And wouldn't Pinkie have suggested they throw a party by now? And, where's Spike? Also, weren't Rarity and Twilight casting some weird spells trying to get them out of there?
'I know, we could use this one, it's a gorgeous shade of pink, it has frills and laces and it even comes with a tiara!' could-be-Rarity exclaimed, holding out a bright pink frilly dress with her magic.
"Who are y'all?" Applejack asked.
'What do you mean, who are we?' could-be-Rainbow Dash asked.
'Yeh, we're your friends. Who else would we be?' Could-be-Twilight said.
"No y'all aint! Rarity would never say 'Awesome' in 'er life! Rainbow would never accuse me of lyin', at least, not anymore. Pinkie would've probably suggested that we have a party by now, Spike's missin and were'nt you and Rarity casting some sort o' spell earlier?" Applejack said. "Y'all aint mah friends! Y'all are just in mah head!"
'Clever' A new voice said, and all Applejack's 'friends' disappeared. 'You have figured out that they weren't your friends, but can you find where they actually are?' The voice said before fading away, laughing.