//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Friendship is Magic (and also cupcakes) // by bahatumay //------------------------------// Rainbow flew up into her face. “Are you a spy?” she demanded.  “She’s not a spy either… I don’t think,” she added under her breath. “She’s the Birthday Pony.” There was a brief pause.  “I knew you were real!” Rainbow said, grabbing her in a tight hug, one Pinkie gleefully returned, before Rainbow realized how uncool this might look and quickly pulled back with a sheepish smile.  Pinkie glanced between them all and seemed to relax a little bit as they looked at her with less animosity and more curiosity.  “Alright,” Applejack said gamely. “You know us, let’s get to know you. What’s your name?” “Eeeee,” she sang.  Applejack’s brow furrowed. Her mouth opened and then closed, unsure how to even start to make a sound like that.  “I’m…. not sure what that means, but she answers to ‘Pinkie’,” Twilight explained.  Pinkie nodded.  Fluttershy had recovered. Now awake and very curious, she neared and looked at her wings. “I’m no expert on bats,” she said, “but your wings look very long. You probably have a great wing loading ratio. I can also see that you have long and pointed wingtips. Your morphological design probably means you’re a fast flier, right?” There was a brief pause.  Pinkie flapped her wings. “Ee,” she said blithely, clearly not understanding a word Fluttershy had just said.  “We can study batticus poniecus later,” Twilight said, realizing as she said it how unlike her it was. “Right now, we have a bigger problem on our hooves. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them; I don't even know what they do!” There was a soft thump.  Pinkie had knocked a book off the shelf, looking somewhat like an enormous pink cat, and she was smiling expectantly.  “Pinkie,” Twilight grumbled as she lit her horn and slid it back on the shelf.  Pinkie met her eyes, narrowed hers slightly, and deliberately knocked the book off again. “Eee,” she said.  “Pinkie, stop doing that,” Twilight said, picking the book up. She paused as the cover caught her eye. “Wait. ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’,” she read, astounded. “How did you-?” “Eee,” Pinkie explained with a smile, tapping the spine.  Twilight scowled, unsure how she hadn’t found this book in all her searching, but she quickly brushed it off. “There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now-” “The Everfree Forest?” The gathered ponies stared. The Everfree Forest seemed to stare back. Pinkie bounced forward, crossing the threshold. She smiled and gestured with her head that they should follow. “I don’t think so,” Twilight said, lighting her horn and pulling her back out. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own.” Applejack chortled. “No can do, sugarcube. We sure ain't letting any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone.” Twilight didn’t think they were quite to ‘friends’ yet, but she didn’t feel like fighting it, so with a sigh, she started walking. Rarity sighed. “No. My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck.” She paused as she realized that the whole forest had suddenly grown darker. “Well, I didn't mean that literally,” she amended. Twilight glanced around. It had gotten really dark really fast, and after the cliff and the manticore, she wasn’t looking for any new surprises. She lit her horn, but there was only so much her light could do. It almost seemed like this darkness was magical, somehow. Or maybe it was just the forest. As they kept walking, it felt like they were being watched. Even the trees seemed to be… No, that one looked real. Too real! The ponies screamed. Scary faces peered out from the forest, the bark becoming open mouths with sharp, pointed teeth; branches becoming spindly arms reaching out to grab little ponies and take them away, and that looked like… a pony doing a headstand?  Twilight swung her horn around to illuminate it better and sure enough, it was Pinkie. “Pinkie?!” Pinkie giggled and dropped back to the ground. With an out-of-place and cheerful “Eee!”, she bounced around the group, bobbing her head. “What are you doing?” Twilight demanded. “Run!” But Pinkie had no intention of doing that. Instead, she pulled a silly face at the nearest tree, flipped over to stick her tongue out at another, and then pulled a cupcake from… somewhere, and kicked it, making it arc in the air before splattering another tree with frosting. Rainbow chuckled, and that cracked the ice. Soon, everypony was laughing at Pinkie’s antics. Twilight rolled her eyes, but she had to admit that she did seem to brighten the path a little bit, and the trees looked like regular trees once again, and the atmosphere seemed to lighten again.  The Castle of the Two Sisters loomed in front of them.  “We made it,” Twilight said as she climbed the steps. That journey had taken a long time. It seemed like every one of these ponies had had to solve a problem tonight.  “But we’re not out of the woods yet,” Applejack said. “Uh, metaphorically speaking, I mean.” “Right. We still need to find the Elements, and we’re not even sure what they look like.” “I don’t know,” Rainbow said. “It’d be cool if we just walked in and they were just sitting there, you know?” Twilight pushed open the door. “Huh,” she said slowly, as they looked at the Elements sitting there. There was a brief pause. “It’d be cool if Spitfire invited me to join the Wonderbolts, right here, right now,” Rainbow said quickly, looking around as if hoping that would miraculously happen, too. Applejack bumped her with her elbow.  The three ponies with wings flew up to retrieve them. “Careful,” Twilight warned. “Eee,” Pinkie said nervously, looking at the gathered orbs. Rainbow noticed what she’d seen. “There are only five. Where’s number six?” Twilight nodded. “The book said that when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.” She lit her horn. “I’m not sure what that means, but I’m going to try some magic.” “Just to clarify,” Rarity, the other unicorn of the group, interjected daintily. “You’re about to cast magic on an unknown artifact and you have no idea how it’s going to respond?” Twilight winced. “Oh. Right. Uh, stand back, everypony?” Applejack led the way out, giving Twilight room to work. Pinkie looked at Applejack. “Ee?” she asked hopefully, picking up her hooves and placing them down again in the same spots. “Are you asking if she’ll be ok?” Applejack guessed. Pinkie nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll be-” A burst of magic rocked the night, and light flashed. “Twilight!”