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// Chapter 7: Mastermind's Maze 
// Story: Friendship 101 
// by BrawnyBold 
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	In one of Twilight's lectures, she was discussing how she was able to defeat Discord with the help of her friends. "Can anypony ask me how I was able to free my friends from Discord's corruption?" Twilight asked.
"With the magic of friendship?" Fireworks guessed. 
"A little more specific," Twilight corrected. 
"Some giant rainbow that turn creatures into stature?" Lone guessed.
"There was something more specific that I did," Twilight corrected again.
Guide raised her hoof to get Twilight's attention. "Yes Guide?" 
"You used a special memory spell to each of your friends to remind them of what element they represented." Guide answered.
"That is correct! Good for you Guide!" Twilight praised.
Guide felt some pride building inside when she was praised by the pony she looked up to for many years. 
After class, Twilight's students made their way down the streets towards the local cafe. Guide was really happy from the perfect A+ she received from her recent test she took from Twilight. Her friends were following behind her as they were holding the scores from their test. 
"What grade did you guys get?" Fireworks asked, "I only got an A- on my test," 
"Same here," Comfort replied, "I'm alright with my grade."
"I only got a B+," Lone also replied, "we could ask Guide what she got, but-" the three friends looked at Guide, who was skipping as she walked. "I think it's obvious of what score she got." Lone groaned.
When all three of the ponies made it to the tables, Guide was talking about how great she did on her test. "As always, I got a perfect score!" 
"We know Guide," Lone interrupted, "you showed it while we walked all the way to the cafe."
"This test proves that my intelligence is quite large." Guide said.
'So is your ego,' Lone thought.
"Does anypony else notice that these tables look like mushrooms?" Fireworks got distracted from listening to Guide.
"Look Guide," Comfort politely said, "we know that you're really smart, but can you-"
"This also proves that I am Twilight's top student." Guide said.
"You don't deserve that title," a voice called out.
Those words caused Guide to get angry, "Who said that?!" she demanded.
"Me!" a unicorn mare walked towards the four students. She had a very dark purple coat and jet black manes. Her cutie mark was a pair of round glasses that had swirls. Her eyes were autumn orange and she had this grim facial expression that shows she is not a pony to mess with. 
"Who do you think you are saying stuff that is not true?" Guide asked.
"My name is Mastermind, I'm a unicorn who should've been Princess Twilight's student." the mare introduced herself.
"Why didn't you?" Fireworks asked.
"I was in line on that day Princess Twilight was looking for some students. I showed my magic to her and she thought I had the potential, until you four came and took my opportunity from me!" Mastermind glared at the four students. 
"Well, I'm sorry that Princess Twilight choose some better ponies than you." Guide sassed.
Mastermind looked like she was about to explode. "I demand a duel to see if the four of you ponies are even worthy of being Princess Twilight's students." 
Lone and Fireworks got up from their spots to get ready for a fight while Comfort was slowly going under the table. Guide held her hoof out to stop her friends, "Don't worry guys," Guide said, "I got this one." she developed a confident smile.
The three friends looked at each other with questioning expressions. 
"Why can't we do anything?" Lone demanded. 
"This mare has magic, so she has an advantage." Guide explained. "Dueling just me will keep things fair."
Lone slumped back into his chair, meaning that Guide was probably right. Fireworks and Comfort nodded in agreement to let Guide do this duel. 
They decided to duel near the large lake so no pony will get hurt. Guide and Mastermind were in a stand-off position while the other three students sat in the sidelines to cheer for their friend. Actually, the colts sat in the sidelines and Fireworks was busy giving cheers to Guide.
"Are you ready to taste defeat?" Mastermind asked Guide.
"The only thing I will taste is victory!" Guide pledged.
Both of the unicorns light up their horns to start the duel. Mastermind shot an orange beam to the ground that caused a large earthquake to shake Guide. Guide stood back up and started using her magic. Guide's horn glowed and pies from all of Ponyville came flying in the air towards Mastermind. Luckily, Mastermind used a magic bubble to protect herself. But she didn't noticed the pie that teleported right in front of her and it splattered on her face. The three friends laughed from Guide's sneaky trick, but Mastermind grew more furious and decided to use her secret weapon. She light up her horn and the ground started to shake. A small orb appeared out of Mastermind's horn and it grew larger in each passing second. The orb transformed into a large dragon that was made out of Mastermind's orange magic. It breathed fire at Guide, covering her with nothing but burning, hot flames. 
"Guide!" Comfort, Lone, and Fireworks were shocked from what could possibly be the last time they saw their friend. Inside of the flames was a yellow force field that surrounded Guide in order to protect herself. When the dragon ran out of fire to breath, Guide took the opportunity to defeat the dragon. She started by lighting up her horn to summon an anvil that landed right on top of the dragon's head. The dragon roared with pain and collapsed to the ground. Guide finished the job by using a yellow beam to erase the dragon, leaving a shocked and humiliated Mastermind all by herself. 
"This isn't over!" Mastermind yelled as she ran away like a coward.
At the same time, Princess Twilight arrived to the scene. "Is everypony alright?! I noticed the pies flew to this area, along with the large, orange dragon that started attacking!"
"It's alright, Princess," Guide said as she approached her teacher. "Some pony wanted to challenge us to see if we were worthy of being your students, but I was able to beat her all by myself."
Twilight turned to her other students, "Why didn't you three do anything?"
Before any of them could answer, Guide interrupted "It's because I thought it would be fair to face a unicorn with another unicorn. Also, I was your top student for this challenge." Lone and Fireworks rolled their eyes from Guide's boast. 
Twilight noticed this, but calmly said, "Well, just be more careful next time, okay?" Her students agreed with some nods and went home for the day. 
After class in the next day, Guide was studying at the castle library. Twilight slowly entered the room to approach her student. 
"Hey Guide," Twilight greeted.
"Oh! Hi Princess!" Guide said with joy as she saw her teacher.
"Shouldn't you go home? Class is done for the day."
"Yeah, but I'm doing some extra studying to keep my brain in shape." Guide replied. 
Twilight took a deep breath before she was about to speak. "Guide, I want to talk to you about what happened yesterday." That made Guide lower her smile, not aware of what Princess Twilight is going to say next. "You shouldn't have faced Mastermind all on your own." Twilight said. 
"But, I had to because I was better with my intelligence and magic!" Guide said.
"True, but sometimes there can be situations where you won't be there for your friends. Sometimes, you got to let them figure problems out on their own." Twilight gently placed a hoof on Guide's shoulder, "Next time, just give your fiends a chance to do their best."
Guide sighed in defeat "Sure," After Twilight left the library, Guide decided to pack up and head home. While on the way, she kept thinking about what Princess Twilight had advised her. 
'Why is Princess Twilight so worried about me?" Guide said in her mind. 'I don't think that my friends are useless, but I've been working really hard ever since I was given this opportunity to become Princess Twilight's student.' 
Guide noticed Mastermind walking towards her. 'Oh great, I have to deal with her again.' 
"Why hello, Ms. Guide Light," Mastermind had an evil grin on her face.
"What do you want, Mastermind? Another humiliating defeat by me?" Guide asked.
"Oh, I'm not going to challenge you this time." Mastermind's words made Guide raise an eyebrow in suspicion. "I'm going to test your other classmates to see how worthy they are as Princess Twilight's students." Mastermind pulled out a golden scepter that had a glowing, blue orb. "You're just the reward if they win."
Twilight's other students were hanging out at their same table at the local cafe, but their relaxation was interrupted when Mastermind approached them. "Why hello everypony," Mastermind greeted. The three of the students were not pleased when they saw the unicorn mare.
"What do you want?" Lone said with disgust. 
"I just want to perform an experiment and you three are my test subjects!" Mastermind delightfully said.
"Forget it,"Lone barked.
"But if you win, you'll get a prize." Mastermind pleaded once more. 
"No....way!" Lone declared.
"Get me out of here!" Guide's voice called out. This made all three of the friends completely shocked when Mastermind pulled out the scepter with the blue orb. Inside was Guide who was now the same size as a mouse and her hooves were pressed on the glass.
"What did you do to Guide?!" Fireworks demanded.
"Oh, I simply decreased her size and trapped her in my scepter." Mastermind said as she swirled it around, making Guide dizzy.
"Can you change her back, please?" Comfort said politely. 
"Only when you get through my maze." Mastermind hit her scepter to the ground and a blue flash took all three of the ponies into a large, blue-colored arena. A hologram of Mastermind's head appeared above the other ponies. "Welcome to my mind maze!" the head hologram yelled out. The ground started to rumble and white walls started rising, separating Comfort, Lone, and Fireworks from each other. "This special maze has all sorts of puzzles, tricks, and dead ends that can stop you!" an hour glass appeared with the sand starting to fall down. "You have until the sand runs out to get to the center, or you will never see Guide again. Also, you can't fly above the maze thanks to a force field I placed on the top. Good luck!" she disappeared and the sand continued to fall. 
Comfort started to quiver from the fear he is experiencing. "T-This is impossible!" Comfort said. 
"Hey, we just have to get pass the obstacles to get to the center." Lone said.
"I agree!" Fireworks encouraged. "Whoever reaches the center first, save Guide immediately!" she then ran into her path of the maze. Lone and Comfort followed to their paths as well. At the center, Mastermind was sitting on her throne as she watched the little ponies go in her maze like some lab rats. Guide was sitting inside her orb prison, feeling completely helpless. 
'What am I going to do?!' Guide thought, 'My friends can't survive this maze without me!' But Guide remembered what Princess Twilight had told her earlier.  Guide managed to calm down a little and tried to think of a solution as she looked around her orb prison. 
Lone continued to move left and right in the maze until the walls blocked him in all directions. 
"Welcome to your first puzzle, Lone!" Mastermind said. A color wheel appeared in front of Lone and three darts teleported into his hooves. "The only way to get through is by hitting all three darts on the red color, but how can you aim at a fast pace?" The wheel started spinning faster by each second. Without even thinking, Lone just threw his darts one at a time and all three were on the red color.
"What?!" Mastermind was shocked from Lone's accurate aim. "How did you hit all three darts on red?!" 
"Just got lucky?" Lone guessed. The walls opened up and Lone made his way to the maze.
Fireworks ran as fast as she could into the maze. It was her turn to get blocked by walls and Mastermind's voice said "Here is your puzzle, Ms. Fireworks!" A wooden table appeared in front of Fireworks and it had three twigs on top of it. "The only way to get through is by making these three twigs into four without breaking them!" Fireworks rubbed her chin as she brainstormed for a solution. It took her a few seconds to figure it out and placed the twigs into the shape of the number 4. The table disappeared and the walls lowered, making Fireworks run forward. 
Mastermind grumbled from Fireworks' achievement. 'These ponies are smarter than I thought,' Guide was still figuring out an escape plan. 
Comfort was next to get blocked in all paths and Mastermind made sure this puzzle was more difficult. "Hello Comfort Cub," Mastermind's voice greeted. "Hope you're ready for a tough puzzle." A large picture of a flowered vase appeared on the wall. "The only way to solve this puzzle is by recognizing what does not belong in this painting." Comfort walked closer to the portrait to figure out the answer. Mastermind thought she was going to win this time until Comfort figured it out.
"I got it! This vase is painted green, but there is a small patch of blue paint strokes hidden on the lower left because it was painted over  by the green paint!" The walls were gone and Comfort continued his path to the maze. 
Mastermind grew more furious as the ponies solve more puzzles to move forward. Finally, the three students arrived at the center of the maze at the same time without a moment to lose as the hour glass still have some sand on the top. Mastermind still had some tricks up her sleeves. "Well done, my little ponies," Mastermind said as she slowly clapped her hooves. "You've almost completed the maze, but there is one last challenge, defeating me!"
"Bring it!" Lone yelled as he pounded his hooves together. Mastermind light up her horn and this time, three blue gladiator ponies appeared in front of each of the students. "Good luck," Mastermind cheerfully said. 
Lone was in a head-butting contest with his gladiator pony, Fireworks was dodging all of the attacks of her gladiator pony, and Comfort was getting chased by his gladiator pony. Mastermind smiled as she saw the hour glass was running out of sand. Comfort continued his run until he ran towards Fireworks. She noticed this and came up with an idea. Fireworks dodged another attack, this allowed her to get Comfort out of the way. This caused the two gladiator ponies to crash to one another, making them shatter into pieces. Comfort and Fireworks high-hoofed each other from their accidental victory. Lone was still in a head-butting standoff with his gladiator pony until Fireworks came doing flips to make a big leap and a large hoof kick to the gladiator pony's face. It tumbled backwards and trip from a sitting Comfort, causing the gladiator pony to shatter to the ground. 
Mastermind finally had it and stood up from her throne. "That's it!" She aimed her scepter at the three ponies. "I will be Princess Twilight's student once I'm done with you!" Suddenly, little yellow sparks appeared all over the scepter, causing Mastermind to drop it. The orb shattered and Guide returned to her normal size. 
"Guide! You're back!" Fireworks cheered.
"I was able to reverse her spell so I can get out of that thing." Guide explained. "Thanks for distracting her while I was busy." 
"No prob," Lone said.
Guide glared at Mastermind for probably putting Guide inside of a scepter and trying to hurt Guide's friends. "Now to get us out of this dumb maze." She light up her horn and started chanting a spell. 
Mastermind growled with anger and tried to use her magic until Lone landed right on top of her with Fireworks and Comfort following in pursuit, making a large dog pile. A large flash appeared from Guide's horn and all of them returned to Ponyville. Once again, Twilight came flying towards her students to see what was going on. "What in Celestia was that?!" she asked. "First, I noticed a blue flash from my castle window and then another flash from where you four are." 
Within seconds, Mastermind used her horn to teleport herself out of the dog pile to who knows where.
"She got away!" Lone growled. 
"It's alright," Guide said. "sooner or later she will regret her mistakes." 
"Can anypony tell me what the hay is going on?" Twilight demanded. 
Guide started telling Twilight about the maze where Lone, Comfort, and Fireworks were able to save Guide from being trapped inside of Mastermind's scepter. 
"I'm amazed that you three were able to make it through without Guide." Twilight said.
"I believe Mastermind made a mistake of believing that Lone, Comfort, and Fireworks weren't able to solve all of her puzzles." Guide smiled at her friends/classmates. "They didn't need my help because they have enough skills that can make up for my intelligence." 
Twilight smiled at Guide for learning a new lesson with the help of her friends.