//------------------------------// // Quest To Find The Elements // Story: The Element of Courage // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// "The Everfree Forest?!" everypony exclaimed in unison as they stood outside the dark and spooky woodland. It was so thick that Flash couldn't even see further then a few feet. "Whee! Let's go!" Pinkie cheered as she started bouncing towards it. "Okay everypony." Flash said as he pointed to the forest. "We don't know what's in there, so we need to stay together and stay calm, agreed?" he looked around and everypony nodded. "Maybe..." everypony looked back at Twilight as she began to fiddle with her hooves. "I should go alone?" "No way." Flash shook his head. "I promised your parents that I would be there for you and that's that. We're going into this together.” "But what about-" "This is our choice as much as it is yours." he told her before turning to the others. "Right everypony?" "True that." Rainbow said as she shined a cocky grin. "We sure ain't letting any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone." Applejack said as they began to walk inside. As they slowly left, Twilight and Flash stood there, staring at their new companions. "You ready?" "Ask me again when this is over." she said as they moved inside the forest with the others. As they began trotting over the muddy ground, Twilight spoke up again, "So, none of you have been in here before?" "Oh heavens no." Rarity gagged. "Just look at it, it's dreadful." "And it ain't natural." Applejack said, shaking her head, "Folks say it ain't the same as Equestria." "That's why we have to be prepared for anything that might come our way" Flash said. However, his luck decided to prepare for him when the ground below them began to shake. It was here that he realised that they were at the edge of a cliff. "Does an earthquake count as anything?" Rainbow Dash asked as she slowly floated over the ground. "That's no earthquake..." Applejack gulped as the cliff they stood on began to crumble. "AVALANCHE!" Flash, Rainbow and Fluttershy took to the air, only to see their flightless friends start sliding down the steep cliff to a hundred foot drop. "We gotta catch them! Now!" "On it!" Rainbow yelled as she and Flash shot down. "Oh dear!" Fluttershy said, following. Rainbow caught Pinkie in a quick swoop while Fluttershy grabbed Rarity as gently as possible. Flash saw Applejack grab a nearby branch, leaving Twilight still falling. "Hang on Twilight!" he called to her just as she reached the edge, but his ears caught the sound of the ground crumbling. He looked up and saw that a huge boulder was rolling towards them, and if it wasn't stopped, it would flatten Twilight and Applejack. He spread his wings as readied himself. With all his speed and strength, he threw himself at the boulder, reaching it just as it was about to hit Applejack. His force kept the massive rock back as he pushed the rock more and more. "Flash!" Applejack yelled, worry pouring over face. "Save Twilight." he replied back, “Now!” Applejack looked down and saw Twilight struggling to hold onto the edge. "Okay!" she let go of her branch and slid down to the purple Unicorn, "Hold on sugarcube, I'm a comin." "Applejack!" Twilight said, still panicking. "What do I do?!" The orange earth pony thought for a moment until she saw something behind Twilight and then said "Let go." "Are you crazy?!" she exclaimed as her struggle kept getting worse. "No I ain't, I promise you'll be safe." "That's not true!" "Now listen here." Applejack said firmly as she stared directly at the unicorn. "What I'm saying to you is the honest truth. Let go and you'll be safe." Twilight looked into her eyes and with all of her courage, she released her hold on Applejack and fell. "TWILIGHT!" Flash screamed, seeing his best friend fall, screaming. His panic turned into relief as then saw Rainbow and Fluttershy catch her, having dropped the others at the bottom. As Applejack jumped down the ledges off the cliff, he finally released the boulder. The rock soon rolled straight into where the two ponies had previously been and smashed the ground with incredible force. "Twilight, are you alright?!" he asked when he reached them. "I'm fine Flash." she replied before turning to Applejack, "Thank you." "Aw shucks..." the Earth Pony replied with a tip of her hat, "It was nothin. You should thank mister muscles over there for stopping that boulder. You're pretty strong for a Non-Earth Pony." "Years of training." Flash replied, flexing his hooves while pretending to act macho, getting a giggle from the rest of the girls. "We should get going." Twilight said as she shook off what had happened. "I for one don't wanna risk getting caught in another rock fall." "Agreed." Flash said as they moved deeper into the forest. For about ten minutes, nothing happened as they trekked on, but then Flash picked up on something and began sniffing the air. "We're not alone." "Oh of course not silly." Pinkie replied with a cheeky grin. "How can we be alone when there's seven of us?" "I think he means somepony other than us is here." Rainbow said with her hooves crossed. "Flash?" Twilight asked with a tinge of fear. "What are you feeling?" she had learned over the years to never doubt Flash's senses. "I smell something." he replied as he sniffed again. "And it's getting closer." "Is it another Pony?" Rarity asked. "Doesn't seem like it" Flash said before looking at the ground. He then turned to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "You two feel anything?" Grand Hoof had once told him that Earth Ponies were sensitive to vibrations in the ground, meaning they could sometimes tell if something was moving nearby. "Not really." Applejack said as she shook her head. "Nope nope nope." Pinkie replied with a rapid head shake. "Be on guard everypony." Twilight said and at that moment, there was a loud roar. "What was that?" Rarity asked, her voice trembling. "Trouble." Flash replied as his statement was met by something jumping out of the shadows. What it was was a giant orange lion with a red mane, bat wings and a long scorpion tail that roared at the group. "A Manticore?!" Twilight almost screamed as the beast roared again. "We've gotta get passed him!" "No problem." Rarity said as she flirtatiously patted Flash. "We have a royal knight with us." "Apprentice knight." Flash grumbled as he pointed at the beast. "And I've never fought a monster before." "Then what do we do?" Applejack asked as she adjusted her hat. "Leave it to me." Rainbow yelled as she flew towards the Manticore. She began to spin around it until the beast used it's tail to knock her away. "Rainbow!" Flash called, before turning to the monster. "That's it. It's on!" "Wait!" he stopped in his tracks as he heard Fluttershy from far off. "What is it?" he asked, but all she did was walk towards the Manticore. "Fluttershy darling." Rarity went to try and pull her away, but Flash jumped in front of her, "She'll be torn to shreds!" "I don't think so." Flash said as he watched her approach the creature. He doubted that someone as timid as Fluttershy would approach a deadly magical beast so easily if she didn't have a plan. "It's okay." she said gently. The Manticore roared at her but she stayed calm and began nuzzling one of it's paws. The Manticore noticed this and suddenly changed it's tone into one of a hurt puppy dog. It spun it's paw around and showed that a massive thorn was stuck in it, "Oh you poor thing." she said in a sad tone, "Now, this might hurt just a bit." she bit into the thorn and with one great tug, pulled it free. The Manticore let out a deafening roar, making everypony take a battle stance. That is, until they saw the creature begin to lick Fluttershy happily. "Oh, you're just a little old baby kitty, aren't you?" she said happily. While the Manticore was busy, the six Ponies used this opportunity to sneak pass it while Fluttershy saw the creature off before rejoining them. "How did you know about the thorn?" Twilight asked. "I didn't." she replied with a shake of the head. "Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness" Flash noticed Twilight smile at this. They continued onwards through the forest. "Ow!" Rarity moaned. "My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck!" She soon got her wish, as the seven were plunged into pitch darkness as the trees grew thicker and blocked the moonlight. "Well, I didn't mean that literally." "That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn't even know it" Twilight exclaimed as she kept moving. "We just need to stay calm." Flash said as he continued behind them "And stick together..." However, he soon noticed that no one answered back, "Girls?" Nothing. "Twilight? Applejack? Fluttershy? Um...anypony?" It seemed that they had gotten separated in the dark. Suddenly, something caught his ears, a loud scream followed by more screams. "Oh no!" he said to himself as he began to run deeper into the forest. But, no matter which way he went, the screams got quieter. "TWILIGHT" he yelled. "Where are you?! Give me a sign!" Then...a new sound was heard. Laughter. "What the-" the laughing grew louder and seemed to brighten the area around him. As he moved towards it, he eventually found the girls laughing hysterically on the ground, "You all okay?" he asked. "Flash!" Twilight said as she got up and hugged him. "Where were you?! We were worried!" "You were worried?!" he exclaimed back. "I was going out of my mind when I heard your screams! What happened?!" "Yeah, sorry..." she said with a slight blush. "We kind of let the dark play tricks on us." "Luckily, Pinkie was there." Rainbow Dash said. "Indeed." Rarity continued, "She helped us laugh our fears away." "Laugh your fears away?" Flash repeated, confused. "Don't ask." Applejack replied. The girls continued laughing as they left the darkened area and reached a river, a dangerously rapid moving river, "This could be tricky." Flash said. "How are we gonna cross this?" Pinkie asked, but something else caught their attention. A loud, uncontrollable sobbing, which they followed upstream. There, they found to their surprise, a giant purple sea serpent with orange hair. He was throwing such a big hissy fit that his serpentine body's wiggling was what caused the violent ripples in the water. "What a world, what a world!" he cried. "Excuse me sir." Twilight asked, "Why are you crying?" The Sea-Serpent looked down upon them and held his tears back to answer, "Well, I don't know." he explained. "I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whizzed passed me." he then lowered his head down to show them something on his face, "And tore half of my beloved moustache clean off!" one half of his french moustache was shorter then the other. He began flailing around again, "And now I look simply horrid!" This statement made him once again burst out crying, his splashing causing a tidal wave that hit them. "Oh give me a break!" Rainbow yelled in annoyance. "That's what's all the fuss is about?" Applejack asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Of course it is." Rarity stepped up in a triumphant tone. "How can you all be so insensitive?" she then walked up to the Sea-Serpent. "Oh look at him, such lovely luminescent scales." "I know." he replied back. "Your excellently quaffed mane." "Oh, I know, I know." The Sea-Serpent said, stroking his hair back. "Your fabulous manicure". "It's so true." "All ruined without your beautiful moustache.” "It's true, I'm hideous!" Sea-Serpent cried before breaking out into another fresh set of tears. Rarity's look became one of determination. "I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulousity go uncorrected." and with that she took one of the Sea-Serpents scales in her mouth and yanked it off. "OW!" he yelled, "What'd you do that for?!" "Rarity!" Flash barked, "What are you doing?!" but instead of answering, Rarity held the scale high, and with one great swipe, used it to slice through her tail, cutting it clean off. She then levitated the cut tail using her magic to attach it to the cut moustache, making it the perfect length. Though now, it was purple. Sea-Serpent saw this and cheered. "My moustache! How wonderful!" "You look smashing." Rarity said. "Oh Rarity..." Twilight said, looking at her now severely shortened tail, "Your beautiful tail..." "Oh, it's fine dear." She replied, "Short tails are in this season, besides..." she looked unsure as she said this, "It'll grow back." "So would the moustache" Rainbow pointed out. "Girls." Flash moaned before noticing something, "Hey...the river." Now that the Sea-Serpent wasn't crying, the water had settled. "We can it cross now!" Twilight said, beginning to trot across it until she was lifted out of the water, now standing on the Sea-Serpents tail. "Allow me." he then moved himself into five stepping stones, so that the seven could cross without getting into the water. Flash was the last to cross. Instead of flying, he decided to appreciate the creatures kind favour. "Thanks." he said when he was ashore "Didn't catch your name." "Steven Magnet's the name." Steven said, "But you dearie can call me Stevie." Flash swore the Sea-Serpent had given him a wink before he dived into the water. Flash caught up to the girls and after a little more walking, he heard Twilight yell, "There it is." he followed her line of sight and saw an old rock building in the distance. "The ruins that hold the Elements of Harmony. We made it." At that notion, she shot off towards it. "Twilight!" Applejack said. "Wait for us!" "We're almost there!" she called back before she suddenly found herself falling, a massive scream following in her wake. Flash picked up the pace and flew down, catching her before she fell into a group of clouds. Twilight looked back and saw the look he gave her and smiled, embarrassment covering her face. "Sorry about that." They got back up and he lowered Twilight back to the ground. "What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" Rainbow asked. Flash looked back at what Twilight had fallen off. A trench roughly thirty meters wide and so deep that he couldn't even see the bottom. An old rope bridge was attached to their side, but seemed too loose on the other and had fallen down. "Now what?" Pinkie asked. "Duh." Rainbow said, flexing her wings. "Oh yeah." the pink Earth Pony said with a giggle. "We'll leave it to you." Flash said. Rainbow nodded and took off, flying down the trench. Seconds later, she came back up, the rope bridge in her mouth and landed on the opposite side. Then, Flash got worried as instead of tying it off he saw her turn around, and it looked like she was talking to somepony. "Something's wrong." he said. "Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, "What's taking so long?!" but then the clouds parted and they saw Rainbow with somepony else. They looked like the Wonderbolts only their suits were black instead of blue. "Oh no." Twilight said, turning to Flash. "You need to get over there." Flash didn't move, "You need to do something!" "Trust her." he replied, not daring to look away, "Come on Rainbow..." In that second, the clouds moved back into place like magic, which Flash realised it probably was. "Rainbow!" Twilight called. "Don't listen to them!" Flash was beginning to get worried and flexed his wings. However, the rope bridge then began to rise and became still, meaning it had been tied up on the other side. Then out of the cloud Rainbow flew and landed before them. They all cheered as they crossed the bridge. "See, I'd never leave my friends hanging." "For the record. That right there-" Flash said as he pointed at her, "Is definitely Wonderbolt material." "You talk like you know them." but the look on his face told her, "You do know them." "My mentor Grand Hoof pulled some strings and I got to take a specialised Evasive Flying course" Flash explained, "Me and Soarin became good pals. We still hang out whenever he's in Canterlot." "That...is...AWESOME" she cried. "You've gotta introduce me!" "I could mention you next time me and Soarin see each other." he said, her face lit up as he said this. They turned back and found that they had arrived at the ruins of the castle.