Chapter 2

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A few years had passed since Tia had finished University, She was a young mare now and her little sister was just starting College. The war against the griffons was over and a peace treaty had been declared. The battle against king Sombre had been won, but at a cost, the Crystal empire had been lost, according to the books on the Crystal empire, this had happened every thousand years, they never found a way to defeat king Sombre completely. The war against the Chaos was still going though. It was a tough battle.

Tia had been born a few years after the war had started, and on that day a solar eclipse had occurred, giving the ponies of Equestria hope. Luna had been born a few years after, on that night, a lunar eclipse had occurred, this gave the Chaos hope. Tia's parents had never admitted to Luna that she was something that was considered evil, they had always though that the signs were wrong and she did not represent the chaos. They had never admitted it to Tia either, she had just overheard them talking about it. Tia knew that one day, she would have to go against her sister in a battle of good and evil, but she hoped that day would never come.

At college, Luna was studying magic, she had always wanted to be good with magic, but since her parents died fighting the Chaos, and with her sister away all the time, she had no-one to teach her. She was slacking in class, everypony else could use their magic well and had already moved on to the extreme advanced spells, Luna, however, was still learning basics of advanced, and was struggling. She was lucky enough to have made it through the examining board. If she had gotten a lower score than she had, then she would have had to study something else. All her class-mates laughed at her as she, once again, failed to do a teleportation spell. There were 5 other students in her class. Only the unicorns who could perform advanced magic were allowed in and to actually have the chance of doing the test, you had to be able to perform basic stuff with so much ease that you could lift an Ursa minor for 15 seconds! The examining board for the test didn't actually have an Ursa minor so they used weights to substitute for the weight. Luna had passed this one well, she could manage to pick up the weights easily and she could hold it for 30 seconds, that was double the time! But she felt nauseated afterwards. The actual exam, she had passed with a stroke of luck. She was told that all she had to do, was teleport from one side of the room to the other, pick up the egg and teleport back to the other side with the egg. Luna had, after many times of trying, managed to teleport herself to the other side of the room and pick up the egg. She could not however teleport back. She had kept trying but she found herself unable. In that era, the judges were allowed to be as harsh as they wanted, as these judges liked to be mean. They laughed at her trying to wind her up. They called her useless and unwanted. All these comments had hurt Luna, and she found it difficult to suppress her feelings. She did not want to give them the satisfaction of making her mad. It happens to be that a unicorns magic can, very rarely, be channeled in certain ways depending on the emotion of the unicorn. At that time, Luna's magic was being channeled by her anger. All her anger that she was keeping bottled in came pouring out of her horn as magic. It was only a small burst of magic, but it was still enough to teleport her back to the other side of the room and hatch the egg. All the judges stopped trying to wind her up and stared at the young mare who had managed to finally teleport herself after many times of trying. She had made it through and she was very pleased. Though afterwards, she found that she still struggled with her magic.

Tia looked at Philomena. Philomena was a phoenix, she was the phoenix that Luna had hatched from the egg during her entrance exam. Luna had given her to Tia on her birthday as a present. Tia said goodbye to Philomena and set out to go to work. Tia worked as a guard. She went round Ponyville anytime there was an attack and set up as a defense around a ponies home, during the attack, she had to defend that home with her life. She learned about the importance of everypony and what they mean, she also learned something else, the magic within ponies. Everypony, no matter whether they were an earth pony, Pegasus or a unicorn, had some sort of magic.

Luna was finding it difficult to concentrate, all her class-mates were watching now, laughing and jeering as she once again failed to perform the teleportation spell. Even her teacher, Mrs. Glowheart, was laughing at her. Luna once again tried to bottle up her emotions. She wouldn't show her class-mates she was upset, because that would make it worse. Again and again she tried to teleport but she just couldn't do it. Her class-mates laughed harder and harder and started to make fun of her. Mrs. Glowheart was supposed to be one of the nicest ponies, but to Luna, she was the devil. Mrs. Glowheart made all the other ponies laugh at her, it was allowed in that time, a time when teachers could harm the children and more or less do what they want to them and no-one cared. Luna felt the anger building up in her and she desperately wanted to let it out, but she couldn't, because everypony else would laugh at her even harder. So, instead she tried to perform the teleportation spell once again, this time, all her anger was channeled to her magic and she let out a magical outburst. This magical outburst teleported Luna to the other side of the room, the teacher to the woods, the other students to the examining room and it brought the moon up next to the sun.

All over Equestria, ponies were astonished to find the moon suddenly brought up next to the sun. Tia looked up and saw the moon. Instantly she knew who had done it, and also knew that the signs had started to come true.

Luna seemed quite pleased with herself. Mrs. Glowheart and the other students had returned and instead of shouting at her for what she did, they apologized for upsetting her, as if they were afraid of what she might do. Luna found that she still couldn't teleport, but she could do many other tricks, such as turn herself into a multitude of different creatures, give herself temporary wings and sometimes, move the moon, even if it was just the slightest movement. When she had gotten home from college that day, Tia had questioned her about it, Luna had simply told Tia that she had had a magical surge, and knew nothing more. Each day, Luna went to college and kept practicing her magic, and each day, all the other students stayed away from her. Luna got better and better at magic, and, even though she could not teleport, she eventually, became the best in her class.

Chapter 3

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Luna had finally finished college and had moved on. She still lived with her sister and had become a guard too. Only, she was a guard of the night, which meant that she guarded throughout the night. One night, during Luna's shift, three small Chaos creatures came and attacked Ponyville. All the guards defended the houses bravely but they were losing. Guard after guard fell and the day-shift guards were called in. This included Tia. Tia and Luna fought side by side to defend the village, they were the strongest out of all the guards. Soon, they were the only guards left and very few citizens remained alive, most had been crushed when the houses had collapsed, the lucky few who'd survived, remained silent. Luna and Tia were tired. They stared on at the remaining Chaos. Chaos were not particularly hard to kill, but they were very good at dodging and they were quite fast, so you had to be quick. The remaining chaos looked like a tiger, with bat wings and dragon claws. It shot beams of fire and Chaos magic at the two sisters constantly, Luna managed to hit it in the chest and the chaos beast stumbled. Tia took the opportunity to fire a beam of magic at it, but the Chaos managed to dodge it in the last second, and it charged up a very large ball of chaos energy. Tia and Luna braced for Impact, they started to charge their horns. As the Chaos let the energy ball fly towards them, Tia and Luna, synchronized, produced a magical barrier, the energy ball hit the barrier and the barrier exploded, but the energy ball kept going. At that time both sisters panicked, they both knew in that instant that everypony in Ponyville would die and they would fail as the guards they were, but, then, something happened, they both felt a magical surge, being channeled by their will to save everypony. Tia and Luna became overwhelmed by the amount of magic flowing through them. Together, they had a magical outburst. Luna projected the power of the moon down on the Chaos, and Tia, bringing up the sun, projected its power down on the Chaos as well. A solar eclipse was formed and the power of the sun and the moon combined shone down on the Chaos. The Chaos then exploded into smithereens, the eclipse also created a huge magical aura that surrounded Equestria, destroying all the Chaos everywhere. Luna's and Tia's magical outbursts stopped, leaving them both with a cutie-mark each. They looked at each other in delight, nopony had teased them about being blank flanks, but that was because most ponies never got a cutie-mark, it was a rarity. Tia's cutie-mark was a sun, and Luna's was a moon.

They were so happy about getting their cutie-marks that they didn't notice everything else that had happened. They had wings, the Chaos had been defeated and in it's wake, lay 6 colourful jewels sitting on a gorgeous ornament table. As the surviving ponies came out from what was left of their homes, Luna, moved the moon so that it was daytime. The surviving ponies looked around, some ventured forth towards the jewels, others stared up and the two alicorns, one of which was lowering the moon with her magic. A whisper began to flow through the crowd and soon everypony was staring at Luna and Tia. The two alicorns turned round to find everypony staring at them. One pony bowed and soon, everypony else followed him. Luna and Tia looked at each other in confusion, then they saw their wings. Their jaws dropped. Alicorns were supposed to be the rulers of Equestria, though none had been seen since the war against the Chaos had started, which was over 7 thousand years ago.

A zebra stepped forward from the crowd, she hadn't been there before, Tia knew this,
"Welcome, Princesses. Kindly tell us your names." Tia, thought that the zebra was suspicious, after all, she had more or less appeared from no-where, but she stepped forth none-the less,
"My name is Celestia and this is my sister, Luna" Luna stepped forward at the mentioning of her name. "We have defeated the Chaos and may Harmony forever flow across this land." Celestia said, taking the role as the leader since she was the older sister.
"Welcome, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you shall forever keep the peace and protect us from evil?" The zebra questioned. Luna though this was a silly question, but her sister answered as if it were normal.
"Yes, we shall, and we will also keep the day and the night in an everlasting routine, I shall bring you the day and Luna shall bring you the night."
"Might I suggest you also once again create this eclipse, every so many years to celebrate the Chaos's defeat?" The Zebra asked.
"Yes, we shall, every decade, on the longest night of the tenth year, we shall bring you this eclipse to banish the chaos and bring joy to you all." Celestia was full of herself at that moment, defeating Chaos and becoming a ruler of Equestria in one day, she was being overwhelmed with the sense of power, but she managed to hide it.
"Wonderful, now where would you like your castle to be built?"
"What castle?" Luna questioned, having just found out that she's an alicorn and has defeated (with her sister) an army of Chaos creatures that would double in numbers every year and could kill as easily as dodging a dodge ball, caused Luna to miss the fact that Princesses live in castles.
"Why, the castle that you are going to live in of course!" the zebra replied with a chuckle.
Celestia had a small grin planted on her face, her sister could be pretty funny at times, "Well, How about we put it in the everfree forest, that is where the Chaos started, so by putting it there we could easily protect you from any more dangers."
"Wonderful, then follow me to where it shall be built and we will get started on the preparation"
"Wait," Celestia called, "what is your name?" she asked, pointing at the zebra.
"My name is Arocez" She replied.

Somepony from the crowd called out
"What are we going to do about these jewels?" Celestia, Luna and Arocez looked at the jewels the pony was pointing at. Each one had a magical aura coming from it.
"We'll leave it there for now, as soon as the castle is built, we shall move it into there." Celestia decided.

--------------8 months later-----------------

Arocez lead the two alicorns to the castle. It was gorgeous, tapestries with both Luna's and Celestia's cutie marks on them hung down from the wall just above two large and comfortable thrones. They discovered a lot of secret passages and tunnels, Arocez had put them there, so the two young alicorns could have some fun. They lived in the castle for thousands of years, protecting Equestria from evil. They eventually found out what the jewels did, they destroyed evil and brought harmony, so they called them 'The elements of Harmony'. They decided never to use them, only when it was absolutely necessary, the Elements became Equestria's last line of defence, they were never used, until one fateful day...

Celestia loved her reign as Princess, however, as her reign went on over thousands of years, Luna became jealous, she wanted to be the main ruler of Equestria, make the big decisions, be the princess everypony knew, even if it was just for a day, but Celestia wouldn't allow it. To Luna, it seemed that Celestia grew more and more self obsessed, she only cared for herself. Celestia denied this, she kept telling Luna that she did care for her citizens, but Luna saw past this, Luna knew that Celestia made it seem like she cared, when really, she didn't. Luna thought she could be a better princess than Celestia, that Celestia didn't deserve to be the ruler of Equestria, that there could only be one princess.

Luna challenged her sister to the throne, it was the longest day of the tenth year, when the solar eclipse was supposed to happen, instead, Luna brought up the moon in front of the sun and formed a Luna eclipse, the Chaos power in that eclipse surrounded Luna, transforming her into Nightmare moon! Another magical outburst occurred, this time, channeled by hate. All the hatred she had for her sister, all the envy for her sister because she was the ruler, all of this that she had kept bottled up, came out as her fourth magical outburst in her life. Nightmare moon refused to lower the moon and told Celestia what she thought.
"There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that Princess, SHALL BE ME!!"
A great battle took place then, magical beams shot from the castle as both princesses fought for the throne, the walls crumbled as they were hit, the battle was taken into the air, both princesses diving at each other and shooting lasers from their horns. Nightmare moon managed to knock Celestia down into the castle, she laughed at how close she was to victory, she then dived down towards where Celestia was falling.

Celestia had fallen right next to the elements of Harmony, she looked at them, then back at her sister, and knew the time had come to use them. Regretfully, she levitated them with her magic and set them off just as her sister was about to hit her. The blast sent Nightmare moon flying towards to moon and it banished her there, for 1000 years.

Applejack (birth)

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The youngest will perform a sonic blast bringing the six together for harmony at last

---------------600 years into the future[give or take]----------------------

Celestia stared out at the moon, Since her sisters defeat, Celestia had taken the role of moving the sun and moon. After the elements of harmonies use, they had turned to stone and lost their power. Not wanting to live in the castle anymore, Celestia had ordered the building of a new castle, in Canterlot so that she could look out over all of Equestria. Hundreds of years passed and the amount of time before Nightmare moon came back was always getting shorter. Celestia knew that the only way to defeat Nightmare moon was to use the elements, but they had turned to stone when she was banished. So, Celestia sought help. She went to the everfree forest where Zrecoa Lived, He was the great great great great great great (ect.) descendant of Arocez, and he was a Prophet.

Zrecoa only told Celestia that everything would sort itself out, he also gave her a prophecy, 'The youngest will perform a sonic blast bringing the six together for harmony at last.' He would tell her nothing else.
Celestia was angry at him for not telling her anything else, she had a feeling that everything would not be alright. She needed to keep the elements going, she needed an eternal source of energy, one that would just keep going, she needed a pony. Six to be precise, a pony's magic will just keep going, and when they die, certain types of magic can easily be transferred to another pony. Celestia didn't know how she would go about it though, she couldn't just go to a pony and give them magical powers, no, it wouldn't work like that. She needed to give the pony the magic at birth. She still didn't know how she would give the pony their magic, would she have to give them the stone, or what? Years passed and the amount of time before Nightmare moon was released shortened.

------------300 years into the future_17 years before Nightmare moons release---------

On an Apple farm just on the out skirts of Ponyville, a mare was crying out, her husband held her hoof and her mother was constantly telling her to push. Her son paced outside the door. He wasn't allowed in, he was too young. Inside the room, his mum was giving birth to his newest sibling. He could hear his ma crying, his pa trying to calm her and his Granny telling his ma to push. His name was Mackintosh, and he was super excited to have a new sibling. He had been waiting ages. His parents had been in that room for what felt like hours. A home birth was normal in the Apple family, His sibling's was no different. Since his parents didn't know whether his sibling was going to be a boy or a girl they had given it a name that would fit both genders, Applejack. Suddenly, Mac heard a loud shout of pain and then some high pitch foal cries. After a few minutes the crying quietened but didn't stop. He heard the rustling of sheets and a few moments later, his pa opened the door and invited him in. His saw his new little sister instantly. She was a beautiful orange with a cute yellow mane and she had a small cluster a freckles either side of her face. She was crying still, when Macintosh put his hoof out to stroke her mane she momentarily stopped crying, opened her large emerald eyes and looked at him. Then she went back to crying.

Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy (birth)

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---------16 years 7 months before Nightmare moon's return-----------

In a hospital in Canterlot Twilight Velvet was having her second child. She was going to have her first daughter. Her daughter's name was going to be Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Velvet's husband, Night Light, had picked the name. Shining Armour, Twilight Velvet and Night Light's son, was in the waiting room down the corridor. He was very anxious. Then, a nurse came into the waiting room.
"Mr. Armour?" She called
"Yes, that would be me" He replied.
"Well, follow me, your little sister is just adorable!" Twilight was a midnight violet, with deep purple hair and a pink stripe down the middle, she had just calmed down from a crying fit. Her eyes were purple too. Everything about her was purple.

----------16 years 6 months before Nightmare moon's return-------

In the Ponyville Hospital, a plump pink mare was holding her first child. Her husband held her hoof. The mare was in pain from the birthing but she tried not to show it, however, a few small tears had managed to find their way down the sides of the mare's cheeks. The baby had come early, it shouldn't have come till two weeks later. The mare and her husband had been caught off guard, the mare had to be rushed to hospital as quickly as possible, they had only just got there in time. In the mare's hooves, wrapped in a bundle of pink blankets was the most beautiful foal they had ever seen, it may have just been mothers love, but still. The foal was pure white and she had a luxurious purple mane that had a natural curve to it. Her eyes were saffire blue. The foal was currently sleeping. The parents had finally decided to call their daughter Rarity. But their next child had to be called Belle.

---------16 years 2 months before Nightmare moon's return-------

Up in Cloudsdale hospital a young yellow mare had just had her first child. The foal's name was Fluttershy. She was an adorable lanky little filly. Her coat was a bright yellow and her mane was a light pink. Her eyes were teal. Fluttershy's legs were long and her hair fell over her face like a curtain. She was wrapped up in a deep rose pink blanket. Her wings ruffled at her sides. She was a quiet baby, she didn't scream or cry, well maybe a little crying, but not much. The parents were delighted to have had their first child.
"She's so cute, isn't she?" The mare said.
"Yes, she is dearest, the cutest foal ever!" The stallion replied, even the doctors and nurses agreed.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash (birth/orphanage)

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----------15 years 3 months before the return of Nightmare moon--------

On a rock farm a little way out from Ponyville, a mare, grey as stone was lying in bed, struggling. Her husband, brown as bark stood next to her, a stick of wheat in his mouth, he held two foals, one grey and one a purplish grey. They were both fillies. Limestone Pie and Maud Pie, they were going to have a new sister. An old pink mare stood by the younger mare,
"Keep pushing Cloudy! almost there." the old mare encouraged. Eventually, a pink foal was crying in the arms of the old pink mare. But Cloudy wasn't finished. A few minutes later a grey foal was crying in the arms of The pink mare as well.
"Aww, they are adorable! What shall you call them?" The pink mare asked.
"Well, Mother, I think I shall name the Pink foal Pinkamena Diane Pie and the grey foal Marble Pie."

-------15 years before Nightmare moon's return------

A doorbell was rung and somepony moved away swiftly. A few moments later a door was opened. A stallion looked outside, he didn't see anypony, it was a dark night, then he heard a soft snoring sound. He looked down. On the doorstep there was a very young foal, she couldn't be more than 5 days old. The foal was wrapped up in a foal pink blanket. The pink contrasted with her foal blue coat. There was no note indicating who she was or where she came from. Clipped to the blanket there was a small keyring. It was a crystal feather, It sported the colors of the rainbow if you held it up to the light correctly and it glowed slightly in the dark. The foal had been left on the doorstep of Cloudsdale orphanage. No-pony was in sight. The stallion carefully picked up the foal and slid the blanket back, her mane was colored in every color in the rainbow, from Red to indigo. One last time, the stallion looked around, still he saw nopony. He took the foal inside and closed the door behind him, he'll have to contact the hospital to find out who her mother is. If the stallion had looked hard enough into the darkness, he would have seen a very faint golden aura. Within that aura was a tall, white mare. She had watched the stallion take her daughter into the orphanage, she was glad, due to... reasons, she was not allowed to have foals. This one had come by unexpected. She loved her daughter more than anything, but if she wanted what was best for her, then she had to give her up. She suddenly had a thought, 'she hadn't left a note!!!' That meant that her daughter had no name to be called by! Well, she did, It was Iris Offendas, a Pegalatin name. Translated to Equestrian, it was Rainbow Dash. The mare then had a thought, the Orphanage would think of Iris's name with a small spell. The mare then cast a small 'thought transplant' spell into the mind of the stallion who took her daughter.

Cutie marks

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The youngest will perform a sonic blast, bringing the six together for harmony at last

Talents for showing others talents, these three shall become hope, chance and courage

-----6 years before Nightmare moon returns-----

"Nice going Klutzershy! They'll ground you permanently!" Dumbbell jeered.
"Ha! My baby brother can fly better than you!" Hoops laughed.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" A new voice shouted, a cyan filly with a vibrant rainbow mane had flown in front of Fluttershy to defend her from the bullies.
"OOH, what are ya gonna do, Rainbow CRASH!" Hoops asked, punctuating the word 'Crash' by stomping his hoof onto the soft cloud.
"Keep making fun of her and find out!" Rainbow retorted.
"You think you're such a big shot! Why don't you prove it?" Dumbbell challenged.
"What do you have in mind?" Rainbow asked, challenge accepted.

A race was set up, The rule was simple, Follow all the rings. Rainbow Dash's aim, was to beat both Hoops and Dumbbell, if she did, then they would stop bullying both fillies, If Hoops or Dumbbell won, then they could bully the fillies as much as they wanted.
"You're going down!" Hoops declared,
"In history maybe! See you boys at the finish line." Rainbow replied. The race began and Rainbow immediately took the lead, it was only a small lead but it was enough, Hoops was flanking her and Dumbbell was tailing Hoops. At the first turn Rainbow and Hoops made it through, the former gaining even more of a lead, now Hoops was only tailing her. Dumbbell however, missed the turn and crashed into a cloud podium. Hoops managed to catch up to Rainbow, though he had skipped a few rings. He barged Rainbow out of the way.
"Later Rainbow Crash!" he flew off, taking the lead.
"HEY!" Rainbow shouted and took after him, with even greater speed. She flew past him like a hare passing a tortoise, Hoops was swept away by the gust of wind that was too slow to keep up with Rainbow Dash. Rainbow flew faster and faster downwards towards the last ring. As soon as she reached it, she made a break neck turn back upwards, managing to perform a sonic rainboom in the process. She flew through the finish line, winning the race, a rainbow trailing behind her and a new, colorful lightning bolt tattoo on her flanks.

---

Down on the ground, in a small opening in White tail woods, Fluttershy was playing with the animals, when she heard a massive explosion that scared all the animals away.
"Shhh, its okay" She quietly said to the rabbits huddling under a bush. *Knock, Knock* "You can come out" She said to the squirrels in the tree. "Everything's okay" She told the frogs in the lake. "There's nothing to be afraid of" She gently informed the ducks in the clouds.
"Quack!" was the response she got. She flew down to the ground again and the animals came to greet her. It was then that Fluttershy noticed she could understand the animals. three pink butterflies flashed calmly onto her flanks.

---

"What is your problem, horn?!!" Filly Rarity shouted to her horn. It had brought her all the way out into no-where for a rock. "I came out all this way for a rock!! Mmnnghh!!! DUMB ROCK! AHH!" A huge explosion occurred, Rarity stepped back and saw a multitude of colors. As the rainbow circle passed, the rock cracked open, revealing tonnes of jewels. That afternoon, rarity stitched the gems into the costumes for that night's play. At the performance, the clothes were spectacular, the teacher looked at Rarity with sparkles in her eyes. Three diamonds found their way onto Rarity's flanks.

---

Applejack was staring out towards the countryside. "Cockledoodledoo" she weekly said. "Ah wonder what Granny Smith and Big Mackintosh are up to, *sigh* Ah, bet they're apple bucking their way through the red delicious trees. What ah wouldn't give for just one baht." Suddenly, there was a huge explosion and a rainbow appeared pointing back to Ponyville. Straight away, Applejack ran home,as soon as she greeted her brother and her Granny, three glossy red apples, stained themselves on Applejacks flanks.

---

"I'm sorry I wasted your time" Twilight said sadly to the judges. She had failed her entrance exam to get into the school for gifted unicorns. She was very depressed. She barely got a spark of magic, let alone enough to hatch an egg! The judges scribbled on their clip boards. All of a sudden, there was a huge explosion. Twilight felt the magic surging through her. She had a magical outburst, her magic was being channeled by surprise. She shot a magic beam towards the egg and it hatched, then she levitated the four judges, turned her parents into potted plants and magically enhanced the baby dragon to become an adult dragon. Princess Celestia saw this and came up to the exam room. There she saw Twilight Sparkle having a magical outburst, but she couldn't stop. Celestia put a gentle hoof on Twilight's shoulder and calmed her down. The judges were dropped to the floor, Twilight's parents changed back and the baby/adult dragon was transformed back into a baby.
"Twilight Sparkle," Princess Celestia started
"I'm so sorry" Twilight interrupted.
"You have a very special gift, I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities." The princess finished.
"Huh?"
"But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focus study."
"Huh?"
"Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to make you my own personal protege here at the school."
"HUH?"
"Well?" The princess asked. Twilight looked to her parents, who nodded vigorously.
"YES!!!!" Twilight cried out
"One more thing." The Princess said.
"MORE?!" Came Twilight's reply. The princess simply pointed a hoof to Twilight's flank. A purple star with five white stars surrounding it was adorned on Twilight's flank.

---

Pinkamena Diane Pie was on the south farm with her family, preparing to rotate the rocks to the east field. She pushed a rock to the small pile she had made. A bell rang, signalling that the work for that day was over. Pinkamena looked up, her sisters, mother and father were going inside, closing the door behind them and leaving Pinkamena in the field. Pinkamena was sad, there was no happiness in her family, nopony smiled, they always frowned. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion. Pinkamena looked up and saw a huge circular rainbow flying towards her. The circular rainbow blasted some wind towards her and it poofed up her mane, making it frizzy and messy. Then, from where the explosion had come from, a rainbow appeared. It made the pinkie pie smile. Then, she had an idea, she would make her family smile too! The next thing she knew, she was calling out to her parents to come inside the silo.
"Mom, I need you and dad and the sisters to come in her. Quick!" then she shut the door behind her. The music was already playing and everything had been set up, there were cakes and balloons and streamers and everything else you would find at a party, It was so bright and joyful that nopony could have gone in there and not smiled. Pinkamena's family walked into the silo and looked around.
"Surprise!" Pinkanmena Diane pie exclaimed "Do you like it? It's called a party!" Pinkie waited a few seconds to see her families reaction, they were wearing unsure expressions,
"Oh, you don't like it" Pinkamena turned away, looking over her shoulder, she saw her family's unsure expressions become huge smiles.
*Gasp*"You like it! I'm so happy!!" Pinkie Pie shouted, [she liked that name, from now on, that's what ponies would call her.] Three balloons, two blue one yellow, faded onto her flanks.

---

After a day of getting Twilight Sparkle prepared for the next day, Celestia was laying in her bed. Something felt different, it wasn't bad, it was just different, like how after drinking a cup of coffee you might feel a bit more energized. But Celestia couldn't put a hoof on why she felt that way. She closed her eyes, however, just before she fell asleep, a memory flashed into her mind, 'The youngest will perform a sonic blast, bringing the six together for harmony at last' 'The prophecy! It has come true! But how? And what does the prophecy mean???' then something else found it's way into her mind, it wasn't a memory, it was new. Talents for showing others talents, these three shall become hope, chance and courage. Then Celestia fell into the realm of dreams.

Chapter 8

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---2 weeks before the return of Nightmare moon---

Celestia was worried. Nightmare moon was returning soon and the elements were not ready yet! Twilight was getting restless, her studies were more or less over, they had been for the past 3 months, but Twilight was so determined to keep studying and learn more. Celestia would just have to find a completely new subject. Maybe she could get Princess Cadence to teach Twilight about love, no, not love, maybe if she taught her about the elements of harmony, it was about time she knew and she could help figure them out. No, Twilight would probably be reading books about that already. What about friendship? Twilight has very few friends, and the ones she does have she doesn't spend much time with. Celestia sighed, thinking about Twilight made her think of her own child, 'Twilight's only a little older, they would be great friends. I wonder how iris is doing up in Cloudsdale, I hope she was adopted into a caring family, oh, if only the government weren't so racist! And I guess if I was actually allowed to have a foal... I should have never made a government, I should have made the laws myself, and let the public decide on things I couldn't decide for myself. hmph...'

"PRINCESS!!" Twilight's voice called out cheerily. "Princess Celestia! You asked to see me?" Celestia instantly made up her mind, Twilight would start to study friendship, but not yet, she wasn't completely ready.

"Yes, the summer sun celebration is coming up soon and I need to get ready ahead of time, so I will be rather busy, I wont be able to do my regular check-ups on you so don't expect me. While I'm busy, I'd like you and spike to be outside as much as possible, I can't tell you to do so if I'm not there, and we both know how much you love to study."

"Okay, Princess, but really? Do I need to go outside? Studying is way more important!" Twilight argued

"Well, you might want to study a bit on vitamins then" Celestia replied.

"Study on vitamins? I already know about all the vitamins, Vitamin A is in food like eggs, cheese, milk and yoghurt, it helps with our vision and immune system, vitamin B has multiple sections, B1 through to B12. It helps the nervous system and is found in vegetables, eggs and bread, Vitamin C comes from fruits and vegetables, a lack of it can cause scurvy, vitamin C helps protect our cells. Vitamin D comes from sunlight, it is one of the most important vitamins, a lack of vitamin D can cause bone deformities like rickets and bone pains called osteomalacia. Vitami.... oh, right, I need to be out in the sun more, I'm spending too much time inside" Twilight trailed off, sheepishly. Celestia, who had stopped listening halfway through Twilight's explanation noticed that her student had finished talking and was waiting her response.

"Correct, my student. Now, I must be getting on with my work, please spend some more time outside, hang out with your friends or, go to the park, or even just go and sit by the lake, just do something that doesn't involve you staying couped up in the library studying all day." Celestia pleaded.

"Okay, Princess. I wont let you down!" with that, Twilight turned and left.

---1 week before Nightmare moon's return---

"The princess didn't say I couldn't study, just that I had to be outside more" Twilight told Spike, she had told him the same thing every day for the past week. "Right, hmm, what should I study today?" Twilight pondered.

"How about 'Predictions and prophecies'?" Spike suggested

"No, not today Spike, find me 'Perplexing pony plagues ' and 'Forbidden spells of ancient times'" Twilight said, deciding what she wanted.

"On it!" Spike called out, already rushing over to the shelf that housed those books.

---2 days before Nightmare moon's return---

"Hmm, elements of harmony, I know I've heard of those before, but where?" Twilight couldn't think of where she had heard of them, so carefully, she picked up the book, placed it in her saddle bag and ran off in the direction of the observatory/library she was staying in.
"Spike, SPIKE!" She called. "Spike?" Twilight saw him on the floor rubbing his head. "There you are" Twilight said, not sounding the least bit concerned, "Quick find me an old copy of 'Predictions and prophecies'. What's that for?" On Spike's tail, there was a present, it was wrapped in red wrapping paper and had gold string tied around it. A studded teddy bear fell out, only the stuffing was falling out too.

"Well. *sigh* It was a gift for Moondancer but..." Spike answered, trailing off at the end.

"Oh Spike, you know we don't have time for that sort of thing."

"But were on a break!" Twilight ignored him, insted using her magic to pick several books from the bookshelf.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! SPIKE!" She called, not being able to find the book she was looking for.

"It's over here!" Spike called back, waving the book from high up on a ladder. Twilight gripped the book in her magic and quickly brought it down to her, Spike still holding the book.

"Ah!" Twilight exclaimed, obviously happy with the book. "Elements, elements, e, e, e, e. Aha, elements of harmony. See mare in the moon?"

"Mare in the moon, but that's just an old pony's tale" Spike said.

"Mare, mare, aha! The mare in the moon, myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about night-time eternal. *Gasp* Spike! Do you know what this means?"

---1 day before Nightmare moon's return---

"My dear Twilight" Spike read, "There's more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer sun celebration, in this years location, Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete, make some friends!" Spike finished reading the letter. Princess Celestia had sent the two to Ponyville where Twilight was going to see to the preparations.

--time skip-1 hour(Or so)--

"There's supposed to be a pegasus pony named 'Rainbow Dash' clearing the clouds."

"Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?" At that moment a rainbow blur crashed into Twilight and both Twilight and the rainbow blur crashed into a puddle of mud.

"Heh heh heh heh heh, ughh, scuse me? he he he" The rainbow blur giggled, though now it seemed to be a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. "hehe, let me help you" With that the rainbow pegasus flew off and came back with a rain cloud. She then proceeded to jump on it, letting out all the water onto the mud covered unicorn. "Ooops, I guess I over did it. umm, uhh, how about this! My very own patented 'Rainblow dry!" The pegasus said as she swirled around Twilight in a sort of mini tornado. "No, no, don't thank me, you're quite welcome." The pegasus said ads she landed on the ground, "Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!" The rainbow pegasus couldn't contain her laughter at the sight of Twilight, Spike joined in a few seconds later.

"Let me guess, you're Rainbow Dash." For some reason, the pegasus looked slightly familiar but Twilight knew that she had never seen her before.

"The one and only!" Rainbow Dash proclaimed. "Why, you heard o' me?"

"I heard, you're supposed to be keeping the sky clear, *sigh* I'm Twilight Sparkle and the Princess sent me to check on the weather."

"Yeh yeh, that'll be a snap, I'll do it in a jiffy, just as soon as I've finished practicing"

"Practicing? For what?"

"The wonderbolts! They're gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show em my stuff!"

"The wonderbolts?"

"Yup!"

"The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?"

"That's them"

"Phhh, please, they'd never accept a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." Twilight was challenging the pegasus here. She wanted to get the sky clear as fast as possible, so that she could get right on to studying.

"Hey, I could clear this sky in 10 seconds flat."

Twilight knew the pegasus was lying, no-pony could do it, even the wonderbolts would struggle, Spitfire might just make it, but if this pegasus could do it, then she'd be a wonderbolt already. "Prove it" She said, oh, she'd have a good time rubbing it in to the pegasus's face later. With that, Rainbow Dash dashed off the cloud she was on, destroying it, flew to the next cloud, bucked it and flew off to the next one, she repeated this until all the clouds in the sky were gone. Twilight had timed the pegasus, to see how fast she could actually do it. Twilight had barely got to 9 seconds by the time the sky was clear. Her jaw dropped, so did Spike's.

"What did I say? 10 seconds flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging. You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh Twilight Sparkle, I can't wait to hang out some more." Then she darted off.

"Wow, she's amazing!" Spike said. Twilight, didn't know how the pegasus had done it, she had cleared the sky in 9 seconds. Faster than she had bragged. 'How could she be that fast and still not be a wonderbolt?' Twilight thought 'She's also a good flyer too. With enough agility to make such a tight turn at that speed, and the "Rainblow dry" move, I can't believe Spitfire hasn't accepted her yet' Then, Twilight got the feeling of recognizing the pegasus again. 'hmmm, why do I feel like I know her from somewhere?'

"Spike," she said, "Do you feel like you recognize her?"

"Hmm? No, why'd you ask? Though I guess her rainbow mane looks similar yet completely opposite to Celestia's pastel coloured Ethereal mane." Spike replied. 'That's it! Her mane! Its a rainbow, similar to Celestia's but it has more colours, it's much more vibrant and it's not Ethereal.'

"Oh, thanks Spike, and I just thought I recognized her from somewhere..." 'It must be something else too, it can't just be the mane'

------Nightmare moon's return------

Twilight was walking towards the town hall, that was where Celestia was going to make her appearance to raise the sun. She didn't know why they were going to do it inside a building, surely you had to be outside for it to work and get the full view. Come to think of it, all of the other Summer sun celebrations, as far as Twilight knew, were done outside. So why inside this year. 'Maybe it has something to do with this being the thousandth year of the Summer sun celebration' Twilight thought.

"So, you really think that Nightmare moon's gonna come back tonight?" Spike asked.

"I don't know spike, I hope not" Twilight answered, looking up at the moon, where 4 stars circled slowly. Twilight walked into the town hall, she already saw Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie had tried to throw Twilight and Spike a party, but Twilight didn't join so it was just a WELCOME ~~TWILIGHT AND~~ SPIKE! Party. Pinkie Pie was desperately trying not to eat the cupcakes, Applejack was there stopping her whenever she tried to eat one.
"No, Pinkie, those ere are fur after the sun is risn'" She would say. Rarity and Fluttershy were standing close by, rarity talking about how good a job she did of 'beautifying' the town hall up, Fluttershy was quietly agreeing every so often. Rainbow Dash was flying in the air just above them, obviously bored. Rainbow Dash noticed Twilight enter and called her over.

"Hey Twilight! Come over here!"

"Ughhh, I don't need any friends." Twilight muttered to herself.

"Come on Twilight, the Princess asked you to make friends, so just go over, they already consider you a friend so, why not?" Spike reasoned with her.

"Fine, I'll make some friends, but only because the princess asked me to. As soon as the celebration is over, we're going back to studying in Canterlot." Twilight said, walking towards Rainbow Dash and the others.

"hey, Twilight?" Spike said

"yes Spike?" Twilight replied.

"Do you think you could drop me off with rarity?" Spike gave his question, he was drooling slightly and he had that look in his eye, the kind of look you get when you fall in love. Twilight chuckled.

"Sure Spike."

After dropping Spike off with Rarity, Twilight went and stood by Rainbow Dash. Twilight decided that, if she was going to make friends, she needed to know a bit more about them.

"So, Rainbow, where are you from?" Twilight asked.

"I'm from Cloudsdale, same with Flutters, I take it you're from Canterlot?" Rainbow replied.

"Yes, I am the Princesses personal protege." Twilight said a little boastfully. She had expected Rainbow Dash to be amazed by that, but she wasn't.

"Cool, so, who's the little dragon that fell for Rarity?" Rainbow inquired.

"Oh, that's Spike" Twilight was a little upset that Rainbow Dash had just dismissed her being the Princesses protege as being 'Cool', she was hoping she would have got an 'Awesome!' from the pegasus, knowing Dash, although Twilight had only known her for a few hours, 'Awesome' sounded like a word she would use. 'I guess "Cool" is better than nothing' Twilight thought to herself, she was about to ask another question but she was interrupted by the mayor starting the celebration.

"Welcome, Mares and Stallions. As mayor, it is my great honor to introduce you to the one and only ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia!" The mayor called out. The choir of birds gave an introduction song and Rarity pulled the curtains apart to reveal,... nopony. Everypony gasped. Twilight looked at the moon, the mare in the moon was gone, the moon was now plain.

"She's gone!" Rarity exclaimed. Everypony was in a panic now, they didn't know what to do, the princess had disappeared just before the sun was supposed to rise. Twilight was having a panic attack. The mare in the moon was gone, Celestia was gone, purple smoke was filing out from where Celestia was supposed to be, Pinkie was acti..., wait, purple smoke? Twilight looked at the purple smoke, it was rising into the form of a tall black alicorn.

"Nightmare moon." Twilight murmured. Rainbow caught it.

"You know that creep?" She asked, quizzically.

"Yes, she's the mare in the moon. Nightmare moon!" She exclaimed the name, catching the attention of the pony in question.

"Well well well, you remember, tell me little pony, why am I here?" Nightmare moon asked.

"You're here to..." Twilight couldn't finish, so Rainbow Dash did.

"You're here to get your sorry flank kicked!" Rainbow shouted.

"Muahahahahahaha! We'll see about that! COME FORTH MY MINIONS OF CHAOS! COME AND SERVE ME AS YOUR QUEEN!" Nightmare moon shouted, and as soon as she did, hundreds of Chaos beasts came crashing through the walls and windows of the Town hall. Ponies tried to run for their lives but the beasts circled them and kept them huddled together. Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity were also trapped in the crowd of ponies. The beasts growled. Rainbow flew up to one beast and bucked it as hard as she could in the face, the beast was pushed backwards a little. But the beast recovered quickly and swiped Rainbow Dash back into the crowd. Twilight tried to cast a protection spell around everypony, but her magic wouldn't work. None of the unicorns could use their magic. Their horns had all been encased in a black aura stopping any magic. Applejack bucked a Chaos beast, but just like Rainbow, she was forced back. Twilight and some other ponies started to charge at the beasts too. Eventually, everypony was attacking the beasts, only to be pushed back. There were too many, nopony was prepared and with Nightmare moon controlling and leading them, the battle was fruitless for the ponies of Ponyville. Nightmare moon laughed at the impending doom that was coming to the ponies.
"Remember this day little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last FOREVER!" Nightmare moon exclaimed, then she disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. As soon as Nightmare moon shouted 'forever', all the beasts pounced.

In that single moment, time seemed to slow down for Twilight. She evaluated everything, looking for a way out. After a few seconds, she saw a glimmer of hope. As the beasts pounced a small gap of time was formed, in the space above them, a pegasus could fly out, with all the creatures pouncing, none could stop a pegasus who was quick enough to escape, unfortunately it was too far away for a normal pegasus to reach fast enough. However, right beside her was not a normal pegasus. Time sped up again and in that split second Twilight shouted.
"Rainbow! Get out of here!" Twilight pointed above them. Rainbow didn't have time to process what she just heard. She just acted, flying straight up and out, however, as soon as she did that, she realized what she had done and desperately tried to save her friends, but they disappeared to in the same purple smoke that clouded Nightmare moon. Rainbow Dash was all alone in the town hall. She was shocked, how could she just abandon her friends! NO! They needed her help and she just left them! Tears started to form in her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall.

Chapter 9

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"Rainbow! Get out of here!" Twilight shouted, pointing upwards. She watched as Rainbow followed her command and shot upwards before realizing what had happened and tried to turn back. The next thing Twilight knew, she was at the edge of the Everfree forest surrounded by beasts and everypony else. Her horn, along with every other unicorns horn was still coated in a black aura, preventing her from using magic. The pegasi now had a faint black aura around their wings, presumably to prevent flight. The beasts started to push them forward into the Everfree forest. Spike sat on top of Twilight's back, worried. He glanced around not really sure what to do. The beasts ears were pricked, listening intently for anypony stepping out of line or anything else that may come looking for them. A few ponies protested and a few foals wailed. They were quickly silenced though, either by the beasts scaring them or the beasts beating them up slightly. Applejack was one of the ponies who got beaten. Along the walk Twilight was desperately trying to think what Rainbow Dash was doing. 'I hope she thinks things through and doesn't just dive headfirst into a battle.' Was Twilight's first thought. 'Oh, what if she has no-clue where to look for us! What if Nightmare moon finds her before she finds us!' Twilight started to panic now, lots of thoughts came swirling into her head. She still wasn't really friends with Rainbow Dash, they had barley known each other for a few hours, but she didn't want the pegasus to get hurt, plus, Rainbow Dash was currently, the only pony who could save them. After about an hours walk, Twilight noticed that one beast was glowing slightly, she watched in horror as the beast got bigger. Then she noticed that the other beasts were doing the same, glowing and getting bigger. Two beasts, above them flew along, not changing at all. Everypony was worried now, more ponies began to protest and more ponies got hurt.

A little bit later Twilight found herself extremely exhausted and in pain. She had been beaten several times whilst trying to escape, or protesting. Most ponies had been beaten now, either for talking, protesting or trying to escape. 'Come on Rainbow, come and save us before it's too late! Please!' Twilight was beginning to hyperventilate now and Spike attempted to calm her by making her take deep breaths and stop thinking about what it was she was stressing over. Getting Twilight to calm down, though, involved Spike talking, which he was beaten for. Twilight watched as one of the beasts grabbed Spike and started to claw at him and hit him before dumping him at Twilight's feet. Luckily for Spike, his thick scales prevented any real damage.

It was dark in the forest and Twilight could barely see. It had been a few hours since they had been captured and every so often the beasts would get slightly bigger. A few hours ago a cry was heard through the forest. The cry was quiet and quite distant, it was also ahead of them. Twilight had no clue what it was, they were too far away to tell. The group stopped when they heard the cry, but carried on when the noise stopped. Two hours later, the group stopped again and the lead beast sniffed the air, then it stepped over to the left slightly and sniffed again. Spike shifted his gaze to something in the direction of what the beast had thought it smelled. He was still looking that way when the group carried on, Twilight looked where Spike was looking, she saw nothing but mud, some bushes and, was that a mud pony??? Twilight blinked several times in quick succession, when she looked again, nothing was there. 'Must've been my imagination' thought Twilight as she shook her head. spike shifted his gaze again slightly before looking forward to where they were going.

Twilight began to think that they had been walking in circles after another hour when they came to a tunnel in the ground. They stopped and the beasts re-positioned themselves, The two smaller, flying beasts took the lead and back whilst the three larger beasts stopped outside and guarded the entrance. Then they carried on moving down into the tunnel. One beast took the branch that hung on the wall like a torch and lit it. The flame glowed brightly and it lit up the way. After a few minutes of walking Twilight thought she heard shouting coming from outside the entrance, she strained her ears but she wasn't sure whether she had heard anything at all. All she made out, if she heard anything, was "IS AWESOME!"

Another few minutes passed and the group came to a fork in the tunnels. They took the left turn and settled down about two meters away from the fork. Everypony was exhausted and tired. Most were hurt from the beatings they got during the journey. As they all slumped down, Pinkie Pie and Applejack fell asleep either side of her, Spike jumped off her back and went to see Rarity, and Fluttershy sat behind Twilight quietly. The next few minutes that passed were long and agonizing. Not a sound could be heard, except for the shuffling of everypony around them. Suddenly, something caught Twilight's eye she wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like a pony. A pony with a rainbow mane. 'I must be delusional, there is no way that Rainbow is down here unless she was caught.' Twilight thought. Just to be sure, she rubbed her eyes, when she looked again, nopony was there. *Sigh* 'I hope we move soon, to a spot that can be more easily reached by Rainbow.' Just then, she heard a sound, the guards heard it too. It was a soft clacking. 'Oh no. Rainbow Is down here! Oh, she's being so careless, the beasts can hear her!!!' Another clack was heard, from down the tunnel they had came, and the beasts pelted after the sound. "Rainbow no!" Twilight whispered. She felt tears falling down her cheeks, 'That stupid pegasus will get caught and then no-pony will be able to save us!' Twilight buried her head in her hooves and cried quietly.

"Hey, Egghead, you awake?"

Chapter 10

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Rainbow Dash sat down on the floor and calmed herself down. She assessed her situation.
"Ok, a creepy black alicorn by the name of Nightmare moon, has returned and kidnapped my friends and everypony else in Ponyville. Princess Celestia is missing. I'm still here, if I can find out where Nightmare moon has gone, I can find and save everypony. There are these huge beasts, about the size of manticores, that follow Nightmare moon. I'm gonna need some help to find Nightmare, ...Maybe this is what Twilight wanted, to get me out of the way so somepony would be able to save them. Hmmm, now, if I needed to find a mysterious creep who was trapped in the moon for a thousand years and now wants to make the night last forever, where would I look?" She asked herself.
"The library." Rainbow answered her question, sighing. "Great, just great, I'm needed to find Nightmare moon and save my friends and the only way I can do that is if I study. Ughh, well lets hurry this up." Quickly Rainbow flew over Ponyville to the library. The town was deserted. Everypony, but her had been taken. A few ponies had tried to escape already, but they had either been knocked back by Nightmare moon's magic or by the beasts. Rainbow Dash walked into the library, it now held an eerie silence.
"Wow, I never realized how many books this library actually has, great. This is gonna take forever!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Hmmm, mare in the moon, mare in the moon, m, m" Rainbow frantically searched through the 'M' section of the library, but none seemed to have what she was looking for. "ughhh, great, now where do I look." Rainbow Dash pondered this for a few moments. " The mare in the moon is an old ponies tale, I wonder if it would be in some book about ancient legends." She thought. Now Rainbow looked through the 'A' section of the library and eventually came across a book she hoped would have some answers. "YES! Finally! 'Ancient legends and other tales.' Now, contents.... AHA! Mare in the moon, page 365. Woah, how many legends does this book contain? Right, page 365, the mare in the moon." The book held a surprising amount of knowledge, going from how she was Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's little sister, to how she was imprisoned in the moon, it also contained the prophecy that stated how she would escape, and when.
"Right, so we need these 'Elements of harmony' to defeat Nightmare moon. Now I need a book on the elements of harmony. Right, To the 'E' section! Ok, 'The elements of harmony, a reference guide' Awesome! now, according to the book there are 9 elements, but only 6 are needed. Hmm, these 'elements of harmony' Kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty and loyalty, plus a sixth to create the main 6 and three others to finish the 9, are located in the castle of the two sisters, which is located in the Everfree forest. So, that's where Nightmare moon will be! I have to get there before she finds the elements! But how am I supposed to get through the Everfree forest, past all her beasts, inside the castle and to the elements of Harmony without being seen and without help?" Rainbow Dash pondered. "I guess, I could fly over until I spot the ruins, but the trees might block my view, I'd have no clue where I was going If I went through. Hmm, I really need to stop talking to myself." Rainbow Dash was sitting on the floor in front of a bookshelf, deciding which way would be best to get to her destination.
She had been sitting down for about half an hour when she finally made up her mind. "Right, I'm gonna fly over the Everfree and try and spot the ruins, If I cant find it, then I'll land somewhere deep in the forest and look from there" It probably wasn't the best idea, but it was all she had.

"Ughh, this place should be easy to find! It's a castle! It should stick out above the trees! Granted the place has probably fallen down, but there should still be some sign that there once was a castle!" Rainbow had been scouring the Everfree forest for about an hour now, and there was no sign of the castle. As Rainbow was coming down to land in a small clearing in the Everfree forest, something swiped at her side. It set her of course and she fell a few feet before righting herself and looking around defensively to find her attacker. "Aright! Put 'em up! I ain't afraid of you! Who are you?" But whatever had attacked her was now not in sight. Just then, Rainbow heard something behind her and she instinctively ducked away before turning around. Upon doing so, she saw one of Nightmare moon's beasts, but this one had wings and was slightly smaller. Quickly, Rainbow flung herself at her attacker, punching it in the snout. The beast was some sort of flying goat with a lizards tail and two bat wings. The beast swung an attack at Rainbow but she managed to dodge. When she turned around to charge again at the beast, she stopped. The goat horns on either side of the beasts head were glowing slightly, like how a unicorns horn glows when said unicorn was using a spell. Rainbow was confused for a moment, but the confusion was blown away when a searing pain hit her back. Rainbow Dash fell downwards into the forest. She tried to flap her wings and right herself, but, to her dismay, her right wing was broken. "NO! MY WING!!" She cried, then she carried on yelling as she fell. She hit the ground hard and everything blacked out.

Rainbow woke up under a bush. Thorns, twigs and brambles were digging into her skin and some were matted into her mane and tail. She was covered in mud and her body ached like mad. "Owwwwww" Rainbow whimpered as she crawled out of the bush. As soon as she was out she took a good look at herself and put everything in a list of importance. Her mane and tail were a mess, bottom of the list, she had nettles stinging her all over, middle-top of the list. Brambles and twigs dug into her skin, top of the list, her right wing was broken, top of the list, her side hurt massively, though she couldn't see any bruises or cuts thanks to the mud, top of the list, and she was covered in mud, middle-bottom of the list. "Right, I better rid myself of the brambles and nettles first" Rainbow said to herself whilst setting about her task. "Then, i need to get rid of all this mud and check myself for any cuts." Rainbow felt panic starting to rise up in her. Once cleaned and satisfied that she only had a few bruises she set to her next task. "Right, my wing is broken, I can't fly, great, just my luck. Now, I need to get moving to find my friends. What was that thing anyway, it had magic! It looked like once of Nightmare moon's beasts but, it had wings and magic! Ughh, Right, where am I?"

Rainbow Dash had been walking for what felt like hours, it had only been 20 minutes but to Rainbow Dash, it was hours. She didn't really know which way she was going or which way the castle was but she had to keep moving. So far she hadn't run into any beasts, Rainbow wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad sign. *Sigh* "I guess I could go looking for the beasts, there are probably more where the castle is, but, I want to avoid them. ughh. i wish AJ or Rarity were here, they'd probably know what to do. I guess Pinkie might as well, but she might know more than anypony should know. Fluttershy might know, I doubt it though, Twilight would definitely know, don't know how though, she seems pretty eggheady. Ughh, Why did it have to be me doing this! I'm awesome at fighting, flying and, well, I'm awesome at pretty much anything, but, being an egghead and working out which way I'm going without flying or finding my friends by studying, nu-uh, I'm not awesome at that. Nor am I awesome at dress making, caring for animals, baking, ughh, there are so many things I'm not awesome at, though I guess those things aren't the awesome and cool things in life, so, they don't matter." Rainbow Dash mumbled to herself. She wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings so she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard something a few feet away from her on the other side of the bushes.

She crouched down low and listened to what it was. It sounded like a few large creatures accompanying some other smaller creatures. She peered over and saw five huge beasts with all the ponies from Ponyville. Dash stifled a gasp. Three of the beasts looked like the ones that had attacked them in the town hall, except, they were bigger and looked stronger. The other two had wings, like the other beast she had seen earlier. Rainbow looked to the crowd of ponies and managed to spot Twilight and Applejack quickly, Twilight had Spike on her back, he was looking around nervously. Rainbow cautiously moved closer whilst staying hidden. She followed the group, taking the muddiest path to cover up her colours. After a few minutes the group stopped and one of the beasts sniffed the air. Rainbow ducked down quickly, into a bush. She was coated head to hoof in mud and brambles. The beast sniffed again and this time moved slightly closer to where Rainbow was hiding. She held her breath and stayed as still as possible. After a few moments the beast went back to its position and the group carried on. Rainbow let out her breath very slowly and then carried on following the group. She noticed Spike looking in the direction of her hiding spot so quickly and carefully she caught his attention and put a hoof to her lips. She had no clue whether Spike actually saw her and her command or whether he just saw a mud covered pony, maybe not even that, but at least he didn't say anything. Rainbow dash kept following the group for a while, she was starting to get fed up. It had been several hours plus the amount of time she had been unconscious since the others had been captured, so just where were they going?

After about another hour, the group started to go down a tunnel in the ground. The three larger beasts stayed outside to guard the entrance, while the smaller two went in with the group. 'Damn' Rainbow thought to herself. She waited a little while watching the hole for any signs of anything coming out. Nothing. "Right" Rainbow whispered to herself, "I have to take out these three big guys somehow. If I could fly, I could probably surprise them from above, but I can't fly. I guess I could try sneaking past them, hmmm, they'd probably catch me, arghh, what the hay, I could just leap into action like I always do, grab their attention and run, then, once I've lost 'em I'll come back and save my friends! Yeh! It'll be awesome!" So, Rainbow Dash instantly jumped out of her hiding spot and caught the beasts off guard, punching each of them in the face before jumping back and shouting "Betcha can't catch me!!" and running off. The beasts were slightly stunned, this mud covered, thing, had jumped out of nowhere punched them and then raced of teasing them as she did! They quickly snapped out of their dazes and ran after Rainbow Dash, who was by now, quite a considerable distance away.

Rainbow Dash looked back to check if they were following, she couldn't see them but she could definitely hear them giving chase.
"HA! THIS IS AWESOME!" Rainbow shouted. She looked behind her again and this time he could see the forelegs of the beasts as they squashed everything that fell in their way. Putting on more speed, Rainbow increased the distance between her and her pursuers, once she was sure they couldn't see her again, she took a sharp right into the forage and made a beeline back to the cave. When she got there, the two beasts inside didn't seem to have come out, that or they had already come out and were looking for her. "Heh, good, nothing beats Rainbow Dash in a race!" Then, quickly, she ran down into the tunnel. quite a bit of the mud had come off showing patches of cyan fur and a rainbow mane. This made her easier to spot, but the tunnel was dark and had a lot of shadows.

The tunnel was huge, it went on for ages, eventually, Rainbow came to a corner. She peeked round and saw the two beasts that had accompanied her friends down the tunnel. The only difference was, these two were HUGE! They were bigger than the first three. About three times the size of a manticore! Near them were Rainbows friends. They all looked exhausted and most beaten, some were asleep. Rainbow Dash winced at the sight. She watched the beasts for a while, every so often one of them would glow a blue-ish purple very slightly and get bigger. One of the beasts held a torch, the flame on it flickered and lit up the patch of tunnel they were sitting in. The beasts guarded both sides of the tunnel so no-pony could escape. Rainbow Dash stopped looking round the corner at the beasts and looked the other way. Another path lead down there. Dim moonlight lit up the far end signalling that that was an exit. This path was slightly at an angle so, if she timed it right, she could nip down there without being seen and have a look where they were outside. She looked back at the beasts, both of them were watching the group. Quick as a flash, Rainbow darted to the other tunnel. The soft dirt stopped her hooves from making a sound. She made it to the other path without the beasts noticing. Carefully, she ran to the exit and peeped out. In front of her stood the ruins of the castle. 'YES!' Rainbow Thought to herself. She briefly thought about going in to find the elements, but her friends may have moved by that time, and what if she gets caught, what if Nightmare moon had already found and hid the elements. So that option wasn't great. Swiftly, Dash made her way back to the group. They were still there, good. She looked around and noticed a few stones on the ground. She looked at the beasts, they weren't looking her direction, so she picked up a stone and chucked it to the other tunnel, the one she had come from. The stone made a quiet thud as it landed, but it was too quiet to attract the attention of the beasts. Dash picked up a slightly larger stone and threw it with more force. It created a louder thud, but still not enough to gain the beasts' attentions. 'Third time lucky' Dash thought to herself. This stone, made contact with one of the others when she threw it and a clacking sound echoed throughout the tunnels. Both beasts perked their ears up and this and sat alert. Carefully, Rainbow threw another stone, aiming it for the others. A direct hit, another clack sounded throughout the cave and the beast immediately gave chase down the tunnel that the noise had come from, the one that nopony was in. Quickly Rainbow moved to the group of ponies who were left alone, unguarded and too exhausted to move. Rainbow quickly spotted her friends, Twilight had her head in her hooves muttering something under her breath. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were asleep either side of Twilight, Spike was with Rarity, trying to comfort her whilst she cried. Fluttershy sat quietly and unmoving behind Twilight.
"Hey, Egghead, you awake?" Rainbow asked. Twilight's head snapped upwards towards the sound of Rainbow's voice, Fluttershy turned around, Rarity and Spike glanced over, Pinkie and Applejack stirred.

--------------

"R-R-Rainbow Dash??!!!" Twilight stuttered.

"The one and only!" Rainbow Dash grinned. "OOF!" She grunted as she was tackled to the ground by yellow hooves.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Fluttershy cried loudly, which wasn't that loud.

"Hey Fluttershy! Glad you're ok. same, to you to Twi, AJ, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike." She grinned, only for it to falter as Fluttershy hugged tighter. "Careful 'Shy. Anyway, we need to get out of here, those beasts will be back in a minute."

"Right." Twilight agreed. "Everypony get up, we're getting out of here."

"Twilight, go out of the left tunnel, over there, see? That leads to right outside the castle. Get everypony out there and I'll meet you in a minute." Rainbow instructed before galloping of down the tunnel that the beasts went down. Twilight wanted to ask her what she was doing, but then decided that getting everypony out was more important.

"Everypony follow me! Quietly! Down this tunnel!" Twilight called, not too loudly. After a few minutes everypony was out and next to the castle, Twilight then decided that it would be best to take everypony inside, away from where the beasts were. Then when everypony was inside She, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy went to wait outside by the tunnel entrance. They heard what sounded like rocks collapsing somewhere nearby, but it didn’t pose a threat to them. After a few minutes, an exhausted Rainbow Dash came out, then she smiled at them weakly and asked,
"You guys ok? and where are the others?"

"Oh, we're fine, right guys?" Twilight said, everyone else nodded "And everypony else is inside the castle."

"Ok, We need to get the elements of harmony to defeat Nightmare moon." Rainbow explained. "They're supposed to be inside the castle somewhere, there are nine, but we only need six. Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty and Laughter plus the sixth which is not known. I don't know what the other three are, but we don't need them to defeat Nightmare moon."

Chapter 11

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"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.

Chapter 12

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Fluttershy was getting scared now, several of those timber wolf faces had popped up and each time she had tried to laugh them off, only to cry out most of the time.

'Help!' Came an old voice from somewhere near Fluttershy. 'Somepony help!' The voice called out again. Fluttershy did not recognize the voice, it didn't sound like anypony, or any other animal, she knew.

"H-hello? Anypony there?" Fluttershy meekly called out. She started to walk towards the voice.

'Help. I need help!' The voice cried out. Fluttershy began to run to the voice and after a minute she came across an old unicorn stallion. He was lying on the ground.

"Hello? Umm, are you ok? I'm, umm, here to, umm, help." Fluttershy told the stallion, walking round so he could see her. "What, do you, umm, need help with?" She asked.

'I can't get up! I can't feel my legs!' The stallion said.

"OK, right, I'm going to try and lift you up. Once you're up, I want you to see how much of your weight you can support without me. ok?" Fluttershy asked.

'ok' The stallion answered. In a few moments, the stallion was up on his hooves, trying, and failing to support any of his own weight. Fluttershy was struggling, this stallion was heavy.

"Can you, umm, use any magic? Is your horn working?" Fluttershy asked him politely.

'I think my horn is working, but my magic isn't very strong.' He tested his horn, a few green sparks emitted from it before it lit up in a faint, but complete, glow.

"Alright then, is there anywhere you, umm, wanted to go?" Fluttershy asked.

'Just out of this place! Back into the light!' The stallion called.

"Oh, well, umm, my friends are just currently working on a way to get out. You could come with me back to them, if you'd like, then we can all get out." Fluttershy suggested.

'Yes please, you are very kind... umm, what did you say your name was?' He asked.

"Oh, umm, I didn't..." Fluttershy mumbled

'Oh, well, what is your name then?' The stallion asked, his ear flicking in slight annoyance.

"My name is Fluttershy" She said quietly. "What's yours?" The question seemed to catch the stallion off guard as he hesitated for a few moments before replying.

'My name, is River Stone' He said at last.

"Well, River Stone, where are you from? If you, umm, don't mind me asking."

'Not at all' Another flick of his ear 'I come from Canterlot, I was in Ponyville for the summer sun celebration and then those, those, beasts showed up and took us away!'

"Yes, umm, that was very scary." Fluttershy admitted.

Their conversation carried on for a bit longer, but soon, they lapsed into silence. after a few minutes of not talking, Fluttershy noticed that River Stone's horn was glowing, and she wondered how long it had been. Fluttershy looked around for any signs that might indicate what River Stone was doing. She didn't think he was casting a spell on her, she would probably have noticed, but he could be casting a spell on something else.

As soon as Fluttershy's back was turned, River Stone pounced on her. He wasn't hurt at all, in fact, his injuries were just a facade. He could feel his legs and he could support his own weight. He pinned Fluttershy to the ground and stopped using his magic. Actually, he hadn't really been using his magic, he had simply just made his horn glow so it would look like he was casting a spell or levitating an object so that Fluttershy would look around and turn her back to him.

"R-River Stone!!! W-w-what are you doing!" Fluttershy Gasped.

'You Fluttershy, are too kind for your own good!' River Stone said in a different voice, one that Fluttershy recognized from in the town hall.

"Y-you-you're N-N-N-Night-t-mare-mare m-m-moon?!!!" Fluttershy was on the edge of consciousness. River Stone just grinned and lit up his horn, a blue magical aura surrounded his body as he removed his disguise, to reveal Nightmare moon herself.

Fluttershy, screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Rainbow Dash was flying at an incredibly fast pace upwards. Every thought that the voice had put into her head were now being dispelled as one question came into her mind. 'Why am I in this dome again?' The question swirled in her brain as she tried to find the answer. Rainbow thought back to what her new 'friend' had said to her, she replayed what she could remember backwards. 'Show me you can make it to the top and I will be your friend,...They don't like you and they have a lot of good reasons as to why they don't,...Are they your friends though?,...You abandoned your "friends" in their time of need!,...you just didn't want to lose did you?,...you're just worthless,...You can't make it.' Rainbow Dash thought about all those things that the voice had told her, but, 'did those ponies actually think of her that way?' Rainbow started to slow down again. 'They had stood by her side when it mattered, hadn't they? Like when she had broken her wing after falling of a cloud whilst napping, Pinkie Pie had let her stay with her until she had gotten better. And Rarity almost always gave Rainbow something in return when Rainbow did a favor for her.' Rainbow was slowing down some more. 'Now that she thought about it with nopony to interrupt her thoughts, she realized that those ponies had offered to do things, they had given things in return, they didn't give her weird looks when she came by.' The more she thought about it, the more what the voice had told her sounded less and less real. Rainbow began to think back to times when she had done things for her friends just because she felt she needed to, or when her friends did stuff for her because they wanted to, and, when she and Pinkie went pranking together, Pinkie didn't use her, she asked if she had any ideas, if Dash didn't then she didn't press, If Dash didn't want to come pranking, she didn't question it. Fluttershy may have pleaded from time to time for Dash to do a lot of things, even if Dash didn't want to, but that was mainly because Dash knew how to do those things better than anypony else, besides Fluttershy, or because Dash and Fluttershy had been best friends since, since before Dash could remember!

Rainbow Dash had come to a complete stop now. She was slowly realizing that the voice had intended to get in her way, make her think that her friends weren't really her friends, to try and make her leave them.
"NO!" Rainbow Dash shouted and she dive bombed downwards to get to the others.

Pinkie Pie was now bored. Her party was over, it was one of the best party's ever! All of Pinkie's timber wolf head friends had shown up, and even if that weird Applejack voice had disappeared, the party was amazing! Pinkie Pie had gotten lost, she couldn't remember which way she had come from and her Pinkie sense didn't seem to be working, that was shown when a door slammed into her face from no-where, and then an apple had landed on her head! The apple had then quickly sunk into her mane. It had been about half an hour since Pinkie left to find the edge of the dome, but she had never found it.
"Aww, shoot. I could've asked Paul where Twilight was, he would've known. Hmm, maybe If I call him out he will come and help! YEH!" So, Pinkie took an enormous breath (bigger than any normal pony could) and shouted louder than physically possible "PAUL!"

Applejack was running in what she assumed to be the direction Twilight was in, when she heard a faint shout that had seemed to have echoed around the entire dome.

"PAUL!"

"Who in the hay is Paul?" Applejack asked before remembering. "Right, Paul is one o' Pinkie's magical timber wolf head-thing friends. Wait! Paul is one o' Pinkie's friends! That must'a been Pinkie ah heard shoutin!" Applejack realized and immediately changed the direction she was running in towards where Pinkie's voice had come from.

Twilight and Rarity were standing where they had been half an hour ago still casting the same spells.

"Got anywhere yet Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry Twilight dear, this is rather a hard spell, but I will do my best and carry on." Rarity replied, tiredly. Spike sat down on the floor near them when he heard a noise. It was faint, but it sounded like Fluttershy screaming.

"Twilight, did you hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" Twilight responded.

"The scream, it sounded a bit like Fluttershy"

"WHAT!" Rarity quickly dropped her magic. "The poor dear is in terrible danger! Twilight we must do something!"

"What can we do?? We need both of our magic to do this and If we send Spike he might get lost!" Twilight shouted, still casting her spell.

"Well!" Rarity struggled to come up with an idea. She thought for a few seconds, then got an idea. "Twilight, after an incident with Sweetie Belle a while back, I had to learn a certain spell! The spell allowed me to give another unicorn my magic! My magic would soon regenerate within a few days, but I'd always be able to know where the pony with my magic is! Plus the pony gaining my magic would become stronger! If I use that spell now and give you my magic, you would have enough to get it done all the same! I could then go and find Fluttershy and bring her back to you without getting lost!" She explained. Twilight had stopped casting her spell to listen to Rarity better, what she heard, shocked her.

"You know the magical transfer tracking spell!!! B-but that's one of the hardest spells to learn! It takes months of practice and a busy mare like you wouldn't have the time!" Twilight shouted, astonished.

"One must make time for those in need Twilight. In mine and Sweeties case, I gave up all my spare time and my working time to perfect the spell. Now, I'm prepared to do the spell, and I'm going to find Fluttershy whether you like it or not!"

"Fine but be quick or-" Another scream cut her off. Rarity cast the spell and Twilight could feel magic flowing into her. After a few brief moments the spell was complete. Rarity staggered a bit but then regained her balance, and shook her head.

"Wooo, that's left me dizzy" She muttered under her breath. "Spike! Which way did the scream come from??" Spike immediately pointed to his right and Rarity ran off in that direction.

A few minutes had passed since Rarity had left and Twilight had gotten back to casting her spell, currently she had discovered that there were four spells cast, not including the dome. Right now, she was trying to determine what spell had cast the dome. Somepony shouting from above her caught her attention. It was Rainbow Dash, she was dive bombing down to the ground and yelling for Twilight to move out of the way. Rainbow was coming in fast and Twilight could tell that she was trying, and failing, to slow herself down. Twilight stopped casting her spell in surprise and then jumped out of the way before casting a levitation spell. At the speed Rainbow was going, she was going to crash into the ground and seriously hurt herself. The next few seconds flew by in the blink of an eye. (hey, that rhymes!) Twilight opened her eyes. (Did I forget to mention that she closed them? Well she did) In front of Twilight was Rainbow Dash, upside down, with her eyes closed tightly. She was hovering in mid-air thanks to Twilight's spell. Rainbow's mane dragged along the floor and her tail draped over her back.

After a few seconds of not feeling the ground as she crashed into it, actually, a few seconds of feeling not moving whatsoever, Rainbow Dash cracked open an eye. She was hovering in mid-air. Her head centimeters away from touching the floor. In front of her, Rainbow could see a pair of lavender legs, they were upside down. As Rainbow let her eyes travel up the legs, to the body that the legs belonged to and finally to the head of the being, Rainbow saw Twilight sparkle, horn aglow, and looking rather startled. Silence hung in the air. Rainbow Dash broke it.

"Heh, soooo, umm, sorry?"

A fluffy escape

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Nightmare moon was currently sitting on her new throne, her sisters old one. She was having fun watching those little pesky ponies run around helplessly inside her dream bubble. In reality, those ponies were just sleeping in the castle. She had even added some extra things to scare the ponies further. She knew that these ponies contained an element of harmony in them each of them, but she could not let them find out. She had to keep them separated. Her biggest problem was the element of loyalty. She had already broken free of Nightmare moon's hold and had gotten back to Twilight. 'Is it physically impossible to keep the element of loyalty away from her friends? I make an endless dream dome around them that should stop anyone from getting back to the others once they have split up, but noooo, the element of loyalty just has to destroy my perfect plan and get back to her freind, now she will probably go and find her other friends and bring them back! Ughh, great. Well, I'll just go and see if I can keep one of the others away, that will by me the time I need to build my army. Now, hmmm, Element of kindness, no, she's already screaming her head of with the dream version of me. Element of honesty, no, she's too hard to fool. Element of laughter, nope, no way, staying away from her. Oooh, there's a new one, element of generosity, hmm, how about I block her magical connection with Twilight so she can't get back, then allow her to find the element of kindness, finally, when they are trying to get back I can create a diversion, direct her magic elsewhere so she thinks that that is where her precious friend is. perfect...'

---

"Hey Rainbow Dash! Did you find the ceiling?" Spike asked cheerfully.

"Heheh, no, sorry little dude, this place goes on forever. It's basically an endless dome!" Rainbow replied

"Oh, well, I think the others have the same problem, I heard Fluttershy scream earlier and Rarity went after her a few minutes ago." Spike said

"Oh no, Fluttershy's probably freaking out, I gotta help her!" Rainbow Dash cried.

"It's ok Rainbow, Rarity has gone to help her, you need to stay here." Spike told her, Rainbow didn't exactly need to stay, she could probably find the others and bring them back as quick as possible, but with this being an endless dome, and the others scattered around it, it might not be the best idea to go anywhere without knowing where you are going.

"Well, this is one time I can't complain about her being scared, especially after what happened to me while I was up there. Fluttershy is scared of just about everything. " Rainbow Dash said. Then she noticed that she was still upside down and Twilight hadn't said anything at all. "Yo! Egghead! Are you alright?"

"Hmm! What oh, yeh! I'm fine, just, fine." Twilight said, dropping Rainbow Dash onto the ground.

"ow."

"So, an endless dome huh, wait, you said something happened with you up there, what was it?"

"Well, when I was flying, a voice came into my head and started messing with me. It kept trying to discourage me at first, trying to make me stop reaching the ceiling, if there was one. But then it started talking about all my friends and it was trying to convince me that they weren't my friends. The voice put lots of images in my head and changed a few memories so that it felt like everypony was just using me, or they didn't like me. Then, the voice started to encourage me to get to the top, saying that it believed I could make it, when nopony else did. I kicked it's flank though and came straight back down! See, I knew my friends really were my friends because after the voice left and I thought about it, I could remember all those times me and my friends had fun and we did stuff for each other." Rainbow explained. Through all of this, Twilight had pulled out a note book and was writing notes down.

"Anything else?"

"Hmmm, oh yeh! The voice tried to tempt me with offering me a load of stuff, like all I could ever want, a chance to prove myself and It said that it would be my friend." Rainbow said.

"Hmm, interesting, in that case then, we'd best stick together. I've found that there are 5 spells, the dome included. I'm not too sure what other spells she cast but one of them must have something to do with the dome being endless, another has to have something to do with all the mysterious creepy things going on."

"Twilight?" Spike said curiously "how are we gonna stay together if the others can't find us, I mean, it's pretty dark and they may misjudge where they came from."

"Well, Rarity can find me again with her magic, and Rainbow came back, besides, I can cast a search spell to find them, huh, I didn't actually think about that before."

"Yeh, Spike, and I can go and search too! I mean, my navigational skills are awesome!" Rainbow said.

"But Twilight just said we have to stick together!"

"And I can find my way back with AJ and Pinkie! I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to find them right? Pinkie's probably thrown a party and she can probably use her weird Pinkie sense to find AJ."

"Uhhh, Pinkie sense?" Twilight asked.

"Don't ask"

--
Rarity was running in the direction Spike had pointed, towards where Fluttershy had screamed. Rarity assumed she was getting closer because she could now hear crying. It was faint, but it was there. Suddenly she felt a slight change, as if something in her magic had slipped. But her magic was with Twilight so she shouldn't be able to feel it. Unless Twilight moved, but she'd had to have moved a long distance quickly for the change to be noticeable. 'Maybe she teleported somewhere else. But why would she do that? Another angle to work at perhaps? Oh well, at least I can still sense my magic' Just then, Rarity heard a shrill scream. It came from somewhere to her right and sounded very close. Rarity started to run in that direction and eventually came across Nightmare moon herself standing atop of Fluttershy, scaring the daylights out of her.

"STOP THAT YOU RUFFIAN!" Rarity yelled at Nightmare moon, but then instantly flinched and shied away as Nightmare moon turned her glare to Rarity. "Oh horseapples" She murmured. Nightmare moon continued to glare at Rarity for a few more seconds before disappearing in a puff of blue-ish, purple smoke and drifting away. Rarity stood still for several seconds before running up to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy are you alright?"

"RARITY! HELP! THERE'S A BIG SCARY MONSTER THAT LOOKS JUST LIKE NIGHTMARE MOON AND I THINK IT WANTS TO EAT MEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEEEEEE!!!!!" Fluttershy cried, leaping to her hooves, then collapsing at Rarity's, sobbing.

"There there, Fluttershy, the monster has gone. How about we get you back to Twilight and Spike, then we can find the others." Rarity said, patting the terrified Pegasus on the back to calm her down.

"Y-yes please Rarity, are you s-sure that the m-monster is gone?"

"Yes I am dear. Now, lets go, Twilight should be this way."

---

Applejack had been running for Celestia knows how long. Her legs were aching and she was no longer sure which way Pinkie was. She was sure from the amount of running she had done and how fast she had been going that she should have run into her by now, but she hadn't.

"Consarn it Pinkie, Why can't ya just sit still while Ah look for ya, then we can find each other and find a way back to Twilight." She grumbled. The aching in her legs seemed to intensify faster than Applejack could run. Still she carried on, 'Ah wonder what sorta luck Twilight had with those spells. Maybe she found a way out already.' Applejack thought. Suddenly, she tripped on something and face planted into the floor. "Ow, who did that!?" She shouted, getting up. No answer came. She looked down and saw a bunch of streamers and confetti. "Ah tripped on confetti??" Applejack asked herself, the gears in her mind turning, trying to work out why the streamers where there. She looked around. A little way off, there was a balloon, then another, and another. Applejack kept walking, as she did, she saw an apple bobbing bucket, complete with apples and water. She saw a table, with the remainders of a giant cake and some other party food. Applejack went over to the cake. She tried a bit. The taste was familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had tasted it before. Applejack tried the punch. The taste burst in her mouth. She could taste raspberry and strawberry, Blueberry and blackberry, Mulberry and Cranberry, gooseberry and elderberry and... Bananas? Applejack was confused, she had only ever tasted berry punch (not the pony) with bananas once, at a Pinkie Pie party. That was when she remembered the taste of the cake. It was Pinkie Pie's super duper special surprise. Pinkie brought it out on rare occasions, and the taste was delicious. Applejack looked around. She could see lots of balloons and streamers. She didn't know how the streamers were hanging around as there was nowhere for them to hang from. Bits of cake were on the floor, along with wrapping paper and cardboard. A few toys were strewn about as well. Applejack concluded that Pinkie Pie had been here.

---

Pinkie Pie was following Paul. After calling him, she had explained that she needed to find Twilight but couldn't remember where she was. She asked if Paul knew where she was and if he could take her there. Paul had been hesitant at first, as if he didn't want to show her, but after some thinking about where Pinkie Pie listed on his imaginary friend chart, (she came absolute first, by the way), He decided to show her. So now, he was taking her in the direction of Twilight. He could sense how close she was, so he sped up. Pinkie Pie sensed this and quickly trotted up to his side. Within minutes she saw Twilight and Spike with Rainbow Dash hovering just above them. Twilight was concentrating on a spell and Spike and Rainbow Dash were talking. Pinkie Pie began to run towards them, at the sound of her hooves, Spike and Rainbow turned around and smiled when they saw her. They waved, Pinkie waved back and ran faster. She then leaped into the air and tackled Rainbow to the ground in a hug, one which Rainbow Dash had only been half expecting.

"DASHIE!!!! SPIKE!!!!! TWILIGHT!!!! Oh I'm so glad I found you guys again! After I left I couldn't find the edge of the dome, then I through a big party cause I was bored, then I got lost, so I called for Paul and he came and I explained to him that I had lost my way after throwing that huge amazing Bash! It was too bad that you guys couldn't come but that's okay because I will throw another huge one for everpony, and timberwolf head, and dragon, and we will all have fun! But anyway, I explained that I had gotten lost and I needed to find you so Paul here took me to you! And that is how Granny Pie saved the rock farm!" Pinkie said in one breath, still squeezing Rainbow Dash to death. Twilight had stopped her spell to acknowledge Pinkie Pie, now she half wished she hadn't.

"Huh?" Was all that she said.

"Hi Pinkie Pie It's great that you've come back! Applejack hasn't come back yet though, nor Fluttershy. But Rarity went to find her after we heard her screaming." Spike said to Pinkie.

"Hi...Pinkie...can you....please...stop hug..ging....me...I cant......breath" Rainbow Dash managed to gasp out. Pinkie Pie promptly stopped hugging her and jumped on Twilight.

"Sorry Dashie, but you are really huggable, what with your fluff and feathers and everything. Fluttershy is huggable too but not as soft. Twilight is huggable, but no where near as soft or fluffy!" Pinkie cheerfully told them, then she let go of Twilight and began to hug Spike. He wasn't pleased about that, but his thick dragon scales stopped Pinkie Pie from squeezing him to death like she did to Rainbow, who was still trying to get up after Pinkie's hug attack.

"HEY! I'm not fluffy!" Shouted Rainbow, Indignantly.

"Actually, Rainbow, all pegasi are fluffy. Its part of their DNA, It keeps out the cold when they are flying or in cold weather. Adding feathers just makes you even fluffier as feathers have a special trait that allow the animal or pony who have them to fluff them up. A pegasus's fur is much thicker than a unicorns or earth ponies and a lot softer. Out of you and Fluttershy you would be softer and fluffier as spending time up in high altitudes and flying often will soften them." Twilight explained. Rainbow just scowled at her and said

"I'm not fluffy."

---

Up in Nightmare moon's castle she had finished creating her army, or the beginning of it. Her soldiers just had to grow up. They were currently in the care of their mothers, giant chaos beasts just like the ones she had used to kidnap Ponyville's ponies-who had all managed to escape, she still didn't know how-except that the mother chaos beasts didn't have all the power that the soldier chaos beasts had. Nightmare moon was coming into her throne room to look at the vision of the elements of harmony. She saw that the element of Laughter had found Twilight. Nightmare moon was shocked. That wasn't supposed to happen! How could the element of Laughter do that! Only the element of loyalty could and that was then only because she was the element of loyalty! Then Nightmare moon saw the timberwolf head. 'Aghh! That traitor! He befriended the element of laughter and now he works with her! And I cant get rid of him without getting rid of the dome! Stupid fail safe.'

---

Twilight was back to trying the spell she had previously been doing when Pinkie had arrived. It was a search spell. So she could find her friends who were still in the dome. Pinkie Pie was currently bouncing around Rainbow Dash calling her fluffy over and over, just to aggravate her. Paul appeared to be sitting watching them, though Twilight couldn't be sure if he was sitting as he had no body. Spike sat next to him, bored, originally, he had laughed when pinkie Pie started to call Rainbow fluffy and bounce around her, it was an odd sight. Rainbow trying to escape the pink pony of doom and the pink pony off doom following her and singing 'Fluffy, Rainbow Dash is fluffy' over and over. Spike tried to make conversation with Paul.

"So ughh, you helped Pinkie find us?" Paul just nodded. "Can you talk?" Paul shook his head. "Did Pinkie name you then or did she just know your name?" Paul looked at him, wanting to say the answer but unable to. "Nod for Pinkie named you and shake your head if she just knew." Spike told him. Paul nodded.

"AHA! Found Rarity and Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed. It had been possibly several hours since Rarity had gone to find Fluttershy. "Wait, why is she going over there, were over here, she can't be following my magical signal!"

"What are you talking about Twilight, Rarity knows the magical transfer tracking spell, she should be tracking you." Spike said. "Maybe you got the angle wrong"

"No I haven't! I know I haven't! We need to get to Rarity, but we can't leave this spot in case Applejack comes back."

"Ok Twilight, If you think that they are going the wrong way, just send one of us to go and fetch them." Spike told her

"But what if whoever I send gets lost? What if they don't come back? What if-" Twilight was cut off by Spike pinning her lips closed with his claws.

"Twilight, whoever we send will be fine, Rainbow and Pinkie came back didn't they?"

"I guess, but it was Paul who got Pinkie back, Pinkie might not have come back if it weren't for Paul!"

"Then we can send Paul to get Rarity and Fluttershy, and Maybe Applejack too." Spike suggested

"YES! That's a great idea. Thanks Spike. HEY PAUL! CAN WE BORROW YOU FOR A FEW MINUTES!" Paul looked over to them, nodded and then hovered to them. "Do you know where Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy are?" Paul nodded. "Can you get them back for us?" Again Paul nodded, then he looked around as if pin pointing one of them and headed off in that direction.

---

"Rarity, are you sure Twilight is this way? Umm, I don't mean to offend you but, we've made so many turns that it's hard to tell left from right anymore." Fluttershy timidly asked.

"I'm pretty sure Fluttershy, I can track Twilight's magic because I use the magical transplant tracking spell, I think it's called that anyway, but Twilight seems to be on the move."

"Why would Twilight be on the move? If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm not sure, maybe to find the others?" Rarity and Fluttershy had been walking for hours. After Rarity had saved Fluttershy from Nightmare moon, Rarity had gotten Fluttershy to follow her. She had been following Twilight's magical trace and was sure she'd find her in a matter of minutes, but, Twilight seemed to keep moving. As if she were running around looking for something, only sometimes stopping somewhere and then moving before Rarity could reach her. Another hour passed of the two mares walking, silently, supposedly not aimlessly, before Fluttershy broke the silence. She broke the silence with a scream. A scream that sent Rarity's head whipping round to see her pointing at something. Rarity looked. She saw a timberwolf head. Like the ones that Pinkie had got rid of. Except, for some reason, she didn't feel scared by it, she soon realized that, the reason she wasn't scared, was an orange head poking round from behind the timberwolf.

"APPLEJACK!" She cried and rushed over to her friend. Futtershy followed suit but staying well to the left of Rarity, away from the head. Applejack was hesitant at first but then, when she realized that the two were her real friends and not inside her head, she rushed over to them.

"Rarity, Fluttershy, thank Celestia that Ah found you! And Ah wouldn't ta found you if it weren't fer Paul 'ere."

"Paul?" Rarity and Fluttershy asked in unison.

"yep, came an' found me, then took me 'ere, Ah think he's gonna take us to Twilight, not sure though, he's less of a talker than Big Macintosh." Applejack said looking at Paul. Paul nodded in agreement, then tilted his head quickly behind him as if to tell them to follow, and moved off in that direction. Applejack followed and Fluttershy began to when Rarity interrupted.

"But Twilight's this way. I can feel her magic."

"What? How can ya 'feel her magic'?" Applejack asked.

"Through a spell. Twilight should be this way, but she keeps moving."

"Then maybe yer magic is wrong, or maybe Nightmare moon 'as messed it up, she tried to make me think that a bunch o' her 'puppets' were ya'll, an' the others too."

"Now that you mention it, there was a brief 'tick' in my magic, but that just felt like Twilight was moving."

"Why would Twi move? She's gotta stay there for the others to find her. Judging by what Ah experienced, ahd say that they'd 'ave a bit o' trouble gittin' back."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right, and...Paul...brought you to me and Fluttershy, so why shouldn't he take us to Twilight. Ok, let's go."
--Time skip--

"What in tarnation is that noise?" Applejack asked.

"....It, sounds like Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy said after a brief pause.

"..Pinkie Pie singing." Rarity chimed in, A few seconds passed.

"...Pinkie Pie singing, 'Fluffy, Rainbow Dash is fluffy'" Applejack said with half a smirk, half a confused, expression. A minute passed before they could see the others. Twilight saw them and gave them a wave. Spike did the same. To the left, Rainbow Dash was lying on her stomach, on the floor, wings spread out by her side and her front hooves were covering her face. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around her, singing her song.

"Fluffy, Rainbow Dash is Fluffy! Fluffy, Rainbow Dash is Fluffy! Oh hey Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy! Your back, Wanna sing my song with me?"

"NO! PLEASE DON'T!" Rainbow Dash's head shot up and she looked at her friends, almost pleading. Applejack smirked.

"As much 's Ah would like ta tease Dash, ah don't wanna sing. But, from what Ah know 'bout pegasi, ya're fluffy. Very fluffy."

"AJ!" Rainbow Dash whined. Suddenly noticing that Pinkie had stopped, she got up and flew over to Fluttershy.

"Hey Flutters, Spike told me that he, Rares and Twilight heard you scream earlier, you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Rarity got rid of the monster. And then Paul ca-, wait, I thought I told you to stay off that wing! Stop flying! You'll hurt yourself!" Fluttershy scolded.

"But I'm fine Fluttershy! My wing has been holding while I flew up to find the ceiling, and back down! It hasn't broken at all, look!" Rainbow stopped flying and flared her wing, so that Fluttershy could see it.

"But, your wing! You had broken the wrist! Now it's perfectly fine!" Fluttershy exclaimed in disbelief. Twilight came over to them, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Let me see, hmm. Your right! How did it heal so quickly?"

"Maybe the dome fixed it?" Pinkie Pie suggested.

"It also cleared the forest from us as well, we don't look at all like we had traipsed through the Everfree forest." Rarity added.

"Well, Ahm not buyin it." Applejack said "If Nightmare moon wanted to trap us, why fix Rainbow's wing and git rid of all the mud?"

"Maybe because she knew we couldn't get out if this is an endless dome!" Pinkie said. Twilight was deep in thought, still examining Rainbow's wing.

"Rainbow, can you fluff out your feathers?" She asked

"What? Yeh, but why would I do that, It wont help us unless you wanna stay warm." Rainbow Dash responded.

"I'm testing something, you'll see." Twilight told her "Now fluff your feathers." Rainbow did as she was told, unfortunately for her, the sight of Rainbow's wings now even fluffier got Pinkie to start her song again.

"Fluffy, Rainbow Dash is fluffy!" Everyone ignored her. Twilight continued to examine Rainbow's wing.

"AHA!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed. "Found something!"

"What?" Everyone asked.

"Rainbow Dash still has some of her feathers!"

"Of course I still have some of my feathers, I didn't lose them all!" Rainbow shouted, a bit annoyed.

"No, that's not what I meant. What I meant was, that according to Fluttershy, when I asked her about your wing, you had lost some of your feathers. I couldn't see them without your wings fluffed, that's why I asked you to fluff them. You still have the feathers you supposedly lost. Now, If the dome actually fixed your wing, it still couldn't have given you your feathers back. That's because a pegasus has special magic in their wings that stops the growth of individual feathers by magic. So your feathers can only grow back naturally!"

"Ughh, what?" Rainbow asked.

"It means that magic couldn't regrow yer feathers, RD. But, Ah don't see how that's gonna help us escape." Applejack said

"It means that Rainbow Dash isn't actually here, none of us are." Twilight replied

"But, we are here. How can we not be?" Rarity asked

"I don't know, I'm guessing that it's caused by one of Nightmare moon's spells." Twilight said, thinking. Then Pinkie started to giggle. "What is it Pinkie?"

"I know why we aren't here!" She exclaimed "We're dreaming!"

"But we never went to sleep!" Rainbow countered.

"We didn't have to fall asleep by ourselves, silly filly. Moon Butt made us go to sleep. With this dome!" That finally clicked in Twilight's head.

"Pinkie, you're a genius! Now everypony, hold still. I'm going to try a wake up spell." Then, without giving the others to respond, she lit up her horn and cast a spell. The spell had shone a bright white light so no-pony could see. When they could. They were all lying down on the cold hard surface of the castle. They got up.

"YAY! We're awake!" Pinkie yelled.

"Oh Ponyfeathers! My wing's broken again!"

"Look at me! My beautiful coat is covered in mud!"

"Umm, yay."

"YEE HAWW!"

"Phew! Now we need to find the elements of harmony. Oh and stay out of Nightmare moon's way."

"HI PAUL!" Pinkie shouted, waving to a timberwolf. The timberwolf nodded it's head, then noticed that it had a body, and waved back.

"How did Paul get here?" Spike asked. Everypony shrugged.

Cutie mark crusaders-Beast hunters!

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Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had all met when Nightmare moon returned. They had stuck together through that time, and had become best friends. They had formed their own group. One that they called 'the cutie mark crusaders'. It was a group that was dedicated to helping others get their cutie marks, and their own, of course. After Scootaloo's 'super awesome amazing, best pony in all of Equestria, idol' Rainbow Dash, saves them from Nightmare moon and the beasts, and Pinkie Pie had sent them all home. The three had rushed over to Sweet Apple acres with Big Mac. They had gone into Applebloom's room where they had begun to discuss events so far.

"..and now we are sitting here discussing what has happened." Sweetie Belle finished.

"So, whut next?" Applebloom asked.

"Hmmm, we should definitely try something super cool to get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo exclaimed

"But wouldn't that be dangerous with all the beasts running around?" Sweetie Belle inquired.

"Yeh, Scoots. Ah mean, 'round Ponyville wouldn't be so bad, but whut if the beasts don't agree?"

"We could get our cutie marks in Beast hunting! Yeh! How about that!"

"How are we going to do that? The beasts are at least twice the size of a full grown manticore and we're barley half the size of a full grown pony!"

"We have to do it! Our sisters are still out there! And I want to help Rainbow Dash! What if they can't do it on their own? They are trying to take on Nightmare moon! How awesomer can you get if you succeed! And I want to prove to Rainbow Dash that I'm awesome! Plus, we might actually get our cutie marks in helping them, if that's true, and we don't help them then we'd never get our cutie marks!"

"Actually, Rainbow Dash ain't your sister, but Ah see your point. Hmm...We'd need to git some stuff together, and sneak out. But ma brother would see us leavin a mile away!"

"Not if we left out the window..." Scootaloo suggested

"Us two can't fly an' you c'n barely git off'a the ground!"

"Then we'll zip line! We'll string a rope from here to that tree over there" Scootaloo said, pointing a hoof at a lone tree at the edge of the farm, a few meters from the house "And then we'll go down it!"

"How are we going to set up a rope that far without Big Mac noticing?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Hmmm, I don't know, but we'll figure something out. I'm not giving up on this idea, Rainbow Dash wouldn't!"

"Ah don't think Rainbow Dash would have that sort o' idea Scoots. 'Specially sein' as she c'n fly."
--Time skip--
The crusaders soon had everything they needed and the zip line was set up. Don't ask how they got all of this set up, nopony knows.

"Right, you girls strapped in?" Scootaloo asked

"Ah'm ready!"

"Me too! But I'm not sure about this, what if-" Sweetie Belle was cut off abruptly as Scootaloo jumped out the window along the zip line, dragging the other two crusaders with her. After detaching themselves from the zip line, the crusaders headed out. They were fully clothed in spy costumes and each had a saddlebag packed full to the brim with supplies. Each had their own special gadget they had managed to pick up. Scootaloo had Night vision goggles, Applebloom had wall-climbing sticky shoes and Sweetie Belle had a spy camera, disguised as a pen, it also worked as a pen. The three each had special ear pieces, in case they got split up and they also each had a large net and a set of tranquilizers, They didn't have a gun, so they used make shift blow pipes instead, made by Applebloom. They worked surprisingly well. The crusaders crept around Ponyville, they didn't really need to, because nopony was around, they had all locked themselves indoors, and the beasts weren't patrolling now, they left to the Everfree forest hours ago. That was where the CMC were heading. To capture a beast.

The first prophecy

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Rainbow Dash was walking next to Paul. She felt slightly uncomfortable around the timberwolf, but he had been helping them so far and he didn't seem to show any signs of a threat. Originally, she had tried to make conversation with him. She didn't know why she did, she just, did. Paul had tried to communicate back, now finding that he had a voice. In his own language, Turtimberkish, the language of Timberwolves, or, known in Turtimberkish as Tukeresterk. He understood Equestrian, but he couldn't speak it. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash seemed to understand, and know how to speak, Turtimberkish. Pinkie Pie also seemed to understand Paul, but she couldn't talk to him properly as she couldn't speak Turtimberkish. Now Rainbow Dash was bored. Her conversation with Paul hadn't gone too well, as neither of them knew what to say, plus, Paul's, reserved, almost shy, personality, had made it hard for Rainbow Dash to talk to him at all. She still didn't know how she understood him or could speak a bit of his language. She and her friends were wandering around the castle, trying to find the elements again. They were pretty sure that Nightmare moon had taken them, but they wanted to make sure. The friends had split up, to make their search faster. Twilight and Spike were searching the upper section, Rarity and Fluttershy searched the west ground section, Pinkie Pie and Applejack searched the east ground section and Rainbow Dash and Paul searched the basement. It was when they were beginning to leave to get back to the others and report their findings that Paul saw something that neither he or Rainbow Dash had seen before. It was an entrance. An entrance to, somewhere. Somewhere dark. Somewhere dark and mysterious. Somewhere, that, seemed to draw anyone who saw it, to it. It wasn't evil, just, foreboding. The entrance led downwards, though not very far. It eventually came to a cave. The cave had ancient words carved into the wall. Unirish, from what Rainbow Dash could tell. The two left the cave and found the others already waiting for them.

"What took you so long? We've been finished for ages, another minute and we would have gone in after you." Pinkie Pie asked, a bit concerned, though, more or less her cheery self.

"Did you find something??" Fluttershy asked. "None of us had any luck."

"Yeh, we did find something, but not the elements. We found a cave and in it there were words written into the wall. Unirish I think." Rainbow Dash said.

"Where? Take us to the cave! It might help us." Twilight said. So Rainbow and Paul lead the others down into the basement and into the cave. The cave was surprisingly light. Twilight had expected it to be pitch black, but there was something in the cave that lit it up. Twilight looked at the words engraved onto the wall and began to read.

"Ag an am idir Lá agus Oíche, an té atá teideal díreach, go domhain san uaimh ina twists intinn, beidh féach an fhírinne agus a fháil a n-áit."
"At the time between Day and Night, the one who's title is just that, deep in the cave which twists minds, shall see the truth and find their place." She translated. "Huh, that's weird, it's like a prophecy, but a prophecy to what?"

"OOH! A prophecy to see who is gonna side with Nightmare moon! Or a prophecy to see who is gonna find their place in life! OOOH! Maybe it's about a pony who's name has got something to do with time!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing around.

"Umm, I don't think so Pinkie. Maybe about somepony finding their place in life but not the others."

"But what about a pony who's name has got something to do with time?" Fluttershy asked "That seems pretty obvious."

"Prophecies are meant to make you think that. Its not going to be about a pony who's named after a time or something. We are going to have to figure this out, find another meaning to the prophecy than what we think it is." Twilight explained, matter of factly.

"Well one thing's fer sure an' that's it's got somethin' to do with Nightmare moon." Applejack said.

"How can you be sure of that Applejack?" Twilight asked

"Well, it's here, under the castle o' the two sisters, we found it while Nightmare moon is free. An' prophecies from ancient times come up when they're needed, right?"

"Hmm, that does make sense, but it could be about something else we have to do! Oh no! What do we do??"

"How about we start by kicking Nightmare moon's butt! Then we can get Princess Celestia back, and hopefully, Princess Luna. Then we can worry about what an ancient prophecy has to do with anything." Rainbow Dash suggested. The others agreed. So the main 6, Spike and Paul set off to find Nightmare moon.

They immediately went to Canterlot, to Celestia's castle, as that was where Nightmare moon had said she was going, to claim the throne. When they got to Canterlot, they noticed that nopony was outside. They had all locked themselves indoors. Twilight lead the way to the castle, staying hidden from the beasts and the guards that had decided to work for Nightmare moon. They got as far as the great gates that ran around the castle. There they came face to face with several guards. Nightmare moon had made them change their armor from sun gold, to moon white, with black shoes.

Their new armor protected more of their bodies than their previous ones. The new armor covered the entirety of their body and neck, their helmets covered every part of the head except for the ears and their shoes came halfway up their legs. The guards had caught the group trying to climb over the gate. Without question, the guards immediately attacked them well aware of Paul. The guards decided to ignore Paul for now, if they went for him, the others would escape and they couldn't allow that.

The guards leaped at the girls, only one missed. That one was the guard aiming at Rainbow Dash who had dodged to the right at the last second before spinning round and bucking him in the chest. Applejack faced her attacker head on. She had been knocked to the ground by the guard, but she had quickly pushed him off and now she had him pinned to the floor. Spike was clawing and scratching and the unicorn guard who attacked Rarity. Rarity was pinned to the ground by the unicorns magic and couldn't do anything, and Spike, being the handsome Night in shining armor that he was had come to her rescue. he wasn't doing very well. Twilight seemed evenly matched with the unicorn that had attacked her, and she was also fighting the pegasus guard that attacked Fluttershy. Fluttershy was curled up in a ball behind Twilight. Pinkie Pie was running circles around her guard, well, more like bouncing. But, unfortunately for Pinkie she made a mistake. Her Pinkie sense told her that something was going to fall from the sky, so she stopped bouncing to find a place to hide, during those moments the guard launched himself into the air and landed on top of Pinkie. Now Pinned to the ground, Pinkie Pie squirmed with all her might, but the guard was too heavy and she couldn't shake him off. The guard pulled out a set of hoof-cuffs and grabbed Pinkies right foreleg and clipped the hoof-cuffs on. Paul saw this and became enraged. Pinkie Pie was his first friend, and because of that friendship, he had been pulled out from the dream dome and had been transformed from an imaginary timberwolf head into a real timberwolf. If it weren't for Pinkie, he wouldn't be here right now. Paul bounded over to the guard that had Pinkie Pie pinned to the floor, and grabbed him in his massive jaws. Then he shook the guard senseless and threw him away. He nudged Pinkie back to her hooves before going to help the others. He helped Twilight first. He brought down the pegasus guard and flung her in the same direction that he had flung the previous guard. He left Twilight with the other guard and left to help Spike and Rarity.

Finally, the battle was over, the guards had lost and now lay in a heap on the floor. Everyone was relieved that they had fought them off and could now get into the castle with no interruptions. But they were wrong. Nightmare moon had sensed their battle and had prepared her army of Chaos beasts. She allowed the group to get past the gate and into the castle. She did this because she was sure that they wouldn't be able to beat her. Especially without the elements. But Nightmare moon was wrong this time. The girls, instead of heading straight to Nightmare moon's throne room as she had planned, split up in search of the elements. Their search was successful, thanks to the lack of security around the elements now that all of Nightmare moon's guards and soldiers lay in wait in the throne room, ready for an ambush.

Twilight didn't know what to do now. She had the elements. But she didn't know how to work them. She had a feeling that some of her friends might be able to wield them, but she wasn't sure and she didn't want to take any chances. Plus, the elements were still in their stone cases.

"Right, everypony grab an element, were going to Nightmare moon." Twilight ordered. The others grabbed an element each while Twilight examined the statue the elements had been on, looking for the sixth element.

Winning the battle but losing the enemy

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Twilight's quick search for the sixth element has resulted in failure. She couldn't find it. She was depressed. They couldn't defeat Nightmare moon without the elements, but... They could run her off the throne. At least for a while. Twilight knew more than one alicorn. Her foal-sitter, Princess Cadence, was an alicorn. She was the princess of Love, and very powerful indeed. Most ponies didn't know how powerful she was, mainly due to the fact that she didn't perform much magic. But Twilight knew that she was just as powerful as Celestia, if not stronger. Her love magic could spread through everypony, the more ponies it spreads through, the stronger her magic. If Twilight could get her and ask her to help overthrow Nightmare moon, then she could Take Celestia's place while Twilight and the others try to work the elements. Sure, Princess Cadence might struggle to control the sun and the moon, but if she didn't then Nightmare moon would win. Quickly Twilight came up with a plan and shared it with the others. Soon everypony was in place.

"I hope this works Twilight, even with everypony in Canterlot helping, defeating Nightmare moon and her minions would be quite a challenge." Princess Cadence fretted.

"I know, but it's our only shot. You deal with Nightmare moon and leave her minions to us. We might not have everypony in Canterlot helping, but with the ponies we do have we can probably hold off her minions while you face Nightmare moon herself. After that, you'll have to take the throne until Princess Celestia comes back, nopony else can." Twilight said. Then she counted down in her mind from five. 'Five, four, three, two, one. Time to put my plan into action.' Twilight had positioned everypony helping in a circle around the throne room, that way, there was no escape from the magic. It was also set up so that Princess Cadence's magic could easily be transferred from pony to pony. The circle closed in against the walls of the throne room as much as possible, while Twilight and Princess Cadence walked forward into the room. They knew there was going to be an ambush, so Princess Cadence had already started to spread her magic. As soon as the large doors opened, A dark blue magic beam shot at them, followed by a multitude of others. Twilight quickly cast a shield spell that repelled most of the damage. Princess Cadence then shot her own magic beam at Nightmare moon while Twilight attacked the beasts.

Nightmare moon was shocked at seeing Princess Cadence. She didn't know that there was another Princess and therefore had not prepared for one. This gave a massive advantage to Princess Cadence as her magic was a lot more effective than Twilight thought. Everypony outside, Princess Cadence's magic still flowing through them, came in afterwards, the unicorns firing spells at the beasts and the earth ponies acting as shields. The pegasi went into a front line attack bucking and punching at the beasts. Many were swiped away, but the magic flowing through their bodies intensified as each pony defended their loved ones, and their attacks grew stronger. Soon the beasts were overwhelmed. Their own magic, not being enough to compete with a magic that strengthens when somepony is hurt, was useless and they were resorting to physical attacks, which weren't doing much damage either. They couldn't escape as the circle of ponies still stood. In the middle of that Circle, Princess Cadence was locked in battle with Nightmare moon. Twilight, no longer faced with any beasts added her own magic to Princess Cadence's. Nightmare moon was losing, and she knew it. Her army was more or less defeated. In truth, it hadn't been very strong in the first place, there weren't many soldier beasts, and the guards that now worked for her were useless. Upon seeing this, Nightmare moon decided to run from battle before she could come to any harm. It wasn't that she was a coward, no, she was far from that, but she knew that, if she got hurt, then she'd have no chance of regaining power. At least now, she wasn't injured, she could re-build her army and she could get stronger. Then she could take the throne again, being prepared for Princess Cadence's power. Nightmare moon ran into the Everfree forest. She hid there, in the castle of the two sisters, and had it repaired.

Princess Cadence took power of the throne. She then dropped the moon and raised the sun. Nightmare moon had fled, Princess Cadence had won. Though, that wasn't the case. It seemed to be the case, but Twilight knew better. 'Nightmare moon will come back for more, we need to figure out how to work the elements of Harmony quickly.' She voiced her opinion to her friends who agreed.

"We need to get rid of her for good! She's going to get stronger the longer we leave her. That coward, she can't bare to take her beating, she knew she was gonna lose so she ran!" Rainbow had voiced.

"I'll agree with you about her getting stronger the longer we leave her, but I'd say she's far from a coward." Twilight responded

"I think we should work on that prophecy Twilight, If it does have something to do with Nightmare moon, then we're going to want to find out sooner rather than later." Fluttershy said.

"You're right, come on girls, we'll leave Nightmare moon for now, she can't do any more damage while she is still healing. Let's figure out this prophecy."

The second prophecy

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The CMC were now deep in the Everfree forest. They had set multiple traps up for the beasts and were now monitoring them. So far, none had been sprung.

"Ughh, when's a beast gonna come past? I'm sooo bored, why can't we just go and find one? That's what Rainbow Dash would do!" Scootaloo moaned, quietly.

"Well we're not Rainbow Dash, Scoots, were the CMC! An' we're gonna do it this way 'cause it's safer." Applebloom told her.

"Ughh, but this is boring! What if a beast never comes?" Just then a rustling was heard in the bushes.

"Shh, something's coming." Sweetie Belle quietened her friends. Then, a large, black, familiar, alicorn came rushing through the bushes. She was weak, she had almost no magic left, she had used the rest to teleport herself and minions to the Everfree forest. Now she ran through it, heading for the castle. Because of her weak state, she did not notice the poorly hidden trap on the floor, she also didn't see the three Fillies hiding, watching, waiting. Nightmare moon ran straight into the trap and got caught in the cleverly designed trap. The net was built out of a very strong steel mesh, so you couldn't cut through it. But it was weak enough to be malleable. The holes were too small for any escape through them, the net closed itself at the top, over it's contents preventing any escape, and it tightened itself so that the creature caught inside it couldn't move.

"Aghhh!" Screamed Nightmare moon "Let me out at once! Whoever put this trap here is going to pay!" The CMC looked at each other, then back at the trapped and weakened Nightmare moon. Slowly, they crept over to her. The net was suspended a few feet in the air, just above the CMC's heads.

"YOU THREE??? I WAS TRAPPED AND CAUGHT BY THREE, USELESS, FILLIES???" Nightmare moon roared. The CMC scowled at Nightmare moon, then they looked at each other and nodded. They each reached into their bags and pulled out their blow pipes and tranquilizing darts. They loaded the blow pipes up and each shot a tranquilizer into the moon on Moon butt's flank. Nightmare moon yelled as she felt the tranquilizer darts, then promptly fell asleep. The CMC cheered in delight and looked at their flanks, unfortunately, they were still bare.

"But we caught NIGHTMARE MOON! How could we have not gotten our cutie marks???!! AGHHH! Why does life have to be so unfair!" Scootaloo wailed.

"Ah, can't believe we caught Nightmare moon."

"We finally caught something! YAY!"

"Ughh. I want my cutie mark!...Whatever, hmm. Lets take Nightmare moon to the dungeons we found. We can lock her up in one of the cells. Sweetie Belle, do you have that magic prevention ring?"

"Yup, I found it in my sister's room. Though I don't know why she would have one. Anyway, here you go." Sweetie Belle answered cheerfully, rummaging in her saddle bag before pulling out a metal ring. The ring sloped inwards slightly at the top, just like a unicorns horn. Scootaloo put it on their captive.

"Hmm, Applebloom, do you have any rope? We're gonna have to tie her wings down if we don't want her to escape."

"Sure, here you are Scoots."

"Great! Now come on! Maybe we just have to bring her to our hide-out and lock her in the dungeons to get our cutie marks!" So the CMC began to drag the limp body of Nightmare moon in the direction of their hide-out.

Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were sitting down glumly. They hadn't gotten their cutie marks for capturing and bringing back Nightmare moon. On top of that, when they tried going back to Ponyville to get some adults, they couldn't find their way out. They tried following the set up of their traps, but they didn't find the exit. Now they just sat down, looking at the floor, not knowing what to do, when Sweetie Belle noticed something.

"Hey, From here I can see the sun!"

"What? But it's night??" Scootaloo said.

"Not anymore." Sweetie Belle retorted, pointing a hoof in the direction of the sky. True enough, through a small parting in the leaves, they could see the sun. From anywhere else in the Everfree forest, you couldn't tell whether it was day or night, but from here, you could see straight through the tree line.

"I hate the sun." Came a voice from behind them. The cutie mark crusaders spun around to see Nightmare moon, awake, lying in the cell and, thankfully, still bound up. "Those pesky ponies ran me off my throne!" Nightmare moon glanced at the three fillies, a thoughtful look in her eyes "It's my right to be the ruler of Equestria, Celestia had her time, now she's gone and I'm here to take her place!"

"That ain't true!" Applebloom yelled.

"But believe me it is, little fillies." Nightmare moon's usually raspy, dark voice, took on a softer tone "Celestia left before I returned, her time was up. Alicorns don't live forever, they just live a very long time. My time has been extended, because my sister sent me to the moon for a thousand years."

"You deserved to go to the moon! You tried to kill Princess Celestia!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Oh, so that's how Celestia has told the story. The younger sister attacks her older one."

"Wait, your Princess Celestia's sister??!" The CMC shouted in unison.

"Why yes, My real name is Princess Luna, but, because of Celestia, I am now Nightmare moon."

"So, Celestia turned you into Nightmare moon?" Sweetie Belle asked

"Sort of. Do you really believe that I would attack my own sister. The stories may depict me as a cruel, heartless demon, but I assure you, that is not the case. If you don't believe me, ask yourself this; would you attack your sisters?" That question through the CMC right off. They knew the stories of Nightmare moon, how she had tried to kill Princess Celestia, and how Princess Celestia had banished Nightmare moon to the moon. They had also seen what Nightmare moon had just done; Kidnap everypony in Ponyville and take them into the Everfree forest, where they were watched by some evil beasts that she called upon to serve her as their Queen. She had then refused to bring the sun back up, she had been defeated by the CMC's sisters and friends. Now, though, Nightmare moon was telling them that the stories were not real.

"I guess we wouldn't hurt our own sisters, but then, why would Celestia hurt you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Oh no, she didn't hurt me like that. She placed a curse on me, so that I would turn into Nightmare moon. I cannot change back unless I am released from my curse. Celestia turned me into Nightmare moon so she would have a reason to send me to the moon for a thousand years and take over Equestria. So many things have changed since before I was banished. No race is separated by their own language, because everypony speaks New Equestrian. Lots of ancient traditions have vanished and replaced with new ones. Friends have long gone and I know nopony, my sister finally passed on, leaving me as the air to the throne. Now I have been chucked off of it, just because of my decisions as ruler of Equestria!"

"Wait, so you want us to help you out of your curse?" Sweetie Belle asked

"If that were possible, I'd ask for your assistance. But as things are, to get rid of the curse, you not only have to have the 9 elements of Harmony, but you also have to have a special power that comes with a prophecy." Nightmare moon responded, a hint of mischief in her eyes, the CMC did not see it.

"What is that prophecy?" Scootaloo asked, a bit excitedly.

"I shouldn't tell you, it is meant to be only told to those who will hold the power of the prophecy. I know it because it is my duty to pass on the message. Only those who have the most courage can complete the prophecy."

"We can do it!" Scootaloo shouted "We could be cutie mark crusaders:Prophecy revealers!"

"But, once Nightmare moon tells us the prophecy, won't it already be revealed?" Applebloom asked

"Ok then, Cutie mark crusaders:Prophecy completers!"

"It sounds a bit unrealistic, but its another chance to get our cutie marks! I'm in!" Sweetie Belle considered.

"Ok then, Ah'm in too! So, Nightmare moon, tell us the prophecy."

"You're only fillies, I couldn't let you go through the trouble."

"But we've heard your story about this, it seems realistic, an' you seem nice enough, ya know, to care 'bout our safety an' all, but, who captured you an' brought you here? If we c'n do that, then we can do anything!" Applebloom encouraged, hoping against hope that Nightmare moon would let them.

"You're right, you three handle yourselves perfectly, you had the courage to even try to capture me, and you believe me. You have kind hearts. I will tell you the prophecy, but I will not let you go until you free me from this prison."

"Deal." Applebloom said as she moved to free the dark princess.

"The prophecy is this, 'There will be nine, each to hold an element, each to hold a power. The powers shall run to get them away, the elements shall stay to drive the evil away. Friendship and faith shall battle the mess, winning only to defend the queen. Faith shall rise and find it's strength, the three shall follow, finding their marks.' I do not know what most of the prophecy means, but I know that it speaks of the 9 elements of harmony." Nightmare moon said. The CMC's brains were swirling at all the things the prophecy could mean. Scootaloo piped up with some very wishful thinking.

"The prophecy could mean us! I mean, it talks about 'three' and there are three of us, it also says that three will find their marks! It must be talking about cutie marks!"

"An' since none o' us 'as our cutie marks..." Applebloom began

"The prophecy must mean us!" Sweetie Belle finished.

"So do we each hold an element, or, do friendship and faith have nothing to do with the elements?" Scootaloo asked.

"I do not know" Replied Nightmare moon, she was lying, of course, she knew the three had an element in them, but she could not let them find out.

"It talks 'bout them separately, so ah'd guess they were different things, so we're faith huh, who's friendship then, an' who hold the elements?" Applebloom asked

"That, I do not know either, you must figure out on your own. If you need me, I will be here." Nightmare moon said, before trotting away. "Perfect..." She muttered under her breath. The trap had been set, now to call upon her Night guards.

"Ok girls, let's go!" Scootaloo said, then in sync with the other two, she jumped in the air, high hoofed the others and shouted:

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS:PROPHECY COMPLETERS! YAY!"

The first prophecy-answered

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"Twilight, I really think that this prophecy does refer to somepony who's name has something to do with time. I actually think it could be you, I mean, the time between day and night is twilight and your name is Twilight so-" Fluttershy said, but was cut off by a purple hoof.

"No Fluttershy, twilight is also the time between night and day, not just day and night, so if it's actually talking about a time, then it would be talking about the evening, so it would have to be somepony called Evening, or something along that line." Twilight told the yellow pegasus.

"Twi, you're really thinking too deep into this. I mean, we found it, so it must have something to do with us right, and you're the only pony who's name relates to a time." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes but prophecies don't work like that! It would make them too easy to figure out!"

"Well I still think we should give it a shot with you being who the prophecy talks about. Wouldn't that be awesome? If the prophecy were talking about me, I'd want to jump right in there!" Rainbow Dash declared

"Of course you would, the fact that ponies from centuries ago knew about you would make you ecstatic, wouldn't it?"

"Yup! I mean, who wouldn't? Ponies knowing how awesome you are and writing a prophecy just about you before you're even born!! How cool is that?"

"Yeh! Come on Twilight, it's a possibility, and you can't just throw away any possibility just because you think that it's unrealistic." Pinkie Pie put in.

"Fine, I'll consider the possibility that the prophecy is talking about me. Right, now let's think of some other possibilities."

"Great! Now, I just need to figure what everything else means." Pinkie Pie said and bounced away.

"Well, I think that it means that at twilight, or evening or whenever, somethings going to happen in a cave." Fluttershy suggested.

"No, like I said before, prophecies don't work that way, they're to easy otherwise." Suddenly, Applejack and Rarity burst through the double doors placed in the wall to the dining area where the rest of the main 6 had been sitting.

"Twi...We...found...something....ya might.....want'a...see." Applejack gasped before collapsing on the floor.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Well Twilight, while we were back in Ponyville, we spoke to Big Mac about looking after our sisters, and Scootaloo, however, Big Mac said that the fillies had run off somewhere last night, and he hasn't seen them since. Then while we were searching the town, Applejack thought she saw something in the Everfree forest, so we went to investigate. We found Nightmare moon with a bunch of, of, of these things! Well, they were like ponies, only they had bat-like ears and wings, their eyes were slit and they liked to be in the trees hanging uspidown! Nightmare moon was training them along with some tiny versions of those beasts that attacked us before." Rarity said after catching her breath "We got out of there before they could spot us. We think that Nightmare moon is preparing to launch an attack. There were lots more of those beasts than when they came to fight us."

"Ok Rarity, we'll send some guards down to keep an eye on things for the moment. There's nothing we can't do without the elements and I can't even find the sixth let alone get them to work. Shining armor had his best guards protect them so we should be fine for the moment." Twilight said "Any other information from Ponyville?"

"Not really, the townsponies are startin' to go 'bout their normal business, Ah don't think they know 'bout Nightmare moon's escape. We decided to keep it that way, don't want a panic. Other than the CMC going missin' that's 'bout it." Applejack answered.

"The CMC? Who are they?"

"Oh, right, Ah forgot ta tell ya, the CMC's Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle an' Applebloom, they made a group to help each other git their cutie marks."

"And they're missing!" Rarity cried "My poor, sweet, innocent,.. well not so much innocent, but still, little sister, could be anywhere!"

"Hey, it's ok Rares, those fillies can take care of themselves, we'll find them, and if I know Scootaloo, She'll take care of them. Little squirt never gives up." Rainbow tried to comfort her, it surprised Twilight, to see the brash pegasus trying to comfort Rarity, she supposed it must come from being friends with Fluttershy for so long.

"So Twi, ya found what the prophecy means yet?" Applejack asked.

"No, not really, I said I'd think about me being part of the prophecy, but I don't think it's as simple as that. I think it has a deeper meaning to it, but we can't figure it out." Twilight responded.

"Well, do ya have any ideas?"

"No."

"I can't think o' anythin' neither. Me an' Rarity tried to think o' somethin' but, we came up drier than a bone in the Appaloosan deserts."

"Ughh, ok. So our only lead is the one about me being part of the prophecy."

"Well, it does seem likely, Twilight dear."

"That's just what whoever made the prophecy wants you to think!" Twilight complained.

"But Twilight, Did you consider that the prophecy might want you to think that's what what it wants you to think?" Pinkie Pie asked, which elicited a confused 'huh' from everypony. "Think about it!"

"Ok, I'm thinking about it, I still don't see what you mean."

"Ughh, I mean that if you think that the meaning of the prophecy is so obvious, that the obvious meaning is not actually the real meaning and that the prophecy has a deeper meaning, then the prophecy might have seen that coming and actually meant the obvious meaning to be the real one."

"Ughhh" Said Twilight "Pinkie, that does not make sense in the slightest, sometimes I think you are too random."

"It does make sense Twilight!...Anypony?" Pinkie was practically begging. Twilight hadn't understood what Pinkie said at all, mostly because she had spoken too quickly, and the information had gone right over everypony else's heads.

"I get it." The voice was Rainbow Dash's. "It does make sense, and it makes sense to Paul too."

"YOU CAN UNDERSTAND HIM?!?!?!?!" Twilight asked in shock, Rainbow Dash ignored her.

"Thank you so much Dashie! And you Paul." Pinkie thanked them cheerfully.

"What Pinkie means is that you are so obsessed with thinking that the obvious answer can't be the real one, because it's too obvious, that you failed to notice that it's the most likely answer and the only one we have. Plus, if the prophecy is actually tricking us, then it's making you think that there is a deeper meaning, when the real meaning is the one you keep pushing aside." Rainbow Dash explained.

"....I, I think I get it." Twilight said after a while. "So, I am actually part of the prophecy, the obvious answer that I pushed aside for thinking that it was 'too' obvious, is the real answer. There is no deeper meaning to the prophecy." Twilight's eyes lit up in realization. "Girls! We figured out the prophecy!" Twilight cheered, the others did the same, now finally understanding what Pinkie meant. Then Twilight got back her confused expression, Turned to Rainbow Dash and asked, "You can understand Paul???"

The third prophecy-found, interpreted and completed.

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Twilight sighed as she exited yet another of the mountains caves.

"Come on Twi, Don't you think what you're doing is a bit much. I mean, I know this is kinda what I would do, and we kinda told you that the prophecy is about you, but exploring every single cave in the Canterlot mountain to find this crazy cave that's supposed to make us go cookoo, just to find out the truth of this prophecy? I wanna go back to the castle." Rainbow Dash complained.

"Rainbow Dash's right Twi. These things take time, we'll find this out when it comes to it. No need ta rush it." Applejack said.

"But if we don't hurry and find out what the prophecy means by 'see the truth and find their place', then Nightmare moon could be upon us and we'd have no way to stop her. Without the elements, this prophecy is our only hope."

"But we defeated her! It will be ages before she comes back!" Rainbow Dash whined.

"But, according to Rarity and Applejack, she is summoning an army, bigger than the one we faced. If we're not ready for that with whatever this prophecy is, then we have no hope of defeating her again."

"Fine. The next one is just up here, lets go." Rainbow sighed. The three ponies walked into the next cave and looked around, there where three routes.

"Perfect, we'll split up, follow the path, don't take a detour, keep going straight. Once we reach the end of the paths, turn around and come back here. Don't go into one another's tunnels, it will make things confusing." Twilight ordered before running down the middle path. Rainbow flew down the right path and Applejack the left. Rainbow Dash's path was more or less a completely straight one, with no other tunnels coming off of it. Several minutes of flying, ended Rainbow Dash in a cave. This cave, like the one where they had found the prophecy, was glowing slightly. Slowly, Rainbow Dash searched the small cave. After a few minutes of searching, she saw something engraved in the wall. Taking a closer look she saw it was another prophecy. This time, the prophecy was in Equestrian, Old Equestrian, but still Equestrian.

Down a tunnel, the lady shall findeth, an entrance of the mind, passing through, without knowing, into a lodging the lady recognizes.

"Another prophecy! I gotta tell Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said to herself before shooting off through the tunnel she had come from.

---

Applejack's tunnel wined round and round, the constant turning was making her feel dizzy. She hadn't been walking very long, 2 minutes at most, but there had already been a few tunnels splitting off of the main one, each intriguing Applejack to no end, but she carried on, following the path. At least, she thought she had, with all this turning, Applejack wasn't sure if she had followed the correct path. As Applejack rounded another turn, she found herself looking at the entrance to her room. (Princess Cadence had let them stay in the castle for as long as they needed to.) Applejack turned around to find no tunnel. She kept spinning, trying to find out how she got here. After a few moments, Applejack fell to the floor, being to dizzy to stand up. Then Rarity opened up her room's door to see who it was that had just fallen. She looked on the floor and saw Applejack.

"Applejack, darling! Are you alright? Where's Twilight and Rainbow Dash? Why are you back so early? Twilight said you'd be gone for most of the day." Rarity bombarded Applejack with questions. It took Applejack a moment to regain her bearings again before she spoke.

"Ah'm fine Rarity. Just confused is all. Ah don't know how Ah got here, all Ah know is that Ah was walking down a tunnel when Ah'm suddenly here. Ah'm pretty sure that Twi an' RD are still in the tunnels."

"Well, Maybe Twilight teleported you out, though I cant think why."

"Yeh, hmmm, Ah don't know. Ah'm gonna try an' figure this out"

"That's fine Applejack, but I must get back to my work, otherwise these costumes wont be ready at all!" Rarity said as she walked off. Applejack grunted. They were trying to prepare for a war that could potentially break out, and Rarity was more interested in making outfits. Applejack turned to look at the spot she had come from. She stared at it for a long time. She was wondering how she could have got back to the castle like that. It was as if...she had walked through a portal. Applejack stared hard at where she had come from, as if expecting a portal to open then and there. She wasn't, actually, expecting that, but, it happened anyway. As Applejack stared, she saw a ripple spread out through the air. Then, a tear formed where the ripple had started. The tear stated to get bigger. Applejack looked at the opening portal in shock. What was going on! Through the portal, Applejack could see the wall of a tunnel. 'Perfect, that's gonna get me back to where Ah was.' She thought as the portal got bigger. Once it was big enough for Applejack to fit through, it stopped growing, and waited. Almost looking at Applejack expectantly. Applejack walked through the portal...and was greeted by Rainbow Dash slamming into her at top speed. Applejack was thrown off her hooves and into the wall, Rainbow Dash, having tried to slow down the moment she saw Applejack, had bounced off of her friend and into the wall,...where she had got her head stuck.

"Consarn it Rainbow Dash! Can't you be more careful when you're flyin' round! You could'a hurt somepony!" Applejack scolded, whilst trying to get Rainbow's head from out of the wall "An' what are ya doin' in mah tunnel anyway? Twi said to stick to our own tunnels."

"I'm in your tunnel?!" Rainbow Dash almost shouted, her head now free from the wall "For your information, I'm still in my tunnel, and I'm not the one who just walked out of THE WALL! How did you do that anyway? There are no other pathways down this tunnel."

"What'dya mean Ah walked out o' the wall, Ah did not wa- Oh" Applejack trailed off upon seeing there was nowhere else she could have come from and that she was indeed, in Rainbow's tunnel. "Ah don't know how Ah came out o' the wall." She said. "Ya still could be more careful when yer flyin'!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know you were gonna walk out of the wall. Plus, I don't think I'm going to be doing any flying any time soon." Rainbow Dash stated, looking at her limp right wing. It had been a few days since Rainbow's wing had healed properly, and she had been ecstatic when Fluttershy told her she could fly again. Now she felt dejected again. "Anyway, I was going as fast as I was because I found something you guys should see."

"What?"

"Another prophecy, this time in ancient Equestrian."

"Another prophecy?? Whats it say?"

"Something about a lady finding an entrance in a tunnel, going through it and ending up in a 'lodging' she recognizes. Come on, let's go back to Twilight."

When the two friends got back to the entrance of the tunnels, Twilight was already waiting for them.

"I thought I said to stick to your own tunnels." She demanded.

"We know, but Applejack found a way to walk through walls." Rainbow Dash sighed, she was still dejected.

"How in the world world wide of Equestria did you find a way to walk through walls?!" Twilight asked, very surprised.

"Well, Ah, ughh, ya see, it's a long story." Applejack finally answered "Anyway, Rainbow Dash found another prophecy. Ya need to come see it."

"Another prophecy? Lets go!" Twilight shouted excitedly before running down the tunnel her two friends had come from. Applejack ran after her, Rainbow Dash followed, though not as eagerly.

When she got to the cave, Twilight had already found the prophecy and was reading it.

" an entrance of the mind, passing through, without knowing, into a lodging the lady recognizes. What does it mean?" She asked herself desperately. Then Applejack spoke up.

"Ah think Ah know what it means." She said.

"You do?" Twilight asked her "What is it?"

"Well, Ah think Ah know what it means. Earlier, when Ah was goin' through ma tunnel, Ah ended up back in Canterlot castle somehow. It was like Ah went through a portal. Ah think Ah did, 'cause when Ah tried to think how Ah got there, another portal opened up. So Ah walked through, thinkin' it were gonna take me back to where Ah was, when it took me straight into Rainbow Dash here's tunnel." Applejack said "The prophecy, talks about a gal who goes through an entrance without knowin' it, an' it took her to someplace she knew. Which is exactly what happened ta me."

"But what about the mind thing?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I think that means the portal. Applejack, could you open it again?"

"ughh, maybe. Let me try." Applejack said. She then began to focus on a spot in the cave. She watched it for a few minutes, straining to open it.

"Try thinking of somewhere you want to go, that might help." Applejack heard Twilight's voice beside her. So Applejack began to think of somewhere that she wanted to go. She thought of Canterlot castle, where the rest of her friends were. Sure enough, the ripple came again and the air was torn open by an unseen force. Through the portal, Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow Dash could see the shocked faces of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity. All three of them where in the dining hall, having lunch, staring at the portal that revealed their three friends who had gone out earlier to try and complete Twilight's prophecy.

"There ya go Twilight, one portal back to Canterlot castle." Applejack said.

"Pinkie dear, what did you put in the punch?"

Cutie mark crusaders-Prophecy completers! YAY! (Part 1)

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"So, uhh, where do we go to complete the prophecy?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ah don't know, maybe we should head off to find somepony in 'Friendship' or maybe we could find out who or what the elements are." Applebloom suggested.

"OOH! OOH! I KNOW! We could go talk to our sisters! They could help us!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"What, the ones who knocked Nightmare moon off of her throne? Didn't you hear what she said, and, for all the stories about her, she was kinda right about her being air to the throne." Scootaloo said.

"Yeh, but they can still help us! They don't have to know what we think of Nightmare moon and they don't have to know that we think of them!"

"Why shouldn't they know what we think o' 'em? We don't think badly o' 'em do we? Just 'cause we have differen' opinions on somethin' doesn't mean that we're better than them. Anyway, our sisters haven't heard Nightmare moon's story, so how should they know?"

"Because" Scootaloo said, emphasizing the middle syllable of the word "because...because...huh, there is no because."

"See, we don't think bad o' em, an' even if we did, we should always be honest to ourselves an' others. That's what Applejack 'as always taught me." Applebloom said.

"Ok, I guess you're right. Lets go to our sisters!"

"How are we supposed to get there? They're in Canterlot! And, I doubt the train conductor is just going to let us on the train." Scootaloo asked.

"Hmm, Ah don't know. How's 'bout we go to the library and find out how we c'n get there?" Applebloom suggested.

"And we can read up on the elements of harmony while we are there too!" Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"Ughh, readings for Eggheads."

"Well Scoots, it's two 'gainst one. You're comin' with us." Applebloom told her Pegasus friend.

"UGHHH! Fine! we'll do some stupid studying."

--Time skip--

"Hey girls! I found something!" Scootaloo called as she picked out a book "Elements of harmony-A reference guide."

"Great! Now we c'n find out what these element's are." Applebloom said.

"Now, let's see. There are 9 elements of harmony, 5 of them are Kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty and loyalty, those five, plus a sixth to create the main 6, also known as friendship." Scootaloo read.

"What? So you mean that friendship and faith ARE the elements of harmony?" Sweetie Belle asked in disbelief.

"Looks like it, hmmm, the other three complete the 9, hmm...what are they though?" Scootaloo asked nopony in particular.

"Turn the page, maybe it has somethin' on the next page." Applebloom suggested. So Scootaloo turned the page. On the next page, there was a large picture of the 9 elements of harmony, 6 of them had a shape, one looked like a green butterfly, one looked like a yellow balloon, another looked like an orange apple, one a blue diamond, and one a red lightning bolt, those five surrounded a sixth which looked like a purple star.

"Hey! That diamond looks like Rarity's cutie mark!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed

"An' that apple looks like mah sisters cutie mark!"

"The lightning bolt looks like Rainbow Dash's cutie mark! And two of the others look like Pinkie's and Fluttershy's!

"But, who's cutie mark is that one in the middle?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Ah think it's the new pony's, who came ta Ponyville today. Ya know, the one with the dragon." Applebloom said.

"So, our sisters and their friends are the elements of friendship?" Scootaloo asked "That's so awesome! Why didn't they tell us?"

"Hmm, maybe they wanted ta keep it a secret?" Applebloom offered.

"Hey look, it even tells us which ones they are! Rarity is generosity and Fluttershy is Kindness." Sweetie Belle squealed.

"Applejack is honesty an' Pinkie Pie is Laughter!" Applebloom said.

"Rainbow Dash is loyalty and that new pony with the dragon is-is-is, uhh, it doesn't say what she is." Scootaloo trailed off.

"Hmm, You're right, but now we've figured out who our sisters our, let's figure out who we are! Look! These three at the bottom are us! Those gems don't have a shape! It says that one o' 'em is hope, one o' em is chance an' one o' em is courage! The three make up faith." Applebloom said, excitedly.

"I can't believe we found out so quickly." Scootaloo stated "I mean, this book is too conveniently placed here, almost like somepony wanted us to find it." The room went silent for a few seconds.

"Who cares? We found out 'bout the elements, now we c'n help our sisters!" Applebloom shouted "Come on! We have ta git ta Canterlot!"

"How? We can't just get on the train and go to Canterlot, for one thing we're too young to be allowed on the train without an adult and for another, I don't think any of us have any bits even if we were allowed on." Scootaloo said.

"We'll sneak onto the train. This is our mission in life, to help Nightmare moon be free of her curse and get her throne back,..oh, an' ta help our sisters clean this 'mess' the prophecy talks about." Applebloom told her friends.

Just a hunch, or, the first prophecy-complete

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Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy were bombarding Applejack with questions. After Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight had come through the portal, Paul and Spike had been called in to hear Applejack's explanation.

"So, Rainbow Dash found another prophecy while we were in the tunnels, and Ah managed to find mah way through a portal into the castle. The prophecy was about me an' gettin' the power of portals, or so we think."

"It makes sense, I mean, What happened to Applejack matches the prophecy, and who just randomly gains a power without any sort of reason?" Pinkie Pie said

"She has a point, I think that the prophecy was the reason for Applejack's power as well." Rarity agreed.

"I think it's awesome! And if Applejack gained a new power from the prophecy, why wouldn't Twilight? And maybe there are other prophecies for us!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"So Applejack dear," Rarity began, ignoring Rainbow Dash "Can your portals take you anywhere?"

"Ah don't know, it took me to the castle twice, each in a different place, an' when Ah went back to the tunnels, it dropped me right in front o' Rainbow Dash."

"Yeh, be more careful next time you do that." Rainbow Dash complained, looking at her, once again, bandaged wing.

"Sorry, Ah'll try to be more careful to stop accidents from occurring." Applejack apologized. "Ya could at least slow down now ya know what ah c'n do."

"When I can fly again."

"oh, hush Rainbow, it was nopony's fault. Neither of you knew the other was going to be there." Fluttershy told her friend.

"So Applejack can go from place to place as if she were teleporting? Cool!" Spike exclaimed. "So, I take it you're calling off the search then?"

"Yeh, I don't think it's going to be in one of the caves on the mountain anyway."

"Twilight, If you don't mind me asking, but, why did you go on that search this morning? The prophecy clearly says that it will happen at twilight." Rarity said.

"What?" Twilight stared at her friend in disbelief.

"The prophecy says 'at the time between day and night', so it must be referring to twilight, or at least evening. So, my question is, why did you go out this morning?"

"WHAT? Why didn't you tell me before??"

"Well, I tried to, but you were to busy."

"Ughh, great. You made me waste an entire morning just to go on some pointless adventure?" Rainbow complained.

"It weren't a waste. Ah got some new powers!"

"Well ok, that's the only thing that makes the trip cool, but, if it weren't for that, the entire trip would be pointless! I could have been practicing my stunts!"

"Rainbow, what's done is done, stop complaining." Rarity scolded.

"Ughh, fine."

Twilight was annoyed, she could have been saved the entire morning. An entire morning when she could have been searching up on the elements of harmony! The Canterlot library must have a book on the elements. She called over to Spike and told him that they were going to be studying up on the elements of harmony. Sighing, Spike followed her to the library. Paul had followed too. When they got to the library, Twilight began to search for the books she was looking for. It took her a while, but she eventually came across a book called 'Elements of harmony-the beginners book'. She opened it to the correct page and began reading. The book wasn't as detailed as she'd like, (And definitely not as detailed as the book the CMC found) but it gave her an idea of what the elements where. 'Friendship and faith', friendship was made up of kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, loyalty and the sixth which nopony knew, while faith was made up of hope, chance and courage. The book said that when the five elements of friendship were present, a spark will show where the sixth element resides. 'Hmm, but the five elements are present, no spark has occurred. Maybe, maybe I need to use magic, or something...'

"Spike, tell the others to grab the elements and bring them to the ballroom. I'm going to try and get the sixth element." Twilight said. Spike saluted and ran off. "Paul, can you,..you can understand me, right?" She asked. Paul nodded. "Right, can you find anymore books on the elements of harmony and bring them to the ball room?" Paul nodded, a bit unsure, but he began to search for more books. (Twilight will never understand why a timberwolf was helping them, even if it had befriended Pinkie Pie and had been a figment of everypony's imagination.) Then, Twilight ran off in the direction of the ball room.

All of Twilight's friends were now present in the ballroom, with the elements. Paul had succeeded in finding one more book on the elements of harmony, it was called 'Ancient artifacts'. Twilight picked up the elements in her magic and placed them in a circle. Then she began to charge her magic. She focused on the five stones and searched them for any magic trace that might show the sixth element. Several minutes had passed but she had still found nothing. She dropped the spell and looked around at her friends. They looked back expectantly. Twilight shook her head sadly.

"Don't worry Twilight. You'll figure this out soon." Spike encouraged.

"'Soon' isn't soon enough!" Twilight complained. Just then, three small faces ran through into the ball room, closely followed by Shining Armor.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried, anger and relief flooding her voice.

"Applebloom!" Applejack shouted, relieved.

"Squirt!" Rainbow called, almost casually.

"What are they doing here?" Twilight asked.

"Twily! They came to see you guys." Shining Armor exclaimed.

"What? Why? Shouldn't you three be in Ponyville?" She asked, turning her attention to the three fillies being hugged to death, or in Scootaloo's case, praised to no end.

"We were in Ponyville!" Sweetie Belle said.

"But then, we found this book on the elements of harmony!" Scootaloo added.

"We found out that ya'll represented the 'friendship' part o' it an' we represented the 'faith' part!" Applebloom chimed in.

"So we all came here to help you guys!" All three finished.

"What? We don't represent the elements." Twilight told them.

"Yeh, ya'll do! No need ts hide it from us anymore!" Applebloom said.

"Uhh, If we all represented the elements, don't you think that these rocks would have responded to us already?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"But look in the book! It has a picture of 6 gems! And each of the gems look like your cutie marks!" Scootaloo pleaded. She held the book out to Rainbow Dash, who took it and opened it to the page where she had learned about the elements of harmony.

"Uhh, where's this picture?"

"On the next page!" Applebloom told her. Rainbow Dash turned the page, and on the other side, it had a picture of 9 gems. 6 of them had a shape. There was a red lightning bolt, an orange apple, a yellow balloon, a green butterfly, a blue diamond and a purple star. The three gems underneath, had no particular shape, but they where: red, white and purple. The red gem, was a slightly more pink shade than the red lightning bolt, and the purple gem was a lighter shade than the purple star was. Rainbow Dash looked at the gems in shock, then looked at all her friends and their cutie marks. The apple's on Applejack's flank matched the apple gem, the butterfly gem, looked like the butterfly's on Fluttershy's flank, the blue gem looked the same as the diamonds on Rarity's flank. The yellow balloon gem, matched the yellow balloon on Pinkie Pie's flank, the purple star looked like the purple star on Twilight's flank. Rainbow Dash looked at her own cutie mark. The red lightning bolt gem, looked like the multicoloured lightning bolt on her own flank. Rainbow Dash handed Twilight the book silently. Twilight saw the gems and her friends cutie marks.

"We do represent the elements." A spark went off in Twilight's eyes. Inside her mind, Twilight heard a voice. It sounded like the wind whistling through the trees, but Twilight could make out what it said.

"'The youngest will perform a sonic blast, bringing the six together for harmony at last. Talents for showing others talents, these three shall become hope, chance and courage' Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty and magic! Together you six create friendship!

Outside of Twilight's mind, the stones that were the elements of harmony had begun to glow, each a different colour of the Rainbow, from red to blue. In the middle of the circle formed by the elements, another stone appeared, this stone, glowed purple. A massive wind then came through from nowhere, though it didn't touch anything. Nopony's hair flapped in the breeze, no sheet of paper blew away. The wind seemed to be talking, but nopony knew what it was saying.

After the wind stopped talking, a bright light shone. Soon, it faded away. Twilight had expected more from that experience. She felt as though Nightmare moon should have been defeated, but she could tell that she hadn't been. When Twilight could see again. A necklace hung from her neck. Other necklaces hung from her friends necks'. Each necklace held a gem. Each gem was in the shape of the bearers cutie mark, and each gem was a colour of the rainbow. Twilight looked outside, the sun was setting, 'twilight' she thought. Twilight looked over to her friends. Observing them one at a time, to make sure that they weren't hurt. For some reason, Twilight felt as though she could read their minds. Applejack was thinking 'what in tarnation happened?' Rarity seemed to be thinking 'Oh my goodness! What a beautiful necklace! I could make a whole fashion line based around this!' Pinkie Pie appeared to be thinking of a ping pong match between Celestia and Nightmare moon, neither side was winning, Fluttershy was thinking about her necklace too, but she wasn't thinking of making a fashion line, Rainbow Dash didn't seem to be thinking anything, her mind was void of any thoughts, then, suddenly, as if a flood gate had opened, hundreds of thoughts flooded her head, most of them were things like 'Is everypony ok?' and 'What just happened?' but one stood out from the rest; 'That. Was. Awesome!' Twilight giggled at Rainbow's response, then, happy with everypony's well being, she spoke.

"I think that went well."

"Ah'm not so sure Twi. I still don't rightly know what just happened. Care ta explain?" Applejack inquired.

"Well, we got our elements! Us 6 represent 6 of the elements of harmony, we represent 'friendship'."

"Ok, that still don't explain nothin'" Twilight looked out the window again, it was still twilight. Then, something clicked in her brain and she remembered something. 'At the time between Day and Night, the one who's title is just that, deep in the cave which twists minds, shall see the truth and find their place.' 'The prophecy! Of course! The prophecy has come true! The cave was my mind! My mind was the cave that twists minds! Ha! This prophecy does have a more complex and deeper meaning!'

"Well, I think our prophecy just came true."

'But, we're not in a cave Twilight. The prophecy said in a cave.' The thought swirled through Pinkie's mind. She was just about to say it, when Twilight answered her, as if she had already said it.

"I know we're not in a cave Pinkie, but, the prophecy meant my mind. When it said 'deep in the cave which twists minds' it meant deep into my mind, which is where I've just been."

"I never said anything Twilight, but thanks for the information." Pinkie Pie sang, bouncing happily.

"I know you didn't say anything, I just knew you were thinking it."

"So, you're, like, psychic?" Rainbow Dash asked

"I knew it! HAH! I knew twilight was psychic!" Pinkie shouted suddenly, making everypony jump.

"Umm, okaaaay. Ughh, I don't think I'm psychic, i just thought that was what Pinkie Pie was thinking, I guessed right."

"That's a bit of a coincidence, don't you think then?" Rarity asked.

"Yeh, I mean, you did just go deep into your mind, where the breeze that blew through here spoke to you and said a couple of prophecies and told you that, together, us six, represented 'friendship' and that we are, and I quote, 'Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty and magic!' and then the voice vanished and you were left back here with us and you read our minds to check if we were ok and you were a bit weirded out by what I thought because I was thinking of a ping pong game between Celestia and Nightmare moon and neither side was winning." Pinkie Pie said, with a huge grin on her face.

"How did you know that?" Twilight asked in shock.

"Just a hunch."

Cutie mark crusaders-Prophecy completers! YAY! (Part 2)

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"But what about us?" Scootaloo asked, after realizing that nothing had happened to her or her two friends.

"Yeh. Nothing happened to us. Does that mean that we don't represent faith?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"But Ah was so sure! Ah was sure o' us bein' faith." Applebloom said, pouting slightly.

"Oh, I'm sure you three are faith" Twilight lied. She wasn't sure that the three were faith. "You just don't have the gems yet. Maybe you need your cutie marks to get the necklaces." The CMC perked up at this.

"Yeh! We just need to get our cutie marks! Come on! Let's get this prophecy figured out!" Scootaloo cheered. The other two members of the CMC joined in.

"What prophecy?" Twilight asked.

"Oh yeh!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "We found a prophecy in the Everfree forest! It said, umm, uhh. Applebloom, what did it say again? Something about 9 elements who each hold a power, wasn't it?"

"Hold on ya'll. When did ya'll find this prophecy?" Applejack asked, suspiciously. The CMC glanced nervously at each other, then Sweetie Belle spoke.

"When we were in the castle! After you guys took us into the castle away from the beasts, Scootaloo, Applebloom and I searched around, that's where we found it!"

"An' ya'll didn't think ta tell us?" Applejack asked, she wasn't sure if Sweetie Belle was telling the truth, but it was best not to pry, she didn't dare imagine where they found it if it wasn't in the castle.

"Sorry big sis, we kinda, sorta, forgot." Applebloom said.

"Well next time, don't forgit." Applejack told them sternly "Now, whut's this prophecy ya'll are yabberin' on 'bout?"

"Oh yeh! It said 'There will be nine, each ta hold an element, each ta hold a power. The powers shall run ta git 'em away, the elements shall stay ta drive the evil away. Friendship an' faith shall battle the mess, winnin' only to defend the queen. Faith shall rise an' find it's strength, the three shall follow, findin' their marks.'" Applebloom repeated the prophecy that Nightmare moon had told them.

"Interesting..." Twilight said "Well, another prophecy to go. but first, we should go defeat Nightmare moon."

"But you don't know how the elements work!" Sweetie Belle interrupted quickly.

"I'm sure we'll figure that out.' Twilight replied.

"But, what if, what if ya'll havn't, by the time ya'll git ta Nightmare moon? Whut then?" Applebloom asked, desperately.

"We will have figure it out by then, I mean, how hard can it be?"

"B-but, whut if ya'll can't use 'em? Whut if, one o' ya can't?"

"I don't see why they wouldn't be able to. Why are you so desperate to stop us going anyway? Is something wrong?"

"N-n-uhhh, no-Ah mean, ye-uhh-n-yes?" Applebloom replied, unsure.

"Whut are ya tryin' ta hide, Applebloom?" Applejack asked, accusingly.

"Nothin! But, whut if, the prophecy, has everythin' ta do with Nightmare moon? It talks 'bout the elements, so why shouldn't it?" Applebloom responded, sweat threatened to pour down her face, luckily, it didn't.

"Yeh! What if you need to unlock the prophecy to defeat Nightmare moon?!" Scootaloo added.

"I agree with them too! Even if they are just trying to keep us away from Nightmare moon for a reason they wont tell us!" Pinkie Pie shouted. Twilight glared at Pinkie, then turned to the crusaders. She was sure that they were hiding something, but didn't know what. She had to find out what it was, for the good of Equestria! The foolish fillies might have done something drastic that needed to be fixed. She kept staring at the fillies. She was trying to see if she could read their thoughts to find out what they had actually done, they were very good at hiding it. They were trying to think of all sorts of different things to stop them telling the truth. But soon, Applebloom's mind drifted back to what it was they had done and Twilight caught it. She only saw a brief bit because Applebloom quickly changed her thought to something else, but Twilight knew why the CMC were keeping them away from Nightmare moon. Twilight wanted to go straight after Nightmare moon and get her while she's weak, but, Scootaloo had a point. Twilight knew they had got the prophecy from Nightmare moon, but, it wasn't likely that Nightmare moon would just lie to get the CMC to free her, and she probably could have taken them on right there and then anyway, so what would the point in that be, unless the prophecy was real. Twilight decided that she would find out what the prophecy is before going after Nightmare moon. It was very likely that it had a lot to do with her. After all, Applejack and herself had just gained unnatural powers because of prophecies. Prophecies usually have a meaning behind them, and they wouldn't just come up without reason. She looked at the CMC, then sighed, she couldn't let them know that she knew from who they had got the prophecy from.

"Ok, you three have a point. We'll figure this prophecy out before anything else." The CMC cheered.

"Thank's Twi!" Applebloom said, then she ran out of the room, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle following closely behind.

"Phew! That was a close one." Scootaloo said as soon as the three were out of ear shot of the older ponies.

"Yeh, Ah can't even begin' ta imagine what would have happened if Twilight had gone after Nightmare moon." Applebloom agreed.

"So, what know?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Now? Uhmm, well, I brought my scooter with me, I could show you guys some tricks." Scootaloo suggested.

"Nah, that ain't gonna help us right now. We need ta find out whut the prophecy means."

"Hmm, well, we already know who the elements are." Scootaloo said.

"And we know that the elements are supposed to each get a special power." Sweetie Belle added.

"What do you think our powers will be?" Scootaloo asked suddenly.

"Whut do'ya mean?" Applebloom asked.

"Well, we do represent three of the elements-" Scootaloo started before being cut off by Sweetie Belle.

"From what we could figure out."

"Yeh, but it's most likely us!" Scootaloo defended.

"We can't assume that jus' yet Scoots, It might be somepony else." Applebloom countered.

"Ughh, well, ok. Then, let's just say that it is us then! Then we have something to work from!" Scootaloo said, desperately trying to keep the fact that they represented the elements.

"Fine. So, we know who represents the elements, we know that we're all gonna git some special powers. Hmm, the prophecy said some'in 'bout a 'queen'. Who d'yall think that is?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeh! The prophecy said something about the elements protecting a queen! But, who is the queen?"Sweetie Belle said.

"Nightmare moon?" Applebloom suggested

"It could be, I mean, Princess Celestia is gone, so Nightmare moon is heir to the throne. But, she's not a queen, is she?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Maybe she'll become the queen?" Applebloom said.

"I don't know. I think that the queen is somepony else." Scootaloo said.

"Why d'ya think that?"

"I'm not sure. My gut is telling me that Nightmare moon is not the queen."

"Well then who is?" Applebloom asked. Scootaloo just shrugged.

"I don't know. But, whatever it is my gut's telling me. I wanna listen to it."

"I agree with Scootaloo. Nightmare moon is only a princess, I don't think that will change. The queen must be somepony else." Sweetie Belle agreed.

"Ok, so, we need ta find out who the queen is then. But first, let's try ta figure out whut the rest o' the prophecy means." Applebloom declared.

"Well, we know that the elements are friendship and faith, and that friendship and faith are going to battle a mess." Scootaloo said.

"But, what mess?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Ah don't know. But ah think that it's gonna be a big one."

"I think so too."

"Yeh." Just at that moment, Rainbow Dash swooped down in front of the CMC.

"Come on you three. Twilight wants everypony to go to bed, and that includes you three. Applejack and Rarity want you two to sleep in their rooms. Squirt, your with me, if that's ok with you."

Soon, everypony was in their respective rooms, in their beds. Everypony was asleep, except for one. Twilight sat at a desk in her room at the castle. She was working tirelessly over the prophecy. So far, she had only got as close to understanding it as the CMC had, hypothetically using them as the elements of faith.

"Aghhh! This is so frustrating!" She yelled quietly, careful not to wake the sleeping dragon in the room. "Why do we need these 'Powers' to stop Nightmare moon? I don't get it! We could just go over to her, zap her with the elements and send her back to the moon! We don't need these powers! And, why do we only need 6 of the elements to stop Nightmare moon? Shouldn't all nine of them be involved. Especially if all nine of them are going to get powers. I wonder who would represent faith. It can't be the fillies, they're too young. It has to be somepony our age. Who is this queen? Princess Celestia?" Twilight kept talking to herself, asking more and more questions, all the while getting louder and louder, though, it wasn't until a sleepy purple claw poked her in the arm that she noticed this.

"Twiwight..." Spike mumbled "Jussaahhhsk Pwinccesss C'denccee" before falling asleep again, against Twilight's arm. Twilight looked at him in surprise, then smiled gently.

"Ok, Spike, I will. Goodnight." Then, she levitated him over to his bed, tucked him in, got into her own bed and went to sleep.

Expansion of the Everfree

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Rainbow Dash was up early. Not unusual for her, as her job was often early in the morning. However, the unusual thing was, that she couldn't get back to sleep. Normally, Rainbow Dash could sleep anywhere, at any time, through anything. A bit like a cat really, but, if anypony tried to tell her this, well, let's just say that their day wouldn't end very well. But, back to Rainbow not being able to sleep. Rainbow Dash lay in her bed, listening to all the sounds around her, Scootaloo's soft snores, the gentle breeze of the wind as it brushed past the open window, the rustle of the curtains against the wind and the chirping of the birds, singing out to the morning. After several minutes of trying, and failing, to get back to sleep, Rainbow Dash decided to get up. She walked over to the small mirror in the room and looked at herself, her mane was a mess, strands stuck out everywhere and several had decided to stick to her face. She shook her head and her mane went back to normal. Then, she turned around and looked over to Scootaloo. The filly was still sleeping. Rainbow Dash sighed and walked out of the room. She decided to go and see if Applejack was awake.

'Applejack's a morning pony, she should be up by now.' Rainbow thought. She was right. Both Applejack and Applebloom were up and awake. Applejack was chasing Applebloom around the room, trying to get her brush back. Applejack's mane was messier than Rainbow's had been. It looked as though it had had a dragon migration right through it. Rainbow looked at her friend chase her little sister around the room. Neither had noticed Rainbow enter, so, Applebloom ended up running straight into Rainbow, with Applejack bowling after her. All three of them landed in a heap just outside Applejack's bedroom.

"Got ya Applebloom! Now give me back mah brush!"

"Ok, ok. Here ya go sis. Oh hey Rainbow, what are ya doin' up so early?" Rainbow rolled her eyes at Applebloom's question and addressed Applejack.

"Hey AJ. I ughh, came to.....see you" She finished lamely.

"Rainbow? Why are ya up so early? Don't ya normally jus' sleep in?" Again, Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"No, AJ. I go to work like everypony else. Anyway-" She was cut off by Applejack.

"Ya go ta work? But ya'll're a weather pony, ain't ya? How come Ah never see ya workin' them clouds in the mornin'?"

"Ughh, I'm captain of the weather team. My job is more than just moving clouds all day ya know! Anyway! Can I just get back to why I was here in the first place?" She asked, exasperated. Applejack looked slightly taken aback, but composed herself quickly.

"Sure, sorry sugarcube. Ah was jus' wonderin' is all. Now, why d'ya wanna see me?"

"Well, I couldn't get back to sleep for some odd reason, so I thought you might be up. I'm a bit bored on my own." It was Applejack's turn to roll her eyes.

"Of course ya were sugarcube, ya can't sit down fer five gosh-darn minutes."

"Hey! I can totally stay still for five minutes! I literally sat down in my bedroom staring at the ceiling for, like, half an hour! Ok, maybe more like seven minutes, but that's still a bigger number than five!" Rainbow Dash protested. At this point, Applebloom had already wandered off back into her room to leave the two mares.

"Ok, Rainbow. Now, let me jus' brush mah mane, then we c'n get doin' somethin' alright?" Applejack suggested. Rainbow Dash just nodded and sat down. Applejack picked up the brush and started to brush her mane. Several seconds in, Rainbow asked a question.

"Are you done yet?"

"No Rainbow, Ah've only bin brushin' mah mane fer two seconds!" She went back to brushing, until, a few seconds later,

"Are you done yet?"

"No Rainbow! Ah'm not!" Another few seconds,

"Are you-" Rainbow Dash was cut off.

"No! Ah'm not done yet! An' the more ya ask, the longer ah'm gonna take!" A full minute had passed since Rainbow asked her question. It didn't normally take Applejack this long to brush her mane, but the race around her bedroom, jumping over beds, chairs, running in and out of wardrobes and finally crashing into Rainbow Dash had made her mane messier than normal. Applejack was almost finished, when.

"Are you done yet?" This was followed by a snicker. However, the voice did not belong to Rainbow Dash. Applejack turned around and came face to face with a pair of bright blue eyes. Those blue eyes were inserted into a bright pink face. That bright pink face was attached to a bright pink head and that bright pink head was connected to a bouncing, pink body. That bouncing, pink body, belonged to none other, than Pinkie Pie.

"Hey Applejack! Hey Rainbow Dash! WOW Rainbow Dash! You're up super duper early! I've never seen you up this early! Well, except for the time when you moved to Ponyville, you got up REALLY early because you didn't want to bring attention to yourself. Though I don't know why, who wouldn't want to bring attention to themselves when they move into a new place? I would, cause then I could go around making friends with everypony!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack just stared at the pink pony.

"Morning Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash finally said. Applejack just looked at her Rainbow friend and thought about what Pinkie had said.

"Ya didn't wanna be noticed when ya first came ta town? That ain't the loud pegasus Ah know." Rainbow Dash just sighed and ignored Applejack. She didn't like talking about this stuff. But Applejack kept persisting, it wasn't like Rainbow Dash to be shy, so why had she practically snuck into town? "Why didn't ya wanna be noticed? That ain't like ya." Rainbow Dash kept ignoring Applejack. "Come on now Rainbow. Ah c'n tell somethin' must bin botherin' ya when ya came ta town, otherwise ya wouldn't ta avoided everypony." Rainbow sighed, turned to look at Applejack and said,

"I don't want to talk about it, ok?" Applejack was about to say something else, but she noticed a slightly pained expression in her friend's eyes, and decided that it was best to just leave it. But she was still concerned, she'd have to ask Pinkie Pie about it later, maybe Fluttershy.

It was several hours after everypony had gotten up and Twilight was sitting at the desk in her room. She had asked Princess Cadence about this 'queen' in the prophecy, but, unfortunately, Princess Cadence couldn't help. Just then, Applejack walked in. She looked concerned.

"Hi Applejack. Is everything alright?" Twilight asked.

"Ah'm not sure. Ah'm slightly concerned fer Rainbow."

"Why? Did she hurt herself? has she done something? Did she-" Twilight was cut off by an orange hoof being placed in her mouth.

"No Twi, she ain't done nothin'. But, this mornin, Ah found out from Pinkie that when she came ta Ponyville, she tried avoidin' everypony. Now, that don't sound too bad, but when Ah asked her 'bout it, she seemed hurt. Like somethin' had happened."

"Ok, I still don't see why you're concerned. Maybe Rainbow was just a bit afraid of meeting new ponies, everypony is scared of something sometimes, even if they normally aren't scared of that thing."

"Ah don't think she was scared Twi. Ah went ta talk ta Pinkie an' Fluttershy earlier ta see if they knew anythin'. Pinkie didn't know at all, but Fluttershy said she knew whut was wrong with Rainbow, but, couldn't tell me."

"Why? Wait, something's wrong with Rainbow?"

"Twi, from what Fluttershy told me, Rainbow's fine, she ain't hurt or nothin' like that. But, she's gotta come ta us ta tell us whut's wrong when she's ready, otherwise, things are gonna git worse. That's whut worries me."

"The fact that Rainbow won't come and tell us what's wrong? If she doesn't tell us, then it's nothing serious."

"No, Twi! Ya don't understand! It's big Twi. Ah saw the look in her eye when she told me that she didn't wanna talk 'bout it. An' Fluttershy didn't seem ta like keepin' Rainbow's secret. She told me that she wished she could tell me, but couldn't." Twilight saw how desperate Applejack was. Applejack wouldn't make a fuss over nothing, would she? No, if Applejack said that something was bothering Rainbow Dash, then there was most likely something bothering Rainbow Dash. But, why come to her?

"Ok Applejack, I can see that you're concerned. I won't dig into it now though. Rainbow Dash seems fine as it is and I don't want to make things worse. But, I have one question, Why come to me? I don't know Rainbow Dash very well, Rarity knows her better. And she's far better with the comforting side of things and knowing when something's wrong."

"Well Twi, Ah coulda gone ta Rarity, but Ah noticed that when we first met ya, ya seemed closer with Rainbow than with the rest o' us, so ah thought ya might wanna help, besides, Rarity'll probably just put 'er in a dress." Twilight couldn't help but giggle at that last comment. She smiled when Applejack told her the reason why she came to her rather than Rarity. She then realized that she had felt closer to Rainbow than the others, she felt closer to home, she remembered to back when she was a young filly, just getting to know the castle, she remembered staying up late in her castle bedroom, practicing for her next exam. She remembered when she was around Celestia, she felt comfort, the same comfort she felt around Rainbow and she remembered that she felt friendship around Celestia, the same friendship she felt around Rainbow. Around Rainbow Dash, she felt comfort and friendship. But, no time to dwell on that now.

"Ok Applejack, thanks. I'll try and talk to her later, but I'll try and come at it tactfully." Twilight smiled at Applejack.

"Thank's Twi." Applejack said and left.

Rainbow Dash was just lying on her bed in her bedroom in the castle. She had just been outside practicing for the wonderbolts. Now she just wanted a rest. But, it seemed that her rest had to be cut short, as there was a knock at the door and Twilight walked in.

"Hey Rainbow." She said with a smile.

"Hey Twi. What's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to ask you a few things, get to know you better. I was going to ask at the Summer sun Celebration, but then the mayor cut in, and, well, you know the rest."

"Alright." Rainbow sighed, sitting up. "What do you wanna ask?"

"Well, I was wondering what sort of things you did as a foal. You said that both you and Fluttershy grew up in Cloudsdale. Did you know each other then?"

"Yeh, me an' Flutters were best friends. I met her when I first stood up for her at flight camp."

"So, you just stood up for a random filly who you didn't know?"

"Yeh, of course I did. I couldn't just let her be teased by those jerks."

"Alright, so, what did you two do together when you were best friends?"

"Uhh, we didn't really do much other than only see each other at flight camp. We went to different schools. Though I guess once or Twice I went and had a sleepover at Fluttershy's house."

"So, umm, when did you move to Ponyville?" Twilight tried to ask this one slyly, so Rainbow wouldn't get suspicious, but, it seemed that Rainbow was already onto her.

"Ughh, Twilight. I heard your and Applejack's conversation earlier. Stop being worried. I'm fine."

"How did you hear our conversation?!!"

"I was out flying, your window was open, I heard AJ say my name and decided I'd eavesdrop you know?"

"It's not nice to eavesdrop. Rainbow Dash."

"It's not nice to talk about ponies behind their backs."

"You're right, but Applejack was only worried."

"Well, she doesn't need to be. I'm fine." Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. She seemed a bit annoyed at Twilight, but she put on a smile and Twilight saw that it was mostly genuine. Ensured that Rainbow was actually ok, Twilight apologized and left.

---

Deep in the Everfree forest, Nightmare moon had begun to gain more power. Her army was coming along nicely and she was gaining more and more of her magic back. Unfortunately, for her army, there was getting less and less clear space in the Everfree forest to train her army. Nightmare moon was slightly confused that the pesky Princess Cadence hadn't come with her friends to finish her off. Especially now that the element bearers had found out that they were the elements bearers.

'Curse those stupid fillies! They should have brought me that book! I thought they wanted to help me! Well, at least it doesn't seem that they are coming to destroy me. They must think that I have gone completely. Yes, I can use this to my advantage.' With that, her horn began to glow, so did the surrounding area of the Everfree forest. Soon, new land began to form in the middle. A dried up desert was built, it stretched for miles inside the forest, and more trees were added. Now, the Everfree forest was much bigger, and it had a desert inside it, where there was no water or vegetation. From anywhere in Equestria, apart from in the Everfree forest. It looked like nothing had happened. The Everfree forest looked the same size. But if you were to go inside, you'd find that it was much bigger than before.

Cutie mark crusaders-Prophecy completers! YAY! (Part 3)

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It had been about two weeks since Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle had gotten their respective elements, and the CMC still didn't have their cutie mark. Or any answers to the prophecy.

"Ughhh. Why is this so hard?" Scootaloo complained.

"Yeh! It wus easy ta start with!" Applebloom added.

"Oh come on. It's not that bad. We've figured out most of it. We just need to know who the 'queen' is and what the 'mess' is." Sweetie Belle said, trying to cheer her friends up.

"I guess you're right, but, what about when the prophecy says 'Faith shall rise and find it's strength, the three shall follow, finding their marks'?" Scootaloo asked.

"Hmm, maybe we need ta battle this mess first. Then we c'n git our cutie marks!" Applebloom exclaimed.

"YEH!" Scootaloo agreed "What do you think our cutie marks will look like?"

"Ah don't know, but Ah bet they'll be somthin' amazin'!"

"So, what's our plan?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Whut d'ya mean?"

"Well, if we are going to battle this mess, defend the queen and get our cutie marks, then we are going to need a plan of action."

"Sweetie's right! I say we head down to the Everfree forest tonight and talk to Nightmare moon about it, tell her what we know." Scootaloo said.

"Ah agree with Scoot's. Nightmare moon gave us this prophecy ta complete, an' we need ta help her out. You comin' Sweetie?"

"Ummm. I'm not sure. Do you think that's safe? I mean, wont our sisters and Rainbow Dash freak out?"

"Don't worry about them, we'll be in and out of the Everfree forest before you can say 'Wonderbolt'!" Scootaloo reassured her friend.

--Time skip-(12:00am)--

"Wonderbolt." Sweetie Belle squeaked under her breath. She and her two friends were standing on the outskirts of the Everfree forest. They had snuck out of the castle a few hours ago, when everypony had gone to bed.

"Right, are you girls ready?" Scootaloo asked. The other two only responded by getting into the wagon that was attached to Scootaloo's scooter. After Scootaloo made sure that they were in safely, she started to flap her wings. Eventually, they buzzed and were pushing Scootaloo and the wagon with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom in it, along into the forest.

Hours had passed since entering the forest and the CMC still hadn't found the castle, even at top speed.

"Where are we Scoot's? We were supposed to be there ages ago!" Sweetie Belle complained.

"I know! I've been following the path we took to get to the castle, but now it seems like the forest goes on forever!" Scootaloo replied.

"Did ya take a wrong turn or somethin'" Applebloom asked.

"No! I've been going straight, I took the path that leads right down to the castle."

"Well, maybe ya did take a wrong turn." Applebloom persisted. Before Scootaloo could retort, Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"Hey, I don't recognize this part of the forest. And we have been going the right way, I've been following the map to help Scootaloo. We should ha-."

"Wait, ya'll got a map of the Everfree? How'dya do that?" Applebloom interjected.

"I made it when we went in to try and trap some beasts, so we wouldn't get lost. I drew a map all the way up to the castle." Sweetie Belle replied, "Anyway, as I was saying, we should have been there by now."

"Hey guys, I can see light up ahead." Scootaloo suddenly called back to them. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both peered out the side of the wagon. Up ahead, the trees ended. They seemed to pan out into a vast area of dry land.

"That's funny. I didn't think that the Everfree forest would end this quickly." Sweetie Belle stated

"What d'ya mean? Ah thought it stopped at the castle?" Applebloom inquired, turning to face her friend

"I mean, I thought it carried on after that, so if we've missed the castle, I didn't think the forest would end this early." Sweetie Belle responded. Both she and Applebloom looked back to the front just as the wagon passed through the last layer of trees and into the open desert. It was a vast land. The dirt was dry and cracked, the ground was flat, no hills or dips had been placed anywhere. The tree line that the three fillies had just burst through stretched out far to the left and right before disappearing. It was morning by now, the sun had started to peek over the horizon. In the distance, lit up by the little light the sun gave, the three could see a faint trail of smoke. The smoke came from a large building. The building, although too far away to really see it clearly, looked futuristic. It had a tall, curvy, yet straight, shape to it. It was taller in the middle and got shorter as the building neared it's walls.

"Hey, are you two seeing that building?" Scootaloo asked

"Yeh, I can see it. It's a very weird building." Sweetie Belle added,

"Let's go an' explore it!" Applebloom shouted.

"YEH! Maybe that's where the next clue to the prophecy is!" Scootaloo agreed, then she started to flap her wings faster to get a boost and the three shot off towards the strange building.

--Meanwhile in Canterlot--

"SWEETIE BELLE!"
"APPLEBLOOM!"
"SCOOTALOO" three terrified mares shouted for their sisters.

The adventure begins

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"Alright girls, it's going to be ok, we'll find the fillies." Twilight reassured three of her friends. Her other two friends sat behind her, nodding their agreement.

"But Twilight dear! What if they have been foalnapped? Or, or, or-" Rarity was cut off from her panic by a blue hoof.

"Hey, it's ok Rares. If Twi says we'll find them, then we'll find them. Plus it's not the first time they've just disappeared like this, right?" Rainbow Dash tried to sound as calm as possible, though it was obvious that she was still freaking out over Scootaloo just disappearing. The three mares had spent the entire morning searching for the fillies. They had searched every nook and cranny of Canterlot, but there hadn't been a trace of the fillies. The only reassurance they had, was that Scootaloo's scooter was also missing, so that probably meant they had wandered off, and not been foalnapped.

"Applebloom!" Applejack wailed, "It ain't like her ta just up an' disappear this early! An' 'specially without tellin' me or Big Mac! She normally don't miss lunch neither!" Rainbow Dash just stared at Twilight uncertainly, out of the three fretting mares, she was fretting the least. It wasn't because she didn't love Scootaloo. No, she loved Scootaloo as a sister, just like Rarity and Applejack loved their sisters, but she knew that Scootaloo was a tough pony and could handle most danger she got herself into.

"It's ok Applejack" Twilight said, getting a bit annoyed that her friends weren't listening to her, "We'll find them, Maybe they just went back to Ponyville." That seemed to calm down the two, still fretting, mares

"Or, maybe they went to the Everfree forest to try and capture Nightmare moon!" Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted. Silence reigned the room, then, Rarity shot out of the room like a rocket, closely followed by Applejack. Rainbow Dash stared at Pinkie hard before saying,

"They wouldn't do that right? I mean, they're not that crazy..." She looked at Twilight, but when she saw the uncertain look in her eyes, she followed Rarity and Applejack out of the room. Fluttershy calmly walked up to Pinkie Pie from behind before slapping her really hard on the back of the head.

"We're trying to calm them down! Not send them into another panic!" She yelled. Pinkie Pie just wobbled precariously for a split second before face planting into the floor.

Twilight wasn't sure that the CMC had gone to try and capture Nightmare moon, though she did think that Pinkie Pie was on the right track of them going into the Everfree forest. An hour after Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack had left the room, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike and Paul found them waiting at the train station. They had missed the train to Ponyville and were now waiting for the next one. Twilight could see that train along the track, coming up to the station. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack had seen it too. They moved closer to the edge as the train started to slow down.

"Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Applejack!" Twilight called "Wait!" The three mares turned around, "Wait for us!" Twilight called again. When the train pulled up, the three mares stayed where they were so their friends could catch up. Pinkie Pie was looking a bit guilty as she saw the three mares, two of which were distraught, the other was trying to hold back her desperation. Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike and Paul caught up with the mares in time to get onto the train back to Ponyville. Unfortunately, Paul wasn't allowed on the train, so he just waited at the station, wondering whether he should go back to the castle or find a way to Ponyville. In the hour they had waited before going after their friends, Twilight had told Princess Cadence that they were heading off. She had also packed some supplies, while Fluttershy waited for Pinkie to gain consciousness, though Twilight was pretty sure that Pinkie Pie was just faking it. Twilight had packed all the supplies they would need if they were going to go searching around in the Everfree forest for three fillies. Those supplies were:
Several torches, a megaphone(by Pinkie's insistence), path markers, a first aid kit, a few bottles of water, some food and a blanket.

The train journey was uneventful. Rarity and Applejack sat next to each other for comfort. Rainbow Dash sat next to the window muttering to herself that Scootaloo would be ok and that they wouldn't find her somewhere in the forest, helpless and hurt. Fluttershy sat next to Pinkie Pie, so as to stop her from worrying the three. Spike slept away, next to Rarity, he had tried to cheer her up at the beginning of the train ride, but soon realized that his attempts were futile and just curled up next to her. While Twilight went by the three upset mares to try and comfort them. It seemed to work for Applejack an Rarity, but Rainbow Dash seemed to be in a world of her own, ignoring everypony and everything, just imagining the horrific things that could have happened to Scootaloo.

Once the train stopped, Twilight had to jab Rainbow in the side, hard, to get her to realize that they had arrived. The six mares first went around Ponyville, just to be sure that the fillies weren't just running around town playing. They asked Big Mac, Sweetie Belle's parents, the orphanage, Cheerily, anypony who knew the fillies well. Fluttershy had asked her animals if they had seen the fillies, but none of them had caught a glimpse of them. Not even the nocturnal animals hadn't seen them. But, after two hours of searching, they decided that the fillies must have gone into the forest. Twilight dropped Spike off at the library, telling him that he wasn't allowed to come along for fear of him getting hurt. Spike had protested against this, saying that he was able to look after himself and that he could also protect the girls if need be, especially Rarity. Eventually, Twilight persuaded him to stay by saying that she'll get him several large emeralds for when she got back.

The group stood at the edge of the forest. Right where the CMC had been standing hours and hours ago. Twilight was double checking the supplies, they had picked up extra supplies just in case, Pinkie Pie insisted that they had to bring sleeping bags, she said that her pinkie sense told her that they'd be spending more time in the Everfree than they though they would. After several minutes of checking, and double checking, and triple checking, and making several lists, and quadruple checking, and, ok, I'm getting off topic. But, after Twilight had finished checking the supplies, they six stepped into the Everfree forest to begin the biggest adventure they'd ever go on.

Cutie mark crusaders-Prophecy completers! YAY! (Part 4)/the fourth prophecy-found

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Scootaloo flopped down next to her scooter. Her two friends got out of the wagon and went to her side. Currently, the three fillies were in the middle of the dry lands. The weird build was still a good mile or so away. It had been further out than they had originally thought. Now, they could see it better, it was much, much bigger than they had anticipated and it had several swirling spires dotted around. The smoke seemed to come from one of the spires. A large fence seemed to crawl it's way around the building, a few hundred feet away from it's walls. The three had only been traveling for forty minutes, but the heat from the sun seemed to blaze down on them, draining all of their energy. The wagon provided little shade and the three had no water, but they soon got up and carried on. Twenty minutes later, they had reached the fence. Bushes and a few trees surrounded it, so they had plenty of shade and hiding spaces.

"Right, how do we get in?" Scootaloo asked

"We could use the entrance." Sweetie Belle suggested, pointing at a gap in the fence that was being guarded by two large stallions.

"Nah, that's too easy, we gotta sneak in!" Scootaloo said

"Why?"

"Because it's more fun this way!"

"Yeh! An' we might git our cutie marks in bein' sneaky!" Applebloom said.

"Ok, well, there's an open window over there, if we can climb over the fence and get to the wall before anyone sees us, we'll easily get through the window." Sweetie Belle remarked.

"Alright Sweetie Belle! Come on! Let's get over this fence!" Scootaloo cheered quietly

"An' how do we do that?" Applebloom asked,

"We climb over!" Scootaloo responded, then she went up to the fence, slipped her fore hooves into the wire mesh and pulled herself up. Then she began to move one hoof in front of the other, she slipped her hind hooves into the mesh as well, and began to push upwards with them. When she reached the top, she hoisted herself over and dropped to the ground. Then she turned to face her companions who hadn't moved yet. "Come on! Hurry up and climb over!" Then, she ran to the window. It was too high up for her to climb in by herself, so she waited just underneath it for her friends to climb over the fence.

Once they were all over and by the window, they started to discuss how they would reach it.

"We could stand on each others backs, then, whoever is in first could pull the others in." Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Tha's a great idea Sweetie! Ah'll go bottom, seein' as ahm the strongest, Sweetie Belle, ya go next an Scoots, ya go top." Applebloom instructed. So, Sweetie Belle carefully climbed on top of Applebloom, and Scootaloo climbed on top of Sweetie Belle. After a bit of wobbling, Scootaloo managed to grab a hold of the window ledge and pull herself in. Sweetie Belle climbed in after her, she didn't need much help as the window was, at that point, only just above her head. After they were both in, they pulled Applebloom up. All three fillies looked around. They were in a long corridor. The walls were made completely out of stainless steel, and so where the walls and ceiling. A few doors lay on the opposite side of the corridor and a ventilation system was embedded into the ceiling.

"Right, where to now?" Scootaloo asked

"Ah think we should move down the corridor." Applebloom said, pointing to the right.

"Let's go!" Sweetie Belle squealed and she ran off sown the hall, the other two chasing after her.

Five hours later, the fillies were lost somewhere on the second floor. They had so far, snuck past every guard they had seen (which came to a total of two) and they had managed to avoid the scientists working on some sort of giant robot in the laboratory. They stood, hidden in a small storage room, discussing where they were going to go.

"How do we find her though? She might not even be in here, she said she'd be in the castle." Sweetie Belle said

"Yeh, but we couldn't find the castle, and the dry lands and this building have appeared from nowhere. There's no way that this was here before." Scootaloo countered

"So your sayin' that it's magic?" Applebloom asked

"Or we could have just missed the castle." Sweetie Belle complained

"Hey, you were the one with the map! And you said we should have been there by now, so don't blame me!" Scootaloo snapped.

"You were the one driving! And I thought that pegasi were supposed to have the best sense of direction out of anypony!"

"They are! But only..only if they..if they can..can fly!" Scootaloo was struggling to say it, she didn't like admitting that she couldn't fly, even to her best friends.

"You still should have a better sense of direction than us two, so don't you put the blame on me!" Sweetie Belle was fuming. She knew she shouldn't be acting like this, and that it was nopony's fault, but she couldn't help herself. Something in her was trying to take over, it was battling her mind, and it was winning.

"WELL-" Scootaloo didn't get any further as a yellow hoof found it's way to her mouth and a country accent pierced it's friends ears.

"Stop fightin'! Both o' ya! It ain't nopony's fault, so stop actin' like foals!" Applebloom's two friends looked at her, apologetically, however Scootaloo had one more thing to say,

"But we are foals, technically." Applebloom just groaned in response and slapped a hoof to her face.

After finally deciding that they were going to the top floor, the Crusaders set off. But, however hard they looked, they couldn't find the stairs.

"Ughh. How'dwe even git up here if the're no stairs?!" Applebloom questioned.

"Uhh, I don't even remember using stairs. I just remember going into that tiny, empty room when the door shut on us. Then, we pressed a couple of buttons to try to open the door, and it worked! Only, we where somewhere else." Scootaloo said, recalling the events of earlier.

"Do you think that it was a teleportation device?" Sweetie Belle asked

"Maybe, well, we gotta go find it again ta find out!" Applebloom exclaimed, then ran off. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, then followed their friend. Eventually, they came across a very familiar room. The door was closed and it had two small buttons on one side. Scootaloo pressed the one with the up arrow and the doors opened. When the fillies got inside, the doors shut on them. Applebloom examined the buttons. Each of them had a number. The smallest number, the one right at the bottom of the tower, was '0' and the biggest number was '18', just above that, there was a big button, it said 'Observatory'

"Right, Scoots, wus yer favorite number?" She asked

"Nineteen, why?" Scootaloo asked

"Cause we're goin' to place number nineteen!" She responded, slamming the observatory button down. She assumed that that must be place nineteen since it was the next button after eighteen. The room began to shudder and then it seemed to move, something that the Crusaders hadn't noticed when they were in the room before. About a minute later, the doors opened. It lead out into another hallway, except, the outside wall was, instead of steel, made out of glass.

"Ah wonder what this thing is." Applebloom mumbled, walking out just after Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"An elevator" Sweetie Belle said

"Whut?"

"It's an elevator."

"How d'ya know? An' if ya did, th'n why d'ain't ya tell us?"

"I didn't know, the elevator just has a large sign above it that says 'This is an elevator'"

"Well that's awfully convenient." Scootaloo stated. That was an understatement.

"A little too convenient if ya ask me." Applebloom said in response. They looked around, the hallway they weer in was small, it ended only a few hooves away from where they stood in both directions. The ceiling was made of glass, like the wall, but it curved outwards, a bit like a very long, and not very circular, dome. They looked out of the window. They could see for miles, all the way across the dry lands, out into the Everfree forest and they could even see Canterlot, faintly in the distance. The sun was beginning to set now and a dim orange and rose hue was spreading out across the sky, slowly fading into a deep blue.

"Looks like we should find Nightmare moon fast if we wanna tell her what we've discovered about the prophecy." Scootaloo sighed. The others nodded their agreement. So, the three wandered down the corridor and into a large room, hoping that Nightmare moon would be there. They were wrong. Nopony was in the room. The room was huge, and it had two doors. Sweetie Belle guessed that the corridor entered the room from both ends. The wall on the other side of the room was, like in the corridor, made out of glass. So was the ceiling, and it had the same curved shape that the corridor had. Where, on the other side of the wall, the elevator was, there was a fireplace. Like the rest of the building, it was very futuristic. But, unlike the rest of the building, it had patterns, engraved into the metal. No, not patterns, words, in an ancient language, but, not one that the fillies had ever seen. It wasn't ancient Equestrian, it wasn't Unirish or Pegalatin either, even if they couldn't read those languages, they still knew that it wasn't one of them because the letters, weren't letters at all. Just shapes and drawings. The only way they could tell that it was writing, was because of the way it was set out. Like a poem. Middle aligned, not closer towards the left or the right. Applebloom quickly grabbed a quill and some paper from the desk and copied the shapes.

'仁流想通过空气丝绸翅膀。
当树生长和仁知道，
他们将看到所有的伤口'

"What do you think it means Applebloom?" Scootaloo asked

"Ah'm not sure, maybe we c'n ask Nightmare moon."

"Well, let's go find her then."

"Hang on guys, take a look at this!" Sweetie Belle called from he other side of the room, pointing out the window. The other two walked over to her and looked to where she was pointing. On the ground below, was an enormous robot. It looked a bit like the one the scientists, the three saw earlier were working on. The robot could easily crush the biggest stallion underneath one of it's hooves. A bunch of ponies surrounded the robot, rushing about, doing...whatever it was they were doing. A few unicorns were lifting some large metal sheets onto the back of the robot. It was clearly not finished yet. But it was almost there. Some other unicorns, being held up by pegasi, seemed to be welding the metal pieces onto the robot. A few of the beasts that Nightmare moon had summoned also helped, they helped carry some of the unicorns, or heave the heavy metal up to the robot. Some ponies, were sitting on top of the robot, and appeared to be painting it. They were painting it dark grey, by the looks of things, and they also seemed to be painting on the armor that Nightmare moon's guards wore. The shape of the robot's ears were funny though. They looked almost like a ponies, but not quite, like very fuzzy pony ears. Somewhere to the right of the robot, more ponies were working on what appeared to be large bat wings. Big enough to fit the robot pony.

"Woah!" Was all that Scootaloo and Applebloom could say.

"Yeh, I wonder why they're building a giant robot. And how, even. A few months back, Rarity said that some scientists had been trying for years to build a robot, but it was all a failure, the closest they came to it, was making a moving leg, and even that only swung back and forth a few inches." Sweetie Belle said.

"Maybe it's just gonna be a statue." Applebloom suggested, "Ah mean, it looks a lot like a robot, but, maybe they just wanted it ta be realistic, ya know?" Sweetie Belle shook her head.

"I honestly don't see the point in that, it doesn't look anything like Nightmare moon! Why would they just build a statue of a random pony?"

"Ah don't know, it was jus' a thought."

"Well come on you two! We need to find Nightmare moon!" Scootaloo shouted at them, running off out of the room. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom just followed.

Chapter 27

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"Twilight! We can't jus' stop here! We gotta git movin' ta find those silly fillies!" Applejack complained.

"Yeh, Twi. Who knows what sort of danger they could be in!" Rainbow Dash agreed

"But what if they have already gone home? We could have missed them you know." Twilight countered, "Besides, Pinkie Pie says that we are probably going to be staying in here for longer than we thought, so the fillies are probably still here."

"Wait, your actually gonna believe Pinkie?" Rainbow asked in disbelief, "I mean, I know she has a weird way of knowing things, and, predicting things, but, you don't seem to be the kind of pony who would just let it happen instead of trying to figure it out."

"Oh, no. You're right about that. As soon as this is over, Pinkie Pie is going to come to my lab so I can examine her properly. I just want to test a theory I have."

"And that would be..."

"That Pinkie Pie is actually a unicorn from the future!" A small crazy smile had settled itself onto Twilight's face. Everypony looked at her blankly. Then, Pinkie Pie burst out of nowhere,

*GASP!* "That would be super duper amazing! How cool would it be to be from the future? Or a unicorn! I bet I could do some awesome tricks if I was, like, make a bunny appear out of a hat! Or, make a second me! Oh wait, I could already do that with the mirror pool. Oh well. If I were a unicorn, I would be able to do so many things at once! I would be able to get my parties set up much quicker! And I would be able to bake at the same time! And If I was from the future the maybe-"

"Please somepony shut her up!" Twilight cried out. The others just looked at each other.

"All sorts of different spells! And they'd be superific! I could mphh mph!" her waffling was cut short by an orange hoof.

"Look sugarcube, Ah know yer excited, but c'n ya please jus' be quiet?" Applejack asked. Pinkie Pie nodded her head happily. When Applejack removed her hoof, Pinkie Pie just bounced of, not making a sound.

"Thanks Applejack." Twilight said, "Come on, we have to get some rest. I know you three want to keep looking for your sisters, but we can't just go on all night, we'd be too tired by the time we found them to protect them if they are hurt." Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at each other, then back to Twilight and nodded.

"Umm, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked quietly, "Don't you think one of us should keep watch? This is the Everfree forest after all, and, if all of us are asleep, then who knows what could happen." Fluttershy's eyes seemed to gaze somewhere beyond Twilight, obviously fantasizing about what dreadful things could happen. Twilight looked at her, thought about it for a few seconds then said,

"You're right, it would be best if we each took a shift in staying awake to keep a look out. Pinkie Pie, can you take the first shift?" The pink pony opened her mouth to speak, then closed it and nodded her head. Then she pointed at Rarity, then Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The others just looked at her, unsure of what she meant.

"Uhh, Pinkie?" Applejack said, confused. Pinkie Pie just rolled her eyes and repeated the actions, slower and with more force.

"Again please Pinkie." Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie grunted silently and repeated the actions again. With even more force and she mouthed some words as well. It was at this point that Twilight realized she had taken Applejack's request to heart and was being quiet. "Aghh! Pinkie Pie, you can talk now, you know!" She shouted. Pinkie just blinked at her, then sighed with relief and said;

"Thank Celestia, it was really hard to try and tell you guys all that without talking. Anyway. I said, I will take the first shift, then I'll wake Rarity so she can take hers, then she can wake Fluttershy, who can wake Twilight, who can wake Applejack who can wake Rainbow Dash!" Everypony looked at her the at Twilight. Twilight nodded in approval.

"That's a good idea, ok everypony, we'll set up camp here."

An hour later, everypony was in sleeping bags, huddled around a small fire. They were chatting together, telling stories and all the what you do on camping trips.

"'Oh. You seem to have found the next gift.' The voice suddenly said. She stopped in her tracks." Everypony shuddered. They were listening to Rainbow Dash tell a horror story. They now regretted daring each other to see who's story could be the most horrific. Rarity had fainted long ago, and Fluttershy seemed close to the same fate. Twilight looked ill and Applejack wasn't faring so well either. However, Pinkie Pie listened intently. Dead set on completing the dare. Her story was just after Rainbow Dash's. It was going to be the last one. But, she wouldn't be able to tell it if she fainted after listening to Rainbow Dash's story. Rainbow Dash's story was filled with more gore than the innocent ponies had heard or seen before. It was like Rainbow Dash lived in another world, one filled with hatred and death. Actually, that was probably true. Pinkie Pie had always thought there was something fishy about the rainbows at Rainbow dash's house, and how Rainbow Dash never liked to talk about her family or past. Before, Applejack had just thought Pinkie Pie was being silly, but now, after hearing how much gore Rainbow Dash could put into two minutes worth of a story, she was, just maybe, starting to believe Pinkie Pie. And the story hadn't even finished. Applejack was brought out of her thoughts when Twilight and Fluttershy both fainted. Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie, who was looking as if she were about to throw up, Applejack knew that Rainbow Dash had to stop, before Pinkie and herself passed out to. Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash, who had stopped telling her story when Fluttershy and Twilight fainted.

"Umm. Maybe I put a bit too much detail into that" She said sheepishly, not even fazed by how gory her story was.

"Ya think?" Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Ah think ya'll should stop now, we don't want nopony sick before tomorrow." Pinkie just lifted her head and said,

"I think it's too late for that." Applejack just stared at Rainbow Dash in disbelief, what had she said?

"Oh come on! It wasn't even that gross!" Rainbow Dash complained.

"Chopping somepony's lim-" Pinkie was cut off by Applejack, who decided that she did not want to know what Rainbow Dash had said.

"Ah think we should all go ta bed now."

"Aww, but Applejack! I didn't get to tell my story!" Pinkie Pie whined.

"And I didn't get to finish mine!"

"NOPONY WANTS TO HEAR WHAT YOUR INSANE, DISTURBED BRAIN CAN COME UP WITH!" Pinkie Pie yelled. Rainbow Dash just flinched back.

"I'm not disturbed." She grumbled under her breath, but Pinkie and Applejack both caught it. They both stared at her in that look that says, 'yes you are', but they didn't say anything.

"Well alright, Pinkie, but make it quick." Applejack said. Pinkie cheered up and began telling her story. By the time she was finished, it was morning and everypony but herself was alseep. She wasn't even tired anymore. So, she prodded everypony awake, well, she kicked Rainbow Dash awake and said

"Thats for keeping me up last night."

Once everypony was awake and they had had some breakfast, they got moving. Rarity was glowering at Rainbow Dash all through breakfast, but she didn't say anything. The six carried on along their path. Trying to find the fillies. When they got to where the middle of the Everfree forest was, they stopped. There, in front of them, was not a forest, but a desert. A desert of dry land, in the distance, they saw a large building.

"Do you think that the fillies are in there?" Rarity asked.

"Maybe..." Applejack replied.

"Well, we're not going to find out by just standing here and wondering." Rainbow Dash said, flapping her wings and shooting off towards the building.

"Rainbow Dash! Wait!" Twilight called after her, but she was already gone. The others then started to gallop after her, towarss the weird, curvy building.

The fourth prophecy-understood

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The cutie mark crusaders where wandering about on the first floor, still trying to find Nightmare moon. The sun had completely set by now and there was still no sign of her. They rounded a corner and almost bumped into a guard. They quickly backpedaled and hid, hoping that the guard hadn't seen them. He hadn't. They peeked round. The guard was standing to the side of a large door. Another guard was posted on the other side.

"How we gonna git past them?" Applebloom whispered

"Maybe we could sneak past them?" Sweetie Belle suggested

"We could knock both of them out." Scootaloo said, hopefully

"No, wait, look up there." Applebloom pointed to the ceiling, where the ventilation shafts were, "We could use them."

"But how are we going to get up there?" Scootaloo asked

"Like we did with th' window o' course!"

"But we still won't be tall enough." Sweetie Belle pointed out

"We could always stand on our hind legs."

"Umm, are you sure that's safe Applebloom?"

"Course Ah'm sure Sweetie. Now come on!"

"You're not going anywhere!" A voice said from behind. The fillies spun around, half expecting to see a guard and half expecting to see Nightmare moon. But they saw neither. Standing in front of them, with a look of fury on her face, was Rainbow Dash. She had managed to get to the building quickly, she flew over the fence and through the window the Crusaders had gone through. The crusaders hadn't been far from the window, just several hooves from it, so it hadn't been too hard to find them.

"Oh, uhh, hey Rainbow Dash." Applebloom greeted, guiltily, "What're ya doin' here?"

"Looking for you three! You two have scared your siblings to death just running off like that, and you" She said, rounding on Scootaloo "Nearly gave me a heart attack!" She admitted "With what's been going on, I thought you had gotten yourself into trouble!" Rainbow Dash was hissing now. The three could see that she was mad, for a number of reasons, and she had a right to be.

"Where's mah big sis?" Applebloom asked

"The others are outside, now, what in Equestria do you think you are doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked, her tone softening a bit as she led them towards the window.

"We thought we could figure out the prophecy." Scootaloo admitted

"So we decided to go back to the castle to find some answers." Applebloom said, leaving out the part of Nightmare moon,

"But we couldn't find the castle, instead, we found this building." Sweetie Belle finished.

"So you've been wandering around in here, trying to get answers?" Rainbow Dash guessed. The three fillies nodded their heads.

"We're sorry." The said in unison. Rainbow Dash sighed heavily,

"Well at least you're not hurt, and you did a pretty cool job of sneaking off, finding your way through the Everfree forest and not getting-" At that point a large unicorn guard came up to them from behind and grabbed Rainbow Dash with his magic. "Caught." Rainbow Dash finished, slowly. The three fillies looked back up at Rainbow Dash confused. They had noticed that she had stopped moving all of a sudden, mid-stride. Then, they saw the unicorn behind her. "Girls, run!" Rainbow shouted. The three fillies bolted for the window, but it was shut by the unicorns magic before they could reach it, before they turned and ran in another direction, they saw the face of Applejack as the window was slammed against her muzzle. The fillies kept running, avoiding each of the guards easily, mind, there were only about one or two, but they were big, strong and fast. The guards they had run past were right on their heals now, and trying to grab them. One of them grabbed Sweetie Belle but he released her when, out of pure panic, she shot a bolt of magic at him. Then she carried on running. Behind her, she thought she heard a window smash and the angry yell of Applejack as she gave chase. They heard a strangled cry from somewhere behind them and assumed that that was Rainbow Dash getting free of the stallions magic. The three ran and ran, just managing to avoid getting caught by the guards. They saw the elevator and ducked inside, the door quickly shutting behind them. But, one of the guards held the door open, he was struggling, as the door tried to close, but he was winning the fight. Just as he managed to keep the door open and one of his companions came int, Applejack and Rainbow Dash appeared and knocked both of them out, only to be both stopped by a dark blue aura. A manic laugh came with it.

"Nightmare moon!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. A tall, dark alicorn wandered into their view.

"Greetings, you three, fancy seeing you again." Then she wrapped the fillies in her magic too.

"You let them go!" Rainbow Dash screamed

"Now, why would I do that? If I do, they'll just be escaping. I can't let that happen, now can I?"

"Let them go! Or you'll be sorry!" Rainbow Dash continued

"What are you going to do about it? Colour my flanks?" Nightmare moon mocked. That made Rainbow Dash angrier and she struggled desperately against her magic.

"Ya let them go! D'ya hear? Ya wont git away with this!" Applejack shouted, also struggling.

"Oh, but I already have." And with that, Nightmare moon teleported them all away.

---

Twilight raced through the corridors, she had just managed to get through the window and was now running after her two friends. She arrived just in time to see Nightmare moon vanish with them both and the three fillies.

"Wait!" She called, but she was too late. Nightmare moon had vanished. The two guards who had pursued the fillies, lay on the ground, unconscious. Twilight fell back onto her haunches just as Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie showed up.

"Where are they?" Rarity asked, frantically

"I was...too late..Nightmare moon..took them..away just as I...got here." Twilight said between breaths.

"NO! Sweetie Belle! We were so close!" Rarity weeped

"Rainbow Dash, Applejack..." Fluttershy said quietly, tears forming in her eyes.

"No!" Pinkie shouted, her mane deflating a bit "Rainbow Dash may have the most disturbing mind ever, but she's still our friend!" Pinkie sobbed,

"And Applejack." Twilight said

"Applejack's fine, her mind's not messed up." Pinkie Pie responded, "But she is also our friend. We have to help them!"

"And Sweetie Belle! We can't just leave her and her friends down here either!" Rarity cried,

"Don't worry Rarity, we'll get them all back. Right Twilight?" Fluttershy said, looking at her purple unicorn friend.

"Y-yes, We'll get them all back Rarity, I promise."

"But where are they?" Pinkie Pie asked,

"I don't know, I can cast a tracking spell to find them, but I'd have to have something of theirs, something close to them."

"Scootaloo's scooter is outside." Pinkie Pie suggested

"No, it's too big, I have to be able to carry it."

"Well, umm, how about one of Rainbow's feathers?" Fluttershy asked

"That would be perfect if we had one."

"Well, there is one hear." Fluttershy said, but she went unheard.

"Hmm, did Applejack leave her hat behind?" Twilight asked

"Twilight, I have one of Rainbow's feathers here." Fluttershy said again, Twilight ignored her

"Oooh, I need something of theirs. Without something, I can't track them!"

"TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy shouted, everypony looked at her, shocked, "Oh, umm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" She shook her head to stop herself from apologizing, "I have one of Rainbow Dash's feathers." Twilight looked at her shocked,

"How did you get that?" She asked

"Well, pegasi tend to molt their feathers at this time of year, just like birds do, Rainbow must have lost this one while she flew over here." Twilight blinked at her. Then again. "Umm, Twilight? COuld you, you know, cast the spell, I mean, if it isn't to much trouble, but, I really want to find our friends." Twilight shook herself free from her daze and smiled at Fluttershy.

"Sure." She took the feather in her magic and started to cast a spell. After a few seconds, Twilight felt a magical pull on the feather, she followed it, and Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie followed.

"Have you got a trail?" Rarity asked hopefully,

"No, that's why I'm just wandering through the halls aimlessly following this feather." Twilight retorted sarcastically.

"You're not aimlessly following the feather." Pinkie Pie said, "You have an aim, to find the others! And you do have a trail you silly filly! That's why you're following the feather." Twilight just sighed. The feather lead Twilight to a small room. It was a bit bigger than the one the fillies had been in, but it was still small. A few buttons sat on the wall. All of them said 'dungeons, floor-' and then a number. There were five in total.

"Wow, how many floors of dungeons does this place need?" Pinkie Pie giggled. "It's like Nightmare moon is planning on enslaving all of Equestria!" Twilight's face fell. So did Rarity's and Fluttershy's. "Aww, what's wrong guys? That was supposed to make you smile, it was a joke!" Then the implications hit her, and her face fell too, "Oh, she is planning on enslaving all of Equestria, isn't she?" The look on Twilight's face told her everything. Well, at least everything they thought Nightmare moon might be planning. Twilight shook herself and then pressed one of the buttons. The room began to shudder, then, a few moments later, it opened. The magic on the feather still tugged downwards, so she pressed the next button. The same thing happened, the magic seemed to be pulling quite hard, signalling to Twilight that they were not on the next floor down. Twilight pressed the button to the lowest floor. When the doors opened, the magic started to pull forwards again. Slowly, Twilight crept forward. She was in a dingy hallway. The magic tugged to the left. Twilight followed it. Then the magic jerked to the right, pulling Twilight into a room lined with cells. The magic pulled them all the way to the back and against a cell on the left. Twilight peered inside, it was hard to see, because it was so dark, but she could see the shape of a body against the back wall.

"Rainbow Dash." Twilight whispered. The figure did not move, "Rainbow Dash." Twilight whispered again, a bit louder. The figure stirred, but not much.

"Dashie!" Pinkie called. The figure slowly lifted it's head, sleepily.

"Pinkie Pie?" It said.

"Dashie! It's us! Where are Applejack and the crusaders?" Pinkie asked frantically, while Twilight tried to open the cell.

"I-I'm not sure, Nightmare moon put a sleep spell on us, I think. Where are we?"

"We're in the dungeons, Twilight managed to find you with a tracking spell after Fluttershy found one of your feathers."

"Where's Nightmare moon?" Twilight asked.

"I think she's gone to her office or something, she didn't say anything before she sent us to sleep, other than nopony is going to help us."

"Well, she must be pretty stupid then. I mean, why wouldn't we come to help you? Your our friends." Pinkie Pie giggled,

"Or she just expected that and set a trap for us!" Fluttershy said.

"Don't be silly Fluttershy, Nightmare moon has been stupid this whole time, first, she kidnaps everypony but Rainbow Dash, who comes and saves us all, then, she traps us in a dream dome in the hopes that we won't figure it out and escape, but that failed when Twilight noticed that Rainbow Dash still had feathers she should have lost, and then she tries to stop us from finding out we bear the elements of Harmony, but that fails as well. Now she thinks we won't come to help our friends. I don't think she's going to have set a trap for us if she's been this stupid so far." Pinkie Pie waffled.

"Pinkie look out!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, trying to shoot forward to help her, but she was yanked back by chains. Pinkie Pie turned just in time to see an enraged Nightmare moon leap at her and pin her to the floor with magic.

"Dare to call me stupid?" She spat. Pinkie Pie laughed nervously,

"ummm, no, not at all, your snootyness." That just enraged the black alicorn further

"Nopony insults me!" Nightmare moon growled

"Then why do you let them?" Pinkie asked, coming up with an idea

"What?"

"I mean, everypony insults you behind your back, they all call you lame and boring."

"I am not lame and boring! And nopony dares insult me!"

"It's true, they do. They all say you have a fat flank as well" Rainbow Dash said, joining in. Nightmare moon turned her attention to the pegasus

"Do you wish for me to burn you to a crisp?" She snarled

"Hey, I'm just speaking the truth." While Nightmare moon was distracted by Rainbow, Pinkie Pie managed to slip out of her grasp.

"Hey! Fat flank! Can you catch me? Or have you eaten one cupcake to many?" Then, she ran off. Nightmare moon screamed and darted after her. The others heard a faint call of laughter from Pinkie Pie, "You know what the best thing about bad guys is? They are super easy to anger! They get all mopey and angry when all you have said is that they need to stop eating so much pastry!" Then they heard another enraged shout from Nightmare moon. They chuckled, knowing Pinkie Pie would be alright, and Twilight set about opening the cell again. Then, she began to free Rainbow Dash of her chains. As she was doing so, they heard Pinkie Pie shout again,

"FOUND APPLEJACK!" Then they heard a loud clang, that sounded like a cell door crashing to the floor.

"That looked like it hurt." They heard Applejack comment.

As soon as Rainbow Dash was free, she flew after Nightmare moon and Pinkie Pie like a bullet. The others quickly following. They turned the corner into the hallway just in time to see Rainbow Dash kick Nightmare moon in the face and swiftly move to the side. Pinkie Pie pointed down into one of the other rooms and then ran off again to distract Nightmare moon. Both she and Rainbow Dash kept moving so Nightmare moon couldn't stop them with her magic. It also made them hard targets to hit. Twilight ran down the line of cells and saw Applejack in the one with the missing door. Twilight instantly went to help remove the chains, while Fluttershy and Rarity stood outside ready to help Twilight if she needed it, and also to stop Nightmare moon from getting to her.

Rainbow Dash flew circles around Nightmare moon while Pinkie ran them. Every so often, one of them would dart to a random place and then somewhere else, while the other moved in to attack Nightmare moon. When that stopped working, Rainbow Dash got an idea. She quickly flew down to Pinkie Pie and tapped her lightly on the shoulder,

"Hey Pinkie, your it." Then she flew off quickly. Pinkie Pie's eyes lit up and she charged at Nightmare moon, who had been confused by Rainbow Dash's actions. Pinkie Pie used the opportunity to slam her hooves against Nightmare moon and jump off of her to jab Rainbow Dash in the stomach,

"Now your it!" Pinkie Pie dropped to the floor and darted between Nightmare moon's legs. Nightmare moon tried to follow her by bending her head down to look through her legs, but when she took her eyes of the pegasus, said pegasus, came crashing down on top of Nightmare moon's head, then flew over her and planted a swift kick on the back before tapping Pinkie

"Tag."

While Pinkie and Rainbow carried on their game of tag around Nightmare moon, constantly kicking and punching whenever they got the chance, and trying to avoid getting hit themselves, Twilight freed Applejack, and then the four mares searched for the fillies. However. none of the crusaders were in the dungeon. They couldn't find them. So, they came back out and called to Rainbow and Pinkie.

"Come on you two! We've got to get out of here!" Twilight called

"But what about the fillies, we can't just leave them here!" Rainbow Dash shouted back, still concentrating on her game.

"They aren't down here!"

"Then check the other floors!"

"We can't there isn't time!"

"Well I'll make time! Me and Pinkie can keep this going as long as we want, right Pinkie?"

"Sure can Dashie!"

"No you can't! You'll both tire out! The only reason Nightmare moon hasn't got you yet is because you won't stop moving and she can't keep an eye on you both at the same time!"

"Horseapples! Big flank here won't be able to catch us!"

"But what if the guards come? Or the fillies aren't here? What if we get caught? We can't risk it Rainbow, we can come back later and have a better chance at getting them. If we get them out now, then we'll all be caught and that's the end of it!"

"NO! I wont leave them hanging!"

"Rainbow!" Applejack shouted

"Ah dislike the idea just as much as ya do, but Twi's right, we gotta better chance at gittin the fillies later. We need ta go now!" Rainbow grumbled for a few seconds more before relenting.

"Fine!" She then grabbed Pinkie Pie by the tail and flew over to Twilight, who was already performing a mass teleportation spell. A bright light flashed, when it faded, the six mares were back in the corridor with the unconscious guards. They then ran for the window they had entered by. Along the way, Rarity saw a bit of parchment with squiggles drawn onto it. She picked it up, thinking it might be useful. Then ran after her friends. Rainbow Dash pulled her up so she could get through the window before following. After they had all got over the fence, the six ran for the forest edge as fast as they could. When they broke into the cover, they didn't stop running, not until they had reached a cave. They all ran into the cave and sat down, panting.

Twilight lit her horn so that they could all see. Then she noticed the bit of parchment in Rarity's grasp.

"What's that Rarity?" She asked,

"I'm not sure, it has a bunch of squiggles on it." Rarity passed the piece of parchment over to Twilight, who looked at it with confusion.

"It looks like it's another language. Badly written, but still another language. Anypony have any idea what it says?" She passed the parchment round to her friends, each shaking their heads, but, when it got to Fluttershy, she nodded hers.

"It's written in Chiropnese, the language of bat's, or bat ponies." She said,

"Can you read it?" Twilight asked, again Fluttershy nodded her head.

"I can, but, it's badly written and it's hard to read."

"Can you still tell us what it says though?"

"I-I think so. Umm, it looks like, umm, benevolence, umm, flows..like silk wings....through, umm, air. When the, umm, tree grows, the, uhh,..benevolence will know, and will, umm see all,...urr wounds."

"Benevolence flows like silk wings through air. When the tree grows, the benevolence will know and will see all wounds." Twilight repeated, "It's another prophecy!"

"And an easy one at that." Rarity said.

"Umm, I don't see how that's easy." Fluttershy said

"Well, darling, benevolence means kindness, so it's talking about kindness."

"And it says, 'flows like silk wings through air' so it must be talking about something that can fly." Pinkie added

"'when the tree grows', hmm, there must be a deeper meaning to this part, but, if we keep it simple, then a magical tree might just grow." Twilight said,

"And as soon as that happens, the kindness will be able to see all wounds, darling." Rarity finished.

"So, umm who's this kindness?" Fluttershy asked, all heads turned to her, but not because she asked the question, "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Well Fluttershy, your element, is kindness." Rainbow Dash said,

"And you can fly!" Pinkie added

"Oh, umm, my."

"Well, that was figured out faster than I thought. Now for this tree." Twilight said.

"Maybe, it's a magical tree that will grow as soon as Fluttershy comes near it!" Pinkie Pie suggested

"That seems pretty logical, from what the prophecy says, but, I don't think think those kind of trees exist."

"Darling, from what's happened so far, and what with Pie's almost psychic ability, I wouldn't be surprised if those kind of trees did exist." Rarity said

"You're right. Anyway, it's getting late, we should be getting to sleep now. We'll camp here. In the morning we can figure out how to get the Cutie mark crusaders back. Is that alright?" Everypony nodded their heads in agreement with Twilight, "Also, like we did last night, I think we should have night shifts. I'll take first watch."

Twilight woke up in the middle of the night. Moonlight shone through the cave entrance and rested on the floor. It lit up a few of her friends sleeping bags. Rainbow Dash's was empty.

'Must be Rainbow Dash's shift' Twilight thought. She got out of bed and quietly trotted over to the entrance. As she got closer, she thought she could hear somepony talking, no, not talking, singing. Twilight stopped and listened. The pony was singing a song that Twilight hadn't heard in a long time. She had also only ever heard it sung by one pony. Princess Celestia. Twilight remembered that, sometimes, on clear nights, she and Princess Celestia would sit together on a balcony, looking out into the night sky. Rarely, on these occasions, Princess Celestia would sing a song.

Carefully, Twilight trotted closer to the entrance, she could hear the voice better now. It belonged to Rainbow Dash. Though her voice wasn't the best suited to sing that particular song, she sung it very well. Twilight peered out of the cave. Rainbow Dash was sitting a few hooves away from the cave and had her back to it. It looked like she was holding something in her hooves. She sung the song again. But, it seemed that she only knew a bit of it, as she was only singing the chorus and first verse.

"Hello moon, hello moon,
I can see you tonight, shining brightly as ever,
Hello moon, hello moon,
I can see you tonight, shining brightly as ever,

Stars dotted round the sky,
covering you up like dia~monds,
Clouds mist the air, making you barely visible,
but I can see your golden, white, glowing face,
Shining through the clouds and the layer of the stars,
As they blend right into the deep blue night,

Hello moon, hello moon,
I can see you tonight shining brightly as ever,
Hello moon, hello moon,
I can see you tonight, shining brightly as ever."

Twilight tried to step outside quietly, so as not to disturb Rainbow Dash, but stepped on a twig accidentally, catching the pegasus's attention. Rainbow Dash jumped and spun around, thinking there might be something dangerous trying to enter the cave, but instead, she saw Twilight. She let out a small sigh of relief, but stopped halfway through, realizing that Twilight had probably heard her singing.

"Uhh, hey Twi." She greeted

"I liked your singing."

"I, uhh, I wasn't singing."

"Don't lie to me Rainbow, I know it was you singing. Nopony else is out here." Rainbow Dash sighed and looked to the ground. She picked up the little object she had been holding when she heard Twilight step on a twig. She looked at it for a few seconds before tucking it into her mane. "What's that?"

"None of your business."

"Come on Rainbow, we're friends aren't we?"

"Yes we are, and as my friend, I'd like you to not stick your nose into my business." Twilight was about to retort back at her friend, but then stopped.

'If it's personal to Rainbow Dash, then I should let her decide when she wants to talk about it' She thought.

"Okay. I liked your song. Where did you learn it?" Rainbow Dash just shrugged,

"Did you learn it from school?" Twilight pressed, again Rainbow Dash shrugged,

"Did your parents teach it to you? Or a sibl-" Twilight didn't get to finish her sentence,

"NO! They did not teach it to me! I have no clue where I learned the song! I just know it! OK?" Rainbow Dash snapped,

"Alright, alright, sweet Celestia, there's no need to snap at me, I was just asking a question."

"Well I'm not very comfortable with your question, ok?"

"Why? I was just asking if your par-"

"I don't like to talk about my parents! So shut up about them!" Twilight's expression softened slightly.

'She must have had a bad past with them.' She thought, "Ok, I'll stop." She eventually sighed. She was still curious as to why the pegasus wouldn't say anything, but, like the object, if it was personal to Rainbow Dash, then it was not Twilight's place to press....Maybe she'd ask Fluttershy about it later.

"Thank you. Why are you up anyway?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"What'ya thinking about?"

"Everything really..." Rainbow Dash nodded and turned away from Twilight, then she pulled the object back out of her mane, Twilight looked at her curiously.

"It's the only thing I have left from my parents Well, apart from my old blanket that has survived everything I put it through." Twilight listened to Rainbow Dash quietly, "I've always kept this with me, I never gone anywhere without it. Even when I do my stunts, I still have it tucked into my mane." Twilight trotted over to Rainbow Dash and sat next to her. "I was left on the doorstep to Cloudsdale orphanage, I was still a foal. The carers who worked there always said I was only a few days old when they found me."

"Are you angry with your parents?" Twilight asked, she sensed Rainbow Dash tense up at the question and instantly thought that she had said the wrong thing, but Rainbow Dash quickly relaxed.

"A little. I'm angry at them for leaving me, but..." She paused, "Maybe they did it for the best. What if they were the poorest ponies on the streets of Cloudsdale and knew I'd be better off at the orphanage, where I'd get fed and looked after properly. What if they were really ill and couldn't look after me. I don't know."

"Well, whoever they are, I'm pretty sure that they love you very much."

"The main reason why I'm angry at them? They left me with no name, no leads as to who they are."

"They didn't name you?" Twilight was shocked

"No, the orphanage did."

"You poor thing." Twilight exclaimed, and reached over to hug her friend, who accepted it after a few moments of squirming.

"Can I see it?"

"See what?"

"The jewel from your parents." Twilight replied, pointing to the crystal feather. Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment, but then held it out. Twilight gently took it in her hooves. It was a key ring, modified into a hair clip, it was glowing slightly. It seemed to glow all the colours of the Rainbow. "It's beautiful." She murmured, then passed it back to Rainbow, who tucked it into her mane. They stayed silent for a few minutes.

"I'd better wake AJ now, it's her shift." Rainbow Dash said, getting up.

"Tha's alright, Ah'm already up." Applejack's voice came out from the cave entrance,

"Oh, hey AJ, how long have you been standing there?"

"Ah jus' got up. Wus wonderin' why ya didn't wake me up already, by the looks o' it, ya over stayed yer shift."

"Sorry AJ, Twilight woke up, so we were just chatting."

"Alright, ya both git back ta sleep. All o' us need as much energy as possible tomorro'" Twilight and Rainbow Dash nodded and headed into the cave and crawled into their sleeping bags.

The fourth prophecy-complete

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Rainbow Dash woke up to the sun beating down on her fur. She sat up and looked around. Most of her friends were already awake, only Rarity and Fluttershy were still sleeping. Just then, Applejack walked into the cave.

"Mornin' Rainbow. Ah was jus' comin' ta git ya'll sleepy heads up. Twilight wants ta git movin' already."

"She has a plan to get the fillies back?"

"Nah, Twi wants ta git this prophecy done first. Say's that it might be better if we do, have a better chance at succeeding."

"...Fine, I hope Scoot's is ok, she's used to looking after herself but..."

"Ah know. Ya think o' Scootaloo like a li'l sis. Ah'm worried 'bout Applebloom an' Rarity 's worried 'bout Sweetie Belle, so we know how ya feel." Applejack shook Fluttershy awake gently, while Rainbow Dash woke Rarity.

"Alright girls, we have to get going. If I'm correct, then we have to complete all of the prophecies before we can defeat Nightmare moon." Twilight said,

"So, we have to complete them all before getting back our sisters?" Rarity asked worriedly,

"Possibly, but don't worry Rarity, I'm sure they are fine. Anyway, if we complete the prophecies first, then we have a much better chance at getting the girls out."

"But what if it's too late by then?"

"It won't be" Twilight reassured, then, seeing that Rarity was still worried, she said "If it makes you feel better, we'll go straight back and try to rescue them after we have this prophecy done, ok?" Rarity relaxed a little bit, but not much. "Ok, then, let's get moving." The six mares started out again, deeper into the forest.

"Twilight, do you have any idea where we're going?" Rainbow Dash asked

"Of course I do."

"Then where are we going?"

"We're going to find this magical tree that is going to grow and give Fluttershy her powers."

"An' that is where exactly?" Applejack asked

"In this forest, it has to be."

"Twilight dear, don't you have a more specific answer? We've been walking for hours." Rarity whined. Twilight stopped, forcing the others to do the same, and looked at them,

"Sorry, Rarity, I'm just really stressed right now, we need to defeat Nightmare moon, and we can't do that if we haven't completed all of the prophecies." She apologized, then, they carried on walking. Soon, they came to a small clearing in the forest. Soft, mossy grass, covered the ground and light shone through the gap in the trees.

"Twilight, can we stop and rest, my hooves are aching terribly!" Complained Rarity,

"I'd like to rest too, if you don't mind." Fluttershy asked meekly,

"Well I can keep going for ever!" Pinkie Pie shouted, whilst bouncing around the clearing.

"Alright, we'll rest here for ten minutes, then we need to get moving again." Twilight decided, the others wandered into the clearing and flopped down. A few animals went over to Fluttershy and started talking to her, Rarity set down a few blankets and lay down on one, Applejack joined her. Rainbow Dash sat herself on a branch of a large tree, Twilight sat beneath in the shade.

As they were about to leave, they were ambushed by several armored ponies, bat ponies. There were eight, in total. They all leaped at the girls, each taking one on, Rainbow Dash and Applejack took the extra two on as well. A bat pony flew at Twilight from the side, taking her off guard, the bat pony pinned her down, but Twilight blasted him with a shock wave. He got up quickly and flew at Twilight again, she fired several magical bullets at him, he dodged them all and slammed his hooves into her chest. Then, as she was powering up another attack, he flicked her horn to disable her magic. Twilight skidded across the floor, then jumped up. She tried using her magic, but that just gave her a headache, so she went for a more physical attack. She ran straight at the bat pony, who ran at her. Just as they were about to collide, Twilight dodged to the left and slipped her right foreleg under his hooves, tripping him up.

Rainbow Dash was tackled by two bat ponies, one from each side. The larger bat pony forced her into the other and all three began to tussle on the ground. They rolled around each other, trying to pin the other(s) to the ground. The two bat ponies eventually managed to hold their positions on top and pinned Rainbow to the floor. Then, as the larger bat pony held her down, the smaller one took out some rope and attempted to tie Rainbow's wings together. Using the advantage of being lifted off the ground so that her wings could be tied, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and propelled herself into the air, knocking the two bat ponies over, then she swooped down, grabbed the rope and tied the smaller bat pony up with it. While that bat pony tried to untie herself, Rainbow Dash tackled the bigger one, pinning him to the floor before stopping on him, then, while he was winded, she picked him up and dumped him on the still struggling smaller bat pony.

A mere 3 seconds before they were ambushed, Pinkie's Pinkie sense sensed that somepony was about to jump on them, so Pinkie Pie just managed to dodge when a bat pony came hurtling through the bushes at her from behind. Taken by surprise by Pinkie Pie dodging, the bat pony lost his balance and rolled to a stop. Then, as he got up, Pinkie Pie jumped on top of him, forcing him to the floor again, she then jumped off and started to bounce around him, almost randomly. The bat pony watched her for a few seconds, trying to find the pattern, as soon as he did, he leaped at Pinkie's next target. Unfortunately for him, Pinkie was ready and instead of leaping where she was supposed to go, she leaped at the bat pony. She hit him mid-leap and pushed him to the ground. Just as she was about to repeat the pattern, her Pinkie sense acted up, then Rarity slammed into her from behind. The two collapsed in a heap, and before they could get up the two bat ponies attacking Rarity and Pinkie dog-piled on top of them. Whilst being squashed under the weight of all three ponies, Rarity saw Rainbow Dash Flying towards them from her left. Pinkie Pie saw Twilight racing in from her right. Rainbow Dash bucked the top bat pony off of the pile and Twilight shot the second one with a fire beam, then she lifted Pinkie off of Rarity. Applejack then ran up to them and bucked away the bat pony that had snuck up on Rainbow Dash, knocking him unconscious. Then, they all heard a scream. It wasn't Fluttershy. The bat pony that had ambushed Fluttershy was surrounded by: five rabbits, two foxes, twelve birds, three squirrels and a bear. Fluttershy was clinging desperately to a tree branch, still trying to recover from the initial shock of being ambushed. Pinkie Pie hopped over and joined in with the animals, then, the bat pony tried to fly over the bunnies, but was shoved down by the bear, the, all the animals, and Pinkie, attacked. They kicked, scratched and bit the poor bat pony, who, after managing to escape their grasp, flew away frantically. Seeing one of their own defeated so easily, the others retreated too. The one tied up, being carried away.

After recovering from her shock, Fluttershy thanked her animal friends and checked them all over to make sure they were ok. As the last animal was checked and given the ok, Fluttershy felt something. It wasn't like a tap on the shoulder, rather like feeling hungry. Instantly, even if she didn't realize it, she knew what it was. Somewhere in the forest, a tree sapling had pushed it's way out of the ground and into the world. Looking around, Fluttershy could then see every single wound that her friends had sustained. Quite a few of them were pretty bad, but one of the worst was one of Rarity's injuries. Rarity's magic core had been squashed. A magic core is something all 'magic animals'* have. It sits behind the right lung, next to the heart. It is what allows the animal to use magic in some form or another, in unicorns and alicorns, this comes out as pure magic. If it is damaged, then the animal cannot perform magic. When, a unicorn's horn is flicked, the magic core vibrates, temporarily stopping the magic usage. When damaged, while fixable, the injury is not felt by the animal and can be fatal if not treated within a few days. Fluttershy rushed over to Rarity and got her to sit up as straight as possible and hold her breath. Taken aback by the jester, Rarity protested, but soon gave in and did as she was told. Everypony else watched in confusion. Fluttershy held a hoof on Rarity's chest, where the magic core is and pressed gently. She then got Rarity to exhale, then hold her breath again, the motion was repeated several times before Fluttershy felt the magic core relax. She saw the injury fade, but it was still there. She explained the situation to Rarity and told her to not use magic no matter what, otherwise, she may never be able to use magic again.

Twilight walked up to Fluttershy, a confused expression written over her face.

"Fluttershy, what was that?"

"Oh, umm, Rarity had a squashed magic core."

"How do you know?"

"I saw it."

"But-"

"It sort of...glowed. Everypony has glowing spots, where their injuries are."

"Have you always been able to do this?"

"No, it, umm, just started." Realization dawned on Twilight, but that brought up another question.

"The prophecy has come true." She muttered to herself, "But where's the tree?"

"Alright everypony. I think we should settle down here for the night." Twilight decided. It was several hours after the attack and the girls had been walking back towards the castle, like Twilight promised, they were going to try and get the fillies back, "We'll carry on in the morning, there isn't much we can do now, it's too dark to keep moving." Everypony else let out a sigh of release and began to unpack their stuff.

"Rainbow, c'n ya git us some firewood?" Applejack asked. Grumbling about how Applejack should do it herself, but too tired to argue, Rainbow Dash went to collect the requested firewood. When she got back, Applejack had set up a small circle of rocks, to stop the fire spreading, Rainbow dumped the wood in the circle and Applejack lit the fire. Pinkie pie handed out marshmallows and Rarity insisted they do not tell scary stories, which the others agreed to, some more reluctant than others. They all agreed to have a night watch again, each of them taking a shift.

During Rainbow Dash's shift, she felt that something was watching them. She could hear the rustling of the bushes and the sound of something moving. Slowly, she stood up, and listened. She could only hear the sounds of the forest for a few seconds, then...
Pad. It was so light that she could barely hear it, but it was there alright. It was shortly followed by another pad. then another. Something was definitely moving out there, something big. The something seemed to be watching them, walking about in the bushes, waiting for something. Rainbow Dash was tense, she knew exactly where it was, she couldn't see it, but she knew it was crouched in the bushes directly in front of her. She dared not look away to wake the others, for fear of it attacking at that moment. Cautiously, she spun her ears round in all directions, trying to listen for anything else that might attack. This could be the beasts coming to take them away, sent by Nightmare moon. The something moved, it moved towards her. This could be a manticore, having spotted an easy meal. The something crept closer, being careful not to disturb anything. This could be a chimera, trying to defend it's territory. The something kept coming closer, just walking, not taking any advantage and jumping in for the attack. That must mean it's an evergator, hunting for sport. Rainbow Dash crouched low, ready to pounce on the attacker. The bushes rustled, signalling that the attacker had moved into range. Rainbow Dash jumped, prepared to land on top of an evergator, but, instead, she landed on the wooden paws of a timberwolf. She blinked in confusion, then, looked up and saw the even more confused eyes of Paul. Paul tilted his head at Rainbow Dash who blinked back, her mind still trying to process who it was she was looking at. Then after several seconds, she got off of him and apologized. Then, asked in annoyance why he snuck up on them instead of just walking over to them. Paul explained that he didn't want to scare Rainbow Dash and thought it was best if he showed his presence before walking over. For the next few hours of the night, Rainbow Dash and Paul discussed what had been happening. They didn't bother waking Rarity for her shift and both stayed up for morning.

The fifth prophecy-discovered

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Pinkie was ecstatic to find that Paul had followed them into the Everfree forest and had come to help them defeat Nightmare moon. She asked him lots of questions, like, 'How did you get to Ponyville?', 'How did you know where we were?' and 'Do you like pancakes?', Paul's answer to that last question was that he had actually never had a pancake, which sent Pinkie into hyperventilation. One of Paul's answers sparked Twilight's interest. Rainbow Dash, who had been translating Paul's answers, had said that Paul had said that he had seen something written on a rock. It had been written in Timberturkish and sounded a bit like a line from a poem or song.

"Taklitçi, taklitçi, sıçrama sıçrama sıçrama, yapma, ve bir ayna, bir şey yaratmak." Which Rainbow Dash translated to,

"Copycat, copycat, bounce bounce bounce, making and creating, something in a mirror." Twilight came to the conclusion that this was another prophecy. She had spent the rest of the previous day observing Fluttershy and her new powers. It seemed that, not only could the pegasus see any wounds, she could heal any too. The wound wouldn't heal straight away, but Fluttershy knew how to treat any wound, even if she had never seen such a wound. Twilight still couldn't figure out what it meant about the tree. and even Fluttershy was a little confused, but she did mention that she noticed something just before she could see the wounds. She wasn't sure what it was, but she had an idea that it must have been the tree growing. Now, Twilight wanted to figure out this prophecy and observe who it affects before they did anything else, which Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash weren't too happy about. The three remaining ponies, who had yet to get their powers, were, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Twilight didn't understand the prophecy at all. It seemed to be just a bunch of words shoved together. If it weren't for the situation, she wouldn't have thought it was a prophecy. Rainbow Dash suggested that it may have something to do with copying something and Pinkie mentioned a mirror pool, whatever that was. Applejack's idea was pretty clever, she suggested that it may have something to do with making something that looks exactly like something else, like a reflection in a mirror. She also suggested that the 'bounce' part may refer to what the item that was supposed to be copied was, maybe a bouncy ball or a Pogo stick. nopony else could come up with a better idea, so they stuck with Applejack's guess.

Rainbow Dash flew above her friends as they trudged through the forest. They were following Paul to where he had found the prophecy. Pinkie Pie was crawling along beside him, sniffing at the ground occasionally as if she were a dog tracking something. In her right hoof, she held a magnifying glass, she wore a tartan-green detectives hat and a bubble blowing pipe in her mouth. Paul wore a, far too small, detectives cloak that Pinkie had persuaded him to wear. Begrudgingly, Twilight wore a bowler hat and was posing as Pinkie Pie's assistant. It had only been about two hours since they had woken up, but the sun was already blazing down on them. Everypony was hot, and the shade of the trees did little to keep the sun away. They had run out of food and water that morning, and they needed to find a lake if they were going to stay here longer.

Eventually, they got to the place where Paul had found the prophecy. They were in a small clearing, only juts big enough to fit them all. In the center, there was a single rock. Engraved into the rock was the prophecy. Pinkie Pie started to climb all over it, using her magnifying glass to look for clues. She found none. Then, Twilight examined it. She tested a lot of things on it. The first spell showed her that whoever had written it had not used magic, the second spell told her that it had been written over thousands of years ago, before the unicorns and earth ponies even knew pegasi existed. Everyone else sat on the ground while she worked. They were all bored. They watched Twilight with disinterest as she continued to cast spell after spell. She was in the middle of casting her 353rd spell, when Rainbow Dash heard a noise. It was distant, but it sounded almost like a scream. A deathly scream. The kind of scream you give, not when you're afraid, but when you're trying to kill someone and they wont stay still. Nopony else had seemed to have heard it, so Rainbow Dash just passed it off as her imagination. But then she heard it again, she was sure of it. Still, nopony else took any notice. The third scream came, and this time, Paul also pricked his ears. They both sat there listening intently, a fourth scream came and Rainbow Dash decided she had to warn the others, she prodded them in their sides and told them they needed to move. Now. She jabbed Twilight,

"Twi, we need to move, something's headed our way and it doesn't sound friendly."

"What in the hay are ya talkin' 'bout RD?" Just then another scream came, much louder this time, everypony heard it. Twilight seemed to recognize the danger because she suddenly bolted upright and barked orders at everyone to get a move on. Everypony was on their hooves immediately, then, Pinkie's knee started to pinch. Several seconds later an eery mist flowed through the trees and bushes. Rainbow Dash tried to push it back, but it kept coming. Soon, the entire clearing was covered in it. They tried to run through it, back into the thick forest, but, it seemed to have disappeared, no matter where they ran, it was like there were no more trees, just, emptiness.

They had managed to get separated. Rainbow Dash called out for her friends, but no answer was heard. She flew in all directions, looking for them, but not a single one could be seen. She thought she heard Pinkie laugh, and flew over to the sound, but then it faded, and Rainbow was left in silence again. She didn't like the silence, nor being alone, it reminded her too much of the orphanage. When the caretakers would lock her in her room with no food or water if she did something wrong. Once again she called out to her friends. Still no answer came. Then, she heard a blood curdling scream. It didn't sound like a pony. The scream was followed by a figure making it's way through the mist towards her. The figure was tall and it almost blended in with the mist. Rainbow Dash flew up to the figure and tried to slam into it, but instead, she passed through it. She turned around confused. The figure had turned towards her again, she flew at it again. And again. Each time passing through it like it was air. As she flew at it for the eleventh time, she was met by an ice blue hoof slamming into her face, sending her careering backwards.

'What the-' Rainbow Dash thought to herself, but she didn't get any further as another blue hoof slammed into her side. She got up instantly and flew at the creature, she dodged the attack and aimed a kick at the figures side, but she still went right through it. Then, she had an idea, 'I can't hurt it, but it can hurt me. However, so far, it has only touched me with it's hooves, and I have only gone through it's sides. I can probably immobilize it by breaking it's legs.' So, as the next hoof came up to punch her, she twisted around, avoiding the hoof and grabbed the leg, only, she still went through it. 'Damn' she thought. For several minutes she continued to dodge attacks and think of a way to hurt it. She thought about confusing it by spinning around it, but that idea went out the window when she realized that the figure was doing almost the same thing to her, keeping her in an invisible pen, not allowing her to go around it. Throughout the fight, Rainbow kept thinking she heard Pinkie laughing, she could also hear Fluttershy screaming, but whenever she tried to go towards the sounds, they never got any closer. Another hoof was swung at her and Rainbow Dash tried to grab it, but it went straight through her hooves and hit her in the chest. She got up and flew straight up, she kept going, the entity was following her, seeming to just hover. No matter how high she went, Rainbow couldn't break out of the mist and she couldn't shake the creature off of her tail. After flying upwards for a few minutes, Rainbow Dash shot straight back down towards the entity, she passed right through it and continued downwards, the figure entity followed her. From her point in the sky, Rainbow Dash could see flashes of purple and the occasional weak flash of blue. She could hear Pinkie laughing, then she suddenly cried out, and no more laughter was heard, only crying. Fluttershy could be heard screaming her head off and Applejack was letting out frustrated grunts. Rainbow Dash kept shooting downwards, increasing her speed all the while. The entity seemed to be closing in on her, it seemed to sense that it was in danger of losing. Rainbow kept accelerating, faster and faster she went. The flashes of purple were getting closer and closer, the mist seemed to be getting thicker. A cone started to form around her. She could feel the pressure building up. She knew what was coming. Faint colours could be seen at the tips of the cone, they sparkled. The cone became narrower, almost like a triangle, sparks of electricity danced along her hooves and around her body. The entity was dragging behind now, still frantically trying to keep up. Then, when the pressure was the greatest, the cone broke, it shattered, and a rainbow coloured circle blasted out from it. The rainbow blew away all the mist and it destroyed the entity that was following it's creator. Rainbow Dash shot down from the center of the sonic rainboom and continued flying straight down a streak of rainbow following her, she could see the ground now, and her friends. Just before she touched the ground, Rainbow shot back upwards in a arc shape, to drain off all the power she had built up. Then, she came back down and landed. All her friends rushed over, having not actually been very far away, the were all still in the clearing.

"Rainbow Dash!" They called out, Pinkie reached her first and pulled her into an enormous bear hug.

"That was the most superific, spectacular, amazing thing I've ever seen!"

"Hehe, thanks Pinkie." Applejack reached her second,

"Are ya ok Rainbow? Whut wus that?" before Rainbow could open her mouth, Twilight answered,

"That was a sonic rainboom! It's supposed to be an old mares tale! Nopony can pull it off!"

"But, Rainbow Dash just did." Rarity replied

"I can see that! But, its supposed to be impossible! You have to break not only the sound barrier, but the magic barrier as well!"

"Umm, well, Rainbow Dash has always been very fast." Fluttershy said

"Yeh! She's always like Zoom! and Swoosh! Going this way and that!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed,

"Rainbow's always bin one fer goin' fast."

"Bu-, Nopony can break the magic barrier! Magic is what holds the world together! If it was broken, then Equestria would fall apart!"

"But it hasn't." Rarity stated

"bu-bu-bu-" Throughout all of this, Rainbow Dash was looking very smug. "How did you do it Rainbow??? TELL ME!!!" Twilight shouted

"Ughh, I flew fast and BOOM."

"That doesn't tell me anything!" Rainbow Dash just ignored her, not wanting to get caught up with Twilight's 'experiments'. She was already experimenting with Pinkie Pie, trying to figure out if she was a unicorn from the future, and Rainbow did not want to even imagine what horrors would await her if she got caught up in something like that.

The scare form the mist was over and the group had finally managed to keep Twilight's mind off the sonic rainboom. They all sat in a circle, discussing the events that had just transpired(Minus the sonic rainboom).

"Sooo, what just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked

"Yeh, and what was that scary thing that didn't disappear when I laughed at it?" Pinkie added, sulkily

"Yes, that thing was absolutely dreadful, it has covered me in all manners of scratches! And I have a very bad headache from having to use my magic." Rarity agreed,

"But, y'all didn't fight th' same creature, did ya? Ah fought one by mahself." Applejack said

"Yes, we all fought off one on our own. They are called mindues. They live in forests and wherever they go, they leave trails of mists. They feed off of the fear and pain of their victims."

"They were very scary." Fluttershy whimpered

"Those screams we heard were the call of a mindue, they use that to either scare their prey or to summon other mindues. In our case, it was to summon more. The mist was a magical barrier, it places the victims in a, a , void, almost. You can go as far as you want in any direction, you won't bump into anything, nor will you go anywhere in real life."

"Good to know. Can we get moving again?" Rainbow Dash asked.

A random song about faith-by the CMC

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The Cutie mark crusaders were sitting in a dark cell. They didn't know how long they had been down here, as there were no windows or any light. A guard sat outside the cell door. He hadn't been there when they first woke up, but apparently, somepony escaped so Nightmare moon had ordered somepony to guard the rest of the prisoners. The three fillies were chained to the walls and they were hungry. They hadn't had any food since they left to search the forest. A while ago, they had each been given a bowl of water, but that had been it. The three fillies were bored and they longed to talk to each other, but whenever they talked, the guard would shush them. Scootaloo had been watching the guard very carefully. Every so often a new guard would come in and take the place of the previous guard. The next guard would be coming in any second...Now. As if on cue, another guard walked in and the old guard left. This new guard was a young stallion and obviously had little experience with the matter. He stood with his back to the fillies and Scootaloo noticed that he wore a different armor to the ones that had chased them down the corridors. Instead of being completely covered in armor, the armor only went as far as the stomach. So Scootaloo could see his cutie mark. It was a picture of a cloud, and hiding behind the cloud was a crescent moon.

"Hey! Mr guard?" She called

"Uhh, Quiet!." He shouted back

"Well, I was just wondering-"

"You are not permitted to talk!"

"-If you could tell me what your special talent is?"

"Prisoners are not- what?"

"What's your special talent?"

"Uhh, I cannot give you that information! Now, Prisoners are not allowed to talk."

"But I wanna know! At least tell me how you got it, I don't have mine yet."

"Well" The guard blushed slightly, but then shook his head "No, I am forbidden to give that information."

"Why? What does it matter?"

"My leader forbids it."

"Well, why do you follow her then?"

"Because it's part of my talent."

"How so?" Applebloom asked, joining in

"Well, the crescent moon is the same as Nightmare moons."

"So?"

"It means that I must follow her, as she is the leader of the night."

"What does the rest of your cutie mark mean?"

"The cloud refers to dreams, sleeping."

"So, your talent is?"

"Dream walking. I can see other ponies dreams. Just like Nightmare moon can, so I must follow her."

"What? Why? just 'cause the moon on ya flank 's th' same 's Nightmare moon's..."

"Yes! If your cutie mark had Celestia's sun on it, you would follow her, wouldn't you?"

"Yeh, of course, but that's different."

"It's not!"

"Yes it is. Celestia is the leader of Equestria, Nightmare moon has only just come. Why should we follow her?"

"Because she is the rightful heir to the throne."

"Why do ya think that?"

"Because the moon on my flank is the same as hers."

"But, she only came a few weeks ago, what did you think before then?"

"Oh, I uhh, wasn't around before now. I came back with her."

"..."

"Nightmare moon, a few ponies and I, were all sealed within the moon together."

"...Ok. Why?"

"Celestia trapped Nightmare moon in the moon and us, as her followers, were trapped too."

"But, why do you follow her?" Sweetie Belle asked

"And don't say because your cutie mark says so." Scootaloo added before the guard could speak

"...Well, Before I got my cutie mark, she ruled with Celestia, so it didn't make a difference."

"Then why does it make a difference now? Nightmare moon ruled with Celestia, so your cutie mark couldn't have meant to follow only her, otherwise you'd be like, psychic, or something."

"My talent is walking in dreams, it may not be that surprising, especially since, at the time, Princess Luna was already being consumed by her own hatred."

"Wait, Princess Luna?"

"Nightmare moon before she was consumed by hate."

"Oh."

"But, do you agree with what she does?" Sweetie Belle asked

"Does it matter? If my cutie mark says that she is my leader, then I must follow her."

"Course it does. Since when do Cutie marks tell ya who ta follow? They only tell ya, ya special talent." Applebloom said

"And my special talent is Following Nightmare moon."

"What did you want to be when you were a colt?" Scootaloo asked

"Well, I don't know really, a stargazer? I was always interested in the night. Another reason why I should follow Nightmare moon."

"Ughh. Before you got your cutie mark, what did you want to be when you grew up? What was your dream?"

"...I always wanted to know how dreams worked. I did lots of research on it and tried my hardest to pay attention to my dreams, but that's kinda hard when you don't have any magic." he responded, pointing to his hornless head.

"Well, how'dya git yer cutie mark?"

"I was staying with my best friend at the hospital over night, because he was sick. The doctors didn't know what was wrong with him, he was suffering mentally. I stayed by his side all night, trying to think what could be wrong with him. When I finally drifted off to sleep, my dream was real. As if it wasn't my own. I found I could maneuver through it but not take part in it. My friend was there, and he was stuck in some horrible place, he kept screaming for help but there was nothing I could do. Then somepony came in, it was his mom. I remember she started to hurt him and torture him. His dad came in and did the same. I couldn't do anything to stop it, unlike what Nightmare moon can. I wanted to escape the place, and eventually found a door, but it was locked, I couldn't get out, so I started to shout and scream. I was woken up, then, by a doctor. He told me that I was screaming for help in my sleep. I looked to my friend, who seemed to be sleeping very peacefully. But, I knew that he didn't move in his sleep, whether he was having a nightmare or not. And I saw the signs of a nightmare. His hooves were clutching the bed covers tightly and he was sweating slightly. The doctor had left by now, so I woke him up. I asked him what he was dreaming about, at first, he didn't say anything, but when he did, it was the same dream that I had had, except, he was the one being tortured. He didn't give me any details, other than he was in a cellar being hurt by somepony. A usual nightmare that ponies get. But it seemed to similar to my dream to be a coincidence. That's when he saw my flank and told me that I had a cutie mark. Since then I have been able to walk through others dreams, even if I can't control them."

"What happened to your friend?" Sweetie Belle asked

"I told the doctors about his nightmare, then they started to treat him for that. I'm not sure exactly what happened t make him have those dreams, but they were lucid, sometimes he couldn't tell what was real and what was fake."

"He got better right?"

"Of course."

"Well, that doesn't point to you having to follow Nightmare moon."

"I am a night pony, so therefore I must follow the princess of the night."

"But do you agree with what she does?"

"Not really, I preferred it when she was Princess Luna."

"Well, there ya go then. Ya do whut ya want. Not cause yer cutie mark says ya have ta."

"But my cutie mark is my special talent."

"Yeh, but if ya don't like whut ya special talent is, is it really ya special talent?"

"Yeh, your special talent represents what your good at and what you enjoy." Scootaloo added

"What are you good at?" The stallion asked

"Well, we don't have our cutie marks, so we don't really know." Scootaloo admitted

"Then what do you know about helping me?"

"We know that you have to follow your heart."

"Don't say sappy stuff like that Sweetie Belle!"

"But she's right." Applebloom countered

"Yeh whatever. But, the point is, do what you think is right because you want to do it, not becasue your cutie mark looks like Nightmare moons!"

"Why should I trust you, your just a bunch of fillies stuck in a cell, hoping to get out."

"Oh! I know! We could a song!" Sweetie Belle suggested, then, without waiting for a response, she started to sing,

Sweetie Belle-"You gotta have hope and courage,

You gotta have courage and hope,

Come on, let's take this cha~a~a~a~ance,

Come on, let's take this cha~a~a~a~ance,"

Scootaloo-"You gotta take a leap of fai~aith,

You gotta put your tru~ust in me,

Come on now lets jump the jump,

You gotta have fai~aith in me,"

All three-"Nothing will ever stop us,

We're unstoppable,

We have trust in each other,

We can make it through anything,"

Sweetie Belle-"You gotta have hope and courage,

You gotta have courage and hope,

Come on, let's take this cha~a~a~a~ance,

Come on, let's take this cha~a~a~a~ance,"

~~Music interval~~

All three-"Three of us together,

side by side,

we represent,

Hope, chance and courage,

Us three alone,

we create faith,

and faith alone,

can banish all doubt!"

~~Music interval~~

Sweetie Belle-"You gotta have hope and courage,

You gotta have courage and hope,

You gotta take a cha~a~a-ance

come on, let's take this cha~a~a-a~ance,"

Applebloom-"When th' sun rises again,

Th' moon will foll~ow soon,

when th' clouds cover the sky,

Ya smile and smile that day,"

Sweetie Belle-"When a cloud hides the sun,

A darkness falls over you,

When the cloud passes through,

The darkness turns to light,

The storm keeps going,

And never seems to end,

but if you believe in us,

the storm will pass through,

Just have faith in me,

and we'll all be free,

you just gotta trust us three,

And it'll leave you be."

The sixth prophecy-uncovered

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The group had left the clearing about an hour ago. They had no clue where they were, nor did they have any idea on how to get back. It was beginning to get dark and they needed to stop and rest somewhere. Soon enough, they came to a fork in the little path they had been following. Twilight suggested they stop there, and in the morning they can follow one of the paths. So, they all set up their sleeping bags and settled down for the night. Paul volunteered to take the first watch, and everypony else went to sleep.

When everypony woke up, they noticed that Paul had stayed on watch all night, deciding not to wake them up.

"Twilight, which way do we go?" Rainbow Dash asked

"Hmm, I don't know, what do you think? I mean, aren't pegasi supposed to have amazing navigation skills?"

"Yeh, but you can't see the clearing from the sky and after going through the mist, neither me or Fluttershy can tell which way is north and which way is south."

"I-I'm sorry Twilight." Fluttershy mumbled

"Nono, it's ok. So, who thinks we should go left?" Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack put their hooves up, "And who thinks we should go right?" Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Paul put their hooves(and paw) up, "Right, ok, excluding me, it's fifty fifty. Ok, well, how about this, I'll take Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack left, while you three go right. We'll go about, 700 yards, or until we reach the end of the path, then we'll come back. If we encounter any danger we will come back. Does that sound alright?" Everypony agreed, and they all went down their designated paths.

About 500 yards into the trip, Twilight's group came to a cave. The cave was quite roomy and the floor was coated in soft red sand. It was dark in the cave and Twilight had to cast an illumination spell to see where they were going. Engraved into the cave wall(Twilight was getting sick of everything being engraved onto something), was, something. Presumably another prophecy. It was written in Pegalatin, and, unfortunately, it was one of the few pony languages Twilight couldn't understand. But twilight was sure that every pegasus, like every Unicorn learned Unirish and every earth pony learned ancient Equestrian, learned Pegalatin in school. And they happened to have a pegasus right with them.

"Hey, Fluttershy. Can you read this?"

"Oh, umm, I'm sorry Twilight. I can't. I never actually listened in languages class. I'm sorry, was I meant to? I'm sorry, me and Rainbow Dash would just talk throughout the lesson, it never interested us." Everypony else's jaws dropped to the ground.

"A'm sorry Flutters, but, did ya jus' say that ya never listened in class?" Applejack asked

"Y-yes, I'm sorry Applejack." Applejack looked faint, Rarity did faint.

"Great, just great, we need to translate something from Pegalatin and the two ponies who are supposed to know it, don't!"

"Umm, well, actually, Rainbow Dash does know Pegalatin."

"But, you just said that neither of you listened in languages class."

"Yes, but, umm, Rainbow Dash was, umm, like a sponge when she was a filly, she'd pick up stuff even if she wasn't paying attention in lesson, in fact, that was exactly how she learned, by not paying any attention. It was because of this odd way she learned, that she never got told off for sleeping in class. As well as her being the smartest pony in Flight camp." Applejack and Rarity had just recovered from their initial shock and now, their jaws dropped again.

"WHAT!" Rarity fainted again

"Rainbow wus th' smartest pony in Flight camp??!!"

"Oh, umm yes. Please don't tell her I told you that. I promised her I would never tell anypony. She never did like being the 'biggest egghead in the camp', as she would say."

When the group returned, they found that the others had already come back and were waiting for them.

"Did you find anything?" Twilight asked Rainbow Dash

"Yeh, we found the way back to the clearing. It's a different part though, can't see any buildings. Did you find anything?"

"Yeh, we found a cave and we think we found another prophecy, we need you to translate it though."

"Why?"

"Because it's written in Pegalatin."

"Oh. Well, ok, let's go then."

When they got to the cave, Twilight prepared to use her illumination spell again, but, she found that she didn't need to, She was confused at first, the cave had lit up on it's own. Then she followed where the light had come from, what she found shocked her. Rainbow's mane was glowing! Everypony stared at her in confusion for a few seconds before Rainbow got uncomfortable.

"Uhmm, why is everypony staring at me? I mean, I know I'm awesome, but..."

"Your mane" Twilight almost whispered, "It's glowing."

"What? That's not possible. Nopony's mane glows."

"But yours is Dashie! Well, part of it anyway." Pinkie Pie said, bouncing up and down. Rainbow Dash looked at her confused, then put a hoof on her mane. She felt the little crystal feather and pulled it out. Instantly, the entire cave lit up brightly.

"What's that? You didn't tell us you had an awesome crystal torch thingy, Dashie."

"I didn't" Rainbow mumbled, half to herself, then, noticing that everypony else could see it, she hugged it to her chest. The light in the cave dimmed slightly.

"Rainbow, Darling. Where did you get that beautiful crystal?" Rarity asked. Realizing that everypony had seen it, and there was no point in hiding it now, Rainbow Dash stopped hugging it to her chest and clipped it into her mane where everypony could see it. The lighting in the cave brightened again.

"It was a gift from my parents."

"It's simply gorgeous! Look at it! Why in Equestria did you never show this to us before?" Rainbow didn't answer, "Darling?" Rarity was about to say more when Twilight nudged her in the side gently and shook her head.

"Rainbow, can you read the prophecy? It's on the wall just there." Twilight said, pointing to the wall on her left. Rainbow Dash looked at it and nodded.

"Puer autem lux ablata incitati figuris incoepit. Translated to Equestrian, it reads, The child of the light shall disappear, shifting shapes to reappear"

"The child of light?" Twilight asked, "Who's that? And how can anypony be a 'child of light'?" Everypony shrugged, not knowing either.

"Hmm, whoever it is, they must be a shape shifter!" Pinkie said, merrily

"A shape shifter?" Twilight asked

"Yeh! The prophecy says that they will shift shapes. So they must be a shape shifter!

"Of course! Why didn't I see that?" Twilight exclaimed "Do you have any other ideas Pinkie?"

"Well, the next pony to disappear and then reappear must be them!"

"Great! Well, we just need to find out who the child of light is."

"C'n ya really be a child o' light? Ah mean, Ah didn't know that light could have a child." Applejack stated. Twilight mulled this over

"I'm not sure, but we have to find out."

Giant robot ponies

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The group were wandering through the dry-lands again. Everypony was thirsty and dehydrated, but they pushed on. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy scouted the skies for any signs of water, careful not to go to high so they wont lose sight of the dry-lands. Soon, their sharp, eagle-like, pegasus eyes, spotted small stream leading out of the Everfree into the dry lands. There was a bit of grass around the stream, and a few trees. They turned back to inform the others. Who eagerly set off to the stream.

So, after a long drink, they set off again. Following the two pegasi as they now scouted for the castle.

"See anything yet?" Twilight called up to them

"No." Came the faint reply

"Ya'll'd think tha' with th' castle bein' so big, it would be pretty darn easy ta spot, 'specially fer a pegasus." Applejack stated

"Yeh, but Nightmare moon has probably put a special spell on it, like an invisibility spell or an aerial cover." Twilight responded

"Well I think it would be much better if she covered her castle in candy! MMMmmm Candy..." Pinkie drooled

"Darling, while that is a rather good idea, don't you think it's a little impractical?"

"An' a castle made o' fabric aint?"

"Well of course not. My idea is simply divine." Twilight just rolled her eyes and picked Pinkie Pie up with her magic. Then she placed her on Paul's back. Just then, Rainbow Dash, closely followed by Fluttershy, shot down towards them.

"Did you see it?" Twilight asked hopefully

"Nope, but it looks like she sent an awesome, I-I mean a totally not cool giant robot."

"What!?"

"Yeh, It's huge! And moving towards us quickly." Just as she said that, a large figure appeared in the distance. It was getting closer every second.

"Wha- how are we gonna fight that?!"

"Don't worry Twi, I ain't goin anywhere."

"Me neither" Pinkie said

"If ya'll're stayin' then Ah will too." Applejack said

"I suppose I could stay, if you all are." Rarity said, in her 'alright, but you owe me' voice

"Oh, ok, I'll stay too." Fluttershy mumbled

"Raw" Was Paul's reply.

"you guys do know that your attempts are futile, tight?" But Twilight went unheard as the others formed an attack line. "Ughh, fine." Twilight walked into place beside Pinkie Pie and they all took a defensive stance.

When the robot was only a few hundred hooves away, they all charged. Twilight shot a magic blast of fire at the head, but some other magical force absorbed it. "What?" She shot another fire beam at it and the same thing happened. "Hmm, looks like Nightmare moon is taking precautions."

"Yo Twi! Look out!" Rainbow Dash called, knocking Twilight out of her thoughts. Twilight then saw a massive robot hoof being swung at her, she only just had enough time to dodge. She looked up when she was out of the way of the hoof and thought she saw a figure inside one of the eyes.

"Rainbow Dash!" She called "Can you fly me up?"

"Sure!" was the reply and in less than 2 seconds Twilight was being lifted up into the air "Where do you wanna go?"

"I need to see something, take me up to it's eyes." As soon as she looked into the robot ponies red eyes, she saw that she had been right. There was a pony inside the head, controlling the robot. Focusing hard, Twilight reached into the mind of that pony. She saw the battle plans, and she knew what his next move was. Keeping half a mind concentrated on the pony, she quickly told Rainbow Dash to "DUCK!". Rainbow flew downwards on instinct, just missing a hoof that had reached up to the face as if to swat an annoying fly away. "Put me down on the ground Dash! I think I got an idea"

"great! What is it?"

"I'm not sure if it will work, but I need to talk to Applejack."

"You're the boss." Then, Twilight was put back on the ground, next to Applejack

"Howdy Twi. How ya holdin' up?"

"I'm fine, I think I have a plan, but I need your portal power."

"Mah portal power? why? Ya know ah don't like usin' it."

"I know Applejack, but this might be the only chance we have at stopping the robot and getting away."

"Ok Twi. Ah trust ya."

"Good, can you make a portal big enough to fit at least one of the robot's hooves into?"

"Tha's pretty big, but ah c'n try. Wher d'ya wann'it sent ta?"

"Anywhere in the Everfree."

"An' where d'ya wan' me ta put the portal?" Twilight thought for a second, she was reading the robot's 'mind' to see where it was going to put it's hoof.

"Right here." She said, shooting a small magical blast somewhere on the ground. She was careful not to let the magic go too close to the robot.

"Alright." Applejack began staring where Twilight had pointed. She saw the air around the point ripple and a tiny tear opened up. Then, it began to get bigger and bigger. It was about half the size of the robot's hoof and it was starting to slow down it's growth spurt. The hoof was getting closer now, if the portal didn't quicken it's pace, then it won't to anything. So Applejack put one last push into her focus and the portal shot open even wider, just as the robot put its hoof down, and fell into it. The robot stumbled, but didn't trip over, it started to pull it's hoof out, and Applejack quickly started to close it, but it stopped when it met the metal hoof.

"Applejack! It worked! Now, can you get us a portal to safety? That robot will eventually pull free and we won't have enough time then!"

"Ughh *pant* Okay." Applejack finally said, trying to recover from focusing so hard. Then she stared at a single spot and once again, the air around it rippled, before a tear started to form. On the other side, was Nightmare moon's castle. They were heading right outside it. The portal was slowly opening, Applejack was clearly exhausted, but she pushed on nonetheless. The others were starting to join them now, realizing what was going on. Only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stayed at the robot, hoping to distract it long enough for Applejack to open the portal. As soon as the portal was open, the robot managed to yank it's hoof free of the other one. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew over to the portal as fast as they could, with the others already filing through. Suddenly, Fluttershy flapped her wings out of sync, just a tiny bit and she fell to the ground. The robot saw this and immediately took action. It moved it's hoof over Fluttershy, to stomp on her, but Rainbow Dash pushed her away just in time, taking Fluttershy's place and disappearing underneath the gigantic hoof. Everypony screamed and Paul jumped out of the portal and ran over to the hoof, which was being lifted up. Fluttershy was frozen in shock. Tears streamed down her face. Her best friend, her only friend in flight camp, had just died. Something was odd though. Nopony but Paul noticed it, when the hoof was removed from the ground, there was no flat pegasus, no pancake. Nor were there any signs that anypony had been squashed. Paul didn't know what to do, the only pony, other than Pinkie Pie, that he had actually become friends with, was now gone. The only pony who could talk to him and understand him in both her own and his language, was dead. He felt himself being picked up by something, he assumed it was Twilight using her magic, and he saw the hoof smash down again, where he had stood moments before. He felt himself being pulled into the portal, and he watched it close. Shutting on one of the two most important ponies in his life, forever.

Chapter 34

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"I c-can't b-b-beleiv-ve Dash-shie's gone." Pinkie choked out. Her mane was flat and she was bawling her eyes out. Applejack sat next to her, patting her on the back. Rarity sat opposite, gently rubbing Fluttershy's back, and Twilight sat next to Rarity, calming Paul.

"I-it's all. my. fault!" Fluttershy sobbed "If I hadn't been so careless and lost track o-of my f-flying, then Rainbow w-wouldn't b-be g-g-one!"

"Shh Fluttershy dear, it was nopony's fault, Rainbow gave her life to save you. Though I do think that Applejack could have created a portal to here before, it would have saved so much time, and Rainbow Dash."

"Oh, so now yer pinnin' th' blame on me. Ah thought ya said yer weren' blamin' anypony."

"Well if you had made the portal sooner."

"It takes a lot o' energy ta create a portal. An' anyway, ahm still new ta this portal thing. It ain't mah fault."

"Well maybe if you had at least tried."

"Girls! It's nopony's fault. Stop arguing. Yes, Rainbow is gone, but we can't dwell on that now. She wouldn't want us to. She would want us to continue our mission and save Equestria from Nightmare moon." Fluttershy shouted, having stopped crying.

"Yeh, yer right Flutters, sorry Rares."

"I'm sorry too Applejack." Rarity replied, stiffly.

"Alright girls, and Paul. We need to get moving. We can morn for Dash later. Right now, we need to stop Nightmare moon." Twilight said, getting up.

"Twi's right. We gotta save dem fillies. Though how we're gonna tell Scootaloo 'bout wut happened..."

"We'll get to that when it comes. Come on guys, we have to get going, otherwise Nightmare moon will become too strong for us to handle."

"B-but how are we going to defeat her? Without Dashie, we can't use the elements." Pinkie said. That burst Twilight's bubble.

"Oh no... What are we going to do?"

"Way ta go Pinkie"

"What? Somepony had to say it."

"This is bad, this is really, really bad."

"Well, ya could have put it on 'er gently"

"How was I supposed to do that?"

"I must agree with Applejack, you could have said something a bit more...refined." Rarity added

"what are we gonna do? We'll have to find a replacement..."

"Oh, so now you're against me as well? What did you say? Were you the one to realize that we couldn't use the elements without Dashie?"

"Ocubutchku. Don't accuse me of being so crude, that I'd forget about Rainbow Dash."

"Nopony could forgit Rainbow, what with all her boastin' an all. Darn gal wus always gittin' inta trouble."

"....We'll have to find somepony to take her element. But what if the element doesn't take somepony else? Oh we're totally screwed. Please Princess, come back! Help me!..."

"You're all remembering Dashie for the wrong reasons. Yes, she was a bit arrogant, but what she said was true! And often, she'd be better than what she said!"

"That gal wus always slackin' off. Always, 'Ah'll do it in a second' er 'Ah'll be there in a snap' an then' she'd neva do it! She'd always fergit er lose track o' th' time!"

"Or nap. I don't see how anypony but foals could nap that long. It's almost as if she is a foal."

"..create a magical Rainbow Dash,or revive her, maybe we cou..."

"Dashie did a lot of work! Cloud busting really takes it out of you! And I should know! I helped her one time!"

"I don't even know how you could help her, you're just an Earth pony, not a pegasus. You can't touch the clouds, let alone clear them."

"Whut's 'just an Earth pony' supposed ta mean?"

"Nothing other than only pegasi can touch clouds. And even if cloud busting does take a lot out of you, Rainbow Dash can have the sky cleared in '10 seconds flat' as she would say, and then be perfectly fine."

"Dashie is always practicing to become a wonderbolt! Or helping us! She always has time to spend with me!"

"She's never helped me before! Every single time I've asked her, she's always said that's she's too busy."

"Well you always ask at the most awkward times for her, like when a storm is going on and she has to fix it!"

"she never has any time fer me either! Always nappin' on mah trees, but never helpin'!"

"...I could wield her element, maybe by using it, it will bring..."

"Oh yeh! Well when was the last time you helped her?"

"Ah helped her not to long ago. When she needed a place ta crash 'cause she got caught out in tha' storm. Ah don't see her lettin' me stay at hers"

"She lives in the clouds Applejack, you can't stay at hers even if she offered."

"mah point still stands."

"Girls" Fluttershy said, she was standing next to Paul, and they had both been watching the argument, as well as Twilight's pacing.

"...yes, that makes perfect sense..."

"Dashie's still our friend."

"One tha' don' seem ta care fer anypony but herself"

"Hey! Dashie gave her life to save Fluttershy!"

"Ah would'a done it!"

"But you didn't!"

"Girls." Fluttershy said louder

"...Spike will do, he can..."

"Ah was gonna, but unfortunately ah wus holdin' th' portal."

"You could have opened it again after helping Fluttershy"

"How wus ah gonna do tha' if'ah wus all squished like a hedgehog under'a carriage."

"So you only care about whether or not you live? And nopony else? Rainbow gave her life. She didn't care if she was hurt-"

"Girls."

"-She just cared about Fluttershy's well being."

"No, she probably just wanted all the fame and glory. You know how she's always bragging about being the best. It wouldn't surprise me."

"...fect, now I just need to...

"What fame and glory was she going to get!? She's DEA-"

"GIRLS! STOP IT! CALM DOWN!" Fluttershy's voice bellowed "Rainbow is one of the best friends ever! She's the element of LOYALTY for Celestia's sake! Applejack, I have no idea what's going on inside your head but you need to sort it out because you, of all ponies, should know how hard working Rainbow Dash actually is. You are the element of honesty on top of that, so that makes you doubly qualified to know that. Rarity, Rainbow Dash may not have helped you much before, but how well did you actually know her before all of this? Pinkie, I know you're defending Rainbow Dash, and you are right, but, like everypony else, you need to calm down. Rainbow is the element of loyalty, she will come back. Her spirit lives on with us, the elements don't have to inhabit a physical body, all they need is for that element to be present. If we show loyalty towards each other, then it will still work. Twilight, that goes for you too. Stop. Panicking." Everypony looked at Fluttershy in shock, "Umm, I mean, if that's okay with you..."

Celestia's second prophecy-complete

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"That song was...amazing." The stallion said

"YAY!" Swetie Belle cheered.

"You have a true talent for singing little one." He told Sweetie Belle

"Umm, thank you. But I bet that you can sing well too."

"Naw, not really. Can't even sing a lullaby."

"Oh, well, you have a talent for, umm, dream walking." Sweetie Belle replied. The stallion laughed

"Of course I do. It's my talent, and how I got my cutie mark."

"EXACTLY!" Scootaloo suddenly exclaimed, making everypony else jump

"What?" Applebloom asked

"Mr, what's your name?"

"Uh, Night Walker."

"Well Mr Night Walker, originally, you said that you had to follow Nightmare moon because your cutie mark said so. Then you told us how you got your cutie mark."

"And"

"Well, even after explaining that getting your cutie mark had nothing to do with Princess Luna or Nightmare moon, you continued to believe that you should follow her. But now, you have just stated that your talent is dream walking. Not following Nightmare moon. On top of that, you stated that dream walking was how you got your cutie mark."

"So?"

"So, just then, you didn't say your talent had anything to do with following Nightmare moon or Princess Luna. And since nopony can have two talents...." Scootaloo started

"Yer only talent is dream walkin'! Yer got no talent in followin' Nightmare moon!" Applebloom continued

"And because you didn't say it, then you yourself don't believe that your talent is following Nightmare moon! You just do so because you are scared." Sweetie Belle finished.

"...you know. I think you fillies are right. I don't have a talent in following Nightmare moon. Why should I? Nothing, not even my cutie mark, can tell me what to do."

"A cutie mark shows you, not who you are, only what your talent is." Scootaloo said

"Yeh. Wait, what do you mean? My cutie mark tells me my talent, and my talent is who I am..."

"Not really. Hmm, how do I say this without sounding like an egghead. Or a sapster. No, I can't. Anyway, if my cutie mark was, I don't know, to do with mane dressing, then, should I be a mane dresser?"

"...yes?"

"I don't like mane dressing, I want to be an amazing flyer! Even if I can't fly yet. So, if I had a talent in mane dressing, does that mean I should give up on my dream to do what my cutie mark says?"

"..Nnnno... you shouldn't give up on your dreams. That's what my father always told me."

"Exactly. Your dreams define you, what you like, defines you. What you do, defines you. Most importantly, your cutie mark, doesn't. It shows what your really good at. But it doesn't tell you what you like, or what you should like. It can't tell you what to do either."

"An' some cutie marks are similar ta others! Like, mah sister's cutie mark and mah brother's cutie mark are both apples! But tha' don' mean they have'ta agree on everythin'."

"So, my cutie mark, can only guide me? Even if it was something I didn't like, then, it could only point me down the right path? I just have to look a little deeper, and find the true meaning. Yes! That's it! Just because my cutie mark looks like Nightmare moon's, doesn't mean that I'm destined to follow her! I create my own path! If I disagree with somepony, then I should say so! Not follow them because I'm scared. Nightmare moon must be stopped! And I swear by Celestia's light, that I will have some part to play in that!" Night Walker exclaimed, and with that, he took out the key from a small pocket in his armor and unlocked the cell door, "Come on fillies! This is a break out!"

--
"Right, so, we infiltrate through the back window, find our way to Nightmare moon and ambush her. Then we use the elements on her, I'll activate Rainbow's element. Once we have imprisoned her in the moon again-" Twilight started to explain

"Or sucked out all of the evil in her!" Pinkie Pie added

"-*sigh*Or sucked out all of the evil in her, then we will rescue the crusaders."

"Twilight?"

"Yes Rarity?"

"I thought you wanted to find out what all of these prophecies were before we went to defeat Nightmare moon."

"Yeh! And don't we all need to have activated our elements at least once? I mean, when Rainbow gave her life, her element glowed softly, and its happened a few other times before with some of the other elements."

"Yes, I do want to figure out what the prophecies are but-wait. Pinkie, what did you just say?"

"I said, quote 'Yeh! And don't we all need to have activated our elements at least once? I mean, when Rainbow gave her life, her element glowed softly, and its happened a few other times before with some of the other elements' end quote. But, I'm not sure which elements glowed, Dashie's did, and I think mine probably went off at some point, but I'm not sure."

"..." Suddenly, Twilight felt herself being overcome with a surge of magic and she was dragged into her mind. She recognized where she was. She was in the 'cave' of her mind. Where she had discovered what the first prophecy meant. Her voice, her thoughts surged into her mind

'The elements need to be activated. We may have received them, but everypony has yet to show that they actually do represent those elements. Like Rainbow did. Applejack needs to show true honesty, Rarity needs to show true generosity, Fluttershy needs to show true kindness, Pinkie Pie needs to show true laughter and I need to show tr-" She was interrupted by Pinkie's voice

'Twilight, you have used the word 'true' four times now, use another word! Or else it just gets boring!'

'-right, then I need to show real magic. How do I show real magic? Don't I do that already?' After that last thought, she was dragged out of her thoughts and back into the real world. Her friends were looking at her expectantly

"Pinkie, how did you get into my thoughts?"

"Oh, it wasn't me, silly. You thought that, but you thought of me saying it so because you don't talk to yourself."

"...what? Never mind. Shoot. We do need to have activated the elements before we can use them. Okay, new plan. So, we infiltrate through-"

"Twilight, darling, wouldn't it be better if Applejack here created a portal for us to use? That way, we don't have to worry about getting caught on our way there." Rarity suggested,

"But ah can't use mah portal powers well."

"Then it will be good to practice. That is a good idea Rarity, we'll use it. Come on Applejack, we have to try. And anyway, if you don't practice in situations like this, then it will be harder for when another situation like this comes up." Applejack still looked unsure, "Come on, just try thinking of the crusaders." Applejack finally gave in

"Alright, but don' blame me when thing go wrong."

"IF things go wrong! IF!" Pinkie corrected.

---

"YAY" The three fillies shouted and they tried to move towards each other for a hoof bump. But they were too far apart, and the chains were too short.

"Hang on." Night Walker said, and he trotted over to undo their chains. When, they were unchained, they jumped in the air and clapped their hooves together in a three way hoof bump. But, instead of their hooves connecting and instantly falling apart to end the hoof bump, so that they could fall to the ground again, bright lights began to swirl around them. Each one the colour of their manes. Applebloom had a red glow, Sweetie Belle, a light purple and Scootaloo had a red-ish purple. Then a white light flashed off of them and they slowly dropped to the ground, as if they were being placed there. Night Walker watched with awe. He had never seen something so amazing. When the light subsided, he saw that the fillies had a cutie mark each. And a necklace. The most intriguing thing was that, their cutie marks, were the same, except for the small emblem in the middle.

"What happened?" The fillies asked in sync

"Woah. Your cutie marks! They're amazing!"

"What?" Applebloom said and then turned to her flank, "Oh mah gosh! Mah cutie mark! An yers too! look! We all got th' same cutie mark!"

"Sweet Celestia! We totally did!" Scootaloo exclaimed

"Best day ever!" Sweetie Belle joined in "And, OMG! Look! We got our elements!"

"YES! THIS IS AMAZING!"

"Keep it down! We don't want to alert the guards." Night Walker said, wincing at the volume

"Right, sorry. But this is just too cool! I can't wait to impress Rainbow Dash!"

"An' Applejack!"

"And Rarity!"

"Right, we gotta go."

"But how are we going to get out?" Scootaloo asked, as if on cue, a portal opened up, directly in front of them. And in stepped Twilight Sparkle.

"TWILIGHT!" The fillies cried

"How did you get here?" Sweetie Belle asked

"Applejack opened a portal, come on. We have to go. Quickly."

"Wait. Can Night Walker come too?"

"Night Walker? Who's that?"

"He's a new friend o' ours! Ain't that right?" Applebloom said, nodding in the direction of a pegasus stallion, dressed in armor.

"No! He's one of Nightmare moon's guards. Don't alert him!"

"But, he was helpin' us escape before you came. Look, he even undid our chains." Applebloom held up her hooves to prove her point.

"And if it weren't for him, we would never have gotten our cutie marks!" Scootaloo added, cheerfully.

"And our elements!" Sweetie Belle said. Twilight stared at them

"Y-you, got your elements?" They nodded "And your cutie marks?" They nodded again "And it was because of him?"

"Well, sorta, you see-" Scootaloo was cut of by the sound of whistling. Instantly Night Walker was behind them, pushing them into the portal.

"We have to go. Now! The next guard is coming! Hurry!" Twilight followed his orders instantly, not even arguing the fact that he worked for Nightmare moon. As soon as they were through, Applejack closed the portal. Leaving an empty cell and a confused guard.

Chapter 36

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The five mares, three fillies, one stallion and one timberwolf were sitting in a circle in the forest, they had managed to escape to the forest without being seen.

"Sooo, who are you?" Twilight asked Night Walker

"I am Night Walker. I was previously working for Nightmare moon, but thanks to these three fillies, I am now going to help you defeat her. With that being said, I never got your names." He turned to the fillies

I'm Applebloom! Applejack's mah big sis!"

"I'm Scootaloo! The most awesome pony to exist, well behind Rainbow Dash" She did not notice the five mares and one timberwolf flinch at the mention of the Rainbow maned pegasus

"And I'm Sweetie Belle! I'm Rarity's little sister!"

"Right. thank you, for showing me the truth about my cutie mark, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Now, who are you five? And, who is, the t-timberwolf?"

"I'm Twil-"

"HI I'M PINKIE PIE! NICE TO MEET YOU!" A bouncing pink mare shouted as she invaded his vision. "These are my friends, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity AAAAnnd, PAUL!" Pinkie shouted as she pointed to each friend in turn.

"PINKIE! Calm down!" Twilight shouted

"Hehe, sorry Twi. I'm just sooooo excited to meet somepony new!"

"Of course you are."

"Umm, Twilight? Where's Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked, as soon as she did, everypony went silent, and Pinkie's mane deflated a bit. "Guys? W-what happened?" Scootaloo was getting worried now, she had no idea what was going on, but she feared that it would be bad. Night Walker caught on instantly

"T-this, Rainbow Dash, s-she's gone. Hasn't she?" He asked "As in, gone, gone." The five mares and single timberwolf nodded their heads, slowly.

"W-what! No! That can't be possible! Rainbow can't be gone! Tell me that isn't true! Twilight! Please tell me that isn't true!" Scootaloo pleaded, but everyone else was silent, they didn't know what to say. "NO! I-I refuse to believe that she's gone! She would never leave me hanging! She's my awesome amazing big sister! She's the only family that I have! She-she c-can't b-be..." Scootaloo trailed off, tears in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry Scootaloo. S-she, there was nothing we could do. She gave her life to save me. She went bravely, like a hero. The hero you always made her." Fluttershy said, gently.

"B-but, she-she promised, t-that sh-she'd never l-leave me!" Scootaloo wailed. Paul walked up to her and started to nuzzle her. He whined slightly, as if he were saying sorry.

"S-scoots," Applebloom began, but Scootaloo was taken over by a fit of anger

"NO! I-I-I, SHE CAN'T BE GONE! I-YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Scootaloo shouted, rounding on the five mares, "I BET YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO CHECK! SHE'S PROBABLY OUT THERE, HURT! BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T STOP TO HELP! MAYBE SHE EVEN SURVIVED! MAYBE SHE'S OUT THERE WONDERING WHERE YOU GUYS HAVE GONE!"

"Scootaloo, calm down!" Applebloom said desperately

"NO! SHE-SHE-She-she-she-, she can't be gone..." Scootaloo started to weep, all the anger had subsided and tears were pouring down her face.

"Scootaloo. It's not their fault. Fluttershy said that Rainbow Dash went bravely. Come on. I'm sure that Rainbow Dash would be proud of you. No matter what. Even if she is gone, she'll always be with you." Sweetie Belle told her friend "In here." she finished, pointing at Scootaloo's chest. Just like that, Scootaloo felt much better. A glimmer of hope shone through her heart and she knew that Sweetie Belle was right. Even if Rainbow dash was gone physically, Scootaloo still had the memories of her, she just had to hold on to them. Sweetie Belle offered her a hoof to help her get up, which she accepted.

"You're right Sweetie Belle, thank you." Scootaloo said softly, then, she noticed that, the necklace around Sweetie Belle's neck, was glowing a soft purple. "Hey, Sweetie Belle, your element!"

"What?" Sweetie Belle looked down at her chest. "It's glowing!"

"What's glowing?" Twilight suddenly asked

"Sweetie Belle's element! Well, it's fading now, but it was glowing!"

"Let me see." Twilight said, them she moved over to inspect it. It was in the shape of a musical note. A quaver. It was a light purple and a faint glow radiated from it. Within the next few seconds, the glow had gone. "Hmmm, interesting."

"See, I told you Twilight." Pinkie Pie suddenly said

"Told me what?"

"That the elements glow when they are activated. Sweetie Belle just activated hers!"

"Hmm. You're right. But, which element does she she represent?"

"I dunno. Sweetie Belle, which element are you?"

"Umm. I'm not sure..." Sweetie Belle answered "Scootaloo? Applebloom?"

"We're not sure either." Scootaloo responded. Then, Twilight remembered something. Back in the castle, when she and her friends had gotten their elements, two prophecies had been told to her. The first, was 'The youngest will perform a sonic blast, bringing the six together for harmony at last' and the second 'Talents for showing others talents, these three shall become hope, chance and courage'

"How did you three get your cutie marks?" Twilight asked

"Well, when we were in the dungeon, Night Walker, came in. He was taking the position of another guard. We started to talk to him about his cutie mark, because we wanted to see if we could get inspiration from his story." Sweetie Belle began

"Then, when he told us, he said that it was his destiny to follow Nightmare moon, just because the moon on his flank is the same as the moon on her flank." Scootaloo continued

"So, we told 'im tha' his cutie mark don't tell 'im whut he's suppos'ta do, but whut he's good at, an' tha' he shouldn't be followin' Nightmare moon jus' 'cause o' his cutie mark." Applebloom added

"So then we explained further and he finally started to believe us. Then he unchained us. When we hoof bumped, these bright lights swirled around us, and once they had finished, we had these beauties!" Scootaloo finished, showing off her new cutie mark.

"don't fergit the elements." Applebloom said.

"I see..." Twilight murmured to herself "Well, hmmm. Scootaloo." She said, addressing the filly "What did Sweetie Belle give you?"

"Wha- she didn't give me anything....not really. I suppose, she gave me encouragement. Made me believe that Rainbow Dash was still there. Why do you need to know that? You were there." Scootaloo responded curiously

"I'm trying to figure out which element Sweetie Belle is. Encouragement...that's not one of the elements, hmm which one is it most like? Hope, chance or courage?"

"Courage?" Applebloom suggested "Ah mean, encourage has courage init. So... An' she gave Scoot's courage..."

"Courage to do what exactly? It took more courage for me to actually break down in front of you guys." Scootaloo asked

"Well, she gave ya courage... ta... believe tha' Rainbow is still with ya."

"I don't need courage to believe she is still with me. If anything, she gave me hope."

"Yeh bu- tha', probably works better. Don't it?" Applebloom paused "Twilight!" She called to the purple unicorn

"What?" Twilight looked up, a bit startled

"Ah think-" Scootaloo jabbed Applebloom in the arm "-ow, okay. We think, tha' Sweetie Belle is tha' element o' hope. 'Cause she gave Scoot's hope." Instantly, Twilight's eyes lit up

"That's it! YESYESYESYES! That leaves courage and chance to be you two! But, which one is which? Hmmm."

"I bet I'm courage! That's sounds totally cool. And definitely something that Rainbow Dash would be." Scootaloo exclaimed

"Well ah don't mind which one ah am. Ah think it's 'totally cool' tha' we're actually elements." Applebloom added

"I'm in agreement with Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle stated "After all, she is Ponyville's second daredevil."

"Tha' leaves me ta be chance! Wait, are any o' them listenin?" Applebloom gestured to the five mares, one stallion and one timberwolf

"Doesn't look like it. They're too interested in watching Twilight pace about, creating a ditch in the ground." Sweetie Belle observed

"But we're, like, right next to them." Complained Scootaloo. They saw Applejack yawn, then heard her suggest that they all hit the haystack. Her suggestion was met by a chorus of agreement and so, half an hour later, everypony was tucked in, into their sleeping bags. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shared a sleeping bag with their sisters while Scootaloo slept with Fluttershy. Night Walker had been offered Rainbow Dash's sleeping bag, but it was too small and he ended up sleeping with Paul curled around him to keep him warm.

The maze

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Nightmare moon screamed at the wall. Her three prisoners had escaped and one of her guards had betrayed her. Albeit, he was inexperienced and a pushover, but her guard was small enough as it was, there was no room to lose anyone. On top of that, those three useless fillies were even more useless now that they had found their elements. 'Pathetic fillies, can't follow simple instructions' She thought. 'Well, at least I can't be defeated. Their precious element of loyalty is gone. Crushed under my hoof, like a fly.' At that point, a fly flew around her face before settling itself on the wall, and to emphasize her point, she slammed her hoof onto it, squishing it against the wall. Unfortunately, for Nightmare moon, fly's seem to have a sixth sense, and always know when they're about to get crushed. So, this fly, unscathed by the attempt on it's life, decided to sit itself on it's attackers nose, eliciting a scream of annoyance from her.

---

"Twilight?" Pinkie Pie said

"Yes Pinkie?" Twilight replied

"Where are we going?"

"To see if we can activate the elements."

"I know that, but, where?"

"Anywhere. Just, somewhere that will cause somepony to activate their element."

"Don't we need a scenario for that?"

"Yes, so we're going to find one."

"You know Twilight. This is getting dull for everyone."

"What?"

"I mean, we're doing the same thing over and over. Wandering through the forest, waiting for something to just happen."

"What else are we supposed to do?"

"Don't ask me. I'm not the one who controls what goes on in our world. Why don't you ask the almighty creator?" Twilight just rolled her eyes and ignored her pink friend's antics.

A few days passed, during which, nothing happened. No beasts jumped out at them, no guards came, Nightmare moon didn't try to take over Equestria again and none of the remaining elements had been activated.

"Ughhhh! Why isn't anything happening???" Twilight screamed, she was on her back, looking at the trees "Why is Nightmare moon waiting??? She has already gained enough power to take on Princess Cadence!!!"

"You want her to attack Princess Cadence?" Pinkie Pie's voice came from her right

"N-no, but, Nightmare moon should be strong enough by now, so, why is she wasting her time playing with us? What's her plan?"

"Maybe, she's doing just that." Pinkie Pie suggested

"Huh?"

"Toying with us." Twilight turned her head to look at Pinkie Pie, her mane had deflated, she was sitting still and she wasn't smiling.

"Pinkie, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Twi, I just, I-I miss Dashie." A tear threatened to roll down her cheek, "She was my bestist friend. She'd always help me, no matter what. A-and now, she's gone. Everything's so dull without her, both in the metaphorical sense and the literal sense." Pinkie cracked a small smile at her own joke, "Nightmare moon took her from us, a-and now, she's playing with us, rubbing her victory in our faces. She's holding back to make us feel like we're ok. But in reality, we're not." Pinkie sniffed, and shed a few tears.

"I'ts okay, Pinkie. We all miss Rainbow Dash. When all this is over, you can throw a party in honor of her, okay?" Twilight said, Pinkie smiled

"Yeh, Dashie would love that."

"And you can make it as colourful as she was."

"Yeh! Thanks Twilight."

"Thank me? I should be the one thanking you."

"Why?"

"Because you gave me the answer I was looking for."

"What's that?"

"That this is all just a game, and all we need to do is play along with it. She probably thinks that we can't use the elements now that Rainbow is gone, so she wont just go now, with her mall army. She'll build it up, thinking that we can't stop her, but, then, BAM! She wont know what hit her."

"Hehehe, You're beginning to sound a bit like me."

"Heh, yeh. Come on, we better get some sleep like the others. I'll wake up Fluttershy, it's her turn to keep watch."

Sometime the next day, after having repeated their usual routine, they finally found something interesting. A maze. At first, they tried to go around it, not wanting to get lost, but they soon found that the wall didn't end, it just kept going. It was like being back in the dream dome. They all headed back to the entrance and Rarity, as usual, found something 'simply dreadful' about the design, which lead to Twilight finding some instructions for the maze.
The instructions read-

Dear whomever finds this wonderful maze,
This challenge shall determine who can pass through to continue their path, and who will suffer here forever.
But, this is no ordinary maze, and as such, there are no ordinary rules,
1.NO CLIMBING OVER THE WALLS! This will automatically mean you fail and you will spend the rest of your eternity, and anypony else's whom you enter with, here, never able to leave.
2.NO MAGIC OR WINGS! Any creature with magical abilities or wings will have these things removed as you enter.
3.That includes you Applejack.
4.TO COMPLETE THE MAZE, YOU MUST FIND THE CENTER, PICK UP THE BLUE ORB AND TAKE IT WITH YOU TO THE END. Failure to do so will doom your existence to this maze.
5.NO TAKING THESE INSTRUCTIONS WITH YOU. Don't even try.
6.AT THE END, TO FULLY ESCAPE, YOU SAY THE NAME OF WHO CREATED THIS MAZE OUT LOUD, ALTOGETHER, 10 TIMES. Here's a hint, I am chaos.
7.Oh, and, watch out for the flying pigs.

"Flying Pigs? What's that gotta do with a maze?" Applejack asked

"And how did they know that you have super powers Applejack? Did you tell them? Are you secretly a spy, working for the enemy?" Pinkie Pie bombarded her with questions

"No, Ah ain't" Applejack said with an annoyed sigh

"Umm, how are we going to get through the maze Twilight?" Fluttershy asked

"Just like any other maze, but, without our magic, or wings."

"Like an Earth pony would darling. They don't need any magic to do things with style, so why should we?" Rarity said

"Why is everythin' all 'bout fashion with ya Rarity?"

"It doesn't hurt to look good sometimes."

"Yeh, Ah think we both hold differin' opinions on the definition o' sometimes."

"Rarity's right girls, and Paul.-" Twilight said, before Rarity could retort

"Umm, I'm a guy." Night Waker started to say, but was ignored

"-And, anyway Fluttershy, you're a pegasus, so, even without your wings, you would still have the best sense of direction out of us all."

"O-okay Twilight."

"Right girls, and Paul, and Night Walker, are we ready for this?" Twilight asked

"Darn Tootin'!"

"Of course!"

"YEPEROONIE!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS-READY!"

"Umm, not really, if that's okay, but if you want me to be, then, that's okay as well"

"Raw"

"D-do I have to have a special word that I shout whenever I'm ready? O-or what?"

"Then let's do this!" Twilight yelled and everypony, and timberwolf stomped one hoof/paw into the maze at the exact same time.

Unfortunately, the maze seemed to have a life of it's own, and separated the friends with walls. Everypony screamed. Paul howled.

"OK Guys! Calm down! We can get through this on our own. Right?" Twilight asked after most of the screaming had calmed down. When everyone gave their approval, Twilight said "Right, we'll all meet in the middle, and continue from there, we won't go anywhere, unless everyone makes it to the middle, okay?"

"Sound's like a plan ta me!" Applejack stated before galloping off, the others quickly followed suit, finding their own paths to travel along.

The maze, part 2

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Twilight galloped through the winding paths of the maze, desperately trying to find the center. What felt like days had passed since entering, though she wasn't sure, as the sun had stayed in the exact same position the entire time. Each pathway looked the same, every wall showing the exact same details. If she were Rarity, she might have been able to pick out the tiniest differences, but Twilight wasn't Rarity, and she couldn't pick out the tiniest differences if there were any. She rounded another corner, but, like every other path she had tried, it was a dead end. She groaned in frustration.

"UGHHH! Why is this maze so hard?" She stomped around in circles several times to vent out her anger, before deciding to slam her face into the wall instead, "EV, ER, Y, PATH, IS, A, DEAD, END!" She yelled, hitting the wall with her head to punctuate each syllable. Just then, as her sore muzzle was resting on the concrete wall, she thought she felt it begin to shift. She jerked her head up and stared at the wall hopefully. Fortunately, luck was on her side and the wall, began to crumble before her. After it fell away, she found herself in yet another passage, but the walls of this one, were made from hedges, instead of concrete. A very startled looking Fluttershy was also there.

"T-Twilight?" Fluttershy stuttered

"Oh, hey Fluttershy! Am I glad to see you." Twilight said.

"Not as glad as I am to see you!" Fluttershy almost shouted and launched herself onto Twilight, locking her in a vice like grip, "I don't know how much more of this maze I can take! There were flying vampire pigs a-and Bunny ghosts and a really ugly, scary face!"

'MY FACE IS NOT UGLY!' Shouted a voice from nowhere.

"EEP!" Fluttershy screamed and dove behind Twilight "S-s-s-sor-rry m-m-mr scar-r-ry v-voice." she whispered.

---
Luckily for the CMC, they were kept together when the walls built up between everypony. They looked at each other, all three of them were earth ponies. Scootaloo had lost her wings, and Sweetie Belle had lost her horn.

"Ah guess th' instructions weren't jokin' then. Wonder wha' sorta magic stuff it's got ta do all o' this." Applebloom wondered

"I bet it's an Evil villain that we'll have to defeat with our elements! We can send them packing!" Scootaloo said

"Yeh! And maybe we'll be using our elements." Added Sweetie Belle.

"Well, lets get ta th' middle so we c'n git outa here." Applebloom said, before running off "Come on!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other briefly before charging after their friend.

The CMC ran down hundreds of paths, each one twisting to a dead end. Everywhere looked the same and even Scootaloo, with her natural pegasus senses, found it hard to determine where they were going, she was pretty sure that they had gone down that tunnel several times already, but now Applebloom was urging them to go down that same path.

"Come on gals! Ah'm sure we ain't gone down this 'un yet." She said, slightly nervously

"Ughh, Applebloom, I think we've gone down that one, like, twenty times already." Scootaloo said

"No we ain't! Look, there's two weird shaped bushes at th' entrance, an' they havn't been on any o' the tunnels we've gone through."

"The more I think about this place, the more I think it's playing tricks on us." Scootaloo sighed

"Yeh, this place gives me the creeps." Sweetie Belle agreed

"Well, hurry up gals! We ain't gonna get nowhere if we're jus' sittin' here doin' nothin'"

"Fine, we'll go down that tunnel, but then we're trying that one." Scootaloo said, pointing at a narrow passage-way opposite the way they we're facing.

"Alrighty! Let's go!"

---
Applejack was staring at Pinkie Pie, the pink party pony was jumping up and down with joy upon finding Applejack. Applejack wasn't sure why, they hadn't been in the maze that long. Had they?

"Oh Applejack, I'm soooo happy to see you! When we were first trapped I was all like 'AGHHHHH!' And then Twilight calmed us down, and we all ran down the paths and then I came across this huge clearing with a massive creepy-scary statue in the middle of it and I was all like 'AGHHH!' again and I ran off and then I got caught in th-"

"Hold on there Pinkie Pie. Did ya say that ya found a clearin' with a big statue init?"

"Yup. Well, technically, I said 'a massive creepy-scary statue' But you're close enough."

"An' ya didn't think ta look fer a big blue orb thingie?"

"No, It was scary and It looked like it was going to eat me!"

"How long 'ave we bin in 'ere?" Applejack asked,

"Well," Pinkie said, pulling out a watch from nowhere "It was 12:30 when we entered and the sun has stayed in exactly the same position, but my watch says that it is now 19:03, or three minutes past seven O' clock."

"We've bin in 'ere seven 'ours!?"

"Umm, maybe, I don't know, my watch has been going kinda fast then kinda slow, so, we might have only been in here for three hours."

"Ughh. Pinkie! Ya shoulda looked fer th' blue orb thing!"

"OOOOooohhhhh, so that's what Twilight was talking about."

"What? Ya mean..wh- Aghh! Pinkie! Ah give up. Can't git a lick o' sense out o' ya."

"Hehehe. Silly Applejack."

"Jus' show me where th' statue is."

---

"Ewewewewewwwwww! My hooves are covered in mud!" Whined Rarity, "This isn't fair. I've been wandering round this dastardly place for hours and the only thing of mild interest that I've come across is these flying pigs." She gestured to the mud pit in which several winged pigs were rolling about.

"Oink." Was the only response she received

"Oh, now look! I'm talking to myself like some sort of, of, lunatic!"

"Oink."

"Oh just be quiet. I am currently in the middle of a crisis. Just look at me! I'm covered in mud!"

'Priorities Rarity...' A voice said from nowhere

"Who said that?"

'Oh, nopony in particular...'

"What do you mean?"

'I mean, you shouldn't be concerned with me right now... I'm the least of your worries...'

"The least of my worries? I'm stuck in this endless maze, covered in mud, I'm talking to myself and now I'm hearing voices! And somehow, going crazy is the least of my worries??? I'll admit, being coated in dirt is a big issue, but how am I supposed to deal with it if I'm not even in the..the right state of mind." Rarity shouted, to which, she received no answer "Hello?...Oh good, I'm not hearing voices anymore." She wiped her brow and turned around, only to be ambushed by the flying pigs, "AGHHHHHHH! HELP! SOMEPONY! ANYPONY!" Five flying pigs were surrounding her now, one above her, one behind her, one on either side of her and the fifth trying to block her path in front of her. "AGHHH! ST-STOP YOU-YOU RUFFIANS!" The pigs ignored her and instead, decided to attack.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
---

'AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' A scream sounded, making Night Walker jump. He fell to the floor, unused to having no wings.

"Darn, forgot I couldn't fly." He mumbled to himself as he got up, "What in the hay was that?" No answer came. After a few moments with no screaming, Night Walker continued to trot through the maze. As he walked, he began to think to himself

'Hope I don't run into whatever that was. *Sigh*, I wish my old friends were here, we could be having loads of fun, instead of wandering around this endless maze, probably about to be ambushed at any second. These new ponies are nice, but....I miss my friends.. and my family' He started 'I wonder if my little brother or sister ever had foals. Or my friends. I wonder if anypony who lives today is related to me. It's been over a thousand years, so I could be at least a-a-a, umm, if the average pony life is 80 years, then, 1000 divided by 80 is......12? 13? I think? so, I could be somepony's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand uncle. Wow! I really need to find out. How though...I can't just check the records....can I? Where do they even keep the records? *Sigh*, Would Princess Celestia even allow me to stay in Equestria anymore? Come to think of it, where is Princess Celestia, why hasn't she come to stop Nightmare moon yet? Did Nightmare moon get rid of her? No, that can't be right, otherwise Nightmare moon would be controlling all of Equestria, not just the Everfree forest. Is Nightmare moon planning to attack the rest of Equestria, or is she just going to continue growing her army of beasts so she can ravage Equestria to nothingness? But what would the point be in that? Revenge? But then, what would she rule over? I suppose she might just want Equestria gone so she can invade other countries, but, what's the point in that? The only other countries Equestria has been in contact with are the Griffon Kingdoms and the Dragon lands, unless everything has changed and now Princess Celestia is making treaties with everywhere else...' Night Walker was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the large clearing he had walked into, nor the tall, mismatched statue that held a pulsing blue orb to it's chest.

"Oof!" Was the sound Night Walker made as he walked into the statue, he stepped back and shook his head, then, he looked up, "GYAAH!" He shouted and jumped back, remembering this time that he had no wings. He stared up at the stone statue. The statue was of a biped creature who looked like all of it's different body parts came from a different animal. The arm clutching the orb seemed to belong to a lion, while the arm in the air belonged to an eagle. It's hind legs were that of a goat and lizard and it's tail was that of a snakes. It's tiny mismatched wings looked like a pegasus's and a bat's and it's head had stemmed from a pony. It had two antlers, one from a deer and the other from a dragon. It had big bushy eyebrows, a goatee styled beard and a single fang plastered onto it's laughing face.

"I-Is that...Discord??"

The maze, part 3

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"Applebloom, I told you that we've been down this path already. Look, there's the weird worm again." Scootaloo complained

"Worms move 'bout, so it must o' moved from the not this path where it wus."

"Ughh, Applebloom, worms don't move that fast, so why don't you just admit that you are wrong."

"Ah ain't wrong. We ain't bin down this path 'fore. Ah know this is th' way!"

"Okay, if this is the way, then why is there a wall in front of us? You know, like, a dead end?"

"Ummm. Ughh....Aghh! This maze is messin' with us!"

"Come on guys, let's just go and try the other path." Sweetie Belle suggested

"Ughh, fahn. But Ah'm tellin' ya, it ain't th' right path." Applebloom complained

"Finally! Lets go!" Scootaloo shouted, ignoring Applebloom

"Where are we going?" Sweetie Belle asked

"Ah don't know, Scoot's seems ta have gott'n lost." Applebloom said, a hint of satisfaction in her voice

"I am not lost. I know where we are, it's just like we said, the maze keeps changing, and with it, this path splits into smaller alleyways and larger streets."

"What d'ya mean by that?" Applebloom asked incredulously

"What do you mean, 'what d'ya mean'? You've seen the amount of paths that branch off from this one, and some of them are too small for even Opal to get through while others are too big to be able to count as paths from a maze!"

"Yeh, but Ah don't understand how tha' got us lost."

"Ughh, we have dozens of paths to search, I am following the path I think is the correct one. And we are not lost. I know my way back perfectly fine thanks. And anyway, I think that's supposed to be the centre of this stupid maze."

---
From being chased by flying pigs who were out to suck her blood to running into a friendly looking bunny who turned out to be not so friendly after all and rather an evil ghost of a bunny with it's army/family of ghost rabbits trailing it, to finally coming face to face with the creepiest horse face she had ever seen, with one fang, giant white spider eyebrows, a goatee and huge yellow/red eyes that had made her scream and run in terror, Fluttershy recounted the events of what happened to her in, more or less, a single breath. ~~(And breath, people)~~ Which Twilight was dumbfounded at.

"H-h-how?" She whispered, "H-how did you...that's...wha??? W-wh-wh-wh-what is going on????" She was breathing heavily noe, almost hyperventilating "H-how did you explain..." She looked at her watch, which hadn't been there seconds ago, but nopony seemed to notice that, "38 minutes and 42 seconds of..of..that? Without taking a single breath?!!?!?!??!?!??!!!???! That's!...that's something I'd expect from Pinkie Pie! And ONLY Pinkie Pie!" Twilight looked at Fluttershy in bewilderment, the latter now looking awfully worried and confused, a few seconds passed before Twilight, promptly, passed out.

---
Pinkie Pie was leading Applejack through a series of pathways and tunnels, some of which Applejack was sure couldn't have even existed without crossing into other sections of the maze. Her pink friend bounced happily along in front of her, humming the same stupid tune she had been humming for the best part of the last three hours.

"Hmm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmm." Pinkie hummed, Applejack was losing her patience, she had already asked fifty bajillion times for the mare to shut up, but her requests all went unheard "Hmm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmm. Hmm, Hm, hm, hm, hmmmm. Hmm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmm. Hmm, hmmm, hmm, hmm, hm, hm, hmmmm, hmmm, hm, hmm-" She cut off suddenly

"PINKIE PIE! Will ya please be quiet! Ahm tryin ta concentrate on where were goin' 'case we git lost, an ya singin' that same gosh darn tune fer the past Ah don't know how many hours ain't helpin' one bit!" She yelled

"...Geeze Louise, Applejack. No need to shout, you could have just asked." Pinkie said as she rolled her eyes, then, she put a huge grin on her face and continued bouncing away. Applejack stared after, her face a mix of confusion, anger and annoyance.

The walk to the centre of the maze was a lot more bearable now, what without the humming, but now there was an ominous silence, and it was beginning to creep up Applejack's spine, making her feel nervous and awkward.

"Uhmm, Pinkie?" Applejack started, when she received no answer she tried again "Pinkie? How long till we hit ta th' clearin?" Still no answer, "Pinkie? Pin-"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhh!" The crazy pink mare suddenly said, spinning around and placing her hoof on Applejack's mouth. Applejack looked nervously at Pinkie, her smile had gone, leaving a stern and scary expression to sit and stew on her face. The bright blue cheeriness of her friend's eyes was mostly gone, a greyness now sat there.

"Pnkphh?" Applejack tried to talk over her friends hoof "Pnkphh? Phaph pha phoo phoophinph?"

"I said shhhhhhh!" Pinkie stared at Applejack intensely for a few moments, Applejack felt like Pinkie was staring into her soul, then, finally, Pinkie removed her hoof, but before Applejack could say anything Pinkie shushed her again

"SHHHHHH!"

---
Rarity had finally managed to get away from the flying pigs, but only due to the fact that she had run into a very tired looking Fluttershy dragging an unconscious Twilight behind her. The pigs had taken one glance at Fluttershy, screeched, and then flew away.

"Well, I wonder what that was all about." Rarity stated, if she saw Fluttershy's slightly embarrassed blush, she didn't remark on it "Ah, Fluttershy! How good it is to see you! And Twilight...Might I ask what happened, Fluttershy?"

"Huh? Oh, umm. Well, I, umm, sort of..umm...maybe overloaded her brain with explanation, or something, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to." Fluttershy squeaked. Rarity blinked at her, then again, after the third time, she shook her head slightly,

"I'm sorry darling, but what? I-I think I seem to have misunderstood you, but I thought you said that you 'overloaded her brain with an explanation.'"

"Oh, umm, no, you didn't misunderstand me. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Fluttershy hid behind her mane, while Rarity gawked

"You overloaded Twilight Sparkle's brain, Twilight Sparkle's brain,...with an explanation?"

"Oh, umm, yes?" Fluttershy meekly said. Rarity continued to gawk

---
Night Walker stared at the statue in front of him. It was Discord, or rather, it was a statue that represented Discord. The statue had rested in the Canterlot gardens when he was a colt, and he had visited it on many occasions. He knew the story and the myths behind the statue, about Discord once being the god of chaos and turning Equestria to mayhem, about a hundred years after Celestia and Luna took the throne. A few seconds passed, Night Walker shook his head, then, he looked at the blue orb in the statue's hand. It was too high for him to reach without his wings, even if he stood on his hind legs, or jumped. He sighed, he'd just have to wait until the others got here.

Then, his ears perked up. He'd heard something. He listened for a few seconds, he didn't hear anything, he was just about to give up when...

"...stupid maze" Night Walker knew he had heard something then. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the statue. He peered around, a small passage way that he had not seen before was being traveled along by three very familiar looking fillies.

"Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! Applebloom!" Night Walker called, they obviously hadn't noticed him before, because they all jumped and snapped their heads to look at him. Their eyes held slight panic in them, but that soon turned to relief as they saw who was calling them.

"Night Walker!" They all shouted in unison, and they ran up to him

"Thank Celestia we finally found somepony!" Scootaloo said

"Yeh! We've been in this maze for hours!" Sweetie Belle complained

"Tha's one creepy lookin' statue." Applebloom said, looking up at Discord

'Why does everypony think that I'm ugly and creepy??? Seriously! If you ask me, it's you bug eyed creatures that need to look in a mirror.' A voice said from seemingly nowhere

"AHHHHHHHHH!" The CMC screamed.

"Who's there?" Night Walker called out sharply, there came no reply

---
Paul padded through the maze, he seemed to be quite content despite everything that had happened, which included; being ambushed by flying pigs, being stuck in the part of the maze that was made of mirrors and glass, constantly tripping over something invisible and having a strange voice following him. That and hearing all the screams of his friends as they also ran about the maze.

'Why are you helping the ponies?' The strange voice whispered

"Raw." Was Paul's only response,

'How do you even exist?'

"Raw."

'You were just a figment of everypony's imagination to begin with. So. How are you here?'

"Raw."

'Interesting... Very interesting...'

"Raw?"

'Hmm, maybe you exist because you are filled with magic...'

"Raw..."

'Hmm, but then, why didn't the other imaginary Timberwolves become real...'

"Raw??"

'Maybe, you were just one Timberwolf to begin with, and you just split into several in the ponies imaginations because there were several of them...'

"Raw...Raw?"

'Maybe,...it is that you care for these ponies deeply...'

"...Raw."

'Ahhh, so there it is... You enjoy their company...don't you.'

"Raw."

'But-who is it that you like the most?'

"Raw..."

'Is it, perhaps, the purple one? What's her name? Twilight Sparkle?'

"..Raw.."

'No? Then, the orange one, perhaps?'

"...Raw??"

'Hmm, still no, maybe, the pink one?'

"Rrraw"

'Ahhh, so. We seem to have found her. That lunatic of an earth pony... Now this is interesting...' An image of Pinkie Pie flickered inside Paul's head

"Rraw..."

'Hmm, but it's not just her is it? Who else? Somepony, who I haven't had the chance to meet yet, perhaps?'

"Grrrrrr"

'OOOoooo! Struck a nerve, have I? Did something happen to one of your closest friends?'

"GRrrr"

'Hmmm, well, how's about we have some fun...'

"Rrrrr"

'Don't worry, I wont harm anyone.'

"Rrrraaaww..."

'How about, If I pull a few strings..here and there...'

"Rrraaww?"

'I'll get your other friend back from wherever she is...and....all you have to do, is fix the other one...'

"GGRRrrrr"

'Oh, so it's a deal then? Good'

"GGGGRRRRRRRRRR!"

'Ta-ta.'

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!"

The maze, part 4

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'RRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW' It sounded in the distance,

"What in tarnation wus that?" Applejack shouted as she jumped about 10 hooves in the air.

"How many times? I. Said. SHHHHHHHH!" Pinkie Pie scolded

"Sorry Pinkie. Ah didn't mean ta be so loud."

"Well, next time, don't be so loud. Now, SHHHH."

"Sorry. Hey, is this where ya found the orb?"

"Yes. Now, come on, looks like somepony else is there already."

Pinkie Pie and Applejack crept carefully into the clearing. A familiar stallion with three very familiar fillies where standing close to a large, freaky looking statue. A blue orb was held tightly to the creature's chest. Night Walker and the crusaders seemed to be freaking out about something. Night Walker looked like he had seen a ghost and was hyperventilating, while the crusaders were running around in circles as if something was chasing them. Suddenly, Scootaloo stopped screaming and running, she had spotted something. Now, she looked directly at Pinkie and Applejack, who had hidden in the darkness of the passageway.

"Uhh, hello? W-Who's there?"

"It's only us, Scootaloo." Applejack replied, before a pink hoof quickly slapped itself onto her mouth

"Shhh, we don't know if we can trust them. They might be something that this maze has crated to lure us in."

Mphh, mmmfff!" Applejack tried to say

"Applejack?" Scootaloo called, Applejack nodded her head and started moving into the light, but was dragged back by the sour, pink earth pony next to her.

"Don't move. We can't trust it." Applejack had finally had enough, taking a leaf from Pinkie's book, she licked the hoof that was holding her mouth shut and jumped into the light. Pinkie quickly removed her hoof with a disgusted 'eew' and fell backwards from the force of Applejack's jump. The commotion between Night Walker and the other two crusaders stopped instantly and they stared at Applejack. Then, they realised that they had been screaming at each other and quickly said a few apologies, before turning their attention back to Applejack, and the pink pony who was now slinking her way out of the dark.

Rarity was currently helping Fluttershy carry an unconscious Twilight through the maze. Fluttershy had already explained what had happened, multiple times, and Rarity still couldn't believe it, Twilight Sparkle, of all ponies, fainted because Fluttershy explained something. She felt Twilight stir on her back and knew she was waking up, Fluttershy seemed to have felt it too, and they both stopped and looked back at the horn-less unicorn. Carefully, they put her down on the ground and nudged her. One of Twilight's eyes flickered open, and then the other. She groaned as light poured in and shut her eyes again. Slowly, she moved a hoof up to her face and rubbed it. Then, groggily, she sat up. She looked around and saw her two friends.

"Ughhh, my head."

"T-Twilight? Are you ok? I-I'm sorry." She heard Fluttershy whisper

"Yes, Twilight dear, how are you? You've been out almost an hour."

"How do you know that? The sun hasn't changed position since we entered this stupid maze."

"Pegasus senses." Fluttershy replied

"Mmmm, right. Owww, I got a headache. What happened?"

"Well, umm, it seems that dear Fluttershy hear, may have given you an explanation that caused you to faint."

"...Oh, I remember now, the half an hour long explanation, Fluttershy gave me without breathing...Right."

"So, why did you faint?"

"Why? WHY? BECAUSE! She didn't take a breather!"

"Umm, Twilight, us Pegasi are known for being able to hold our breath for long periods of time, it's one reason why we can survive high altitudes."

"B-But Rainbow Dash runs out of breath when Pinkie hugs her!"

"Pinkie squeezes all the breath out of Rainbow before she can hold it, Rainbow has no air in her lungs. Pegasi still need to breathe, we can just hold it longer than most ponies."

"..."

"Umm, Twilight?"

"...Oh dear."

Paul was angry. He was angry at that weird voice who seemed to know his friends. He was angry at the stupid voice who made a 'deal' with him. He was angry at the evil voice who implied that he had broken Pinkie Pie. He growled and looked up at the sun. It hadn't moved from it's position sitting high in the sky since they entered the maze. Did that mean that time was frozen? Or that what was happening was actually happening really fast but he felt like it was taking forever. He had long since become lost in the endless tunnels of wall, and bush, but he plodded on all the same, trying to find his friends, at one point, he thought he heard a scream, but it was too distant to really tell, and when nothing more came, he shrugged it off. That stupid voice had told him that he would go and find Rainbow Dash, all Paul had to do was fix Pinkie. But, how was he supposed to fix Pinkie if he couldn't find her? And, what if the voice doesn't hold up it's end of the bargain? What if it can't. It's just a voice, after all. Paul stopped and pondered this for a second. He remembered there being nothing under the hoof of the giant robot when it had lifted it's hoof. Maybe the voice did hold up it's end of the bargain and had gone back in time to save Rainbow Dash, but then that didn't explain why everything went in slow motion as the hoof came crashing down on the rainbow maned pegasus, with nothing appearing to get her out of there, and if that did happen, why wasn't the voice thing crushed too? Paul shook his head, it didn't make sense, Rainbow must have figured a way out herself, but, if that was the case, then, why didn't she come back to them? Then there was what the little orange filly, Scootaloo, had said, 'SHE'S PROBABLY OUT THERE, HURT!' Was what she had said, what if she was right? What if Rainbow had found a way to escape, but was injured in the process, and couldn't make it to the portal in time? Suddenly, Paul's face dropped, if-if that was the case, if Rainbow had really survived, and was injured, then, then, they had just left her! Alone! Hurt! What if she died afterwards? Because her wounds weren't seen to? What if she managed to survive that first stomp, but continued to be assaulted by the giant robot pony?!

'Now now, you know that isn't true, after all, the giant robot had neither salt or an ass.' Paul was confused for a second 'An ass is a donkey. stupid mutt' Paul growled at the voice, remembering that he hated it, and hearing what it had said under it's breath, 'And, don't worry, I'll uphold my end of the bargain, I just have to find your dear friend, she can be very, slippery, when it comes to escaping.' Then, the voice vanished again. Paul didn't know what the voice was talking about when it said that Rainbow Dash was 'very slippery when it came to escaping' and he wanted to find out, just as soon as he found his other friends and escaped the maze.

"...Uhh, Hi, Pinkie..." Sweetie Belle said slowly, as much as she was used to the Pink ponies antics, something was off about her.

"Howdy, sis!" Applebloom called "Am Ah glad ta see you! Now, we jus' need ta wait fer the others!"

"Yeh. I hope they don't take too long, or we'll be waiting for hours!" Scootaloo said

"How do you know? The sun hasn't moved at all since we entered this maze!" Asked Sweetie Belle

"Pegasus senses." Came the reply.

"What I'd like to know is, 'why is Pinkie Pie acting like that? Last, I remember, she was super hyperactive and cheerful, now she looks as if that kind of behavior couldn't come from her." Night Walker asked

"Ah don't rightly know." Applejack said "Ah think it might be 'cause o' Rainbow. Pinkie always did love pullin' a good prank with her, and they were best friends, ah guess maybe she's takin' the hit harder than the rest o' us."

"Poor Pinkie." Sweetie Belle sympathised, then she realised that her orange friend was sniffling beside her, "Aww, don't be sad Scoots. I know you miss her, but I don't think she'd want her number one fan crying over her. She'd want you to be cool and live up to her standards." Scootaloo smiled, despite herself.

"Thanks Sweetie, your a great friend." She then gave her a quick hug before pulling away, blushing a bit from submitting to the sappyness.

"Hmm, well, I hope Pinkie gets better soon. And, while we're waiting for the others, why don't we try to get the orb down?"

Another prophecy? The maze-part 5

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Paul was lost. He had no idea where he was or how to find the others. It felt like days had passed since they entered the maze and he was growing very concerned for his friends. His tummy rumbled, signaling that he was hungry. He whined slightly, and wished he had something to munch on, even if it was only a few mushrooms. Hanging his head, he plodded on, occasionally twisting his head from side to side when he came across a crossroads. The weird voice had essentially told him that Rainbow Dash had managed to escape, Paul had been happy to know that his friend was most likely to be okay, but she was probably lost somewhere in the woods, and he didn't trust the voice one bit. Paul was sad again, knowing that his friend was most likely alone and lost, and his other friends were trapped in this maze, maybe never being able to get out. He sighed, then his ears pricked. He'd heard something. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it sounded like it was on the other side of the wall. Running up to it, he placed his ear against the stone.

"...Ca.....eavy....na...co...pse."

"Wis..ight....ak....nd...walk." Paul recognised both those voices, they were muffled, and the first one sounded exhausted, but they were definitely the voices of Fluttershy and Rarity. Paul barked to get their attention

"Wha...hat?"

"...nded....ual." He barked again, louder this time

"...init...Pau..."

"Pa...! Pau...! ...ul! Paul started to bark rapidly and scratch at the wall, when he still couldn't get through to them, he began searching the wall for any cracks. Luckily, since the maze was so old, the wall had plenty of cracks, now he just needed to break the wall down. Carefully, he scrabbled at the loose parts of the wall and started to pull them down. He heard scratching from the other side and assumed that Fluttershy and Rarity were doing the same.

After a few minutes of scraping the wall finally collapsed and Paul came face to face with the Fluttershy and Rarity, both carrying an unconscious Twilight on their backs. Paul jumped forward and began to nuzzle them in delight, before looking at Twilight quizzically.

"Twilight fainted after learning that Pegasi can hold their breath for extended periods of time." Rarity simply stated, Paul made the best 'o' shape he could with his wooden doggy mouth. "Now, we must be off if we are to find the others, though I do hope that they are already at the centre of this dreadful maze."

"Raw." Paul agreed, nodding his head

"Paul, be a dear and help us out with Twilight would you? I don't think poor Fluttershy can take the strain much longer, even with me helping." Paul nodded and reached out for Twilight, gently nudging his nose under her and awkwardly turning to place her on his back. Though, as soon as Twilight was on his back, Fluttershy collapsed too.

Night Walker, the cutie mark crusaders and Applejack were trying to figure out how to get the orb down from the statue, while a despondent Pinkie Pie sat off to the side and watched. She continued watching, not saying anything, or moving to help. Whilst watching them, she thought about a few things,

'I was a real meanie pants to Applejack earlier...I should really apologise..'

'Apologise for what though? You were only telling her to be quiet...' A voice similar to hers hissed through her mind

'Yeh, but I was unnecessarily mean. I could have just asked her to be quiet...'

'Would she have listened to you?'

'Of course! Applejack is one of my best friends!'

'Would she really have listened to you? You, a crazy party pony who is known for being random, would she have taken your words into account?'

'...Yes. Applejack is my friend, she wou-'

'Is she though? Is she really your friend? Are any of them your friends?'

'Of course they are! How could you doubt them?'

'Maybe it's the lack of sympathy they hold for Rainbow Dash. The lack of sympathy for your feelings. How they just carry on without a second thought. They just brushed you aside, when you needed their comfort most.'

'That's not true! We need to stop Queen Meanie! There's no time to waste just sitting down all mopey and not doing anything!'

'You seem to have all the time in the world, after all, Nightmare moon isn't doing anything, and Twilight has already told you that she should be ready to take Equestria by now.'

'Maybe Twilight got it wrong! It's easy to get it wrong! Maybe Nightmare moon hasn't got her army yet, maybe they're not ready!'

'Maybe so, but if that's the case, then you still have plenty of time to sit and mope and grieve and comfort. All the things your friends don't seem to care about.'

'W-well, we're all stressed right now, and Dashie's gone...everypony's just trying to cope...'

'Well, their "trying to cope" isn't helping, is it? They aren't helping you, when you seem to be the one coping the least, they even said it, and they still won't help you...'

'B-but'

'NO BUTS! Your so called 'friends' aren't helping you when you need it most! And all they care about is stopping Nightmare moon, when she's not doing ANYTHING! What right do they have as your friends?'

'*sniff*, T-they c-care...don't they?'

'No they don't! Just look at them! Do they look they they care? Do they spare a glance in your direction?'

'N-no. T-they don't.'

'Then why should you consider them your friends?'

'D-Dashie's my friend.'

'But she's not here now, Is she?!'

'Paul is-'

'A figment of your imagination! Something you made up in that dream scope and just so happened to materialize into reality when you escaped! He doesn't count.'

'...What should I do?'

'You've already shown them how upset you are, and they ignored you, now it's time to get revenge...' The voice faded away as Pinkie's coat became slightly grey-er.

Paul and Rarity wandered through the maze, Paul carrying his two unconscious companions on his back. They were lost and they knew it, they had no clue where they were going, Rarity was pretty sure that they had been down this path twice already, she thought Paul agreed with her, but, unfortunately, unlike Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, Rarity couldn't understand him. It had come as a surprise when Fluttershy had announced that she couldn't understand him, I mean, she's Fluttershy! Animal pony, can talk to and understand all beasts...except timberwolves, apparently. Rarity sighed, her hooves were aching terribly, she had been walking for DAYS! OK, so she couldn't tell how long she'd been walking for, but it felt like days. Her mane was an absolute mess! It was covered in twigs and leaves, and in her panic of becoming lost in the maze, she had completely forgotten to whine about it! She couldn't not complain about how tired she was, or how filthy her mane and coat was, everypony would think she didn't care! And then she'd never be able to make it to Canterlot, and open up her business because nopony would believe she liked fashion, and then she'd never be able to make it to Canterlot nobility and meet HIM! The most gorgeous, and handsome and sweet, and kind pony ever! She didn't know what he looked like exactly, but she was hoping he wasn't a relative of that snobby so-called 'Prince' Blueblood. Eugh! Just the thought of the name made her hurl. AHA! That gave her an idea, she's fake being ill, that way, they'd have to stop! Also, she wasn't sure why she was talking to herself, she was pretty sure Paul could hear her mumbling and hoped that he couldn't pick up the words.

She was just about to start whining, when, suddenly, her mind went blank, flashed green and went back to normal, well, almost normal. While she could see everything that she'd been able to before, she could also now see a line of curious green orbs. They looked like they were heading somewhere. She looked up, Paul hadn't seemed to notice it, as he was still walking down the path, and now taking a right turn away from the orbs. Walking up to an orb, Rarity touched it, and instantly, her mind went blank again, only this time, it didn't flash green and return to reality, instead it showed her where the path lead, at the end of the pathway, there was an opening, and in the opening was a statue holding an orb, and currently creating a tower of ponies to reach the orb were,

"Our friends..." Her mind winked back to reality, "PAUL!" She shouted and ran to catch up, "Paul wait up! Your going the wrong way!"
Paul turned to look at her, confused "Raw?"

"We have to go the other way, I know how to get to the others!" And with that, she turned and galloped off in the other direction, leaving Paul to try to process what she just said,

"Raw?"

Pinkie Pie watched as the ponies in front of her stood atop one another in a pony pyramid, Applejack and Night Walker were at the bottom, with the crusaders standing on top of them. Scootaloo was at the very top, standing on Sweetie Belle, who, in turn, was standing on Applebloom. Scootaloo could only just reach the orb and, to no avail, was trying to pull it out from the statue's grip.

"Pinkie, c'n ya, help us?" Applejack called to her, straining slightly

"Why should I?"

"Cause we need th' orb t'git out o' here maybe?" Applejack said

"Hmph!"

"What is up with ya today Pinkie?"

"MM."

"Look, ah know yer upset 'bout Rainbow, we all are, but ya gotta help us. Y'ave been good with this 'till now." Pinkie just stuck her tongue out in reply. Applejack sighed and shook her head.

"I can't get it." Scootaloo said from above, "It's stuck."

"Try pullin' it harder!" Applebloom replied

"It's not working!"

"Let me try then."

"How are you gonna reach? Both me and Sweetie Belle are standing on top of you."

"Sweetie Belle and I" Sweetie corrected

"Who cares, Sweetie? If ya haven' noticed, we're tryin' ta save Equestria here."

"I was just saying..."

"Oh shut up, both of you! I can't concentrate with you blabbering away."

"Concentrate on whut?"

"Trying to move this stupid orb!"

"Technically, an orb can't be stupid."

"Sweetie Belle!"

"What?"

"Will all three o' ya be quiet!?" Applejack called up to them

"Scoot's can't git th' orb!"

"Fine, Pinkie! Git yer pink flank over here! We need an extra hoof!" Pinkie ignored her, and turned away "Gosh darnit, PINKIE!" But Pinkie continued to ignore the orange earth pony

'See, what did I say? They're just using you to get what they want.'

"*Sniff* But they need my help, why won't you let me help? None of us will get out if I don't help"

'Yes you can, they don't need your help, they just want you to do the dirty work.'

"B-but they're doing the dirty work."

'What? Standing around like lemmings whilst the fillies get the orb? They're using the fillies just as they want to use you.'

"But that's just Applejack! Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity aren't here yet!"

'Exactly, they're just waiting for you to get the work done. They're freeloaders. They will only come once they get fed up of you trying to get the orb'

"But I'm not trying"

'Exactly, you're not playing along with their little game, don't worry, they'll come and get the orb down for you, you don't have to do any work for this pathetic lot.'

"They are not pathetic! They're my friends!"

'*Sigh* I see I won't get that through to you just yet. But it doesn't matter, you'll come around eventually.'
"What do you mean?" But the voice was already gone.

Pinkie sat quietly for a while, just staring at the ground in front of her. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there, but eventually, the sound of hoof clops became evident in her ears. It was faint, at first, but it kept getting louder, it sounded like the pony was running. Then, she could hear a softer clopping sound, like paws. No-it couldn't be, could it? He wasn't real, he shouldn't be real, he was just a figment of her imagination. But, it had to be him. A voice, she could hear a voice, it was faint, but she could definitely hear it. And she recognised it. It was high pitch and girly. It was Rarity. What was she saying? Pinkie didn't know. Another voice, but this one was of another language, it sounded like a form of bark to anyone who couldn't understand the speaker. But to Pinkie, to Pinkie it sounded more like a word, or a string of words, rolled out into a sentence. A sentence she could just about make out. One of pleading and hope.

'Please be there, Pinkie.'

The maze-part 6

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The tower of ponies fell as Applejack turned around to see who was calling her name.

"OW! Applejack! Why'dya do that?"

"Sorry, sis, Night Walker, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle."

"Applejack!" Her voice was called again

"Rarity?"

"Applejack! I'm so glad to see you!" Rarity exclaimed "This maze is just dreadful! I've been walking for ever! My hooves feel like they're going to fall off!"

"Ah'm sure ya c'n survive till we git outa this place. Speakin' o' which, think ya c'n help us git this orb thingy down? Pinkie ain't doin to well and is bein mighty difficult."

"I suppose I could try, but I'm not sure how much of a help I would be, without my horn and all."

"We've tried pryin' it from the statue's grip, but it's stuck tight an' won't budge."

"Have you tried pushing upwards from underneath?"

"Ah don't think we 'ave. Did we?" Applejack asked, turning to the crusaders

"Nope, we didn't." Scootaloo replied. The Cutie mark crusaders then ran off to see to the two unconscious mares, Paul had carefully slipped off of his back.

Paul padded over to Pinkie Pie, she was looking back at him with almost uncertain eyes. Her pink coat had turned more of a crepe colour, and her mane was sagging slightly. Her eyes glistened with new tears as they formed and she turned away, muttering to herself incoherently. Paul became worried, what had happened to his friend? Then he remembered what that voice had told him, and how he had to fix Pinkie Pie to get Rainbow back. He gently nudged her, but she didn't respond, he nudged her again, a bit harder, this time she shrugged him off and scooted away slightly. She was still muttering to herself, and Paul could hear some of what was being said.

"..My friend....never hurt....gone...still...him...me alone." Paul was confused, but it seemed that Pinkie had stopped talking to herself as she slumped down onto her belly, with her head in her hooves. Paul crouched down beside her and nuzzled her. She ever so slightly tilted her head in his direction, and Paul could see her eye just barely peeking over her leg. She sniffed and ducked her head back between her legs, mumbling quietly "Go away."
---
Pinkie knew Paul was there, but the voice in her head was convincing her otherwise. It was just Nightmare moon trying to get inside her head.

'The others can't see him, he's not real. Don't give into him, if you do, then Ye olde Moon Butt wins. She'll use him to twist you against your friends, and then your friends won't be happy, will they?'

"No...B-but Dashie cou-"

'Dashie isn't here, stop bringing her up, and Nightmare moon was trying to get into her head too. Things may not have played out like that, but they worked for her in the end..with Rainbow Dash, you know...'

"S-shut up, Dashie isn't gone, she's still with us...in our hearts."

'Ughh, do you really believe all that sappy nonsense? "She'll still be with us in our hearts?" It makes me want to puke.'

"Yes I do believe in it!" Pinkie snapped "Grannie Pie said that when ponies we care for d-die, then they still stay with us, as long as we can remember them, and sometimes, sometimes they might come down to visit us, they may not be able to talk to us, and we might not be able to see them, but they're still there! And I bet that Rainbow Dash is with us right now!"

'*Sigh* fine, maybe she is watching thanks to some weird creepy magic. But I doubt it.'

"Why do you say that?"

'I mean, come on! It's not like she's even going to make it to pony heaven, or whatever you call it.'

"Hey! Dashie's a good pony! Of course she'd make it!"

'Only if one exists. Trust me, I'm your sub-concious, I know what does and doesn't exist, and Pony heaven? Doesn't exist. So maybe her spirit is still wandering around, lost and lonely, she was your only friend, and she's gone. If you really want her back, then why don't you abandon these nincompoops to go and look for her?'

"Because...because I'm needed to help Equestria, and if I go looking for Dashie now, then Equestria will be destroyed, and us along with it!"

'Right, but do you need to like these guys? I mean, look at them, they're failures, they can't do anything themselves, they expect it to come from you, and you alone, they want to make you sad, while they can sit back and relax, doing nothing.'

"But..."

'See, they aren't your friends, they never were, they were just using you, you thought you were making them happy, making them laugh and smile, but in reality, they were laughing at you. And you were too ignorant to notice.'
---
Paul noticed Pinkies fur become completely grey, her mane and tail had fallen flat. He was becoming really worried for her now. Pinkie stood up, and turned to him, but she didn't look at him, she looked passed him, as if he wasn't there. Then, she turned around and started walking away, towards one of the paths. Not knowing what to do, Paul acted instinctively and pounced on her, tackling her to the ground in what would best be described as a hug. His massive paws were wrapped around her, and he placed his head atop of hers, squishing her against his body. She struggled a bit to begin with, but the longer the hug went on, the less she began to resist, and eventually, she started to hug back. Paul felt a slight wetness on his chest and looked down to see Pinkie crying. Her coat colour was returning to normal, but her mane and tail remained flat. She pulled herself back against Paul and squeezed him tight, seeming a bit afraid. They stayed like that for a few minutes before she pulled away, sniffing. She looked up and Paul could see hurt in her eyes, the type of hurt you get when you realize that you've hurt someone else.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled

"Raw." Paul responded, and then gave her his, biggest, sloppiest lick, making her giggle, telling her that he forgave her. Pinkie looked over to the others, who had noticed the exchange, and she smiled widely. Applejack smiled back, and wandered over.

"Applejack, I'm really sorry about how I treated you, I was awful, I made you all feel so saddy waddy. I don't know what happened, one minute I'm bouncing along, the next, I feel like you guys hate me. I'm sorry."

"it's ok Pinks, this maze's gittin' ta all o' us. Now, why don't ya'll both come an' help with gittin' this orb free."

"Yes!" Pinkie responded, before zipping off to the statue. She then proceeded to bounce as high as she could without a trampoline and grab the orb. She yanked it out of the statue's grip and fell back down to the ground, landing with a 'thump' as she hit it. The others just stared at Pinkie, slack jawed.

"How did you do that! It took you barely 3 seconds to do that, but we couldn't get it down in hours!" Scootaloo complained.

"I dunno." Pinkie responded with a laugh.

'NOO!' Shouted the voice from earlier in the back of her mind 'I can't lose!' Pinkie ignored it.

Escaping the maze

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Nightmare moon smirked. Her army was already big enough to take over Equestria, albeit the beasts were a lot smaller than they had been thousands of years ago, but she had so many more. Hundreds of these beasts made up her army, each more powerful than the most magical of unicorns, strongest of earth ponies and the fastest of pegasi. However, Nightmare moon didn’t just want control of Equestria, she wanted control of the entire world, so she continued to let the beasts grow in power and number. Even now, she could see one or two sometimes inching upwards in size. Equus would be hers yet.

She glanced up into the sky. Directing her gaze to the sun, she smirked, 'How is it, dear sister? Feeling the same pain I felt yet?' She thought. The sun was low in the sky, and although nopony but The princesses themselves could look directly at the sun, the image of a mare could be seen on it. It would have reminded anypony who had seen it of the mare in the moon.

"Guards!" She called out, instantly, two large beasts quickly entered the room, "Make sure nobody disturbs me while I go and have a, chat with my sister." The two guards nodded and stood to attention just outside the room. Nightmare moon relaxed, and closed her eyes, she sent a beam of magic out to the sun as she fell asleep.

--
Everypony now stood at the exit to the maze. After finding each other in the center and taking the orb, they had all stuck close together and found the end, mainly thanks to Rarity's new skill. They were, currently, debating on what the creature's name was.

"I'm telling you! It's Discord! He's the god of chaos!" Night Walker yelled

"No! It's name is Chaos! It said so on the instructions!" Twilight retorted

"Twilight. This guy created the maze, why would he tell us his name? And anyway, those flying pigs had Discord's name written all over them!"

"No they didn't silly! The pigs didn't have any writing on them at all!" Pinkie Pie jumped up between the two bickering ponies, startling them.

"Pinkie, it's a figure of speech." Twilight groaned, "Anyway, the definition of discord is 'a disagreement between ponies' or 'a lack of harmony between notes sounding together'. And what went on in that maze was neither to do with music, or disagreements! What went on in there, was complete chaos!"

"Twilight! Discord can mean a lack of harmony all together, it doesn't have to do with music. And besides, Discord is the god of chaos."

"The definition of chaos is 'complete disorder and confusion', not discord."

"Another word for disorder is discord, Twilight!". Applejack sighed, the two had been bickering for what she guessed was half an hour, she longed to put her own opinion in, but Rarity had tried that at the start, and things may have gotten a little, itty bit violent, if Rarity's black eye said anything. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie popped up beside her, an almost worried expression on her face.

"Aaapplllejaaack." She said, uneasily

"Pinkie?"

"Umm, I think we should get these two to stop fighting. My Pinkie sense is telling me something's wrong."

"What? Ya still have yer Pinkie sense? Ah thought that it weren't allowed in th'maze cause o' it bein' magic."

"Oh, my pinkie sense isn't magic silly! But, I just had a knee twitch, eye flutter, itchy nose, tail twitch, shaky hoof combo which means that an evil being that feeds on the disharmony of others is likely to break free!" Applejack's eye's widened, she didn't even bother to question about how Pinkie could be so specific, knowing that it was probably true.

"Twilight! Night Walker! Ya'll need ta stop, right now!" Applejack shouted, but she was ignored, she tried again, "Twilight! Please! Ya need ta stop bickerin'!" again, she was ignored, "Twilight! Ya gonna make things worse! still no reply. In a last ditch effort, she dove at Twilight, knocking her off guard, and halting the argument.

"Applejack! What the hay was that for!" Twilight shouted

"Ah'm sorry Twi. But Ah had ta stop ya'll from fightin'. Pinkie's Pinkie sense wus goin' off, an' if'n'ya didn't stop arguin' then somethin' bad woulda happened."

"What kind of bad?" Night Walker asked

"Creature that feeds on th' disharmony o' others, escapin' kind bad."

"What? What sort of creature is that?" Twilight asked incredulously

"A Draconequus." Night Walker replied "One that was around shortly before Princess Luna became Nightmare moon. Discord."

"Wait. 'Discord?' Stop trying to bring him up just so you can win the argument!....Who is Discord."

"He was a creature who put Equestria into havoc. Basically, he's the creature that the statue depicted." Twilight was silent for a while,

"Fine, let's say that the creature's name is Discord. Ok? We'll say it ten times, and when it doesn't work, you'll have to admit that you were wrong and I was right. How does that sound?"

"Sure, fine, let's just get out of this stupid maze." Night Walker said, almost indifferently.

"Right, everypony ready? We're all going to say 'Discord', together, ten times." She looked at evreypony, who all nodded, "Right then, on the count of three. One, two, three." And everypony spoke in sync, ten times, 'Discord'.

A bright flash was seen, and then, in front of them, appeared the statue. Except, it wasn't a statue anymore, is was a real creature, stretching it's limbs out until they popped, and yawning loudly.

"Well, it looks like you completed the maze, even if you did manage to cheat." The creature said, looking pointedly at Rarity, "Well, hello there, little ponies...and Timberwolf, I am Discord, god of Chaos. Now, you have freed me from my prison, I must return you to back outside of the maze." And with a pop, they were gone.

---
Nightmare moon appeared before her sister, in a flash of silver light.

"Hello, dear sister, enjoying your vacation?" She asked mockingly

"Luna, please, I beg you. Let me free, we can rule together, like we were meant to. You don't have to do this!"

"Oh yes I do, Celestia! You would never let us rule together. It was all about you. Ponies adored you because you brought them light, and they barely even knew me! Just because I brought the night. And now, after only 1000 years on the moon, they have forgotten me completely, Nightmare moon is merely a foals tale to be told at bedtime, and Luna doesn't exist. I've lived in your shadow since I was born, everything always had to be about you, every celebration happened during the day, ponies worshiped you, they worshiped the day, they loved, and now, they still do. They love you even more, you even have a celebration to celebrate the day, for ponies to worship you, and remind those few who remember, that Nightmare moon was never important, Nightmare moon was the evil child who wanted to usurp the tyrant."

"Luna, please, that was never the case. Ponies are naturally wake during the day, of course the celebrations will happen then. And I never mentioned you after I had banished you to the moon to protect you! I was afraid that ponies would start to despise the night for what you did if they knew! And there are celebrations that happen during the night. Nightmare night is one of the biggest events of the year!"

"Nightmare night depicts that the night is filled with ghouls and monsters, the celebration does not celebrate the night! It is a superstitious party to ward off monsters that aren't there! In fact, most of the dangerous creatures come out during the day! Very few are nocturnal! You are a tyrant, who only wants power! But,"Nightmare moon said, calming down, "I did not come here to argue about this. I came here to gloat. My army is growing by the second, I have more than enough to take over Equestria, but, I have decided to finally follow your advice on taking things slow." Celestia's eyes widened, "It seems that, at this point, biding my time will come as an advantage to me. If I were to take over Equestria now, then your allies would likely invade from all sides and push me back once again, so, instead of doing that, I am waiting in the shadows, toying with your precious student and the elements of harmony, I am letting my army grow, grow to a point where nopony will be able to defeat me, that way, I can spread across the entire planet, invading and conquering every country until I rule the world! Muahahahahahahaaahaha! Nightmare moon cackled loudly. "And even better, even if, the elements of harmony do manage to reach me in my castle, they'll never be able to defeat me."

"Yes they will, I know they will, the elements of harmony will be able to defeat you, no matter how strong their army is!"

"Muahahahaha." nightmare moon chuckled darkly, "No, they won't. You see, your precious element of Loyalty gave herself up to protect her friend. She long gone now, dead. And, without her, nothing can stop me! Aahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!" Celestia's jaw dropped, her eyes fixated in front of her, she was too shocked to move. "Oh yes, you can have a look for yourself if you so wish, you'll find that the little Rainbow pegasus is no longer with her companions." Celestia snapped to attention

"R-rainbow?" She whispered

"Oh yes, such a vivid mane, one that stands out from mile away, it is a shame that she had to be squashed, I have much more difficulty finding the elements now."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Celestia snapped, tears had started to fall from her eyes, "HOW DARE YOU HARM HER!"

"Oh? you're taking this a lot more personally than I would have expected."

"SHE IS MY DAUGHTER! HOW DARE YOU!"

"Huh? Your daughter? Oh how rich this is! I suppose this would be the perfect revenge, nopony ever loved me, so why should anypony love you? Oh yes! I live it." Nightmare moon smirked, "You know, I think I'll let you sit there in your agony. Goodbye sister, I'll be back to gloat soon." And with that, Nightmare moon disappeared in a fit of mad laughter.

Chapter 44

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The 9 ponies, the timberwolf and the draconequus appeared outside the maze, on the other side of which the ponies had gone through. Everypony had their magic back,Fluttershy, Scootaloo and Night Walker, had their wings, and Twilight, Rarity and Sweetie Belle had their horns.

"So, now you ponies, and timberwolf, have freed me from my prison as per the rules state, and not by letting me escape through your arguments, I am obliged to help you on your quest for whatever it is you are doing."

"...Told you his name was Discord." Night Walker was the first to speak, the others still a bit dazed and confused as to what had happened. Twilight snapped out of the daze as this remark

"Whatever, you were right, I was wrong. Now, Discord, thank you for finally letting us out of your...puzzle, but I don't think we need any more help." She said

"Oh! You're trying to get rid of me! How it wounds me, here I am, offering my assistance, and all you do is rebuke me. Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway, that just means I have more time to keep up my end of the bargain, Paul." Discord smirked, then, he snapped his claws and was gone in a small flash of white.

"What wus that all 'bout?" Applejack asked, looking at Paul

"Yeh, what did he mean about a bargain?" Twilight eyed him suspiciously

"Don't tell me you made a deal with him!" Night Walker groaned, Paul shook his head

"Raw."

"Paul has no idea what Discord was talking about, other than he kept talking about making a bargain in the maze." Pinkie translated,

"Ughh, well, never mind, let's just keep walking, Fluttershy, what day is it?" Twilight sighed

"Oh, umm, I-umm, sorry, but, I'm still getting used to having my wings back and my head is still spinning. Can we maybe wait for a bit? I mean, just until I get my bearings."

"*sigh* Sure. Does anypony know what time it is at least?"

"Yes, it's twelve past noon." Night Walker said, "And, I'm pretty sure we've been in that maze at least two days."

"Oh great, now we're getting behind schedule." Twilight muttered to herself, "So, we wasted two whole days in that maze?"

"Maybe more." Twilight groaned.
--
Several days had passed since the maze, and the group were still trying to activate the elements. They had moved out of the forest into the dry-lands, but it was still visible a few hundred meters off to the side. Twilight sighed,

"Right guys, I think we should head back to the forest to set up camp, I know it's not that late, but I'd much rather sleep in the forest where we're surrounded by trees, than out here where we could easily be spotted." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Yeh, better to set up camp early than late, am I right?" Pinkie yawned, "Wowzers, I'm tired."

"Come on then, we'll stay close to the edge though, so we don't have to fo too deep back into the forest." Twilight decided, but before they could make their way back to the forest, they heard a deep 'Thud', and the ground shook ever so slightly.

"W-what was that?" Fluttershy asked, hiding behind Applejack

"Please tell me that isn't...." Twilight trailed off

"The giant robot that killed Dashie? Sure is!" Pinkie shouted, "Come on girls! It's time to get revenge!!! ARGHHHHH!!!!" She charged off in the direction of the robot, which was quickly getting closer

"Pinkie! Wait!", But Twilight was too late, Pinkie had already gotten halfway and looked hell-bent on destroying it. The other sighed, knowing that now, they'd have no chance to simply escape it.

"Fluttershy, Night Walker, get the girls back to the forest and somewhere safe, NOW!" Twilight's order was swiftly followed "Everyone else, CHAAAAARRRGE!!!" They all ran head on into the robot, Pinkie having already arrived and was currently trying to smash the 'eyes' of the robot, with minimal luck, the robot was swinging a for hoof wildly at it's face to remove her. With the robot distracted with Pinkie, Applejack set about creating another portal, bigger than before, to hopefully drop the robot through, as the robot placed back down it's swinging hoof back down, it slipped into the portal. It was nowhere near big enough to trap the whole robot, but it was big enough that the robot started to collapse on one side, it's whole leg caught in the portal. Violently, it shook it's head, flinging pinkie Pie off, luckily, Paul caught her before she became a fluffy pink pancake on the floor. The robot stared at it's leg as it tried to yank it free, only to realize that, when it yanked too hard, it was ripped completely from the body. Applejack's portal quickly closed and she took a moment to regain her strength from concentrating too much.

Managing to stand up, the robot seemed to glare daggers at Twilight, the pony behind the controls obviously thinking it had been her to create the portal, despite the fact that Unicorn magic was absorbed before it came close the the robot. It clumsily cantered to Twilight, who was slightly distracted by a catapult she was setting up to fling boulders, and aimed to crush her underneath it's remaining hoof. Fortunately, Twilight noticed at the last second, as was able to dodge away just in time, though the same could not be said for the catapult.

"HEY!" She shouted

"Do you have any idea how expensive that leg was? Huh? DO YOU?" A new voice sounded, probably from the stallion inside the robot

"Umm, a lot?" Twilight suggested, nervously, still running

"A LOT! And YOU, made me LOSE IT! YOU'LL GO FIRST FOR THAT!" The robot continued to chase Twilight around, ignoring the others, who tried their best to distract it.

Rarity and Pinkie were busy setting up another catapult, and this time, with the robot preoccupied with Twilight, they had managed to complete it. They began loading it with a heavy boulder that Pinkie insisted upon calling 'Tom'. Applejack was off to the side, trying to concentrate of making another portal, this time though, to teleport Twilight. But she struggled to focus with the loud clattering of the robot's clumsy movements driving her insane. Paul was trying his best to trip the robot over, but wasn't having any luck. After a few careful moments of aiming, Pinkie and Rarity fired 'Tom' from their catapult, and got a direct hit of The robot's front leg. Unfortunately, that meant that the robot was then falling towards Twilight, who had already fallen over when the rock shattered and sent millions of tiny rock fragments everywhere. Applejack panicked, she knew it was her fault, she had been the one to make the robot lose it's let, and Twilight was getting killed because of it. Applejack saw no other options, so out of desperation, she created a portal, leaped through, grabbed Twilight and through her back through the portal, before she could hold the portal open no longer and collapsed beneath the robot's toppling form.

Everyone screamed, how could they be losing another friend? Tears began to form in their eyes as everything played out in slow motion, the robot falling atop of Applejack, their honest, hardworking friend. The element of honesty shimmered brightly from Fluttershy's saddlebag. Applebloom was being held back by her two friends, kicking and screaming, tears already soaking her furry cheeks, Fluttershy and Night Walker, desperate to reach her sister. Twilight stared in horror at the mare who was giving up her life to save her own. Pinkie and Rarity looked on, stock still, as they witnessed the damage they had caused. Paul watched with a curious sadness in his eyes, a look that stated he had wanted to know the mare better. Just when all hope seemed lost, a blur shot out from the trees and took a circular shape around Applejack as the Robot hot the ground. The element of Loyalty burning red.