Opaline could barely contain her excitement as Nightmare Shimmer walked through the doors to her throne room. Levitating within her magic were the still sleeping forms of Lava and Jade.
“Oh Nightmare, my beautiful Nightmare,” Opaline cooed. “Haven’t you done well? I was so worried you’d run off back to your so-called friends.”
Nightmare Shimmer scowled as she dropped Lava and Jade on the floor. She stepped forward towards Opaline boldly.
“I have no friends,” she hissed. “I’m hurt you thought I wouldn’t be loyal. I am not that weakling Sunset.”
Opaline grinned as she held out a hoof and stroked Nightmare Shimmer’s cheek. “I’m sorry my dearest Nightmare,” she sighed. “I had been worried; however, I won’t be anymore. You have proven yourself spectacularly.”
Nearby, Peach Fizz frowned as she continued to crush the leaves in her pestle and mortar. Her hoofs were aching, but Opaline didn’t seem to care. She was too busy with her new herald.
However, just as Peach Fizz started to strain the oil she’d collected. Opaline finally turned her attention on her.
“Peach Fizz darling,” Opaline smiled. “How are you getting on?”
Peach Fizz’s face lit up with glee. She removed the strainer and lifted the bottle she’d been filling. “I’ve got half of what you wanted. I’m sorry it’s taking so long.”
“Oh, Peach Fizz,” Opaline cooed as she walked over. “That is excellent work in such a short time. Your little hoofs must be worn out.”
Peach Fizz smiled as Opaline placed a hoof on her cheek, the same as she had Nightmare Shimmer. In the background, Nightmare Shimmer paid no attention, she was too busy securing Lava and Jade with magical leashes.
“Now run along to your daddy, Peach Fizz,” Opaline smiled. “We don’t want him to get too suspicious of you. You have worked so very hard today.”
“Thank you, Mistress Opaline,” Peach Fizz grinned.
She bowed slightly and with a large grin on her face ran to the door. Meanwhile, Opaline turned back to Nightmare Shimmer.
“So, any trouble?” Opaline asked.
“Just one, Glimmer,” Nightmare Shimmer replied. “Also, I’m certain Starscout and her friends saw me in the distance.”
“So, they reached the Dragon Lands somehow,” Opaline frowned. “Curious, whatever could they be up to there?”
Suddenly, there was a flash of green from the tree in the corner of the throne room. Opaline’s eyes widened and she hurriedly activated her map of Equestria. She couldn’t help grinning with delight as the lines of roots that criss-crossed the country now all appeared thick and full bodied.
“Yes, yes,” Opaline beamed. “That was what they were doing. They were finding another tree!”
“What do they need a tree for?” Nightmare Shimmer frowned.
“To complete the network for us,” Opaline chuckled. “Now, once our new guests have awakened. I’ll make them loyal to our cause. Then, they will charge the Dragon Stone which will give me the power needed to take everypony’s cutie marks.”
“Which then gives you the power to escape,” Nightmare Shimmer smirked. “After that, neither Glimmer nor Starscout will be able to stand against us. What do you need me to do?”
“Well, first I’m afraid I need a task that is below your abilities completing,” Opaline said as she looked at the pestle and mortar Peach Fizz had been using.
“And after that?” Nightmare Shimmer asked.
“After that, you can go and cause some discourse,” Opaline smiled. “We’ll see what happens when they feel threatened.”
Nightmare Shimmer smiled as she picked up the pestle and mortar with her magic. “I’d better get this done then,” she replied simply before grinning. “Then I can go and have some fun.”
Meanwhile, Sunny smiled as she exited the portal and found herself back in Bridlewood. She looked around as Hitch, Misty and Sparky were the last to exit. They gasped as the door immediately slammed shut behind them before disappearing completely.
“You still sure it was there when we were here before?” Sunny commented to Zipp.
“Of course, how else would it be in Misty’s dreams?” Zipp responded. "You didn't see how overground it was."
“It’ll be back,” Starlight answered. “When D…erm, Runcord decides to give out another key.”
“I’m not sure,” Misty frowned. “I think he just happened to have it.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Starlight smiled. “I’m certain I’ll be able to teleport to their Together Tree now.”
“How?” Misty gasped. “I don’t think I’d be able to do that. I’d be afraid of missing.”
“Years of practice,” Starlight grinned. “I’m very good with long distance teleporting.”
“Right, so could we maybe go to the Crystal Tea Room now?” Izzy asked hopefully. “Just a quick stop so I can introduce Alphabittle to the pair of you.”
“Everypony come here,” Zipp shouted suddenly. “Quickly!”
“Oh hayseed,” Izzy snorted.
Zipp had flown around the tree, and they all followed the sound of her voice. When they reached the opposite side from where they’d been stood, they gasped at what they found. There, sprouting from the ground, were two large flowers, however they weren’t blooming. Instead, each had a large bud that glowed with a pulsating green glow from within.
“They’re Together Flowers,” Zipp said excitedly. “They have to be.”
“Wait? Does that mean we can get the elements?” Pipp asked. “How?”
“I don’t know,” Sunny replied unsurely. “The flower in Maretime Bay, the orb is inside the blooming flower. However, these are in bud and there’s only two.”
“Two for two unicorns in Bridlewood,” Hitch gasped.
“But again, they’re not open,” Sunny answered. “So, unless you want to break them, how do we make them bloom?”
“We’re missing something,” Starlight realised. “Something Sunset kept mentioning that Twilight told us when we were on our way here.”
“Identify,” Sparky squeaked.
“Woah, that’s a big word for a little dragon,” Hitch gasped as he rubbed Sparky’s head. “You’re learning fast Mr Sparkeroni.”
“Sparky’s right,” Starlight smiled. “We need to identify what the elements are.”
“Well, Sunset thought that mine would be hope,” Sunny answered. “And Misty’s would be empathy.”
“Yeah, I’ve no clue what mine could be,” Izzy groaned.
“Discord said something about me being full of hope,” Sunny reasoned. “So, what do you feel most of the time?”
“I…I’m not sure about empathy anymore,” Misty admitted. “I don’t think I feel empathy, certainly not towards myself.”
“I think I feel happiness most of the time,” Izzy added. “Can happiness be an element?”
Sparky suddenly hopped over to Izzy’s side and pointed to her cutie mark. “Glow,” he squeaked.
“Glow?” Izzy blinked. “Oh, my cutie mark glows the most when I’m creative. Like when I made the nest for the looking glass. It glowed really brightly then. I felt lots and lots of creativity that day.”
Suddenly, they all gasped as one of the flower buds started to glow green continuously. The other meanwhile maintained the pulsating green glow, as if it was on standby.
“Eee, Izzy, your element must be creativity,” Sunny smiled.
“Yeah, yeah, I think that’s right,” Izzy beamed.
Meanwhile, Sparky had run to Misty’s flank. He looked up at her with large eyes and pointed to her cutie mark. “Glow?” he questioned.
“I…I don’t know,” Misty sighed. “I’m not sure when it’s glowed. Apart from when I got it.”
“Last time I think it glowed was at the playground,” Sunny replied. “When you were trying to recall your memories to rescue Peach Fizz.”
“I knew in my heart that even though remembering would hurt I needed to,” Misty replied understandingly. “It was the right thing, even though I still haven’t found my own family.”
Suddenly, the second flower changed to a continual intense glow. Immediately, Izzy, Misty, and Sunny found they couldn’t look away from the flowers. They stared directly towards them before they started to walk forward. Each had a vacant expression on their face and didn’t look away from the flowers.
“Okay, that cannot be good,” Starlight gasped.
“Don’t worry, it’s happened before,” Zipp replied.
“It has?” Starlight frowned.
“Yeah, just before you appeared,” Zipp explained. “Sunny got pulled in a trance to the flower in Maretime Bay.”
“But why are all three going forward?” Pipp asked. “There’s only two flowers.”
“Okay, yeah. That’s actually concerning,” Zipp admitted. “Why’s Sunny involved?”
Sunny herself couldn’t hear Zipp, as she walked between Izzy and Misty. Her powers activated as she got nearer the flowers before she suddenly hit what seemed like an invisible wall. This knocked her from the trance as Izzy and Misty continued to walk forward.
Sunny gasped and shook her head. She looked back to her friends behind her and tried to turn to head back to them. However, it was like her hoofs had suddenly become rooted to the spot, she couldn’t move them.
“Okay, what’s happening?” she gasped.
Izzy and Misty meanwhile had no issues walking up to the flowers. They stood before them and there was a blinding flash from both as the buds slowly split and flopped open. They revealed two huge multi-coloured flowers, in the centre of each was a grey orb. One with Izzy’s cutie mark, the other with Misty’s.
Sunny grunted; something was pulling her towards the two orbs. However, her hoofs were still seemingly planted in the ground. “I…I can’t move!” she cried.
“Then don’t,” Starlight advised. “Stay where you are.”
“But, but I need to,” Sunny replied. “I have to get to them.”
Izzy and Misty couldn’t hear the conversation behind them. Both stared into their orb. Then, slowly, Misty raised a hoof. She touched the orb and there was another blinding flash.
The orb disappeared, and a necklace appeared around Misty’s neck. It had a wide golden band with inscriptions which formed a flowing pattern all the way around. In the centre, there was a charm which was in the shape of a butterfly. Just like her cutie mark.
Misty herself placed her hoof on the ground and then remained motionless, her eyes were completely white.
Izzy now slowly raised her hoof as well. As it touched her orb there was a third blinding flash. A necklace with the same golden band as Misty’s appeared around her neck. However, the charm at the centre wasn’t Misty’s cutie mark, it was Izzy’s.
Izzy placed her hoof on the ground, her eyes were completely white the same as Misty’s.
Both now turned towards each other, rotating around so they were looking straight at Sunny. Sunny grunted again and looked worriedly at her two friend’s vacant expressions and completely white eyes.
“I am Misty Brightdawn,” Misty said in an ethereal voice. “I represent the Element of Heart.”
“I am Izzy Moonbow,” Izzy said in a similar ethereal voice. “I represent the Element of Creativity.”
They both stood for a moment, looking directly at Sunny. She couldn’t help feeling they were judging her.
“Sunny Starscout,” they both said together. “You are missing something.”
There was suddenly another flash, seemingly from both Izzy and Misty. Sunny cried in surprise as she found herself being thrown violently away from her two friends. She flew straight over the top of the group that had been watching behind her, crying as she went. She kept going until she landed with a loud thud and the sound of snapping branches in the undergrowth beyond the clearing. Meanwhile, Izzy and Misty both collapsed to the ground with their eyes closed.
Sparky instantly began running towards Misty. Hitch looked at the others worriedly before following. Starlight meanwhile decided she was closest to Sunny, so started running that way. Pipp and Zipp looked at each other with concern, not wanting to choose.
“You’ll get in a mess if you go to Sunny,” Zipp commented.
“I’m not that vain you know,” Pipp replied even though she was already heading towards Izzy.
With her head start, Starlight reached Sunny first. She’d landed in a bush and looked none too pleased. She tried to move but the branches all around her were making it difficult to do so.
“Missing something?” Sunny echoed. “What did it mean, missing something?”
“We’ll work that out,” Starlight answered.
“Yeah, let’s get you and that bush separated,” Zipp replied as she arrived.
Meanwhile, Sparky had long reached Misty when Hitch arrived, her eyes fluttering.
“Careful Misty,” Hitch gasped as she tried to move.
“Oooh, I feel so dizzy,” Misty gasped.
“Tell me about it,” Izzy groaned as Pipp arrived. “I feel like I’ve been in a cotton candy machine.”
“Easy now,” Pipp replied as she steadied Izzy.
“Yeah, don’t move too quickly or you’ll be back on the ground again,” Hitch advised.
It took Starlight and Zipp a while to finally help Sunny out of her bush. Her mane and tail were a complete mess, twigs and leaves clinging to them stubbornly.
“Why isn’t this simple?” Sunny grumbled. “Why do we need another riddle? What could we be missing?”
“I’m sure we’ll find out,” Starlight answered.
“Maybe it’s just that we need to collect all the elements,” Zipp added. “There were two here, one for each unicorn in our group.”
“Wait, Starlight hasn't…” Sunny started.
“I’m not one of your elements,” Starlight responded. “I’m from the past remember. So, whilst I’m certainly your friend, I’m not going to be given an element.”
“Right, so there’s likely to be flowers in Zephyr Heights and another in Maretime Bay,” Zipp continued. "It makes total sense for the elements appear in our hometown."
“What was that?” Pipp called as she was still helping Izzy who was looking very wobbly.
“We need to go to Zephyr High,” Starlight replied. “There’s likely to be two more flowers there.”
“Zephyr Heights,” Pipp corrected. “But there is a simpler way then going all the way there.”
She whipped out her phone and begun video calling Queen Haven.
“Mum will tell us if there are two new flowers,” Pipp smiled.
It took some time for the call to connect, however finally Queen Haven’s face appeared on the screen. “Hello mother,” Pipp smiled.
“Oh, Pipp dear, there you are,” Queen Haven grinned. “What can…”
There was suddenly the sound of a loud explosion in the background. Almost instantly the call was cut off completely.
“Mother? Mother?” Pipp gasped, her eyes widened in horror. “W…What happened?”
“We need to go there,” Zipp replied. “Now…”
To be continued…