A young unicorn girl called Twilight hopes to prevent the return of Nightmare Moon and is sent to Ponyville to check on preparations for the Summer Sun Festival, little does she know, some other ponies will be involved, including 6 special boys.
An ancient legend in Equestria tells of the return of Nightmare Moon and that she shall bring eternal night to the world. However, a young unicorn named Twilight hopes to prevent her return, but is sent to Ponyville to check on preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and is also told by her mentor to make friends, much to her dismay. However, she may end up getting more than she expected upon arrival. But, in another world, 6 regular boys will be dragged along for the ride as their paths cross together.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria....
There were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies, but as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth but shunned and slept through her beautiful night.
One faithful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn, the elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to Ponyville, the Elements of Harmony. Using the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both....
"...sun AND moon, and harmony had been maintained in Equestria for generations since." A young purple Unicorn had been the reading a book refering to the legend of Nightmare Moon. "Hmm.....Elements of Harmony, I know I've heard of those before....but where?"
A young unicorn girl named Twilight Sparkle had just finished reading a book that told of two regal sisters that once ruled the land together, the book also told of certain objects known as the Elements of Harmony. This caught her attention as she was positive she had heard of them once before, with her curiosity peaked, she ran back to her home. Along the way there, three ponies (one Twilight recognized as Twinkleshine) spotted Twilight, they had apparently been looking around for Twilight.
"There you are, Twilight! Moondancer is having a get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?" When Twinkleshine asked this, Twilight immediately got nervous, she wasn't a big fan of having what she thought was distractions happening and she often struggled with having conversations when she had her mind on something else. Twilight said nervously that she had studying to catch up with and continued running home, much to the other girl's disappointment and annoyance.
"Does that pony do ANYTHING except study...?" Twinkleshine said with a sigh of shame.
"I think she's more interested in BOOKS than friends."
Twilight kept running home to learn more of the Elements of Harmony, her home was in the city of Canterlot, Canterlot is the main city of Equestria and is where Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria and Twilight's personal tutor/mentor, rules from. Twilight has always felt honored by being Celestia's student and has always focused on continuing her studies to impress her mentor, but because of this, Twilight never found enough free time to make friends, not that she thinks she needs any. She always thought of friends being a distraction from her studies, thus has fears of falling behind in her studies if she did make friends.
Twilight finally managed to get home, where her young dragon assistant Spike was about to exit a room holding a present, he was about to open the door until Twilight ran through it, the door hitting Spike in the process, Twilight however did not realize this as she was shouting Spike's name, wondering where he was until she saw him on the ground dazed.
"There you are Spike. Quick! Find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies." As Twilight started searching for said book, she noticed a ruined present stuck on Spike's tail. When she asked what it was for, Spike explained that it WAS a gift for the get-together that Moondancer was having. This just made Twilight irritated at Spike.
"Oh Spike, you know we don't have time for that sort of thing..."
"But we're on a break!"
Twilight ignored Spike as she was frantically searching for the book she wanted, using her unicorn magic to levitate multiple books, lucky for her, Spike quickly found the correct book near the top of one of the bookshelves, when Twilight sees this, she grabs the book with her magic and brings to down to her, dragging Spike down with it. Twilight found the page she needed and the page told her to refer to the book titled Mare in the Moon, which confused both Twilight and Spike, since as Spike reminds, it's just an old ponie's tale. Nevertheless, Twilight found the book and started to read.
"The Mare in the Moon, a myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal! Spike, do you know what this means?!"
"No....?"
Twilight, deciding not to use up time explaining to Spike, tells him to prepare a letter for the princess. Spike gets a quill and paper and prepares to write what Twilight says to him. Twilight paces around the room while saying what she wants Spike to write.
"My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover... that we are on the precipice of disaster!"
"Hold on...."
When Twilight heard Spike say this, she looked at Spike with confusion. She saw that Spike was struggling to spell some of the complicated words that she was saying. Twilight then tried suggesting other words for Spike to write.
"Threshold."
"Threh...." Spike still looked lost with what Twilight was saying.
"Uh....brink?" Twilight attempted once more to suggest a word, but Spike still looked blank. Finally giving up and feeling annoyed, Twilight decided to change the sentence to something more simple for Spike to write.
"Ugh...that something really BAD is about to happen!" Spike then finally started continuing to write. Twilight then continued telling Spike what to write.
"For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." After Spike finished writing, Twilight asked Spike to immediately send it to her mentor.
"Now?" When Spike asked this, Twilight was confused about Spike's hesitation to send the message. After asking Spike to send it now, he seemed unsure whether it's a good idea. He reminded Twilight that Princess Celestia was busy getting ready for a special celebration known as the Summer Sun Celebration, and also reminds Twilight that it takes place the day after tomorrow.
"That's just it, Spike. The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration! It's imperative that the Princess is told right away!"
"Impera...?"
"IMPORTANT!"
After a while, Spike finally sent the letter, telling Twilight that she shouldn't hold her breath. Twilight says that she is confident that the Princess will not doubt as her mentor has never doubted her before. As soon as she finishes saying that, Spike belches out green fire, showing the reply from the Princess. Twilight smiles, as she knew that the Princess would quickly reply. Spike clears his throat and he begins to read out the letter out loud.
"My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely.... Twilight was already feeling proud of herself hearing the compliments from her mentor, however Spike wasn't finished with reading. "...but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!" All the confidence that Twilight felt suddenly dropped to surprise when she heard that. She could not believe what she just heard.
"What...?" Twilight spoke with disbelief, but continued to listen to Spike's reading.
"My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!" Spike read out.
Twilight could not believe her ears, not only was her mentor NOT going to take action, but she was sending Twilight to another town with one of her objectives being to make friends, which she did not want to do. Spike also says that the Princess has arranged transport to Ponyville.
Soon after that is said, Twilight and Spike heard some noises from the balcony. Looking outside, Twilight saw two Pegasi wearing golden armour and a carriage ready to take Twilight and Spike to Ponyville. "Miss Sparkle? Your carriage is here." One of the guards said.
Twilight was worried, she thought this was happening too fast and too short notice. Spike on the other hand was excited to be somewhere he hasn't been before and was pushing Twilight towards the carriage.
"Come on Twilight! Let's get going! Isn't this exciting?" Twilight, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get out of this just sighed and got on the carriage with Spike, the Pegasi prepared their wings and took flight towards Ponyville.
Meanwhile, in another dimension...
A young 17 year old boy wearing red named Nathan was practicing self defense with his older brother Michael on his back garden, he asked Michael to teach him since he was tired of being picked on in school. It was getting late that night, so Michael decided that they should finish up for the night.
"Come on Nathan, it's almost midnight. Let's stop now before mum and dad get annoyed at us. Put your stick down." Michael said as he put down his two sticks that he uses for training. Nathan wasn't good at training without a weapon so he settles for using a stick as a single sword, like his favorite video game characters.
"You don't have to show off by using two you know, Michael..." Nathan said with a little annoyance.
"Hey, it's a bit more difficult to do, but you can do some surprising stuff in a fight. Your style is more predictable. Speaking of which, careful with how hard you swing, will ya?" Nathan rubs the back of his head in embarrassment, since he DID have a habit of getting a little TOO overboard while practicing.
"Uncle Nathan, Uncle Michael? Are you finished yet...?" Nathan looked up to his bedroom window where he saw his 8 year old nephew Thomas looking very tired. Thomas was staying over at their house for the weekend while his parents were away for the weekend.
"Yeah, we're finished for tonight. Nathan'll be up soon." Michael and Nathan finally went back inside their house to prepare for bed.
Nathan entered his room where his nephew was getting ready for bed. Nathan noticed his mobile phone was flashing, showing he had a missed call from a few minutes ago, from his best friend Lee. He decided to call Lee back, seeing what he wanted.
"Hello?"
"Hey Lee, what did you try to call me about?" Thomas was looking annoyed at his uncle, since he was trying to go to sleep. Nathan gave him a signal, showing that he won't be much longer with the call.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing, how was your training with Mike? You and me should have a sparring match sometime, eh?"
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot you were a fan of samurais and their fighting style. Maybe we SHOULD have a round together."
"Heh heh, Nathan. You know you're too young to drink."
".... seriously?" Nathan had the most blank look ever, since Lee always had a habit of making jokes, some good, some just awful.
" Oh yeah, Travis and Adam was at my house earlier, they went home now. But we had fun playing some video games. Your nephew's at yours isn't he?"
"Yesssss...?"
"Tell him I said hello will you?"
"Sure. Thomas, Lee says hello." Turning his head to look, Nathan saw that Thomas was already asleep by now. "Never mind...he's asleep. So Lee, anything else to say?" Nathan turned his attention back to the call, until he heard snoring from the other end of the call.
"Uh...Lee? Lee? Lee! Son of a...!" Nathan ended the call since Lee has fallen asleep during the call. With nothing else to do, Nathan prepared his sleeping area on his bedroom floor since Thomas was sleeping in his bed. He lay down and soon fell asleep.
Inside a dream...
"What the...?" Nathan opened his eyes to see weird surroundings around him, it was nothing he ever saw before. Looking around some more, Nathan saw that he was standing on nothing, yet he was not falling at all. He decided to investigate the area since he couldn't think of anything else to do. He didn't have to walk very far before he found something else to weird him out. It was his brother Michael, who looked just as confused, if not MORE confused than Nathan.
"Nathan?! What the hell are you doing in my dream?!" This confused Nathan even more, was this Michael the real one and not a dream image of him?
"Wait... YOUR dream?! I thought this was mine?" Now Michael was the one to look more confused.
"Wait... is it REALLY you, Nathan? What the fuck...?!" While Nathan and Michael were trying to understand the situation, some more figures came over to them. Nathan recognized them as some of his friends, Lee, Travis and Adam. Also behind them, Michael noticed their nephew Thomas, looking frightened but trying to at least keep a brave face. Travis was the first to speak up in the group.
"What the hell?! Why are we all together like this? In a DREAM of all things?!" Travis and Thomas was starting to panic, but the rest were trying to keep a level head. Adam managed to calm Travis and Thomas down by saying that since it's a dream, then they shouldn't be able to get hurt. But then more strange things started to happen around the six. A bright light started to shine in the eyes of the boys. Nathan managed to look at the large object behind the glow.
"What the...? Is... that the moon?" After Nathan said this, the rest of the guys managed to look as well. It was indeed the moon that they see every night like normal, but it looked different than usual. The group was examining it, seeing what it was supposed to mean.
"Uh... what's that on the moon? A design of... something." Thomas really couldn't tell what the design was suppose to be in the slightest.
"Looks like some sort of animal." Adam was able to kinda tell with the shape of the design.
"Is that a horse? Can't be... it looks like it has a horn..." Nathan was getting closer with what it is. As soon as that was said though, Michael let out a loud groan of annoyance and pointed out what the design must be of.
"Oh my fucking hell... it's a bloody unicorn..." The group was again lost on what's going on, until the moon began to glow brighter and brighter, so much that the light was blinding to the boys, causing them to cover their eyes from the light.
"What the hell is this, the moon or the sun?!" The light was still getting brighter as the light started to engulf the boys. Their bodies started to feel strange as they started to feel light headed and tired, until they all collapsed into unconsciousness.
On a distant hill overlooking Ponyville...
"Ow my head, what hit me...? Huh? Michael? Lee? Guys! Where are ya?!" Nathan woke up and saw that he was on a grassy hill, getting his bearings he stood up and looked around where he woke up. Soon after he started to search, he saw something he never expected to see in his life. Five creatures that looked like smallish horses that are all coloured differently from each other.
"What the fu....WHAT THE FUCK?! The HELL are you things?!" Nathan and four of the pony-like creatures were being shouted at by the taller pony with a long black mane, however the one with a black fedora hat had a look of surprise on his face towards the one that was shouting.
"Mike...? Wait does that mean it's you guys!?" That got big looks of surprise from all of them. Nathan finally looked at his appearance and saw that HE had turned into a pony as well, much to his surprise, and all of his friend's surprise as well. But, not only were they changed into ponies, they each had real weapons with them. Nathan had a sword, Michael had two blades, Lee had a samurai's katana, Thomas had a bow and arrow quiver, Travis had a fencing sword and Adam had what looked one of those magic staffs that you would see in a video game.
"Huh, where did we get THESE from?" Michael asked, Lee on the other hand, or hoof in their case, was having fun swinging his katana around.
"Who cares?! This is freakin awesome! Look at the metalwork on this blade!" Lee swinging his sword around brought one big thing to Nathan's attention.
"Lee! How the hell are you holding that?!" Lee was confused at first, until he looked where his hand would be, if it wasn't a hoof instead, he was somehow holding his katana in his hoof with a good grip. Surprisingly, Lee wasn't surprised in the slightest.
"Guys, we've turned into talking candy-coloured ponies, and you're questioning how I'm holding this in my ha... hoof?" Deciding to give up on the subject, the group try to get their bearings on the situation. But before they do, they notice one more thing about their new forms. Michael and Thomas had wings, Nathan, Travis and Adam had a horn and Lee had neither of these. They decide to ignore these for now and figure it out later, right now they wanted to figure out where they were as soon as possible.
Looking over the hill they woke up on, the group saw a town in the distance. The first thing they decide to do was head to that town and see what they can find out about where they were. With a plan in mind, they began heading over there. Along the way though, Nathan just happened to look in the sky and notice something flying high overhead, squinting his eyes, he saw that it looked like a carriage seen in a fairy tale that was being pulled by two ponies that were flying.
Twilight was hiding it well, but she couldn't deny that she was angry about the whole situation. Anyone looking at her would see that she looked very annoyed, but to Twilight, it was more than that. She was still angry about not being able to do anything about the possible return of Nightmare Moon and it was constantly bothering her. Spike was doing everything he can to try and cheer her up.
"Look on the bright side, Twilight. The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?" Twilight's ears perked up and she looked more better than she did before.
"Yes, yes it does. You know why? Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return." Twilight's confidence that she had before she came on the carriage suddenly came back, however there was still one thing that bothered Spike. He asked Twilight when will she make friends, like the letter from the Princess asked her to. Feeling a little irritated, Twilight answered Spike's question.
"She SAID to check on preparations. I am her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." Spike decided to leave the conversation as he decided to check the view from the carriage since they were getting close to Ponyville, looking around, he barely saw six tiny figures a small distance away from the town, Spike started thinking to himself.
"Wonder who THEY are...? Must be somepony who lives in town." Spike decides not to bring it up to Twilight, since he knows that Twilight wouldn't care and there was no point in telling anyway. The carriage finally landed in the town of Ponyville, Twilight thanked the guards and stepped off the carriage. Walking through the town, Twilight wanted to get this done as soon as possible. Spike was encouraging Twilight to at least try to talk to another pony and try to make friends, just then, Twilight and Spike saw a pink pony skipping towards them. Twilight decided to give talking to a pony a try like Spike says.
"Uh... hello?" The instant Twilight said that, the pink pony suddenly leaped in air with a loud gasp and zoomed away. Twilight was first confused and then once again irritated about how much she thought that was a waste of time. Twilight and Spike decide to just check the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration by following the checklist that Spike has. The first thing on the list was the banquet preparations at a place called Sweet Apple Acres.
At Sweet Apple Acres...
"YEE HAW!!!" As soon as Twilight and Spike arrived at their destination, they saw an orange pony wearing a hat kicking trees and making apples fall down. Twilight went up to her, hoping to quickly greet the pony and be away from there as soon as possible, as soon as Twilight said her name and before she could finish her sentence, the orange pony grabbed her hoof and shook it vigorously.
"Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends!" This quickly made Twilight feel uncomfortable and REALLY want to leave as soon as possible, Applejack released her hoof, but Twilight's hoof was still shaking on it's own for a little bit before it stopped, Spike meanwhile was resisting to laugh in the background. But Twilight tried to stay professional and stayed on task with what she was supposed to do here.
"Well, I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?" Twilight asked Applejack. Applejack said yes and asked if Twilight wanted to try some. Not wanting to be rude, Twilight accepted as long as it didn't take too long. Just then, Applejack hit a musical triangle and a load of ponies came from around the area, Applejack introduced them ALL to Twilight as members of her family, including her big brother Big Macintosh, her little sister Applebloom and Granny Smith.
"Why, I'd say you're already part of the family!" Twilight was sampling one of the apple-based foods that the family had made, but as soon as Applejack said that, she spat it out onto the ground in shock and surprise. Twilight knew this was going to get awkward and she wanted to leave before it ends up happening. With a nervous laugh, she politely says that she and Spike needs to leave, but because of disappointed sighs and peer pressure from the family, she decides to stay for a while and join them for brunch.
Returning to the center of town...
Spike was looking at the next part of his checklist with an ill looking Twilight with a bigger stomach following, she was complaining that she had too much pie, but Spike paid no attention to it. He said that weather is next on the list and that a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash was supposed to clearing the clouds, however, all the clouds were still in the sky. Twilight was once again annoyed.
"Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?" Immediately after Twilight said that, she was tackled over by a cyan-coloured Pegasus with a rainbow mane into a large puddle of mud, both of them now completely covered in it. Twilight was trying to keep her anger inside as the Pegasus offered to help her by bringing a small rain cloud and bouncing on top of it so that all rain rushes out onto Twilight, getting her soaked wet. Seeing this, the Pegasus started laughing.
"Oops, I guess I overdid it. Um, uh, how about this? My very own patented Rain-Blow Dry!" Twilight was wondering what she was going to do, as the Pegasus quickly flew around Twilight in circles, which was somehow draining away the muddy water away and drying off Twilight. "No no. Don't thank me. You're quite welcome."
When the Pegasus actually looked at what her actions have done, she saw Twilight with a face close to anger and that her mane and tail were completely puffed up and looked absolutely terrible, however to the Pegasus, it looked absolutely hilarious and she fell over laughing, even Spike fell over laughing when he saw.
"Let me guess. YOU'RE Rainbow Dash." Twilight asked, wanting to get back to what she was supposed to do, checking the preparations.
"The one and only. Why, you heard of me?" Rainbow Dash sprung up from her fit of laughter, knocking over Spike. Her face brimming with confidence but just looked like boastfulness to Twilight. Twilight introduced herself to Rainbow Dash and told her that the Princess sent her to check on the weather for the Summer Sun Celebration. Rainbow Dash just floated up to a cloud close by and layed down on it.
"Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing." That caught Twilight's attention, so she decided to ask about it.
"Practicing for what?"
"The Wonderbolts! They're gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!" Twilight could tell that Rainbow Dash was obviously a fan of the Wonderbolts, the Wonderbolts are a group of Pegasi that are known as the most talented flyers in the world, but because Twilight thought that Rainbow Dash looked like the type of pony that can never stay on task, she decided to taunt the Pegasus.
"Please. They'd never accept a Pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." The definitely caught Rainbow Dash's attention as she looked at Twilight with an offended expression.
"Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat!"
"... Prove it."
Accepting the challenge, Rainbow Dash flew around the sky at a blinding speed and got rid of every single cloud hovering above Ponyville, leaving Twilight with a face that showed absolute shock and surprise.
"Loop the loop around, and wham! What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging. You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more." Rainbow left after saying that, leaving Twilight and Spike to stand there for a while, Spike was saying how amazing Rainbow Dash's flying was while Twilight was moaning in irritation about her appearance that Dash left her with. Spike was trying to cheer up Twilight while they walked towards their next destination on the checklist.
Checking the decorations...
Twilight and Spike went to where the celebration was taking place, in Ponyville's town hall. Inside, they saw that the decorations looked absolutely beautiful, Twilight finally looked happy since she thought this wouldn't take long, however Spike wasn't looking at the decorations when he said the word beautiful. Twilight looked in the direction that Spike was and she saw a white unicorn with a violet mane. Twilight looked at Spike again and saw that Spike was fully infatuated with the white unicorn. Spike was frantically making sure that his appearance was top-notch to impress the unicorn.
Twilight walked up to the unicorn from behind and was about to greet her, but the unicorn interrupted her while she was saying her name.
"Just a moment, please! I'm in the zone, as it were. Oh, yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, um, how can I help y... Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?!" The unicorn looked shocked about something, but Twilight DID managed to catch her name before she got confused on what she was shocked about, until she remembered what Dash did to her mane and tail.
"Oh, you mean my mane? Well, it's a long story. I'm just here to check on the decorations, and then I'll be out of your hair!"
Rarity then grabbed Twilight, making her panic as she was brought to a completely different building which was a boutique that Rarity owned. Rarity brought her inside, pulled her into a changing area and not only cleaned Twilight up, but got her to constantly try different outfits. During this, Rarity was putting a girdle on Twilight, but pulling so tight that Twilight was struggling to speak properly.
"No, no, uh-uh. Too green. Too yellow. Too poofy. Not poofy enough. Too frilly. Too... shiny. Now go on, my dear. You were telling me where you're from." Rarity asked while she was sorting out outfits. Twilight managed to say that she was sent from Canterlot, but before she could say what for, Rarity gasped in surprise.
"Canterlot?! Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna be the best of friends, you and I... EMERALDS?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!" Rarity left to get more gems, which gave Twilight enough time to grab Spike and run away from the boutique.
Spike was still entranced about Rarity as Twilight tried to get him back to reality and asked what was next on the list, Spike looked at the list and said that they were on the final item. Music.
Where the music practice was taking place...
Twilight and Spike were walking along the path in the park, where they started to hear birds chirping in rhythm, Twilight and Spike investigate to find a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane conducted a bird choir. She told them to stop to help out one of the birds who was a little off with the singing.
"Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone, umm. Excuse me, sir? I mean, no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off. Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three..." The Pegasus was about begin the conducting again, until Twilight greeted her from behind, surprising the Pegasus and scaring the birds away.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music and it's sounding beautiful." The Pegasus wasn't answering and was looking away very shyly, making the situation pretty awkward to Twilight. Twilight introduces herself and asks for the Pegasus' name.
"Um...I'm Fluttershy..." Twilight couldn't hear the introduction since Fluttershy spoke very quiet, Fluttershy said it again but even quieter this time, since she was very shy around ponies. The birds that were scared off earlier now came back to be able to continue their choir. Twilight, not wanting to continue this awkwardness any longer, was about to leave with Spike, happy that this was at least easy. But then, Twilight heard a gasp from Fluttershy.
"A baby dragon!" Fluttershy was staring at Spike since she has never seen a baby dragon before and says that he looks cute. Spike was getting nervous that she was giving him so much attention and was stuttering with his sentences, but Spike trying to talk made Fluttershy even more interested.
"Oh my, he talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I, I just don't even know what to say!" Fluttershy said with a big look of excitement. Twilight was about to leave with Spike saying that they should get going, but Fluttershy wanted to know more about Spike so she followed them, wanting to know EVERYTHING about Spike. She introduced herself properly as Spike told her everything that she wanted to know.
Some time later, at the library that Twilight is staying in...
"...and that's the story of my whole entire life! Well, up until today. Do you wanna hear about today?" Fluttershy said yes, but Twilight interrupted her and Spike, since they were now at the library.
"I am so sorry, how did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep." Spike was about to object, but Twilight brought Spike inside her library and rudely shut the door in Fluttershy's face. Spike commented on rude Twilight looked.
"Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time. Now, where's the light?" Immediately, the lights turned on to show that practically every pony in town was in in the library and that it looked like some kind of party was happening, the pink pony came up to Twilight and yelled the word surprise in her face.
"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?!"
"Very surprised. Libraries are supposed to be QUIET...how did you get in here anyway?!" Twilight was not very amused by this, since this was yet ANOTHER distraction from her learning more about Nightmare Moon's return. But she was also wondering if these ponies broke in.
"Well, that's silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh, bo-ring! The door was already unlocked anyway but y'see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all "hello" and I was all (Gasps), remember? Y'see I've never saw you before and if I've never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean EVERYpony in Ponyville!" Twilight was trying to ignore Pinkie's rambling as Twilight was pouring herself a drink from a bottle that was on the table to keep a level head. Pinkie however, kept rambling and standing next to her were the other girls that Twilight met earlier.
"And if you're new, that meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, then I had an idea, and that's why I went (gasps)! I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville! See? And now you have lots and lots of friends! And soon, I'll make a party for ALL six of those new ponies I met earlier, are they friends of yours? (Gasps) Does that mean I get to make one large party for ALL of them or a party for each one? Ooh, I'm so EXCITED!"
"Six new ponies? I have no idea who she's talking about..." Twilight thought to herself as she sipped her drink, then she felt a burning sensation in her mouth, a VERY hot sensation. Applejack looked at Twilight's face and asked if she was okay, Twilight steamed up because of the burning in her mouth and sprinted upstairs to her bedroom. Spike checked the bottle to see that it was hot sauce, which Pinkie had a mouthful of with no problem.
Later that night/Early morning...
Twilight was trying to sleep as the party that Pinkie started downstairs kept going very loudly, constantly keeping her awake. Soon afterwards, Spike came in the room wearing a lampshade on his head and was trying to bring Twilight in the fun. Apparently Pinkie was starting a game of Pin the tail on the Pony, Spike asked if Twilight wanted to join. Twilight however, was NOT in the mood for games.
"NO! All the ponies in this town are CRAZY! Do you know what time it is?!"
"It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raise the sun! You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!" Spike left the room as Twilight was acting immature and mockingly imitating Spike, she rolled onto her back in the bed and began talking to herself.
"Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it!" She rolled onto her side, where she could see the moon through her window. Twilight then stood up and looked through her window, remembering the myth about Nightmare Moon's return.
"Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night. I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old pony tale..." But just before she turned around to go back to bed, a bright flash happened in the distance, quite a ways from the town. Twilight being a student of pony magic was able to tell that the light came from unicorn magic, but the intensity of the light showed that it came from a powerful spell.
"Who in Equestria did that...? That was a powerful spell, I hope this isn't a bad sign...maybe I should go and check i..." Before she could finish her sentence, Spike came in again saying that it's time to see the sunrise, Twilight decides to forget about the light for now as she went with Spike to the town hall.
Now with Nathan's side of these events...
Nathan and his group had made to the entrance of the town they were heading to, they were heading there to get answers of where they were and how are things done around the place, so they could at least try to blend in with everything else and not seem suspicious. They managed to find a sign that showed the name of the town. The town's name was Ponyville.
"Wow, original name! How much MORE obvious can you freakin get?!" Michael was groaning about how silly this whole situation was getting, the rest just rolled their eyes and went in the town to look around, they all saw that the town looked kinda pretty except Michael, who didn't really care that much about appearances as long as it wasn't TOO cute. They saw quite a few ponies and saw that they were already getting attention drawn to them. But then...
"HI!" The boys jumped back in surprise as Michael almost drew a sword in reflex, Lee managed to get his bearings as he went to calmly speak to the pony that surprised the group. The boys could see that the pony that surprised them was coloured bright pink.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! You guys are new, aren't you?! I LOVE seeing new faces in Ponyville! Now I have MORE welcome parties to make for all of you! Ooh! Are you here for the Summer Sun Celebration?!" Since Pinkie was talking fast, some of the group was struggling to catch what she was saying to them, luckily Lee was able to catch what she said and decided to speak for the group. But before he started, Nathan decided to ask about what Pinkie mentioned.
"The...Summer Sun Celebration?"
"Of course silly! It's where the Princess of Equestria raises the sun for everypony to see and we celebrate the sun and the moon! It's a very special moment for all the ponies! Have you all been living under a rock or something?" Pinkie answered, she started to look at the boys in suspicion. Lee was taking in the information that Pinkie told them while Michael and Adam were whispering to each other in the background.
"Princess of Equestria? Raising the sun?" Adam whispered to Michael, making sure that he was hearing this right. Michael deducted that Equestria must be the country or place that they were in, Thomas was thinking to himself on how strange this all was.
"Wait, a Princess with the ability to RAISE THE SUN?!" Was the first thing that popped in in Thomas thoughts, he could not believe how much this sounded like a fairy tale that he would hear if he was about 2 years old.
"Well duh, little guy! The Princess has a lot of powerful magic!" Pinkie answered... Thomas' thoughts? Thomas was about to ask but Pinkie cut in before he could.
"It was written in this story! But I can't read it all otherwise it'll all be spoiled, although in my copy of the story your names are smudged out!" Pinkie smiled and the boys could swear they heard a weird squeak as she did, but Nathan was mostly lost about what Pinkie said and Michael thought she was just insane. Lee was seeing if he can get the group some more information.
"So do you have any friends around here, Pinkie?"
"Well, I know every and I mean EVERYpony in town. But I have some good friends, there's Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity..." Travis was trying not to laugh with these names, but Lee and Nathan was listening carefully since they both had the same thing in mind. Michael looked at Lee and Nathan, wondering what they were thinking about. Pinkie promises that she will make a party for them after the Summer Sun Celebration was over and then bounces away. The group got together and decided to make a plan.
"So Nathan, Lee. You guys looked like you had something on your mind." Michael wanted to hear what they were thinking. Nathan was the one to answer. Nathan explained that with the kind of names they heard that other ponies had, then them using their regular names would draw suspicion and attention towards them, so they'll have to use different names to blend in better. Lee also stated that they also need to figure out how Michael and Thomas use their wings and what Nathan, Travis and Adam's horns do, since he's confident that they'll need to know to blend in more.
Nathan then saw a grey pony with wings walking around and decided to ask her a question or two, Lee decided to go with Nathan to ask about some things.
"Excuse me miss."
"Huh? Can I help you?" Lee decided to make friendly conversation first.
"Hello, miss. We were wondering if you could help us with something? Do you know where we could go to... s-study?" Lee did not like the idea of studying, but knows that they will have to in order to know what they have to do to blend in. The Pegasus told them about Golden Oaks Library, Nathan smiled now that they had an idea of where to go.
"Well, thank you very much Miss...?"
"Derpy. My name is Derpy Hooves." Nathan and Lee then noticed that one of her eyes were... wonky, but not only that, they heard quiet chuckling behind them, Lee looked to see Michael slightly chuckling to himself. After Derpy said goodbye and left, Lee decided to confront Michael about it.
"Something funny, Mike?"
"Nope, just the name of that horse." Lee got irritated at Michael saying this. But he decided to ignore it for now, after a couple of minutes walking, they managed to find what they assumed to be the library. The library was a large tree, which made Travis chuckle with the pun with the library name. Nathan tried to open the door but it was locked.
"Step aside, is anyone watching?" Michael looked around as the rest said that they couldn't see anyone. Michael then asked for Travis' rapier, which confused Travis but he gave it to him anyway. Nathan asked Michael what the heck he was doing, but Michael shushed Nathan and asked him to keep lookout.
"Right...now since this rapier has a very thin blade...aaaaaand...there." The rest of the boys heard a click at the door as they figured that Michael just picked the lock. Thomas was worried since he knows that they are breaking and entering a library of all things. Lee patted Thomas on the back.
"Don't worry, Thomas...we'll return the books." Lee smirked and Thomas did not feel any better about the situation, the boys went in and looked around, Michael and Lee found a book titled Tips for Flying while the rest found different books about types of magic for unicorns. Nathan saw the title and was surprised.
"Magic?! Unicorn magic?! That means me, Adam and Travis can do magic!" The rest looked surprised but Lee just kept looking casual.
"Cool. Let's go." The group left library and shut the door, with no way to re-lock it. They decided to go back to the hill they woke up on to see what they could do with their new abilities.
On the outskirts of town...
Wanting to get straight to business, the boys opened the books and see what they could learn from them, but Nathan decided that they should sort out the name situation before they continue on. Some already had a nickname planned for them, while some didn't.
"My name is now Sorin Dragos." Nathan proudly said. Michael looked blank as he commented on the name.
"You're seriously gonna use that old nickname I gave you? Alright, I'm Shadike Dragos." Michael was happy that he could finally use that name in daily life since he thought it sounded cool..
"I am now Eclipse Blade. Now THAT sounds cool." Lee said with a confident smirk.
"Uh...Nova Heart. I was a fan of space at school so I was thinking of a supernova, since I always liked the sound of them and some people say I have a good heart so..." Adam rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Uh...since I'm apparently able to use magic, how about...Arcane? Soul! Arcane Soul?" Travis quickly made up. The group tilted their heads saying that their names weren't bad, then looked at Thomas, waiting for him to make his.
"Uh...let's see, flying...wind, wind... Gale! Force...? Rush? Yeah! I like that! Gale Rush!" They all nodded in agreement and then they decided to begin training, Michael and Thomas started training to fly, Lee trained with his katana, while the other three attempted magic. Adam was constantly looking at the book that he took, about medical uses of magic.
Meanwhile, Nathan and Travis were reading books on general magic and combat magic and worked together trying to understand it. Somehow, their abilities all felt natural to them and they were was able to quickly learn, they trained at a constant rate at a vigorous pace until they got too exhausted to continue, it was still pretty early, but they then decided to rest up. They noticed that even though they slept outdoors, they didn't feel cold, probably because of their new furry bodies.
Late at night...
The group was now refreshed and and was ready to do some more training. The boys have gotten used to their new abilities and Nathan, Travis and Adam was now able to use basic spells and Michael and Thomas was at least able to fly at a good pace because of their vigorous training that they did earlier. Travis then got what he thought a great idea.
"Hey, Nathan, Adam. What if we used our magic together?" Nathan was instantly going to object to the idea, Adam however thought it sounded like a good idea. After some tough persuasion, Nathan eventually gave up and decided to go through with it. The other three stepped back, knowing how dangerous this could be. The three unicorns began a countdown.
"Ready?! THREE!" Travis began.
"Two..." Nathan was still unsure about this.
"One...!" Adam finished.
"GO!" With that signal, all three blasted with all of their power towards the sky, sending a large magic ball into the air as it exploded into a flash of light, surprisingly not making THAT much noise. Nathan began to get worried.
"Oh boy...everyone in the town probably saw that!" Soon after that, there was so much chatting from the town that the six boys could hear it. They assumed that they just attracted a large crowd, but checking the view from the town, they saw that almost every pony in town was heading towards a large building which they assumed to be where the mayor is. Relieved that they didn't attract the crowd, they started wondering where they were going.
"Any idea where they're going?" Thomas began.
"Uh...wait, are they heading to that celebration that Pinkie mentioned?" Nathan thought.
"Well, let's join the party, eh guys?" Lee smirked and already started heading off towards where the crowd was heading. The rest decided to follow Lee, since they thought they had nothing better to do.
"Eh, why not?" Michael just shrugged his shoulders as he walked with the group. The boys decided to at least have fun while they were here. Nathan reminded the others that they should sneak the books they took back to the library while in town, they agreed on continued walking.
Nathan's group was heading towards town after their little light show to first return the books that they "borrowed" and to check out the Summer Sun Celebration. Michael, being more of a fan of the night than the daytime, decided to look up at the moon he liked to see. His face looked surprised as he got the rest of the guy's attention. The rest looked at him, then Michael pointed up to the moon. The group looked up to see the moon from their dream before they came to Equestria.
"What...? But...what does this mean?!" Thomas was scared about this, this seemed like way too much of a coincidence. That moon proves that they was brought here not by chance, but for some special reason.
"I don't know, but maybe we'll find answers in the festival." Michael suggested that they carry on with their original plan and they started to continue walking.
The town was practically empty as Nathan and his friends walked into Ponyville, so they were easily able to sneak back into the library and put the books back where they belong, they managed to sneak back out without any problems or being spotted, with that out of the way, they started to go to the big building that everyone in town was going inside. Nathan decided to remind the group to use their new names when speaking to other ponies or near them. The rest nodded as they went in.
Inside, the boys will now use their new names for now...
Sorin's group walked into what they assumed to be the town hall when they saw the inside, they saw so many ponies gathered there so this seemed a lot more important to the inhabitants than they originally thought, the team found a nice spot to stand in the crowd. Luckily, since they were so many ponies, they didn't attract much attention with being new, they each patiently waited for whatever was supposed to happen. They were struggling to be patient however, since they heard someone in the crowd near them constantly chattering away, the boys looked towards where the sound was coming from and they saw the pink pony from earlier who they remember was named Pinkie Pie. Sorin saw that she was talking to a purple unicorn.
"Isn't this exciting?! Are you excited, cause I'm excited! I've never been so excited! Except for that time I saw you walk into this town and I went (Gasp) but I mean really who can top that?" Pinkie was saying to the unicorn quickly. She was speaking so fast that the boys barely understood what she was saying.
"She has....quite a bit of energy, surprised I didn't get annoyed earlier with her." Shadike said while rubbing his head.
Just then, the bird choir run by a yellow Pegasus from what Eclipse saw, started singing. In Gale's opinion, it sounded quite nice and it also surprised him that someone could train a flock of birds to sing in rhythm, Shadike however thought this was going to be a waste of time. After the singing stopped, a spotlight shone onto an elderly looking mare who started an announcement for the crowd.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts..." Shadike and Eclipse immediately wanted to headbutt a wall with that pun.
"As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun celebration!" The crowd started cheering except Team Sorin, not knowing that much about what was going to happen and Twilight, who was worried about the legend of Nightmare Moon returning. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!"
"The magic of the sunrise? The longest day of the year? What's so magical about it other than looking pretty?" Sorin's thoughts were getting filled with similar questions, but he still decided to continue listening to the mayor's announcement.
"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon every single day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria...."
"Jesus! GET ON WITH IT!" This announcement was starting to annoy Shadike, he thought that the mayor was dragging this out longer than necessary. Arcane noticed that while the mayor was talking, the purple pony was looking incredibly worried about something, but wasn't sure about what it was.
"Princess Celestia!" At that signal, a white unicorn that Nova could see a distance away pulled a rope, opening the curtains as a spotlight shone on the balcony, however no one was standing there except Rarity.
"This...can't be good." Twilight said to herself and Team Sorin realized that something seemed wrong. The crowd started to worry, but the mayor was trying to keep them calm, saying there must be an explanation for this, with that, Team Sorin figured out that this wasn't supposed to happen.
"Something's definitely wrong." Gale said, with Eclipse giving him a no-shit Sherlock look. Rarity tried to look for the princess but couldn't find her, making all the crowd gasp in worry and panic.
"Where is the Princess?! What's going on?!" Was only some of the questions that the crowd was shouting. The mayor was trying desperately to keep the rest calm. Sorin started to get a bad feeling and started looking around the room, apparently he wasn't the only one to do so, since Twilight was starting to as well.
"What the fuck is going on...?! What's this bad feeling?!" Sorin thought to himself, he KNEW that something bad was going to happen. He was ready to draw his sword if necessary. Eclipse then noticed something that didn't look good.
"Guys! Up and at em! Look there!" Eclipse pointed up near the balcony, where some dark navy mist was gathering up. The mist came together to form a tall pony with both a horn AND wings, Twilight had a look of shock, not that anyone else noticed. All of the ponies in the town hall were confused and scared, as the mysterious pony spoke.
"Oh...my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I saw your precious sun loving faces." The last part of that sentence seemed to have a slight hint of disgust in her voice. Eclipse however, decided to be sarcastic in this situation.
"So. Nice princess, right guys?" With a quick glare from Sorin, Eclipse chuckled and looked prepared for a brawl. Shadike also looked like he was prepared to fight, since even though she said the word subjects, he didn't think she was the same princess that Pinkie mentioned since the crowd looked mostly scared.
"What did you do with our princess?!" Sorin and his friends turned to see a rainbow maned Pegasus trying to fly at the dark pony, hoping to attack her, with another orange pony trying to hold the Pegasus back. The mystery pony laughed at this, but then started to look insulted.
"Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" To Shadike's annoyance, Pinkie started talking non-sense again, trying to guess the pony's name, with silly ones he might add, so he decided to stuff an apple in her mouth to shut her up, with Applejack and Rainbow Dash giving Shadike a annoyed look, even though they had no idea who he was.
"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" Team Sorin after hearing that were instantly confused on how ANYTHING could live for a thousand years, never mind on the MOON!
"Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"
"I did! And I know who you are!"
Everyone in the hall turned to see the one who said that, it was the purple unicorn who was talking to Pinkie. "You're the Mare in the Moon. Nightmare Moon!" The crowd instantly gasped at this, leaving Team Sorin completely in the dark on what is going on. Nightmare Moon on the other hoof, was amused that somepony actually remembered her and asked Twilight if she knew why she was brought out of the moon, to which Twilight did not answer, Nightmare Moon simply chuckled to herself again, but it was obvious to Team Sorin that the purple unicorn knew WAY more than she let on.
"Remember this day little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last FOREVER!" Nightmare Moon laughed, the mayor, wanting to know where their ACTUAL princess was, sent out her guards to seize Nightmare Moon. With no effort whatsoever, Nightmare Moon simply blasted the guards away with powerful lightning magic, leaving the guards injured. Eclipse then suddenly whispered to Shadike.
"Shadike, let's go!"
"Got it!" Shadike and Eclipse drew their blades and with a loud battle cry, rush at Nightmare Moon at a fast speed. Twilight looked shocked seeing somepony attempt to challenge Nightmare Moon and tried to warn them not to.
"NO! STOP!" Eclipse just chuckles as she says that, confusing Twilight as Nightmare Moon prepared another lightning bolt and blasted it at the two boys. Luckily though, since they were expecting it, managed to dodge the blast and continue rushing toward her, ready to strike. Nightmare Moon was took by surprise, but was able to put up a magic barrier which deflected away Shadike and Eclipse's strikes away, sending them back down.
"What the...what the wha...?! Cheating BITCH!" Nightmare Moon looked curiously at Eclipse and his friends before turning into mist and began floating away, Rainbow Dash tried to follow it but soon lost sight of it. She then saw Twilight running out of the town hall. Suspicious of where she was going, Dash decided to follow her to see what Twilight was up to. Back inside the hall, Gale was getting worried.
"Mi...Shadike! Eclipse! Are you alright?!" Shadike and Eclipse both told the group they were just fine, Arcane then noticed that Pinkie and a few other mares were running out of the town hall, when he brought this up to the others, they decided to follow them and get answers for what's going on, since they suspected that Twilight knew way more than she showed. They managed to catch up to the mares as Applejack noticed the boys following them.
"Who in the hay are you guys, never seen you round these parts before!" Applejack asked them, Sorin decided to speak for the group when replying to her. Applejack then saw Shadike and Eclipse.
"Hey, y'all were the ones that tried to attack that Nightmare Moon pony! That was mighty gutsy of ya!" Eclipse just smirked in response. Sorin decided to get the group back to the matter at hand or hoof.
"Introductions should wait later! (Pant) We're all heading the same way right? You girls thinks that unicorn knows something more too?" The mares simply nodded and continued running, the boys overheard Pinkie being excited about being ready to make a welcome party for the new boys in Ponyville, with Rarity trying to get Pinkie to focus.
Twilight's Library...
After tucking Spike in bed, Twilight frantically searched for her book about the Elements of Harmony. While looking around the library, Twilight got surprised by Rainbow Dash, who was accusing her of being a spy, since she knew about Nightmare Moon and tried to tell Shadike and Eclipse to stop when they tried to fight Nightmare Moon. Rainbow Dash was then yanked away from Twilight by Applejack and Eclipse, with the rest entering the library. "Yes miss, cause the one who shouts out the name of the scary looking pony in front of EVERYone at the town hall is TOTALLY a spy!" Eclipse said to Dash, Dash soon managed to calm down a little when Eclipse said that. Applejack then turned her attention towards Twilight.
"Simmer down, both of y'all. She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's going on, don't ya Twilight?" Twilight was starting to get worried, she didn't want anypony to get dragged into this situation. But here are the mares she only barely knew and six boys she didn't know at all, thinking about it a little more, Twilight figured in her head that these must have been the six new ponies that Pinkie mentioned back at her party in the library.
"So you know her?"
The girls turned to Arcane, who was the one who asked the question, "We all met her recently, what about you guys, who are you? And why do you all have weapons on your backs, you don't look like guards. You guys have something to do with this?" Rainbow Dash asked the six boys with a accusing look on her face. Sorin, not feeling affected at all by Dash's attempt at intimidation, decided to answer.
"We're some guys that want to help out with whatever's going on, these weapons are for self defense and no, we didn't know anything about this. We don't even know anything about Nightmare Moon."
Hearing that, the mares looked confused, how did ANYpony not know the story of the two regal sisters? They ignored this however, when Twilight started explaining what she knew, including reading the prophecy, learning of the Elements of Harmony and how they are the only things that can stop Nightmare Moon.
While Twilight was explaining, Pinkie found the reference guide for the Elements of Harmony, the same book that Twilight was looking for, she quickly got the book from the shelf, knocking Pinkie out of the way in the progress, much to Sorin and Eclipse's annoyance and Shadike's amusement. Twilight read from the book to the rest of the group.
"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty." Hearing that made Shadike confused about the element names.
"Laughter? Why is there an Element of Laughter?" He asked.
"Do you mind? I'm trying to read." Twilight didn't like the way that Shadike was interrupting her reading.
"No, I don't mind at all." Shadike answered with a smirk, Twilight groaned at this and continued reading.
"The sixth is a complete mystery, it is said that the last known location of the five Elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is now located in which is now...the Everfree Forest." The mares immediately scared when the name of the forest was said. Shadike then decided to ask about the forest, wondering what all the fear was about.
"What's the big deal, it's just a forest. Why do you girls look scared shitless?" Gale quickly glared at Shadike, since he was swearing quite a bit. Shadike just shrugged and listened to what the mares had to say about the forest. Fluttershy was the one to nervously answer.
"It's...scary...there's dangerous creatures in there that aren't like other animals...these ones, they...hurt ponies. Everypony stays away from there..." She looked scared just thinking about the horrors of the forest, Eclipse patted her on the head, hoping to comfort her, telling her that it's alright. Fluttershy felt a little better, but backed away from Eclipse shyly since she didn't know him. Eclipse backed away too, not wanting to appear threatening to the girls.
"So we need to get to this forest and get these Elements, eh? Alright, let's go!" Sorin said with confidence, Twilight however didn't look as happy as Sorin did, she had planned to do this alone, thinking it's HER duty and hers alone. Twilight decided to ask the other mares if they could take her to the forest. Rainbow Dash said yes, and the group, including the boys started walking to the entrance of the forest.
At the entrance at the forest...
Most of the mares sounded worried while standing at the entrance of the dark forest, not that Team Sorin could see why so far. Pinkie, however, seemed excited and raring to go, she was about to step in the forest, until Twilight stopped her, causing a lot of confusion within the team.
"What's wrong, Twilight? Something on your mind, darling?" Rarity asked Twilight, Nova raised an eyebrow on the fact that Rarity just called Twilight darling, but just shook his head and decided to just ignore it. Twilight looked worried for a minute, afraid that the next thing she says will offend the rest of the group.
"Look...I appreciate the offer...but I'd really rather do this on my own." Just like Twilight was afraid of, the group responded negatively. The mares began walking past Twilight, since they were going to help, whether Twilight wanted them to or not.
"No can do, Sugarcube. We sure ain't lettin any friend of ours step into any creepy place alone. We're sticking to you like caramel on a candy apple." Applejack said to Twilight while walking in the entrance. Pinkie smiled when Applejack said the words candy apple and commented how good they tasted.
Twilight sighed and noticed the boys hadn't followed the girls yet, so she went towards them, hoping to persuade them to change their minds about coming with her. "I'm sorry, but I don't really want to get anypony else mixed up in this. You understand, don't you?" Twilight was nervously smiling, hoping they'll leave. After all, she knew that this whole situation didn't have anything to do with the boys, she knew that they had no reason to help, so why should they?
"You really think we're gonna leave?" Eclipse said this with a bored look on his face as he tipped his hat. Twilight was confused as soon as he said that.
"But why? There's no reason for you to....."
"We don't need a reason to help someone in need." Nova was the next to speak.
"But, it might be too dangerous for the little...." Twilight was about to say while looking at Gale.
"Don't even finish that sentence, I'm better than I look, even though I'm younger than the rest of you." Gale said with a grin.
"But I don't know you and you don't know me!" Twilight looked very nervous that they wanted to help out so much.
"Why does that matter? Those mares didn't know you very well, look at them." Shadike pointed out.
"You saw what Nightmare Moon's power is like, remember what happened to those guards?!"
"All the more reason to help you out!" Arcane started seeming annoyed that she wouldn't accept the help.
"Face it Miss...Twilight wasn't it? You're stuck with us. No one has to do anything alone." Sorin finished and told the group to follow him into the Everfree Forest to catch up with the rest of the girls, Twilight just groaned that she had to be stuck with all of these ponies that she barely knew and reluctantly followed the group. While walking, she thought about that one sentence that Sorin said.
"Nopony has to do anything alone...I don't know..."
"So....none of you have been here before?" While walking through the forest, the group of mares obviously looked scared, so Twilight tried to get their minds off the fear by talking to them, Rarity was the first to reply to this question, her nervousness being obvious in her voice. Gale also looked a little scared but because he remembered all the training that him and the other guys have done, he managed to keep a level head.
"H-Heavens no! J...Just look at it! It's dreadful!" Anypony listening to the way she sounded when she was speaking could tell that she sounded terrified as she was speaking. She wasn't the only one who sounded scared, as Applejack was the next one to answer.
"And this place ain't natural....folks say it don't work the same as Equestria..." This made Team Sorin curious, but made Gale and Twilight more nervous. Sorin was almost about to ask what else they knew about the place, but didn't want to increase their fear. Little did the group know, Nightmare Moon's mist form was slowly following them, plotting something to get in their way or finish them off for good. Sorin found the perfect thing to take the fear off their mind.
"Oh! That reminds me! We never fully introduced ourselves, have we?" The group looked at each other and all chuckled a little. Twilight decided to start first, since she wanted to get this over with and back to business, with the rest following her lead.
"Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said politely.
"I'm Applejack, nice to meet y'all, boys." Applejack tipped her hat while saying her name.
"Um...I'm...Fluttershy..." Fluttershy stepped back a little, making Eclipse smile at how adorable she was looking and also compliment her name, making Fluttershy hide her face behind her mane a little. Even Shadike couldn't help giving a small smile at this. Pinkie was bouncing in the air and was about to say her name, but Arcane and Twilight both said that they all already knew her name, making Pinkie laugh a little. Rarity decided to be the next one to introduce herself.
"Well dears. My name is Rarity." Rarity tapped her mane with her hoof, making sure that her mane was still in shape. The boys thought to themselves about how they guess that Rarity is supposed to be attractive to guy ponies, but since they were human at first, seeing Rarity like that just seemed wrong.
"And I'm Rainbow Dash! No doubt you've already heard of me, the best flyer in ALL of Equestria?" Dash flew around a bit during her boasting, all of the boys said the exact same thing at the exact same time in the same annoyed tone.
"...No."
That single word shot down Dash's mood a lot as she floated away while mumbling something under her breath, Shadike instantly did not like the way she was acting since Shadike can never stand boasting idiots as he calls them. Rarity politely asks the boys that since they introduced themselves to the boys, then it's now time for the boys to introduce themselves. The boys then introduced themselves one at a time with their newly made names from earlier.
"Sorin Dragos."
"Shadike Dragos."
"Gale Rush."
"Eclipse Blade."
"Arcane Soul."
"Nova Heart."
Now that introductions were now done, the group decided to continue going into the forest, but not before Twilight asked Eclipse and Shadike a question that she was thinking about for a while now. She got their attention first and then asked, the rest overhearing and decided to listen as well.
"Eclipse, Shadike? Uh...why DID you try to take on Nightmare Moon like that, knowing how dangerous she seemed?" Eclipse and Shadike both gave each other a blank look, then smirked at Twilight.
"Well, who else would've done it? Ya never know what'll happen if you don't try, right Shadike?" Eclipse turned to Shadike, who just nodded in agreement. Twilight however, didn't look so thrilled.
"You mean you didn't even have a plan?! You just charged in hoping for the best?!" Twilight couldn't believe how reckless and stupid she thought these two boys acted back then now that she knew that. Shadike just chuckled as he replied that that's just how they roll with things and just kept walking, leaving Twilight speechless. After a few minutes of more walking, Nova decided to ask about something that Applejack mentioned earlier.
"So AJ, what did you mean by this place isn't the same as Equestria?" Before Applejack could answer, Rainbow Dash decided to take this opportunity and try to scare everypony. She talked with as much of a spooky voice as she could.
"Nooooopony knooooooows......" By the looks of it, it was scaring Fluttershy, Rarity and even Pinkie. "You know why?" Applejack told her to quit it as Shadike told her to stop acting like an idiot. "Cause everypony that tried to go in, has never...come.....OUT!" As soon as Rainbow Dash shouted that sentence, the Nightmare Moon mist broke away the cliff they were standing on, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Gale Rush and Shadike Dragos quickly flapped their wings to avoid falling, Gale and Shadike were breathing a little heavy in nervousness because of being took by surprise like that.
"Thank GOD, that was CLOSE! Good thing we did all that training or we'd be fucked!" Shadike thought in his head. However, the four Pegasi quickly noticed the other eight teammates sliding down the cliff, about to fall from a high cliff to the ground miles down below them. The four flyers got their bearings and flew down to save them.
"Fluttershy! Quick!"
"Move it or lose it, Gale!"
Rainbow Dash saved Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy saved Rarity, Shadike saved Nova and Eclipse. while Gale managed to save Arcane. Applejack, Sorin and Twilight were still sliding down the cliff however, Applejack luckily grabbed a branch that was sticking out of the cliff and Sorin managed to grab Applejack's tail, which hurt Applejack as he was hanging, Applejack shouted something, but her voice was muffled since she was hanging on the vine with her teeth.
"Sorry! Wait....TWILIGHT!" Sorin looked down and saw Twilight still sliding down the cliff, about to go over the edge, she managed to hang on to the ledge, but it looked like she couldn't hold on for long.
"HANG ON!" Sorin, in a panic, released his grip on Applejack's tail and slid down the cliff to save Twilight, Twilight lost her grip and was about to fall, but Sorin barely managed to reach and grab her hoof before she fell.
"Sorin?!" Twilight thought she was going to die, but was surprised when she saw Sorin risking his life to save her, Sorin however couldn't stay balanced on the slope he was on while holding Twilight and almost slipped off, grabbing the cliff edge with his free front hoof while holding Twilight with the other. The rest of the group could see what was going on and they were worried. Shadike, Gale, Dash and Fluttershy managed to get the rest of the team to safety.
"Where's Applejack?" Gale noticed that she was missing. Dash looked down at the cliff worried, it took her a few moments to notice where Applejack was, but when she did she quickly pointed at her for the other flyers.
"She's down there!"
Applejack looked and saw Sorin and Twilight in danger, so she let go of the branch she was hanging on to. "Hold on! I'ma coming!" She slid down and grabbed Sorin's hoof, however she couldn't pull both Sorin AND Twilight up with how heavy they both were. Twilight and Sorin were both starting to panic, Twilight more than Sorin was.
"What are we going to do now?!" Sorin tried to think of something until he heard Applejack's voice say something he did NOT want to hear at that moment.
"Let go." As soon as Sorin and Twilight heard that, they both went pale.
"Are you CRAZY?!" Twilight instantly shouted, Sorin looked down and became a little dazed from how high they were, since he wasn't exactly great with heights. Sorin was thinking the same thing as Twilight, since at the height they were at, falling from that high would certainly be fatal.
"Why in the heck would we do that?! Are you NUTS?!"
"No I ain't! I promise that you two'll be safe!" Sorin didn't know what to say, but Twilight was still panicking. Both hers and Sorin's mind was practically screaming at them to hold on.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE! SORIN, DON'T LET GO!" Twilight shouted at Sorin like he was deaf. Sorin looked down to Twilight and saw complete fear in her eyes, he assured Twilight that he wasn't planning to let go anytime soon and kept the tightest grip he could muster.
"Now y'all listen here! What I'm tellin ya both is the honest truth. Just let go and you'll be safe." She gave Sorin and Twilight a comforting smile, after a while Twilight closed her eyes, thinking on whether to believe Applejack or not. Sorin was doing the same as Twilight, since he was holding both Applejack's hoof AND holding up Twilight as well, he was feeling the pressure build up in him.
"Are you sure, Applejack?" Applejack gave one more encouraging smile to show that Sorin and Twilight WILL be safe. Sorin still looked unsure, until he heard one more sentence.
"Do it, Sorin." Sorin looked down and saw that it was Twilight who said that, but instead of fear in her eyes like Sorin saw earlier, instead he saw determination. With a nod from Twilight, Sorin took a deep breath and released his grip, plummeting him and Twilight down towards the ground.
Twilight screamed loudly as she fell and Sorin couldn't scream even if he wanted to, and believe me he tried to. But for some reason, he knew he could trust for something to save them, thinking this, Sorin just closed his eyes and waited for whatever would happen. When he opened them again, he saw that he was in Shadike and Gale's arms and that he also saw Twilight, who was saved by Dash and Fluttershy.
"Thank goodness..." Was the only thing that Sorin could think in his head. Twilight looked at Applejack with a smile on her face. Applejack tipped her hat, saying that she never lies to a friend. Sorin quickly went over to Twilight, worried for her safety.
"Are you alright, Twi?!" Twilight saw how worried Sorin was, she couldn't tell why since they barely knew each other, but she assured Sorin that she was fine, which made Sorin give a sigh of relief. Eclipse gave Sorin a playful nudge and whispered to him, making a joke to fool with Sorin's head. Any other pony would say he is being casual for someone who's best friend could have died, but Eclipse was certain that his friend wouldn't have died that easily even if he wasn't saved by Shadike and Gale.
"Starting to FALL for Twilight, are ya?" Sorin looked a little annoyed, but still replied to Eclipse's question.
"Eclipse...that joke just FELL flat...and you know how much I don't like seeing friends of mine getting hurt." Eclipse chuckled and patted Sorin on the back, complimenting him before they carried on their journey to the castle of the regal sisters.
"Are you girls sure you know where we're going?" Gale suddenly brought up this question during the walking, however the girls just ignored him (not giving Gale much confidence about this whole situation) as Rainbow Dash was saying how awesome they were rescuing Twilight and Sorin, annoying both of said unicorns. They then heard a growling sound, judging by the sound of the growl, it came from a large creature. Sorin's team drew their weapons in case anything happens, causing the mares to be a little intimidated. Gale floated in the air a little so he could use his bow with both his front hooves.
"Over there!" Rarity pointed ahead of them, showing the path they needed to follow and a large creature that looked like a lion with what looked like a scorpion tail which, as Twilight shouted, was called a manticore.
"We gotta get past it!" Twilight shouted, with the boys getting ready to take action. The manticore tried to strike Rarity, but she dodged the claws of the manticore and kicked it in the chin, surprising Team Sorin. The manticore then loudly roared in Rarity's face, ruining her mane and scaring her off. Nova looked impressed that Rarity was able to strike it like that, especially since Rarity to him looked like the type to only care for appearance.
"Wow, who knew Rarity could fight?!" Nova said, but Eclipse snapped him out of it when the manticore looked at them, Nova quickly looked nervous as he got ready to use magic, all of the group could see that this creature looked angry. Fluttershy tried to get their attention, but no one heard her. Applejack landed on the top of the creature's head, which distracted the manticore, giving Sorin and Eclipse enough time to strike with their blades, though it didn't look like it did much, surprisingly.
In anger, the creature shook off Applejack, Fluttershy tried telling them to wait again, but once again they were too focused on the manticore to hear her, Applejack told Dash that it was her turn, who teamed up with Shadike to quickly circle around it, with Shadike attacking while flying. The manticore swung it's tail knocking both of them to the ground. Nova used a healing spell he learned from the book of medical magic he read while training with the guys to help out Dash and Shadike.
After they both got up, they all looked at the manticore...it still looked ready to fight.
"This is gonna be GOOD!" Eclipse looked excited to be in a real fight. The team stood together, the boys with their weapons drawn, they prepared to run at the manticore and charged together towards it! Before they reached it however...
"WAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!!"
Fluttershy was blocking their path to the manticore, the group was confused but said nothing as Fluttershy walked up to the creature. The manticore raised his paw, like it was gonna strike. The mares closed their eyes so that they wouldn't see what happens "Shh...it's okay." They opened their eyes to see the boys with the biggest "What the hay?!" faces ever and saw Fluttershy snuggling up with the manticore's paw. Looking closer she saw that in the paw there was.....
"A THORN?! ALL THAT DONE BY A FUCKING THORN?!" Shadike looked absolutely pissed off about this, while Eclipse was laughing like a madman.
"Yes! Cause THAT totally makes sense!" Eclipse yelled at the top of his lungs while laughing, crazily. This made Twilight and some of the others a little nervous as Eclipse was starting to act a little...odd.
"Aww, you poor little baby...." Fluttershy was acting motherly towards the scary looking creature.
"Little?!" Rainbow Dash looked confused at what was going on.
"Baby?!" Gale looked terrified if THAT was just a baby, he wondered what the parents must be like and hoped that they wouldn't have to find out.
After Fluttershy pulled out the thorn, the manticore roared in her face, Shadike drew his blades again, hoping for another fight, but then the manticore started licking Fluttershy's pink mane and then went away, leaving the team in peace. The group started to continue their quest but Twilight asked Fluttershy a question, "How did you know about the thorn?"
"I didn't. Sometimes we all need to show a little kindness." Hearing those words, Twilight couldn't help but smile.
Continuing on their way, the forest started becoming almost pitch black, the group could barely see where they were going. Applejack's voice suddenly said, "Oops, I think I stepped in somethin." Shadike and Sorin cringed hoping it wasn't what they thought it was, while Eclipse looked like he was gonna laugh. For some reason, Fluttershy screamed.
"Relax Fluttershy, it's only mud." That made the Dragos brothers sigh in relief until they saw what Fluttershy was screaming at, surrounding the group was weird, demonic looking trees. Gale, Nova, Arcane and most of the Mane 6 were screaming, but Pinkie Pie was just......laughing and making funny faces at them? Twilight told Pinkie to run, but instead Pinkie started.....
"Wait, what's that music?" Eclipse said. The boys looked at Pinkie who looked like she was going to start...
"Tell me she's not....."
"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown..."
"She is." Pinkie had begun.....singing.
"I'd hide under my pillow From what I thought I saw But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way To deal with fears at all"
"Then what is?" Rainbow asked.
"She said, Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall Learn to face your fears You'll see that they can't hurt you Just laugh to make them disappear."
Pinkie then laughed at one of the transformed trees as it suddenly changed back into a normal looking tree, making the mares gasp and the boys confused. Pinkie just kept on singing as the the mares then realized what they must do. Just laugh.
"So, giggle at the ghostly Guffaw at the grossly Crack up at the creepy Whoop it up with the weepy Chortle at the kooky Snortle at the spooky
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!"
When Pinkie stopped singing, all of the trees had been turned back to normal, Shadike and Arcane wondered what the point of all that was since they were just scary-looking trees and couldn't hurt them in the slightest, but Sorin cut them off, saying that with how happy the girls seem now, it'll help to lighten the atmosphere and not make the situation look so desperate. Eclipse agreed with Sorin as they kept pushing through the forest.
They kept walking until they came across another obstacle, a violent rushing river. The group knew this would be way more simpler than the last couple of things that they have done, since Shadike, Gale, Fluttershy and Dash could fly and could fly the teammates one at a time. But before they had the chance to, they heard loud crying.
"The hell is...THAT?" Shadike said, the rest looked in the direction the sound was coming from and they saw something they didn't expect to see. By Sorin's view, it looked like a large purple sea serpent, not only that, but it was also crying about something and thrashing about, which was causing the violence in the river. Arcane noticed that half of it's...mustache was gone. Twilight asked the serpent why it was crying.
"Well, I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply HORRID." It continued crying, but Sorin, Eclipse and Gale looked surprised since they heard the serpent mention a cloud of smoke, that means that Nightmare Moon was trying to prevent them from continuing on, which also meant that they were on the right track.
"Oh, give me a break." Rainbow Dash thought that this was just going to waste their their time and, even thought Shadike hated to admit it, he thought it as well. After Rarity stated how handsome and glorious all of the serpent's features were and how they didn't matter in the slightest without the complete mustache to compliment them, she then thought about what she could do to solve this vandalism of fashionable appearances.
"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" Twilight was wondering what Rarity was going to do, then she watched as Rarity used her magic to pluck one of the serpent's scales and used it to cut her pony tail off, she then stuck her tail on the serpent's face, replacing the missing half of the mustache, which cheered up the serpent and calmed the raging river. Personally, Sorin thought it looked absolutely terrible and out of place, but the serpent looked happy so he kept quiet.
Twilight felt bad for Rarity's appearance being messed up, but Rarity assured that it's alright since apparently short tails are in this season and said that her tail will grow back anyway, Shadike and Dash both thought that the mustache would ALSO grow back, making this a waste of time in their eyes. The serpent in thanks, sets his body in a way that the team can walk on the body to easily cross the river.
After some more travelling...
"There it is, the ruins that holds The Elements of Harmony. We made it!" Twilight suddenly became very happy as the group could finally see their destination in the distance. Applejack, seeing that Twilight was running ahead of the group, told her to wait before she ends up getting hurt or lost. Twilight kept running until she suddenly ran off a cliff, Dash managed to catch her in time.
"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" Dash asked. Twilight just awkwardly laughed in embarrassment, while Eclipse once again made a pun.
"You seriously fell for the same thing twice?" This caused some of the mares and guys to groan in annoyance. They looked where Twilight fell from and saw a broken rope bridge, which was the last obstacle between the group and the castle. Pinkie asked what they should do now, but Dash just gave a blank face as she was about to fly across the cavern and fix the bridge. Shadike was about to follow, but she stopped him.
"Whoa there, Shadike. I can handle this, it's just a bridge. Don't need backup with THAT." Dash tapped her chest in confidence, slightly irritating Shadike. Instead of going with her anyway, he decided to not bother if Dash was going to act like that. In his mind, if Dash gets in trouble, then it's her own damn fault.
Rainbow Dash flew across the chasm and was about to start fixing the bridge until she heard a voice saying her name. She looked around and saw no pony around, demanding they show themselves, Rainbow Dash then saw a small group of shady-Pegasi who say that they have been waiting for the best flyer in Equestria, which they then say is Dash herself.
"Really?! I mean... Oh yeah, me. Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would ya? 'cause I've been trying to get into that group for like, ever." Dash asked, not suspicious of the Pegasi at all.
"No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us, The Shadowbolts. We're the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon we will be the greatest in all Equestria, but first, we need a captain. The most magnificent, swiftest, bravest flyer in all the land." Dash was nodding and agreeing with everything they were saying. The Shadowbolts said that Dash would be perfect for them.
"WOOHOO! Sign me up. Just let me tie this bridge real quick and then we have a deal." Dash was once again starting to fix the bridge, but the leader stopped Dash from doing so, saying that it was either Dash stays with her friends or joins the Shadowbolts and that there was only one chance. Dash was unsure of what to decide, but she then heard Twilight's voice and looked towards her.
"Rainbow, what's taking so long?" Twilight and the others then saw the Shadowbolts, Twilight shouted to Dash to not listen to the Shadowbolts. The Shadowbolts then thickened the fog in front of the rest of the team, Shadike tried to fly through the fog, but was somehow sent back the way he came in.
Rainbow Dash declined the offer from the Shadowbolts and was about to fix the bridge, until one of the Shadowbolts attempted to attack Rainbow Dash, luckily, Dash managed to see it in time and flew out of the way of the attack, causing the attacker to hit the ground, which the rest of the team heard through the fog. Sorin then quickly got an idea.
"We gotta help Dash! Shadike, flap your wings as fast as you can! Now!" Shadike did what Sorin said as Sorin started charging his horn with magic, he sent a magic blast at Shadike's wings, powering them up so Shadike could create large gusts of wind with his wings, blowing away the fog. Shadike then flew to where Dash was, drawing his two blades along the way, he tried a swing at one of the Shadowbolts, but it flew out of the range of his blade. Rainbow Dash was surprised and annoyed that Shadike helped her.
"SHADIKE! I said I can handle it!"
"Oh yeah! REALLY looks like it! Fix that damn bridge, I'll cover ya!" Dash quickly fixed the bridge, allowing the others to cross the bridge and assist in the fight. Eclipse leaped into the fray with a large grin on his face.
"WOOOO!!!! WELCOME TO DIE, BITCH!" Eclipse managed to catch one of the foes by surprise and cleaved the Shadowbolt in half, making it explode into a cloud of smoke.
"Huh, it poofed."
One of the Shadowbolts was about to strike Twilight while she wasn't looking. When Twilight realized she was going to get struck, Sorin managed to leap in between Twilight and the Shadowbolt and stood in a defensive position with his sword held tight, making the attacker recoil back, giving Twilight time to blast it apart into smoke, leaving one last Shadowbolt, which was the leader of the three.
"Thank you, Sorin."
"Don't worry about it."
The Shadowbolt leader was a lot more tricky than the other two was and was able to dodge a lot of the blows that the team sent at it. But since it was twelve against one, they were easily able to overpower the leader as Arcane held it in place with his magic as Applejack mustered the hardest kick she could. severely weakening the Shadowbolt, but not destroying the form. Gale took the chance to aim his bow and shoot an arrow, since Arcane was keeping the leader held, Gale had the perfect shot to the head and took it. The shot hit bulls eye, as the final Shadowbolt vaporized into smoke like the rest.
Having a short rest after their battle, Twilight thanked Rainbow Dash for fixing the bridge so they could cross the chasm. Rainbow Dash, being as boastful as usual, just looked proud of herself like Shadike expected. "Well, I never leave my friends hanging." Twilight smiled when Dash said this, but Eclipse decided to make a bad joke.
"Tell that to Sorin and Twilight earlier." The mood instantly went silent after that. Soon after though, Rainbow Dash went up to Shadike, with an embarrassed look on her face.
"Hey Shadike, uh...thanks for helping me out there. Not that I couldn't have handled it, which I could have! But...yeah. Thanks." Shadike was honestly surprised that Dash was thanking him, but just casually walked past her, making Dash annoyed and think that he didn't hear her. Shadike only had this to say to her.
"...watch yourself better next time. I won't always be there to bail you out." Shadike smirked without Dash noticing, that sentence however, insulted Dash quite a bit.
"What?! I didn't need you anyway! You think you're so tough, ya stupid...! Urgh!" Rainbow decided to not even bother with Shadike right now, she thought that it should wait until later, since the rest of the group stepped towards the doors of the castle they were heading to since the start of this small journey.
They were now finally at their destination, the ancient castle of the regal sisters right in front of them. Before entering, everypony looked at each other and nodded, signaling that they were ready for whatever was inside. Twilight nervously gulped before entering the castle, her and Sorin leading the team inside, Twilight and Sorin both thought to themselves as they went inside...
"Let's go inside." The twelve ponies all entered the ancient castle, the place wasn't very big since they quickly found what they had been searching for this entire time. The Elements of Harmony were right in front of them, completely made from stone. Sorin felt glad that he managed to help out and Shadike felt good that after this, they could start figuring out how to get home.
"Come on, Twilight. Isn't this what you've been waiting for?" Applejack saw how happy Twilight looked. The four Pegasi carefully brought the Elements of Harmony closer to them, so Twilight could examine further. However Pinkie noticed that there are only five out of the six Elements present.
"So how do we get the last one to appear? Arcane asked, he looked around the room and he couldn't see anything that could give them a hint about what to do.
"The book said when the five are present a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed." The twelve questioned this as Eclipse wondered how is the sixth Element a mystery when the book sort of knew how to make it appear.
"So what do we need to do then? And where's Nightmare Moon?" Sorin then quickly glanced around the room, wondering that if Nightmare Moon was stalking them earlier, then she must be here now.
Twilight then told the group that she had an idea and that they should stand back, she closed her eyes and started to focus a spell. Gale wondered what she was going to do, but Rarity told Gale that they should just let Twilight do her plan since she knew the most about the Elements.
Applejack then told the group to stand back outside and keep an eye out so Twilight could concentrate, but Team Sorin noticed another hallway leading upstairs. Thinking that Nightmare Moon must be around somewhere, they decided to investigate.
"You girls wait outside, we'll see if the rest of the castle is safe." The mares agreed that it was a good idea and said that the boys should be careful just in case, with that the mares went outside and the guys went upstairs, leaving Twilight alone with the Elements.
As Twilight was focusing, she didn't notice the mist of Nightmare Moon quietly gathering around the Elements of Harmony, when Twilight then opened her eyes, she screamed, grabbing the attention of the mares outside as they ran back in, however, Team Sorin was unable to hear them from where they were.
"The Elements!" When the mares ran back in the room where Twilight was, they only saw her for a brief second as she jumped into a blue vortex, which then disappeared, leaving the mares worried for their friend as they ran around searching the room. As they were looking, Rarity looked through the closest window and saw one of the higher towers with the windows flashing. Looking closer, she saw Sorin and his friends near the top of the stairs to the tower and were about to enter the tower to see what was going on. Rarity brought what she saw to the other mares attention, the mares then followed the passage that Sorin's friends went through earlier, hoping to get there quickly.
Meanwhile, the guys were about to investigate one of the towers when all the windows in it started flashing all of a sudden, almost blinding the six. "What the crap is going on in there?!" Arcane was shielding his eyes from the bright lights shining from the tower.
"I don't know, but I don't think it's good... it's gotta be Nightmare Moon. We've got to get inside!" Sorin said, drawing his sword in his mouth and had a look of determination on his face.
"NAH! I thought we'd just stay out here and see what happens! Of course we're going in, stupid!" Eclipse said with a loud sarcastic tone in his voice. Shadike just gave an annoyed look at Eclipse, saying that it was not the time right now for sarcasm.
Inside the tower...
Twilight suddenly appeared in a different room than she was in before, she coughed and looked around before seeing Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony floating around her, chuckling to herself as lightning struck around her. "TWILIGHT!" Twilight turned around as both she and Nightmare Moon saw Team Sorin, all with their weapons drawn. Nightmare Moon looked irritated when she saw Shadike and Eclipse, she recognized them as the ones that almost struck her earlier.
"Hmph...you two. The ones that attempted to face me before." Nightmare Moon looked at the rest of the male group, and then chuckled.
"Hmph...you. The cheating bitch. Ready for another ass-kicking? And what's so funny?" Eclipse looked all confident at first, but seeing her quietly laugh like that, not only made him curious, but also slightly suspicious on what she was laughing about.
"I know what you really are. ALL of you." Nightmare Moon answered, catching the boys by surprise and causing Twilight to look at the six in confusion and suddenly became suspicious of them.
Sorin was about to ask what Nightmare Moon meant, but decided to forget it and focus his attention on battling Nightmare Moon herself. Twilight decided to ask later as she also turned towards Nightmare Moon. They all looked ready to fight, leaving Nightmare Moon with a bored look on her face.
"You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Nightmare Moon thought that they couldn't be so stupid to attack her in a frontal assault, nevertheless, the seven charged towards Nightmare Moon, with Twilight leading the charge, as Nightmare Moon charged back towards them, which was just what the team was hoping for. They were about to collide with each other when Twilight used her magic to teleport behind Nightmare Moon, leaving the dark pony slightly off guard as Sorin's team started to attack her, planning to buy enough time by distracting Nightmare Moon so that Twilight could activate the Elements of Harmony. However, Twilight was struggling to focus because of the sounds of the fighting behind her and the power of the teleport also made her a little tired since she wasn't used to it.
Sorin, Shadike and Eclipse were each trying to attack Nightmare Moon's barrier that she formed up close and personal as best as they could, only making her more angry as she simply blasted them away with her magic, knocking them off their balance, but still able to fight, Nova quickly tried to heal them with his medical magic. Nightmare Moon noticed this and tried to attack Nova, but however was stopped by Gale shooting an arrow from his bow, this managed to pierce through the barrier and wound her slightly, but not very much. "You little pest!" She blasted a lightning bolt towards Gale, but Shadike grabbed Gale and flew him out of the way.
"Eclipse! With me, now's our chance!" Sorin shouted for Eclipse's attention, Eclipse only had to look at Sorin to realize that he wanted the two of them to swarm Nightmare Moon at the same time, with a smirk on his face, Eclipse nodded at Sorin.
"Got it!" Eclipse held his katana in his mouth as he and Sorin ran towards Nightmare Moon now that part of her barrier was broken through, they were attempting to double team her, hoping to go for a fatal strike as they both did a loud battle cry. Unfortunately, Nightmare Moon saw what Twilight was doing and changed into her mist form, avoiding Sorin and Eclipse's duo attack and flew straight towards the Elements.
"Shit! She's going to get them!" Arcane tried to blast some magic spheres at the mist but they just missed as Nightmare Moon kept zooming towards the Elements of Harmony.
Before Nightmare Moon could stop Twilight however, Twilight's magic from her horn suddenly sparked, sending Twilight flying backwards, falling onto the floor, Arcane went and helped her up, the seven then heard Nightmare shouting in fear. "No! No!" The group looked in front of them and saw Nightmare Moon panicking and the Elements of Harmony shining with light, Twilight smirked confidently as she was sure she had activated them.
However, the Elements suddenly stopped shining as Twilight gasped and the boys cursed under their breath, they was sure that it would have worked! "But...where's the sixth Element?!" Twilight asked in fear, Nightmare Moon had started laughing and smashed the Elements of Harmony, destroying their only chance of defeating her. Nightmare Moon summoned down lightning bolts, which all hit Team Sorin, injuring them as they were struggling to get back up. Twilight just stood there paralyzed in fear.
"Fucking hell, that hurt...!" Shadike weakly said, one of his wings was slightly hit by one of the bolts, preventing him from flying as fast as he was able to. Nova was also struggling to focus his healing spells because of the voltage from the bolts flowing through him, limiting his movement at the moment.
"You little foals! Thinking you could defeat me?! Now you will never see your princess or your sun! The night will last FOREVER!" Nightmare Moon was laughing loudly as dark clouds starting gathering above her. Twilight looked down at the ground, thinking that they had lost, however....
"Twilight! Don't worry! We'll be there!" Twilight's ears shot up when she heard her friends voices, the boys had now regained enough strength in their bodies and started to get back up. Eclipse quietly laughed to himself.
"About damn time they got here."
Twilight's eyes widened as she heard her friends' voices. She had finally realized it. "You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?" Nightmare Moon looked confused at what she said, as did Shadike, Gale and Arcane. The three other members of Team Sorin smirked as they had a feeling what was going to happen.
"Well, you're wrong! Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right HERE!" Stood around Twilight was Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Dash and Fluttershy, the boys decided to stand back and see what would happen. The broken Elements started to levitate on their own, leaving Nightmare Moon confused at what was going on. Twilight then explained what she had realized.
"Applejack, who reassured me and Sorin when we were in doubt, represents the spirit of HONESTY!" Some of the shards floated around Applejack.
"What the HELL is up with that FACE?! Nova seemed creeped out by the weird grin that Applejack was giving, each Element's shards then started floating around the other mares one at a time as Twilight continued.
"Fluttershy, who tamed the wild manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of KINDNESS!" "Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of LAUGHTER!" "Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of GENEROSITY!" "And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends, even for her heart's desire, represents the spirit of LOYALTY! The spirits of these ponies has got us through every challenge you threw at us!"
"You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!" The boys looked at Twilight, wondering what she was going to say about this, since Nightmare Moon did have a point.
"But it did, a different kind of spark! I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear your voices, to see you and how much I cared about you all." Twilight said this as she also looked at Sorin and his friends. "And how much you all wanted to protect me..." Sorin and Eclipse just smiled and stayed quiet.
"The spark ignited inside me, when I realized that you all are my friends!" As soon as Twilight said this, a bright light appeared above the team, revealing the sixth Element, Nightmare Moon was shocked and was completely lost on how this could be.
"You see Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the...spark that resides in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth Element, the Element of Magic!" The shards formed into necklaces on each mare as they all started floating in the air, Nightmare Moon and the boys then saw the Elements beginning to charge with power. Nightmare Moon, out of desperation, flew at the six mares, hoping to stop whatever they were doing.
"Ooh, no you DON'T!" Eclipse saw what Nightmare Moon was about to do and leaped at her, tackling her over. The boys now stood in between Nightmare Moon and the Mane 6, making Nightmare Moon furious. Sorin then shouted to his team.
"Alright guys! We protect the girls, buy them time! Let's DO THIS!" Twilight opened her eyes while the elements were charging and smiled at her new friends all working together. The boys all nodded at each other and fought Nightmare Moon. Since Nightmare Moon was panicked, she couldn't think straight and it was six against one, so she could not focus as the six boys easily overpowered her with a constant assault until the charge was finally complete and Twilight shouted for Team Sorin to move out of the way, which they did. With a scream from Nightmare Moon, all of the energy within the Elements blasted towards her in a powerful rainbow display, finally defeating Nightmare Moon.
The Mares then collapsed in exhaustion. The boys quickly ran to them to make sure they were alright, with Sorin checking on Twilight.
"Twi? Twi! Are you okay?!" Sorin asked with worry in his eyes.
"Did...we win?" Twilight asked in response, Sorin smiled and nodded as Twilight and the rest of the mares stood up, they then felt a warm feeling surround them, looking through the window, they saw the sunrise for a brand new day, a sunrise that they brought back together. A bright flash then happened, as a tall divine looking pony with fur white as snow appeared before the twelve, a pony that Twilight recognized as her mentor, Princess Celestia. The boys figured that this must be the ACTUAL princess of the land. The mares of the team bowed before Celestia as the boys just stood there, causing Rarity to grumble under her breath at their rudeness. Eclipse quietly whispered to Nova.
"Hey Nova, look. Look at the princess! She has a sun-butt!" Eclipse pointed out as he resisted to laugh, Nova looked at where he was pointing and saw that the princess indeed had a sun mark on her flank, now that Nova thought of it, he saw marks on all the ponies in the room except the guys.
"Uh Eclipse? You DO know all the girls have marks?" Nova whispered.
"Of course, I just didn't ask about it. Neither did the others. We knew the first time we saw them." Eclipse answered.
"Which means you looked at mare's asses?" Nova joked.
"Not in THAT way, ya sicko." Arcane cut in, looking annoyed, making Nova chuckle a little. Gale didn't really understand what the big deal was.
"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student." Twilight ran to Celestia and gave her a hug when she said that, Sorin looked surprised since he or his friends had no idea that Twilight was the student of a princess. "I knew you could do it." Hearing this, Twilight looked lost about what Celestia meant.
"But, you told me it was just an old pony tale..." Celestia just gave a slight chuckle as she explained what she meant.
"I told you that you needed to make some friends. Nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moons return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to beat her. But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Now if only another will as well...." Twilight and the others were wondering what she meant until they looked at Nightmare Moon, who now looked different.
"Princess Luna." The pony gasped and stared at Celestia, Celestia stepped towards the defeated princess. "It has been a thousand years since I saw you like this, time to put our differences behind us, we were meant to rule together, little sister."
"Sister?" The Mane 6 were surprised at what they heard, the boys being more curious than surprised.
"Will you accept my friendship?" Celestia asked this to Luna as the Mane 6 stood there waiting for her answer. Luna quickly apologized and hugged her big sister as both of them cried. Both of them saying how they missed each other. To Twilight and Sorin's group, this felt heartwarming seeing two siblings reunite like this, Shadike patted Sorin on the back and smirked at him, with Sorin smiling back at his big brother. But then, something sprung in Twilight's mind, she stepped towards Princess Luna.
"E...Excuse me, Princess Luna. I have a question." Luna looked at Twilight, wondering what she was going to ask, the boys, mares and Celestia also listening.
"What did you mean with what you said as Nightmare Moon about Sorin's group? About knowing what they really were?" The boys hid it well, but they were getting worried. They didn't want to bring attention with them really being human. Surprisingly though, Luna looked like she had no idea.
"I...I don't know...I have no idea. I don't even know any of them..." This confused Twilight as she then turned towards Sorin, she had no reason to not trust them, especially after their help, but she felt like she had to know. Twilight asked Sorin what Nightmare Moon meant with what she said. Shadike, with some quick thinking, made a good lie up.
"Who knows? She was probably just trying to turn us against each other..." Twilight thought about it and thought that it made sense and believed it, Luna also admitted that that's probably what it was, leaving Sorin's team in the clear. Celestia then walked towards Sorin's group.
"I thank you, sirs. For assisting my student and her friends through their endeavors. I shall forever be thankful for all that you've done. But I do not know anything about you six, I understand you are not from this kingdom?" Sorin, after taking a deep breath, replied politely since he was talking to royalty, but he couldn't hide that he was very nervous.
"N...No, we aren't, Your Highness. We come from a different kingdom, we're travelers. We were in Ponyville purely by chance." Sorin answered, Celestia seemed interested that they were there by chance and smiled.
"I do not believe this was mere coincidence...perhaps you were meant to assist Twilight and her friends. But for now we should all return to Ponyville to complete the Summer Sun Celebration." The group all agreed on Celestia's idea. Pinkie Pie suddenly cut in the conversation.
"HEY! You know what this all calls for?" Pinkie asked with a smile on her face. Eclipse instantly knew what she had in mind.
"A party?"
Returning to Ponyville...
"...A PARTY!!!" Ponies were all gathered up for a celebration as the two princesses were pulled on a carriage by royal guards, Spike saw Twilight and quickly gave her a hug. The crowd cheered for the other mares in Twilight's group, but were also curious on who the stallions were. The ponies were also celebrating the return of Princess Luna but Twilight however looked sad. Celestia walked up to her student to ask what was wrong.
"Why so glum, my faithful student? Are you not happy that your quest is complete? And that you can now return to your studies in Canterlot?" Sorin looked worried for Twilight as she looked at the ground and answered her mentor.
"That's just it, just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them..." Sorin looked down, feeling sorry for her, since his group would also have to leave, however Celestia smiled as she had a surprise for both Twilight and the boys.
"Spike, take a note please." Spike quickly got a quill and paper, ready to write down the note that Celestia was about to tell him what to write. "I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the Unicorn Twilight Sparkle hall take on a new mission for Equestria, she must continue to study the Magic of Friendship, she must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville." Twilight smiled as her friends gathered around her.
"Thank you, Princess Celestia! I'll study harder than ever before!" The crowd cheered for Twilight and her friends, the boys also decided to applaud for Twilight, until Celestia once again spoke up, saying that she was not finished. This caught the attention of everyone in town including Twilight.
"Also I, Princess Celestia, decree that Sorin Dragos and his five comrades be honorary inhabitants of Ponyville from now on, to assist in Twilight's studies, as reward for their bravery and selflessness that they used to assist Twilight Sparkle in their quest to save Equestria from eternal night." Sorin didn't know what to say but Eclipse, Nova and Arcane definitely knew what to say.
"SWEET!!!!" The three shouted, the crowd then began cheering for the boys, causing Shadike to do a little smirk, even though Shadike wanted to go home, he DID at least feel satisfied being cheered at like this. Sorin couldn't think of how to thank Celestia, since he was so pleased to feel like a hero. But he finally decided to ask Twilight what he should have asked earlier.
"Uh...Twilight? What ARE those marks?" Sorin asked, Twilight just stared at him for a few moments, thinking he was the biggest idiot in the world since this was completely normal to all ponies, however she still explained that the marks were called Cutie Marks (Shadike groaning at the girly name) and that they symbolizes every pony's destiny, Eclipse was curious about what that exactly meant. But Twilight had one more thing to say to Sorin before they continued with the celebration.
"Sorin, I...just wanted to say thank you, for everything. Being with the rest of the group...it taught me a lot." Twilight looked away from Sorin, causing Spike to chuckle about how Twilight was being nervous when thanking Sorin.
"I don't know why you're thanking ME but you're welcome, I mean it's like I said, no pony should have to do anything alone, right Twilight?" Sorin stood in front of Twilight, stretching out one of his front hooves for a hoof shake. "Guess that means we're still a team, eh? Friends?" Twilight looked at Sorin's hoof and smiled at him, accepting the hoof shake.
