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// Chapter 4 - The Everfree Adventure of Finding your True Self(Episode 2) (Edited) 
// Story: An Editorial Tale 
// by Awkward Elipsis 
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	After Nightmare Moon disappeared, everypony in the town hall went hysterical. Ponies were freaking out everywhere, all but a few. Said few included Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy (although she seemed to be curled into a ball). As Twilight grabbed Spike and ran for the library, Rainbow Dash was watching her and followed. Seeing Rainbow 	Dash leave, Applejack went to get her other friends and follow as well.
Running past all the panicking ponies, Twilight dashed to the library to find a way to stop Nightmare Moon. After tucking Spike into bed, Twilight began searching for a book on the Elements of Harmony. "Elements, Elements, Elements! Ugh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?!"
"And just what are the Elements of Harmony?" asked Rainbow Dash inquiringly as she jabbed her face into Twilight's, turning her around to face her, "and how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a spy??"
"Simmer down Sally," said Applejack as she pulled Rainbow Dash away by her tail, "she ain't no spy, but she sure knows what's goin' on, don't ya Twilight." Everypony walked into the library and waited for Twilight's answer.
"I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon,” she slowly admitted, "some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her. But I don't know what they are, where to find them, I don't even know what they do!"
Suddenly Pinkie began reading aloud the title of a book on the shelf, "The Elements of Harmony; A Reference Guide."
"Where did you find that?!" Twilight exclaimed, speeding quickly over to the shelf and knocking Pinkie out of the way.
"It was under E!" Pinkie responded in a playful tone, gleefully bouncing past around.
"Oh. . . "
Taking the book out of the shelf, Twilight opened it and began reading about the Elements of Harmony. "‘There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location of the five elements was the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now The Everfree Forest.’"
"The Everfree Forest?!" Exclaimed everypony but Twilight.
"What’s so bad about the Everfree Forest?" questioned Twilight.
"Well ya see here Twilight, the Everfree Forest ain't no normal forest," began Applejack.
"YEAH," interrupted Rainbow Dash, "It's only the most terrifying place in all of Equestria!"
Shoving Rainbow Dash away, Applejack continued, "It just ain't normal. It's eerily dark."
"The weather changes on its own," continued Rainbow Dash.
"It’s ever so filthy in there," exclaimed Rarity.
"The animals eat each other!" Said Pinkie.
"And, um, the clouds move by themselves." Fluttershy quietly added.
Trying to take in all the information being thrown at her, Twilight said, "Well, either way, I'm going to have to go in there and get those Elements." With that, she slowly walked towards the door.
"Now just hold on there," Applejack ran in front of Twilight and blocking the door, "ya mean we're gonna have ta find those elements. And don't be going on about how this ain't none of our business. This here is our town, and Celestia is our Princess too,"
"Yeah!" said all the others.
Seeing as there was no way she was going to persuade them otherwise, Twilight agreed.





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Watching the entire ordeal take place, the owl sitting on a branch of the library prepared to follow the six mares. 'Interesting, how that all played out,' he thought, 'the five elements that lived in Ponyville ended up being friends, and they just so happened to be standing in element order as Twilight read from the book. This feels like a cartoon to me.' After flying for some time, he finally caught up to the six ponies. Said ponies were just standing at the edge of the forest. Landing on a nearby branch, he stopped to listen to their conversation.
"I see what you mean, girls," said Twilight, "seeing it now, the Everfree Forest feels… just… wrong."
"I told you so!" said the blue pegasus with the rainbow colored hair.
'If I remember correctly, her name was Rainbow Dash?’ The owl thought. 'Sure, let's go with that. Oh, wait, how will I help them through this if I can't reveal myself, and without them knowing that I'm helping them?' Thinking hard for a few seconds, he came up with a plan. 'Ok. That would make one of those problems null n' void. I guess I'll get to the other problem when we get to it.' Slowly and silently as possible, the owl began to shrink and change shapes slightly. Finishing, what now replaced the owl on the branch was a beautiful looking mocking jay that had all sorts of shades of blue going down its feathers. The mocking jay then proceed to tweet a little tune.
"Oh my!" exclaimed the yellow pegasus, "what a wonderful, beautiful mocking jay! Come here little fella," stopping his little song, the mocking jay lifted off the branch and glided down to perch on Fluttershy's back. "What are you doing here little birdy?”
"Oh my, that is a very stunning bird! The coloration of its feathers are simply gorgeous! I must have a single feather," Rarity said, reaching out a hoof to pluck a feather. However, before she could touch the bird it was moved away by Fluttershy.
"NO, don't you dare try to harm him! Um… if… you… wouldn't… mind."
"Oh, I'm truly sorry Fluttershy, I didn't know what had come over me! It's a beautiful bird." Hearing this the mocking jay puffed out its chest at the praise it was getting.
"Rarity? Fluttershy? Come on! We've got to get going!” Called a very impatient blue pegasus.
"Sorry deary, let us get going," replied Rarity.
"Oh um what should I do with… Oh my…!" Fluttershy quickly ran to catch up with her friends, with a little companion.
Meeting back up with the group, Fluttershy asked what she should do with the mocking jay. After lots of discussion and the yelling of Twilight to hurry up, they all decided to let the bird follow atop of Fluttershy's back. After walking for a while they got to a cliff.
Completely ignoring what the ponies were saying, the mocking jay noticed a mist seep into the cracks in the cliff. 'I see what you're doing Nightmare, too bad I gotta help them through this,' he thought. He began to fly off of Fluttershy just as the ground below them dropped. Quickly getting to work, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy helped by grabbing Pinkie and Rarity. They flew down to the bottom of the cliff face and placed Pinkie and Rarity safely on the ground. Looking back to the cliff, it seemed that Twilight was hanging on to the edge for dear life while Applejack tried to help her up. He could tell that if Applejack continued to try and help Twilight they'd both fall. However, one thing he could see that they couldn't was that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy already coming back for them. He whistled to get Applejack to look up. She did and told Twilight to let go. After some debate, Twilight let go and was safely caught by both of the pegasi. While the six mares made sure everything was ok, the mocking jay spotted the mist once again. 'Um… wasn't that a bit dangerous?' He thought, but was quickly interrupted by a roar in the distance. 'On second thought, falling from a cliff isn't so bad.'
Finally moving on, the six friends continued on their way. However, much to the shape-shifter's annoyance, Rainbow Dash continued to rant on about how she and Fluttershy saved Twilight in the nick of time. "And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe, WOOSH! Me and Fluttershy loop d' looped around and, WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time."
"Yes Rainbow, I was there," replied Twilight, "and I'm very grateful, but we got to-" Interrupting her sentence, a large male manticore stood in their path.
"RAAAWWWRRRRR"
'Ah, so that was what roared before. Hmm, it is quite menacing when it’s 10 times your size. . .' thought the mocking jay, quickly fleeing to a branch atop a tall tree. 'Wow, Fluttershy didn't even notice me leave her back.' Looking back from his safe perch, he realized why. The ponies were all fighting the manticore while Fluttershy was just watching, not knowing what to do. 'Oh for pete's sake. Looks like I got to help Fluttershy this time, but how can I get her to listen to me if I can’t speak to... wait, can't she understand animals?' Flying next to Fluttershy, he tried to communicate; "Squawk squawk SQUAWK!"
"Huh? What?" Fluttershy responded, snapping out of her frozen state.
"Squawk squawk, squa squawk squa squawk, squawk!"
"What? The manticore is actually in pain? Of course it’s in pain, my friends are hitting it. I'll go stop them." She began fluttering to her friends only to be stopped by the mocking jay.
"Squawk! Squawk squawk squawk squa squawk squa squa squawk!"
"OH MY, this manticore has a thorn stuck in its paw?! I've got to help it!" Darting past him, Fluttershy jumped in front of her friends screaming; “WAIT!” Fluttershy then proceeded to face the manticore and pluck the thorn out of its paw pad. The manticore then gratefully picked up Fluttershy and give her giant wet manticore licks. Taking this moment, the others sneaked past the manticore and the mocking jay followed.
As Fluttershy passed, Twilight asked, "How did you know about the thorn?"
"I didn't," replied Fluttershy, "sometimes, we all need to be shown a little kindness."
Twilight stopped to ponder this as she watched the mocking jay land on Fluttershy's back once again.





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'Ok, looks like we’re at the castle of the royal pony sisters. After helping Fluttershy, the pink one sang a song, the white one gave her tail to a sea monster, and Rainbow Dash came back with the rope bridge. I didn't really need to help them a lot after all. I guess it's time to leave it up to fate to continue its course.' Flapping his wings he took off with a squawk.
"Goodbye, nice birdy!" Fluttershy said, waving.
"Oh it’s leaving already? Too bad, I sort of still wanted one of its wondrous feathers." Rarity added, waving her hoof as well. As she said that, a feather fell off the blue bird and floated directly to Rarity. "Ooh!" she said triumphantly, almost squealing with unrestrained glee, "THANK YOU, YOU BEAUTIFUL BIRD!"
Rolling her eyes, Applejack went, picked up Rarity and turned towards the castle ruins.
After plucking one of his feathers out, the mocking jay did a big one 180 degree turn to the other side of the castle. “Ow,” he rubbed his plucked wing, ‘hope she likes that freakin' feather, plucking out a wing feather hurts! Good thing this pain will disappear once I transform again.' He glided down and silently landed on one of the rafters. "What?! Where are the six elements?!"
'Hmm, what's going on here?' He looked below him to find Twilight and Nightmare Moon alone, and Nightmare Moon had just crushed the elements! Silently transforming back to his humanoid form, he sat atop the rafter, watching the scene he read play out before him. “…and then the others should show up now," he whispered. As if on cue, the other girls began walking up the steps to the chamber. Twilight however had her was still distressed about the sixth element. "Oh for crying out loud! Come on! It’s obvious Twilight!" He whispered, annoyed at the smart one’s stupidity. Looking back to Twilight, he sighed. "Fine! Only ONE more time!" He focused his energy to his left hand and aimed his index finger to point at Twilight. Aiming perfectly, he shot her in the head with a thin beam, sending her memories of the exact moments her friends showed their elements. "There." blowing on his pointing finger like a gun.
Twilight glanced behind her and retaliated, "You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that!? Well you're wrong! Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!" As Twilight finished her statement the shards of elements began to float and glow, flying to their rightful representatives. "Applejack," Twilight continued, "who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of… Honesty!” One sixth of the shards glowed orange and started to circle around Applejack. 	“Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of… Kindness!” Another sixth circled Fluttershy, glowing pink this time. “Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of… Laughter!” More shards, glowing blue, circled Pinkie. “Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of… Generosity!” Glowing purple shards circled Rarity at that point. “And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of… Loyalty!" The last of the shards glowed red and started circling Rainbow Dash. By now the shards were revolving around all of Twilight's friends. "The spirits of the five ponies guided us through each challenge you threw at us!"
"You still don't have the sixth element! The spark didn't work!" Nightmare Moon said triumphantly, yet hesitantly.
"But it did," replied Twilight, crushing Nightmare's hopes, "a different kind of spark." Turning around to face the six ponies she traveled with, she continued, "I felt if the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, all of you. How much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me, when I realized that you all…" Turning once again to face Nightmare Moon, she finished, "are my Friends!" Suddenly, above Twilight, a sixth orb appeared adorning a six pointed star. The sudden appearance of this element started to give the hooded figure a tingly feeling in his gut.
'Ugh, the heck? What’s this weird feeling?' He rubbed his stomach, 'is it a stomach ache?' Looking back down at the ponies he could just see the sixth element before it erupted in a flash of bright light. "Ack! My eyes!" Bringing his hands up to rub his blinded eyes, "aw damn." Opening his eyes he noticed first that his hood had come off, revealing a black-haired, black-eyed, 18 year old man. "Oh wow, the shock blasted my hood off. Wait a minute, where are all my shadows?!" Indeed, the shock wave not only knocked his hood off, but it also managed push all the shadows in the area away. Then the man noticed that the six mares’ adorned jewelry that had each of their respective cutie marks. They proceeded to blast a beam of rainbows at Nightmare Moon, which quickly engulfed her in a rainbow tornado. However, as the tornado grew, a stray stream came off and hit the cloaked man, engulfing him in a beam of rainbow as well. "What the SSHHHIIIIIIZZZZZ!!!!????" He exclaimed. Luckily his confusion was drowned out by Nightmare Moon’s screams of despair.
As everything calmed down, the six mares began to stir. Everypony seemed alright and Rarity had even grown her tail back! Everypony also noticed their new jewelry, as Celestia rose and appeared in a dazzling ball of light, bringing with her the sun.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight ran up to her teacher.
"Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student, I knew you could do it."
"But you told me it was all just an old pony's tale."
"I told you that you needed some friends, nothing more. 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 let it out until you allowed true friendship into your heart," Celestia lectured Twilight. "Now only if another will as well." Turning to the pedestal, Celestia said; "Princess Luna, it has been a thousand years since I last saw you like this. It's time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?"
"I so sorry," Luna cried in embrace with her sister, "I missed you so much, sister."
"I missed you too," cried Celestia, "and I do hope that you'd accept my friendship as well, Noctus." She then looked at a pile of fallen rafters. Out of nowhere, a dark-violet hoof popped out of the rubble.
"Ugh, ow, you're, ow, still a troll, Celestia." replied Noctus before the hoof went limp.
"Noctus? Who's that, Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.
"Oh, I'll let him explain once we get back to Ponyville," Celestia replied, still embracing her long lost sister.