//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Friendship is Magic 
// Story: Recasted 
// by The Fiery Joker 
//------------------------------//

	“Seize her!” the Mayor shouted. “Only she knows where the Princess is!”

The Royal Guards reacted immediately and charged at the black alicorn. Nightmare Moon slitted her eyes at the attackers, almost amused that they thought they could harm her.

“Stand back, you foals!” she commanded with her dark voice. Nightmare Moon stomped her hooves on the balcony. Purple miasma bled out from the ends of her hooves and shot upwards. The summoned clouds began to twist around Nightmare Moon, forming a storm of swirling purple smoke above her. The guards stopped their assault and beheld the sight. The howling vortex screamed and bolts of lightning burst outwards, striking the guards and forcing them to retreat back to the floor.

Nightmare Moon proceeded to laugh at the pathetic excuse for an attack and disappeared in a wisp of purple smoke. The mist weaved in and out between the crowd of ponies and flew out of the large town hall doors, shutting them with an echoing slam.

Not so much a whisper was said amongst the shocked crowd. Groups of ponies gave awkward glances to each other, exchanging looks of shock, disbelief, and fear. Mostly fear.

“Mommy? Is she telling the truth?” a little filly asked her mother, breaking the silence. “Is night now... forever?” The entire room then erupted into nervous chatter, each wondering similar questions such as the fate of their beloved Princess and how their homeland is going to change.

Prowler stood on the balcony, gritting his teeth. “Drat!” Prowler cursed, giving at stomp to the floor in a fit of frustration. “How did she get in without me noticing?” 

A flicker of movement caught his eye. A figure carrying a small dragon siddled along the walls behind the crowds. Nopony seemed to notice her as it opened the large Town Hall doors an slipped out unnoticed. Prowler's wings extended and his lips curled.

“Her!”





“Nightmare Moon returned!” Twilight thought as she dashed away from the town hall. “Darn it! Why didn’t the Princess listen to me? Oh forget it; I need to get back to the library and…”

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

Twilight’s legs involuntarily locked in place. She glanced over her shoulder and beheld one of the stallions from earlier, flying straight at her with the face of a ruthless predator. He landed directly in front of her and stopped four inches from her face. body tensed up as if it were about to strike.

“You, mare, have some explaining to do!” he demanded as he advanced on her, his eyes burrowing into her with the fury of a tiger. Twilight shrunk as she walked backwards, her eyes refusing to leave his.

“Everything was running smoothly until you suddenly showed up. Now we have a princess missing, a large group of hysterical ponies, and now a reign of eternal night! Everything's fallen to pieces and I have a strong inkling you’re partly responsible for this! Explain yourself now or I will be forced to take action!"

“Prowler! Calm down!” Another voice came. Running down the road approaching the two was Firebrand followed by Jinx, Shenanigans, and Aqua Jet.

Firebrand walked up to Prowler and gave him a strict look. “You know just as well as I do she had nothing to do with this; blaming her isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

“Hmph.” Prowler turned his head high, choosing not to reply.

“Whew…that was close…” Twilight thought.

“But you're not getting off so easily, Twilight.” Firebrand continued. "Prowler has a point. You suddenly showed up in Ponyville and Nightmare Moon happened. Sorry, but we can't write this off as coincidence."

"And there's the fact she left pretty quickly and quietly after a nation-wide crisis occurred." Prowler quipped, glaring out of the corner of his eye.

"Shut. Up. Prowler." Firebrand deadpanned through gritted teeth. He took a deep breath and looked at Twilight dead in the eye. "Twilight, we need you to tell us the truth."

Five pairs of eyes all looked at Twilight. Prowler's eyes were sharp, keeping their accusatory look. Firebrand's face kept stern, unwilling to compromise like a father trying to elicit an apology from a child. Jinx's mouth tightened; he seemed worried about this whole ordeal and wanted to be alleviated with a simple answer. Aqua Jet and Shenanigans just looked as if they wanted their curiosity sated, leaning in to hear Twilight's reply. Whichever way she sliced it, Twilight had five stallions waiting for her to answer.

“Darn it…”  Twilight thought, hanging her head.  “I can’t just run away now, I have to give them something, otherwise I’ll look even more suspicious. I have no choice…”

“I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon,” Twilight explained, forcing out each word. “Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her.” She closed her eyes and tensed up. “But I don't know what they are, where to find them; I don't even know what they do!” She yelled, flailing her head around.

“Calm down, Twilight,” Jinx reassured, moving closer. “We can help you. Let’s just go to the library and figure this out.”

Twilight took a deep breath and nodded slowly.





Twilight and the stallions burst through the doors of the library.

“Everypony, split up and start searching! We’ll have a better chance of finding something that way. I’m going to take Spike upstairs.” Twilight asked. The stallions immediately complied and spread out amongst the many bookshelves. Satisfied, Twilight headed up the staircase with the unconscious Spike on her back. As soon as she opened the door, Spike began to stir.

“Uh... We gotta stop Nightmare!...” Spike groaned from the top of Twilight’s back. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out again.

“You've been up all night, Spike,” Twilight said as she placed Spike in his basket and pulled the cyan blanket over his chest. “You are a baby dragon after all.” Her heart melted as Spike pulled the covers over his face and snored. 

“Heh, sometimes I feel like your mother.” Twilight said aloud. “Well, it is half-true, considering I hatched you.” 

“Hey, I found something!” a voice called from downstairs.

“That was quick.”  Twilight thought as she raced down the stairs to see the progress of the stallions.

Shenanigans was dangling upside-down from a ladder and waving his prize around for all to see. “’The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide… very conveniently named."

“Let me see!” Twilight said as she snatched the book with her magic, inadvertently causing Shenanigans to fall to the ground with a thud. She placed the book on a pedestal and started turning the pages.

“There are six Elements of Harmony,” she read, “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 mere name evoked untold fears within the hearts of ponies. No one could blame them; the forest looked very intimidating. The trees had no order whatsoever, with their trunks and branches twisting and stretching in every direction. The trees formed a frightening wall, almost as if the forest was demanding all to stay out. The ground around it had no form, no structure, no level ground. It was completely chaotic from the outside in.

The appearance wasn't the only reason. The most frightening part was they had no idea what lurked inside. Rumors of dangerous and evil creatures circulated amongst the townsfolk of Ponyville. Because of this, nopony ever went in.

“You know, I can never get over how not scary that name is,” Shenanigans remarked.

Prowler sighed and adjusted his glasses. “Well Gentlecolts, it looks like we have our work cut out for us. Let’s get a move on…” 

“Wait,” Twilight stopped Prowler, who returned a confused gaze. “Look I appreciate the offer, but I’d really rather do this on my own.”

Aqua hovered over Twilight with his front legs folded. “Uh, heck no. Ya think we’re gonna let one unicorn take on Nightmare Moon alone?” 

“Yes, precious,” Prowler agreed. “Besides the obvious 'safety in numbers' rule, we daren't call ourselves stallions if we let a lovely lady like yourself wander into danger unprotected.”

“Besides, Twilight, you’re our friend. Friends help each other,” Jinx added. "Well, uh, they don't always help, but the point is they should, eheheh..."

Twilight winced. “I’m starting to hate that word…”

“And think about it, Twi!” Shenanigans interjected. “What if there was a monster made of marshmallows in there? There’s no way you would be able to eat it by yourself!” 

Firebrand eyed the green pony in disbelief. “There’s no marshmallow monsters in there.” 

"How would you know?” Shenanigans replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "You’ve never been in there."

Firebrand opened his mouth to retort, but stopped. After a quick pause, he began to say something, but again found himself unable to say anything back. His widening eyes blinked rapidly as his pupils drifted towards the center of his face. After a few terse moments wrestling with the logic bomb, he rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Fine..." he moaned. "You have a point there...”

Twilight bugged her eyes out. "Did he really just LOSE that argument?" she thought incredulously.

“Ahem… I hate to interrupt your ever-so-important discussion but we really have things we should be getting around to doing.” Prowler said. Firebrand and Prowler took the lead, with Jinx trailing behind and Aqua Jet hovering above them. 

Shenanigans looked back at Twilight and gave a reassuring grin, “Come on Twi, where's your sense of adventure?” he exclaimed as he bounced after the group.

Twilight sighed and trotted after them.





“Soo… none of you have been in here before?” Twilight asked, gradually slowing down her pace.

“No," Firebrand moaned, his tone much less emphatic than earlier. "Why should we? This place is… is…”

“Weeeeird….” Shenanigans emphasized, his eyes fixated upon a strange curvy branch. “I hear some stuff goes on in this forest. Weeeeird stuff.”

The group stopped as they approached a steep cliff. A natural rocky bridge formed from one plateau to the other. The ponies looked down the slopes. The chasm below looked ready to swallow all six of them up. Vertigo nudged Twilight's spine, so she decided to say something to get her mind off it.

“Stuff?” Twilight asked. “Like what?”

“You don't wanna know.” Jinx blurted as he surveyed the canyon. “Nopony who comes in here ever comes out.” 

"GAAAAHHHH!!!!" Shenanigans screamed.

Firebrand, Prowler, and Aqua Jet whirled around, ready to strike at anything. Shenanigans started darting his head left to right with a look of sheer terror. Nothing seemed to be attacking him, causing the stallions to tilt their heads in confusion. After a few moments he calmed down, perplexing the other ponies.

"Uhh, Dude, Shenanigans, you feeling okay?" Aqua Jet asked.

"Jinx said it." Shenanigans said with a long exhale.

“W-what?” Jinx stammered. “What'd I say?”

"Rule 1 about Murphy's Law, Never EVER tempt Murphy's Law." Shenanigans stated.

"Murphy's... Law?" Aqua Jet echoed. "Who's Murphy?"

“Seriously? That’s why he got so worked up?” Twilight sighed and shook her head. "It's just a saying," she explained. "If something can go wrong it will always go-"

Twilight was silenced by a large cracking noise.

Before she could breathe, it was accompanied by a sensation of weightlessness. Twilight's heart exploded as she realized the ground beneath them was no longer there. The group screamed as they were sent tumbling down the side of the cliff. The pegasi, whose instincts kicked in and started hovering, paused a moment to figure out what just happened.

“Aqua Jet! Let’s go!” Prowler barked.

Aqua Jet propelled himself forwards with his powerful wings, quickly closing the distance between him and the tumbling ponies. “Hmm… Prowls probably can’t lift Brand…” he assessed.  “I guess I gotta!”  Confident in his strength, he aimed himself at the large red unicorn. Luckily, Firebrand managed to regain his balance as Aqua Jet approached. Aqua Jet locked his hooves around Firebrand’s torso and pushed back with his wings. While not quite achieving takeoff, Aqua Jet was able to drag the musician away from the slopes.

Despite a few facial bruises, Prowler managed to stabilize Shenanigans, after silently swearing revenge. He secured Shenanigans in his grip and began to follow after Aqua Jet. Jinx thrashed around and managed to grab onto a dangling tree branch with his teeth. He lifted himself up onto the branch and held on for dear life, gripping it with both his front and hind legs.

Twilight, however, kept sliding down the slope. No matter how she tried to push herself away, the cliff’s edge quickly approached her. Her legs flew out from under her and dangled over the edge. She tried her best to kick herself back up but had no strength or footing to do so.

"Aqua Jet!" Jinx called. "Twilight's in trouble!"

After dragging Firebrand to safety, Aqua Jet then rebounded to find another pony to rescue. His eyes widened as he noticed Twilight’s situation.

“Prowler!” he yelled as he passed over the officer. “You grab Jinx! I’m gonna go get Twilight!”

Breathing heavily, Prowler dropped Shenanigans next to Firebrand. A flicker of movement caused his eyes to shift upwards. The side of the mountain began to rumble again and multiple cracks appeared in the side. Prowler's heart jumped as a second wave of rocks broke off from the cliff side and multiple large rocks rolled down the slopes. 

“Aqua!” Prowler screamed, “Watch out!”

Aqua Jet continued soaring towards Twilight, his eyes dead set on his goal and completely oblivious to a large black rock tumbling after him, almost like it was trying to chase him. The boulder hit a natural ramp and bounced into the air. With horrifying accuracy, the giant piece of earth descended upon the pegasus, landing directly on his wing.

“YEARGH!” Aqua yelped as pain shot from his wing to his brain. The rock shattered upon contact, breaking into dozens of pieces and tumbling down the cliff along with the wounded Aqua Jet screaming in agony.

Twilight’s lower body dangled off the side of the cliff. She tried pushing herself up with her hind legs, but she had nothing to settle her hooves against. Inch by inch, her body slid off the cliff face.

“Somepony! Anypony! HELP!” She screamed, tears in her eyes. Twilight forced her eyes shut, desperately trying to use every muscle in her body to hang on.

Her hoof slipped.

Instead of falling like she thought, Twilight felt her hoof get yanked upwards. Her eyes opened in shock and she glanced upwards. Aqua Jet danged over the side of the cliff, grunting in pain.

“ERRGH!” he groaned as he tried to lift the dangling Twilight. He only got her halfway up before his arm gave out. With another pained grunt, he tried using his other wing for momentum but ran out of strength.

“Crud! I can’t lift you, my wing’s busted!” he shouted. 

“Aqua Jet, what am I gonna do?” Twilight cried, clinging to Aqua with whatever strength she had left and trying her best not to look down. “I’m going to fall!”

Aqua Jet gritted his teeth.  “Bad bad bad!" He looked over towards the rescue zone, where Prowler just started to drop Jinx off. "Crud, that slowpoke! I can’t hold her long enough for him to get here!  There’s gotta be a way out of this!” He shut his eyes and forced himself into deep thought. Suddenly, his expression calmed and he released a long exhale.

“Twilight, listen. I know how to get you out of this," Aqua Jet said with an unusual stoicism. “I'm going to drop you-"

"What?!"

"-and I'm going to save you," Aqua Jet finished.

“Are you crazy?!” Twilight screamed, widening her eyes. "You can't save me with a broken wing! That's impossible!"

“Yes, I can," Aqua Jet insisted. "The only way you're getting out of this is if you believe what I'm saying. Do you trust me?”

“Is this really the best-"

“DO YOU TRUST ME?!” Aqua Jet screamed, his glare almost threatening Twilight to not reply. It was almost like his face said “I dare you to say no.” A word leaped unbidden to Twilight's mouth.

“…yes," she whispered.

“Then, let go," Aqua Jet stated. "I promise I will save you.”

“Promise?" Twilight thought as she stared into Aqua Jet’s ruby eyes. "Just… let go? He’s crazy! I’m going to die! There’s no way he can save me… can he? He does seem sure… maybe he could… should I trust him? I… I…………” 

Twilight closed her eyes and released her grip. 

The fear she felt was overwhelming. The weightless feeling made her heart feel like it was going to burst. Her mind scrambled itself into mess of incoherent thoughts spawned by sheer terror. 

“GOTCHA!”

Twilight felt legs wrap around her. She stopped yelling and opened her eyes to see the pained face of a blue pegasus.

“Aqua Jet???” Twilight asked.  “How are you flying without a second-“

“I’m not!” Aqua Jet replied. “Hang on! We're gonna start spinning!” On cue, the two started to spiral in midair. As Aqua's speed increased, Twilight found it harder to hold on. She tightened her grip around the blue pegasus as the inertia threatened to fling her off. Her eyes forced themselves shut, not daring to look at the ground.

Aqua Jet took a deep breath and focused. The world seemed to slow down around him and his vision narrowed into a black tunnel. He darted his eyes back and forth, looking for a safe place to put Twilight. His eyes rested on a large bush near the ground of the crevasse. Working his timing until he was behind it, he barrel-rolled and shifted his body, forcing Twilight to let go. Twilight let out another yelp as the momentum of flight dumped her into the foliage.

Straightening out from his stunt, Aqua Jet looked back at Twilight to make sure she was safe. The bush rustled with movement as Twilight flailed around inside, trying to stand upright. Satisfied, he turned his head, temporarily forgetting he was still gliding with a broken wing with large tree slowly growing in front of him.

“Oh, this is gonna suck…” he muttered.

CRASH!

“AQUA JET!” Twilight screamed. She dashed out of the bushes and galloped to Aqua’s crash site. Aqua Jet laid there in a crumbled heap, moaning more in annoyance rather than pain. He opened one of his eyes and slowly wobbled upright. He gave Twilight an awkward grin, alleviating some of Twilight's fear.

“Told ya I'd save ya... Ya... thought I was gonna... let you fall?” he said in half-broken speech.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Twilight said,

“Ehh, I’ve had worse.” Aqua Jet scratched the back of his mane.

"How did you know that you could catch me?" Twilight asked, running through the past few minutes in her head. "The kind of maneuver you did is almost impossible."

"Hey, it's part of the life of a traceur that you gotta know what you can and can't do," Aqua Jet gritted. "Besides, I promised."

His eyes caught the rest of the group hitting the bottom of the mountain trail and approaching them. Each of them looked concerned over the fate of both Twilight and Aqua.

“It’s okay, everypony." Aqua Jet explained to their worried faces, "We’re okay for the most part. Let’s go.” 

“Not so fast, Aqua." Jinx trotted up to Aqua Jet with a scrutinizing look on his face.  "Let me take a look at you.” 

“Huh?” Aqua Jet tilted his head in confusion.

“We don't know if you can go on like this. If anything’s broken, we need to patch it up to prevent any more damage,” he explained. Jinx donned his goggles and glanced at Aqua's wing. “Does anypony have any sturdy cloth? I need to make a sling.” he asked, looking around at the other stallions. 

“You can use this,” Firebrand offered as he walked up and took off his black vest. 

“That’s too small, I'm going to need more,” Jinx replied. His eyes slowly drifted towards Prowler.

Prowler blinked once he realized everypony was eyeing him. Or rather, his black officer uniform. With a sigh, Prowler unbuttoned his shirt and hooved it to Jinx.

"This'll work." Jinx said as he received the two articles of clothing. Jinx walked over to the wounded Aqua Jet and looked him over for a minute. A couple coos and muffles left his mouth as he surveyed the damage. 

Aqua's body looked absolutely battered. His left wing was bent backwards and a large purple splotch formed on the right side of his front leg. A large cut stretched from his neck to the middle of his chest, most likely from the bushes. The leaves and dirt in his mane and tail most likely came from the same place as well.

“You’re a mess. Nothing’s broken, thank goodness, but your wing is definitely dislocated, and probably sprained. We need to keep it protected and elevated.” Jinx prepared the vest and shirt into a makeshift sling. “Okay, this is gonna sting for a bit, but it’ll get better once we get you to an actual doctor.” 

Aqua Jet sighed. “Alright, just warn me before yo-YEOUCH!!!!!!”

Without warning, Jinx adjusted Aqua’s wing and wrapped the vest around it. Aqua, despite his cries of pain, remained remarkably still, except for his face which showed extreme anguish. Aqua winced with each wrap of the tie, and Jinx didn't seem bothered by Aqua Jet's obvious discomfort. Once Jinx finished tying the knot, Aqua started to shudder and utter choked breaths through clenched teeth.

“Owwwwww….. “ Aqua whimpered, a single tear streaming down his face.

Jinx took a step back to view the sling. “Now that should hold for now. If you want me to do something about your bruises, I have a potion for th-“

“No! No! Get that away from me!” Aqua Jet screamed as he backpedaled away from the gray alchemist. He instantly regretting doing so after multiple ghostly blades stabbed his joints.

"GYAHHH! Oww.... Remember the last time you gave me some of your voodoo juice?” he said. “It was so strong it messed with my head and I did some… stuff.”

Stuff? Twilight thought.

Jinx raised his eyebrow as he shoved the potion into Aqua’s hooves. “I don’t see how that was my fault." he said almost defensively. "You didn't take it as directed, remember?”

“That’s not my fault either.” Aqua Jet pouted, “It tasted too good….”

“Oh, really? Can I have some?” Shenanigans asked.

“Not unless you were severely wounded in the fall,” Jinx replied.

Shenanigans immediately clutched his head and fell backwards onto his rump. “Ooohhh… my head huurrttss…” he moaned. “My body aches all over from rolling down the cliff…”

Jinx didn't buy it.

“Haha. No potion.”

“Awwwww…..” Shenanigans froze in place and made a silly looking sad face. 

"Now drink up," Jinx said returning his gaze to the daredevil. "It won't heal your wing, but it will keep you stable for a while."

Aqua Jet obliged and titled the concoction down his throat. A few moments passed without much activity until Aqua Jet gave a pleasured moan. His muscles visibly relaxed and the healing effect became apparent. His cuts stopped bleeding and scarred up. The purple bruises under his skin slowly faded from sight.

"Ahhh... much better..." he breathed, handing a half-finished bottle back to Jinx.

"Soo..." Jinx placed the vial in one of his belts and took off his goggles. "What do we do now?"

The ponies looked up. The natural bridge that connected the two plateaus was completely destroyed and they were now stuck at the bottom of the canyon.

"That was the fastest way to the temple..." Twilight thought. "We're going to have to find an alternative route."

Twilight's eyes scoured the edges of the cliffs. The cliff was for the most part featureless; no cracks, ledges, or trees sticking out of it. "Nothing climbable..." Twilight thought glumly. She glanced to the left and right. To her right the cliff seemed to become smaller, so she figured that might be their best bet.

"I guess we just... follow this area down here until we find a way back up." Twilight suggested.





Jinx looked back at Aqua Jet, to which he returned a smile.

“Is he doing alright?” Twilight asked.

“I think he’ll pull through.” Jinx replied. “He’s pretty tough.”

The ponies continued their walk through the forest in silence. Periodically Jinx would look back at Aqua Jet to see if he was doing okay. Aqua Jet would always smile back, trying to keep up his tough-guy appearance.

“Wow... it’s really beautiful tonight,” Prowler commented, looking up at the sky.

Twilight looked up. WIthout a cloud in the sky, the moon gave off a dim silver light, illuminating their path. The scattered stars twinkled the nearer they became to the moon, perfectly complimenting it. The ethereal purple landscape certainly was beautiful. 

“Yes it is. Shame it’s being caused by a megalomaniacal tyrant bent on causing eternal darkness,” Firebrand spat, suddenly darkening the mood. Twilight sighed, reminded that the pony-shaped head in the center of the moon was now missing.

Prowler seemed unperturbed by the comment. “Still, a beautiful night is a beautiful night, no matter if it’s being caused by an evil dictator or benevolent monarch.”

Shenanigans chuckled. “Well you’re certainly looking at the glass half-full.”

Twilight huffed. “Come on guys. We need to keep an eye out in case we run into-"

A blood-curdling roar echoed through the canyon, commanding the ponies to freeze in place.

"What was that???" Jinx cried.

"I think the better question is what is that!?" Shenanigans screamed, pointing upwards.

Twilight looked up. A shadowy figure was slowly becoming larger in her field of vision. Four legs… Wings… Scorpion tail… Large cat-like body… Twilight’s heart jumped into her throat in fear.

"A Manticore!" She screamed. 

The manticore’s roar echoed throughout the canyon. With a strong flap of its wings, it charged at the group of ponies. One of its paws winded back and thrust forwards. With little time to react, the massive paw nailed Jinx and sent him careening into the bushes nearby.

“Jinx!” the ponies exclaimed as they saw the alchemist vanish from sight.

“Alright, bub, you asked for i- YEAARGHHH” Aqua Jet recoiled and fell to the floor.

“Aqua! You stay back! We’ll handle this!” Prowler said as he charged.

The battle began. The manticore swiped its massive paw at its first assailant. Prowler twisted his body and glided diagonally under the manticore’s claws, emerging without a scratch. Determined to capture the evasive pegasus, the manticore leapt into the air swiping wildly at Prowler, but none of his feral slashes made contact. Taking advantage of the distraction, Firebrand galloped forward and closed the distance between him and the beast. Without losing momentum, he whirled his body around and delivered a strong hind buck to the manticore upside the jaw. The force of impact sent the manticore reeling onto his back.

Seeing his opening, Shenanigans leapt into action. He jumped over Firebrand and landed on the manticore’s exposed underbelly. He started to trample and punch the manticore’s soft areas.

“What should I do…" Twilight thought as she viewed the scene "What do I… Of Course!” She closed her eyes in focused preparation. Her horn glowed soft lavender as she accumulated energy at the base of her horn.

The manticore quickly recovered from the assault and grabbed Shenanigans with its massive arms and hurled him at Firebrand. The two ponies collided with a loud thud and tumbled over each other.

“Shen, get off me!” Firebrand barked from under the green earth pony.

“Oooff…” Shenanigans groaned and shook his head. A purple unicorn slowly came into focus.

"Twilight! Firing your laser would be good right about now!!!" Shenanigans exclaimed with rising anxiousness.

“On it!” Twilight crouched and pointed her horn forwards.

"Uhhhhh..." Shen blinked, not expecting so quick a reply. "Brand! We need to move now!"

A brilliant beam of lavender light burst from Twilight’s horn. Firebrand and Shenanigans scrambled to avoid the path of the wave and dived in opposite directions. Prowler turned at the sound of the explosion and upon seeing the attack coming he shot himself upward. The manticore turned as well to see the wall of purple light approaching. He flapped his wings but his bulky body prevented him from escaping in time. The manticore roared as the attack slammed into its body, the force of the wave launching the creature into the air. It landed several yards away, smoke rising from its motionless body.

"Whoa." Aqua Jet breathed.

Smoke rose from the manticore’s motionless body. The ponies tentatively grouped back together, panting or shaking.

“Did we win?”

Jinx popped his head out of the bushes.

"Heck yeah! Dude, it was awesome!" Aqua Jet cheered, then winced in pain. "Ow."

"Is anypony hurt?" Jinx grunted as he struggled to get out of the bushes.

"Speak for yourself. That furball nailed you pretty good."

"Well, I'm fine." Jinx grunted, still trying to release himself from the grip of the bushes. He planted his hooves on the bush and forced his body upwards. More of his body released itself from the bush’s grip.  However, his legs were still trapped and he fell forwards, tasting dirt. His filthy face looked up at the rest of the group.

"Uhhh... little help?" he grinned sheepishly.

Prowler laughed as he flew over to assist the hapless earth pony. He kicked and snapped several branches that ensnared Jinx's small body.

Jinx's eyes nestled on the smoking body of the Manticore. "You didn't kill it did you?"

"No, it's just unconscious," Twilight said. "But we did do a lot of damage to it."

“Hopefully nothing serious…” Jinx said quietly.

“Jinx... What's that you're standing next to?” Prowler said, pointing a hoof.

The ponies turned their heads as Prowler searched inside the bushes Jinx was previously in.  After glancing at the inside for a second, he put a hoof to his mouth in shock.

"Oh dear..." he stammered.

"What is it Prowler?" Jinx asked.

"I think... we might have made a horrible mistake."

He pushed aside the bushes to reveal a large pile of assorted twigs and grass. On this pile were small bundles of yellow fur and insect-like tails.

"Is that... a nest?"

"Yes, and if I had to guess, I'd say it came from our recent acquaintance over there."

"A manticore's nest?" Twilight asked. "What... what is a manticore's nest doing all the way out here?"

"It was probably migrating." Prowler explained, gesturing towards the nest's contents. "The nest is rather ramshackle and looks recently built."

"And... and we just..."

The ponies stood in silence, an awkward pause permeating the air.

"...Wow." Aqua Jet stated. "We're jerks."

All the ponies shifted uncomfortably. Firebrand and Shenanigans looked at each other awkwardly as they did the most physical damage to the creature. Twilight felt absolutely horrible as she was the one who finally took it down. Even Prowler felt a twinge of regret even though all he did was distract it.

Jinx seemed particularly distraught. His eyes seemed to become misty as he beheld the group's actions. He trotted over to the unconscious chimera and inspected it closely.

“Oh, well that just makes things worse…”

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

Jinx tilted the manticore’s left paw back. Embedded in it was a large black thorn.

“It wasn’t attacking us because it was protecting its young or looking for a meal; it was just grumpy because it was in pain.”

Twilight turned away from the sight and released a pained grunt.

"Aqua Jet, how are you feeling?" Jinx asked, keeping his eyes fixated on the unconscious animal.

"What? Umm... I feel fine. I mean…” Aqua Jet stuttered and looked over his body. “My wing is still wrecked, but I can move the rest of my body fine as long as I don't try too hard."

"Good.” Jinx said and placed his goggles over his eyes. “I'm going to heal the manticore."

"WHAT?"

"You heard me." Jinx said coolly as he reached for his belt.

"Are you serious?" Firebrand asked disbelievingly. "You're seriously going to let that thing try and hurt us again? Last time I checked it almost killed us!"

"And need we remind you we've lost valuable time to track down the Elements of Harmony?" Prowler added. "Doesn't the whole of Equestria seem a bit more important than caring for a vicious monster? And don't you think that potion would be better suited to helping one of us if we managed to sustain further injuries?"

"No." Jinx replied with an edge to his voice. "We need to fix this. It's not the manticore's fault. I... I can't leave it like this."

Jinx popped the cork off the vial and moved towards the manticore's gaping maw. He crouched down to pour the serum down its throat. Hissing quietly, Firebrand stepped over to Twilight.

"Twilight, say something to him," he beckoned.

"Jinx, stop."

Her soft voice stopped Jinx in mid-movement. Jinx still kept his gaze locked onto the manticore, but all could tell he was listening.

"Look, I understand the guilt you feel. Hurting this manticore wasn't easy for me, either," Twilight offered. "We all feel terrible for what we did, but we have a job to do. It's sad and cruel, but accidents happen and there's nothing we can do about it. We should just move on."

Jinx froze. His face tightened and his breath quickened. The hoof holding the healing serum slowly began to twitch. He inhaled deeply and his body calmed. 

"I don't care."

He titled the tube and poured the red liquid down the manticore's throat. Twilight sighed. She couldn't blame him for what he did, but she felt it wasn't the right choice. The other stallions either groaned or facehooved, or both.

A small rumble caused Jinx to get up on his hooves and walk a few paces back. The magic potion started to take effect as the burns and scratches on the manticore's body began to slowly started to mend themselves together.

The manticore's eyes shot open. It scrambled to its feet and shifted into a combat stance, ready to attack the group again. The manticore stared at the ponies angrily and bared its fangs.

“You know, maybe you should have removed the thorn before healing it,” Shenanigans commented.

“Yeeeaaaahhhh… didn’t think that one through…” Jinx replied, sweat dripping down his face.

Jinx timidly walked up to the manticore, visibly shaking. The manticore raised its large paw to strike the earth pony, baring its sharp fangs. Jinx stood his ground and removed his goggles.

"Are you f-feeling b-b-better?" Jinx asked, his voice trembling.

The manticore halted its attack but its expression remained fierce. Its eyes burrowed into the gray earth pony, studying him. Jinx gulped out of terror, and offered a sincere smile.

The manticore’s expression slowly softened. It lifted its paw and looked at it sadly. It slowly moved the paw towards Jinx.

“Do you…want me to remove it?” The manticore nodded slowly. Jinx moved closer and prepared to pull the thorn. “Okay, now this is going to hurt just a little bit…” He grabbed it with his mouth and gave a gentle tug.

-poink-

The manticore reeled in pain and gripped Jinx off the ground, bellowing out a deafening roar straight in front of Jinx’s face.

“JINX!” the group screamed. 

“Wait, NO! NONONONONONO-” Jinx screamed in protest.

The manticore's roar softened into a small purr. 

“What the?” Twilight deadpanned. The manticore was lapping its tongue across Jinx's body. Not like it was tasting him but... grooming him.

“NOSTOPNONOSTOPGETITOFFGETITOFFEWEWEWEW” Jinx cried, shaking his head back and froth. No matter how much he struggled, the manticore's grip stayed tight.

Twilight's impulse to both frown and smile at the same time cancelled each other out, so her expression remained completely neutral. On one hoof, Jinx was "suffering" and she wanted to help him, but she also didn't want to risk upsetting the manticore. Besides, it kind of looked cute the way he was being groomed by such a large ferocious beast.

Once the manticore felt it gave Jinx enough appreciation, it gently placed Jinx on the ground. Twilight tried her best not to laugh. She could swear his mane resembled Frankenstallion’s wife, and not to mention poor Jinx was now covered from head to toe in manticore saliva.

"Eeeewwww..." Jinx whimpered, eyes tightly shut and body cringing.

The manticore spread out its wings and crouched. It flapped them repeatedly, and with increasing force. Extending its limbs and powering its wings downwards, the manticore leapt to the top of the plateau. After regaining its balance, it approached a long tree.

“What’s it doing?” Twilight asked.

“I dunno.” Jinx replied.

The manticore wrapped its massive forelimbs around the large tree trunk. With a mighty heave, it uprooted the tree dragging dirt and broken roots with it. It released the tree and set it down on the ground. It proceeded to walk around the tree and crouch again. Pushing its powerful limbs, it charged directly at the tree and slammed into it. The tree creaked as it started to tilt over.

“TIMBER!” Shenanigans yelled.

The ponies dashed out of the way of the crashing lumber.  It hit the ground with a resounding crash, spraying dirt and leaves all around. When the dust settled, the ponies could now see the tree’s trunk stretched from the bottom of the chasm to the top of the cliff. The manticore stood next to the tree’s roots at the top, breathing heavily. It gave a friendly growl, as if it were beckoning them to come up.

“Wow! Now we can get up!” Jinx exclaimed cheerfully and dashed up the log. Pleased with the fortunate turn of events, the rest of the stallions followed suit. Firebrand and Shen gathered on both sides of Aqua Jet and assisted him up the tree bridge, while Prowler simply flew up and over.

“Thanks big cat dude! You saved us a real pain in the flank!” Aqua Jet said as he passed the manticore. The manticore gave a proud roar and flew back down to its nest.

Twilight was the last to get to the top. Jinx was next to the roots of the tree, waiting for Twilight to get back up. 

“Well, everything turned out alright in the end,” he joked. 

Twilight felt the need to say something. “Jinx, can I ask you a question?”

“What is it?” he answered. 

“Why…”Twilight paused to word herself carefully. “Why didn’t you attack the manticore like the rest of us?”

Jinx flinched. "W-What do you mean? I was knocked away by it and had to recover for a little bit."

"Jinx, I'm sorry, but I don't buy that." Twilight accused. "Your face doesn't look all that beat up, even though that's where it appeared to make contact. There's not so much as a bruise on your face."

A trickle of sweat drifted down Jinx's cheek.

"You didn't get hit at all, did you?"

Jinx sighed and dejectedly scraped the dirt below him. “Okay, you got me," he admitted. "I didn't want to fight it. I figured it would leave me alone if I just made it look like was harmless."

"Why?"

"Look, I... don’t like fighting. It's just..." Jinx stuttered, trying to put what was in his mind into words. "I try to look for ways that I can get out of fights without having to do it.”

“Just like that? You just run from every fight?” Twilight asked, then immediately realized how badly she worded that. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” she said immediately. 

Jinx simply smiled at her. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. Conflict in general is just…something that never appealed to me. Not everyone who attacks you is automatically evil; there is usually a reason behind it.” He contemplated a moment, trying to draw a parallel.

“Take Nightmare Moon for example. She wasn’t evil from the start, was she? She just wanted to be respected and loved, much like everypony else. That’s not so wrong is it? But when she couldn't get it, she tried to force others to give it to her. And you know what happened after that… It's sad, if you think about it.”

Twilight never looked at Nightmare Moon that way. She thought she was just an evil tyrant, a monster. But now… she saw her as something different. An actual being with… feelings and emotions. A poor soul who just needed a friend.

Jinx looked somber. “That’s why I don’t fight. A lot of ponies will tell you that all that matters is the strength of your legs, when just showing a little mercy and compassion are strengths all on their own.





"Firebrand, what are you doing?" Jinx asked.

A loud snap resonated from a tree. One large and one small dead branch floated over to the group, surrounded by Firebrand's golden aura.

"Making a weapon." Firebrand answered. "You know, just in case something like the manticore happens again."

"Clever idea, Brand. One minute, please," Prowler agreed. He fluttered over to Aqua Jet and pulled a small sharp instrument from the makeshift sling around his body. "Here, use this knife."

"Whoa, dude, you have a knife?" Aqua asked. "Why didn't you use it against the manticore?"

"I didn't have it on my person at the time, and besides; it's a throwing knife." Prowler replied, brandishing the tiny blade back and forth to emphasize his point. "One does not simply slay a manticore with a throwing knife."

"Would've been cool though."

“Besides, it’s getting pretty dark,” Firebrand commented, levitating the small knife towards himself. “I can barely see a thing out here and I don't want to get ambushed unprepared.” Almost as if on cue, the trees became so thick that the group was shrouded in complete blackness.

Firebrand rolled his eyes. “Okay, now I swear this forest is mocking me.”

The ponies continued their routine of walking and checking on Aqua Jet's condition. The sounds of Firebrand's whittling and the clopping of hooves in the dirt were all that reached the pony's ears. Nopony spoke to another for several minutes, which didn't sit well with a clearly bored green earth pony.

“So… how ‘bout that festival?” Shenanigans asked to nopony in particular.

“Shenanigans… No one cares…” Twilight thought. She wanted to get out of the forest quickly and with as little snarky commentary as possible. Too many bad things have happened to the group for her to want to just chat, and this darkness wasn't helping her mood.

“Come on, nothing?” Shenanigans pressed to the uncaring ponies, “I know we’re in a serious adventure and just had two brushes with life-threatening danger, but doesn’t anypony want to at least talk about something happier? I can’t take all this doom and gloom.”

Twilight slowed, Shenanigans logic starting to take effect. Now that he mentioned it, Twilight was feeling a little shaken. 

“He’s right…we did almost died…twice… …oh my gosh we almost died twice!” Twilight’s breathing started to quicken. “No… No... I can’t think like that I can’t-We almost fell to our deaths and got eaten! Aqua Jet’s in a cast! Stop it, Twilight! We have to do this for the Princess! We have to-What else are we going to run into!? We barely survived the previous challenges, how would we get through the rest SHUT UP!” She started to grit her teeth, trying as hard as possible to shove these thoughts out of her head.

“You okay?”

Twilight opened her eyes to the wide-eyed Shenanigans. “Yes, I’m fine.” Twilight insisted.

Shenanigans comically tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. Twilight caught his expression and sighed in defeat. She waited until the rest of the stallions walked ahead before finishing.

“You win. I’m not fine,” she admitted. 

“You wanna talk about it?” Shenanigans asked gently.

“Not really, I just… I just…” Twilight’s tone heightened. “I… No, I’m not fine, I’m not fine at all!” Twilight thrust her forelegs into the ground. “You wanna know why?! We almost died twice back there. Almost! Died! Once by nearly falling to our deaths and the other by almost getting eaten! Aqua Jet is crippled and pretty much useless now! Not to mention we’re lost and don’t even know if we’re going the right way! What is the point of all this if we're just going to get hurt or killed?!”

She then pointed an accusing hoof at Shenanigans. "And why are you so chipper about this? Do you not care about any of this? Is this all some big joke to you? All you've done so far is point out the absurdity of the situations we find ourselves in, or downright annoy us!"

Twilight felt tears flow from her eyes, hours of emotional repression finally released. "It's just... this is so hard..." Twilight sobbed. "I never wanted any of this..." She sat on her haunches and buried her face in her hooves, sobbing quietly. A hoof wrapped itself around her shoulder. Rather than push away, Twilight leaned into the embrace.

“Look, I know you feel hopeless right now, and that’s perfectly understandable,” Shenanigans said as sympathetically as possible, “but you gotta let those feelings go. If you let them win, you’ll lose sight of what we originally tried to do. If we turn back now, then what did we come out here for? What’s the point? Just to get Aqua Jet’s wing broken and risk being manticore chow? Or was it that a hammy villain took over and we're the only ones that can stop her?”

Twilight’s eyes widened.  "I... I... I'M AN IDIOT," she thought, "I completely forgot about what we came here to do! We have an obligation to all of Equestria to stop Nightmare Moon, and I'm just sitting here throwing a pity party. Some student of Celestia I am..." She sighed heavily. 

Shenanigans gave a small chuckle and a friendly shove with his hoof. “Hey hey, now, don’t beat yourself up. You're not perfect, so don't try to be. You gotta stop focusing on the bad,” he encouraged and gave a mischievous glance towards Aqua Jet. “You gotta admit, doesn’t that story of Aqua Jet doing stupid stuff while tipsy with one of Jinx’s potions interest you in the least?”

Twilight considered the thought. She glanced at Aqua Jet and her imagination suddenly took hold. 

The broken image of the factual Aqua Jet bled away to make way for her own version. He Aqua Jet was surrounded by hundreds of Jinx's empty vials, with several in his mouth. He spat them out and blew raspberries at Twilight, shaking his head back and forth. His body swayed from side to side as he began to walk towards her, wobbling with each step. One of his legs didn't make proper contact with the ground and his torso hit the floor. His hind legs still kept moving, almost mechanically, pushing his unmoving torso across the dirt. "I"M A LITTLE TEAPOT! SHORT AND STOOOOUUUUT!"

Muffled giggles escaped Twilight's mouth.

“That’s the spirit, Twi!” Shenanigans cheered. “See the good in the bad. If we didn't have that accident, you probably wouldn't have known that story existed! Now you have something to look forward to once this whole adventure is over! Don’t ya feel so much better now?”

“Thanks. I needed that." Twilight said. "Sorry for the things I said... I was just...”

"It's what I'm here for. Think nothing of it." Shenanigans grinned. "Wait, is it technically possible to think of nothing?"

"You'd know." Twilight jabbed.

"Oooh. Yikes." Shen cooed. "Wear gloves with this one."

Twilight looked up. The other stallions stood in a line with unreadable expressions on their faces.

"Did you guys hear all hear that?" Twilight asked, slightly dreading the answer.

"Every word." Aqua replied.

"But Shenanigans seems to have this under control, so we won't comment." Prowler continued. "Let's just move on from here."

Twilight gave Shen a warm smile, to which he replied with a playful wink.

“It is pretty dark though. That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn’t even know it,” she assessed. “Keep your eyes peeled, everypony.”

"The dark is where I thrive, gorgeous." Prowler cooed, walking to the front of the pack. "Just follow the sweet serenade of my voice and I'll lead you to safety on this romantic night of nights."

Shenanigans put his hooves to his throat, miming a gagging motion.

"I see that, Shenanigans!" Prowler snapped. "You will cease that childish mockery or so help me I'll... GOODNESS! What did I just step in?”

“AGH! LOOK OUT!” Jinx screamed. 

Prowler looked at Jinx inquiringly. “A little late for that, don’t you-“

Prowler stopped as he felt himself hit something. Without looking, he touched the object he bumped into. "Bones?" He slowly turned.

It was the skeleton of a pony, except it was standing upright and moving.

“ZOMBIE PONIES!” Prowler cried.

A small rumble echoed through the dirt. Dozens of black bones with meat still attached slowly started to rise out of the ground. They slowly floated in midair and gathered together. From chaos came order, and twisted mockeries of ponies started to emerge from the floating piles of bones.

"Grrraaaahhh!!!!!" Firebrand leapt at the nearest zombie, smashing its head with his makeshift spear. The zombie collapsed under the force of the blow, the bones holding it together scattering on the forest floor. Firebrand then proceeded to fight the next one, thrusting his weapon through the zombie's. chest. A sharp wooden point made a clear protrusion on the other side on the zombie's body. Gritting his teeth, Firebrand lifted the spear with the zombie still on it and smashed it against another one, breaking apart both.

Prowler sidestepped towards Aqua's sling, and yanked out two more throwing knives. With great grace and a piercing gaze, he flung both blades towards the two nearest zombies. The knives sank into the skulls of their targets which broke apart at the trauma. He picked up the skulls with the blades still inside them and smashed them against the next one unlucky enough to be next to him and releasing the throwing knives again for further use.

"Ummmmm... umumumum... which one was it?!" Jinx stammered. He pulled out two of his vials, both containing a red liquid. With his trembling hooves, he uncorked them and mixed them together. A violent hissing sound came from the vial, changing the liquid to a glowing green. With a hesitant grit, he tossed it at a group of the approaching zombies. The glass shattered on contact with a zombie's head, spraying the viscous material all over it and its allies. Smoke rose from their bones and their forms began to dissolve, being eaten away by the green goop.

"Stick together!" Twilight cried. She looked over at the crippled Aqua Jet and realized she had to protect him. She fired multiple briefly charged shots with her horn towards whatever got close. In was working until a zombie got the idea to leap in the air over the formation. Twilight looked in horror as her shot missed and the zombie descended upon her.

A blue hoof planted itself into the side of the zombie's face. The form twisted and fell apart in midair. Aqua Jet landed on the ground in front of Twilight with a half-pained half-cocky grin.

"I still have two good limbs." Aqua encouraged, flexing his front hoof and non-damaged wing.

"Thanks!" Twilight cried. Her confidence grew as she continued firing off spells and supported the rest of the stallions.

Their advance was short lived, as more zombies continued to crawl out of the ground. Firebrand trust his sharp staff towards another zombie. Instead of dying like the rest, it caught Firebrand's spear with its mouth. With one quick motion, it snapped it in two. Prowler found himself unable to retrieve his knives as the numbers blocked his ability to retrieve them. The two stallions began to retreat while Jinx was frantically searching through his coat for anything to use. The reanimated corpses formed a perfect circle around the group of ponies. They began to moan, baring sharp moldy teeth and yellow saliva dripping from their mouths.

“Anypony have any more ideas?!” Twilight asked as she backed into the stallions.

“No!”

“None!”

“Nope!”

“Nothing!”

“We need to get out of here!" Twilight screamed. "There's probably a-"

“PFFFF HAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

"What?" Twilight eyes bugged out as Shenanigans was seen directly next to a group of three zombies. And laughing.

“Wow, you need a sandwich buddy. You almost look like the walking dead. OH WAIT! HAHAHAHAHA!!” The group's jaws hit the floor.

“Shenanigans, what are you doing?!" Twilight screamed. "RUN!”

Shen shook his head and chuckled. “Hey Twilight, remember what I said about seeing the good in the bad?"

“What do you-“

Shenanigans suddenly struck a pose, flicking his messy hair over his head. His legs shifted according to some sort of musical beat.

It’s close to midnight, and somethin’ scary’s lurkin’ in the dark….

Twilight: Tell me he's not...

Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart…

Firebrand: What is this? I don't even…

They're going to eat you, there's zombie ponies right now coming here…

They’re going to beat you, unless you find out how to banish fear…

Aqua Jet: Whaddya mean?

You stop and see, that scary things are just imagination…

You now perceive, see when you stop and look ‘em in the eyes…

They’re hilarious!

Shenanigans stopped directly in front of a zombies face with his trademark wide grin.

“HA.”

As soon his laugh finished the zombie pony in front of him vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the rest of the group to gawk.

SING WITH ME!

'Cause this is humor, humor time

They’re all completely harmless, so just laugh your fears away! HA!

Humor, humor time

Just giggle at the ghostly, and the kooky, spooky, and laugh!

Humor, humor time

Just stand up for yourself; you’ll live to see another day, HA!

Humor, humor time

Just crack up at the grossly, and the weepy, creepy,

and... pause for dramatic effect… LAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGH! YOW!

The zombie ponies slowly dissipated one by one, vanishing in puffs of black smoke. The entire group of ponies were sprawled out on the ground laughing. When it started to quiet down, Shenanigans stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes. “See? They weren't real. There was nothing to be afraid of."

"Keeping a good attitude will most of the time get you the whole way!”

“Most of the time?” Twilight snarked with a raised eyebrow.

“YOU GET MY MEANING!” Shenanigans stared at Twilight with a silly looking grumpy face, which slowly caused the group to erupt into more laughter.





"...and that's what happened when I drank too much of one of Jinx's potions."

Twilight failed to suppress a giggle. "Wow, Aqua. I wish i could've been there to see that."

"Well, I sure as heck don’t.”

All the ponies, including Aqua, burst into another laughing fit.

"Oh yes, before I forget," Prowler piped up. "Jinx, i must express concerned interest at the way you handled yourself with the zombie illusions. Pardon my forwardness, but it seems rather uncharacteristic of you to be carrying around corrosive acid." Suddenly curious, the group's heads turned towards Jinx.

"Oh, that, um..." Jinx stuttered. "Well, I wasn't actually carrying around acid.  I brewed that concoction on the spot."

"Using what?" Twilight inquired.

"Separate, those two liquids were harmless," Jinx explained. "All they were was an allergy ointment I made and some tomato juice I planned on drinking later. When mixed they... well... you saw what happened."

"Oh, so like, diet soda and chewing mints?" Aqua Jet asked.

"Something like that," Jinx affirmed. "More like mixing your medicine."

“Hey guys? Check this out,” Shenanigans cooed.

The ponies halted their pace. A massive river stretched across the landscape. The river thrashed about, uncharacteristically violent for a river not known for having rapids.

“Wait a sec. There was supposed to be a bridge here,” Aqua Jet groaned. “How are we supposed to cross this?” 

“How’d you know that?” Twilight asked. 

“I’ve flown over this place multiple times.” Aqua Jet answered. “You remember stuff.”

"You fly over the Everfree Forest? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Nah... not really. Now, disturbing a nest of harpies while flying over the Everfree Forest? THAT'S dangerous."

"You what???"

Aqua Jet playfully scratched the back of his head. "Kidding haha... ow."

Firebrand’s ears perked up. “Hey, you hear that?”

Everypony stopped talking and noticed a strange noise.

“What on earth is that sound?” Prowler wondered. 

“It sounds like… crying…” said Firebrand. “Let’s go find out.” Firebrand took the lead, his trained ears tracking the source of the wailing. “I think it’s behind here.” He said as he pushed aside a patch of bushes. The ponies had looks of bewilderment as they found the source of the sound.

A large purple water serpent was thrashing about in the river, moaning and crying like a newborn filly. His body was long and snake-like, and the size of a train. One particular feature is he had a large patch of well-groomed yellow hair on his head, and an equally smooth mustache to compliment it. Except half the mustache was missing though, like it was ripped off.

“What a world, what a WORLD!” he blubbered, slamming his body on the ground next to the ponies on dry land.

Twilight walked up to the serpent. “Excuse me, sir, why are you crying?” 

The serpent opened his tear-stained eyes. “Well I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply horrid!” The serpent then reeled back and smacked the river in a fit of rage.  A large wave came crashing down on the ponies, knocking several of them towards the forest.

“You can’t be serious...” said the soaked Prowler as he picked himself up. “We can’t seriously be delayed from stopping Nightmare Moon by a whiny serpent who's distraught about his mustache being uneven…” He started shaking his head at the sheer stupidity of the situation. “Honestly...”

“HEEEEELLLLLPPP!!!!!!”

The stallions looked at each other in horror. They dashed to the river’s edge and saw a distraught Twilight flailing about on the surface.

“HELP! I can’t swim!” Twilight cried, trying her best to stay above the waves. Another one of the serpent’s fits splashed more water onto Twilight causing her to disappear under the water.

“Sir, you have to calm down!" Firebrand pleaded. "If you keep this up, you’re going to drown one of our friends!”

The serpent continued his bawling, oblivious to anything other than his grief.  Twilight appeared on the surface again, thrashing about wildly with her forelegs. Firebrand growled, tapping his foot with increasing tempo on the ground.

“Prowler! Save Twilight!” Firebrand ordered.

"I can't, it's too dangerous!" Prowler refused. "Those waves will surely get me before I get the chance to rescue her, and then we'll both be in trouble!"

“HELblubP MEEEblubEblubblub!” Twilight cried. A giant wave formed and engulfed her, stealing her away from the stallions' sight.

Something snapped within Firebrand. His breathing stopped, and his eyes looked as if they caught on fire.

“DARNIIIIIIIT!!!” He howled. Firebrand galloped forward and threw himself off the cliff.

Firebrand hit the water hard, immediately going underwater. He pumped his legs and ascended to the surface and gasped. Working instinctively, he pounded his legs in the river as hard as he could, praying that his strength wouldn't fail him. The azure waves smashed into him and threatened to take him down as well.

“DARN IT! It’s too violent on the surface!” Firebrand thought.

Firebrand quickly filled his lungs and dove under the raging waters. He darted his head left to right under the water, his hopes slowly sinking as no sign of the unicorn showed.

“Come on, come on, come on… don’t be dead… please in the name of Celestia don’t be dead…”

A flash of purple swished past him. Instantly turning towards it, he found Twilight still flailing about below the waves, screaming out bubbles of the precious air she had left. Realizing he had no time left, Firebrand mustered all the speed he could and sped towards her. He wrapped his hooves around Twilight's body and kicked his forelegs upwards, thrusting her above the surface.

Twilight gasped and coughed for air. 

“Don’t struggle! Just concentrate on breathing!” Firebrand barked.

Twilight complied despite her mind panicking. Firebrand grunted hard as he pumped his legs towards the river’s side. He quickly turned his head, looking for the shore. He gasped as another wave began forming and threatened to swallow them.

"Twilight! Deep breath, now!" Firebrand ordered. He heard Twilight suck in a large amount of air just as the wave crashed over on them. Firebrand lost all sense of direction as he and Twilight were tossed about under the surface. His lungs and limbs burned as exhaustion and suffocation started to set in. His vision darkened, his grip on reality beginning to fade.

“NO! Firebrand screamed inside his head, clutching Twilight harder. "I'm not going to die! Not yet!” His legs fought against the water, begging to just give up. In a glowing moment of surprise, Firebrand felt his hooves touch dirt. He planted his hind legs into the sand and thrust himself upwards. Once he broke free of his watery prison, Firebrand inhaled to sate his greedy lungs and felt relief wash over him when he heard Twilight do the same.

Firebrand's backside sunk into sand. Knowing he was safe for now but not done yet, he dragged Twilight further up on the shore. Once he got them a good distance away from the riverbank, Firebrand collapsed to the ground and buried his face in the sand, exhausted. He heard Twilight gag and cough up water, and took that as a sign that she survived.

“Are you two okay?!” Jinx called from the other side.

Twilight wheezed, trying to gather enough air to satisfy her oxygen-deprived lungs and answer back. "We’re... Fine!” she yelled. Twilight then turned to the collapsed Firebrand, panting between each word. “We’re fine, right?” She asked.

Firebrand slowly got to his hooves and sat on his flank. “Yeah… I’m… fine…” Firebrand said between deep breaths.

Twilight gave a warm, sincere smile, “Thanks for saving me.”

If Firebrand didn’t have a red coat, Twilight would’ve seen him blushing. He avoided eye contact with her and looked upwards. “Yes… I… ummm... I did what anypony... Y-You're welcome.” he stammered, trying to keep his masculinity intact.

“How did you learn to swim like that? No normal unicorn is that strong.” Twilight asked, genuinely curious.

Firebrand smirked and looked off into the distance. “Well, I used to be in Celestia's Royal Unicorn Guard,” he explained with a touch of pride. “Five years in service at Canterlot.”

"The Guard? That explains a few things... Twilight thought to herself. "Like why he knew my name and trusted me earlier..." 

"...But that’s a story for another time. Right now, we still have a problem.”

Firebrand looked at his friends across the river. “Prowler can get over (lucky punk), but the rest definitely can’t. And I’m NOT carrying all of them over; I don’t think I could survive that.” he thought glumly to himself and started to pace.

“Could we try making a bridge?” Twilight suggested. “Like the manticore did?”

“I’m not that strong, Twilight. Besides, the waves would probably hit the first pony that tried to cross… Darn it! Everything would be so much easier if that dumb serpent would stop being such a dumb baby over some stupid facial hair!"

"Well, he said he started with his little hissy fit once his mustache was sliced off.” Twilight noted. "Maybe if we restyle his mustache, he'd stop."

"With a serpent that flaming flamboyant, I don't think any of us have the skill to do that up to his standards." Firebrand groaned. "I know his type; they're a borderline infestation in higher Canterlot. Once they lose something, they won't stop crying until they recover the thing they lost."

"Any ideas?"

"None. The only way he'd stop is if he had a complete mustache, and I don't think-" Firebrand stopped. His eyes drifted over to Twilight. “Could she… no, not the right color…” He looked at his own flank for a second, then groaned. “Well, it looks like I have no choice.”

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked as Firebrand walked over to the serpent. Firebrand ignored her and tried to get the wailing reptile's attention again.

“Sir Serpent?” The serpent didn’t answer, and continued crying.

“Sir Serpent!” Firebrand repeated, louder. Still no reply.

Firebrand’s eyes lit up. Closing his eyes, his horn shined a bright red for a few seconds and he took a deep breath.

“SIR SERPENT!!!”

Firebrand’s voice suddenly boomed with enough force to shake the ground. Twilight clutched her ears in pain. She had never heard of a spell used to amplify a voice before. ”Must be useful when dealing with large crowds… or foals.”

The serpent stood upright, ceasing his bawling for a moment.

“What is it?” the serpent sniffled.

Firebrand leaped at the serpent and yanked one of the scales off, to which the serpent gave a big “OUCH! What did you do THAT for?!”

Ignoring the blubbering, Firebrand brandished his newly acquired scale, and brought the sharp object down on his own flank. The scale cleaved through his golden tail, slicing it perfectly off. Twilight gasped at his act and the Sea Serpent nearly fainted.

Firebrand’s horn glowed, and the sliced piece of tail hair levitated into the air. then used his magic to levitate the tail into the hole where the serpent’s mustache used to be. It fit perfectly, almost like the mustache was never gone.

The serpent started to chortle. “OHOHOHOHOHO! My moustache! Thank you young stallion!” 

Firebrand gave a cynical grin. “You’re welcome,” he said with a hint of irritation. 

Twilight walked up to Firebrand. “Why did you do that?” she asked.

“We weren’t going to get anywhere with this serpent in the state he was,” Firebrand explained, “The only way to continue on was if his grief of his mustache was calmed, ergo, replacing it. But nopony else's tail has the texture nor the color of his mustache to replace it except mine, so I kinda had to…”

Twilight persisted. “But your tail! It looks so…”

Firebrand dismissively waved a hoof in the air. “It's just a tail; I’ll live. He doesn’t deserve it, I know, but… I think he needs it more than I do.”

“But still, how are the rest of them going to cross?” Twilight pointed out.

“Oh, thank you dear stallion,” the serpent gushed. “I’m so sorry for being so overdramatic. How can I repay you?” 

Firebrand smiled at Twilight and turned back to the serpent. “Could you perhaps assist my grounded friends on the other side of the river?” he asked. 

The serpent bowed low, “With pleasure!” He stretched his long snake-like body across the river, and the rest of the group promptly walked across. 

“Heh, that worked out nicely,” Firebrand chuckled.

Shenanigans was the last to cross, and eyed Firebrand’s flank.

“Dude, nice tail,” he joked.

“Keep walking,” Firebrand glowered.





“Hey, I think the trees are starting to thin out!” Jinx exclaimed.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Shenanigans asked.

“Good thing. I’m sick of being in here.” Aqua Jet mumbled.

“Hey, what’s that?”

Each of the ponies turned their heads. Some sort of tall structure appeared in the distance. The building looked fairly ornate, if ancient.

“There it is; the ruins that holds the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight exclaimed with sparkling eyes. “We made it!” Twilight started galloping towards the ruined building.

“Twilight! Wait a second!” Prowler warned. 

“We're almost there. WHOA!” Twilight’s heart fluttered as her forelegs didn’t hit earth like they were supposed to. Twilight’s eyes bugged out as the front half of her body was now dangling over a large crevasse. Prowler grabbed Twilight’s tail and yanked her back to safety.

“My my, aren’t we accident prone today.” Prowler chuckled.

Twilight looked back submissively. “How’d you know that the-?” 

Prowler adjusted his glasses. “Farsighted.”

Aqua Jet surveyed the broken bridge. “Well, we ain't going nowhere with the bridge out,” Aqua jet mused, “Problem is, I can’t fly over to fix it. Soooo…” 

Everyone looked at Prowler, who proceeded to roll his eyes and fold his glasses. “I can take a hint…” he sighed.

Prowler spread out his wings and leapt off the edge. Dense fog obscured his eyesight, but Prowler treaded on. He followed the ropes downward until they ended. “I found it! It looks intact; I just need to retie it!” 

Twilight’s voice echoed down the chasm. “Great! Let us know when you’re done!” 

“Understood!”	

Prowler grabbed the rope with his mouth and soared to the other side of the cliff. He searched around for a place to tie the rope down when his eyes rested on some nearby rocks. He started to wrap the rope around them, but then he stopped, and turned to the ponies on the other side.

“Excuse me? How does one tie a knot?” Prowler asked. 

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” Firebrand’s voice boomed across the canyon.

“Calm down,” Prowler laughed, “I’m just pulling your leg.” 

“GOOD ONE!” Shenanigans bounced three feet in the air and pumped his front leg. 

Prowler smirked and started to tie a basic knot. “Alright… the rabbit goes through the hole… 'round the tree… and back down the-“

“Prowler…”

Prowler immediately snapped to attention and whirled his head around, trying to find the pony who called his name. All he could see was thick fog.

“Prowler…”

“Who is there?” Prowler demanded, whipping his head back and forth to find the source of the voice. “Show yourself!”

“We’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival...”

Prowler blinked. “I… beg your pardon?”

Three shadowy figures slowly emerged from the silver fog. A jet black unicorn mare with reptilian yellow eyes followed by two equally black stallions appeared. All three were clad in dark purple armor resembling Celestia's royal guard's, if only a twisted mockery of it.

Prowler immediately shifted into a combat stance and prepared to fight. His nostrils flared as he started counting with his hoof and spreading out his wings. Instead of being intimidated, the black mare giggled darkly.

“There’s no need for that; we don’t wish to fight.” she cooed. This gave Prowler pause. His muscles relaxed, but still kept his low posture. The mare continued, “Instead we come to you with an offer.”

“From Nightmare Moon, I’m guessing,” Prowler accused through slitted eyes.

The mare slowly approached Prowler with a grin.

“Such an intelligent pony,” she said sweetly. “Correct. Nightmare Moon has kept a close eye on you, and she likes what she sees…”

“I’m… sorry… what?” Prowler lost his composure, his cheeks beginning to burn. The black mare then started to pace around Prowler, flicking her tail back and forth. The hairs of her tail brushed up against Prowler's flank, causing him to take a sharp breath and his heart rate to quicken.

“You’ve caught the eye of our mistress,” she explained with a soothing music in her voice. “You can see things that nopony else can see; you have manners, style, and to be frank, you’re quite the handsome devil. You’re much better than your so-called companions. She wishes you to join her side and serve her reign of eternal night.” 

“Eternal night…” Prowler looked up at the moon and stared. He couldn't deny there was something hypnotic about the moon. It looked so peaceful, so mysterious...

So... inviting....

“Yes… you understand the beauty of the night.” The mare leaned in a few inches from Prowler’s face. She cradled his cheeks wither her hooves and began stroking his mane. “Here is our offer. Abandon this silly escapade and join Nightmare Moon. In doing so, she will give you anything your heart desires.”

The corners of Prowler's lips curled into a sinister smile. “Anything?” he asked.

"Anything. Money, Power, Fame, or...." The mare planted a slow and deliberate peck on his nose. "Whatever happens to tickle your fancy.”

“Prowler? What’s taking so long?”

Twilight caught a glimpse of the pitch black ponies talking to Prowler. “OH NO!” she started to protest. “Prowler, don’t listen to her!”

The black mare's face turned to Twilight and her eyes flashed a bright yellow. With a sneer she planted a kiss on Prowler's lips. The fog gathered around the canyon and thickened to the point where the ponies couldn’t see the other side of the bridge.

The ponies stood on the other side, anxiously awaiting the outcome. The fog was too thick and they couldn’t see the results of the conversation. “He’s not seriously thinking about saying yes,” Twilight asked, then added quietly, “is he?”

“He is the chief of security, so he’s probably a stickler for the rules, but,” Aqua Jet paused, “I dunno to be honest.”

“He does know everypony that comes in or out of Ponyville, but, now that I think about it, we don’t really know him all that well,” Jinx added.

“That’s not good…” Twilight thought. “Please don’t say yes… please don’t-”

“Hey, somepony’s coming!” Shenanigans said. The group turned to see a pegasus-like figure coming through the fog.

“Prowler!” Twilight said. 

Prowler landed on the ground and was greeted with enthusiastic cheers. “Let’s get going. We have work to do,” he said as he turned to trot across the bridge. The group followed in high spirits. The temple lay before them, giant doors open.

Twilight released a huge breath. “We made it! Now we can ERG-“

Twilight’s muscles suddenly tensed up. Her limbs moved against her will and threw her to the ground. She struggled hard against her body, but it wouldn’t cooperate. She looked around and noticed the other stallions falling to the ground as well. A blue aura surrounded each of the ponies. Twilight instantly knew that they were being repressed by magic.

“What’s… going… on?” Twilight rasped out.

“I figured you of all ponies would know, Twilight.” Twilight forced her head to look at the figure staring down at her. 

Prowler.

“A binding ward. Basic magical proximity trap. To the non-magically inclined, you all are being held down by a spell,” he explained, looking off into the distance. “Well, it seems my work here is done.” 

“Prowler, what’s going on?” Twilight demanded of the dark purple pegasus. 

“Do I need to spell it out for you?” Prowler said with a condescending look in his eyes. “I’m betraying you to Nightmare Moon.”

The statement almost echoed. The group couldn't believe what they just heard.

“NO!” Twilight yelled. “Prowler! How could you…” she whimpered, almost heartbroken.

“Sorry love,” Prowler sneered as he adjusted his glasses. “Things have changed... definitely for the better.”

“You backstabbing spawn of-“ Firebrand looked ready to kill. He struggled against the spell with all his might, but to no avail. All he could do was lie on the ground and growl curses at Prowler.

“Tsk tsk tsk.” Prowler cut him off, shaking his head from side to side. “Careful, Firebrand. There’s a lady present.”

“Don’t stop on my account,” Twilight spat, indignant. 

Prowler turned to Twilight and scoffed. “Oh, you thought I was referring to you?”

On cue, the fog began to dissipate. A large jet black alicorn arose from the smoke. It’s blue reptilian eyes narrowed and lips spread into a triumphant grin. She let loose a bone-chilling laugh, almost crushing Twilight with the mocking tone.

“Too bad, my little ponies." Nightmare Moon gloated. "Your journey is over.”

“How could you do this, Prowler?” Jinx cried, shaking, “We were your friends!” 

Nightmare Moon sneered. “Your ‘friend’ is smarter than you give him credit. He realized that it would be so much better for him to serve Equestria’s new queen than to serve your former excuse for a ruler.” She sidestepped towards Prowler, draping a large wing over him. “So sorry, but your companion will be serving me from now on. You all, however, will rot in one of my dungeons for the rest of your lives, while Prowler here will be by my side and become leader of my royal nocturnal guard.”

“Exactly. Head of security…” Prowler repeated. “In case a foolish somepony gets the idea to do something like…”

THIS!!!!!

Nightmare Moon's legs got swept from under her. The next thing she saw was a large purple hoof heading towards her face. She tried to dodge out of the way but it was too late. Prowler's hoof connected with a satisfying thud, to which he followed with a graceful and well-placed tackle into Nightmare’s side. Nightmare's form was sent sailing over the cliff, screaming in anguish as she disappeared under the fog.

The spell encasing the rest of the group dissipated. The ponies stood up and beheld the results of Prowler’s sudden attack.

“Now! Everypony run!” Prowler barked. The group immediately realized what he did and darted towards the ruined temple. Satisfied of his friends’ safety, he returned his gaze to the cliffs. He raised an eyebrow, looking closely at the clouds blanketing the bottom. He knew full well that Nightmare wasn't close to being finished, so he stood patiently, waiting for her to return.

Just as he thought, the haunting shadow of Nightmare Moon appeared in the distance. She burst through the clouds, roaring in fury. Her eyes flashed a white matched only by the gritted fangs she now bared at Prowler.

“You finally reveal yourself, coward!” Prowler accused, flaring out his wings in defiance. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time! Did you not think I saw you start the second avalanche or reanimate the corpses?”

Nightmare Moon pounded the ground, lightning lacing her figure. “Silence, you worthless peon!” she bellowed. “How dare you betray the Mistress of the Night!”

"Ooooh... such an ugly word, 'betray,'" Prowler grinned evilly, flexing his wings and revealing the two stored hidden blades in between the feathers. “I'd like to think I'm... reinterpreting our deal... oh what I am I saying? Yes, I did betray you, as short a service it was."

Nightmare's sharpened teeth bared. "You foal! Once we deal with your friends, you will suffer much more dearly than they for this treason!"

"Treason?" Prowler chuckled. "Au contraire! I was never on your side to begin with.” 

“And why not?!" Nightmare Moon screamed. "You would've been one of the most feared and respected ponies in Equestria! You would've had everything! Power, riches, how could you refuse?!” 

Prowler paused. He then threw his head back in mocking laughter. “You seriously thought I would change allegiances just like that?! Over some second-rate flirting and a pretentious title? I pegged you for loony, but not dense.”

The fire in Nightmare Moon's eyes was almost visible. Her long horn started to shine a bright purple as she crouched to charge. Prowler followed suit, flaring out his wings and grinning triumphantly. 

Nightmare Moon stared at the purple pegasus, her cyan eyes sighed and stood upright. “This isn’t over, worm,” she growled as she evaporated into purple miasma.

“What? NO!” Prowler screamed, his eyes widening in alarm. “GET BACK HERE!”

Nightmare Moon’s smoke form had started to float away.  Prowler took off and attempted to chase her down again. The smoke stayed out of his reach and progressively distanced itself from the determined Pegasus. Prowler froze in midair, realizing he couldn’t catch her. He looked on in pure rage as the purple mist vanished over the horizon.

“Drat, I lost her again…” he furrowed. Prowler landed on the ground, overcome with feelings of bitter disappointment. “I was so close… SO CLOSE!” He screamed inside his head. He growled in fury as he walked towards the forest’s edge.

“I was…” He froze. “Oh no…”





Mumbling dejectedly to himself with his head held low, Prowler slowly walked through the trees towards the ruin. He entered the clearing outside the temple, and looked up.

The rest of the group was standing outside, chattering amongst themselves.

“There he is,” Aqua Jet pointed a hoof.

The ponies slowly turned towards Prowler, impatient and angry looks on their faces. Prowler stopped walking and hung his head, ashamed.

The silence settled for a while until Twilight walked up to Prowler. The stern look in her eyes seemed to push Prowler's head down.

“I’m… sorry...” Prowler's voice started to quiver. “That was cruel of me to do.” In an effort to compose himself, he inhaled deeply, then exhaled. He looked at Twilight again; she still had the same harsh look, which caused Prowler to look down in shame again.

“Listen, I have a… pride issue,” he explained, his voice quivering. “Pride and impatience. Nightmare Moon personally slighted me by getting past me and stealing the Princess away. As a pony with a good record, that was an enormous blow to my self-esteem. Say what you like, but I feel ultimately responsible for all that’s happened. So I did what any stupid pony would do: I sought revenge.” He looked up at Twilight with misty eyes. “I’ve been planning this for a long time, ever since we started this adventure.”

Prowler’s body started to shake and he started to speak quickly, his emotional side overcoming him. “I… didn’t want to tell you because I was afraid you would’ve inadvertently given away the plan, not complied, or wouldn’t… wouldn’t trust me,” he sighed and bowed lowly. “Please, forgive my selfishness and accept my apology.”

The rest of the ponies looked at each other in silence. This was a side of Prowler that none of them expected. It was strange to see this dignified pony start humbling himself before them, on the verge of crying no less.

Twilight crouched down next to Prowler, who didn’t look up.

“We already have,” Twilight reassured, offering a warm smile. “Of course we’re still a little mad that you went behind our backs like that, but we can’t be angry at you forever. While what you did was stupid and inconsiderate-" Prowler flinched at that, "-I don't think anypony here could blame you. You did hurt us a little bit, but you had good intentions and we did come out on top in the end of it all. You just made a mistake. We all do.”

Twilight surprised even herself with what she was saying. She didn’t know where these words were coming from, but somehow they just fell out. She felt she needed to say something to comfort this broken pony.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

Prowler looked up at Twilight and gave a contented sigh. He stood upright and adjusted his glasses. “Yes, thank you..." he said, "But, I wouldn't mind a hug if that's not too much to ask?”

"AND GLOMP!" Shenanigans cheered, engulfing Prowler in a bearhug.

"I meant a hug from Twilight!" Prowler screamed, breaking the hold and shoving his assailant away. He straightened out his now misaligned glasses and growled, "Goddesses above, you can be so THICK..."

“He's okay,” Shenanigans grinned, either oblivious or ambivalent to the insult. "Just let us know next time you plan on only pretending to stab us in the back, deal?"

"I'll try."





Firebrand and Prowler pushed the large temple doors open.

The temple was mostly intact, somewhat resembling the Canterlot throne room. The large tiled floors fell apart with scattered dirt pits. Large gray walls were cracked and parts of the ceiling were missing, but it looked stable for the most part. An ornamental pedestal stood in the center of the temple, branching out five times and carrying five large gray stones.

“The Elements of Harmony! We've found them!” Twilight said with relief obvious in her voice. Prowler flew up and grabbed two of the spherical baubles and Firebrand levitated down the other three. “Careful, careful!” Twilight instructed as the two stallions gently placed the elements on the floor.

Jinx studied them for a moment, “Hey, weren’t there supposed to be… six?” he asked. 

“Yeah, how’s this supposed to work if we don’t have the sixth?” Aqua Jet added.

“The book said when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.” Twilight answered. It didn’t make too much sense, she admitted, but it was all they had to go on.

“Great. Why do ancient legends and stuff always have to be so vague?” Shenanigans grumbled. “Any ideas on what it means Twilight?”

Twilight stared at the elements for a moment. “I’m not sure, but I have an idea.” Twilight crouched down next to the elements and her horn started to glow. “Stand back,” she warned. “I don't know what will happen.”

The stallions looked at each other and silently nodded an unspoken agreement. They took their leave and proceeded to walk out of the temple, leaving Twilight alone to concentrate on the elements.

The stallions walked out of the large doorway, looking at each other in silence.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Firebrand suddenly shouted. The rest of the ponies looked at him, confused. “We can’t leave her like this! What if-“

Before he could finish his sentence, the doors to the temple slammed shut. Firebrand facehooved. “Curses,” he spat.

“Twilight!” Aqua Jet immediately dashed up to the door and started pushing on it with all his might. 

“NO!” Jinx screamed as he pulled him back. “Stop that! You’re going to hurt yourself more!” Jinx reprimanded. 

“But…”

“Hey look over there!”

Every pony turned to where Shenanigans was pointing. It was some large crack in the wall of the castle. Jinx ran over and started tapping the wall, surveying its strength. A determined look passed over his face.

“I got this,” he said. Jinx redonned his goggles and fished around his belt. He pulled out a vial containing a clear liquid from one of the slots.

“Stand back and close your eyes!” he ordered. Jinx tossed the vial at the crack in the wall. Upon making contact with the wall, the vial shattered and a large explosion resulted, causing all of the ponies to avert their eyes. When the smoke cleared, they dashed into the temple.

Twilight was staring at a giant purple tornado starting to lift the elements.

“The Elements!” Twilight cried. She immediately dived into the swirling purple vortex and it vanished in a bright white flash.

“Twilight!” the stallions yelled. They all rushed to where Twilight used to be, but there was no trace of her at all. The group started to panic, calling out for Twilight, but no answer came.

“Where could she have gone?” Jinx panicked.

“Look over there!”

Everypony looked at where Prowler was pointing. They could see the windows of the second floor of the nearby tower were flashing.

“But how do we-“

“This way!”

Shenanigans stood by the doorway that connected the two towers, gesturing the others to come. They immediately darted out the doorway to try and find their friend.





Twilight coughed. A bright flash temporarily blinded her and she had no idea where she was. A few seconds passed before the stars blocking her view disappeared.

She gasped. The Elements of Harmony floated around Nightmare Moon. A slow grin crept to her features, announcing her victory without speaking.

Twilight wasn’t finished yet. She counted with her hoof and flared her nostrils, to which Nightmare Moon stared at Twilight in disbelief.

“You're kidding. You're kidding, right?” she scoffed.

Twilight charged forwards. Her horn started to shine a vibrant purple. Nightmare Moon charged as well with an aloof look on her face, hardly believing this unicorn had the gall to challenge her. As they neared each other, Twilight's spell activated and she vanished before they made contact.

Nightmare Moon screeched to a halt, completely stunned. She glanced over her shoulder and found the purple unicorn next to the elements.

Twilight swayed. She quickly regained her composure and focused another spell. Crouching down next to the elements she began to murmur to herself, “Just one spark. Come on, come on.”

Nightmare Moon wasn’t going to risk Twilight actually managing to activate the elements. She promptly transformed into a blue mist and swiftly moved to intercept Twilight.

All of a sudden, the elements started to spark, electricity beginning to connect them. A small glow emanated from the pile. The energy slowly grew until it burst, sending Twilight reeling backwards. She yelped as she flew through the air and hit ground. She slowly stood back up, rubbing her head.

Nightmare Moon materialized next to the elements and looked down at them. The elements started to shrill and glow, frightening Nightmare Moon. “No! NO!” she yelled in protest.

Twilight gave a triumphant grin. “Yes! Now the sixth element should...” The elements began to shine brightly, shrilling and crackling with lighting. A bright flash emitted from the elements…

Then stopped. The elements returned to their dormant state, causing Twilight to look on in horror. “But... where's the sixth element?!” she gasped.

Nightmare Moon cackled in triumph and proceeded to stomp the floor, smashing the Elements into dozens of pieces. Twilight stared in broken disbelief.

The night princess proceeded to boast. “You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me?! Now you will never see your princess or your sun! The night will last forever!”

Twilight cowered in fear. Nightmare Moon had won. The elements were no more. Twilight was completely outmatched and had no hope of winning.

“TWILIGHT!”

Twilight flinched at the sound. Jinx?

“WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Firebrand?

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”

Shenanigans?

Twilight realized that her friends were coming… wait… friends? 


…….


A smile slowly appeared on her face, as the many jumbled thoughts in her head became clear. Everything suddenly made sense.

Twilight turned to the laughing Nightmare Moon with a newfound confidence. “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?” she jeered. Nightmare Moon stopped laughing and looked at Twilight quizzically. She wondered if she was bluffing.

“Well you're wrong... because the Elements of Harmony are right…”

“HERE!” The stallions stood in place next to Twilight, ready to combat the evil dictator.

The shattered remains of the elements began to levitate and glow. Nightmare Moon looked down in alarm. "What?!"

Twilight smiled and reminisced her journey to the ancient castle. The struggles each of them went through and overcame together came rushing back into her mind and she began to tell Nightmare Moon what she experienced.

“Aqua Jet, who gained my trust through his dedication to himself and others, represents the spirit of... HONESTY!

Jinx, who befriended a manticore with his display of mercy, represents the spirit of... KINDNESS!

Shenanigans, who inspired us all with his warm and merry heart, represents the spirit of... LAUGHTER!

Firebrand, who was willing to sacrifice anything including his life for the better of others, represents the spirit of...  GENEROSITY!

And Prowler, who could not abandon the world for anything he could’ve possibly desired, represents the spirit of... LOYALTY!

The remains of the elements surrounded and circled all of the present ponies as Twilight called each individual, bathing them in a fluorescent light. Twilight continued. “The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!”

“You still don't have the sixth Element!” Nightmare Moon protested. “The spark didn't work!”

Twilight shook her head. “She doesn’t understand.” “But it did!” Twilight confidently insisted. “A different kind of spark.”

Twilight turned to face the group with tears in her eyes. “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all are my friends!"

As she released the declaration, a brilliant light shone down from above causing the night alicorn to avert her eyes. A spherical bauble similar to the elements formed out of nothingness. It slowly drifted down and hovered above Twilight.

“You see, Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of...”

	MAGIC.

The very earth seemed to rumble as Twilight spoke the powerful word. The elements started to shrill and glow even brighter around each pony. Each element dissipated into colored light and circled around each ponies' neck. The lights solidified and formed  elaborate jeweled crests. The sixth element hovered over Twilight’s head, and shifted into a large beautiful golden tiara.

The Elements of Harmony started to shine spectacularly and they levitated into the air. A large white light surrounded the ponies, engulfing them in pure magic.

A large rainbow light burst from the top of the group and blasted straight towards Nightmare Moon. The brilliant beam engulfed the panicking Nightmare Moon, who could do nothing but scream in protest as the magic took its effect.





All six ponies lay sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. Shenanigans was the first to get up.

“Ugh…” he groaned as he reclined like a reanimated corpse. “WORST… NIGHT… EVER…”

Jinx woke up at the sound of Shenanigans’s voice. “Wha… is everypony alright?” he asked.

Aqua Jet stood up and stretched. Oddly, there was no pain in any of his joints or bones. “Actually, yeah…” Aqua Jet wiggled his body around. “I wonder…”

He attempted to move his wing under the sling. Even though he had limited movement of it, he still had enough to realize there was no pain. He immediately started to untie the vest. As soon as the final knot was undone, he shot his wings out, displaying them for the group to gape at.

“WHOOOOO!!” Aqua Jet cheered. “My wing’s all right! I AM BACK BABY!”

Firebrand trotted over to Aqua Jet. “I’ll be taking that back, thank you very much.” He said with a smirk, gesturing towards his vest.

“Firebrand, I’d take a look at your wound as well,” Prowler said plainly.

“Huh?”

Prowler gave a small gesture and Firebrand looked at his flank. The short yellow stub that once existed was now replaced by his former long tail. He laughed in pleasant surprise. "Heh, now Shenanigans will stop teasing me about it…" he thought to himself as he turned to Shenanigans. Firebrand’s eyes settled upon a piece of jewelry that hung on Shenanigans's neck. “Whoa, where’d you get the necklace?” he asked.

Shenanigans raised an eyebrow. “Ditto.” Everypony looked down. Sure enough, they all had elaborate golden necklaces with jewels in each center, except for Twilight who had an elegant tiara.

Jinx studied his necklace for a second, then observed the other ponies’ jewelry. “They look like our cutie marks,” Jinx pointed out.

Shenanigans gave his trademark ear to ear grin. “SWEEEEEET…!” He gushed over his new toy. Shenanigans looked over at Twilight, his expression comic.

“I gotta say Twilight, what you said last night was some of the cheesiest stuff I have ever heard.” The stallions stared at Shenanigans, whose expression instantly turned solemn. “But I think what happened speaks for itself,” he continued. “You’re right. We do symbolize the elements of friendship.”

“Indeed you do.”

The group snapped at the sudden warm voice. Everypony looked out the stained glass window. The sun was beginning to rise beautifully over the horizon. The rays from the sun shone brightly, filling the ruins with light. When the light dimmed, a large winged unicorn was standing proudly. Her multicolored mane sparkled and flowed beautifully to the side.

“Princess Celestia.” Twilight breathed. The group of stallions immediately bowed to the alicorn, except for Twilight, who ran to her mentor and hugged her.

Celestia angled her neck and accepted the embrace. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student,” she proclaimed.  "I knew you could do it." 

Twilight looked at Celestia in confusion. “But... you told me it was all an old pony's tale.”

Celestia simply smiled. “I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more,” she explained in her warm, motherly voice. “I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart.”

“Wow…if she had told me from the beginning, I probably wouldn’t have made friends with these stallions.” Twilight thought, smiling of understanding.

Celestia’s head turned to the side, her smile vanishing. “Now if only another will as well.”

There in the corner was Nightmare Moon, although she looked different. Her armor lay around her, completely shattered. Her jet black mane became dark indigo, and her translucent mane was now a solidified sky blue.

“Princess Luna.” 

The fallen alicorn gasped. Princess Celestia slowly walked over to her. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this…” Celestia said as she looked down at Luna, her voice quivering slightly. 

Celestia knelt down next to Luna. “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister…”

Everypony in the room gasped at the reveal. “Sister?” they repeated in disbelief.

Princess Celestia stood upright with a gentle look in her eyes, “Please… will you accept my friendship?”

The situation suddenly turned tense. Each of the Elements of Harmony looked worriedly at the two Princesses, hoping for the best.

Princess Luna looked down for a moment. Multiple emotions could be seen on her face. Sorrow. Guilt. Sadness. Regret. She closed her eyes and grimaced...

...and threw herself at Celestia with tears in her eyes, wrapping her forelegs around her. “I'm so sorry!” she bawled. “I missed you so much, big sister!”

Princess Celestia started to cry as well, tears of joy streaming down her face. “I've missed you, too…”





“PAAAAAARRRTAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Shenanigans and Aqua Jet leaped from table to table, whooping loudly and flailing around, causing half of Ponyville to double over in laughter at their antics. They started riverstomping on the table Firebrand and Prowler were sitting at. After a 20 second routine, they leapt to another table to perform some moves from Moontrotter.

“Shenanigans is crazy… but I don’t think I want him to change.”

“Hear hear. The stallion certainly can throw a good celebration.”

“You have any family, Prowler?”

"Never thought you the small talk type." Prowler quipped with raised his eyebrow. “I figured you of all ponies would know. After all, you see him nearly every day.”

“Sorry, what?” Firebrand asked.

“Snicker.” Prowler answered resting his head in his hooves. “Brown mane? Tan coat? Earth pony?”

“Wait, Snicker is your brother?” Firebrand said incredulously, then sat back in his chair. “Huh. Did not know.” “Now that I think about it, their manes are similar.”

Prowler chuckled as he sipped his mug of cider.

“Hey everypony! Here they come!” Jinx yelled, causing everyone in the vicinity to turn their heads.

A golden carriage pulled by two ponies from the Royal Earth Pony Guard drifted into town. The glowing figures of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rested on the back. Confetti and streamers rained down as the two were greeted with enthusiastic cheers from the entire populace.

Twilight stared at them from a distance. She had fulfilled her royal duties and no longer had any reason to stay in Ponyville. At first she couldn’t wait to leave. Now she wished she had a little more time.

Twilight had made friends. Good friends that would stick by her in times of trouble. They made her happy just looking at them. For the short time she knew them, they impacted her greatly. Saying goodbye now was like saying goodbye to a piece of herself. She hung her head, her expression sullen.

“Why so glum, my faithful student?” Princess Celestia asked from behind Twilight. “Are you not happy that your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?”

Twilight didn’t look up. “That's just it. Just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them.” Twilight turned. She saw the stallions behind her, listening intently to what she said, somber looks on their faces.

Aqua Jet stepped forward. “Princess…” he asked, “Does she really have to go?”

Princess Celestia looked thoughtful for a second, pondering the unicorn’s lament. Her expression soon changed to a warm smile. “Spike,” Celestia addressed. The purple dragon instantly jumped to her side with a scroll and parchment.

“Take a note, please.” Celestia stood proudly and spoke in a royal manner. “I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville,” she finished with a smile.

Twilight eyes oozed with pure concentrated glee as her friends embraced her in a group hug. “Oh thank you, Princess Celestia! I'll study harder than ever before.”

Shenanigans raised his eyebrows at Twilight. “Aww, man, really? I don’t think that would make for a very interesting chapter, Twilight.”

“What?”

“NOTHING!”