//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Bad Moon Rising // Story: Friendship Never Fails // by cyberpeajay //------------------------------// The five ponies awoke one by one, however the sun didn't even rise. Actually, the moon and stars were still high in the sky, as if nothing moved or time itself was standing still. Applejack placed her hat on her head and stretched out along with the others. "Now don't that beat all?" Applejack started. "I feel rested an' refreshed, but the sun ain't even close tah risin' yet." She said looking upwards. "Also, it has been quite the sleep. Look." Rarity pointed towards the charred wood, which burned itself up and ran out of fuel for the fire quite some time ago. "I mean, do you think?" Rarity put her hooves over her mouth in trepidation. "When Celestia sent those letters to Spike, do you think the castle was being stormed by our evil twins?That still sounds ridiculous." Rainbow asked in a fearful tone. "They ain't our Twin's Rainbow, they be imposters posing as us!" Applejack said. "But you do bring up a good point. Where's that letter?" She turned her head in several directions looking for the scroll. Spike handed her the second scroll he received earlier. "Thanks Spike. Let's see here."Applejack was reading the letter silently to herself then face hoofed. "Ah can't believe I was so bean-brained earlier." "What is it?" Fluttershy asked taking a step towards her friend. "You see how this here letter abruptly stops?" She showed the rest. They all nodded. "Well, it looks as if the princess couldn't finish her letter and was stopped forcefully." They all looked at the letter confused for a moment then gasped in unison when it dawned on them that Applejack was probably right. "Do you think something bad happened to the princess?" Pinkie asked in a surprisingly serious tone. "Well, that would explain why the sky hasn't changed at all." Rarity said looking at the moon. "So does this mean our sun is gone... Again?!" Rainbow asked rhetorically and started gnawing the edges of the hoofs while she lifted herself in the air slightly. "Nightmare moon is back?" Spike asked. Applejack shook her head. "No Spike, it just seems as if BOTH princesses can't do anything about the moon and sun space stuff." "Were they captured or..." Rarity stopped in mid sentence. "I hope that's all what happened to them." Applejack responded. "One thing's for darn sure, we better help the princesses the only way we can, food can't grow with no sun. It was our awakening of the elements of disharmony that lead to this mess. It's our responsibility to clean it up." She immediately broke the leadership attitude when she heard a faint groan in the background. They all turned and looked to see Twilight blinking her eyes slightly and lifting her head off the ground. "Where... Where'd we go?" Was the only thing she could sputter out. Spike ran over and hugged Twilight around the neck and she slowly stood up under her own power. She shook her head and bonked it a few times with one of her front hooves. "Twilight! You're alright!" Fluttershy happily trotted over and gave her friend a friendly nuzzle. The rest joined in and showed their concern for their friend and how happy they were that she was finally awake. "How long was I out for? It must have been a couple hours at least, it's night time!" She acknowledged the sky in her statement. "Um, Twilight. You may want to read these..." Rarity scooped up the two scrolls and gave them to her fellow unicorn friend. Twilight thanked Rarity and held up the scrolls with her magic. At least she tried to hold them up. Her horn spouted a few faint sparks but nothing happened. "What the?!" Twilight said shocked and tried again. She concentrated with all her mental abilities however the scrolls just wouldn't move. "My magic! It's... Drained!" She said touching her horn. "No no no no no this can't be!" She started trotting back and forth then stopped. "I've never actually passed out before from using magic. I mean, it was only for a couple hours but did I exert more energy than I already had?" "Sugarcube... It was more than a couple hours." Applejack said. "What? But the moon is only halfway up the sky." Twilight responded. Rarity shook her head. "It should be morning by now, the sun should be rising but the moon and stars are stuck in the sky." Twilight tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "How can the moon be stuck? Are you okay Rarity?" Rarity nudged the scrolls to Twilight then held them up for her with her own magic. This made Twilight feel a certain embarrassment since she couldn't do the simplest of tasks by herself but read on, using the moon as a source of light. She cringed and soon turned pale. ***** The moon and stars were high in the sky, and in fact, have not moved at all yet. Twilight knew both princesses were in trouble. The letter specifically read that they were currently 'in Canterlot', the letter was cut short and the moon has yet to set and make way for the sun. The disharmonic elements were living up to their full potential. "If the Ponytact's have enough power to over siege both princesses, who knows how far the extent of their power will go?" Twilight said looking concerned towards her friends as they were walking aimlessly in the cold desert. None of them replied because they were all thinking the same thing. Twilight was kicking a stone as she walked slowly with her head down. She tried to use her magic to levitate it, but only a small spark would show up and disappear as fast as it came. Twilight never felt so powerless in her life. She remembered when she was a little filly just learning about magic, and the struggles it was to do the simplist of tasks. No. This was actually different. She knew how to do everything she wanted with her magic, however nothing would happen if she tried. Things were just not going to plan. "That's it! I've had enough!" Rainbow yelled towards her friends. They all looked at Rainbow bewildered wondering how the sudden outburst was triggered. "I'm not an Earth Pony, I need to fly! I haven't flown fast in a few days! My wings are getting tired of being tired of doing nothing!" "Wha...?" Applejack squinted her eyes trying to comprehend what Rainbow Dash just said. Just then Rainbow flew straight up at top speed and disappeared into the clouds high above. "Rainbow Dash! Stop!" Twilight yelled but to no avail. "Remember what the princess wrote? That some of her guards have sided with the Disharmonic me? Well there's no doubt she sent at least a few out to find us in case we escaped!" Twilight said to her friends with her pupils being smaller than usual. "Gah! All these flaws and schemes are starting to get me dizzy!" Pinkie said spinning around and landing on her back with her eyes rolling around in opposite directions of each other. The others just looked at Pinkie in silence for a bit before Rarity spoke. "Yeah anyways, Rainbow is making an easy target of herself, flying around like that." "I haven't seen any guard ponies yet though." Spike said intervening. "I wished it wasn't so dark. It gives me the creeps." Fluttershy said sounding frightened. All the attention they were getting made her feel uneasy even more so. Twilight tried her hardest to use her magic but the same result just sparked from her horn. "I could teleport all seven of us at one time, now I can't even teleport a lousy stone from one hoof to another." She said sounding bummed out. "I would just teleport Rainbow Dash back here but it's just impossible at this point." "Teach me some of your magic Twilight." Rarity said walking towards her. "Uhhh no offence Rarity, but all my spells have been super advanced and were just meant for ponies who are advanced in magical abilities." Twilight said, partially telling the truth and partially saying that for selfish reasons. She didn't really want Rarity to know how to do those spells. Between her and her books, she wanted her friends to believe she was the most powerful pony around. Being modest about her abilities when Trixie showed up a few years ago made Twilight realize she was one of a few who could do almost anything she wanted with her magic. A rare kind of unicorn. Twilight wanted to be known as one of a select few. "Um, Twilight?" Rarity asked shaking her friend out of a daze with a hoof. "Huh?" Twilight snapped back to reality, wondering why she started thinking of these selfish thoughts. "Teach me a few spells, now would be the perfect time to learn them would it not?" "Oh yeah... uhh.. I would but umm.." Twilight looked around and she spotted Rainbow Dash flying at ground level speeding towards them. "I would but Rainbow Dash is back and I really need to lecture her now." She said then stopped Rainbow with a clothesline. Just as Twilight opened her mouth to scold her friend, Rainbow smiled on the ground and started talking excitedly while getting up. "Guys, I found a town! Finally civilization!" Rainbow said grinning. "Just what would be the point? We'd be caught faster than a dog catching a bone if we just waltzed right into a town. We are basically Equestria's most wanted." Applejack retorted. "Yeah but Spike's not in any trouble, maybe he can walk in town and see if any pony knows about us. It's worth a shot." Rainbow Dash said. "Hmmm, I hate tah admit it, but Rainbow does have a good point." Applejack said bringing a hoof up to her chin in thought. "What? No! I'm not some errand boy!" Spike said folding his arms. "Actually you kind of are Spike." Twilight said rubbing a hoof on the top of Spike's head. "Oh come on! Last time I did something like this, we ended up in this position." Spike spoke back. "That was Ponyville Spike, this is... Well, whatever place it is, it isn't Ponyville." Rarity got close to Spike and batted her eyes and dilated her pupils while looking at him. She then stroked him under the chin with a hoof. "Will you at least do this little favor for me, Spikey Wikey?" She pawed at the ground. Spike's eyes turned into hearts and his tongue stuck out. "Yeah okay. I can do that for you Rarity." He softly said and leaned forwards with his lips puckered. Rarity simply stepped back and returned to her usual self while looking at one of her front hooves. "Thanks Spike, sounds great." She said and trotted away towards the rest of her friends again. Spike's eyes had returned to normal as well and didn't say a word. Twilight walked over and glared at Rarity. "Don't toy with his emotions Rarity!" She said in an angry whisper tone. Rarity's ears flopped downward. "So which way was it towards the town?" Spike asked Rainbow who was hovering low to the ground looking a bit chippier than before. Rainbow flew a bit higher and motioned towards Spike the general direction. "It's north of here. It will probably take you a while to get there considering it's over those mountains." She pointed a hoof towards some tall standing mountains that looked to be of the extremely tall variety. Spike stood there in disbelief. "You want me to go over that?!" He stood on the tips of his toes and turned towards her. "... Are you insane?!" "Whoa whoa whoa... The town is way over there?" Twilight stepped up. "Yeah, now that I think of it, that would be dangerous for Spike to go venturing out like that on his own." Rainbow said. "You think?!" Spike asked sounding displeased about this whole situation. "Well I mean, I could just fly Spike over there couldn't I?" Rainbow suggested. "No! We can't risk you getting caught if you're known over there Dash. We'll just have to come up with another plan." "Sounds like some pony needs a disguise!" Pinkie said startling all of them. Some balloons and streamers exploded towards the others and Pinkie threw a lab coat and glasses with a fake nose and mustache towards Rainbow which landed perfectly on her. "What? But I... Pinkie, where did these come from?" Rainbow merely asked her pink party friend. "I don't know!" Pinkie smiled and joyfully bounced in place with a big grin. Rainbow just shrugged and fixed the lab coat to feel more comfortable on her body. Spike was holding in a small laugh and pointed towards Rainbow Dash. "Oh yeah a scientist, that's totally you Dash!" He said sarcastically. Rainbow just had a lame look on her face as she floated in place. "Be right back you guys." Rainbow said scooping up the snickering dragon and flew towards the town. Fluttershy stepped forward and stood beside Twilight watching Rainbow Dash and Spike disappear towards and eventually over the mountains out of sight. "Why do we want to go into town again?" She asked. Twilight kept watching the mountains while replying. "We need to have proper rest and just basically recharge. We need a proper meal and nourishment if we want to take on the Elements of Disharmony eventually. It's like... A place where we can reset ourselves. A safe haven sort of." Twilight responded. "Okay?" Fluttershy didn't really understand her logic but decided not to question it since Twilight pretty much knew what she was doing. Except for accidentally awakening the Elements of Disharmony she thought... ***** It didn't take long for Dash to fly over the mountains and spot the town she found a few minutes ago. She felt extremely uncomfortable with the lab coat flapping in the wind as she flew at a high velocity. She looked to her right and saw a bunch of apple trees. "Doy!" Rainbow Dash said and crossed her eyes. "Hey, this place looks familiar." Said Spike. "Appleoosa." Rainbow responded. "I should have known the first time I saw all those apple trees!" As they neared the town she started slowing down and eventually came to a soft landing, letting Spike plop onto his feet. "Man that was way faster than if I had to do it myself." Spike said. Rainbow Dash didn't respond, instead she was fiddling around with her lab coat Pinky gave her, trying to make it feel tolerable at least. She eventually stopped and gave an expression of annoyance. "I look like such an egghead." Rainbow said."Alright lets go. The sooner we know if we're wanted here, the sooner I can get rid of this silly disguise." Since she landed on the outskirts of town they just had a little ways to walk towards it. It was a quiet walk towards Appleloosa since Rainbow and Spike didn't have much in common, nor did they really speak much to each other anyways. They made it to town and what they saw was pretty depressing to say the least. Ponies were looking worried and had no idea what event was currently taking place. They saw a few of them running towards the apple trees in a frantic pace. "Oh thank Celestia!" Rainbow turned around to see a brown pony walking towards them. He was wearing a hat and a vest with a star pinned to it. "I'm glad we got a real scientist here! Maybe you can tell us what's going on." Spike laughed a little to himself considering this pony thought Rainbow Dash was a scientist. Before she could open her mouth the brown earth pony spoke again. "Oh now where are my manners? Howdy, I'm sheriff Silverstar." He stuck out a font hoof. "Uhh, hi. I'm uhhhh..." Rainbow was trying to think of a different name frantically but couldn't think of one. "You'll have to excuse Ms. Skylight." Spike said. "She's a little disoriented from the current solar event." He put his hands on his sides and closed his eyes in a proud stance. "Um. Yeah? Sorry. I'm Ms. Skylight." Rainbow said putting on a fake grin and shook Silverstar's hoof with her own. She pushed her glasses up to her eyes again with a hoof afterwards. "I'm Spike." Spike said extending his hand for a shake. Silverstar reluctantly shook it then looked back at Rainbow Dash. "So do you know what's going on Doc?" He asked with concern in his eyes. "Well uh," She pushed her glasses back up. "I'm not too sure but I might know when I do some tests around here. Because that's what us scientists do... We um. Test things." She put the fake grin back on. Spike just face-palmed and sheriff Silverstar tilted his head a bit with a strange look on his face. "Um. Okay?" Silverstar said. "Well I'll let you get on with your tests then. If you figure something out let me know. I'll be in my station." He pointed towards a small wooden building and walked in, slamming the door. Rainbow looked down at Spike. "Skylight? Really Spike?" She asked sounding displeased with the name he gave her. "Sorry Rainbow, Skylight came to mind because it rhymes with Twilight." Spike said shrugging. Rainbow just rolled her eyes and decided she didn't care. It's just a temporary alias anyways. "So what should we do?" He asked. "I guess we could search for wanted posters and ask the towns folk if we're wanted." She responded looking around her at the small town. "That's it? You're going to ask people, 'Hey am I wanted around here?'" Spike said imitating Rainbow's voice and doing a horrible job at it. Rainbow lowered her eyes looking quite angry at Spike. "No dragon breath, I'm going to take off this stupid disguise and walk around here for a bit and see if any pony recognizes me." She grabbed the lab coat and threw it to the ground along with her fake glasses. "You can't do that! You might get spotted!" Spike quietly yelled at her flailing his arms in the air. "I'm breaking the rules boo hoo. It's faster this way." She stepped on the glasses and shattered them. She looked around and everything still seemed to be the same. Passing ponies didn't give a second glance at her. "Alright let's go." She trotted around town trying to stand out, but not making it so blatantly obvious. She flew up into the air and did a few tricks. No one seemed to care. Meanwhile Spike was just walking around looking for posters that said his friends were wanted like the ones in Ponyville. After almost half an hour of aerial tricks and searching for posters, the two met up where they originally split up before. "Anything?" Spike asked. "Nothing. You?" Rainbow asked in reply. "Couldn't find anything saying you're in trouble." He said rather quietly so no one else could hear. "Alright, well I say we go and get the others and tell them it's alright here." Rainbow said scooping up Spike immediately and began flying back over the mountains. Silverstar saw this from his window and ran outside. "Hey Doc! You forgot your coat!" He yelled so she could hear him. Rainbow just grimaced and kept flying. Silverstar shifted his eyes left and right then flung the coat over his back as he ran into his building. ***** "Now you're certain we won't be noticed?" Twilight asked. "Trust me Twilight! We'll blend in just like the rest of them!" Rainbow said hovering sounding quite confident. "Also um. It was Appleloosa I saw earlier. So yeah." "Appleloosa huh?" Applejack said walking towards Rainbow then looked over at Twilight and smiled. "I guess it's just good luck ain't it Twi?" She said. "Good luck?" Asked Fluttershy. "We can stay with my cousin Braeburn fer a day or two, as a picker upper." "Sounds good to me, alright let's go." Twilight said leading the way into Appleloosa. ***** As soon as they were in a good section of the town one random pony immediately walked towards them and pointed at Twilight. "Hey I know you!" Twilight gulped and her ears went back. The pony who was pointing smiled. "You're the one who was trying to settle the dispute between us and the buffalo." Twilight gave a sigh of relief and returned the smile. "Thanks for trying, we should have listened but at least things turned out alright." The random pony waved and walked towards her destination. "I thought we were spotted wrongly." Rarity stated from behind. Spike walked up beside Twilight and nudged her then whispered in her ear. "I don't think any pony will remember Rarity." They both looked back at her who was trying to push the dust out of her hair. She was still a complete mess. Twilight turned back and laughed a bit. "How much further is it to your cousins Applejack?" Rarity asked. "I've been a complete mess for far too long now and I'll go crazy if I can't have a proper bath soon. I mean, no offence, but you've been cleaner than me!" Applejack just glanced back not letting Rarity get to her. "Hold yer horses Rarity, Braeburn's place is just a little ways away." Some other male pony walked up to them, but was most interested in Pinkie Pie. "Hi!" The stallion greeted. Pinkie perked right up and gave a big smile. "Hi!" She said excitedly. "You're the one that caused the buffalo to attack! I don't really like you." He said and his sarcastic smile went down to a frown then trotted off. Pinkie's smile drooped and she got teary eyed. "Don't listen to him pinkie, you were only trying to help." Twilight said trying to cheer up her friend. "Yeah, who cares about some jerk and his dumb opinion." Applejack said. "Hey where's Fluttershy?" They looked over and their mouths opened from what they saw. Fluttershy was giving the stare to the stallion who looked really frightened. A minute later he walked up and apologised to Pinkie then ran off as fast as he could. Fluttershy just crossed a front hoof over her other and closed her eyes contently. "No pony talks that way to any of my friends." Fluttershy said. Twilight smiled and looked over at Pinkie who was now also smiling. "Usually Fluttershy is so timid." Rarity spoke to Applejack, however Fluttershy overheard her. "If something hurts my friends in any way, I lose it. My friendship with you girls is too powerful. I can overcome any problem if it involves any of you because our friendship is just too strong." She said walking forward. The rest of them couldn't believe it but Fluttershy seemed a little more assertive than normal. But they decided it's probably for the best right now in their situation. ***** After a few more minutes of walking they finally managed to reach Applejack's cousins place. It was a small simple home that had a ceiling with a slight slant downwards. It looked old and rickety and just as dry as the desert, but to her cousin it was a great shanty. They all walked up onto the wooden planks around the door and AJ was the one to knock. After a few seconds they could clearly hear hooves walking towards the door from the inside. A lock was heard clicking out of place as the door swung open. There stood a yellow stallion wearing a cowboy hat covering gold colored hair. He was also wearing a brown vest and had one big red apple as a cutie mark. "Is it? Cousin Applejack?" He said perking up a bit. "Darn tootin' Braeburn." Applejack responded giving a friendly smile. "Not to sound rude, but what exactly are you doing here? Doesn't your family usually make apple juice this time of year?" Braeburn asked. "Yes but uh." "Howdy Brae!" Pinkie poked her head around the corner and greeted him with a seemingly too-much-effort-for-a-smile smile. "Oh hey I remember you. Yep, won't ever forget it." Braeburn said not sounding quite as enthusiastic . He looked around the corner to see the rest of his cousins friends. They gave a friendly half-hearted greeting smile. "Uh, are you all taking a vacation to Appleloosa right now? Things seem a bit messed up." He said taking his hat off and scratching his head in confusion. "No we just stopped by is all." Applejack said. "Remember when you said if ah ever need a place a stay for a while I'm always welcome at your place?" Applejack continued with her voice crackling a bit. "Can't say I-" Braeburn started but was cut off mid sentence. "Well I'd appreciate that gesture now. Thanks cuz." Applejack said and walked into the small house motioning the rest to follow her in. They all trotted in bowing their heads a bit as they felt uncomfortable barging into someones place uninvited. "What's this all about AJ?" Braeburn said closing the door and re-locking it again. The five ponies and one dragon all simply stood inside waiting to be officially welcomed. "Ah just thought mah cousin would want to see his cousin Applejack is all... and uh, her friends." She motioned towards them and they all gave a weak wave. Braeburn looked over at them then back to his cousin. "But if you would rather be alone and shoo out family then-" Now this time it was Applejack who got cut off. "I'm always happy to see you Applejack! I wouldn't mind a visit. Since ya'll are here maybe you can help me with apple buckin' tonight!" He said smiling a bit more now. "Well it seems to be night time for a while now. I'll just say later then." Applejack smiled, "Thanks cousin, come on girls." She guided them to a small room which they would have to share for the night. Rarity poked Applejack to get her attention. She whispered to her friend just so she could hear her, "Well now that we have a place to stay do you think I can finally get all this crud off me? I've been a mess since that big thunderstorm before all this even started!" Applejack had her eyes half closed and trotted past Rarity talking in her normal tone. "I don't know. Ask Braeburn." Braeburn turned around from where he was as his attention was caught. "Ask me what?" He looked to Applejack and noticed she was motioning to Rarity. He looked at her and had noticed she did seem a bit... Disgusting. He just grimaced a bit and just nodded his head. Rarity quickly ran to the bathroom and in a couple seconds all of them could here a shower head activate. Applejack was in the living room with her cousin making general chit-chat, mostly apple farm lingo, Rarity was in the shower and the remaining four and Spike were in the bedroom. "So how do you play this game Pinkie?" Rainbow asked. "It's easy Dashie! There are nine squares. One of us marks a square with an 'X', the other marks an 'O'. You have to make a line of three to win!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly bouncing up and down in place. "Um, okay I get it I think." Rainbow said marking an 'X'. Needless to say she lost and Pinkie won the game. "Yeah I think I'll pass on this one." Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike sat on the floor at the other side of the room. "So let me get this straight, evil 'yous' are in Canterlot castle right now assuming power of the throne." Spike said trying to wrap his head around the entire situation. "Correct." Twilight said. "Hang on I'm not done. They have some royal guards working for them now, possibly out of fear AND have possession of the Elements of Harmony?" Spike finished. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other for a second then back at Spike. "Well, yes." Twilight confirmed. Spike was looking at the floor then back to his big sister. "It seems you guys are between a rock and a hard place." The three of them didn't say anything after that as their stomachs churned even more. So many possibilities of what could have happened to the princesses. They just didn't want the worst possibility to be the true one. If that was the fact the night would be endless. Thinking of that Twilight's stomach churned even more. It felt like someone was grabbing her stomach and twisting it with all their might. She tried pushing those thoughts away by using her magic to illuminate the room even more. Just like before only a little sparkle of magic sparked from the tip of her horn and disappeared instantly. The door to the room opened up and Rarity came in with a towel on top of her head covering her hair. Her coat was pure white again seemed a little more shiny than she has been the past couple days. She removed the towel from her head and swung her nicely curled purple hair around as she did so while having her eyes closed. Spike's tongue stuck out involuntarily as he was stunned by the beauty he hasn't seen for a while. "Ladies, Rarity is back." Rarity said batting her eyes. "Finally!" She was the only one who seemed excited by her cleanliness. Spike was more entranced by this but Twilight nudged him to bring him back to reality. Braeburn knocked on the already ajar door and poked his head in, "Would any of you gals like some apple cider?" He asked holding a tray with mugs full of cider. "Don't mind if I do!" Rainbow flew up quickly and grabbed a mug with a big grin. ***** After relaxing and talking, Applejack came in the room. "Remember when Braeburn asked for help to buck apple trees? It's time. Don't worry, ya'll don't have to go super fast this time." She exited the room and headed outside. "It only seems fair. After all this is his hospitality we're taking advantage of." Twilight said standing up and stretching her back. The rest agreed and followed suit then headed out the door. Outside was a big apple orchard with buckets lying everywhere. "It's my responsibility to harvest the apples from this section of the orchard." Braeburn said proudly. "With eight of us, this should go eight times faster! Why, we'll be done in no time." "Twi, why don't you lift the apples out of the tree with yer-" Applejack stopped in mid-sentence then cowered a bit. "Er, sorry." She trotted off to help Braeburn start. Twilight looked up and saw the moon was still in the same exact position. With just the moon as their only source of light it was still a bit hard to see everything, especially in an apple orchard where the trees made shadows in an already dark world. After a bit of learning and understanding every one of them was helping and doing their share of the work. One pony would buck the apples, the other would take the buckets and empty them in large barrels. Spike was teamed with Twilight, Rarity with Fluttershy, Pinkie with Rainbow Dash, and Braeburn with Applejack who were obviously the more productive team. About an hour passed by the time Braeburn called it a night. Every one of them were sweaty and sore but felt like they earned their stay. Even if it was just for one night to recharge. "Good work all of you!" Braeburn commended. "We got every last one of those trees. No apple was left behind." He turned to Applejack, "Feel free to come anytime and bring your friends too!" They all shared a laugh. It was the first bit of happiness they had all felt in a while. Except for Rarity who was happy to be clean earlier. They all walked in the house and Applejack read the time from the clock out loud. "Nine O' Clock. Feels later than that, or earlier, ah don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe we should hit the hay. We have a super duper hooper shooper day tomorrow!" Pinkie said find the energy to bounce in one spot still. "Big day?" Braeburn tilted his head. "Uh, yup. Ah agree." Applejack said giving Pinkie a glare. "Um, okay. I think I'll head off to bed too. G'night ladies!" He said entering his own room and closing the door. He opened the door a crack to peak out. "and the dragon guy." He closed his door again. Spike didn't look too impressed but he just shrugged it off. All seven of them walked into the bedroom and plopped down on the floor. They spread out a couple blankets to make the hardwood floor a bit more cushiony. After all, they wanted to have a good sleep to be awake and alert for what could possibly be the biggest day of their lives tomorrow. They had their eyes closed but Rainbow started fidgeting around. "Rainbow could you please stop? I can't get to sleep with you moving around erratically like that." Rarity said opening and eye to look at Dash. "Sorry it's just that I can't sleep on something so uncomfortable." Rainbow kept moving around. Rarity opened both eyes now. "Adjust then! Do you think I was comfortable walking around with all that muck in my mane and coat?" "So you got a little dirty, boo hoo." Rainbow said turning on her back to see Rarity upside down staring at her. "I'll have you know that-" This time Rarity was cut off. "Oh for Pete's sake!" Spike said standing up pointing his finger at Rainbow. "You! Sleep on the couch in the living room!" Rainbow raised her eyebrow as Spike then attempted no argument as the couch did sound more comfortable than the floor. "Actually there's probably room for three of us on the couch and armchair out there." Applejack interjected. They all were deciding who would be more comfortable where in order to get the best nights sleep as they possibly could. In the end, it was Rainbow, Rarity and Pinkie sleeping out in the living room while Spike, Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack volunteered to stay in the room. Dash and Rarity were laying on the coach with their heads at opposite ends and their back hooves barely touching each other but they didn't care. Pinkie was curled up on the armchair using her tail as a pillow. But opened an eye. "Hey, Dash!" Rainbow remained still and kept her eyes closed but replied. "Yeah Pinkie?" "Will you play tic-tac-toe again sometime?" Pinkie asked. "I doubt it." Rarity cleared her throat but didn't say anything after that. "Oh, sorry Rare!" Pinkie said and closed her eyes again, not taking too long to drift into sleep. The four in the other room didn't say a peep. As soon as the others left they tried to sleep. All of them got to sleep pretty fast except for Twilight. She couldn't get horrible scenarios out of her head of what might have happened to the princesses. Eventually though, she managed to push those thoughts out of her head and fall asleep like the rest of her friends. ***** Twilight awoke in the morning not looking so well. Her hair was a frizzled mess and she had bags under her eyes. It was quite obvious she didn't have a great sleep. She was folding up her blanket to put away but stopped mid fold. She stepped back and concentrated really hard with her magic to fold it for her. Usually this would be such a simple task, but to no avail. She sighed and continued folding the blanket manually. Spike yawned and stretched then scratched his head with half open eyes. Even through his blurry vision he saw his big sister did not have a peaceful sleep. "Hey Twi, um, you don't look so well." Twilight just rolled her eyes. "I just didn't have a good sleep... Must have been these sleeping conditions." She lied to Spike and knew perfectly well why she couldn't relax. She was keeping this a secret from everyone but herself; She was having reoccurring nightmares of the Elements of Harmony. Her first dream she had with them, back when they were not fugitives, kept coming back to her sub-conscious as she slept. Twilight opened a closet door and placed the blanket she slept on inside. Spike followed suit and placed his on a lower shelf. They looked around the room and saw that Fluttershy was still sleeping very quietly, but Applejack was not present. "I guess it's that farm mentality to wake up early." She guessed and Spike absentmindedly nodded. Twilight tip toed her way down the hall, past Braeburn's room through the living room where her other friends were still sleeping and noticed something outside. She got closer to the window and saw an orange figure rarely moving. Twilight opened the door to go outside and heard whimpering coming from Applejack sitting on the porch. "Applejack?..." Twilight asked softly walking slowly towards her friend. "Leave me be Twi-Twilight." Applejack tried to say firmly, but her non-characteristic stutter gave her away. She tried to hide her face with her hoof blocking the side that Twilight was on. "Applejack, talk to me. Maybe I can help?" Twilight offered. "Just go!" Applejack yelled without turning her head. Twilight backed up a step then frowned when she saw one of the toughest ponies she knew break down and slam her face into her hooves and began weeping. Twilight approached her friend and put a hoof on her shoulder. Applejack didn't resist and for a second felt a little more comfortable. Twilight sat beside AJ contently waiting for her to say something. Applejack eventually slowed down and wiped some tears from her eyes. Her cheeks were a crimson red shade and her eyes were watery. She eventually got the courage to face Twilight, feeling a little ashamed that her friend saw her like this. "Ah-ah..." Applejack took a deep breath so she could speak without stuttering. "When ah heard we were near Appleloosa and we weren't known for the bad things our doppelganger's did, ah was as happy as ah was when we were still in Ponyville." She took another deep breath and her tears stopped. Twilight just kept listening contently making direct eye contact. "When we were buckin' the apples ah felt like ah was... Home." Applejack looked up at the exact same sky that has been there for a while now, frozen. "What ah wouldn't give for things tah be back t' normal..." She looked down at the ground. Now it was Twilight's turn. "We've been away from home for a long time now. I can understand that you're homesick-" Applejack interjected right there. "Not exactly Twi. You get to see your family, that being Spike. He also knows the truth of what's exactly goin' on. Mah family probably thinks I'm an awful criminal. Ah hope nothing happened to my family." Applejack was starting to look normal. Her face was a shade of orange again and wasn't stuttering anymore. Twilight put her foreleg around Applejack's shoulders and patted her on the back. "You know what AJ?" She started saying with a stern tone. "We're going to get the Elements of Harmony back, defeat the Disharmonic ones and set things right!" She gave a big grin. Applejack felt much better now. She tipped her hat and returned the smile. "You're right Twi. Let's put this mess behind us!" Applejack said confidently. They both walked into the house and saw that their friends were all sleeping. Spike was the only one awake sitting on a chair, but seemed to be dozing off again. Braeburn came walking out of his room looking like his usual self with the vest and hat on. He whispered to his cousin to be sure not to wake the others up. "Want some breakfast?" ***** The clock read six O' clock when the others finally woke up. They were woken up with the smell of freshly cooked breakfast. Rainbow Dash flew up into the air slightly while stretching and scratched her side. "Man that was a great sleep." She said stretching again. Fluttershy walked out of the guest room and greeted everyone. "OOoo! Breakfast!" Pinkie said excitedly as if she never slept. "Dig in ya'll." Applejack said placing separate dishes down on a table consisting of fried hay, sliced apples and oatmeal. All of them dug in put Pinkie eyed the plate carefully then looked up at Applejack. "Oatmeal, are you crazy?" She said with a serious look to her face. Applejack's face was one of confusion when Pinkie laughed. "I'm kidding! But seriously where's the sugar?" After eating, Applejack patted Braeburn on the back. "Well thanks cuz, that was delicious." All of them also gave their thanks and piled the dishes neatly in the sink. "Let me help you with those." Rarity offered and turned on the sink with her magic and started cleaning the dirty dishes. Twilight saw that from where she was sitting and just scoffed a bit. Rarity never noticed. "It is always polite to help clean up after being a guest." She said with her eyes closed turning off the faucet. "Um, should we get going?" Fluttershy contently asked while looking at the floor. "I reckon Fluttershy is right." Applejack agreed and nodded her head. "You gotta go? The train doesn't show up here until noon." Braeburn stated. Twilight made a slick save as to why they were leaving. "We don't want to impose anymore than we already have. You've been a great host. Besides we're leaving to see the buffalo!" She grinned and shifted her eyes around. Everyone else gave the same grin and nodded their heads. They weren't about to tell Braeburn the whole story, he wouldn't even believe them. "Well um, alrighty then. It was nice to see you all. Enjoy the rest of your time here in Appleloosa!" Braeburn said rather happily. "Yeah we will bye!" Applejack said slamming the door as everyone left the house and stood out on the dirt street. "Now, back to business." Twilight said. "We must head back to Canterlot to retrieve our elements!" Applejack nodded. "But which way is Canterlot?" Pinkie asked. Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof while looking upward. Suddenly she had a great idea. "Canterlot, that's east of here! I know that because the train ride here went past Canterlot." "But which way is east?" Rainbow said. Twilight took her hoof off her chin and pointed towards a bright white star up in the sky in the distance. "You see that star?" She continued pointing. "Luna always places that star in that very location all the time. It's called the 'North Star'. If we are facing it now, then east is to the right of us." The hoof she was pointing at the sky with was now pointing east, towards an empty desert. "Canterlot is that way." "Egghead." Rainbow said quietly enough so no one could hear her. "Okay here's another question, how far is it?" "Oh it can't be too far. If we start walking now we should get there by nightf-" Twilight stopped and looked around the dark sky. "We should get there later." She said lamely. ***** They were all walking except for Rainbow Dash who was flying just as fast. All they could see was dry earth. It didn't seem as cold like when they first arrived here. But they weren't about to complain about that. After another 30 minutes of walking there was a big rock that jutted out from the ground. It must have been at least twenty feet tall and ten feet around. It was a nice change of scenery even if it was just a rock. Just then Twilight's pupils got extremely tiny and her face turned pale. "Run for the rock!" She yelled to them and bolted towards the grey protrudence. No one gave thought and just ran for it and hid under a small shelter the rock gave. All of them squeezed under neath and Rarity was getting uncomfortable. "What's the matter Twilight?" She asked sounding angry in a yelling-whisper voice. Twilight jolted her head to the right and daintily pointed towards the general direction. All of them stuck their heads out to see a royal guard trotting towards Appleloosa. They all quickly hid under the shelter the rock gave them on the opposite side of the guard when they thought they saw him tilt his head towards the rock. "Did he see us?" Rainbow asked. Fluttershy was just hyperventilating and panicking. "What if he did?! Oh no!" ... They all remained silent for a while. However they heard the clip-clop of pony hooves walking on the other side of the rock. All of them stood perfectly still and didn't move a muscle, not even to blink. It felt like an eternity when the hooves stopped moving on the other side. They weren't sure if the royal guard pony was going to walk around the other side of the rock and see them. Sweat was starting to run down Twilight's face. "Hmm, I guess it was just my imagination!" The guard pony reassured himself and turned around to get back on track. "Phew! That was a close one!" Pinkie said happily and rather loud. All of them darted their eyes to Pinkie. "Wait a minute!" The guard said and ran around the rock to see all of them standing there. "NO PONY MOVE!" He yelled and stood tall. He was a bright white unicorn with gold body armor and was about twice as big as any of them. "Pinkie!" Applejack yelled. The white unicorn looked over at her. "Quiet! From now on you will speak when spoken to! You are all coming with me!" He reached into his armor and pulled out several cuffs that were chained together. "No pony try any funny business!" He demanded and started walking towards them. Rainbow bolted towards the guard pony to try and attack but he glowed his horn and caught her in mid flight where she suddenly stopped. "What did I JUST say?!" He got right in her face and cuffed Rainbow Dashes legs and forelegs together. Rainbow was struggling but to no avail. His magic was overpowering her. "Ow!" Rainbow said and winced in pain as the cuffs were more like shackles and were a tad too tight. Fluttershy was shaking in fright, but a thought popped into her head of what she said the day before, "If something hurts my friends in any way, I lose it. My friendship with you girls is too powerful. I can overcome any problem if it involves any of you because our friendship is just too strong." Fluttershy leaned her head forward and growled, stomping at the ground with her front right hoof getting ready to charge. The white unicorn saw this and just merely grunted. "Oh please. Don't attack, whatever shall I do?" He sarcastically said with a roll of the eyes then enveloped her in a yellow glow and with that, floated Fluttershy over to him. He grabbed the next set of shackles that were attached to Rainbow Dash and started levitating them towards Fluttershy. The other four were tentive to see what Fluttershy would do. Twilight wanted to help but felt useless since her magic has still not returned. "Oh no what do we do?!" Twilight asked herself while yammering all four legs in place. She looked over at Rainbow who was still struggling with the shackles, she then looked over at Fluttershy and finally the royal guard. A thought struck her and she knew exactly what Fluttershy was planning. "Oooh I'm so scar-" The white unicorn said then froze in mid sentence looking at the yellow pegasi deep into her eyes. She was using her patented stare while floating in font of him, still being controlled by his magic. Twilight darted towards the free set of shackles and snatched them up. She raced towards the guard pony who was still in a trance, grabbed his hooves and chained them together like he did with Rainbow. Twilight grabbed the key out of his armor and tossed to Rarity. Fluttershy finally stopped using the stare causing the glow to dissipate and her to fall flat on the ground beneath. Rarity had the key magically floating in front of her and ran towards Rainbow Dash. The guard pony shook his head fast as he was still dazed a bit. "Give that back to me!" He used his magic to try and take the key away from Rarity's grasp who was trying to jam the key into the locks that bound Rainbow. It was a tug-of-war for freedom. But the yellow glow disappeared from the key suddenly and Rarity was able to unchain her friend quickly. She looked over to see that Applejack and Pinkie had tackled the guard. Rainbow stood up and shook her hooves to wake them up. They were throbbing but no worse for wear. Spike quickly dug a whole where Rarity dropped the key into. He quickly covered the hole back up and sat on it with his arms folded. Now all six of them were standing around the guard who had his legs shackled together struggling to move, but could only squirm. "Let me go right this instant!" He bellowed loudly and was giving a concentrated look of anger that even made Applejack feel uneasy. "Who has the key?!" Twilight trotted towards the guard and stood over him. "I have a few questions if you don't mind." "You'll all be sorry! Each and every one of you!" The guard screamed from the ground looking up towards Twilight who from his angle was upside down. Twilight just frowned and cleared her throat. "As I was saying I have a few questions." The guard just snorted, "What makes you think I'll answer any questions?" He said with a calmer tone. "Because we have the key, and the only way out is with that. So I suggest you co-operate." Twilight leaned forward with an angry expression, emphasizing that remark in an attempt to intimidate the guard. Applejack took the remaining shackles and wrapped them around the white unicorn constricting his movement entirely. "There! Tied up like a turkey!" She said proudly. "Now you have absolutely no movement. You can answer our questions and leave, or you can stay out in the desert forever." Twilight stated. "Even your magic can't help you now." She said in a smoother tone. The guard sighed loudly and closed his eyes. "I can't believe I- oh, fine." He surrendered. The six all smiled at each other and were all listening attentively to the answers they were wanting. "First of all, why is the moon not lowering to make way for the sun?" Twilight asked. The white unicorn sighed again and answered. "Because our new leader has them caged up in her own magical boundaries." "Magical boundaries? New leader?" Twilight asked quizzically. "Yes, our new leader has both Luna and Celestia inside a cage made up of magic to ensure there is no chance of escape. The moon cannot be lowered without Luna's magical abilities." "Just who is this new leader?" Twilight asked. The guard pony looked up at Twilight again making her look like she was upside down. "It's you." He said, "Well not exactly you, but some pony who looks just like you." Twilight looked up at her friends and narrowed her eyes but looked back down at the guard who continued speaking again. "There were also these other five ponies as well, they all looked exactly like every pony here." "Just as I thought." Twilight said, "Actually it was quite obvious. So next question, why are you working for your 'new leader' and not being loyal to the princesses?" "Because our new leader is so powerful! If she can constrain the ex-princesses, imagine what else she could do! No pony can fight against her or the five others! The ones that did try, are all locked in the dungeons forever." He turned his head to the side to get more comfortable. "Whoever swore their loyalty to the new leader, or as she likes to be called, 'Ms. Sparkle'" Twilight cringed but the guard continued, "whoever swore their loyalty to her got to be free and work for her. It didn't take much convincing when she made an example of a few other guards who refused." "Well what was her orders 'fer you?" Applejack stepped forward. Without moving his head the guard answered. "We were told there were imposters that looked exactly like them. We were told to find you, and lock you all in a special reserved dungeon." It was silent for a bit as Twilight walked to her group of friends and talked quiet enough so the guard couldn't hear. "So we have confirmation on a few things, but there's still one thing I don't understand. Since evil Twilight locked us in the ancient pony sisters underground hidden temple-" She was cut off by Pinkie giggling to herself. "Evil Twilight." Pinkie said and giggled again. Twilight just lowered her eyelids halfway then continued. "If we were locked up in that place, why would she send guards out in search for us?" "Maybe that magical force field was only temporary?" Rarity contributed. "Maybe." Twilight acknowledged. "Bottom line is, we're still Equestria's most wanted." "That's probably it!" Applejack said suddenly. "It's probably their backup plan in case we actually did escape. We would still not be safe even if we did make it out of there." "I guess that makes sense." Rainbow agreed. Twilight parted from the group and walked over to the still constricted guard. "I have just one more question." She said. "What is it?" He said rather annoyed. "Did you happen to see ugh, Ms. Sparkle have a book with a picture of six different elements on them?" She was anticipating his response. "As a matter of fact, yes I did see something like that next to the throne she sat in." He said sounding like he didn't care. Twilight looked up and nodded to her friends. They knew for sure where the elements were now, and had their questions answered based on an insider. The guard looked back up at Twilight. "Alright I held up my end of the deal, now let me go." Twilight smirked a bit while looking back. "Sorry, but I don't trust you." She said starting to walk towards her friends. "What?! Get me out! We had a deal!" He screamed towards her. Twilight spun around to face him. "I don't recall us literally making a deal!" She said. "But I will let you out once we've had a head start. We'll tell some pony where you are and where the key is." Twilight finished and spun around back to her friends. "You sure he's gonna be alright out here Twi?" Applejack asked. "He'll be fine. Hungry, but fine." She simply replied. "So now what's the newest plan?" Rainbow asked who was now hovering above again. As the rest were trotting Spike hopped on Twilight's back. Twilight replied, "Let's go give Ms. Sparkle a surprise visit."