//------------------------------//
// The Final Solution 
// Story: Beat It 
// by Spirit Guide 
//------------------------------//

"Come on girls! We're almost there."

"Almost where, Apple Bloom?"

"Yeah. All I see is the top of a museum."

Apple Bloom waved her friends over to a small pile of bricks, upon which they seated themselves. "This is where me an' Gryph hang out sometimes while we think. It's one of the most quiet places in town."

Sweetie Belle glanced over to a large domed skylight that led into the building they were perched on. "That makes sense, considering we're over a museum."

"That's closed," added Scootaloo. "For the night."

"Ah know that girls," Apple Bloom said, smiling. "That's why we chose this place. It closes just before sunset so that gives us plenty of time whenever."

The two fillies nodded in agreement. It was very quiet atop the museum, but being young meant that attention spans were short and waiting for who knows how long could get very boring. "How long are we gonna have to wait?" Scootaloo grumbled.

"I've got a rubber band here," Sweetie Belle announced, holding up a piece of elastic. "Wanna play 'Colt's Cradle'?"

"You're gonna have to remind me how, I forget."

"Okay. Hey Apple Bloom!" the unicorn called, "you wanna play?"

Apple Bloom was standing at the edge of the roof, one hoof wrapped around a flagpole that flew the Equestrian flag. Her eyes scanned the city, hoping to catch sight of her pegasus music partner hopping over the houses, but there was little to no light above the streets, since normal ponies don't use the roofs as a means of getting around. "No thanks, ah'm too upset to play." She plopped her head down onto the low wall beside the flag.

Sweetie Belle, who was just stretching out the rubber band between her hooves, dropped what she was doing and walked over to where her friend lay slumped. "What's wrong, Apple Bloom?" she asked gently.

"Everything!" Apple Bloom rolled onto her back, her hooves knocking back and forth against the stone tiles of the roof. "All our friends are fightin' fer no reason! They all think the other side did somethin' wrong, but they didn't! Why did this happen? How did it happen? What are we gonna do?!" By this point she was sobbing.

Scootaloo joined the other Crusaders by the wall. "Calm down, Apple Bloom. We'll find a way."

"Yes we will," declared a voice from behind them.

The CMC spun around to face whoever it was, their hooves raised for battle. Apple Bloom however, who had recognized the speaker's voice instantly, launched herself right into Gryph's waiting hooves. She squeezed the brony in a tight embrace, her tears soaking through his shiny jacket. On either side of him, Dustykatt Rhoades and the Living Tombstone let loose with the bronies frequently-used 'd'aaaaw'.

"Oh Gryph, I was startin' to think you'd never get here!" Apple Bloom whimpered.

"Apple Bloom," Gryph whispered fiercely to the filly, "I wouldn't leave you if Tirek himself tried to separate us."

"Friendship is magic," Dustykatt declared. Tombstone nodded in agreement.

"What are you guys doing here?" Scootaloo asked excitedly, galloping over to the grey pony.

"Helping to save everypony," Tombstone told her. "We bumped into Gryph while he was following the bronies and decided to join the 'Kiss and Make Up' team."

The Crusaders smiled. Now the big ponies were on their side. That would hopefully make everything easier. "But how are we going to get everypony to kiss and make up?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously.

"It doesn't mean that literally," Scootaloo said quickly.

"Maybe it does," whispered Dustykatt with a grin.

"It's just another way of saying 'forgiving each other'," Tombstone explained, leading Sweetie to the pile of bricks where the two sat down. "I'm sure that together we can come up with a way to get everypony to stop blaming each other."

Gryph nodded. "Yeah, but first we have to figure out why their blaming each other."

"What do you mean 'why'?" Scootaloo asked hastily. "We think you blew stuff up, you think we blew stuff up. What's to get?"

"'What's to get' is this." Apple Bloom stood up on the stacked bricks, her sequined outfit bouncing light across the roof like a disco ball. "The big ponies are sayin' that the bronies are going 'round Equestria causin' trouble and the bronies are sayin' the same thing about them. The problem is that some of the things ah've heard don't fit in. Fer example, Scootaloo, you told me that Spitfire said that after the destruction of the Wonderbolt's cloudtrack, she saw a grey pegasus with a double-colored mane flyin' away."

"Sounds like me," Gryph said humorously.

"Was it you?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"No it wasn't!" Apple Bloom cried indignantly. "There's no way Gryph coulda been at the scene of the crime, because he was with me that day!"

"Doing what?" inquired Tombstone.

"If you must know," Gryph said in a drawling voice," we were working on our new song."

"OOH OOH, can we please hear it?" Scootaloo begged.

Apple Bloom shook her head and laughed. "Sorry Scoots, no spoilers. But don't worry. As soon as this mess is all cleared up, we'll preform our song. Promise."

"First things first, we have to solve the problem," said Dusty. "Then we can return to the pleasantries life gives us."

The other ponies and bronies sat down, on or around the brick pile, and the discussion began. Gryph spoke first. "The most important thing right now is to figure out why everypony think the other group is rebelling, so to speak."

"Well, duh!" Scootaloo barked, wearing the most ridiculous grin. "It's because Celestia found out that Discord's her father!"

"Three things," Dustykatt said seriously. "One: that's not true. Two: How did you come to that conclusion? and three: Do you have any idea how old that meme is?"

"Not old enough if I can just pull it out like that! You really should bury those better, you don't want anypony finding something-"

"Yeah, that's enough," Tombstone commanded, placing a hoof over the orange filly's muzzle. "Back to you, Gryph."

"Thank you, Tombstone. As I was saying, we need to find out what's making both our societies believe that the other has wronged them."

"For that," Sweetie Belle spoke up, "we need clues. Evidence to point us on the right path."

"Excellent Sweetie," complimented Dusty. "I'm surprised to hear that coming from you."

"Scootaloo made me read Rainbow Dash's Daring Do books. That's probably the best thing I learned from them." She shuddered.

"Oh stop whining!" laughed Scootaloo. "They weren't that scary."

"Off-topic," Gryph muttered, tossing his hoof lazily over his head.

"Gettin' back on track," Apple Bloom said in a matter-of-fact way, "Sweetie Belle's right. We need proof that somepony from either side has done these things. Do we have any?"

Gryph steeped up. "Firebrand may have headed the investigation, but I'm the one he entrusted the evidence to." he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out several transparent bags, each one holding a lock of mane hair. Everypony clambered off the brick load and Gryph spread the bags out on top. "I think these should do the trick."

Tombstone crouched down and looked at the clues. "Okay, we have hair samples of the ponies who blew up the theater. Do we have anything from our supposed terrorist acts?"

"I've got something!" Scootaloo piped up, pulling out a hoofful of feathers and laid them beside the bags of mane hair. "Me and Rainbow Dash found them by the ruined cloudtrack. They probably came from whatever pony wrecked the race."

Gryph picked up one of them, a grey feather, and examined it. "It sure looks like mine. But I wasn't at the race."

Scootaloo rubbed her head against the male pegasus. "Tooooo bad."

"How can we find out who these feather came from if we don't even have a lead?" Tombstone wondered out loud, his head down sideways on the makeshift table.

Non of the assembled equines had even a spark of an idea, until one flashed into existence in Sweetie Belle's mind. "Maybe I can try casting a spell?" she said hesitantly.

"What spells do you know?" asked Dusty.

"I haven't really learned much, but thought that maybe just using magic could do something."

Gryph and Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's give it a try."

"Give her some space, everypony."

Sweetie Belle stepped forwards while the bronies and the Crusaders backed up. Activating the basic levitation spell, she emptied the bags onto the brick bench alongside the feathers, laying them out in an arc. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and began channeling her magic. Light green sparks flew out of her white horn and landed on the objects before her, but flickered out almost instantly. After several more attempt, Sweetie fell backwards into Dusty's outstretched hooves, panting and gasping for breath.

"I'm sorry," she wheezed, sweat shining on her face. "I'm not strong enough to maintain a steady stream yet."

Dustykatt stroked her mane. "You did your best, Sweetie Belle. We couldn't ask you for a better attempt."

"That's great and all," Scootaloo said, "but that still doesn't help us find out who these belong to."

"What if we tried combinin' our strength?" Apple Bloom suggested.

"That's it!" Gryph exclaimed. "If we combine our power, our energy, it might generate enough magic to affect the hair and the feathers!"

"Just like the Mane 6 would do every time," Tombstone murmured fondly.

Sweetie Belle nodded in approval. "Okay, so how should we do it?"

"First, we need everypony set up in a shape, a circle maybe." Gryph positioned them all in a ring around the brick pile, placing Sweetie Belle in the middle. "Now, focus. Concentrate your energy into Sweetie Belle. Only she can channel the magic, but we can give her the power she needs to keep it going. Together we can do this!"

Scootaloo was bouncing up and down with anticipation. "Alright, let's do it!"

The ponies and the bronies closed their eyes, trying to guide their energy towards the white unicorn filly standing in the middle of their ring. In front of each of them appeared a shimmering star, from which streams of multicolored light twisted towards Sweetie Belle, wrapping their entire circle in a blinding glow. Wind whipped at their manes and threatened to knock them over, but they held their position, refusing to budge, the very air humming with their power. Everypony smiled. Feeling each others energy was one of the greatest things they've ever felt, filling them with further appreciation of one another. After what seemed like an eternity of elation, a loud explosion sounded and through their closed eyes they all witnessed a blinding flash, everypony losing themselves in the flare.

When Apple Bloom opened her aching eyes, she discovered herself and her friends lying on the roof of the museum, the night as quiet as it was before. "Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! Gryph! Tombstone! Dusty!" she cried as she ran over to each of her friends, nuzzling them gently. Thankfully, they were merely unconscious and awoke at her touch. Soon, they were all upright and dusting each other off.

"Is everypony okay?" Dusty asked them all.

"Better than okay!" Apple Bloom shouted happily. "Ah feel like the Apple Family Reunion just happened! That was th' most amazin' thing ah ever felt!"

"I feel good too," Tombstone said, a smile dominating his face.

"Getting to know each others signature energy must have made us realize just how special we all are," Gryph mused. "As a result of mixing our power, we've learned what makes each of us who we are without divulging each others thoughts and secrets."

"Wait a second!" Sweetie Belle cried suddenly. "What about the evidence?"

Everyone hurried to the brick bench. The mane hair samples were gone. In their place lay several strips of hard black organic material, like the carapace of a beetle. The feathers had been replaced by shiny thin strips. Only one hair sample remained: it had become a long piece of dark cerulean.

"Of course!" Gryph shouted, slapping himself. "Why didn't we think of that before?"

"So simple, and yet so ingenious," murmured Tombstone, 'fingering' the black shell-skin between his hooves.

"Would somepony please tell us what's going on?" The three fillies stared unknowingly at the transformed evidence.

"Do you girls remember Princess Cadance and Shining Armour's wedding in Canterlot?" asked Dusty.

"Of course we do," said Sweetie. "We were chosen as the flower fillies for that wedding."

"Well, you may not have been there at first, but every brony knows that Cadance was being impersonated by the changeling Queen Chrysalis. After Twilight and the real Cadance forced Chrysalis to reveal herself, Cadance and Shining Armor blasted the queen and her changelings out of Equestria."

"That. Sounds. Awesome!" Scootaloo shouted.

"It was a pretty amazing bit of magic they pulled," admitted Gryph. "The magic of love. Ever since the wedding, the changelings haven't been seen again. But from these," he waved at the bug bits laid out in front of them, "we can tell that they're back."

"They feed off of love," explained Tombstone, "but then why would they be trying to create a rift between us?"

"Maybe they've already gained enough power from the bond of our friendship," suggested Apple Bloom, "and now they're strong enough to take us on. Especially since we're all too busy fightin' with each other."

"Alright everypony," Dusty announced, slamming his hoof down on the bricks. "We now know the changelings are the ones behind this entire struggle that could ruin the relationship we've constructed over four beautiful years. The time has come to show our friends the truth, to unmask the real villain behind all the attacks."

Gryph hoisted Apple Bloom up onto his shoulders. "And we know how to do it!"

"Hit us with your plan," Tombstone said eagerly, Scootaloo sitting on his lap.

The six friends huddled around the square stack of bricks, their voices low but their hearing sharp. As the two songwriters laid out their plan before the others, sounds of excitement began to drift off the roof of the closed museum.