Virtual Honest Part 3
Having finally reached their destination, Thomas stands in front of a large red brick warehouse. The building’s design was fairly simple. Standing two stories tall with a large set of swing doors on the front locked by a couple of large padlocks. The second floor was ringed with windows, but they appeared to be blocked. By what neither Thomas nor Screwball could tell from the outside. Taking a few minutes to walk around the outside of the building, all Thomas found was a second smaller door, possibly leading to an office. Trying the handle Thomas wasn’t surprised at all to find it locked.
Thomas Picks Screwball off the top of his head and places her on his palm. “Okay we’re here now so how do we get in? This door is locked, the ones out front are padlocked, and those windows up there are blocked. To be honest with you even had they been opened I really wouldn’t have wanted to fall from a second story.”
Smirking up at Thomas, Screwball pointed at the wall. “You could just do the obvious thing.”
“And that is?” Thomas asked staring at the blank wall she pointed at.
“Duh! Walk through the wall.” As she said this her propeller starts up and she begins floating towards the wall. “See it’s quite easy!” Screwball passed through the wall as is if it wasn’t even there and comes back just as easily.
“I hate to break this to you but I can’t do that. While most of me is intangible, my hands are not.” Thomas places his hands on the wall and pushes to prove his point. “See they don’t budge.”
Scratching her chin with her hoof Screwball looks at Thomas’s hands while humming to herself. “Hmm. That looks like something we’ll have to fix later. Oh well we can work around that for now.” Scrutinizing Thomas her eyes open wide and a large grin grows on her face. “Put your hands in your pockets!”
“What? How?" Thomas stares back and forth between his hands and Screwball. "Why would that work?”
“It’s simple your pants can pass through things right?”
“As far as I can tell yes.” Thomas pokes his right leg through the wall and back to check. “Yep they can pass through no problem.
“Then putting you hands in your pockets should hide them long enough for you to make it through.”
“That makes no sense to me, but what’s the worst that can happen.” Shoving his hands in his pockets and closing his eyes. “Here goes nothing.” Taking a couple of blind steps forward he phases through the wall.
Cheering loudly, “See I told you that would work!” Screwball floats in front of Thomas as he opens his eyes.
“Cartoon logic once again seems to win the day. I really need to stop questioning things like this.” Thomas says as he blinks his eyes a few times as they adjust to the brighter lights of the inside of the warehouse. All around him are large crates of similar size with no visible markings. “I hope this is the right place?” Reaching out for the nearest crate Thomas tries futilely to open it.
Screwball just shrugs her shoulders as she floats ahead of him. “The only thing we can do is explore and hope we find something.”
Before Thomas could make a snarky reply a peal of laughter rings out from across the other side of the warehouse. “Well looks like we know which way we should go now!” Thomas smirks as Screwball just rolls her eyes. Putting his hands back into his pockets the duo moves towards the laughter passing through several crates.
As they step out into the open they quickly find the source of the laughter. A pair of yellow unicorns with red and white manes. The two were sitting on a couch resting on the oddest cart Thomas had ever seen. It looked like a cross between a train and horse drawn cart from the wild west era. The laughter finally subsides when the one on the right without a mustache begins to speak. “Well brother of mine I think we should be able to move on tomorrow, well when night should have been.”
“Oh I agree brother!” Spoke the mustachioed counterpart. “I think we’ve managed to sell enough of our,” he starts to giggle “grow lights to everypony in this town.”
As the two unicorns start laughing again Thomas turns to Screwball. “Hey Screwball, do you happen to know who these two are? They feel kinda antagonistic, like someponies the girls might have run into on their own at some point.”
Placing her hoof to her chin Screwball hums to herself for a moment while her eyes begin flickering slightly with code once again. “Ah there we go, found them! The one on the right without the absurd facial hair is Flim and the other is his twin brother Flam. Had things gone the way they were supposed to.“ Screwball glares at Thomas as she speaks. “They would have met Applejack later in the season and would have tried to steal her farm out from under her.”
Thomas starts scratching the back of his head while looking sheepishly at Screwball. “Yeah I’m sorry about that.”
“Do you think our new artifact will still work in other towns, oh brother of mine?” Flim asked looking towards the grey baseball sized orb sitting atop a pylon above their heads.
“I don’t see why not it fell from the sky so it shouldn’t be tied to this area.” Says Flam as he strokes his mustache. “Come brother our work is done for the night, so we should head to bed. That way we’ll be well rested when we make our get away from these gullible craftsponies.” With that said the twins get up and walk off towards the side exit of the warehouse.
Hearing the side door to the warehouse slam shut Thomas and Screwball make their way to the carriage. Standing in front of the orb Thomas could easily see that it was one of the same orbs that Nightmare Moon launched across Equestria. “We found it Screwball!” Thomas shouts as he looks around the pylon to see if the orb was secured to it in any way. Placing his hands around the orb Thomas readies himself to grab the orb.
“I’m not sure you should do that Thomas.” Said Screwball with a worried look on her face.
“Do what?” Thomas asks as he grabs the orb.
“That!” Screwball shouts in disbelief.
”If I can get this element back to the girls and save them some time, why shouldn’t I try? I mean look it’s not even tied down.” Thomas tries to lift the the orb. His face pales as he realizes something has gone wrong with his plans. “Ummm Screwball, I can’t lift this and my hands are stuck!” Thomas squeaks out in fear.
Before either of them could say another word the orb begins to pulse with a sickening dark light. The pulsing seems to converge on the top, forming a shadowy pool of darkness that quickly takes the shape of a small Nightmare Moon.
“What the hell is that?” Thomas shrieks out as he struggles to remove his hands from the orb.
The little Nightmare Moon looks up at Thomas and her eyes begin to glow an eerie red. She opens her mouth and soundlessly screams at Thomas. While there was no sound there was still a shock wave that buffets against Thomas trying to push him away, but he was rooted to the spot by his hands. Unable to do much of anything Thomas could only watch as Screwball was thrown across the room. The tiny Nightmare decides to stop screaming. Her face then contorts with the most malicious smile he had ever seen. He didn’t even have much time to process the meaning of that smile as bolts of electricity starts to arc from the orb to his chest, arms, and head. Thomas screams as pain becomes the only thing he can feel. The pain is thankfully cut short when his world goes black.
***
“T...as, Th...s w..e p. Tho… c...me on get up!”
“Uhhhh, how many ponies were in that stampede?” Thomas groans as he tries to sit up.
“Thank Discord you’re finally awake!” Screwball shouts as she wraps her hooves around Thomas’s head and tries to squeeze his face off.
“Mhmt mapmenmd?” Thomas tried to say.
“Sorry!” Screwball lets go and floats back a bit.
“What happened?” Thomas asks again as he stumbles to his feet.
“You did something stupid and exploded! I tried to tell you not to touch it right away but you did it anyway.”
“I did what?” Thomas’s eyes grew wide as he realized what she said. “If I exploded how am I here right now?”
“I put you back in one place. I only caught the end of it but what ever struck you blew you into tiny little light motes that spread you all over the room. It looked like any that were close enough would float towards each other and stick though. There were so many spread out everywhere that they couldn’t reach each other to recombine. Thankfully It seemed that I could touch them, so I spent hours putting you back together. Finding every little mote was harder than I had expected. Thankfully though none of them went farther than the warehouse walls.”
Grabbing the tiny pony out of the air Thomas brought her to his face and snuggled her as best he could. “Thank you Screwball. I don’t know what I would have done without you!”
“You probably would have been dispersed for a very long time that’s what!” Said Screwball in a slightly grumpy manner as the much larger human smooshed her with his face.
Pulling her away from his face Thomas looks a bit thoughtful. “You said it took you how long to put me back together?”
“It took me quite a while, so it’s about four am at the the moment.”
“Shit!” Thomas swore as he he grabs Screwball and puts her on his head. “Okay so I can’t touch the elements and those con artists are going to leave later today. We need to get back to the girls and fill them in on the situation and figure out how to stop them.” Tucking his hands back into his pockets Thomas sighs. “Hang on Screwball I’m going to start running in hopes of speeding up our the trip back. This is so going to be such an awkward run.”
Grabbing onto Thomas’s hair Screwball’s smile widens as her ride starts running. “Wee!”
***
While the trip back was shorter than getting out to the warehouse in the first place it still took two hours for Thomas to make it back. Coming in too fast Thomas is forced to put his hands up to keep his sliding stop from tripping himself up and face planting through the wall of the inn. Thomas breathes a sigh of relief. “I hope I never have to do something like that ever again. I’ve seen things Screwball. Things most people are required to pay subscriptions for.”
“Suck it up big guy. You’re an adult!” Giggles Screwball from her head top perch.
“Be that as it may. I didn’t need to know saddles could be used that way!” Thomas shivers as he thinks back on that home he ran though. Looking up towards the window he left from earlier he sees that the curtain has been closed. “I wonder if that means the girls are already down stairs?” Sticking his head through the wall to check, he sees the girls sitting at the same table they had occupied last night at dinner. Pulling his head back he speaks up. “Yep they’re down here, let’s go tell them the news.” Putting his hands back in his pockets for just a moment the duo phase through the wall. “Hey girls!” Thomas speaks up and waves.
“Hey Tomi!” Pinkie cheers waving her fore hooves in excitement.
“Shush, Pinkie darling, did you forget that most ponies can’t see or hear him and had our dear hostess been more…” Rarity begins chiding Pinkie.
“Observant, hearing enabled, awake.” Rainbow Dash pipes in.
Pinkie begins to giggle while Rarity just huffs in annoyance. “Yes any of those would have worked, Rainbow Dash. I was trying to be less insulting though.”
“I hate to interrupt.” Said Thomas as he picks up and places Screwball down on the table. “But we have a few problems.”
“What kinda problems sugar cube?”
“Did you find the Element of Harmony?” Applejack and Twilight asks their differing questions at the same time.
"Yes I found it, but that's the easy part.” Thomas begins explaining what happened to the two of them. With Screwball explaining her part. “So now we have to retrieve the element from them before they leave and possible start this whole scheme over somewhere else.”
Looking around the table Thomas could see emotions were mixed. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy looked equal parts horrified and relieved about Thomas’s explosion and subsequent reconstitution. Twilight had the look of curiosity and Rarity had disgust. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had probably the most expected of looks. Pure anger. They both looked like they were about to jump out of the booth and rush off to pummel Flim and Flam.
Slamming her hooves into the table startling everypony Screwball points at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “I know what you two are thinking. Running off and beating them senseless won’t fix this. Even if you stop them you’ll probably just make the town mad at us and I don’t think we can touch the element as it currently is.
Applejack seemed to calm down but Rainbow Dash just got more angry. Standing up and pointing at Screwball. “What do you expect us to do shorty? We can’t just sit here and do nothing, they’ll get away!”
Screwball just shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know what you should do, but based on what I've seen, I told you what you shouldn’t do.”
“She’s right RD.” Applejack said as she places her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder to get her to sit back down. “If that there element blew Thomas to bits who’s to say it can’t do the same to us. Do we know which one were even going after?”
“We know it’s yours Applejack, based on Thomas’s map, but that doesn’t tell us much.” Said Rarity waving a hoof in Applejack’s general direction.
“What about you Thomas? Do you know which one we’re going after?” Applejack asks while staring holes into Thomas.
“I didn’t get that far before I screwed everything up. So I don’t know what element belongs to each of you. Screwball might know!” Looking down at his diminutive partner her finds her glaring up at him.
Screwball physically Zips her mouth shut and crosses her fore hooves in front of her and looks away. Everypony and one human stare at her waiting for an explanation. Seeing as no one is taking the hint she unzips her mouth. “I can’t say which element belongs to who. To do so would jeopardize everything!”
In a quiet voice Fluttershy speaks up. “So you can help tell us where to look but as long as we as a group figure out what the element is we’ll be okay?”
“Yes. Thomas and I can help, but there are certain things we can’t interfere with and this is one of them.” After Screwball says her piece she floats back to the top of Thomas’s head looking a bit downtrodden.
“Okie Doki Loki. We just have to figure it out for ourselves. What were they again Twili?” Pinkie asks with her usual cheer.
“Oh um, they were Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, and when they’re all together a sixth one will appear.” States Twilight from memory.
“Could it be as simple as that order darling?” Asks Rarity.
“Sorry Rarity but they were mention a few times in the book but never in the same order. That kind of annoyed me to be honest.” Grouses Twilight in annoyance.
The girls go quiet for a few minutes as they all think on what the current element could be. When as sudden as the quietness started it ended in shouts.
“HONESTY!” Pinkie and Twilight Shout at the same time. Turning to face each other Pinkie giggles and says, “Jinx!”
“Pinkie, now isn’t the time for games!” Twilight states.
Pinkie gently taps Twilight’s Shoulder “You owe me a dessert.”
Twilight huffs. “Fine Pinkie I’ll give you my next dessert.”
“Okay sugar cubes how did you two come up with that idea?” Applejack asks.
Pinkie looks over at Twilight and motions for her to go first. “Thank you Pinkie. I remembered before things went completely off track.” Twilight glares at Thomas for a brief moment before turning back to Applejack. “When you were holding on to me, to keep me from falling over the cliff you told me the honest truth that I would be safe. I could see in your eyes that you believed every word you said so I trusted you and let go.”
Thomas could feel Screwball dance a little jig on his head. “I’m a bit afraid to ask but how did you arrive at your conclusion Pinkie? Was it the same as Twilight’s?
Pinkie shakes her head. “Noperonie. I didn’t hear their conversation I was trying to get down the cliff myself. Everything Twilight just said makes sense, but I went at the problem from the other end.” Pinkie took a deep breath. “So I said to myself, myself who currently has the mcguffin we currently seek? Why Flim and Flam, and what are Flim and Flam other than twin unicorn stallions? Con artists I said. Right and what is a con artist at their heart? A liar that’s what. Since a liar is a bad thing and we want a good thing what’s the opposite? An honest person that’s what. I’ve known Applejack for quite some time and I know she couldn’t lie her way out of a paper bag.”
“Hey, I could too!” Applejack pipped in.
“It seemed to reason if we’re after Applejack’s element and we have to deal with liars to get it then it would make sense to me that Applejack’s element is Honesty.” Pinkie just smiles as she finishes her explanation.
Rainbow Dash face hooves, Rarity and Fluttershy stare in shock. Applejack grumbles a bit still kind of annoyed at the paper bag remark. Twilight’s jaw just drops as she takes in Pinkie’s weird but surprisingly accurate logic since no pony is refuting it. Thomas and Screwball though just bust up laughing.
“Really Pinkie that’s how you figured it out.” Thomas continues to laugh. “I can’t tell if you’re a genius or not Pinkie, but in either case don’t change.”
“I, um okay,” Rarity stammers “With those delightful explanations out of the way, does anypony see any reason to doubt that Applejack’s element is Honest?”
Everypony at the table shakes their heads. “Alright we know what we’re after but how do we do it?” Rainbow Dash asks.
“Mind if I make a suggestion?” Thomas asks sheepishly while raising his hand.
“Sure Tomi, go right ahead!” Pinkie said happily while ignoring a glare from Rainbow Dash.
“If we’re up against a couple of liars and we are actually trying to get Honesty, maybe we should try to expose them to the town at large.”
Applejack puts a hoof to her chin and hums to herself for a moment. “Exposing their lies with our truth. I like it sugar cube, and it’s given me an idea on how to do it. Hey Twi? How big of an area do ya think ya could affect with your spell? That one that removed the gullibility spell on them there torches?” Applejack asks with a large grin on her face.
“Well not the whole town, but I think I could cover town square with it.”
“Perfect I saw a good couple of dirt patches there I can use. Twi, since you talked with the mayor already do you think you could get him to get all of the important ponies in town to gather in the town square? With Flim and Flam of course.”
“Make sure they bring their carriage with them. Since that’s where the element is currently stored.” Said Thomas.
“I think I can get the mayor to get them all together. Rarity, do you mind coming with me? I could use your business acumen to help convince him.” Twilight asks as she turns to Rarity for a moment.
“Sure darling, I’ll come help dazzle the mayor with my business skills.” Flipping her mane in a flirty manner Rarity smiles at Twilight. “He’ll never know what hit him."
“We don’t need to bombard him Rarity. We just need to make sure he understands how dire the situation really is.” Twilight turns back towards Applejack. “Are you sure you know what you’re going to do to convince the fore ponies that Flim and Flam have ripped them off?”
“Sure as I know my own orchard Twi. Just make sure once they’ve assembled you can cast your spell and leave the rest to me and the Apple clan’s reputation.” Applejack smiles at Twilight, a smile filled with so much confidence even Thomas can see she knows what she’s doing.
“Alright then, so Rarity and I will be heading for the mayor’s office now, but what will the rest of you be doing in the meantime?”
“Well I have a few idea, but you two should get going so the mayor will have time to get things together.” Applejack said as she wave Twilight and Rarity off.
With Twilight and Rarity now gone Applejack turns to the other girls. “Okay I have a few plans hopefully they won’t be too hard to pull off in a few hours. This may or may not be strange to you Pinkie but can you set up some refreshments in town square?” Pinkie squee’d at this and nods her head vigorously. “Thanks Pinkie, It doesn’t have to be huge but enough to calm ponies down at being asked to show up somewhere they weren’t expecting to be.” Looking over at Fluttershy caused her to hide a bit behind her mane. “Sorry shy but do you think you could get some of the local animals to give up a few tree seeds?”
Fluttershy looks a bit confused at the request, but nods. “ I can certainly ask. Do you need a lot of them?”
“Nope just three or four seeds each from a different tree is all.” Applejack explains, then turns to Rainbow Dash. “As for you Dash, you do know where the Warehouse that Flim and Flam are staying at, right?”
“Sure I know how to get to it. I can be there in five minutes, why?”
“Can you keep an eye on it to make sure those no good varmints don’t try to leave town early.”
“And if they do try to leave?”
“Come find me Rainbow Dash.” Thomas says with a mischievous smirk on his face.
“And what exactly are you going to do? Let them escape?” Rainbow Dash snarks back.
“Nope I think I can scare them back into town. They’ve never seen anything like me and I should be able to convince them that they either need to stay in town or only death awaits them if they leave.” Starting to laugh maniacally Thomas actually causes Rainbow Dash to back up in fear.
Applejack just laughs as Rainbow Dash just scowls at Thomas. “Fine I’ll come get you if they try to leave but if you screw up again I’ll find a way to buck you head off your shoulders.”
“Pinkie I’ll help with the baking as long as Gin lets us use the kitchen. Thomas can you go wait in town square? In case Dash needs you or Twilight and Rarity finish early.” Applejack asks.
“Sure Applejack. No problem, any place you want me to look for while there.”
“Actually yes. A large patch of dirt that doesn’t look like it’s been stomped into hard stone.”
“Will do. See you girls later.” Heading for the nearest wall Thomas waves one last time and heads through the wall. “Well Screwball this is going to be a long wait. Anyway you can let me play some of the games on my phone?” Thomas asks as they begin their walk to town square.
“Not quite but I can think of a few games we can play while we wait.” Replies Screwball cheerfully.
***
With noon approaching, town square was filling up with ponies wondering exactly what was going on. The tables were covered pastries and punch and went a long way in keeping the peace. Thomas noticed how many seem to go from looking dour and perturbed to actually smiling after eating one of Pinkie Pie’s treats. So far Flim and Flam hadn’t shown up yet but Rainbow Dash had assured the rest that they were on their way as they had issues maneuvering their carriage through town.
A few minutes later a rumbling sound can be heard coming down the road. It didn’t take much longer before Flim and Flam had parked their carriage on the edge of the square. Walking into the crowd the brothers saw all the food laid out and quickly made their way towards it. “Well brother dear I don’t remember hearing about any parties being thrown” Flim remarked.
“I don’t recall hearing anything of the sort either, brother mine.” Flam said as he swallows a cupcake.
“That’s because I decided to throw this one this morning!” Pinkie shouts as she Pronks, bounces and flips around the pair of unicorns. “I just love throwing parties for ponies I don’t know!”
The twins stare at Pinkie as she continues her acrobatics into the crowd.
Soon a gruff voice calls out silencing everypony gathered. “Okay Number why did you call us here?”
In a rather meek but still clear heard voice Number Cruncher speaks out “I uh, I didn’t.”
“What do you mean you didn’t!” A smattering of fore ponies yell back.
“We called you here!” Pinkie shouts as she continues to bounce around the square drawing all eyes on her. “I just love to throw parties for ponies I don’t know. I find it the easiest way to get to know ponies in a nice relaxed environment.”
Everypony not in the know just stares at her dumbfounded. “You know we're very busy here miss?” Said the gruff voice that called out Number Cruncher earlier.
“Pinkie Pie!” She said as she continued her act.
Unbeknownst to everypony else Twilight was using Pinkie Pie’s acrobatic antics to cast her spell without drawing attention to herself. Soon the entire square was awash with an unseen spell wiping all traces of the spell Flim and Flam were using to coerce the town. As soon as she finishes she gave a quick nod to Applejack to say all was ready for her.
Applejack Smiling Hops up on a nearby bench. “This here party wasn't the only reason we called ya’ll here.” Pinkie quickly stops her bouncing and all eyes turn to Applejack. “We’re here to help your town. If things aren’t changed your entire town will be bitless and possible homeless.”
“How can that be?” A random stallion pipes up near Applejack. “With Flim and Flam’s torches we’ll be at the forefront in keeping Equestria alive in these dark times!”
Applejack drops her smile and looks seriously at the crowd in front of her. “That there is the problem. Flim and Flam’s torches are a sham.” The crowd gasps in shock. Applejack takes one of said torches given to her by Rarity. Turning it on Applejack continues. “Sure they light up and push back the darkness, but their claim that these torches can help plants grow even in this darkness is utter horns-waggle! And I aim to prove it.” Applejack hops down off the bench and moves towards a large swath of dirt that’s been tilled slightly.
“I know none of you know who ah am. My name is Applejack, but I bet many of you have heard of the the Apple clan and even if you don’t know any of us personally I’m sure you know our reputation.” There were murmurs throughout the crowd as those that did know told those that didn’t. “Ah with my family run Sweet Apple Acres down in Ponyville. Much like most of the Apple clan I’m a farmer and any earth pony here should be able to tell you what a farmer is capable of in making sure their crops grow big and strong.” Reaching into her hat Applejack pulls out some seeds. “ I have here three seeds, one Apple, one Acorn, and one Oak seed. Ah’m going to plant these three seed here and show you exactly how these so called miracle torches work.” Stepping down the line Applejack plants one seed in its own separate hole. As she does she whispers to each one. “Ah’m sorry little seed but your sacrifice won’t be in vain.”
Rarity walks behind Applejack and places one of Flim and Flam’s torches near the seeds but giving it enough room should they grow. “Are you ready darling?”
“Sure am sugar cube” Applejack walks back to the apple seed. Rising up on her hind hooves she rubs her front ones together and then slams them back onto the ground. The murmuring begins again as the unicorns and pegasi in the crowd try to ask their earth pony brethren what was happening. Before they even had a chance, the answer started to push up from the earth as a small apple tree sprout began to grow right before their eyes.
The plant soon starts to slow its upward climb so Applejack moves on to the next seed. But before she had even finished with the third seed the apple sprout had started to whither and die. Quickly falling apart and becoming one with the earth once more. Having now finished what she could she stands back and watches as the other two sprouts also wither and die. “This!” She shouted. “Is what happens when you force a plant to grow without direct sunlight!” Wiping her eyes with the back of her hoof she turned back to the crowd. “The ground here is strong these trees could have easily grown here. Without the sun though forcing them starved them and killed them faster than your axes would have.” Pointing towards Flim and Flam, who were at the center of the crowd, Applejack hops back onto the nearby bench. “Those two have conned you. They’ve sold this entire town a scam. Claiming it would benefit all of Equestria. When in actuality, it only benefits them and would only help ruin Equestria.”
Having witnessed something that countered what Flim and Flam had told them the crowd quickly turns on the brothers. Some shouting for their heads, others demanding their money and time back, others still begin to panic. The brothers themselves realizing their luck had taken a dramatic turn for the worse decide to make a break for it.
“I think our welcome has officially worn out, brother dear!” Flim says in a panicky voice.
“I do believe your right.” Says Flam as they ran for their carriage.
As the Twin con ponies reach their destination they came to a screeching halt as they find Pinkie Pie standing there holding a piece of their engine. She had a rather manic smile on her face and was waving her hoof in a way that said. “You’re not getting away using this.” Seeing as their ride was now out of commission the brothers look towards each other and scream. This had the unfortunate effect of bringing their position to the attention of the crowd. Realizing the danger they were about to be in the two began running for their lives. Half the crowd started chasing them while the other half stayed unsure what to do next.
Thomas joins the rest of the girls standing in front of the con ponies carriage. “So any idea how to get that thing down yet Twilight?”
Twilight was silent as she stares at the element still stuck to the machine. She was about to answer when Number Cruncher interrupted them. “Thank you Miss Applejack for showing and talking some sense into the towns ponies. I knew something had been wrong but never realized how bad it was going to get if we had continued on our current plans.”
“Ah shucks, tweren't nothing. Any earth pony farmer would have eventually seen the uselessness of those torches.” Says Applejack as she waves off Number Cruncher’s praise.
“No, No I really don’t think they could have. I believe the way you acted puts you at the epitome of what we should all be striving for.” With that said Number Cruncher reaches out to shake Applejack’s hoof.
Before she could reach out and shake his hoof her eyes begin to glow bright white, and she begins to float into the air. At the same time the element aboard the carriage starts to glow and crack.
“What’s going on! We weren’t trying to destroy it!” yells Twilight in a panic.
The cracks soon cover the entire orb and it shatters into hundreds of fragments. Said fragments begin to circle the floating Applejack. Everypony currently in the square just stares in awe as the fragments coalesce into a necklace upon Applejack’s neck. On the front of the necklace was a large orange gem in the shape of her cutie mark. Upon the necklace's completion her eyes begin to return to their normal colors and she floats back to the ground.
Blinking a few times Applejack looks around a bit confused. “What happened?”
“Woohoo, You did it Applejack!” Pinkie cheers as she jumps up and down while pointing to her neck. “The Element of Honesty is yours now!”
Applejack looks down and her neck and sees her new Element of Honesty. “Huh so ah did.”
Before anypony else could congratulate her the element begins to pulse, releasing a ghostly yet glitchy version of itself. “Um Screwball do you know what that is?’ Thomas asks as he feels her get up off his head.
“You’ll know soon enough!” She laughs as she floats towards the ghost element. Opening her mouth bigger than her entire body Screwball swallows it whole and begins to laugh her tail off. “See you ponies later!” With that she flies toward Thomas, doing a quick flip in mid air she reverts back to Thomas’s phone and lands in his hand.
Thomas looks down at his outstretched hand. “WHAT!” It's the last thing he can say or do as the feeling of being pulled is upon him once more and the world around him is stretched away.