All the girls, Celestia, and Luna had arrived at the edge of the Everfree, and the girls were still waiting for a full explanation. "Celestia, why is this happening?" Asked Rainbow, the princess hadn't said anything that explained why this was happening to Spike.
All the girls looked to the princess wanting an explanation of what was going on. Celestia sighed at the looks. "Long ago, when I was forced to banish Luna to the moon because of Nightmare, the spell I used required that I place conditions when it was complete. So, at the time, I set it for 1000 years, hoping that Luna would figure out that Nightmare was using her, second, if that did not happen, and the 1000 years went past, then upon their return they could not harm me or my ponies. Lastly, if they wished to return fully, they would need to use the Elements of Harmony, but until then they will be considerably weaker. So, if we want to get Spike back from Nightmare, we must get to the Elements first and use them on Spike."
Fluttershy nodded as she walked into the forest without a word, she was determined to get her little baby back, no matter what, but she was not alone, all the girls followed Fluttershy into the dangerous forest. Luna looked to Celestia. "Sister, should I warn them about the traps that Nightmare set before we arrived?"
Celestia shook her head. "No, I planned for them to just blow past anything that you might have setup. Believe it or not, Fluttershy stared down the newest dragon lord, without a second thought. That was the whole reason I wanted you to take Spike, nothing is going to stop them from getting him back."
Luna sighed as she expected nothing less from Celestia. "Then let’s make sure we get him back, or I'll be dead." Said Luna as she walked into the forest. Celestia sighed as she followed her sister into the forest, ready to face any challenge for Spike.
Nightmare just arrived at the old castle, and the moment they saw it, they smiled. "Finally, I can fully return."
"So, you want to talk or something, or are you just going to use my body, and not clue me in to the whole plan?" Asked Spike.
"Seriously? Luna at least put up a small fight when I first took over her, why are you acting so calm?"
"Like I told Luna, I trust my Grandma, so I know everything will work out alright. So, what exactly are you?"
"I am Nightmare, a force that was born from hatred, bitterness, jealousy, and dark magic. Now I need to locate the Elements so I can return and rule the world."
"Then what?"
"I rule the world, I said that."
"Yeah, what about after that?"
"I don't get what you're talking about, I rule the world and that's it."
"Seriously, 1000 years on the moon, and ruling the world is all you have?"
"What, I will have the world in my hooves...claws, sorry been with Luna for too long. Able to do anything I want."
"Yeah, then what happens, do you think that everyone in the whole world will just say, whelp Celestia's done, lets follow the crazy dragon that doesn't have magic, can't move the sun, and is only 11 years old? What about a revolt? Grandma has been ruling for 1000 years, and many creatures will not let this happen. Oh, if all of the races don't take kindly to being ruled by you, will you attack them and force them to rally the other races, or will you just stay in Equestria. Can't do that and rule the world."
"Wow, you are a buzz kill, and where does a 11 year old even learn stuff like this?"
"Comics, Power Ponies issue #145, The Mane-iac was super charged with some cosmic powers and tried to take over the world instead of Maretropolis. But this kicked the hornets’ nest, when other heroes from around the world joined the Power Ponies and over powered her. She got crazy powerful, and not only made herself a problem for the Power Ponies but for many powerful heroes, and that was her own downfall."
"Spike, this is real life, not some cheesy story that always ends for the best." Said Nightmare as she looked at her host.
Spike shook his head. 'If only she knew.'
As the group of mares made their way to Spike, they were walking on a mountainside. "So, I remember reading about the elements, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic makes it all complete, but they were lost centuries ago." Said Twilight, she then looked to Celestia. "Princess, how do you know that they are in the old castle?"
Celestia sighed. "Twilight, the reason they were lost to time was because I was the one that hid them away. Before my sister was taken over, both of us were bound to the elements, but once Nightmare took over, I could feel that the elements were going to sever their connection to me, so in a last ditch hope, I used all the remaining magic they stored to use the spell. Thankfully, it worked, but it completely drained them and severed my connection to them. In time you will learn more about them, but as it is right now, they are almost fully charged, and are waiting for a bearer to unlock them again." Suddenly as the group was walking around a turn, a cloud of purple smoke trigged a landslide. "GIRLS LOOK OUT." Cried Celestia. She used her magic to pull all the girls back before they were crushed. But the landslide threw up a lot of dirt. "Girls, is everyone alright?" Asked Celestia.
All the girls groaned, but aside from getting dizzy, they were all right. "Yes."
As the dust cleared, everyone saw the path that was now impassable. "Great, but thankfully there is another route nearby." Said Celestia
All the girls nodded as they followed the princess, when the edge of the mountainside started to crumble. This created another landslide that swept away the girls down to a cliff. "AWE!"
But Rainbow was the first to take to the air. "I got you Pinkie!" Cried Rainbow as she swooped down and grabbed Pinkie by her legs. "Shy, get Rarity."
Fluttershy nodded and kicked it into high gear. She grabbed Rarity's tail with her mouth and stopped her from sliding. But that still left Applejack and Twilight. Applejack grabbed a root that was hanging out of the cliff and stopped her sliding, but when she did, she noticed that Twilight was still sliding to the cliff's edge.
Thankfully, she was able to stop herself, but she was hanging off by her own strength. "HELP!" Cried Twilight.
Applejack took a deep breath and released her hold on the root. "Hold on I'm coming." Said the mare as she slid down to Twilight. Once she was down with Twilight, she wrapped her hooves around the mare’s legs.
Twilight was scared. "Applejack, what do I do?"
Applejack looked up and noticed that Luna and Celestia were ready to get the mare. So, in a straight face she looked at Twilight. "Let go."
"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Cried the mare, she was not going to let go and drop to her death.
"No, I ain't. I promise you'll be safe." Said Applejack.
Twilight still didn't believe her. "That's not true!"
But Applejack looked into the mare's eyes. "Now listen here. What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe."
After looking into Applejack's eyes, she felt like Applejack was being completely honest with her. So, with only the trust in her friend she let go of Applejack's legs and started to fall... for about a second. She was caught by Celestia and Luna the moment they noticed her falling. "Princess?"
"Did you really think that I was going to let you fall Twilight?" Asked Celestia.
"Ugh." Said Twilight as she went limp.
Celestia giggled as she used her magic to grab Applejack and carried both mares to the bottom of the mountain side, where the others were waiting. "Girls, is everyone alright again?" Asked Celestia.
"Yep, all good." Said Pinkie.
"Ok, that one worked, but I teleported a..." Suddenly there was a loud roar coming through the tree line. Luna sighed, she had teleported a manticore that lived deeper in the forest to right around here to handle any survivors, and to top it off, she shoved a thorn into its paw, so it was going to be mad.
"Girls, we have a problem... MANTICORE!" Cried Twilight.
All the girls looked to the manticore as he walked out of the trees, but Fluttershy noticed 3 things about it almost instantly. "Manny?" Cried the mare as she flew over to the manticore. "What are you doing here?" The manticore growled as he showed his paw. "Oh, you poor thing, how did this happen?" More growling. "I see, well that is odd." He growled again, and Fluttershy sighed. "Sorry Manny, Spike is in trouble and we're trying to get to him, but you're free to stop by soon and chat?" Manny nodded and Fluttershy pulled out the thorn. "There, all better." Manny grabbed Fluttershy and gave her head a lick. "Ok, ok, you're welcome Manny." He put down his friend and walked back into the forest to get back to his den.
Fluttershy walked back to the group with a smile on her face. "Such a sweet boy." But everyone was looking at her in shock. "What?"
Twilight looked to the mare, then to the place the manticore was. "How did you do that?"
Fluttershy giggled. "Oh, that was Manny, he stopped by my house about 2 months back, poor thing was defending himself from a Timberwolf, and got his stinger stuck in a tree trunk. So, after he promised to behave, I brought him to my house and helped him. But I wanted to make sure that there were no splinters, so I got Spike to talk with him while I examined his tail. But he lives much further in, what was he doing so far away from his home?"
Luna looked away and started whistling. "Who knows, but we mustn't stop, young Spike is in need." Said Luna. This got the train back on track.
"Right." Said all the girls as they followed the path.
Celestia looked to Luna with a shocked face. "Really, a Manticore? Are you crazy, how is that not a breach of the conditions?"
"Technically, I was not the one that was going to hurt them, and yes I was crazy, remember?" Celestia sighed, but suddenly there was the sound of Pinkie singing coming through the trees. "What is happening now?" Asked Luna.
"Pinkie Pie." Said Celestia as she followed the sound of Pinkie.
Inside of the tree's, Pinkie was finishing up her song. "So, giggle at the ghostly
Guffaw at the grossly
Crack up at the creepy
Whoop it up with the weepy
Chortle at the kooky
Snortle at the spooky
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!" Finished Pinkie as she flopped onto her back and started laughing, soon all the girls joined her as now the dark forest didn't seem so bad.
"Girls, what happened?" Asked Celestia, she was worried that it was another one of Nightmare's traps.
"Oh, we let our imaginations run wild, but we got past it, and now we're all laughing." Said Pinkie.
"But I heard singing?" Asked Luna.
"Silly Luna, you can't be scared when your singing." Said Pinkie as she wrapped her leg around the mare's neck.
"You are a strange one Miss Pie."
Pinkie giggled as she gently slapped Luna's shoulder. "Awe, thank you Luna, you are quite strange as well."
Luna smiled as she thought back to her conversation with Spike. "I see where Spike gets it from, but more on that later, we are not too far now, we must make haste."
Pinkie adopted her serious look, which was still a smile, but it was a serious smile, and she nodded. "Right, so that's me, Fluttershy, and AJ, that means that it's Rarity's turn." Pinkie looked to the trunk of a tree. "Hey Mister Writer, I know your there, go to the next scene."
'Fine, but stop that, I'm the one writing this.'
"I know and you're doing a great job, have a cupcake." Pinkie pulled a cupcake from her mane and pushed it behind a tree.
'You know what, cool, good luck with Steven.' The writer grabbed the cake and smiled. 'Red velvet, nice.'
So, after braking every known wall in the universe, Pinkie and group continued on their way to save Spike.