//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Rise of the Element Gang, Book 2: Friendship Adventures // by Power of Six //------------------------------// Prologue Dusk’s log It’s been over a few months since me and the guys moved here to Ponyville and so much has already happened. Seems like yesterday I went to the library to finally talk to Twilight Sparkle, a fellow student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and the one pony I hoped to become friends with, having the support of three friends I already made there in Canterlot: Shield Steedor, a superfast stallion who dreams of becoming a part of the Wonderbolts; Dog Fries, a faithful cowpony; and Leon Aquilous, who had now become a former flirt. I was disappointed that Twilight didn’t come to the library and the whole thing got worse when me and the guys found out that today was the day a prophecy would come to pass: the return of Nightmare Moon, one of the greatest ancient evils that’s ever come to Equestria that promised to bring eternal night upon her return. We were lucky the prophecy of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony came true as well. With this, Canterlot came to welcome back Princess Luna, the alicorn royal responsible for raising and setting the moon and the younger sister of Princess Celestia, raiser of the sun and ruler of Equestria. With the celebration of welcoming Luna back, me and the guys found out that Twilight was one of those new wielders. Though discouraged by it, Shield and the others managed to get my spirits back up. But, in the process, I accidently revealed my magic to somepony: Princess Celestia herself. I first thought she was gonna be a little freaked out from seeing it, but she told me that she enjoyed seeing my talent. For the first time in a long time, I found somepony who actually found my magic to be amazing. After that, I got a letter from her saying that she arranged me and the guys to go to Ponyville, where I would be working with Twilight as her assistant in the local library. From stepping first hoof in the town, we made new friends: Applejack, Dog’s childhood cowpony friend; Pinkie Pie, an energetic party planner; my fashionista cousin Rarity; a daredevil pegasus named Rainbow Dash, who reminds me much of Shield; and Fluttershy, a timid animal caretaker and Leon’s childhood crush. We even made friends with Spike, a young dragon and my fellow assistant at the library. With all these new friends and my new job at the library, I finally became friends with Twilight. Through those months with the girls, I got to experience a lot of things and learn somethings about friendship. I got to know everypony better, got to have fun with them, help them out a bit, I got to be part of my first race, and I even told the guys the truth about the Equestria Games incident, where an accident with my magic caused a stallion by the name of Dawn Racer to become paralyzed. One day in winter, me and the guys finally got our chance to throw the girls the big thank you party for them saving Equestria from Nightmare Moon. Though, on that day, I made a shocking discovery: Celestia had ordered the girls to be my friends. That really struck me hard. To find out that all that I had been through with them, all the great moments of our friendship, was built on nothing but lies. Though, thanks to the guys, I saw that I jumped to conclusions and that I needed to figure out if what I thought was true and they were gonna help me do it. Though, after we set up the party, we waited for the girls to come back, but they didn’t. After seeing how long it was, me and the guys decided to go out and search for them. With this, the four of us transformed into our elementals forms: me as El Dragon, Shield as Apolloid, Dog as Icedra, and Leon as Posidacus, the four being better known in these forms as the hero team the Element Squad. By working together and me discovering a new power in my magic, we managed to find Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, who were all led into different traps with the bait being the sounds of something they could not resist going towards or somepony they would try to rescue. With rescuing the five, me and the guys then came across a shocking surprise: two of the girls were actually the two last elementals that me and guys needed to find for our team! Turned out Pinkie Pie was actually the Lightning elemental (which explained her wild and energetic personality) going by the hero name ShockBlade and Rarity, my own cousin, was actually the Air elemental with the hero name Torna. This whole rescue came with great surprises for me, the guys, and the girls (me and the guys finding out about Rarity and Pinkie Pie and the girls finding out that me and the guys were the Element Squad). Though, with these surprises, also came a terrible discovery. When we went to save Twilight, we found the one responsible for trapping the girls: a Paraserpent, a dangerous creature from Equestria’s past that was a master of deception and feeds off the energy of other creatures. It wanted to consume the girls and use their power to take revenge on Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The creature almost killed me, but the friendship I had with the guys and the girls were able to help me escape the Paraserpent and unlock my Thermal Touch, a rare elemental power only used by a few special Fire Dragons. In one final battle with it, I single-clawedly took on the monster and beat it. It slithered away, vowing to return for vengeance. In the end of that mission, I was injured and had to stay in the hospital for a while. One day, Celestia and Dragonis, along with the guys, came by for a visit. With their Celestia and Dragonis praised for my efforts in leading my team and saving Twilight and the others along with gaining my new power. That’s when I spoke out and told Celestia what I heard from the girls, that they only became my friends because she ordered them too, that our friendship wasn’t genuine. The guys even stood up and told her that I was great friend and that she had no right to force anypony to be my friend. Though we were all shocked as she told us that she didn’t ordered the girls to become my friends, she just suggested it. The girls wanted to become my friends because they wanted to. Hearing this, me and the guys apologized to the Princess and she forgave us. With that, the girls came along and I told them the reasons for my actions. They forgave me for my actions and allowed me to be a part of their friendship, an offer I truly accepted and thus expanding my circle of friends. After finally being let out of the hospital, I came across one last surprise: the girls threw me a party as their way of welcoming me to Ponyville, saying thanks for saving them from the Paraserpent, saying “you’re welcome” to me and the guys for saving Equestria from Nightmare Moon, and to celebrate our friendship. With this, I then decided to share the secret of my color magic with them and they all loved it. So now the girls knew our secret, they know about my color magic, and we are all great friends. Though I’m still conscious about showing my magic out in public, I’m glad that I have friends to show it to here in Ponyville. And now my team is finally complete. With all six elementals together, we are no longer the Element Squad. We are now the new Element Gang! Though Rarity and Pinkie Pie are still trying to sharpen their skills, I’m sure they’ll be able to be ready for anything. For what will happen next, we’ll just have to wait and see.