//------------------------------// // The Scaled Messenger // Story: Wilmont // by gmen15 //------------------------------// The Scaled Messenger Carl's House Rainbow Dash was still in the bathroom with her tear-streaked face buried in her hooves. She still was shaking from fear and embarrassment at what she confessed about Ryan. Even if she tried to rationalize it as just a spur of the moment thing to get everypony off her back with the whole “fillyfooler” thing, she realized that it was true. She did have romantic feelings for her partner. A human. When she was a pony. "Why couldn't I just be a normal mare and fall for a stallion?" She thought sadly, "Or…why couldn't Ryan be a stallion?" While only Pinkie Pie and Applejack were still standing by the bathroom door, everyone, especially Lisa, was extremely concerned about her. Anna was quieter than normal, and Twilight kept giving Lisa an accusing glare, which Lisa tried to ignore, but to no avail. The violet mare's eyes were like daggers to Lisa's heart, as nothing that felt worse than being despised by your favorite cartoon pony, especially when the hatred stemmed from sending an innocent pony into the bathroom in tears. Anna was furious at her sister for hurting her favorite pony’s feelings the way she had, and the constant glare she gave her older sister was all that she needed to do in order to prove her point. So not only did Lisa have to contend with Twilight's glare, but her own sister's as well. But even she knew that she deserved scorn for her behavior. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Rainbow Dash continued to quietly cry and think over her feelings about Ryan. She suddenly heard a light rapping at the bathroom door, followed by Pinkie Pie's voice from the other side. "Aw, come on Dashie. Don’t be a party pooper." "Yeah RD, come out of that there bathroom." came the concerned voice of Applejack. Rainbow Dash gave a small sniffle, wiping some tears away from her eyes with the back of her hoof before whimpering her reply. "I can't." Applejack let out a sigh sigh before she knocked her own hoof against the door. "Look Rainbow, y’all have been in there long enough. Nopony's upset with you, just come out so we can talk." "No, go away. None of you guys can understand how I feel right now." She said angrily as tear continued to run down her face. "I mean…I don’t even understand it." "RD, listen ya have just got ta relax." Applejack said as comfortingly as possible, but Rainbow Dash felt too disgusted with herself to pay heed to her friends tone. "If Ryan found out, he'd hate me." Rainbow Dash said with a fear-filled, shaky voice as she imagined how Ryan would react if he found out her affection for him. None of the imagined possible reactions were good. "Have ya seen the way he worships ya? Ah promise ya he wouldn’t see ya any differently if he found out." Applejack said confidently, “Not that he even has to.” "Yes he would. He'd freak out AJ. I mean, I’m a pony and he’s a human, it’s un-natural and weird. Besides, it's not like he feels the same way about me." There was a long silence after this as Rainbow Dash waited for a response. When none came, she turned towards the door, her eyes still damp with her tears. "Um AJ, are you still there?" Rainbow Dash asked. A few more seconds of silence before Applejack spoke up, "Uh-huh, yeah ah’m here." Just then, Rainbow Dash realized something, both with what she said before the weird silence as well as Applejack’s strangely nervous tone when replying. Now Rainbow Dash knew her friend wasn’t telling her something, "Wait a sec, is there something about Ryan you're not telling me?" After another silence, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and got up onto her back-legs and opened the door. On the other side she saw Pinkie Pie and Applejack standing. Pinkie Pie looked at Rainbow Dash and her face instantly lit up into a smile. Applejack, however, was looking away from Rainbow Dash with a red face, as if she was hiding something. "Yay Dashie, you’re finally out!” Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down happily. She then pulled out her party foghorn, “Come on, let’s celebrate!” "Give us one second Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said before she grabbed Applejack, who let out a surprised yelp, and pulled her into the bathroom and shut the door in the confused pink mare’s face. Pinkie scratched her head with her hoof before she shrugged and sat down, patiently waiting for the two best friends to finish talking. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Rainbow Dash looked at her friend crossly. She saw that Applejack still had a very nervous look on her face, and seemed to be avoiding Rainbow Dash's eyes. Something she did when she was hiding something, as her conscience was the size of Texas. Rainbow Dash decided it was time to get answers. "Okay AJ, start talking. What are you not telling me?" "A-ah ain’t keepin’ anything from y’all." Applejack lied, quite poorly might I add. "Applejack, there's a reason why you're the Element of Honesty. It's because you're a terrible liar, now tell me the truth." Rainbow Dash said, moving her face up so it was directly in front of Applejack’s, their muzzles pressed together. Rainbow Dash’s accusing, red eyes penetrated Applejack’s nervous, green ones as she tried to look away from her friend, who seemed to be trying her best to imitate Fluttershy’s “stare”. Applejack finally looked directly into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. She let out a sigh in defeat, "Ah can’t. Ah promised Ryan I wouldn’t.” Rainbow Dash grabbed Applejack by the shoulders and pulled her face close to her own. Her eyes were pleading and her words were desperate. "Please, you've got to tell me, what do you know about Ryan?" As she said this, tears started to form in her eyes. Applejack sighed and looked down, "Ryan; please forgive me." She whispered under her breath before looking back up into Rainbow Dash's eyes. "Ryan told me that he has a…crush on you." And he dreamt that he was a pegasus and ya’ll were flying together…and y’all kissed.” Rainbow Dash's took a step back and her face was in pure shock. The tears started to stop and she wiped her eyes as slowly her sadness was replaced with hope. “sniff….Really?" Rainbow Dash asked Applejack, who nodded in response. Rainbow Dash's shocked expression became full of pure joy as she hugged Applejack. "Oh, thank you AJ! Thank you for telling me that!" Applejack let out a sigh of relief before they broke the hug. "All right, settle down there partner. A-are ya gonna tell him?" Rainbow Dash nodded, "Of course." "When?" She put her hoof to her chin to think about it until her eyes brightened up, like she had an epiphany. "Later tonight, I've got a plan." She said with a sly smirk. Applejack gave her friend a nervous look and Rainbow Dash's expression fell when she realized what Applejack thought she meant. "Oh no! Not that! Please! I just meant telling him in a cool way! Geez, what kind of mare do you think I am AJ?" Rainbow Dash said with a nervous chuckle. "Oh, uh, okay then." Applejack said with a sigh of relief. Both girls giggled and walked out of the bathroom to join the rest of them in Carl's bedroom. Rainbow Dash was now feeling much happier than she had in a long time. Street- Night While all of that drama was going on back at Carl's house; Carl, James and Ryan were still in the car heading back. James was in the back seat, still trembling a little bit as he tried to unsuccessfully rationalize what had happened in the magic shop. Carl was thinking about it as well, while he also pulled his phone out to send a text. Ryan just kept driving down the dark, desolate road, thoughts changing between Mr. Courtie and Rainbow Dash. "So we need to find a way to get to the mayor, right?" Ryan asked as he turned to look at Carl. "Not yet. We need to find the other three elements first." Carl muttered as he looked down at his phone. “Even then we can’t just go in guns blazing like Rambo. We need some kind of plan.” "Good point, for now we should stay under wraps, right?" Ryan asked. Carl nodded without looking at him. He was busy finalizing his text to Lisa to make sure everything was all right back at the house. After sending the message, he put his phone back into his pocket and leaned his head back against his headrest and let out a deep sigh, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, trying to rid himself of the day’s stresses. First the stress brought on by the events at the mall, then the whole “Inception room” thing Mr. Courtie had going on, not to mention his transformation. Carl just hoped the rest of the night would be relatively uneventful. "Right," Carl looked through the rearview mirror to James in the back, "Hey James, are you all right?" James didn't answer immediately, so Carl tried again, "James!" James quickly looked up at Carl, still shaky. "Huh?" “You okay bud?” James slowly nods. “Still freaked out?” Ryan asked as Carl turned back forward so that he was sitting in his seat correctly. “Can you blame him? Look how shocked we were, imagine being a realist like him and seeing the shit we did.” "Look let's just get back to your house and deal with everything when we get there." Ryan muttered as he turned his attention back to the road. Unfortunately, fate was a cruel bitch and would always pick the most inopportune moments to reveal just how badly it planned to screw you over. This time, fate came in the form of a sudden flashing of red and blue that lit up Ryan’s car. Carl and Ryan both looked at each other with frightened expressions as the sound of a police siren roared out from behind them like a lion chasing down a gazelle. The boys turned around to see a black and yellow Wilmont Police Dept. SUV hot on their tail. "Why is that cop coming after us?" Carl asked. "I don't know, I've been going the speed limit." Ryan said as he looked at the speedometer, which showed exactly 45 miles per hour, "Maybe they saw the tinted windows in this car? My parents have been ticketed for that before. It makes the windows too dark." "Yeah but being pulled over at night? Fucking everything’s dark now." Carl said. “Whatever, I’ve got to stop.” Ryan said as he slowed his car down and started to make his way to the side of the road, “It’s probably nothing.” Ryan pulled his car to the side of the road and the Police SUV stopped behind them. The three boys sat nervously in their seats, each one thinking about their own worst-case scenarios as to why the cop had pulled them over. After a few seconds a tall officer with brown hair went over to the driver's side window and knocked. Ryan lowered it and gave the officer a small, nervous smile, "Good evening sir, what seems to be the problem? Tint too dark?" "We’ve received a report that this vehicle is stolen." Ryan's eyes went wide in fear, "St-stolen?" The officer nodded and Ryan looked at him with confusion, "But…this is my car. My parents bought it, I didn't steal it." "It's true, officer, he didn't." Carl said, "His parents have had this..." "I don't remember asking you a damned thing, son." The officer hissed at Carl, who slumped back in his seat, letting out an aggravated sigh. James was in the back, nervous about the cop being present. It’s not like he had any pot or beer on him, he just hated police officers in general. Part of his motto, which, in short, was "fuck authority". Even Ryan understood this stance that James had. He knew that James' jerky parents had a lot to do with James' attitude. Ryan was starting to get nervous. And it wasn't because it was a cop that pulled them over, as Ryan felt like he had nothing to hide, and he really didn't, except for a crush on a certain tomboy pony. And it wasn't even because he was being accused of stealing a car, as he knew simple I.D. would correct the problem. He was nervous because he hated all forms of confrontation, and would do anything keep out of them. So this current predicament, with a man of the law flashing his flashlight into his car, and a stone-cold look on his face, was definitely not ideal. Carl took his attention away from the officer's stone-cold face, and looked down at the officer's hand. That's when it caught his eye. A familiar tattoo was located on the skin of the hand in-between the pointer finger and the thumb. A black "D" with a draconequus wrapped around it. Carl's eyes went wide in horror as he looked up at the officer, who was still talking to Ryan. "Look, I promise you this car isn't stolen." Ryan opened the flap of the visor and pulled out the license and registration, “Here, Ken and Michelle Davis. Look it up if you don’t believe me” The officer thought for a second before he let out a deep sigh. He nodded and walked back to his truck to check Ryan's claims, or at least that's what he wanted him to think. After all, he pulled them over because they were the elements, not because the car was "stolen". But the three boys didn't seem to know, so the officer decided to humor them. Carl watched as he left while Ryan rubbed his head from the stress that this "man of the law" had brought upon him. "Whoa man, fuck the police." James whispered with a small laugh, a laugh that he often gave out when he was stoned. "Ryan, drive." Carl said flatly as he looked in the rearview mirror to see the officer get into his cruiser and begin to look up Ryan's parents. Ryan shot Carl and look. “What, dude are you crazy? Do I look like the kind of person that gets into high speed chases?” Carl turned to Ryan with a stern look in his eyes, "He had a Draconequus tattoo on his hand, the one Mr. Courtie showed us." Ryan's eyes went wide. "H-he did?" "Floor it." Ryan didn't need to be told again as he took off the parking break and slammed his foot on the gas. The car sped off into the night as the officer quickly got into his car to chase them down. James felt himself get forced back against the seat of the car due to the speed. He looked up at Ryan with anger in his eyes, "What the hell are you two idiots doing!?!" "We're getting the hell out of here." Carl said to James before he turned to Ryan, "Carl, you’ve got to help me find a road to turn down.” Carl squinted to see if he could make out the scenery better, but the night had taken over and the street-lights weren’t helping much. "It’s too dark, these damned lights suck." Carl looked around, but didn't see anything that could be done to lose the cop. He shook his head, “I’ve got nothing.” “Shit.” Ryan spat as he made a sharp turn down a road that he just managed to catch sight of at the last minute. The officer, however, stayed in pursuit, not losing any ground on his “prey”. Ryan kept trying evasive maneuvers, such as swerving and turning down random streets, but each one was futile as the officer kept a close distance between the two vehicles, not letting the target escape. Carl knew that there was no way for them to out-drive the officer, especially if he called for back up. He stomped his foot on the ground, "Fuck, there's got to be something that I can do!" "There is something you can do Carl." said an elegant female voice inside Carl’s heard, which caught the boy by surprise. "Who's…who's there?" he thought back. "Let's just say I'm watching over you, your friends, and my faithful student and her friends." Carl's eyes went wide, "P-Princess Celestia?" Carl heard the voice give a small chuckle, "Who else?" "Please tell me you know how we can get away." "Listen to your heart and you’ll know." "What?" "Believe in your element." Carl sighed at the overly generic advice that people often gave in movies when the screenwriter couldn't think of anything more creative to write. Carl then tried to focus on magic, hoping that it would cause something to happen, but nothing did. "It's not working." "Keep trying Carl, you can do it." Carl nodded and began to think, his eyes closed and his face stoic. Ryan looked over at him annoyed, "What are you doing? We're being chased by one of Discord's cronies and all you can do meditate?” Ryan hissed. "Shut up, give me a minute." Carl muttered as he continued to think. Carl began to think about magic, which meant that he had to forget all of his bad experiences with it in the past and focus on what it meant to him now, salvation. At first it wasn't working. But then he began to turn his thoughts to Twilight and something inside of him sparked. It was like she was the representation of pure magic to him. But it wasn't really her magic that he thought of, rather he thought of her beautiful, violet eyes that matched his own, her sweet voice that made his heart flutter with joy, her cute mane that looked so human, and her intelligence that no girl at Wilmont came even close to having. As all of this flooded his mind, he became happy and his soul felt complete. At that moment, he felt his heart start to warm up, a wonderful feeling that he never had before. He looked down to his chest and saw a purple aura glowing from inside of him. He also felt his hands becoming hot and saw the purple aura spread from his chest to his fingertips. It then began to lift out of his skin and float around his arms, almost like dancing, purple flames. Ryan and James watched all of this in awe, not sure what to do other than stare awkwardly at their friend. "Congratulations Carl, you've embraced your element." Princess Celestia said in Carl's mind. At that moment, Carl knew what he had to do. He turned back in his seat to look at the police car through the back window. He stuck his hand out towards it, eyes focused on the words "Wilmont Police Department" that were in yellow on the hood of the car. He concentrated with all of his might on making the car vanish, disappear from behind them. Suddenly, a purple aura surrounded the police truck. A "POP" sounded and a few seconds later…the truck was gone. The cruiser was no longer chasing them, the sirens were gone and Ryan's car was the only vehicle left on the road, just as silent and dark as it had been before the police officer started to follow them. Ryan and James were speechless and Carl just stared in admiration at what he just did. He turned back forward in his seat and looked at the road ahead. He then looked down at his hand in amazement as the purple aura still radiated off of it. "Okay…what!" James said, "What!?!” "What the hell did you do!?!" Ryan asked in a mix of horror and shock. Carl looked back up at the road, his hands still glowing purple. "Ryan, get ready to swerve out of the way." Carl muttered as he focused on the road ahead. Suddenly, another purple aura appeared, followed by a loud "POP", which was followed by the police truck falling from the sky, upside down, and landing on the road directly in front of Ryan's car. Ryan screamed as he quickly turned the steering wheel to maneuver his car of the way of the downed cruiser. This caused him to leave the road for a few seconds, entering the grassy part of the road-side. Thankfully, his four-wheel drive took care of that so he was able to maintain control of the vehicle as it hit bumps, dust being sent into the air. James was also screaming, but Carl was too stunned to utter a sound. He was just frozen in shock, still looking at his hand. After getting by the upside-down police truck, Ryan swerved back onto the road and kept heading off, breathing as heavy as the his two friends were. The rest of the ride could be described as an awkward silence where James kept staring at Carl, who was busy staring at his hands while they still emitted a faint purple glow. Ryan also glanced at Carl every now and then when the road was straight enough that it didn't require too much of his attention. After a little bit Ryan finally reached Carl's neighborhood. He made a sharp turn down the street and kept going until he reached Carl's house. He threw the brakes on and turned the car off right in front of the house. They all got out in a panic and ran onto Carl's lawn. Ryan ran over to Carl as James stumbled over, clearly the most freaked out one in the group. "How did they know what car I drive!?!" Ryan asked in a panic. "I don't know; they must have someone spying on us." Ryan then remembered something that Mr. Courtie told them, "Oh no, didn't Mr. Courtie say Discord was responsible for the increase in anarchist gangs?" Carl nodded to confirm this notion. Ryan bit his lip and stomped on the ground in frustration, not noticing as James breathed out. "Guys I'm…I'm gonna puke." "Lawrence is in one of those gangs, so he must work for Discord." Ryan said, his voice stricken with the panic that was flowing through his veins. "How would he know about us being the elements, though?" "Because, Rainbow Dash laid him out at the mall today!" he said, "he probably knows that normal girls can't run that fast or hit that hard. He probably told him that I was the one that she saved and he knows what car I drive, and my address. He probably knows everything about me thanks to that prick bully." "So they know that you're one of the elements now?" Carl asked, and Ryan nodded. "Yeah." "Guys…" James muttered again. Once again, he was ignored. "Dude what am I going to do? What if they go to my house and try to kill me or my parents, or Rainbow Dash! They know my parents name; they know my car! Dude I'm fucked!" Ryan shouted in fear. It was at this moment that James couldn't hold back anymore and hurled all over the lawn. Carl jumped back a little at the sight while Ryan leapt back almost ten feet. He shot a furious look at James. "What the fuck man! What the fuck!" "I felt sick you asshole." James growled angrily as he stood back up. "If you listened to me I was trying to tell you guys." "I'm sorry! I'm just a little freaked out now!" Ryan shouted back, his voice cracking a bit due to stress. "Will you both keep it down?" Carl whispered harshly. He looked around to see some lights in his neighbor's houses go on, as well as a couple of dogs barking like mad. "Come on let's get inside before we wake up the whole fucking neighborhood." The boys went up to Carl's house and walked into the house and shut the door. They stopped in the main entryway, just below the staircase and Carl turned to James. "Okay James, listen, remember don't freak out about what you see." Carl said. James looked at him, clearly annoyed, and took a step closer to him. "After what I saw, do you really think I could freak out anymore?" And on cue, a certain crazy, pink, peppy pony came out of nowhere and jumped up and down right in front of James' astonished face. "Hello James! I’m Pinkie Pie! We met earlier today. Of course then you called me Penelope because you thought I was a human, even though I wasn't, so I thought I’d re-introduce myself as…myself! So, here I am and it’s nice to met you!" She extended a hoof to James. Now, James did see Mr. Courtie turn into a unicorn and say Twilight was his niece, and he knew the mane six were in Carl's house. But the sight of Pinkie Pie jumping up and down was more shocking than he thought it would be. James just looked at Pinkie blankly before he finally muttered, "N-nice to…meet you...Pinkie Pie." At this point, the girls all exited Carl's room and started to the top of the stairs to look down at the three boys. Lisa, Anna and Twilight were in the front of the group while the rest were behind him, especially Fluttershy, who seemed to be, predictably, cowering behind Rarity and Rainbow Dash, only peeking her head slightly between the two mares to see what was going on. "Um Pinkie, when did you get out of Carl's room?" Lisa asked, confused. "Lisa, do you even watch the show?" Anna asked Lisa with a “know-it-all” look. Lisa then realized that what Pinkie did had no rhyme or reason. “Where’s mom?” Carl asked, somewhat surprised that she did not get drawn downstairs by the commotion. “She got called into work just after you and Ryan left. She won’t be back until really late.” Lisa said. “That’s convenient.” Carl said wit a sigh of relief. Twilight looked down at them from the top step, "What happened to you guys?." As the purple mare made her way down the stairs, James just shook his head as his concept of reality began to crumble around him like the foundations of a poorly-built building during an Earthquake. "There's no way, there's just no way." "Carl, I thought ya said yer friends wouldn't be in denial every time they saw us!" Applejack said with an annoyed gleam in her eyes. "No I said I wouldn't keep calling people over to confirm that you were real." Carl corrected and Applejack rolled her eyes. James began to feel faint and almost passed out when he caught a glimpse of yellow and pink hiding behind Rarity and Rainbow Dash. His eyes went wide as he was suddenly more awake due to a surge of excitement. He took a step towards the stairs and looked up, his eyes meeting the somewhat nervous, blueish eyes of the yellow pegasus. "F-Fluttershy?" He said timidly, at a relatively low volume, to the mare that had meant so much to him, especially because of Caroline. He started up the stairs towards her as she backed away timidly, letting out scared whimpers. He slowed his ascent and extended his hand to her, which caused her to draw back a bit in fright, not completely sure what to make of the teen boy slowly approaching her. "Hey, please don't be afraid, come on, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Don’t be afraid." He said softly, trying to coax her to come over to him. She looked at him with her big, innocent teal eyes that made James’ heart melt, and slowly trotted over to the black-haired teen. And by slowly, she did it slowly. Carl and Ryan watched in amazement as Fluttershy pressed her face into James' hand and began to nuzzle it. James then turned to see Twilight looking at him with a smile. James pointed at her and smiled. "You were Tara, weren't you?" he asked and Twilight nodded. "Yes." "So you're really Twilight Sparkle." "Correct." "Just wanted to clarify." James said with a smile, which made Twilight giggle a bit. James sat on the top step so he could put his arm around Fluttershy's shoulder, which she allowed him to do after initially drawing back a bit. He turned to Carl. "So I'm the Element of Kindness?" Carl nodded. He then told James everything that he knew so far. He made sure to bring up how he was partnered with Fluttershy, and how he and Ryan were partnered with Twilight and Rainbow Dash, respectively. Hearing about being partnered with Fluttershy made James the happiest that he had been in years. Rainbow Dash walked up to Ryan and decided to act like she knew nothing about his love for her. She'd show him her own way of showing affection. And no, not in the sexual way, sorry to disappoint some of you but this isn’t that kind of story. "Ryan, are you all right?" she asked him sweetly. Ryan gave her a nod. Rainbow Dash looked into his face with concerned eyes. “You look really tired." "Yeah Rainbow, I'm fine." Ryan said with a smile, "thanks for asking." Rainbow Dash nodded as she noticed Ryan's blush for the first time. "Wow he really does like me; I can't believe I've never realized it before." Meanwhile, Ryan was thinking about different aspects about her to focus a poem on. As he looked at her, he knew that her eyes had to be the focus. After all, when he looked into them, nothing else in the world mattered. But then he knew that he could write about her beautifully multi-colored mane, her cyan fur, her great smile, there was a lot to choose from. "Fuck finding the most appealing aspect of a girl you love is hard." Ryan thought. He also hoped the poem would cure him of his strange feelings towards her. If not that, maybe he could just use it as means to vent his feelings. "Excuse me Ryan." Rainbow Dash said as she walked over towards Lisa, Carl and Anna, realizing that she had to do something. "Thank you girls for watching them." Carl said. Anna nodded with a smile and Lisa shrugged. "It was nothing." She stated flatly before looking down at her feet. She still felt guilty about hurting Rainbow Dash's feelings the way she did earlier in the night, something that Carl didn't know about. That was when she felt a hoof on her leg and looked down to see Rainbow Dash smiling at her. "Rainbow Dash, look I'm…." she was cut off when Rainbow Dash got on her hind legs and hugged her waist as if to show her that she was forgiven. Lisa sighed in relief and hugged Rainbow Dash back, trying to hold back her tears of shame. But her thinking was interrupted when Rainbow Dash looked up at her and whispered, "Thank you." Lisa broke the hug and looked at Rainbow Dash with confusion as the cyan mare happily trotted back over to Ryan, a content, happy smile on her face. Even though it was unintentional, Lisa's mean-spirited mocking made her to realize her true feelings for Ryan, and for that she was thankful for the nine year old's actions, even if it did hurt her. The group talked a bit longer, James was even starting to get even closer to Fluttershy, which was a huge accomplishment for such a shy mare and a realist teen boy, when suddenly a purple flash came from Carl's room. A few minutes later, everyone heard a loud "POP", followed by a "thud", and finally a groan that sounded like it came from a young boy. They all directed their attention to Carl's room. "What was that?" Anna asked. Everyone and everypony went upstairs to the bedroom. Once they got there and pushed the door open, they saw none other than Spike, the purple baby dragon and Twilight's number one assistant, lying face-down on Carl's bed. Spike groaned a bit, as pushed himself up to a sitting position. He rubbed his head with one hand as he held a rolled up scroll in the other. His eyes looked dazed and confused, as if he just got off a wild amusement park ride. "Spike? Are you okay?" Twilight asked, making her way towards the little dragon. "Uh, yeah I think so." He said, shaking his head to snap himself back to reality. He looked down at the soft bed he had landed on and pressed his hand against it. He chuckled, "He-he, good thing the bed broke my fall, I'm just happy I didn't teleport over sharp rocks or something." "Spikey dear, what are you doing here?" Rarity asked. "Oh right," he said, hopping off of Carl's bed, "the Princess wanted me to be near you guys in case she had any letters that she wanted to send you." "What, being in my head isn't enough for her? She needs you to relay messages to us?" Carl asked. Once what Carl said registered with Twilight, she gave Carl a look of surprise, as well as immense interest. "Wait Carl, did you say that Princess Celestia communicated with you telepathically?" she asked and Carl nodded. "You have got to tell me about that later." She whispered to him excitedly, like she really wanted to know more about Carl's experience. Her eyes were those of a child waiting to hear about something marvelous. "So Spike, what did the Princess want us to know?" Rainbow Dash asked. Spike took out the parchment and unrolled it. He held it in front of himself and gave a look of such concentration that it was like he was preparing to give the State of the Union Address. He cleared his throat and began. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, I have done extensive research and so far have found the first names of all six of Earth's elements. I do not know their last names yet, but rest assured that I will tell you when I figure them out. I do hope these six names are helpful. And remember, every one of the Elements of Harmony of Earth knows each other. To what extent, I am not sure. However, I hope that these six names will help you find the remainder of them. Regards, Princess Celestia P.S. The names of the elements are Carl, Ryan, James, Alex, Peter and Louis, and I understand you already found the first three." "Alex is an element, really?" James asked with an eyebrow raised. "Possibly, it might be another Alex though. We'll have to meet him tomorrow to be sure." Twilight said. “Who’s Alex again?” Fluttershy asked. “He was that blonde fella at the mall.” Applejack said as she remembered how flirtatious he had been with her, which made a blush appear in her orange cheeks. “Ohhhhhhh.” Fluttershy said when she remembered the boy Applejack was talking about. James pointed to Twilight, "Is that why you pressed your head against my chest? You were checking to see if I was an element?" "Yep, that's how I'm able to do it. Oh, Spike! What are the other two names again?" "Um…it says…Peter and Louis.” Spike then looked over towards Carl, “Jeez, you humans have strange names.” "Peter and Louis?" Ryan asked before his eyes widened, "Wait! Wasn't that kid who Lawrence beat up today named Pete?" "No way man, meeting two in the same day by accident. That would be way to accidental.” James said. “If they even are the elements, and like the Princess said, you know each other so it isn't too shocking that you'd run into each other at some point.” Twilight added. “But the same day?” James asked. “It just seems so impractical.” “You mean like magic?” Ryan asked with a troll smile. “Yeah, Mr. Courtie sure showed you how impractical that was, didn’t he?” “Fuck you.” "I hope Pete’s the element of laughter!" Pinkie exclaimed with an excited squeal. "Oh! That would be so amazing! He seemed to like me, didn’t he? I mean, everypony seems to like me eventually but I really got through to him, don't you think?” “Ah think Alex is gonna be honesty,” Applejack said with a slightly dreamy look, “Ah felt it, he and ah are meant ta be partners.” "Um…so what elements are left, if you don't mind me asking?" Fluttershy asked from beside James, slightly leaning against his leg in the cutest manner imaginable. "Laughter, honesty and generosity." Applejack said, "Ah guarantee ya I got Alex, after all we hit it off back at the mall." "And I bet I have Pete!" Pinkie shouted happily, jumping into the air. "Then who is this Louis that I might be partnered with?" Rarity asked, clearly not happy that she was talked about last. "That's the thing Rarity, I don't know anyone who has that name." Carl said when James held up his hand. "Wait! Louis Alderez!" James said with pride that he thought that he figured out the mystery. Everyone looked at him with confusion. "I'm sorry, who’s that?" Carl asked. "You know, Louis Alderez. The kid at the party last night who got me the weed?" "Rarity, the classy, fashion-loving pony, is partnered with a drug dealer? Do you really think that’s possible." Carl muttered, clearly not buying the idea James had. James rolled his eyes, "He isn't a dealer. He just had some extra weed on him that he let me smoke.” “I still can’t see it.” “Whatever, look I don't know any other Louises...Louisees…er…whatever the plural of Louis is, so that’s all I’ve got.” James snapped back. "All right, I assume you have his number?" Carl asked and James nodded. "Okay, so you text Louis and Alex to meet us at the mall tomorrow at and I'll Facebook Pete, as I assume none of us have his number on us. Let me know later tonight if Louis and Alex get back to you and agree to meet in the food court of the mall." With that said, Carl looked around his room at all of the cartoon characters, "Which leads me to the next issue, what are we going to do with all of you ponies...and Spike?" he said, just remembering that Spike had shown up. "Well I'm staying with Ryan!" Rainbow Dash said with pure excitement before giving Ryan a huge grin. Ryan heart melted at her excitement and adorable smile. "Um…James, do you mind if I stay…with…" Fluttershy started, but was too scared to finish. She just looked down and began to dig her foot into the carpet. James smiled at her, kneeled down and hugged her, which caused her to "eep", "of course you can stay with me Fluttershy." "Oh! I'll stay with James!" Pinkie Pie shouted, but Carl tapped her on the shoulder. The pink mare turned to Carl, still with a big smile on her face. "Actually, Pinkie, since we have three rooms and three people to watch you here, you can sleep in Anna and Lisa's room with Applejack. That way James doesn't have to be responsible for two of you girls, and neither does Ryan." "Oh. Okie dokey!" Pinkie Pie nodded and turned to Carl's sisters. “That okay with you AJ?” Carl asked “Yessir.” Applejack said before turning to Rainbow Dash and giving her a small, knowing wink. Rainbow Dash smiled back and mouthed “thank you” to her before she turned her attention back to Ryan. “Carl, where should I sleep?” Rarity asked. Before he could answer, Anna jumped at the opportunity, “Oh! Rarity, you can sleep in our room!” Carl looked at Anna and was about to ask if she was crazy, to take three mares into her room. He then, however, saw her smile and realized this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her, and she wanted as many of these characters in her room as possible. After all, who would pass up on a chance to hang out with ANY of the mane six, let alone THREE of them. “Okay then,” Carl turned to Twilight and Spike, both of whom were near his bed. Well, Spike was sitting on it while Twilight sat next to it, “Twi and Spike, you two can sleep here tonight.” They both nodded. Carl then turned to everyone else in the room, "Everyone all right with these arrangements?" Everyone nodded in agreement as they began to get ready to head their separate ways for the night. Tomorrow was certainly going to be a busy day. Lisa and Anna went off to their bedroom with Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. James went outside to Ryan's car with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They stood outside in the night air, waiting for Ryan to get outside so he could give them a lift home. But at the moment, Carl pulled the brown-haired teen aside to have an urgent word with him. "Look, they know what car you drive and who your parents are, Ryan, I need you to lay low for the next few days." Ryan looked at Carl, clearly angry, "What? But I wanted to go to the mall tomorrow to see if they are the elements." "It's the only way to make sure we all stay unknown. Just take the day off with Rainbow Dash and hang out with her." Ryan was about to protest, but then stopped when he saw Carl's unyielding face that was a cold and serious as the night around them. "Fine." He grumbled before walking outside. Carl shut the door. As Ryan left, both he and Carl suddenly realized something. Ryan and Rainbow Dash would be alone for the day. Ryan's spirits lifted significantly at this discovery. Ryan smiled at the idea of spending the day with Rainbow Dash. Little did Ryan know, however, that Rainbow Dash was giddy as well. Not to mention that she was giddy for the exact reason, the chance to bond with her crush. But he didn't know this. Yet. Still, he wasn't planning on telling her about his feelings for her, but he thought some alone time would be a good way to gauge what direction their relationship was going in, even if it was as just friends, he'd be happy just to be around her, to be her friend. Carl, on the other hand, realized the same thing Ryan did and grimaced. Suddenly, however, he remembered how thinking about Twilight helped him spark his power. He began to get scared as he realized that he did, in fact, have some romantic feelings for Twilight, whether he liked it or not. And he did not. It scared him, made him feel like he was somehow weird for having those feelings. But he couldn't help it, she was such a great girl, with such a great personality and luminous, innocent eyes that his love for her was unstoppable. At the moment, he decided to just forget it. In his opinion, there was "bigger fish to fry" than odd feelings.