Back in the cave, Frowny reappeared as a result from a long distance teleportation spell. When Frowny looked around a bit he noticed the cave got bigger since he left. He figured that might be Twilight's doing.
"She must be doing a good job! I can feel magical activity leaking from every single rock in here." Frowny thought to himself
He walked towards the center of the cave to see if Twilight was still around. To his surprise Twilight was actually still training and it seems she didn't need to concentrate deeply anymore to be able to lift things because she just threw a boulder away from her. Which she then destroyed from the inside with her magic and the boulder exploded with a loud screeching sound. Frowny looked at the rubble that was left while walking towards the exhausted Twilight and said:
"Well well well. Seems you figured things out?"
Twilight turned and watched Frowny while he approached her reminding herself of what she read in the study.
"Twilight are you okay? You seem dazed."
Twilight then walked towards Frowny.
"Nah I'm okay, so how was your meeting with the princess?"
Frowny lightened up when she asked that and answered:
"The meeting was a grand success, I shared my plans and reported the situation. When the attack commences she'll make sure sunlight breaks through to the whole area."
Frowny's look went all serious and he said with a deep voice:
"Now show me what you've learned Twilight!"
Twilight looked confused and said: "Wu-What!? What do you mean!?"
Frowny didn't hesitate to answer. "Fight me, I won't go easy on you! First move's on you"
Frowny then teleported to the center of the cave and awaited Twilight's attack while watching Twilight's moves very closely. Twilight was hesitating at first but then dashed towards Frowny with an icy look and her horn started glowing warning Frowny she was going to attack. Frowny braced himself, Twilight then disappeared above Frowny and casted out several spires to Frowny from above.
"Using inanimate objects to your advantage eh? Thats nothing new to me."
Twilight then braced herself and the spires then got thinner and sharper. Frowny didn't react so lax this time:
"Oh... yeah thats new..."
Frowny galloped away in a random direction to dodge Twilight's spires but was surprised that the spires changed direction and went straight for Frowny.
"You won't get away!" Twilight shouted when she landed on the ground.
Frowny realized that running won't solve this and turned around to face the spires.
"Alright then come at me!"
Frowny raised his right hoof and a strange mark appeared. A huge bubble inflated near the end of his hoof. The spires entered the bubble and then suddenly stopped moving. The bubble then disappeared and the spires dropped to the ground.
"That was a close one!" Frowny said sarcastically.
But Twilight already made her next move and appeared behind Frowny and constricted him with purple glowing chains made out of her own magic.
"I read about this one before and thought it may come in handy."
Frowny didn't look surprised and tried to break through them. Twilight then bucked him to the ground and closed her eyes to concentrate. Frowny looked at her briefly and then examined the chains.
"level 4 huh? Thats pretty strong!"
Near Twilight's horn though a small purple sphere appeared and seemed to grow larger each second that passed. Frowny then realized what she was doing and quickly broke the chain with his aura to start defending for Twilight's attack.
"Alright then try and see what happens."
Then the small purple sphere disappeared and Twilight opened her eyes.
"I hope you dodge this Frowny!"
Twilight then swiftly moved her head vertically across Frowny. Frowny then realized what she was up to and quickly moved an inch to the right when a huge fissure appeared that went all the way from Twilights location along the wall opposite of her all the way to the ceiling of the cave. Frowny looked at the rip Twilight created and said:
"Whoa! Thats some cut you made there! BuT I bEt I cAn Do BeTtEr!¡!"
Frowny's voice changed from nice to crazy and his black horn started to glow deep red along with his eyes. A sparking energy field appeared around Frowny creating a small crater below him who was hovering above it. Frowny then braced and looked at Twilight with a piercing look. Twilight set up her own barrier and looked slightly terrified at Frowny. The energy barrier around Frowny then quickly grew larger and suddenly Frowny released the barrier which grew so large it hit Twilight's barrier and started to spark at the point the two powers clashed. Twilight couldn't hold it of for long and decided to break the energy field by disturbing the equal balance of energy it released. Twilight fired some of her own magical energy in the form of small bullets at Frowny's energy field and a small crack appeared. The crack suddenly caused the energy field to collapse and made it disappear with a loud noise. When the field was gone a huge crater appeared in the ground because of the energy field's huge power. Twilight lowered her defense and suddenly Frowny appeared with a red glowing blade attached to his hoof and held it against her throat saying:
"Gotcha!"
Twilight gasped and said with a shaky voice:
"I yield!"
After a couple of seconds Frowny's red blade disappeared and he backed away with a satisfied look.
"That'll be enough for today. You did very well but you should work on your attitude while fighting your enemy."
Twilight calmed down, sighed and answered: "I'm not really the fighting type you know."
"But don't you want to be able to protect your friends against incoming attacks?"
Frowny immediately answered. Twilight paused for a second and then answered:
"Yeah of course but I'm afraid I might fail to."
Silence occurred for a moment and frowny then said with a soft voice:
"You know what's essential to being a good friend?"
Twilight looked confused at what Frowny just asked and he continued:
"You need to have more confidence in yourself and express that confidence so your friends will trust to you their lives. You need to have the will to fight for your friends in case things get messy."
Twilight couldn't react to what Frowny said. She understood what Frowny said but couldn't make up a good reply. Frowny then continued his speech
"you see, the enemy your going to face has the ability to read and control minds and will most definitely try and take control over one of your friends to battle you. Could you bring yourself to fight whoever your going to face? Even if it's one of your friends?"
Frowny looked dead serious when he asked this and Twilight looked shocked upon hearing what he just said.
"I... Of course I cannot bring myself to fight them! Thats just crazy!"
Frowny answered: "Very well... I understand that you would not be able to fight your own. Then at least show some confidence and prepare to fight enemies more seriously. If you can at least do that then you can protect your friends and be ready to face even the mightiest of foes."
Frowny then came closer to Twilight, grabbed her hoof and warped back to the library in Ponyville.
"Alright. I shall now teach you how to reject mind control and mind read spells that are cast against you. Beware though, the mind control spell that our enemy will use is very powerful and it's only possible to reject this spell if you are able to completely close up the door to your mind."
Frowny sat down on the pillows he gathered in the center of the library. Twilight needed to recap for a second and then sat down as well in front of Frowny.
"Okay so how do I do this?" Twilight asked.
Frowny smiled at Twilight to compliment her for her cooperation.
"You just focus and sense the presence that is trying to probe your mind. Then you just drive it away with your own presence."
Twilight looked surprised at how easy it sounded.
"Is that really all there is to it?
Frowny then said: "Of course not. The presence that will try to have you submit to it's will is gonna try and force your mind to weaken itself into submission. I will now try to probe your mind for personal information. I want you to try and force me out of your mind."
Twilight prepared herself and quickly answered: "I'm ready to try."
When Twilight said that Frowny's eyes started to glow and Twilights vision became foggy. Twilight focused and sensed an intimidating presence enter her being getting more vicious the more she focused. She then tried forcing it away with her magic wrapping her energy around the presence that approached her. She then lets out a howl and with a bright flash exterminated the presence and freed herself. Her vision cleared up again and she saw a Frowny with a very satisfied look on his face.
"Very good Twilight you forced away my presence with your energy! Come to think of it, I haven't tried doing it like that before."
Twilight looked confused at the wondering Frowny and asked: "You mean there are more ways to protect yourself against mind spells?"
Frowny then looked at Twilight and answered: "Yes of course! I always set up an imaginary barrier of level 6 around me and my mind to reject incoming presences. But your method is even more fascinating!"
"Sounds like a pretty weak way to block them if you ask me." Twilight said.
"It makes no difference at all. You seem to know exactly how to deal with it, so theres nothing left for me to teach you." Frowny praised Twilight.
Twilight appeared surprised from what she just heard. Is that really all there is to it? You could see her think that. Frowny grabbed some paper out of his bag and noted down the method Twilight used to force away the mind spell. He was certain it was gonna be of use later on.
"It just came to me... We still have to tell Applejack!" Twilight suddenly stated.
Frowny wasn't affected by what Twilight said. He did answer though:
"Indeed... Let's inform her right away..." Frowny sounded kind of dull at that point.Twilight figured he probably set his mind on that spell she used.
"*Gasp*... ! ... You're right we STILL have to inform Applejack!"
Frowny immediately returned the paper to his bag and prepared himself. He was almost ready to dash out of the library when Twilight said:
"You don't know where she's at don't you?"
Frowny halted,
"... Oh, right" Frowny realized.
"In that case why don't you lead me to her then? We can update her together." Frowny asked
"Alright then, let's go" Twilight said.
Frowny then noticed he didn't see that dragon Spike around anywhere as well.
"So where's your dragon assistant?" Frowny asked
"You mean Spike? He's at Pinkie's place I think. He could be at Rarity's by now too. I told him he could go and organize a sleepover for himself. He needs to come up with his own treats y'know." Twilight answered.
The two unicorns left the library and headed for sweet apple acres. On the way Frowny noticed that the town got bigger since 20 years ago. A lot more houses have been added and. Frowny could still picture the open places in this mind. Sometimes he would go there and either play with his friends, or meditate in the fresh air enjoying the silence. While he was thinking back he wondered what became of his friends. Maybe they spotted him when he was in Canterlot. He saw a lot of ponies there, it was very possible that one of them may be familiar to him.
Twilight and Frowny were getting close to sweet apple acres. They passed a lot of other farms on the way. Harvesting season seemed to be done because the fields were deserted and no animals were to be seen outside. When the two finally arrived at sweet apple acres, Somepony seemed to still be at his job. The pony noticed he had visitors and walked in they're direction to welcome them. Twilight spoke:
"Good afternoon Big Mcintosh. We came here to look for Applejack, is she around?"
Big mac glanced at Frowny and answered:
"She just finished... She should be in the house restin'."
Frowny did recognize Big mac but he couldn't put a hoof on it yet. He forgot from where he recognized the pony from. Big Mcintosh lead his visitors inside and then went back to work. Without another word.
"He's a pony of few words." Twilight said
Frowny looked around him to see if he could spot Applejack. Twilight already went on ahead to the other room though and was greeted by the orange colored Applejack enjoying some tea.
"Oh, hi there Twilight. Didn't hear anypony come in."
"Long time no see Applejack. I hear you were very busy this season huh?"
"Ye could say that again, I'm pooped" Applejack yawned.
Thats when Frowny came in. and immediately Applejack sprung up.
"Who's this? Never seen him before"
"Well now, thats not how you greet an old friend now is it little Applejack?" Frowny teased a little.
"Friend!? You mean you already know her?" Twilight said with a raised voice.
Applejack came closer to Frowny. She had some trouble remembering though. Her eyes then widened:
"Oh mah gosh! It can't be you!?" Applejack stepped backwards from surprise.
"It's been a while." Frowny answered.
Twilight demanded explanation. You could clearly see that in her eyes, so she said:
"Care to explain Frowny?"
"When I was younger I used to visit Ponyville with my mother. We also frequently visited this place here and met Applejack when she was just a little foal."
Applejack blushed a little and then asked:
"May I ask yer name?"
"Its Frowny Shineless." Frowny answered.
"I would like to go back to business Applejack. First let me show you everything that happened up until now."
Thats when Frowny closed his eyes again and his horn started to glow red. Applejack's eyes began glowing red as well.
"I recommend closing your eyes. Otherwise it'll become hard focusing the pictures"
And thats what Applejack did. She closed her eyes and saw everything that happened to Frowny all those years ago. From when he was banished into The Deeper Parts, until recently when he broke through the border barrier and ended up wounded in Fluttershy´s back yard. After that she saw and heard everything Frowny told the group about himself and the thread that Soulbel posed against Ponyville and Canterlot. After the mind transfer spell was done Applejack opened her eyes again, so did Frowny after a couple of minutes.
"Is it clear what I showed you Applejack?" Frowny asked.
Applejack needed some time to recover her senses but then quickly asked:
"So this Soulbel creature plans to attack Ponyville and Canterlot huh?"
Frowny nodded.
"And the six of us as the elements of harmony are supposed to stop it?"
Frowny nodded once again.
"But how are we gonna do that?"
"I will tell you what you'll have to do to prepare yourself. You are a strong pony just like Rainbow Dash with strong ideals just like Pinkie Pie. The truth has guided you through life and will guide you through this battle. Though this time in the form of friendship." Frowny answered.
Applejack looked confused.
"He means that using your own element you can summon up the necessary strength to beat anyone standing in your way Applejack." Twilight said.
"But I thought the elements only worked when you use yours Twilight" Applejack said.
"Of course not. Each element has it's own strength, and it's own power. Which you can harvest to use in combat." Frowny said.
"Alright then. So when is this training gonna happen?" Applejack asked.
"I will contact you all when the time is right. The training that were gonna do then concerns you learning how to use the power of the elements individually and of course united with the others"
"And what am I supposed to do until then?" Applejack asked again.
"Train yourself. You know what I mean" Frowny answered.
Frowny lightened up and turned to Twilight
"I'm done Twilight. You can return to your house. I'm going to look for a place to sleep. See you later little Applejack!" Frowny teased Applejack.
Frowny and Twilight left sweet apple acres. After that they split up, Twilight heading back to her home and Frowny walking back towards Ponyville.
When he arrived he noticed not many ponies were out shopping right now and then realized that it was already getting late and the sun was going down already. The last of the working pegasi ponies where clearing up the sky around town to make the night as beautiful as possible and saluted the sun after they were done. Frowny then remembered that he always envied the pegasi ponies' wings as a filly and always wanted to be able to sour through the skies as they do.
"Maybe I should try developing a spell for that. It would greatly increase my efforts."
Frowny then walked out of the plaza and decided he needed to find a place to sleep. Immediately something came to his mind and teleported away.
When Frowny reappeared he had arrived at Fluttershy's house. He knocked at the door to find out that nobody was home.
"I thought she would be inside by now."
And then Fluttershy appeared out of nowhere and said: "Oh... Hi Frowny. I was wondering were you've been."
Frowny turned around to find that Fluttershy was still busy doing her work with the animals and he asked:
"What were you doing out so late?"
Fluttershy glanced at the forest and answered:
"I was paying Zecora a visit in the everfree forest. I needed to get some herbs from her that help the bunnies around here get to sleep."
Frowny then suddenly yawned and asked:
"Would you mind if I spend the night at your place?"
Fluttershy looked surprised and seemed happy that Frowny asked:
"Well of course I don't mind. Instead I was wondering where you were gonna stay all this time and I wanted to ask you. I'll go inside and prepare a bed for you kay?"
At the moment Fluttershy finished her sentence she trotted to her door and opened it. Frowny followed her inside and he saw that Fluttershy quickly placed her bag in her room and started preparing a bed next to hers. and nicely finished it up. Frowny came closer and said:
"Wow, you really know about this kinda stuff huh Fluttershy?"
"Well of course I do. I like caring for others and I'll gladly do my best to make it as comfortable as possible for you."
Fluttershy quickly answered. Fluttershy invited Frowny to settle down in the newly prepared bed. Frowny placed his bags next to the bed and lied down. Fluttershy tucked him in.
"Fluttershy, thank you."
Fluttershy looked happy at Frowny and said:
"My pleasure! I'll go sleep in a minute too but I have to take care of the last of the animals so I'll join you later. Good night!"
Frowny closed his eyes and fell asleep. before he did however he remembered he didn't really sleep in some time now and he looked forward to what could bring him tomorrow.
END OF CHAPTER