In Ponyville, Eris was humming as she read a magazine and used telekinesis to give herself a hoof-icure using Gummy the alligator’s scaly back, ignoring the ‘Help! Help!’ of some nearby ponies in distress as they were begin squeezed by those awful vines.
*FLASH*
“Hmm?” Eris looked to see all of the Element bearers, their Guardians (minus a certain sapphire alicorn), and friends Blueblood, Soarin, and Spike, having unceremoniously been dropped into a haphazard pony pile from out of nowhere.
“Oh hello everypony, back so soon?”
Noticing the nearby pones crying out for help and the draconequss doing nothing, Twilight flashed out of the pile, snapping, “Eris!”
“Oop!” Eris teleported Gummy back home while sheepishly snapping her fingers to release the nearby ponies ensnared by the weeds, making them disappear and freeing the two. They quickly made trails, Eris calling after them in an annoyed way, “You’re welcome! Hmph! How do ya like that? Not so much as a thank-you.”
She then addressed the group with a smarmy tone, asking, “Given the continued presence of the weeds, I take it your little outing was… less than successful?”
“We… ran into some trouble,” Twilight sighed as everypony else sorted themselves out. “Then… there was an argument, Midnight got mad, and… he teleported us back here and went to find the tree on his own…”
“Argument? Try a totally uncool rant!” Rainbow snapped, “So we just get a little concerned that him and Twi matter too much to lose and he blows up at us, and calls us sheep!”
“Sheep?!” Eris keeled over in mocking laughter, wiping a tear away, “Ooh…! That’s rich! But seriously, you let him send you all back here? I never thought him to be the sort of pony who thinks he can do everything by himself…”
“But he can’t do this on his own!” Thunderlane argued, “He’s being selfish!”
“Selfish?” Eris echoed in disbelief, “From the sound of it, it seems more as though he’s putting his own princely well-being on the line and sent you all back safe and sound at home, out of harm’s way as he thrusts himself right towards it, but also because he thought better of you all.”
“Wha’s that sp’osed to mean?!” Applejack demanded, “He’s actin’ like a dang fool!”
“No Applejack…”
All eyes turned to Twilight as she looked at Applejack in a disappointed way, “You’re the fool, all of you!”
“Twilight! What are you saying?” Blueblood demanded.
“I think you of all ponies should know, Blueblood,” Twilight pointed out, “Ever since Midnight and I were crowned royalty, we’ve been treated differently, have expectations to live up to, but we thought that our friends would support us and nothing would change!”
“We did- Uh, I mean- We do!” Soarin stuttered.
“No! You have supported us,” Twilight explained, “but you’ve treated us differently too! We didn’t ask for these crowns, they were given to us, and with them a whole new status and myriad of duties so daunting it disturbs us! Applejack, it wouldn’t have mattered if Midnight and I had agreed with your suggestion, because honestly it was stupid! Even if you had found the Tree of Harmony without us because the Elements of Harmony are meant to be used together. Magic and Faith are the fulcrums of their power! You’d have found the tree, maybe, but you wouldn’t have been able to do anything to help it.”
Now that they thought about it, they knew Twilight was right, but she wasn’t done.
“And although I don’t condone his behavior, I understand why Midnight reacted to the way you treated us! You didn’t treat us as your friends, or even as fellow ponies! You treated us as something we never asked to be!”
As the dawning realization came over them all, the friends all sighed, their ears drooped, and their eyes lowered in shame as Blueblood sighed, “You’re right…”
All eyes turned to him, “I’m not even a real prince; it’s just an honorary title bequeathed to me by a true monarch. But even so, ever since I was dubbed ‘Prince’ Blueblood, it didn’t exactly bring me happiness. All it got me were false friends and suck-ups, mares looking for an insincere relationship, high expectations and the daunting feeling of everypony watching my every move, waiting for me to slip up and make a fool of myself…”
“Oh Blueblood, I… I knew your title didn’t help your old outlook on love, but…” Rarity nuzzled him and he nuzzled back. “I had no idea you felt that way!”
“Oh-hoo-hoo! And none of you had a clue,” Eris snickered, “Though I’m not entirely surprised Midnight went solo! After all, he and those hoody characters have always done some… questionable things.”
“What’re you talking about, Eris?” Twilight said irritably.
“Oh pay me no heed,” Eris waved it off as she disappeared and popped out of Twilight’s ear, “I’m sure you’ll all be besties once more when the good prince returns from his terrifying yet deeply enlightening experience he’s having without all of you…”
Twilight flicked Eris out of her ear and declared, “I’m going after him!”
“Twilight wait,” Applejack spoke up, “…Ah’m sorry an’ yer right! We did treat you an’ Midnight like royalty first and as a friend second. Ah’m making an Apple Fam’ly promise tha’s a mistake we won’ make again!”
“Here! Here!”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“You have my word, not as royalty, but as your friend.”
“I’ll always have your back!”
“We’re sorry, Twilight…”
“Eeyup.”
“We won’t let you down like that again.”
“And we’ll apologize to Midnight too.”
Twilight smiled thankfully and held out her arms, inviting everypony into a group hug, which they obliged. When they let go, she called, “Come on, everypony! Let’s go find and help Midnight! …And afterwards we’ll give him a piece of our minds for his actions.”
They all nodded vigorously and stampeded into the forest, Eris waving them goodbye.
Midnight soon found himself gazing up towards the Castle of the Two Sisters across the gorge. He sighed as he remembered the splendor it once was before Princess Luna’s fall from grace. Now it was a breaking-down ugly reminder of past grievances, its only redeeming lights were how it was where he and his friends restored the Princess of the Night to her true self.
Just thinking about them made him feel lower than low. He was upset with them for how they’d acted but now that his head had cooled, Midnight knew his reaction had been absolutely uncalled-for. Even if he wanted to make them feel bad for how they, along with so many others, made him feel...
I’ll apologize when this is over, he thought to himself as he looked out to the gorge, recognizing it from so long ago. The cliff-faces on the side he stood on were covered with weeds reaching out into the forest and beyond, but following their trail, he saw them all converging into a cave.
“That must be it…!” Midnight opened his wings and glided down to the bottom of the gorge no problem.
“Are we there yet…?” Spike whined for maybe the umpteenth time as he rode Twilight, who walked in the lead.
“Yes...” Blueblood quipped.
“Really?”
“NO!!”
Rarity nudged Blueblood and Spike sulked while everypony else was either losing their patience or getting worried.
“I don’t know where we are, we’re lost!” Twilight fretted.
“No sweat, Twi!” Soarin assured, “I’ll just zip on up and have a good look around.”
“Can I come?!” Spike asked before throwing a look at Blueblood, “Anything to get away from his Royal Grumpiness!”
“I am this close…!” Blueblood warned as Spike hopped off Twilight and Soarin let him on.
They took flight, breaching the forest canopy and almost at once they saw the Castle of the Two Sisters nearby and Midnight just taking flight and gliding down into a gorge.
“Well whattya know…” Spike and Soarin shared an excited look when they heard some screams below.
Soarin flapped down beneath the canopy and he and Spike gasped to see the weeds now had carnivorous teeth-like appendages and were blowing spores at their friends!
Midnight felt his heart sink as he gazed up at what could only be the Tree of Harmony, but it was ensnared by those horrible weeds, and appeared to be infected with dripping poison.
“No…! I’ve gotta save it!”
Midnight flared his horn and extended his wings, willing the shadows underneath them to spread, solidify and sharpen into blades. Roaring he lunged forward, the weeds lashing out. He sliced and diced, zapped and burned, weeds fell and shriveled and shrieked! But it soon became apparent that he was getting nowhere. However many weeds Midnight whacked or burned, more quickly grew back and they only tightened their hold on the tree and got more aggressive, whipping at Midnight so violently that he had to retreat.
Panting to get his second wind, Midnight realized, “I… I can’t do it by myself!”
I need my friends! He sighed in shame for his foolishness and guilt for his behavior as he began to see what it could very well cost all of Equestria.
“…What have I done?”
“Midnight!!”
He jolted and looked up to see, “Soarin! Spike! You followed me!”
“We all did, brony!” Soarin nodded.
“Twilight! The others, in trouble! Help!!” Spike was panicking.
“Lead the way,” Midnight instructed and followed Soarin to help their friends.
Twilight and the rest were in trouble. The weeds were now much more dangerous, had ensnared most of them while spraying the unicorns and Twilight with their magic-distorting spores that also had an effect of putting them into a helpless daze. Twilight struggled to stay conscious but the spores were too strong.
The weeds unfurled their teeth-like appendages, screeching hungrily when…
"Filiká Pyrá!!!"
A torrent of silvery-blue flames came down from skyward, engulfing everything! The weeds screeched as they were burned to ashes as were all the surroundings charred lifeless. Lifeless except for the ponies who hadn’t been hurt in the slightest! With the spores gone, everypony stirred awake and slowly got up, Twilight groaning, asking, “What happened…?”
“Twilight!!”
She felt a familiar pair of arms embrace her as her special somepony cried, “I’m so sorry! I should’ve acted that way, I shouldn’t have sent you all home, I shouldn’t-”
She silenced him by planting her lips onto his, and they fell into a loving kiss. When they let go, Midnight helped her up and regarded everypony as they gathered around.
“Everypony? I am sorry… I realize now, even if you were treating us differently, you were only concerned for our safeties and for the well-being of Equestria!”
He sighed, “Some prince I am…”
“Oh Sugarcube,” Applejack said in understanding, “wer’ sorry too. You were right! We wer’ treatin’ ya and Twilight differently.”
“We just thought that, well... Things have changed a a lot lately, my friend,” Blueblood pointed out.
“But no change should ever get in the way of our friendship,” Fluttershy said apologetically, Big Mac adding, “Eeyup.”
“And again, I’m sorry for what I did and going it alone,” Midnight apologized again. “I found the tree but then I realized… I can’t help it without all of you there with me!”
“Well, Equestria may need its monarchs,” Twilight said as she invited everypony into a group hug. “But even monarchs need their friends!”
When they let go, Thunderlane asked, “By the way, how did you get rid of all those weeds attacking us?”
“You guys should’ve seen it, it was awesome...!” Soarin praised, “He used a spell and breathed some blue fires on all of you, burning only the weeds and plants away!”
“It’s a spell I learned from a dragon,” Midnight said with a shrug.
“Dragon magic?!” Spike softly gasped.
“No time! We need to get to the Tree of Harmony,” Twilight reminded them.
“Let’s go, everypony!” agreed Midnight.
And they followed their friend although Rainbow Dash made sure to say, “But if you ever pull something so boneheaded as that again, you’ll be seeing stars and I don’t mean from your cutie-mark!”