//------------------------------// // Problems with Change // Story: The New Bearers // by PioneerofImagination //------------------------------// The Land of Equestria a place where ponies live together in perfect harmony, well not perfect there's quite a few trouble makers that run around from time to time. Also it's not just ponies that live here I'm a bit of an exception. My name is Spike and this is the story of an amazing adventure I went on, well it was more than 1 and it wasn't just me, uh you know what let me start from the beginning. It all started after Twilight and her friends defeated a creature known as Tirek and a castle came out of the ground thanks to the Tree of Harmony. Twilight had adjusted to living there but one day when I was cleaning a bit and found a big surprise. "Geez how the heck does this place get so dirty?" I asked as I kept sweeping but shortly afterwards I put the broom away to take a break. I walked down to the castle and passed the library as I looked over at the Elements of Harmony for no apparent reason. I thought I was in the mood for some pancakes and maybe a few gemstones to go with them. "Wait a minute?" I asked as I ran back to the library section of the castle and went inside for a closer look.  "What are the elements doing here?!" I said as I almost screamed, when the Everfree Forest tried to invade Twilight and her friends had to give their elements to the Tree of Harmony to stop the whole thing. "None of this makes any sense, I gotta find Twilight maybe she'll know what's going on, I mean with all those books she reads she's gotta know something." After that I made my way around the castle trying to find Twilight but she was nowhere to be found and I wouldn't have time to look for her long, as there was a knock at the door before I could answer it though the pony on the other side opened it by themselves. "Twily?" A certain unicorn stallion that I'll get to in a minute said as he walked in to look for the same pony I was. When he saw my shadow he mistook it for Twilight's for some reason even though we look nothing alike and ran over to greet what he thought was his sister. "Surprise!" Hearing that made me almost jump out of my skin. "What's with the sudden heart attack?" I asked as I turned around. "Oh it's just you." "It's nice to see you too Shining Armor," I answered. Like I already said this is Shining Armor Twilight's older brother, I don't really like him very much. Why? It's kind of a long story. "What are you doing here?" "I came to see how my sister was doing to surprise her so where is she?"  "I don't know I'm trying to find her too so I can tell her about the Elements of Harmony coming back." "What?" Shining Armor asked and after I explained more he went to see the Elements themselves but when he did the Element of Magic flung itself to right on Shining Armor's head. "What the? What's going on?" "That's what I'd like to know," I answered. Now there were 2 mysteries: why are the elements back and why did it just stick to Shining Armor? No 3 mysteries where is Twilight because she isn't usually this hard to find, something or rather several somethings weird was going on and I was going to get to the bottom of this. After I looked around a bit I was sure Twilight wasn't there, so I headed out to look for her. I decided to head to Rarity's first since I was planning on visiting her anyway since I'll use any excuse to go see her.  Ah Rarity when I first set my eyes on you I knew I found the most beautiful creature that ever lived, oh Rarity if you only knew how much I cared for, uh going to go visit Rarity and ask if she saw Twilight to right! Note to self edit that out later.     "Spike, wait up where are you going?" Shining Armor called out as he ran after me a bit and still had the Element of Magic on him. I told my plan to see Rarity and he wanted to come with me but when we got there she wasn't home either and this was when I was starting to get worried.  "This doesn't make any sense Rarity wouldn't just leave her store unattended like this," I said trying to see if she left a note or something but there wasn't one. "I don't like this. I don't like this one bit where has everypony gone off to?"  "Look we're going to figure this out," Shining Armor told me in surprisingly a rather caring tone.  "Yeah you're right we got to head back to the castle." "Why is there something you forgot that could help us out?" "Yeah I forgot to have breakfast." "Are you serious?"  "What you can't solve a mystery on an empty stomach, gotta have calories." I made my way back to the castle where I was going to have the pancakes and gemstones I planned on getting when we received yet another surprise.  "SURPRISE!" Cheese Sandwich of all ponies yelled out when we got inside spooking me but flipping Shining Armor on his back. "Hey you 2 aren't Pinkie Pie, doesn't she live here?" "No," I answered. "Dang I was 17% sure she lived here? By the way, and I probably should have asked this first, why won't this come off?" Cheese Sandwich then showed he had the Element of Laughter on him and he couldn't get it off. "Why is that on you?!" Shining Armor asked as he got back up but was breathing rather hard as the surprise still had spooked a bit which honestly I found rather funny. "Beats the heck out of me I was hoping you'd know," Cheese answered I was about to say something when all of a sudden there was a knock at the door and when I answered Soaring flew in. "Hey, have any of you seen Rainbow Dash?" Soarin asked.  "No," we all answered to Soarin's clear frustration.  "Shoot," he replied. "I was supposed to train her a bit to help her move up in the future Wonderbolt pecking order but she wasn't at home."  "Rainbow Dash is missing too?" I asked as I was starting to panic a bit.    "Yeah that's why I came here, well first I went to her old friend Fluttershy's cottage and then Sugarcube Corner to ask if Pinkie Pie saw her, and to get a pie. But neither of them were there, are you sure Dash isn't here mind if I take a look around?" Soarin then flew around before any of us could ask and when he arrived back he had the Element of Loyalty on him and like the others it wouldn't come off. "Okay I don't want to freak out but this won't come off. What the heck is going on here?" Soaring asked.  "That's what we need to find out," I said, getting everypony's attention. First I had my breakfast as I was getting rather hungry and I even made some for Soaring and Cheese Sandwich as I could tell they were rather hungry. Shining Armor on the other claw just stood around trying to think up what to do. After I finally got something to eat I got up and then grabbed the remaining elements so any other ponies that felt like visiting the castle wouldn't have them get stuck to them as well. We then made our way to Sweet Apple Acres in hopes that Applejack was there and that she might be able to provide info on just what the heck is going on.  When we got there we came across Big Macintosh and Cheerilee who were returning to the farm around the same time as my group. Before I could say anything to either of them Apple Bloom ran over to them. "Well did you find Applejack?" "Nope," Big Mac said. "I'm sure she's all right, your sister is a tough pony," Cheerilee added. "Eeyup." Hearing that I made my way to the 3 of them when suddenly the elements of kindness and honesty flew off as if they had a mind of their own. The ladder put itself on Big Mac while the former went on Cheerilee who like the rest of us were quite puzzled.  "Hey what's going on?" Cheerilee asked as she tried to get the Element of Kindness off but like the others it stuck like glue. "Do you know what's going on?"  "Nope," Big Mac answered.  "Again?!" I said about to flip my lid. "What the heck is going on around here?!" I asked as I started to stomp around a bit.  "I can explain it all to you I bet and now with me here we have a complete set," Zecora answered and as she approached the final element the Element of Generosity connected itself to her.  "Well at least I don't have to carry the elements around."  "Okay about that," Soarin said. "I thought Dash said the elements were given to the Tree of Harmony after she fought off a series of roots to protect her friends." "Wait, Rainbow Dash said what?" I asked before I shrugged it off. "You know what, never mind it's not all that important right now Zecora what is going on?"  "This is something rather hard to be exact but to help restore balance the elements of harmony needed to come back." "Oh yeah, balance, that can be really tricky," Cheese Sandwich said. "I've tried balancing on a unicycle while it's on top of a large ball, let me tell you it was not easy."   "Balance? balance of what?" Cheerilee asked. "Balance of forces that are in need of a fix and so to do just that the elements have chosen a new 6." "Did Twilight explain all of this to you or something?" I asked. "Twilight sensed the imbalance from far away so she and her friends went to check it out and see if they could keep the forces at bay. Twilight now an alicorn sensed something amiss and came to me to ask for help with the others who some call the mane 6." "Uh who calls them that exactly?" I asked. "I think she just needed something to make the sentence rhyme," Cheerilee said to me.  "They went off to see what the balance lacked but as of yet they have not come back." Zecora then showed us a map that she showed Twilight and I saw an x and figured that's where Twilight and the others went.  "All right thanks Zecora now I know where I can find Twilight." I grabbed the map and was about to head out when suddenly  Cheerilee grabbed me by the shoulder.  "Hold on Spike, that's a rather far away location you can't be thinking of just going off all alone?" "I can handle myself," I told her as I removed her hoof. "Handling yourself is one thing but you have no idea what's out there," Soarin said. "Indeed perhaps we were chosen to do this task together with our combined forces we might be able to handle any endeavor." After that we wasted no time in getting ready to head out to where the others went as we wanted to get them back as quick as possible as well as get to the bottom of what the heck was going on. Apple Bloom wanted to come along as well but Big Mac told her she needed her to stay at Sweet Apple Acres to take care of things and in case Twilight's group returned before we did. "Can we get a move on?" Shining Armor asked. "Almost done, we just have a few things to load on the wagon before we head out," Cheerilee answered. "It is just a few more things right Big Mac?" "Eeyup." "Do we even need all of this stuff?" Shining Armor asked. "Eeyup," Big Mac answered. "Is that wagon even going to be able to hold all that stuff?" Shining Armor asked. "Eeyup," Big Mac answered a little annoyed now. "For that matter are you sure you're strong enough to pull the wagon, all of that stuff, and us?" Shining Armor asked.  "Eeyup," Big Mac answered yet again but this time with a rather loud groan first. "Okay okay Big Mac no need to get upset," Cheerilee said. "And Shining Armor it's rather frustrating to others when you ask question after question one right after the other." "I just want to get going. My sister could be in serious danger for crying out loud and he's putting half the farm on that wagon." "This is the last thing you wanted me to get Big Mac," Soarin said who gathered the things Big Mac thought we'd need for our trip in hardly any time since he was a Wonderbolt. He dropped the said item into the wagon and then we set out to find Twilight's group. As we headed out I thought about Twilight but I also thought about the others most of all Rarity for reasons I don't want to explain because I already have one spot I need to edit later already. The funny thing about this is that I thought we were going to run into a couple dangerous obstacles on our way but it wasn't until we were around halfway there that we ran into what you could consider an obstacle, the changeling hive. Nasty creatures that tried to take over Equestria once but thanks to Shining Armor and Cadence but mostly Twilight because she saw through the queen they were stopped, but now we somehow came across where they live.  "Changelings huh?" Cheese Sandwich said as I could tell he was trying to think of something funny to try and lighten the mood. "Well maybe things will change for the actually you know what never mind that's just way too easy." "Well I was hoping that this was just going to be a simple road trip," Cheerilee said. "So much for that." "Your optimism and hope was not misplaced, I find that to be some of your best traits," Zecora said. "Eeyup," Big Mac added. "Do you think Dash and her friends might be in there?" "I suppose it's quite possible Twily and her friends looked for what the heck they're looking for and then the changelings attack them out of nowhere," Shining Armor said. "Then after capturing them they get dragged here." "But how do we know for sure?" I ask as I started to worry again. "I could ask them if they have them in there or not," Cheese Sandwich said. "Ask them, are you kidding me?" Shining Armor said to Cheese Sandwich. "After what they did there's no way they're going to help us out."  "So what are we going to do?" Cheerilee asked. "Simple," Shining Armor asked with a cocky smile. "I'll take them all out like I did last time." "Isn't that a bit much?" Big Mac asked which was a big surprise on my part because he wasn't really much of a talker.  "What's that supposed to mean?" Shining Armor asked. "I'm just saying that's kind of a tall order. There's probably a lot of changelings in there, too much for you to handle on your own." "I'll have you know that I'm captain of the royal guard," Shining Armor said as he got right in Big Mac's face. "But you're still only one pony and one pony plus loads of changelings don't add up-" "Fine," Shining interrupted rather rudely as he began to charge up his horn but when he performed the same spell he used last time to defeat the changelings it didn't go anywhere near the hive. "What the?" Shining Armor said confused at what just happened he tried to fire a much smaller spell but the beam of magic disappeared as quickly as it finished.   "Your magic cannot seem to get far, that is no doubt something most bizarre," Zecora said. "Yeah what the heck is going on?" Soarin said as he flew to where the spell disappeared then grabbed a rock and held it over his head. "Shining, try to get this rock." Shining Armor tried to but his magic didn't reach it no matter how many times he tried. "This just doesn't add up." "Something is blocking Shining Armor's magic," Cheerilee said. "The changelings must have some sort of artifact that blocks your magic." "Eeyup," Big Mac agreed.  "So what are we supposed to do if Shining Armor can't use his magic we can't fight all the changelings?" I asked. "Nope," Big Mac replied. "Anypony got any ideas?" Cheerilee asked. "Eeyup," Big Mac replied as he used his hoof to draw a plan in the dirt. Big Mac had a plan for us to sneak into the hive and see if Twilight and the others were there. If so we would cause a distraction and break them out and escape in all the confusion, if not we'd leave as quick as we entered and continue to search for them elsewhere. We quickly made our way down, there wasn't anyplace to hide behind but we were able to get to the hive though that was the easy part. Turned out that the hive was constantly changing making it almost impossible to not get lost but miraculously we were able to get around. Thankfully before long we were able to find just the ponies we were looking for all together locked in a cell. "TWI-" I was about to yell out Twilight's name but she quickly gestured me to be quiet as well as others so I did. They all then pointed to the right and to our collective shock saw the queen of the changelings sleeping not too far away. We quietly made our way over to the cell where I hugged Twilight and Shining Armor did the same with Cadence. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that didn't I? Shining Armor mentioned earlier how Cadence went to surprise Twilight with a visit and apparently ended up going with her. "Spike what in the name of Equestria are you doing here and why do you have the elements?" Twilight asked. "We came looking for you, as for the elements they just came with us," I answered. "But how did you get here?"  "We went to investigate a strange magical imbalance but when we went out the changelings attacked us and locked us in here."  "Guess you call it right," Cheerilee said to Shining Armor. "Well don't worry we'll get you out, does somepony have anything that will pick the lock?" Soarin asked. "We tried that already," Fluttershy said. "Yes nothing worked unfortunately," Rarity said. "Forcing our group to stay in such a horrid and colorless environment," Rarity added with a rather rich vocabulary which I admired affectionately. How could she make me love her just by using rather big words? Perhaps it was simply the beautiful voice that said them and how she does that beautiful thing where she moves her curls a bit and, oh gosh I'm doing it again I'll have to remember to edit this out later too. Where was I oh right.  "When we first got here I tried to use my magic but nothing worked," Twilight said.  "I had the same problem," Shining Armor added. "I overheard the changelings talking about how Chrysalis's throne blocks all magic except for changeling magic," Cadence said.  "There is a way for you to escape that I see we can open this lock by simply locating the key."  "We already did Zecora," Twilight said as she looked over to the sleeping changeling. "The key is around her neck." "Oh, that's gonna be a problem," Cheese Sandwich said. "But if somepony could get it we can all get out of here," Cheerilee said.  "I could try," Soarin said. "I could quietly glide over to her and grab it." "No you can't Soarin," Rainbow Dash to him rather protectively I noticed which makes sense considering what happens later  but I'm getting ahead of myself. "What if she wakes up and sees you?" Everypony then exchanged ideas trying to figure out what to do but we couldn't seem to figure out a good plan. "I'll get the key," I said to everypony's shock most of all Twilight. "Spike no you can't!" Twilight said, trying to grab me through the bars. "If she wakes up I'll make up something about how I wandered in to look for treasure if anypony else tries she won't buy it, since you're all ponies." "Oh, that makes sense," Cheese Sandwich said. Twilight still tried to talk me out of it but I went ahead and told the rest of my group to hide in case Chrysalis woke up. They didn't like it but did it anyway because time wasn't on our side, she could wake up at any minute and we couldn't think of another plan.  "Oh Spikey Wikey this is so brave of you," Rarity said which made me blush a little as I was already making my way over. Needless to say I was rather terrified but I kept getting closer and closer to the sleeping queen. When I got close enough to see the key around her neck I jumped back when Chrysalis snorted as I thought she was going to wake up. I froze for a moment, a rather long moment but then I started to move again, though at that moment I really wish I had psychic powers that would lift the key up for me.  "Well he's doing good so far," Cheerilee said while with the others that I could barely hear.  "Eeyup," Big Mac agreed that I was able to hear a little better. I made my way up the throne Chrysalis was sleeping on and grabbed for the key but Chrysalis moved around and I had to duck a bit to avoid one of her legs bumping into me and waking her up. I raised my head up and made sure to take quick and very quiet breaths then I slowly reached out again and I could feel everypony's eyes on me as I did. I was about to grab it but Chrysalis moved again and grabbed me which nearly made me scream like a little filly. Luckily she was still asleep but I had to be careful and think fast. So that's just what I did, I reached out to slightly tickle one of her ears which made Chrysalis rub it but her leg returned to where it was. "Come on," I said in a whisper under my breath as I tickled her ear again. She did the same thing so I tickled more the third time and faster making Chrysalis rub it with her leg but more which gave me the extra seconds I needed to finally grab the key. Chrysalis then turned over just as I got the key which made it easier to get out from under her as I once again made sure not to bump into her, after that it was just a matter of climbing down. Once I did I held the key up and everypony smiled at me even Shining Armor while justly proud of what I did I still made sure to walk back quietly.  "Way to go little guy," Cheese Sandwich said.  Okay almost out of here, I thought to myself. Just need to get to the cell and get us all out of here before Chrysalis- my train of thought was shut down so to speak when I was lifted up in a green aura and pulled back to the throne with a very angry queen looking right into my soul. Wakes up, I thought deciding to finish my thought while the others hid and most likely tried to figure out what to do. "What are you doing in my hive little dragon?" She asked. "I-I came looking for treasure," I lied, falling back on the idea I had earlier.  "Oh really?" Chrysalis asked with a very doubting look as she took the key back. "Does this look like treasure to you?" "Y-yeah I thought it looked pretty." "This is bad, I don't think she's buying that," Soarin said.  "Nope."  "We have to help him but how?" Cheerilee asked. "We'll need some sort of diversion," Shining Armor said. "Diversion right," Cheese Sandwich added. "Uh let me see." Cheese Sandwich tried to think but accidentally pushed the button of this strange party machine he brought with him planning to use it as a diversion but not right now.  "NO!" The others said together as Cheese pounded on the machine trying to get it to stop which he did eventually. "Heh heh, I-I'm sure none of them heard that," Cheese Sandwich said when suddenly he and the others were teleported out of where they were hiding by Chrysalis with an army of changelings surrounding them. "Yeah, yeah they heard it." "I hate you so much right now," Shining Armor replied. Chrysalis then approached my group while carrying me with her magic.  "Well well well my almost husband, what are you doing here come to ask for my hoof in marriage in equine?" Chrysalis asked as she laughed a bit.  "Not if you were the last mare on the planet." "Ouch," Chrysalis said as she slowly made her way around the changelings between us and them. "Quite a nasty temper you got there don't you perhaps I dodged a bullet when a certain unicorn spoiled my, wait a minute," Chrysalis said as she turned and stared at me. "I thought you looked familiar to me, you're that little dragon that was at Canterlot when my army invaded." Busted, I thought as Chrysalis put me with the rest of my group.  "I see now you came here with the rest of this lot to help out the other ponies I captured," Chrysalis made her way over to the cell. "I've been keeping an eye on you for a while. I'm surprised I didn't recognize you right away perhaps because I was half asleep." Chrysalis then made her way to the cell and gently held Twilight's head before pulling her forward and making her slam her head against the bars. "What are you doing?!" Shining Armor and I called out at the same time. "You lot are going to answer everything I ask or I might have to take out my frustration on her." "No don't!" I said as I tried to force my way through the other changelings but was having no luck there whatsoever. "Please, I'll do whatever you want!" Saying that somehow got Chrysalis's attention as she let go of Twilight and had some of the changelings move so she could get closer to me. "Whatever I want?" She asked me as she bent down to look me in the eye. "Y-Yeah," I answered. "I'll do whatever you want just please don't hurt Twilight, don't hurt anypony." Chrysalis then stood up and seemed to be lost in thought. "Follow me," Chrysalis ordered. "But the rest of you stay here." "No!" Twilight said, putting her forelegs on the bars trying to break them. "Don't listen to her Spike! Who knows what she's going to do to you!" "I'm not giving you a choice now, do as I saw or I might get frustrated." I decided to listen to Chrysalis while smiling at Twilight trying to show her I'd be okay. Chrysalis led me to a chamber that had a surprisingly large map on it. "Have you ever traveled beyond the borders of your land?" "Not really, except for this one time I went to the dragon lands. It wasn't all that pleasant, though there was this one time where we went to the Crystal Empire where I became quite a big deal. They me Great and Honorable Spike the brave-" "Do you expect me to care about such things?" Chrysalis interrupted.  "S-sorry." Chrysalis then showed me this part of the map that was right on the edge of it passed the Crystal Empire.  "Not too long ago I sensed a strange magical imbalance in that area, I was going to investigate some time but perhaps you could do it instead." "Well okay we were kind of doing that already." "Were you now?" "Yes, but look if I do this to you, will you let the others go?" After asking that Chrysalis stared at me for a minute which may have sent a chill down my spine. "You actually think you can negotiate with me?" "Well if we're doing something for you you doing something for us is only fair." "Fair you say? Do you remember the way back to the others?" "Yes," I answered.  "Go there I'll gather some things for your journey," Chrysalis said and then flew up. I decided to do what I was told and made my way back. "Spike darling you're back," Rarity said. "What did that queen do to you?" Rainbow Dash asked. "She wants us to investigate the magical imbalance," I answered. "What?" Cadence answered surprised. Shortly after that Chrysalis came back with a rather small bag and bracelets with shining greens balls.  "Put these on," Chrysalis told us. "I'm not much for jewelry," I said. "I'm not asking." Chrysalis replied and so we did as we were told.  "Oh cool I like how mine glows," Cheese Sandwich asked, making the others even the changelings stare at him. "What?" "They all glow," Soarin pointed out. "Yeah but I like how mine does too." "Please be quiet," Shining Armor said. "Well weird as it might be it's still a nice gift." "It's not a gift you stupid little dragon it's so I know where you all are at all times." Chrysalis then showed us the map and we saw 7 green dots all together where the hive was located. "Those bracelets are trackers for you misfits, it will let me know for sure you're going where you're supposed to instead of getting backup, or something else foolish." "You have clearly made quite the fuss to show us your lack of trust," Zecora added, who I realized hadn't talked for a while. "So what are we doing exactly?" Cheerilee asked. "You go to where I sensed the imbalance," Chrysalis answered as she pointed to where she sensed it. "Then you come back here and tell me what you saw." "And if we do, will you let my friends go?" I asked. "You have my word," Chrysalis answered for a short pause, as if I wasn't having enough trouble trusting her.  "All, all right," I answered. "Don't trust her Spike," Twilight said. "She's going to-" Twilight was cut off when Chrysalis gagged her with a magic ring across her muzzle.  "Quiet! And one other thing, don't even think of taking the bracelets off and putting them on a bird or something they'll break if you try to take them off. When that happens one of the dots disappears, and if that happens I'll snap Twilight's neck myself." "You wouldn't!" I said hoping she was just trying to scare me.  "Break a bracelet and find out I'll leave the body outside." Chrysalis then teleported my group outside her hive with the map and Cheese Sandwich's strange device.  "Well that could have gone better," Cheese Sandwich said trying to lighten the mood, it just made it kind of worse.  "This is just great!" Shining Armor said while saying a few other things I'd rather not repeat. "We were supposed to rescue my wife and sister but we end up being forced to do the dirty work of the creature that nearly ruined my wedding." "Uh there were more ponies in that cell," Soarin said. "Not the point!"  "Don't take that tone with me!" Soarin said as he flew right in Shining's Armor's face. "Get out of my face before I send you back to Ponyville!" "How the heck are you going to do that you can't use magic this close to the hive remember?" "I don't need my magic," Shining Armor answered as he raised his hoof. But then Big Mac and I got between them to push them back a little, well Big Mac mostly did that part. "Nope."  "Come on, let's not argue amongst ourselves, it isn't going to solve anything," I said, trying to keep the peace. Or what little there was. "Oh of course you'd say that!" Shining Armor said, looking at me. "What?" "You're the reason we're in this situation in the first place." "What are you talking about?" "You're the one that woke up Chrysalis!" "That wasn't my fault!" "Well whose fault is it?!" Shining Armor asked as he got in my face or at least he would have if Big Mac didn't get between us. "Stop getting in my way!" Shining Armor almost ordered. "That's enough, both of you," Big Mac said as he looked back at Soarin then back to Shining Armor. "You're angry I get it but this isn't anypony or dragon's ideal situation, none of us asked for this but we're gonna have to make it through it. We can't do that if we go at each other's throats so let's all stop arguing to make it easier to get through this and go home!" After finishing Big Mac breathed rather heavy and we all settled down I think and without another word from any of us started to head out. "For the record I thought you were very brave," Cheerilee said to me as we walked away from the hive.  "Thank you," I said as I held the hoof she put on my shoulder. After all that we made are way to where Chrysalis ordered us to go without getting back on the wagon figuring it would slow us down, what with the rouge terrain and all. I'm going to skip ahead a bit mostly because I'm kind of running low on paper and I guess I'm too lazy to get some more at the moment, though to be far what happened directly next isn't all that interesting. It was basically us traveling and helping each other along the way, it was like Big Mac said because this was none of our ideal situation we knew we were gonna have to be a team and work together. About a day later we were able to get to where the imbalanced was sensed, and what we found was something I don't think I'll ever forgot for as long as I live and being a dragon that might be quite long. "Are those, Wendigos?" Soarin asked. "Eeyup," Big Mac answered. "Are those dead Wendigos?" Cheerilee asked. "Eeyup," Big Mac answered again. After that we all kind of looked around and got closer but not too close for obvious reasons.  "This just doesn't make any sense," Shining Armor said. "Indeed these are creatures of powerful magic. How could they have met an end so tragic?" "Does she do that on purpose or is it just luck every time or something?" Shining Armor whispered to Big Mac that I was able to overhear.  "No idea," Big Mac answered.  "Should we bury them?" Cheese Sandwich asked. "I mean that feels like the right thing to do doesn't it?" "Can we even do that?" Soarin asked in return. "I mean they're like ghosts made of snow or make snow or how does that work again?" "Well however it works we finally know what caused the imbalance or at least somewhat, somepony or something killed all these Wendigos."  "But that just raises more questions than it does answers," Shining Armor said. "What could have had the raw power necessary to do something like this and why were they attacked? Were they acting in self defense or did they try to go after something?" "I don't know but I doubt we're going to figure that out just by standing here," I said. "Maybe Chrysalis knows something that could have done this."  "Yeah you're right," Shining Armor said as he walked over to me. "Figuring out what happened here isn't as important as rescuing my wife and sister as well as her friends." After that we all agreed to head back to the changeling hive and made sure to get back as quickly as possible as seeing all those dead wendigos made us all feel unsettled. It was so hard to believe, I just hoped Chrysalis would believe us when we got back to her. "Well we're back," Soarin said as we gazed at the changeling hive once again. Nopony said it but I could tell we were quite unsettled as to what Chrysalis would do. Would she keep her word or would she not believe us when we told her what we saw and make us do something else. Either way we weren't going to find out by just standing so I made my way to the hive and got the others to do just that.  "You really are quite the brave little dragon," Cheerilee said as she walked next to me. She had such a sweet smile she reminds me of Twilight or Rarity that way. "Eeyup," Big Mac agreed as he was walking on the other side of me. While he wasn't the most talkative pony he was a nice stallion that I had started to hang out with quite a bit and would plan to hang out with a lot more when all this was over. As we made it about halfway to the hive a squad of changelings made it to us explaining they were ordered to take back to their queen. I didn't quite like the idea of being led back in but it would make navigating through there much easier.  "Well well well back so soon?" Chrysalis asked when we were brought to her. "So what do you have to report?" "The imbalance was a bunch of dead wendigos," I answered. I could see Twilight was about to say something but a glare from Chrysalis made her stay quiet.  "Wendigos you say, what killed them?" "We don't know." "How were they killed?"  "We don't know." "What were they doing before they were killed?" "We don't-" "You don't seem to know anything useful do you?" "Well it's not like we could have asked the wendigos," Cheese Sandwich said trying to help me.     "I suppose you have a point there," Chrysalis said. "Yeah and we did what you asked so let our friends go," I said to her, almost making it sound like an order trying to sound tough. "Very well I did give you my word, I'll be letting them all go from one cell to another in the dungeons of Canterlot." Before I could even say anything we were restrained by changelings that swarmed us.  "Don't think me ungrateful," Chrysalis said. "Thanks to you and your group I now know the imbalance I sensed isn't an immediate threat to my kingdom. It does however need looking into later but I can deal with that after we take Canterlot." "You actually think Princess Celestia and Luna will let you do that?" I asked and Chrysalis gave a sinister smile then pointed up. I looked and saw Celestia trapped in a cocoon like she was at the wedding but now she was joined by her sister. "With you taking the Elements of Harmony away from Canterlot it made it all the more easier to grab them, we thought too small last time 1 ponynapped princess wasn't enough with all the most beloved ponies of Equestria taken care of nopony can stop us."   "Wow you know we probably should have seen this coming," Cheese Sandwich said. The changelings then grabbed Twilight and the others from out of their cell when suddenly the changelings were forced off. I don't know who started it but whoever started it made us all join in so much happened so fast when I saw Chrysalis was attacking Twilight. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yelled as I made my way to Twilight but by the time I got there Chrysalis blasted Twilight across the room and she slammed against the wall. After seeing that I made my way right to her as well as Shining Armor and Cheerilee. "TWILY!" Shining Armor said.  "Oh gosh, this doesn't look good, getting slammed against the wall broke her neck," Cheerilee said. "No, Twilight," I said as I could feel the tears pour down my face like 2 waterfalls. But beneath my sadness I could feel another emotion buried deep under it that was quickly rising to the surface, it was rage. "I'LL KILL YOU!" I screamed out as my eyes became the most concentrated red anypony saw, or so I was told I'm kind of going by other's notes for this part. After I screamed that out I grew into a giant dragon and would go after Chrysalis but made a mess along the way.  "Ah gosh this just went from bad to worse," Soarin said as he got Cheese Sandwich and Zecora out of the line of my fire. "What even made Spike do this?" "Some time ago he gave into greed and became large quite indeed, but there are instances when a dragon is in this stage but not out of greed rather when they become consumed with rage." "So if we can just calm him down he'll go back to normal?" "I believe so but I don't know just how to do so," Zecora answered. "Did you just rhyme so with so?" Soarin asked. "There's a giant ferocious fire breathing dragon right over there, give me a break!"  "But how do we calm him down?" Cheese Sandwich asked. As they tried to do just that I attacked Chrysalis and along the way I destroyed the throne as well as break open the hive allowing me to stretch out my newly acquired wings and breathed fire into the sky. As I did that the Elements of Harmony shined while they were on the rest of my group, though they didn't realize it right away. Thankfully when I broke open the hive Celestia and Luna were freed from the cocoons and pointed it out, as well that Twilight was still alive. "She is!" Shining Armor said happily as he could.  "Yes but her neck is broken and she can't move," Celestia said. "But she can't stay here," Luna said as she pointed to me still attacking. Celestia then flew above to try to talk to me. "SPIKE!" She called using the royal Canterlot voice. "TWILIGHT IS ALIVE SO STOP YOU DON'T HAVE TO-" She stopped when I tried to swat her away and she flew back down. "It's no use he's blinded with rage, I don't want to but I fear we may have to attack him. Not too much, just enough to stop him if he keeps this up who knows how much trouble he'll cause." "Wait the Elements of Harmony," Luna said. "What if they were used on him would that stop him?" "I do not know but perhaps it's worth a try, but I don't think Twilight can use it in her condition." As the rest of my group went over to Twilight the elements started to glow and they saw perhaps they could use them instead there was no time to argue whether it would work or not because I was getting more crazy by the second. They got together and the elements shot out a rainbow to everypony's surprise and then to their greater surprise when it hit me I was transformed. While much smaller I was still bigger I actually looked like how I envisioned myself in my dreams. "What happened? what's going on?" I asked as I finally came back to my senses but as Chrysalis and the changelings rose I could still sense the remaining anger in me, and then as almost as it was instinctive I summoned the power that the elements shot into me and redirected to not only Chrysalis but her entire army. They were all trapped in magic rainbow bubbles and would stay there until the princesses placed them in a special prison.  "This is just the icing of the cake of this very strange adventure," Cheese Sandwich said to which everypony nodded. After that I returned to my normal form and nearly did a backflip when I heard that Twilight was still alive. "TWILIGHT!" I screamed as I ran over to her but Princess Celestia stopped me when I got close, it was actually quite a shock she didn't just stop me she picked me up with her forelegs. "No Spike, don't! Don't touch her!" "Spike," Twilight said to me in the faintest whisper I've ever heard.  "Yes Twilight," I answered as I gestured Princess Celestia to put me down. She did but she still held on to me by the shoulders.  "Chrysalis," Twilight said louder but still rather in a faint whisper. "She, the moment you all left she sent a squad to capture Celestia and Luna. She told us to be quiet about the whole thing when you got back or she'd bite your head off right in front of me. I'm so sorry you all had to go through something like this because I let myself get captured." "That wasn't your fault," Cadence told her as the rest of us gathered around her. "We were all responsible, we all should have been more careful."  "Sister, perhaps we should discuss this later, Twilight needs immediate medical attention," Princess Luna said. "Agreed," Celestia said as she finally let go of me. "But we need to be careful we can't pick her up even with her magic if we move her neck even just a little bit she could die." "How do we do that?" "I, I don't know Luna perhaps-" "I have an idea!" A voice called out and when we turned around we were all surprised to find there was one changeling left that for some reason wasn't imprisoned and, oh gosh this is the only piece of paper I have left okay I'll try to go a little faster. We didn't trust him at first but figured the elements didn't imprison him for a reason, so we decided to trust him. The changeling named Thorax made some of that changeling slime seriously what is that stuff, actually maybe it's best we don't know. He used that stuff to help make a neck cast for Twilight to secure her neck after that we used nearby plants to make sort of a bed for Luna and Celestia to carry Twilight in.                 "This should work Celestia." "Let's hope so Luna, careful gently gently." After Twilight was secured she was teleported to Canterlot.  After that we decided to make our way back home but before we headed out Shining Armor grabbed me by the shoulder. "Nice work kid." "Thanks," I replied.  "Listen, I was a jerk earlier, I'm sorry." "It's okay." "No it's not. I was frustrated by the whole thing and I took it out on you. That was wrong and I apologize."  "Thanks, I appreciate that." We left and decided to take Thorax with us though there was a bit of trouble when the wagon broke. However we eventually made it back home, Twilight was released from the hospital but would have to stay in bed with a neck brace on her. "Thank you for breakfast Spike," Twilight said to me on the first day she returned to the castle.  "Thank you," I said. I was determined to make sure she would make a safe recovery. "I'm surprised that I got sent out so early, maybe I should go back."  "I'm sure you're going to be alright Twilight, you're safe here." "Does that mean you're going to take down the electric fence you put around the castle Spike?" "Uh," I paused as I looked out the window and somewhat admired my work. "Maybe tomorrow," I answered as I faced back to Twilight then continued to feed her breakfast in bed. I thought this was the end of our wacky adventures but little did I know it was just the beginning for out in the frozen north a shadowy unicorn made his way out of the snow. "Crystal Empire."