The Adventures of the Elementals

by AutoKnight01


The Country of Alamante

I only own my OC's and the plot.

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 13: The Country of Alamante

There’s only one schoolhouse in all of Ponyville for little fillies and colts. Cheerilee was in charge of running it. She was the only teacher and the principal of the place. It was a responsibility she took upon herself and she loves everything about it. Molding kids to become knowledgeable ponies makes her feel so happy with her life.

She had been looking forward to this day since the welcome party for the Alamantians. As the bell for recess to end rang, the kids all came rushing back to the schoolhouse. Once all of them were seated, they still chatted amongst another as Cheerilee walked through the door.

“Alright. Settle down everypony.” Cheerilee called to her class.

Upon hearing her voice, the class of young ponies dialed back on the chatter until it was silent. With all the attention on her now, Cheerilee addressed her class of fillies and colts.

“Class, today I have a very special treat for you.” Cheerilee said with a very wide smile. “I’m sure by now all of you little ponies know about our six new foreign guests. And one of them was gracious enough to come in today and speak to you about his home.”

Everypony in the class room had their faces bright with smiles when they heard Cheerilee say that. All of them except for two. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon

“I expect all of you to act well behaved and around him and do not press him about his abilities. I know full well what he can do and I’m sure he would appreciate if he were not asked about it. You can come in now, Cryo!”

The door to the classroom immediately opened up. The class gave a small round of applause for Cryo as the white unicorn of ice made his way in. Then a few seconds later, the class went a bit silent as more ponies entered the door. Eleven more in total. Five of them were the other Alamantians, and the remaining six were their partners. Although nopony knew of the arrangement that was going on other than the twelve of them.

“Hope you don’t mind, but my siblings decided to accompany me. I hope it’s okay.” Cryo explained to Cheerilee.

“Of course it is, Cryo.” Cheerilee answered him. “We’re honored to have such special guests in our class. Right kids?”

All the kids said yes in their own way. All of them except for two.

“Special? Oh please. Don’t make me laugh.” Diamond Tiara snarled. “The only thing these six ponies are….are dangerous.”

Everypony else gasped at her words. The six they were directed at stood firm trying to show no reaction.

“Um….” Cryo couldn’t think of anything to respond with

For the past three years, the six Alamantians had heard a lot of ponies talk a lot of smack on their home. Never before have they actually been told those things right to their faces. They had no idea who to respond. They could only think of doing two things. Standing perfectly still and trying to not to show pain. But it became harder to do as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon went on.

“You six think you’re so special because of you freak element powers. Well you know what? Those only make you show-offs!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“Hey!” Lucky for the six foreigners, some of the kids were on their side. “They’re not show-offs! And why are you yelling at them? If I remember correctly at that party, they saved your life!”

“Yeah! You should be thanking them!” Sweetie Belle agreed.

The rest of the class seemed to agree with Sweetie Belle’s opinion. But Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would not have it. They had nothing nice to say to the six element movers.

“They probably set the whole thing up. It was all just a big act to make us like them.” Silver Spoon said.

“Silver Spoon…” Cheerilee started to talk but she was quickly interrupted.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had plenty more insults for the six of them. After about thirty more seconds, it got to here.

“You’re nothing but scary monsters to us and nothing more! We don’t want you here!” Diamond snarled.

Gem looked away from them not wanting anypony to see her face. Rainbow looked and saw she was nearly crying because of the insults. She was about to say something to defend them but then the next thing happened so fast.

“Get out!”

Silver Spoon had fished into her lunch box and brought out an apple she had originally intended to eat. She instead used it for something else. She threw the apple at them and Typhoon’s face became covered in the mushy remains of the fruit.

Everypony gasped at the sight. Typhoon couldn’t speak and everypony else was too in shock to say anything. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon only smiled proud of their work.

“That is enough!” Cheerilee yelled and slammed a hoof on her desk.

Cheerilee was a pony who hardly ever raised her voice to her students. But when she did, they were all scared something fierce. Even Twilight and her other friends were a bit startled. They had never ever heard her yell up close but they heard it from a distance one rare occurrence. This time her loud and stern voice was directed at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“I will not tolerate that kind of behavior in my classroom or anywhere else for that matter! You two wait outside and don’t come back in until I say so! And I will be telling your parents about this! You were raised better than that! I taught you better than that! Now go!”

Shamefully, Diamond and Silver got out of their seats and slowly made their way out the door. The Cutie Mark Crusaders succeeded in concealing their delight at the sight of seeing those two bratty foals get kicked out of the classroom. They had it coming.

Calming down, Cheerilee’s voice returned to its normal sweet tone.

“I am so sorry about that.” she apologized to Cryo and the rest of the present foreign ponies.

“It’s alright.” Cryo assured her. “We’ve all heard it plenty of times. Although…..granted that’s the first time anypony ever said it right to our faces but still.”

Typhoon walked over to a nearby wastebasket and stuck her face near it. Then with a slight blow, a gust of air blew on her face and every bit of that apple mush was blown off of her and into the can.

“We’ve heard zem all.” Typhoon added. “Freaks, savages show-offs….cold..blooded murderers.”

She along with the other five Alamantians cringed at that last one. It made everypony else aware that they were certainly not fond of it. Trying to fake tolerance for it, the six regained themselves.

“But hey. We pay it no mind. Because it doesn’t matter to us.” Terra said. “It’s fine.”

“No it’s not. And I can easily tell by your faces that it DOES matter.” Cheerilee corrected. “Nopony should be talked to like that. Especially the six of you. And you certainly do not deserve to have things like apples thrown at you.” Then she addressed her class. “Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Racism is something I will not put up with at all. You will treat our guests with nothing but the utmost respect. Understood?”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee.” All of the present students chimed at once.

With a smile, Cheerilee turned to Cryo.

“The floor is yours.”

Pyro lightly slapped his brother on the back and Cryo confidently walked to the front of the classroom to view the many fillies and colts looking at him with interest.

“Well. Hello there young ones. My name is Cryo and I am from the Frost Tribe in Alamante.”

“Yeah we know who you are.” Snips said. “We saw you at that party dancing around and fighting at the same time.”

“Do you give lessons?” Snails begged. “Because I have the money to pay you for lessons! I want to shoot ice from my hooves!”

Cryo laughed a bit and addressed the two boys.

“I’m sorry. But the truth is you have to be Alamantian in order to have any elemental powers like we have.”

“Aw. But why?” Pipsqueak asked. “How come only the ponies in your country have these incredible powers, while the rest of the world doesn’t?”

That was a question nearly all the world wanted to know.

“That goes WAY back to when my home was first founded. And contrary to belief, Alamantians didn’t always have this power. And even though we’re the only ones who have it, it doesn’t mean we’re greedy or anything like that.” Cryo explained.

“A lot of ponies in Canterlot say otherwise.” Scootaloo said to him.

“Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon both think all Alamantians are nothing but braggers who think they’re better than everypony else in the world.” Little Dinky Hooves added.

“Well it’s a shame she feels that way. Because I think it would really surprise her to know that my country was originally founded by Equestrian ponies.”

As soon as that last word left Cryo’s mouth, everypony gave him a look of surprise. The kids, Cheerilee, even Pyro and the other Alamantians found a deal of shock at this. Not even they knew. But if they didn’t know, how is it Cryo did?

“Equestrians founded Alamante? How?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“There is quite a story to that. And I just happen to know it. I can show you guys a memory from long ago that shows how my country was created.

“Wait a minute.” Pyro stopped him and approached him. “You mean to tell me you ACTUALLY have in your brain, the ancient memory that holds the true origin of our home?”

“Yeah.” Cryo answered. “I’ve had it lodged in my brain for a few years. Since before I even met you and the others. I was curious as a young colt so I went around and found a pony who actually knew and was gracious enough to bestow the memory upon me. I crossed referenced the events in that memory image with every history book I could find to verify. It’s one hundred percent the real deal.”

Another pause overcame the room for a quick moment. Hearing enough, the fiery stallion backed up a bit.

“Oh this is one story I wanna hear.” Pyro took a seat on his haunches in between Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s desk.

It turns out he wasn’t the only one. The other older ponies present relaxed themselves and prepared to hear Cryo’s story. Even Cheerilee got out of her desk and sat on her haunches in front of Cryo.

The unicorn ice maker smiled.

“Alight. Gather ‘round, little ones. You’re all about to see something that most ponies in my country beg to see but never do.”

With a full crowd focused entirely on him, Cryo activated his horn and summoned up the memory he spoke of.

“It all started about…say….1500 years ago.”

A cyan rimmed viewing screen appeared to the class in front of Cheerilee’s wall mounted blackboard. Then through the screen, an image of Equestria from 1500 years ago was clearly seen. Cryo began to explain as the image began to move like a live picture.

“Life was very peaceful back then as it is today here in the country of Equestria. But although the walls of Equestria provide a peaceful life for all who lived there, there were still some ponies who wanted to leave and discover more land. One of these ponies was named Voyage Rockstead.”

The screen showed an image of a now ancient unicorn stallion wearing the clothes of a pioneer. The color of his coat was a dark grayish color with his mane flat black. His cutie mark was clearly a compass rose.

“Voyage was a pony who had the greatest sense of direction. He could find anything in any situation. Snow, rain, you name it. Anyway, Voyage knew there just had to be more to this planet than just Equestria. So he got on his hind hooves and pleaded with both Princess Celestia and Luna to take a crew of the bravest of ponies and set sail across the ocean in search of new land. Which at first they denied in regard to his safety. It took a few more sessions of begging, but Voyage was finally granted permission. And so he, a crew of one hundred and fifty ponies, and his family all set sail.”

While he spoke, the screen showed everything he spoke of. Princess Celestia and Luna from 1500 years ago, Voyage begging with them, and then him and his crew setting sail. All the ponies on the ship waved goodbye to the crowd below as it left the docks. Even the two princesses were there. Twilight found it fascinating to see the two rules of Equestria from a millennium and a half ago.

“The trip took at least five months. But finally, his ship struck ashore on a patch of land that nopony recognized. They knew it wasn’t Equestria because they had been sailing in a straight line all the way from where they started. Straight east.

The image in the screen showed Voyage and his crew getting off the ship and taking a look around a beach. Voyage spun around in multiple circles amazed at the new land he had found. But then he found himself, his family, and his whole crew to be surrounded but a large group of black and white creatures holding spears in their hooves and pointing them right at the settlers.

“Once they stepped ashore, Voyage was quite surprised to see that there were already creatures living there. But they weren’t ponies. No. They were zebras. Striped creatures that looked like ponies, but yet, they weren’t.”

“We know what zebras are, Mr. Cryo.” Applebloom interrupted. “There’s one living in the Everfree Forest.”

That caught the six Alamantians totally by surprise.

“Really? There’s a Zebra here?” Gem asked.

“Yeah. Her name is Zecora.” Sweetie Belle replied. “She’s really nice.”

Applejack heard something near her. It sounded like a small gasp. She looked to her left and saw Terra’s face. The earth mover looked as if she had just seen a ghost.

Another matter for another time Applejack thought. Right now she was too much into Cryo’s story. The screen did show a visual image of the memory. But however, since it was so long ago since the real thing happened, words tended to be forgotten. So Cryo was basically showing them a silent movie with no subtitles. Lucky for the kids, they had his narration.

The image changed from the beach to Voyage standing in front of another zebra. This one sporting a large red feathered headdress, a cape, and wrinkles signifying age. He also beared a lot of red tribal paint on his body in different symbols and shapes. With no dialogue heard, nopony could tell what he was saying. But it was clear he was talking to the old zebra.

“Upon arrival, Voyage quickly learned the zebras did not speak the same language as them. Luckily the zebras had one amongst their tribe that spoke many languages. The chief of the tribe allowed Voyage to explain himself. He told the truth. He was an explorer in search of new land. He meant not to threaten or harm anypony or zebra. The chief heard the sincerity in his voice. So he allowed the settler ponies to stay amongst them and learn the ways of nature.”

Voyage was then shown bowing to the chief of the tribe while the elder zebra smiled at him welcoming the ponies to the nameless country.

Everypony watching enjoyed learning this new lesson. But Rarity couldn’t take her eyes of one little detail. What the zebras were wearing.

“Oh dear Celestia. Just look at their outfits. How revolting! Who in their right mind would wear such atrocities to fashion?”

That little statement got her results she had not anticipated nor wanted. All six of the present Alamantians, even sweet little Gem, glared at her with cold eyes.

Rarity gave a shy grin realizing her mistake. Insulting Alamantian tribal wear when actual Alamantians are present is not a good idea.

“…….sorry.” was all she could say.

Terra sighed and shook her head disapprovingly at Rarity. Cryo just got back on track.

“Ahem. Anyways, as I was saying….”

The screen switched a view of construction. The ponies were building small huts similar to the ones the zebras had made already. Some zebras were there helping the ponies.

“The zebra tribe taught the ponies everything about living off the land. How to detach themselves from their own Equestrian customs. After a few months, the ponies had become one with nature. And they then began to construct a home village similar to the zebras. But of course there were still some disputes to settle out among them. First off, they needed to decide who gets what land in the country. For as long as any of them could remember, the zebra tribe were the only ones who lived in the country. Which is quite surprising considering how big the country was and still is. These feuds went on for months until….”

Cryo got interrupted when he saw a little white hoof poke up through the crowd. It was Sweetie Belle.

“Um….yes?” he muttered to the filly.

Sweetie Belle lowered her hoof and spoke to him.

“If your country was discovered by normal Equestrian ponies, then how did you get your powers?”

Cryo gave a small smile. He expected that question to come up sooner or later.

“I was just getting to that, Sweetie Belle. And here it is.”

Then he went on to give the ponies exactly what they wanted to hear. The birth of the elemental powers that became the iconic trait of Alamante.

“How many of you here are familiar with the centennial meteor shower?”

Everypony raised their hooves. Not a single pony on all of Equestria hadn’t heard of it. Then he got back to the story.

“Like I was saying, the territorial disputes among many others such as crops and other resources in the land seemed like they would never get settled. But then came one night where all of those arguments were put on hold. The night of the centennial meteor shower. The chief had told Voyage that the night of the shower was one the entire Zebra tribe considered to be one of the most sacred. To this day, all Alamantians pray to the stars every one hundred years on the night of the shower, the give our thanks to the gods who we believe gave us this power.”

His use of the word gods made every Equestrian there think about that. Everypony in Equestria only looked upon Celestia as if she were a goddess. Which in fact she is. They had never heard of any other gods.

Cryo didn’t go into talking about the gods. Instead, the screen switched to view the centennial meteor shower from 1500 years ago. On the ground, the zebras were all bowing to the shooting stars as they passed by their region of the sky.

“It was a beautiful sight seeing a whole bunch of shooting stars go by at once. But they weren’t looking close enough at those passing rocks. And how could they? They were hundreds of miles away from where they were in space. But had they been able to see, they would have seen an event that changed the look of that country and its people forever.”

Now it was getting to the good part. The combination of words he used defined it. Then the screen shifted images again. This time, it was of outer space and all of the rocks that passed by the planet.

“One of the meteors got knocked off course. Nopony knows how. But we Alamantians believe the six ancient gods of the elements from old times pushed it.”

Twilight couldn’t help but feel so fascinated with Cryo’s words. Cheerilee felt the same. Never in her years had Twilight heard of anypony worshiping gods other than Celestia and Luna before. That is until she read that book that belonged to Master Ma.

“This meteor’s path was redirected right for the surface of the planet. Now the thing about these rocks, they give off a form of radioactive energy. That’s why they shine so bright in the meteor shower. And in this one’s descent to the planet, it became empowered with the energy of the six elements of nature thanks to its special properties.”

Nopony there knew how that was possible. But Cryo was nowhere near done talking. As the rock began to close in on the planet’s ground, it first had to heat up as it went through the atmosphere. It glowed red and a few flames could be seen as it picked up speed.

“The extreme heat the rock felt upon entering the atmosphere energized it with the element of fire.”

Heat from the atmosphere. Pyro’s inner origin was finally being revealed. He found it quite odd that mere atmospheric heat is what empowered him with his flames.

“The air it pushed through in it’s rapid fall to the surface energized it with the element of wind.”

Typhoon felt something strange inside her. It was kind of like a feeling of self discovery. Similar to what she and her siblings were all feeling other than the icy pony telling the story.

The image then showed the rock falling through the sky and into a patch of grey clouds with lightning bolts going through them.

“The rain, hail, and thunder clouds it punched through in a neighboring sky energized it with the elements of water, ice, and plasma.”

Water and ice everyone got. But Rainbow nor nopony else knew how lightning could be thought of as plasma.

“Hold on a second.” Rainbow had to ask. “Lightning is majorly electricity. How could it change into plasma?”

Gem answered that one for she had already figured it out when Cryo told the tale of the rock.

“You see, when the lightning bolts touched the rock, the rock did absorb them. But for some strange reason, the main particles that made up those bolts became energized with the radiation of all the other elements that had already gone into the rock. So the lightning was reformatted into plasma.”

That made it not entirely clear but it was a bit more understandable. Plasma was not only electricity, but a small combination of air, water, fire, and ice together as one.

Then finally, the meteor crashed into the ground with a bang creating a very large crater.

“And finally, the ground the rock crashed into energized it with the element of Earth.”

That came as no surprise to Terra. Where else would energy that represented earth come from? Cryo went on as the screen now showed an image of the rock dormant on the ground. It glowed in multiple colors as if it were a single rock aura.

“Hearing the impact from a distance, one stallion whose name escapes me went to investigate alongside a few of his comrades. It didn’t take long to find where the sound came from. But what was found at the site was unbelievable. A strange rock. Glowing in a rainbow of energy. Those who found it thought of the glow to be some sort of essence from outer space. But not wanting to get closer to it, none of them dared to find out exactly what that glow was. In its crashing spot the fallen asteroid remained for another six months. Until one day, somepony finally worked up the nerve to try and solve the mystery of the strange rock.”

This is where it got good for the kids. The memory screen showed an image of a pony that wasn’t Voyage Rockstead. This pony was a young mare. Her coat was white, her mane and tail were fuchsia, and her flank was blank. Something the three Cutie Mark Crusaders found interesting. From the looks of it, this mare was probably Gem’s age. Why was her flank still without a cutie mark?

The young mare was seen slowly approaching the rock with a bit of fear.

“This young mare probably somewhere around her mid teen years, got curious as to why a bunch of ponies were scared of something as silly as a fallen rock. Her name was Penelope Rockstead. She was the daughter Voyage and curious mare by nature. But she had not yet earned her cutie mark yet. She snuck away from camp one day and got closer to the rock. With awe she looked upon its size and glow. And to this very day everypony in Alamante is thankful for the action she took next. She touched it.”

Nopony understood until a few seconds later. The screen showed the young mare Penelope placing a hoof upon the rock with nervousness. At first, nothing happened. But then the glow in the rock began to intensify with each passing second. Before ten seconds passed, the rock obliterated and a multi-colored shockwave is what resulted. Penelope ducked for cover and was covered herself in a cloud of dust.

“Upon the touch of her hoof, the energy inside the rock became unstable. And thus, it gave a massive explosion. The energy inside the rock was released into the air. The blast spread throughout the entire country and those within its vicinity absorbed it. Ponies and zebras alike. They just didn’t know it yet. Penelope survived the explosion even though she was right next to the blast.

“Nopony thought it any mind until a few days later. That’s when the real stuff began.”

Three or four days later, life in pony tribe seemed to be going normally. But all motion in the area screeched to a halt when a blood curdling scream pierced the air. It came from a nearby hut. Everypony close by rushed to see what the scream was about. Once they were inside, they saw it. But nopony could believe it.

A young mare with a cream colored coat kept on shrieking as she looked at her hooves. They were beginning to change color. Her coat of cream fur was changing to a dark yellow-orange color. Her mane went from a pale green to a hot red. The only thing that remained the same were her crimson eyes which were now leaking tears of fear.

Before anypony could do anything, all of them began to feel strange on the inside. Then one by one, the same thing began happening to them. Their fur began to swap colors. To add to their confusion, it was just the ponies who changed coat colors. The zebras all remained black and white.

“At first everypony thought the transformation was some kind of disease or curse. So they isolated those who were “infected”. But as time went on, the same exact thing happened to everypony else who hadn’t yet changed. So nationwide panic started.” Cryo narrated.

The tribes began to go into a quarantine mode. Huts were blocked off. Doctors were trying their best to find out what this disease was even though they were supposedly “suffering” from the same symptoms. Some ponies complained of having a burning heat inside them that wouldn’t go away. Others felt cold. Some others as if their insides had become completely solid or liquid. There were also some who felt as if they were lighter in weight. And others who looked to be a lot more energized than usual.

“About a month or so went by with the whole nation in panic. The Zebras and ponies couldn’t figure out for the life of them what could have caused this or what it even was. The ponies began to get angry at the zebras. They figured since they had lived in this country their whole lives, they would know about some diseases that are in it. The zebras all argued that they too felt a bit strange inside but didn’t know why they weren’t changing color. The pony tribe was getting impatient though. They refused to believe the zebras were telling the truth out of fear. They began to get into heated arguments over it.”

Then the screen changed again. This time it was focused on one mare. Her coat was a dark yellowish brown and her mane had gone flat black. It took a few seconds of staring and squinting but everypony in the school could tell who it was.

It was Penelope Rockstead having undergone her own transformation. Only her eyes remained the same color. As she walked, she looked as if she had a look of confusion on her face. Not one of horror like most of the other ponies in the tribe.

“One day, Penelope was sent out to try and find a “cure” for the rapidly spreading change. She ended up going a few miles away from her campsite to search for something. But since she was no medical expert, she had no idea what to look for. She just figured a few herbs from the meadows nearby would do the trick. On her way back, her path was blocked.”

Penelope was trotting along, minding her own business completely. A small sack she had in her mouth carrying some herbs she thought would cure the symptoms of the entire tribe. She was only a few minutes away from her home when out of nowhere, a huge dragon landed in front of her with a big drooling mouth.

“The dragon was hungry. And Penelope was terrified. So she did the only thing she could think of. Turn around and run.” Cryo said.

Scared out of her mind, Penelope did just that. She turned right around and screamed bloody murder as she ran. But the huge dragon had other plans for her. With a single leap, it got in front of Penelope’s path again. The kids all watched intently as they awaited their next actions.

Scared stiff now, Penelope found herself unable to move. Fluttershy had her eyes covered scared at the very image of the terrifying dragon.

With a roar, the dragon spat out a big stream of flame right for the mare. She covered her face with her hooves completely terrified of what was about to happen. One second later, she felt the heat get closer to her face. It grew hotter and hotter with every inch closer it got.

Then it stopped.

Just as easy as the heat came, it strangely vanished. Opening her eyes to see what had happened, she looked and saw the dragon still there. She also saw between her and the beast a cloud of smoke and dust as if the fire had hit something on its way to her.

The dragon looked just as confused as Penelope did. Except it also sported on it’s face a fair amount of shock.

Quickly though, the dragon’s face changed to one of anger. With a deep breath, it blasted another stream of fire at Penelope.

Penelope raised her hooves to cover her face. But this time she kept her eyes open. Then she saw what she did. Needless to say, she was super shocked as to what she performed. As she rose up her hooves, the ground right in front of her rose up and formed a wall of rock. The fire blast from the dragon wasn’t enough to break the wall.

Lowering her hooves made the rock wall lower as well. At first she thought someone was watching over her from afar. However, seeing as how her movements were in sync with the rocks that made up that wall, she saw differently. It was her.

Before she could think about it longer, the dragon, although now a bit uneasy, lunged for her instead of breathing more fire. Penelope jumped out of the way just narrowly avoiding it. When she was up, she did the only thing she could think of. She threw her hooves up in the air hoping something would happen.

The ground near her began to shake. That was the first sign that something was happening. But instead of a wall of rock, a huge chunk of the ground tore from the surface and floated in midair.

She was holding up a giant rock in midair. She had no idea how she was doing it, but she then thought of something.

If she had a hold of it, she could use it.

With every bit of might she had, she made a pushing motion with her hooves hoping something would happen. Lucky for her it did. She sent the boulder right for the dragon. The dragon was hit square in the chest and sent back skidding on the ground a ways.

Scared, the dragon got up and flew off not wanting to be crushed by any more giant rocks. When it was out of view, Penelope took a few moments to think about what had just happened. She fought a dragon.

And she won.

It didn’t matter how many times she let it go through her head. It still sounded unbelievable. She won a fight against a giant menacing dragon. How? She wondered to herself how it was possible. How did she do those things with the rocks? She didn’t even touch them, and yet she lifted them with no trouble at all. They were as light as feathers on a pegasus.

The only thing that could have caused this kind of change was a very unique energy source. And the only one she had seen since coming to this country was…..

….that fallen meteor.

Then a look of realization came across her face. She took a look at her hoof. The color changing in her fur and the strange solid feeling inside her, it wasn’t what everypony thought it was.

It was a gift. Not a curse.

Then a dim light shown from behind her head. Looking to see what it was, she gasped at what she saw. The light came from her flank. After a small flash, her cutie mark appeared. The mark was a boulder with a crack halfway down the middle.

Penelope smiled wide in finally discovering her true talent. But her moment of joy was soon over because of a small dilemma.

“Even though she had extraordinary power, she had no idea how else to use it or what else she could do. She needed to learn. So she turned around and ran away from home for a few days to a secluded part of the desert.” Cryo narrated.

The screen then showed Penelope out in the desert by herself trying to learn how to control her new powers. Terra found it absolutely fascinating. She was watching the very first earth mover learn how to use her powers. The footage seen varied from Penelope lifting rocks to creating walls and much more. Some of the moves seen were some Applejack had already seen Terra do. Such as creating pillars of rock rise from the ground. Then there were a few that had not yet been seen by the earth mover present. Such as creating objects out of rock like giant hammers and other weapons. When she eyed Terra, the yellow Alamantian smirked.

“Been there done that.” she muttered.

Applejack didn’t doubt her partner’s abilities. After seeing her practice a few days ago, she didn’t dare say one word that sounded negative to her power. When she turned her head back to Cryo’s screen, the scene had once again changed. This time it showed Penelope crossing the front gates to her village. When someone came up to her with medical supplies, she waved them off much to their surprise.

“Upon her return to the village, Penelope told the tale of what happened to her to all ponies and zebras. She left out no detail in her explanation. And after she was done, everypony thought she had gone crazy. They had all thought she was delusional. A side effect from the sickness. But with one move she proved them wrong.”

Penelope went in a bipedal stance and stomped the ground. With the stomp, she raised her front hooves making the ground around her rise up in the form a rocky pillar. She then began to address her audience once more with a few boulders also hovering around her.

“She opened their eyes to their mistake. She said if they really were sick, they would be feeling a lot worse. The tribes heard her words and took them greatly. It was then the zebra chief remembered some of his childhood lessons. Lessons of ancient gods over the elements of nature. These powers had been seen before. In ancient times. But never in his life did he think he would witness them with his own two eyes. That was finally when the ponies all opened up their eyes for the first time. Sure they all felt a bit differently on the inside. But other than that and the sudden color change, they felt perfectly fine. There was nothing wrong with them.”

This point in the story is where things started to approach the end.

“The elder zebra then gave a speech and lesson in one to everypony. He told them all of the six elemental gods and what they stood for. And everypony agreed, that these gods had bestowed their gifts upon them.”

“Who are these six gods?” Cheerilee herself asked.

“Agni, Poseidon, Aeolus, Gaia, Skaldi, and Cybele.” Twilight answered. “Those are the six gods they worship. But they only pray to their respective one.”

All activity in the room stopped as everypony looked at Twilight with a bit of confusion. Not confusion in who the gods were. But confused as to how she knew that.

“I read it in Master Ma’s book.”

Shrugs were the response she got before Cryo got back to the story. The screen now showed Penelope being spoken to by the Zebra tribe elder and her father Voyage. It appeared she was being honored by the elder. The old zebra was placing a couple of feathers in her ears, and a necklace bearing the symbol of earth upon it. Everypony recognized it as the symbol Terra had on her flank.

“Penelope was given great respect amongst all the people both ponies and zebras alike for becoming the first elemental mover. And in doing, she decided to take on a new name. One that would become known for generations to come. Rocksteady.”

The image of Penelope, now dubbed Rocksteady, transitioned from her to a geographical view of the country.

“As soon as they realized the plague was just a false alarm, everypony began to discover their new powers over their respective element. And the territorial dispute was finally settled as each group chose a spot of the land that was suited best for their element. The Ember tribe settled near the base of the volcano range in the west. The Hydro tribe found their peaceful home near the ocean on the southwest side. The Eneoji tribe set up camp in the east side meadow plains where lightning storms regularly occur. The Aero tribe took their residence to the south eastern mountain range where the wind blows. The Geo tribe founded their home in the great southern canyon. And as for my tribe, the Frost tribe, we found our true place in the snowy mountain pass in the north.”

Each tribe had both ponies and zebras living together as one. United by the elements they control. From the footage the kids could see, they found a little bit more respect for the lone zebra they have living in the Everfree Forest. But they also discovered something about her. She was a zebra. And from what Cryo had just said, all zebras come from their home country. And that meant she might have some special talents other than being a voodoo potion master.

Another matter for another time. Right now they were all too focused on this story to care. Cryo began to wrap things up.

“Along with Rocksteady, she and five others, each from the other tribes, became the first chiefs. Rocksteady of the Geo Tribe, Maelstrom of the Hydro Tribe, Obsidian of the Ember Tribe, Tundra of the Frost Tribe, Cyclone of the Aero Tribe, and Neon of the Eneoji Tribe. A group of sages that acted as a council for the six tribes. They became known as the Elite 6. The first and maybe the best element movers to ever live other than the gods themselves.”

The other five Alamantians looked at their icy brother in shock. They had known him for three straight years and they all had no idea he knew all of this. Had they known, they would have asked him much sooner.

Finally, it came time for the lesson to end.

“So in time, everypony learned how to harness their powers and learn new ways to use them so they could teach future generations to do the same. And soon, all six tribes came together to finally form a name for this country. Ponies and zebras alike. And they all agreed on the ancient word of old Equestrain slang. Thus their home was named….Alamante. The land of elements.”

Everypony there felt so intrigued by the whole thing. Explorers, zebra tribes, meteor showers, dragons, elements, ancient gods, it all felt to them like some sort of storybook and a comic book rolled into one. But this was no story. This was the real deal. Six of the ponies present in that classroom had actual super powers.

Finally Cryo could turn his horn off. And not a moment too soon. His head was starting to hurt from using his magic for a prolonged period of time. After rubbing his head to get rid of the pain, the stallion of ice returned to the front of the room while the other older ponies made their way away from the kids.

“And that kids, is the story of how Alamante came into existence.” Cryo said. “Any questions?”

Almost every hoof in the room went up in the air. Cryo selected Dinky first.

“Does Princess Celestia know the gods you pray to? Are any of them related to her?” the young unicorn filly asked.

“Oh dear no. Celestia is indeed a goddess. But as far as I know, she has no relation to the six elemental gods. That’s a whole different branch of deity.” Cryo answered.

“Although if she DID, that would be totally awesome.” Rainbow Dash muttered.

When Cryo looked at the clock, he found he had already stayed longer than he had anticipated. Then he looked at all of his friends who also felt they had had been there long enough. Their faces clearly said it.

“Well I hate to do this but we must be going. I hope we weren’t a bother.” Cryo said to Cheerilee.

“You were nothing of the sort.” Cheerilee insisted. “Thank you all for coming in and sharing with us. It was really special.”

“No problem at all.”

With a nod, Cryo joined his friends and siblings as they made their way out. As they did, Cheerilee called to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to come back in. As the two fillies re-entered the room, they passed by the guests.

“Have fun terrorizing the town.” Diamond Tiara snarled.

Even after they had gotten their flanks chewed off by their teacher, those to fillies still had the audacity to insult them. One of them could take it no longer. When eleven of them were out, the twelfth one shut the door leaving himself on the inside. The lone one was Agua.

“And you’re so special?” he muttered.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon froze upon hearing his voice. They were still a bit timid of him after what he said at the party. Slowly, he approached them and stood towering over them with a glare.

“You know, you two think you’re the two most important fillies here. I’m sure of it. You say hurtful things to other ponies to make yourselves feel superior. But you’re not. In reality, you’re nothing but two dripping wet brats who aren’t any better than anypony else in this class.”

They would have argued back if they weren’t confused by his words.

“Wet? What are you talking about?” Silver Spoon started. “We’re not…AAAAGH!”

She was cut off when a substantial amount of water poured on top of both of them. Angry, they looked around and saw nopony holding any buckets or any kind of container that could hold that much water.

Then they looked up at the blue stallion in front of them whose respective element was just dumped on their heads. He had a certain smirk to him.

“HA HA! You are now!”

Smiling, Agua turned his back and walked out of the school proud of his work. In his departure, every other child in the room couldn’t help but start to giggle while the two dripping fillies in front of them began to growl.

Upon closing the door, he was glared at by most of the others. Pyro was about to start lecturing him

“Agua….”

“Hey. You said no scaring kids. You however said nothing about soaking them.”

“Ugh. You are incorrigible.”

“Pyro, look me in the eye and tell me truthfully you weren’t thinking of doing something similar.”

Nopony had no idea how it was possible. But Agua bested Pyro with that sentence.

“Oh fine. I wanted to set their tails on fire. But I didn’t. It’s called restraint. Practice it.” Pyro stopped right there.

After that, all twelve of them and the dragon on Twilight’s back made their way up the town in no determined direction.

“So…you got your powers from the centennial meteor shower. How intriguing.” Twilight said.

“Yeah. The last one wasn’t too long ago too.” Rainbow added.

“Yep. That was the only night in the past three years where all of us slept n the ground outside that rock.” Gem told.

“I don’t like how that dragon was portrayed.” Spike commented. “All blood thirsty and vicious. It’s an insult.”

All of them seemed a bit confused by that statement.

“Spike…that wasn’t a movie you were watchin’.” Applejack said. “That was a memory. That was what actually happened all those years ago.”

“Yeah. Spike that wasn’t a portrayal. That was a real dragon.” Rainbow Dash added.

After that little realization, Spike couldn’t help but feel a bit stupid. That memory Cryo projected lasted about half an hour. And he thought he was watching a movie. He slapped his face with his hand and ran it down.

“Right. Sorry. I guess dragons in Alamante hate ponies.” He mumbled.

“With a passion that burns hotter than me.” Pyro confirmed.

That only made Spike feel bad. Defending dragons, how own kind, gets harder and harder to do every day. Why do they have to be so vicious and hateful towards ponies?

Pinkie Pie saw the look on Spike’s face and smiled.

“Oh don’t you worry about that old dragon, Spike. You’re the best dragon ever! Anypony would be lucky to be your friend! Even when you grow into a full sized dragon! You won’t be like that meanie pants who tried to roast that earth mover pony! He was just a cranky meanie!”

“And he got his butt whooped by a pony. That was totally awesome.” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but smile remembering that.

“Yeah. Rocksteady sure was something. I just never knew she started out like that.” Terra said with admiration.

“Oh drat.” Typhoon whined. “Ze apple zat brat threw at me ees now stuck een my mane. Eet takes forever to get my hair like zis.”

Rarity looked over at the pegasus of wind trying to get some fine chunks of apple out of her gorgeous mane using her hooves. Rarity considered Diamond Tiara’s and Silver Spoon’s behavior to be unacceptable like Cheerilee said. Especially when somepony messes up another pony’s fabulous hairdo.

Since this was in some way a fashion emergency, Rarity put her mind into overdrive to come up with a solution. Then after a few seconds, her eyes began to sparkle and she smiled strangely at Typhoon.

“Um…what’s with the impending rape face?” Agua asked.

Rarity paid her partner no mind.

“IDEA!” Rarity rushed over to Typhoon and grabbed her hoof. “Typhoon, allow me to treat you to the greatest spa treatment you will EVER experience.”

Typhoon was a bit surprised by the sudden offer, she didn’t know what to say.

“A….a spa treatment?”

“Oh now don’t tell me you have never heard of a beauty spa before.” Rarity found it hard to believe consider she knew Typhoon read magazines.

“I have heard of beauty spas, Rarity. I’ve just never gone een to one. We could not afford such luxuries living een a rock.”

That was a truth of which Rarity was reminded of. The six of them lived inside a rock for three years. They probably didn’t come across a lot of money. And it does cost a hefty amount for the kind of spa package Rarity purchases upon every visit.

“Well then Typhoon, prepare yourself. You are about to feel more pampered than you have in your entire life! Your mind is going to be at total peace!”

“Rarity, I’m a telepath. My mind ees NEVER at peace.” Typhoon stated flatly. “But you don’t have to do zat, Rarity. Eet will be fine.”

“Oh come now. I will not take no for an answer. Besides, Fluttershy and I always go to the spa together every week. I would be thrilled if you would join us this time.”

“Every week? What about last week? I’ve been here for ten days.”

“Oh I was just so busy with big orders and everything I didn’t have time.” Rarity explained. “Please, Typhoon. Allow me to treat you to an all expense paid spa treatment. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Breaking her promise secretly, Typhoon turned on her telepathy and read Rarity’s mind. From the brief five seconds she was in there, Typhoon saw Rarity wasn’t going to let up until she said yes. So the pink pegasus sighed.

“Alright zen. No wonder you are ze element of generosity.” She said with a smile

“She really is.” Fluttershy agreed. “And I promise you, Typhoon, Rarity is telling the truth. It’s so relaxing.”

Now her own partner was telling her to go. If Fluttershy, the girl who gets freaked by her own shadow, says the spa treatment is worth it, then it must be true.

“Lead ze way, Rarity.”

“Oh great!” Rarity squealed. “I’ll talk to you all later!”

Everypony bid Rarity, Fluttershy, and Typhoon goodbye as they began to ponder what to do next. But then they realized something. Fluttershy had her partner with her.

Yet Rarity didn’t.

“Well I guess that’s a couple hours or so Rarity free.” Agua stated out loud. “See you guys.”

“Hold it right there, Agua.”

Already Agua began growling upon being stopped. Pyro was up to something he knew it. He stopped walking. But he didn’t turn around.

“Fluttershy has Typhoon protecting her. Tell me why you shouldn’t be with Rarity right now?”

It was a good thing Agua wasn’t turned around. If he saw Pyro smirking as he spoke, the water pony might have killed him.

“Because I wouldn’t be caught dead in a beauty spa, Pyro. You as a stallion should know that.” Agua growled back.

“Agua, I can take a beauty spa. You’re talkin to a guy who’s hut was filled with flowers day in and day out. So I have a feminine side. Granted it’s small but it’s still there. But back on the subject. We’re supposed to be watching over our partners like hawks. And that means your flank is going into that spa with them even if I have to knock you out to do it.”

“Not gonna happen.” Agua quickly said.

“You’re going.”

“No way.”

“You will.”

“I won’t.”

“Trust me. You will.”

“Forget it.”

“Fine then.” Pyro played his hoof. “Then I suppose you won’t mind me showing these ponies a certain memory that involves you in Cryo’s room. Remember? The nights you said, “never happened”?”

Glass shattered inside Agua’s head. He couldn’t believe Pyro of all ponies was blackmailing him. He kept his back turned refusing to let any of them see the enormous shade of red on his muzzle.

“I hate you. So freakin much.” Agua mumbled.

“Love you too, bro.” Pyro said back

And so Agua slowly walked off in Rarity’s direction to go suffer in a spa with her and two other girls. What fun for him.

That left the other four pairs and the baby dragon alone to figure out what to do next.

“So what now?” Twilight asked her partner.

“Well…I do believe I promised to teach you long range teleporting today. I intend to keep my word.”

“That would be lovely.” Twilight agreed.

With that, Twilight and Pyro closed their eyes and teleported away to the library. Gem and Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Terra, Pinkie Pie and Cryo. All three pairs went their separate ways to figure out what to do with the rest of their day.

It was the next one however that would change the rules of the game.