Backfire looked out over the vast expanse of trees as the train chugged slowly onward. She hated the train. The others didn't seem to be bothered by the forward motion, but it was making Backfire feel sick. She laid down on the train seat, closing her eyes and trying to sleep. She drifted into an uneasy slumber.
Muddy looked over at the now sleeping unicorn. She looked at the others chattering about pranks and other meaningless mayhem. She sighed, flopping down on the seat next to Backfire and closing her eyes. This was going to be a long train ride. What were they supposed to do about these Element of Harmony ponies? Who were they? She looked down at the blueish silver necklace around her neck and over at Backfire's crown. The explosive mare had refused to wear it, and they had all agreed that it would attract way too much attention.
"Muddy," Grey called, "When are we gonna get there?" The other four conscious ponies in the train car looked at each other for a second before all eyes turned on Muddy.
"Hey, I don't know!" she said defensively, "It was Backfire's job to know that, but she's sleeping."
Soar spoke up, her Fluttershy voice sounding very odd. "Why can't we just wake her up? She should be able to tell us when the trains going to get to this Ponyville place, and then she can go back to sleep."
"Soar, seriously. I doubt she'll be in the mood to tell us if you wake her up so abruptly," Muddy said, before smiling evilly, "but lets do it anyway." Discord's ponies advanced on the sleeping pony, but just as they were getting close to her, a yellow aura surrounded her and a powerful explosion knocked the other ponies away from her. They shook the soot and burnt bits of rubble out of there fur and glared at the now awake unicorn.
"You guys are really loud," she said plainly, "And we're here by the way." she trotted out of the car and into the station of Ponyville. The other five followed. Ponyville looked like a happy, peaceful place. Backfire grinned. This place would be hit hard by the chaos that was going to ensue, but not yet. Backfired leaned over to Muddy. "Take off the necklaces and put them in the satchel with my crown thingy." Muddy obliged, a little begrudgingly.
"Lets just find these ponies already," Grey moaned, "Then we can be done." A pink blur appeared out of nowhere, knocking the Elements of Chaos over like bowling pins. Loner glared at the pink pony that had knocked them down. Her mane was poofy and her face held the largest grin in existence.
"Ooooooooh! New ponies! New ponies! I'm going to have to throw a party! This is going to be sooooooo great!"
"Who are you?" Laze asked, trying to be polite despite the large amount of dislike the pink pony had already earned from her.
"I'm Pinkie Pie, and I'm going to be your very very very best friend! After all, I am one of the Elements of Friendship!" The six new arrivals froze at those words.
"The Elements of what now?" Laze asked, a slight drawl in her voice. Pinkie Pie laughed.
"Oh, you probably know them as the Elements of Harmony, but Applejack calls them the Elements of Friendship. She's one too, and she's one of my friends. Speaking of Applejack, you sound just like her. Are you part of the Apple family?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm one of the Apple family," Laze lied, "And we really need to get going there soon.
"Yes, we really need to get going, now," Loner said. Pinkie Pie looked at her.
"WHOA. You sound just like me. Isn't that cool. I think it's cool. Wouldn't you agree?" Pinkie asked. Loner took a step away from her.
"Okay, whatever you say Pinkie Pie." The six ponies dashed away. Pinkie hopped back to Sugar Cube Corner to prepare for the party.
- - - - -
Backfire and the others galloped into the library, slamming the door behind them. They gasped for breath. "I don't think she followed us," Backfire panted. A lavender unicorn peeked her head around the corner of the library, looking at the six ponies on the floor.
"Um, hello," she said, "I'm Twilight Sparkle. The library is a mess right now. I doubt you'll be able to find anything."
"We were just hiding from that pink pony," Muddy said, "She was very...excitable."
"I see. Yes, Pinkie Pie is like that. She's throwing you a party, I presume?" They all nodded. She gave a small smile. "You can stay here as long as you want, but please don't disturb Spike. He's categorizing books and then he'll be dusting."
"Okay," Backfire said, walking past Twilight. She stopped and turned around, slightly embarrassed. "Oh, and, uh, thank you?" The six ponies left Twilight and made themselves comfortable in the library. Spike looked at them for a moment before resuming his cleaning. Twilight trotted in.
"There going to be here for a bit, Spike. I'm going out to get groceries. I'll be back soon." Spike did a little salute and continued dusting the bookshelves. Twilight laughed as she left the library.
"So, Spike..." Backfire said, trotting up to him, "Is there a book about the Elements of Harmony in this library?" Spike turned to her.
"Yeah, it's over here," he said, walking over to another bookshelf. Backfire followed him. She leaned close to the shelf, searching for the title.
"These books are so dusty, I can't see their titles!" she commented, squinting at the titles as if it would help her see through the dust. Spike grabbed his feather duster.
"Sorry about that," he said, "Twilight hasn't used this part of the library since she and the other Elements of Harmony defeated Discord about a year ago." Backfire froze at the mention of her creator's name. Spike brushed the feather duster over the books, sending a huge cloud of dust into Backfire's face. She recoiled, holding her hooves over her face. "I'm so sorry!" Spike exclaimed as Backfire waved a hoof in front of her face.
"ah-Ah-..." Backfire breathed, rubbing her snout. She pressed a hoof against her nose, trying to hold back the inevitable. "Ah-AH-..." She buried he head in her hooves as she was unable to hold it in any longer. "Ah-AHTCHEW!!" A few sparks shot from her horn before a huge explosion blasted the rest of the ponies, and dragon, against the wall. Her horn smoked slightly and she sniffled. Spike looked at he from where he'd fallen on the ground.
"Whoa, I've never seen a unicorn do that before!" he exclaimed before he remembered his manners, "Uh, bless you..." He found the tissue box, covered in burn marks, and pulled one out. It looked okay, not burned or anything. He offered it to her, and she took it with her hoof.
"Sorry," Backfire said, not really caring that much. She blew her nose on the tissue and sniffled again. "I can't control my magic. It always explodes. That's why I'm named Backfire." Spike dusted himself off.
"Huh, Backfire, eh? I bet Twilight could help you with your magic problem." Backfire looked at him. Hadn't he said that Twilight was one of the Elements of Harmony? Discord had said to infiltrate their ranks. She groaned internally when she realized that that meant they had to make friends with them. She smiled at the little dragon. "Sure, I'd like that. Thanks." The others stared at her with mixtures of disgust and horror on their faces. A realization struck her. "Uh, Spike, can my friends and I talk alone for a minute?"
"Oh, sure," the little dragon said, quickly leaving the room. Backfire turned to the others.
"As much as I hate to admit it, we need to make friends with these harmony ponies so we can undermine them from the inside." She turned to Laze. "Remember that pink pony? She said you sounded like Applejack. I bet you look like her too, except for the colors. I think that Discord created us in the image of the opposite elements, but inverted the colors. I look like that Twilight pony, except for the colors, right?" They nodded. "I think you are like the pink pony, Loner, but I don't know why you look different. Anyway, this will make it easier to find the rest of the harmony ponies. We do have to make friends with them, though, or at least pretend we're friends with them."
"Okay," the others moaned. Making friends with the harmony ponies is the last thing any of them wanted to do. They talked amongst themselves for a good ten minutes before a slam of the front door made them fall silent.
"Spike, I'm back!" Twilight called. She stopped dead at the sight of the scorched and burned library. "What happened!?"