> A Harmonic Sonata
>  by keaton-furman-prower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: A New Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Princess, the other soldiers worry about your obsession with that mirror.”

Princess Luna continued to stare blankly at the mirror. It had been two days since Cadence Amore had vanished into it; Luna could only guess what she was up to now, lost in a mysterious world which even she knew very little about. More than anything else, she wanted to find her missing student, but then she would run the risk of getting lost in the mirror world, never to be seen or heard from again.

“Well, I have to return to my duties. I hope you don't waste too much time with that mirror, your highness.”

As the guard left the room, Luna sighed to herself. If Cadence had wanted to return, she would have done so already. And if Luna went into the mirror to search for her, she'd have no idea where to start. Finally, the portal was due to close in less than a minute, so there was very little she could do anyways.

“Perhaps he is right,” she said finally. “There is no point in dwelling over what I could have done to prevent my pupil from leaving me. I must return to my royal duties.”

She then got up to leave, turning away from the mirror. As she did so, however, she began to hear a noise emanating from the mirror.

Could it be?...

She quickly turned back towards the mirror, desperately hoping to see Cadence returning. Her hopes were quickly replaced with disappointment, however, when a pony emerged from the mirror. It seemed to be an earth pony filly, quite a bit younger than Cadence. She was light blue, with a striped blue mane that was tied into a ponytail. Despite her youth, she already had a cutie mark, which was a heart with a musical note.

Luna frowned. Who was this pony? How had she gotten into the portal? And why was she getting such a strange case of deja vu?

“Uhh… my head.”

Well, it seems she can talk, Luna thought as she began to walk towards the filly. As disappointed as she was at her student's failure to return, she was still determined to help anypony in need.

“Hello, child.”

The filly's eyes opened wide as she turned upwards towards Luna. As they fell upon her, Luna expected a variety of reactions; perhaps the filly would bow before her in respect. Perhaps she would be shocked to see the princess before her and be unable to say anything. Or perhaps, since she was a filly from another world, she would simply be confused by her.

What Luna didn't expect, however, was for the filly to run away screaming.

Luna watched, unsure of how to handle the situation at hoof. The little blue filly ran into the mirror, trying in vain to enter the portal. She had no way to know that the portal had closed just seconds after she had fallen through, and that she was now trapped in Equestria.

“Child, please calm down.”

The filly turned towards Luna with a look of pure terror on her face.

“Please let me go!”

Luna felt a twinge of guilt in knowing that there was nothing she could do to help the filly back home. However, there was something else bothering her. Even if the filly truly was a pony from another world, the amount of fear she displayed was... unnerving.

“Child, I am not going to hurt you.”

“That's what you say!” the filly said. “But then you're gonna try to banish me to the moon, or lock me in a dungeon, or banish me to the moon and put me in a moon dungeon! That's what ponies always do to sirens!”

Sirens? Luna thought to herself. But the sirens were banished from Equestria centuries ago! And they most certainly did not resemble ponies!

Carefully, Luna lifted the trembling filly with her magic. As she felt herself being lifted into the air, she began to struggle against her captor.

“What is your name, young one?”

The filly seemed to give up at that point, letting her hooves hang limply in the air.

“Sonata Dusk.”

“Sonata Dusk,” Luna repeated. “A beautiful name, if I do say so myself.”

Much to Luna's joy, this managed to put a smile on Sonata's face, if only for an instant.

“So, are you going to banish me to a moon dungeon?”

As hard as Luna tried, she couldn't prevent a snort from escaping her.

“And why would I do that?” she asked half-jokingly.

“My big sister says that ponies do that to us because they're big meanies, and that's why we have to sing to prevent them from doing awful things to us. That, and our songs make them do stuff for us.”

Make ponies do stuff indeed, Luna mused to herself. However, her thoughts were deeper than that. After all, the little filly had arrived just after Luna had accepted that her once-faithful student was gone, never to return. To most other ponies, such a development may have seemed like an uncanny coincidence. Luna, on the other hoof, was not the type of pony who believed in coincidence.

Slowly, an idea began to take root in her mind.

“Tell me, Sonata,” she said as she lay her back on the ground. "If you are a siren, then why do you look like a pony?”

The blue filly looked around her body in confusion. She took note of her hooves, mane, and her cutie mark. She then looked at herself in the mirror. Finally, she shrugged.

“I got nothing.”

Luna smirked.

“So, there is no way for you to show that you are a siren?”

Sonata frowned and shook her head.

“Well, Sonata, since I have no evidence that you are an ancient magic sea monster, I cannot banish you.”

The filly grinned and began to skip around joyfully.

“I'm not gonna be banished! I'm not gonna be sent to a dungeon! I'm not gonna be banished to a moon dungeon!”

“And what are you going to do now?”

As soon as Luna spoke, Sonata immediately stopped rejoicing.

“I... um... well…”

“Do you not have anypony whom you can turn to?”

Sonata's eyes began to water, causing Luna to wince. She hadn't intended to hurt her, and yet it seemed that she'd gone a bit too far in pushing Sonata.

Note to self: Do not repeat mistakes made with Cadence.

She opened her wing and gently draped it over Sonata.

“Child, do not despair. As a princess of Equestria, I shall do what I can to help you.”

While Sonata did not stop crying, she seemed to cheer up slightly.

“For realzies?”

Although slightly taken by surprise by the filly's strange expression, Luna quickly composed herself.

“Yes, Sonata.”

“Th-thank you, Princess,” Sonata said, her tone showing plenty of gratitude.

Luna smiled. She had no intention of letting any child suffer, no matter who or what they had been in the past.

With that said, there was one possibility that intrigued Luna more than anything else.

“Sonata, would you like to see something?”





The object in question was a huge purple boulder-like object. It had a few spots of darker purple, though it was otherwise unimpressive apart from its size. As Sonata stared at it, she wondered what was so important about it.

“Well, it's... A big rock,” she said finally.

“It is not a rock,” said Luna. “It is a dragon egg.”

Sonata gasped and hid behind Luna.

“Is it going to eat us?”

“Fear not,” said Luna. “It cannot hatch without somepony to give it magic.”

“Oh,” said Sonata. “So, who's gonna hatch it?”

“You are.”

Sonata's eyes went wide at this.

“You want me... to hatch a dragon egg?!”

“That's right.”

The shocked filly stared at the egg blankly for a moment.

“But I don't have a horn! I can't do any fancy magic whatchamacallits!”

Luna couldn't help but giggle at Sonata's comment.

“All ponies have magic, Sonata, not just unicorns and alicorns. Pegasi manipulate the weather, moving clouds and creating winds. Earth ponies infuse the soil with the essence of life with every touch of their hooves, allowing them to grow food for ponies all across our nation.

“And there are many other kinds of magical talent that ponies have. Party ponies, for example, have their own distinct brand of magic that manifests itself in its own unique way.”

“Oh,” said Sonata. “So, since I'm an earth pony now, do I refuse it with my hooves or something?”

“Actually,” said Luna, “I want you to sing.”

For a moment, there was silence.

“You want me to sing to it?” Sonata asked, a slight hint of worry in her voice.

“Yes,” said Luna. “Did you not say that you were a siren?”

“But I can't sing without my pendant!”

Luna raised an eyebrow.

“Your pendant?”

“I had a pendant that helped me sing,” Sonata explained. “But I lost it when... I came here.”

For a moment, Luna considered what Sonata was saying. She then smiled as she looked down towards her.

“I do not believe you actually need this pendant, Sonata. I would think that it is merely an instrument used to focus your magic. However, true magic does not need any amulets to work, for it comes from the heart.”

Sonata looked at Luna, a small amount of confidence building.

“So, you think I can hatch that egg if I sing to it?”

“You will never know unless you try.”

Reassured by Luna's words, Sonata took a few anxious steps towards the egg. Then she opened her mouth and began to sing.

It was a slow, heartfelt song Sonata remembered having heard long ago. It had been a song she had always heard upon waking up, to face a new, glorious day. And as she sung, memories flooded her mind.

She remembered her earliest days, learning how to swim alongside her sisters.

She remembered her first song, and how proud she’d felt.

She remembered the day she’d lost the one who was most important to her.

She remembered how ponies had flocked to her and her sisters, adoring them and giving them all the energy they needed to survive.

She remembered being forcibly ripped away from Equestria, sent to a strange new land without any magic.

She remembered...

Before she knew what was happening, she heard a crack.

“Well, Sonata. What have we here?”

Sonata looked up to see that the egg was beginning to break apart. Before she could say anything, the eggshell broke apart completely, leaving a small purple dragon with green scales.

“Congratulations, Sonata Dusk. You have successfully hatched your first dragon.”

Sonata felt that she he should have felt proud of her achievement. However, all she could feel was a shiver crawling up her spine.

“My first dragon? You mean I have to hatch more of them?!”

Luna patted Sonata on the back as she lifted the baby dragon towards them.

“Not at all. One dragon is more than sufficient.”

“Oh... okay,” Sonata said uncertainly. “So, now that I hatched that dragon, what happens?”

Luna said nothing. She merely lowered herself to hug Sonata and her dragon. Although confused at first, Sonata quickly began to return the hug.

Meanwhile, the midnight blue alicorn took pride in knowing that her new student had passed her first test.
> Chapter 1: Prophecy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonata bounced along the roads of Canterlot as she approached the Castle. As usual, she had a smile on her face and was singing a merry tune as she strolled across the sunlit path. With her joyful attitude, one would think that a pony like her had many friends.

One would be wrong.

Just as she was about to reach the castle walls, she stopped suddenly. In front of her were a trio of ponies from Luna's school for gifted ponies. Immediately the blue mare's smile vanished as she went quiet.

“Hello, Sonata,” their leader greeted. “I’m holding a little get-together later on and I would be quite honored if you could join us. Luna knows you spend far too much time cooped up in that castle!”

Sonata tried to smile, but her mouth ended up forming a grimace.

“Oh, a party? Sorry, but I'm sort of busy.”

“Darling, you can't be busy all the time,” said the pony. “You need to socialize, talk to other ponies, and make friends!”

That's what Luna always tells me, Sonata thought. “Um, thanks girls, but I really need to go. Princess Luna has a lot to teach me!”

And with that, she ran off as fast as her hooves could carry her. The white unicorn left behind huffed at this.

“I can't believe it! What sort of pony would ever say no to a little party?!”

“Let it go, Rarity,” one of her friends said. “Everypony knows Sonata doesn't make friends.”





Spike carefully held the little box in his claws. While he knew that Sonata wouldn’t want to go to Rarity’s party, that was no reason why he couldn't do so. And with his special gift, he would finally be able to sweep her off her feet and-

BAM!

“Spike! I'm home!”

Sonata looked around, searching for her little dragon. Much to her frustration, he was nowhere to be found.

“Spike? Did you go to one of those parties again?”

When no answer came, Sonata shrugged and closed the door behind her, causing the little purple dragon to fall to the floor.

“Spike! Where were you?”

Having lived with Sonata's eccentricities his whole life, Spike chose to take the most effective course of action and humor her.

“Well, I was reading one of my comic books when I got sucked into an alternate dimension,” he said, making little effort to hide the disappointment he felt upon finding out that his gift had been crushed.

Sonata gasped.

“For realzies? How did you get out?”

“Perhaps you sang a song and pulled him out.”

Sonata and Spike turned in the direction of the voice. There, standing before them, was none other than Princess Luna.

“Princess!” Sonata said as she quickly ran over to hug her, before she stopped herself and bowed down. However, she then felt a hoof on her shoulder.

“You do not have to bow, my faithful student. Here, we are family.”

Hearing this, Sonata quickly rose and smiled sheepishly.

“Um, yes. What do you wish from me, Luna?”

The smile that had adorned Luna's face vanished.

“I have come to discuss a matter of great importance,” said Luna. “Do you remember the story of the two sisters?”

Sonata scratched her chin.

“Let me see if I can remember everything: there were two sister alicorns, the big sister who lifted the sun and the little sister who lifted the moon. Then the little sister got jealous because everypony loved the day and never paid attention to her nights so she went crazy and tried to make the night last forever. But then the big sister took pity on her little sister and absorbed the evil within her sister’s heart and allowed herself to be locked within the sun, so the little sister took control of both the sun and moon. That's how it goes, right?”

Luna nodded, although she was still not smiling.

“That is correct. But tell me, Sonata: does it not seem curious to you that my cutie mark is the moon? And does it not seem equally strange that I raise both the sun and the moon, just as the moon sister did in the story?”

Sonata tilted her head in confusion. She knew that there was a point that her mentor was trying to make, but she couldn't see what it was. However, Spike stepped in to help her.

“Luna is the little sister in the story.”

“Oh,” said Sonata. “But I thought it was just that, a story!”

“All stories have some basis in fact,” said Luna. “And this is a story I have held in my heart for a thousand years. So please sit down so I can tell you everything.”

Obediently, Sonata sat on the ground. Spike did the same, snuggling into her chest. Finally, Luna sat in front of them, and began to speak.

“One thousand years ago, I ruled alongside my sister, Princess Celestia. However, after a time, I realized that everypony adored the bright, warm days that my sister brought forth, and shunned the beautiful starlit nights I created. Over time, I grew to resent my sister, foolishly believing that she hoarded the love and affection of our subjects for herself.

“Little did I know that by filling myself with jealousy, I was allowing something terrible into my heart. All my negative feelings were feeding a darkness more terrible than anything I could ever have imagined. As long as I held on to my hate, I continued to allow the darkness grow within me. And the stronger that darkness grew, the more it controlled my thoughts, leaving less room for love and kindness and replacing it with hate and selfishness.

“Then one fateful night, my jealousy and resentment reached a tipping point. In my mad desire to be adored, I refused to lower the moon. This would have deprived the earth of the life-giving rays of the sun, eventually killing everything. But the darkness within me would not allow me to see this; all I cared about was depriving my subjects of their precious light.

“Celestia tried to reason with me. She begged me to look at what was happening, and to think about the ponies who would suffer as a result of my actions. But the darkness within my heart had consumed me; I turned into a demonic being known as Nightmare Moon.

“Having lost myself completely to the darkness, I vowed to cover Equestria in eternal night. I would do anything to fulfill that goal, even if it meant killing my own sister. And so we battled for supremacy. Even with the advantage of wisdom and age, my sister was unable to prevail against my power.

“However, there was one way to defeat me. There are six magical gems known as the Elements of Harmony. These elements are the most powerful form of magic known to ponykind, and even Nightmare Moon would be powerless if Celestia were to wield them.

“And yet… she didn’t.”

Luna paused for a moment, her mind heavy with her sister’s most unexpected move.

“I don’t know why she took pity on me. I was a selfish, greedy, spiteful sister. If something bad were to happen to me, I deserved it. And yet Celestia chose to remove the darkness from my heart, setting me free from the anger and resentment that had long ago taken me. Yet in doing so, she was consumed by it herself, giving it a new form, one that called itself… Hellfire Sun.”

Luna shuddered as the memory of the terrifying mare swelled to the surface.

“Hellfire Sun then raised the sun, but it was a sun worse than anything Equestria had ever seen. Instead of warm and gentle, it was hot and cruel. If left unchecked, it could burn all of Equestria. And I was powerless to stop it.

“Perhaps Celestia knew this. Perhaps that’s why, just before taking the darkness from me, she left the Elements of Harmony with me. Whatever the case, I was able to use them to… banish my sister to the sun.”

As Luna finished her story, she noticed that Sonata and Spike had moved up next to her and were gently hugging her. Realizing that she had been shedding tears for a while, she quickly conjured a tissue to wipe them away.

“So, that’s why you raise the sun and moon even though you just have a moon cutie mark?” asked Sonata.

“Yes,” said Luna. “Unfortunately, ever since that day, I have been unable to wield the Elements. You see, the Elements of Harmony are powered by the bond that is shared between their wielders. When my sister and I used the elements, we had the bond of family to power them. However, when I turned the elements against her, our bond, and thus our connection to the elements, was broken.”

“So, if Hellfire Sun were to escape from the sun, you would be powerless to stop her, right?” asked Spike.

Luna paused, then answered him. “Yes.”

Sonata felt a shiver crawl down her spine.

“B-but that’s okay, because she’s never going to escape, right?”

Sonata smiled, hoping for her teacher to answer positively. As the seconds passed, however, she was met only with silence, causing her to be gripped by fear once more.

“Please tell me that she’s not gonna escape.”

“I’m afraid that she won’t be trapped forever, Sonata,” said Luna. “Shortly after her banishment, a prophecy was written that stated that on the sunrise of the longest day of the thousandth year after her banishment, the Sun would release its prisoner, and the land will burn.”

Sonata felt herself sinking back into Luna’s embrace.

“Um… didn’t you say that happened one thousand years ago?” Spike asked nervously.

“And when is the longest day?” asked Sonata.

“Two days from now.”

Spike jumped out of Luna’s embrace and ran out the door, screaming. It took all of her willpower for Sonata to not follow him.

“So… Hellfire Sun is returning in two days?”

“At sunrise, yes.”

“And you said you can’t use the elements?”

“If that was the case, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you, Sonata.”

Sonata blinked and scratched her head.

“So… you think I can sing to her and she’ll turn nice?”

Luna chuckled to herself.

“Oh, if only everything in life was so simple,” said Luna. “No, you cannot simply sing Hellfire Sun away. I fear that the only way to stop her is by using the Elements of Harmony.”

For a moment, Sonata thought about what Luna was saying. She then thought about what Luna had said about how the elements had been used by her and her sister together, powered by the bond they shared. She then thought about how Luna had always encouraged her to make friends. It was almost as if she wanted her to form her own bonds, as if-

It was then that the pieces of the puzzle fell together.

“You want me to use the elements?!”

“I was considering that option,” Luna said with a slightly playful tone.

“But I’m not a princess like you! I’m not even a pony! I’m… I’m just a siren who ended up looking like a pony due to some freak accident.”

Luna rolled her eyes.

“Just because you are not technically a pony does not mean you are incapable of wielding the elements, Sonata. You certainly have the magic necessary to activate them, should the need arise. However, there is one thing you must find if you truly wish to utilize the Elements of Harmony to save Equestria.”

“Tacos?”

“Friendship.”

With the exception of Spike’s continuous screaming echoing from outside, there was silence in the castle.

“I have… to make friends.” she stated dumbfoundedly

“Well, there is a small chance that I may be able to find some other way to stop Hellfire Sun,” said Luna. “However, if I fail, it will be up to you to use the Elements to stop her from laying waste to Equestria.”

Sonata felt a drop of sweat make its way down her brow.

“Okay. I just have to… make friends… with ponies… who probably don’t know what a siren is… and would probably freak out when they find out and never talk to me again.”

Luna smiled at Sonata encouragingly.

“Do not despair, my dear student. I promise you, true friends will accept you regardless of what you are. The only one who can stop you from finding true friendship is you.”

Sonata thought for a moment about what her mentor was saying. She thought about everything she’d been through in her long life; she had been banished to another dimension by a unicorn, only to wander for centuries until she was rejected by the only family she’d ever known.

And yet, when she returned to Equestria, she had been accepted by a princess who had gone so far as to take her under her wing, and she’d even managed to hatch a dragon, who looked up to her as some strange combination of mother and older sister.

Finally, her mind was made up.

“I’ll do it.”

Luna beamed at her.

“I’m certain you’ll succeed.”

Even with all her misgivings, Sonata couldn’t help but smile back.
> Chapter 1.5: More Worries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although Sonata had been quite determined to make friends the day before, she was currently having second thoughts about what Luna had told her.

“I don’t know, Spike,” she said as they made their way towards their carriage. “I mean, what will happen when I meet new ponies and I have to tell them about… well, you know?”

“Aw, relax,” said Spike. “I’m totally cool with it.”

“Yeah, but I hatched you!” Sonata pointed out. “You pretty much have to accept me because I’m your big sister slash mother slash mentor slash boss!”

“Yeah, that last one kind of stinks,” Spike deadpanned.

“But seriously, what am I supposed to do? I can’t just go up to somepony and say Hey, guess what? I’m not actually a pony, I’m actually a-”

Before she could say another word, she bumped right into one of the unicorn guards standing next to the carriage.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-”

Her eyes widened as she noticed who the guard was.

“Oh… hi Dusk Shine.”

The lavender unicorn tried to smile as his eyes met hers, causing her to look away as her face turned red.

“So… I heard you’re going to Ponyville,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Sonata. “Princess Luna sent me to check up on, well, stuff.”

“You mean the, um, Summer Sun Celebration and whatnot?”

“Yeah, that.”

The two ponies looked away, trying desperately not to let each other see the redness spreading on their faces. Sonata was pawing at the floor, focusing with great intensity on a patch of soil she was digging up. Dusk, on the other hoof, was paying particular attention to how blue the sky was at this time of day.

“Oh, stop fooling around and kiss already!” Spike yelled, immediately breaking both ponies out of their stupor.

“Oh wow!” said Dusk. “You’d better get going! Ponyville waits for nopony!”

“Yeah!” said Sonata. “I mean, I have so much I need to check up on!”

Before Spike could complain, Sonata tossed him into the carriage and hopped in.

“Get us to Ponyville! And step on it!”





“You know, I still don’t understand why you don’t stop fooling around and ask him out already.”

Sonata sighed as the carriage sped through the air.

“Well, I know he’s cute and everything, but I’m worried! I mean, his big brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard!”

“So?”

“What do you mean so?” yelled Sonata. “What happens if the captain of the royal guard figures out his little brother is dating a singing sea monster?! He’s going to kill me! And then that’s going to ruin his relationship with Princess Snowdrop! And even if that doesn’t happen, how will Dusk Shine react when he finds out I’m a singing sea monster?! He’s gonna freak out and try to kill me! And then that’s gonna make Luna hate him, and that will-”

Before she could continue, Spike pulled something out of his sack.

“Here, Sonata. Eat this.”

“Ooh! Taco!”

Sonata happily grabbed the taco and began to devour it.

“Okay, Sonata. How about you make some friends in Ponyville, and then you can worry about Dusk Shine?”

Sonata sighed, and then looked into the distance, where a quaint little town was just visible in the distance.

“Okay, I’ll try,” she said.

That’s good enough for me.”

The pair sat down in the carriage, enjoying the journey.

“Are we there yet?”
> Chapter 2: Arrival, Attention, Argument, and Awesomeness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“YES!”

After the nine-thousand sixteenth time Sonata had asked, the carriage finally touched down in Ponyville.

“Yay!”

Spike groaned as he stepped out of the carriage. It had been a relatively short trip, but it had felt like it had lasted years.

“Thanks guys,” Sonata told the guards as she stepped out. “You can go back home now!”

The guards sighed out in relief.

“Thank you, Sonata. We will inform the Princess.”

As the guards flew off, Sonata and Spike took in their surroundings. It was a peaceful little village, full of happy ponies going out on their daily business. The houses were idyllic little brick buildings with thatched roofs, and there was a large hall in the middle of the town. In the distance, an orchard full of apple trees could be seen, as well as a large, dark forest.

“Okay,” Spike said. “Let’s get through our preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration so you can meet some ponies, make some friends, and zap Hellfire Sun with the Elements!”

“All right,” Sonata said, holding out a list of things she had to check. However, before she could check anything, she was interrupted by somepony shouting.

“Hold it right there!”

Sonata and Spike stopped in their tracks at the sound of the voice. As they turned, they saw a pink unicorn staring at them. She had short purple hair, with a single streak of light purple. She was wearing a long white cape, gold shoes on her hooves, and a golden earring on her left ear. Most peculiar, however, was the stick with the glowing green tip she was pointing at Sonata.

“You’re a strange one,” she said. “Your magic signature doesn’t match a normal earth pony. And you don’t have party pony hair, so that can’t be it.”

The pony lifted her cape slightly, revealing her cutie mark to be a trio of gems. She then placed her stick under it and pulled out a strange glowing mirror. As she pointed it at Sonata, she frowned.

“Weird. I’ve never seen this kind of magic before. More analysis will be needed to figure this out.”

The unicorn then left without saying a word, leaving Sonata and Spike dumbfounded.

“Well… that happened,” said Spike.

Sonata kept staring as the unicorn disappeared in the distance. She was unnerved by the way she had been staring at her, and by the instruments she had been pointing at her. It was almost as if-

And then her tummy began to rumble.

“Hey, Spike, when was the last time we ate?”

Spike stared at her incredulously.

“Just before we left Canterlot. You can’t seriously be hungry already!”

Sonata ignored Spike and looked at her list. Immediately she smiled as her eyes fell upon one of the items.

“Ooh! Catering! On to Sugarcube Corner!”

She began to bounce away, causing Spike to smack his claw against his face.

“Sonata, do you even know where you’re going?”

“I’m going to check the food and make sure it’s good for eating!”

“And you know where that is?”

Sonata stopped, then blinked. She then looked at the list, trying to find some indication of where she was supposed to go. As she searched, Spike spotted something on the opposite side of the list.

“Um, Sonata, why don’t you flip the list over?”

Sonata blinked, and then turned the page over. To her surprise, she saw a number of drawings of buildings, as well as several labels for the roads and locations.

“A map!” she said. “You’re a genius, Spike!”

Spike rolled his eyes as Sonata walked off.





Spike gasped in exhaustion as they finally reached Sugarcube Corner.

“Whew!” said Sonata. “I had no idea it would be so hard to find!”

“Maybe we would have found it faster if you hadn’t held the map upside down!” Spike yelled.

Sonata chuckled nervously, and then looked towards the building. It was a rather atypical building that had been built to resemble a gingerbread house; the brown tiles on the roof resembled cookies, and the walls looked like they were made of cake. In addition, most of the edges were lined with a white paint that resembled icing.

Just looking at it made Sonata’s mouth water.

“Oh wow,” she said. “Spike, are you seeing this?”

“Huh,” said Spike. “You’d think the ponies around here would have eaten it a long time ago.”

He turned towards Sonata, only to find that she had vanished. Confused, he turned towards Sugarcube Corner and saw a telltale blue tail slipping inside.

Oh boy. This is gonna be Taco Spell all over again, isn't it?

Sighing, he quickly ran inside. As he entered, he saw that Sonata had frozen in place at the sight of the many delicious confections.

“Hello, welcome to Sugarcube Corner. How may I help you?”

Spike looked up at the counter, where a slim yellow stallion with a short orange mane was smiling at the two new customers. Unfortunately, Sonata didn’t seem to notice this, as she was busy staring at the various desserts as saliva dripped from her mouth. Rolling his eyes, the little dragon decided to take over for the moment.

“Hello. We were sent here by Princess Luna to ensure that the catering is appropriate for the festivities.”

“Official royal envoys?!” the pony said in shock. “Sugar Belle!”

Immediately, a pink unicorn with a frizzy purple mane and a cupcake cutie mark ran up to the counter.

“Hello, may I take your order?”

This seemed to snap Sonata out of her trance.

“Food! Quick! Lots of it!”

While slightly surprised by Sonata’s outbreak, Sugar Belle did not lose her composure.

“Of course! We have cupcakes, cookies, muffins, and pies. You should try the muffins. Everypony loves the muffins.”

“Oh wow,” said Sonata. “I’ll have a bit of everything!”

Yep, thought Spike. Just like Taco Spell.

“Coming right up!” Sugar Belle said as she ran off to the kitchen. Less than a minute later, she returned with a plate full of muffins, cupcakes, pies, and cookies. Sonata quickly thanked her and began to eat everything in sight.

“Wow! These muffins are amazing!”

“I told you they were,” said Sugar. “They’re my specialty.”

Sonata stopped for a moment. She was supposed to be making friends, and she knew that getting to know other ponies was an important part of friendship. And Sugar Belle seemed to be willing to talk to her. That was probably a good start.

“Oh… really?” she asked. “So, what else do you do here?”

“Well, I learn from Mr. Cake,” explained Sugar. “I’m his apprentice.”

“Oh,” said Sonata. “I’m an apprentice too!”

“And so am I!”

To Sonata’s surprise, a pink earth pony popped up from behind the table, causing both her and Sugar to yelp.

“Pinkie Pie! I’ve told you not to do that when there are new customers!”

“Oh my gosh, a new customer!”

Sonata suddenly felt her hoof being vigorously shaken.

“I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?”

Sonata stared at the new pony in mild shock. However, she quickly composed herself.

“My name is Sonata Dusk.”

“Hi Sonata! I hope you like the cupcakes! They’re the best thing in the whole wide world!”

Spike felt a shiver crawl down his spine.

“Nah,” said Sonata. “As far as I’m concerned, tacos are the best thing in the universe!”

Pinkie gasped, and slowly narrowed her eyes.

“No food is better than cupcakes.”

“No,” said Sonata, her eyes narrowing as well. “Tacos are the best food.”

Spike stepped backwards. I take it back. This is gonna be even worse than Taco Spell.

“Girls?” said Sugar. “Can’t we all just agree to-”

“NO!”

Intimidated by the new turn of events, Sugar backed away from the table, bumping into Spike as she did so.

“Um… this is gonna be bad, isn’t it?” she asked him.

“Tacos are the best!”

“No! Cupcakes!”

“Well, you're wrong! Nothing is better than tacos!”

“You fool! Tacos can't possibly compare to cupcakes!”

Spike quickly glanced at the two angry mares.

“Oh, you have no idea.”





“I can’t believe some ponies can’t just admit that tacos are the greatest food of all!”

Spike rolled his eyes. Having watched the two determined ponies scream at each other for the better part of an hour, he was eager to get to the next place.

“Okay, let’s see. Next we have to find the weather manager, Night Glider.”

“Did somepony say my name?”

Sonata was broken out of her rant by the voice. However, as she looked around, she was unable to identify its source.

“Boo!”

She then jumped out in shock as a pony appeared right in front of her, causing her to fall into a nearby puddle.

“Aww yeah! I gotcha good!”

Sonata angrily pulled herself out of the puddle, taking a good look at her mysterious attacker. She was a dark blue pegasus with a slicked-back white mane, and her cutie mark seemed to be a crescent moon with two feathers surrounding it.

“Wow! That was awesome!”

Sonata glared at Spike who seemed to be admiring Night Glider.

“I mean, first you were like Somepony said my name! And then Sonata was like Who’s there? And then you came out and went Boo! Then Sonata freaked out and fell over! It was amazing how you could sneak up on us like that!”

“I know,” said Night Glider. “I’m pretty good at sneaking around. You’ll never know I’m coming until I get you! Not to mention I’m the fastest pony I know! All in all, I’m a perfect fit for the Shadowbolts!”

“The Shadowbolts?” Sonata asked, raising an eyebrow. “The most talented and daring pegasi in the Equestrian Royal Guard?”

“Yup!” said Night Glider. “I’m going to shock them with my sweet moves! They won’t be able to deny my awesomeness! And then I’ll become the most awesome pony ever!”

Sonata rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t know about that. I mean, the sky isn’t supposed to have any clouds right now. And you’re a meanie who pushed me into a puddle. The Shadowbolts would never let in anypony as lazy or mean as that.”

“Aw, don’t worry about that,” said Night Glider. “I’ll clear this sky in ten seconds, and then I’ll have you all cleaned up and dry in five more. All in all, I’ll have everything done in fifteen seconds flat.”

Sonata smirked.

“Oh really?” she asked. “Because I somehow doubt anypony can go that fast. Even the Shadowbolts would find that pretty hard.”

Night Glider gave her a determined look.

“You want fast?” she said. “I’ll show you fast. Three, two, one, now!”

And with that, the dark pegasus shot off into the air, leaving a dark blue trail in her wake. She kicked the first could she found as hard as she could, then headed off for another one in the blink of an eye. She then repeated the process on another cloud, then another, and another. She flew so fast that some clouds seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye.

Just as she reached the last remaining cloud, she stopped kicking, and instead pushed the cloud over to Sonata. As soon as she was over the blue mare, she jumped onto the cloud, causing it to dissolve into water. The water then fell on top of Sonata, drenching her from head to toe. Finally, Night Glider spun around her, creating a miniature tornado that sucked out all the moisture.

“Done! Firteen seconds flat!”

“Actually,” said Spike, looking at his pocket watch, “That was closer to fourteen point six seconds!”

“Ha!” said Night Glider. “See? I’m even faster than I claim!”

However, as she turned to Sonata, her eyes widened. She then began to snicker, which ended in her falling over laughing. Curious, Spike took a look, and promptly fell over laughing as well. 

“What’s so funny?” Sonata asked in confusion.

“Oh, you have to see this,” said Spike. He then pulled a mirror out of his bag to show her.

Sonata gasped. Her mane had been thrown out of its usual ponytail and thrown in all directions. Some of it was pointing upwards, while some of it was curled up beyond recognition. Other parts of it were tangled up, and a few strands inexplicably seemed to have a bit of leftover cloud in them.

Sonata took a moment to take all this in… and promptly burst into laughter.

“Oh Spike! I look ridiculous!”

“I know! It’s so crazy!”

Sonata giggled for a moment, before finally calming down. As she did, she looked back up towards Night Glider.

“You know, you're not so bad, Night Glider,” she said.

“You’re cool too, Sonata. And please, call me Glides.”

Sonata smiled. For a moment, she felt like she might finally be able to make friends in Ponyville.

“Oh my gosh,” Glides said suddenly. “I have to go now! I promised my sister I’d take her out for cupcakes today!”

Before anything else could be said, the athletic mare sped off.

“Wait!” Sonata called out. however, she quickly realized that Glides would never hear her.

“I gotta say, that Glides character is pretty cool,” said Spike. “I’ll bet she’ll be a Shadowbolt in no time!”

Sonata said nothing. She merely looked at the floor dejectedly.

I can’t believe it, she thought. That’s two potential friendships I messed up already.
> Chapter 3: Sonata and Spike are Interesting, Apparently
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonata admired the many decorations in the town hall. The elegant ribbons, flowers, and other arrangements enhanced the majesty of the hall, making it a perfect place for a Princess to hold a celebration.

“So beautiful,” Spike said, his voice full of awe.

“Well, I guess it is beautiful,” said Sonata. “I mean, I’ve never been one for fancy stuff, but-”

“Not the decorations. Her.”

Sonata raised an eyebrow in confusion, and turned in the direction that Spike was looking.

“Oh.”

Standing before them was a cream-colored earth pony mare with a light blue mane. She was wearing a purple collar with a red tie and a red flower-shaped hairclip, and her cutie mark was a purple hat. Her eyes were a particularly stunning blue color; looking into them almost felt like looking into the eyes of a begging puppy.

“I don’t get it,” said Sonata.

“Hello,” the pony said. “My name is Coco Pommel. May I help you?”

“Yes,” said Sonata. “We’re here to check the town to ensure that everything is in order for the Summer Sun Celebration, and I think everything here looks perfect!”

“Oh wow, your mane looks awful!” said a voice. “Did you get zapped by a giant bug-zapper or something?”

Sonata looked up in confusion. Standing before her was a peach-colored earth pony with a short green mane and a tennis ball cutie mark.

“Tennis Match!” yelled Coco. “You shouldn't be rude to our guests! Especially if they're important ponies sent by Princess Luna herself!”

“Oh, it's perfectly fine,” said Sonata. “And besides, i just had a bit of an accident. It’s not that bad.”

“But you can’t just go out like that!” said Tennis Match. “Here, let me help you!”

Sonata sighed.

“It’s really not a problem. You don’t have to-”

“Aw, come on! I can totally fix your mane up!”

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” asked Coco. “I mean, I don't mean to be rude, but you aren't exactly-”

“Aw, relax, sis! I can handle a little bit of combing! It's not like I'm going to give her one of your crazy extreme makeovers! And besides, I'm not much help here, so I might as well do something good somewhere else!”

As the two ponies argued, Sonata bit her lip. On one hoof, she wasn’t really in the mood for a makeover, and she certainly didn’t want to have somepony doing her favors. On the other hoof, perhaps it would give her a chance to make a new friend.

“Well, okay,” she said, causing Coco to smile nervously and Tennis Match to giggle in excitement.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I’m sure this is going to be great! Follow me!”

As she galloped away with Sonata in tow, Spike turned back to look at Coco one more time.

“Goodbye my fair lady! I'll return for you someday!”





The two mares and dragon had walked over to a nearby home, one that was covered in purple and blue lace; from a distance, it would not have been hard to confuse it with a dollhouse.

“So, this is your sister's home and boutique?” Sonata asked as Tennis brushed her mane.

“That’s right,” Tennis said as she stroked a few strands of hair back into place. “Not too long ago, Coco was working with this really awful mare who stole designs from other ponies and made her employees work far too hard. Eventually she got tired and quit. Of course, she didn’t have any other plans, and so she was out of a job. Fortunately, our uncle, Filthy Rich, gave her some money so she could start up her own business, and-”

“Filthy Rich?” Sonata said in surprise. “As in, the owner of Barnyard Bargains?”

“The very same! He gave Coco everything she needed to pull herself out of her position, and so she was able to establish herself as a leading fashion expert in Ponyville.”

“Oh, I think she'll be the leader of the whole world,” Spike said, his voice full of adoration. This caused Tennis to giggle.

“Well, that's great for her,” said Sonata. “But what about you? I don't want to be rude, but you and your sister have so little in common! So... what's up with that?”

“Well, I guess I was always the sportster of the two,” explained Tennis. “But we always support each other whenever we're in trouble, and we help each other whenever we can. In fact, Coco donated plenty of money for the construction of Ponyville's tennis courts, so I feel super-obligated to help her back.”

“Is that why you were helping Coco decorate the town hall?” asked Sonata.

“Yup! I may not be able to repay her for her part in building the tennis courts just yet, but until then I can help make her work easier on her.”

“Aw, that's so nice!”

Sonata was pleased with her conversation. It seemed that she and Tennis Match were getting along pretty well. If she was lucky, she might just have a new pony to call a friend.

“What about you?” Tennis asked as she tied Sonata’s mane back into her signature ponytail. “What’s your story?”

“Oh, you know, I’m Princess Luna’s student!”

“Really? That must be so cool! What was it like when you first met her?”

Sonata felt a drop of sweat go down her forehead.

“Oh! Well, it’s kind of a long story!” she said nervously.

“Really? It must be pretty interesting!” said Tennis.

Sonata felt more and more worried.

“Oh, it’s… wait, do you have tacos?”

Tennis briefly stopped brushing Sonata’s mane.

“Why? What do tacos have to do with anything?”

“Oh wow! I just realized I could really go for something to eat!” said Sonata. “I wasted all my lunchtime discussing why tacos are better than cupcakes!”

Tennis stared at her, unsure of how to respond.

“Oh, thanks for doing my mane, Tennis! But I’d better go before I starve! See ya!”

Before the bemused mare could say anything else, Sonata grabbed Spike and ran towards the exit.





An hour later, Sonata and Spike emerged from a nearby Equest-Mex restaurant. Sonata was licking her lips, while Spike was simply groaning while saying something about having too much food.

“Mmm! Those tacos were amazing!”

“Yeah, well you wouldn’t have had to eat so much if you hadn’t been so intent on proving that tacos were better than cupcakes,” said Spike. “Also, you just blew a great opportunity to make a new friend.”

Sonata smacked her face when she realized this.

“Dangit! How am I supposed to use the elements now?!”

“There’s still hope,” said Spike. “Maybe this last pony can become your friend!”

Sonata eyed the list briefly.

“Fluttershy, in charge of music. Located at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“You know, I bet you two will get along great,” said Spike. “I mean, you and her both like music!”

A grin spread across Sonata’s face.

“You’re right! Let’s go, Spike! We’re totally gonna make friends now!”

Spike hopped onto Sonata’s back, and the two sped off.





As the two approached the orchard, Sonata admired the many trees full of juicy red apples. She took a deep breath, taking in the smell of apples that hung in the air.

“So, why does a music expert live on an apple orchard?” asked Spike.

“I dunno,” said Sonata. “Maybe she just loves apples?”

As they approached the house, the door opened, and a large red stallion walked outside.

“Can ah help you?”

“Um, hello,” Sonata said, slightly confused. “We’re looking for Fluttershy?”

“Mah fiancée?”

Oh, Sonata thought. That explains a lot.

“Yes. I’ve been sent by Princess Luna to ensure everything is in order. I was told she is in charge of music?”

“Eeyup,” the stallion replied. “She’s over by the barn.”

“Thank you!” said Sonata. She then began to walk towards the barn.





As Sonata reached the barn, her ears began to perk up. She could hear a sound similar to bird tweets, though it was much more coordinated than anything she'd heard in nature. It was almost as if somepony was instructing them on how they were supposed to tweet.

“Do you hear that, Spike? It's like the bird choirs they have in those cartoons, only they don't fly off when the cage opens!”

“Yeah, something like that,” said Spike. “I wonder if that's Fluttershy's doing?”

As if on cue, a yellow pegasus with a short pink mane walked out of the barn, followed by a large number of birds.

“Okay, everyone! That was a great performance, and I'm sure that the princess will love to hear it! Now, I'm pretty sure all of you are doing your very best, so just make sure to- Is that a baby dragon?!”

Before Spike could react, the mare was standing half an inch away from him, observing him intently.

“Oh my! I've never seen a baby dragon before! You're so cute! I'll bet since you can breathe fire you're all warm and cuddly!”

Sonata stared at the excited pegasus, unsure of how to react. Spike, on the other hoof, seemed to be taking it in stride.

“Well, I prefer to think of myself as strong and graceful. Also, my fire has magical properties, including the ability to send things across vast distances. I usually just use it to send mail, though.”

“Oh my,” said the made. “I didn't know baby dragons could do that!”

“Yeah, we're pretty awesome,” said Spike. “So, I'm guessing you're Fluttershy?”

“Oh, yes!” she said with a gasp. “How rude of me not to have introduced myself!”

“Nah, you're good,” said Spike. “We just wanted to find the pony in charge of the music for the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow and make sure that everything was ready to go.”

“Of course!” said Fluttershy. “My birds are singing quite beautifully today, and I’m sure that the princess is going to love to hear the music!”

Sonata groaned as the two talked with each other, seemingly oblivious to her presence.

“You know,” said Spike, “I’ve never heard of bird choirs before! I mean, I’ve seen comics where the ponies tried to train them, but they always just flew away before they could do anything.”

“Well, I’ve always had a talent for understanding animals,” said Fluttershy. “I guess I’m just able to get them to understand what I want to do better than-”

Their conversation was interrupted when Sonata cleared her throat.

“I’m still here, you know.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she realized that she was being spoken to.

“Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry! I didn’t even realize you were here! I was just so excited to see a baby dragon for the first time and-”

“It’s okay,” Sonata said quickly. “My name is Sonata Dusk. It’s nice to meet you!”

Sonata waited for Fluttershy to respond. However, much to her surprised, she was met with silence.

“You know, I like music too! I’ll bet you’d love to hear some of my songs!”

Once again, she was met with silence.

“I really loved your bird chorus! They sounded absolutely beautiful!”

For a moment, Fluttershy didn’t say anything. Sonata held her breath, hoping for something, anything that would help her establish a bond of friendship.

“That’s… nice.”

Sonata groaned. Once again, her quest for friendship had ended in failure.

“Well, It was nice to talk to you, I guess. Come on, Spike.”

Spike leapt back onto Sonata’s back, and the pair began to walk back towards Ponyville. However, as they walked, Fluttershy quickly joined up with them.

“Wait! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be rude! It’s just that I have trouble talking to ponies!”

Sonata opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by Spike.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. Sonata has trouble talking to ponies too.”

Sonata glared at Spike, while Fluttershy stared in awe.

“Amazing! I’ve always wanted to know more about baby dragons! Please tell me more!”

Spike smiled as the yellow mare approached him.

“Well, I live up in Canterlot Castle, with Sonata and Princess Luna.”

Sonata groaned. Why did it have to be so hard to make friends?





“And since our teeth grow back if they fall out, there’s no real risk to eating gemstones!”

“Oh my!” Fluttershy said in fascination. “I didn’t know dragons could eat gemstones!”

“Yeah, we’re pretty awesome,” said Spike. “I mean, even without our ability to breathe magical fire and resist all manner or magical attacks, we can-”

“Oh, look!” said Sonata. “Is that the library?”

The three stood in front of a large building which seemed to be made out of a large hollowed-out tree; the trunk was large enough to fit several rooms in, as evidenced by the many windows placed along its side. There was a balcony near the roof, and a door at the base. Finally, there was a large sign next to the tree, which identified it as the Golden Oaks Library.

“How did they manage to do that?” she asked. “I mean, I thought the tree would die when you carved its body out.”

“Oh, I think it has something to do with earth pony magic,” said Fluttershy. “They managed to get it to grow in a way that hollowed out the center while leaving the outer trunk intact, thus leaving them with an empty space within which they could create the library.”

“Wow,” said Sonata. “Do you think you could tell me more about that?”

Fluttershy had a slightly apprehensive look on her face.

“I’m not sure about that. I’m not an earth pony, after all.”

“Oh, but I need to know more about it!”

Sonata stared at Fluttershy with her most pleading eyes. She just had to get her to open up. If she didn’t then she would never have any friends, and then she wouldn’t be able to use the Elements, and then Hellfire Sun would burn everything.

“Well, I guess I do owe you since I was so busy talking to Spike earlier that I forgot about you.”

Sonata grinned.

“Awesomesauce!” Come on, Spike!”

Then, without any warning, she opened the door and tossed Spike in. Fluttershy gasped.

“Doesn’t that hurt poor Spike?!”

“Aw, it’s alright. He’s a dragon. He’s tougher than a week-old taco.”

Fluttershy seemed slightly green at Sonata’s analogy, but said nothing and simply followed her inside.
> Chapter 4: Party Time!... sort of.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike groaned. He had hit the floor face-first, and he was pretty sure he’d chipped a tooth.

Wouldn’t be the first time, he thought ruefully to himself. He then turned to see the two mares entering the building.

“You know, you could at least warn me before tossing me somewhere,” he said angrily.

“I did warn you,” said Sonata. “I said ‘come on, Spike!’”

“That implies you’re going to take me with you, not toss me.”

“It sort of does,” Fluttershy said in agreement.

“Well, I’m sorry for doing that,” said Sonata. “It’s just that it seemed to be quicker, and I really wanted to get to talk to somepony, and Fluttershy’s pretty much the only one around.”

It was at this moment that the lights went on, revealing the interior of the library to be absolutely packed with ponies.

“SURPRISE!!!”

Spike, Sonata, and Fluttershy all jumped into each other in shock. As they took a moment to gather their bearings, they saw that the interior of the library was decorated with streamers, balloons, and even a disco ball. In addition, there were a few tables set up with cupcakes, candies, chips, and other assorted snacks, as well as a large bowl of punch.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” said a pink unicorn. As Sonata lay eyes on her, she realized that it was the mare from Sugarcube Corner, Sugar Belle.

“Umm… hi...” she said uncertainly. “What exactly is this for?”

“Duh! It's for you, silly filly!”

The other Sugarcube pony, Pinkie Pie, bounced up to Sonata.

“I know you don't believe in the majesty of the cupcake, but you're still new here, so I have to throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party! I mean, I love to throw parties, and you look like you need a party, so why not? Plus, since you're new here, you probably don't know that many ponies here, so maybe this will help you make friends!”

As soon as she stopped talking, Pinkie gave Sonata her biggest grin, hoping that she would be happy about having a party thrown in her honor. The blue mare, on the other hoof, seemed too overwhelmed to answer.

“Pinkie, I think you broke her,” said Sugar.

“Aww, she'll snap out of it sooner or later. I gotta go make more punch, though, so keep an eye on her!”

With that, the pink party pony bounced away, leaving Sugar to deal with Sonata.

“Oh Pinkie,” she said with a small smile on her face. “Always so determined to make everypony smile.”

She then turned to Sonata, who was still staring wordlessly at the sight of the party.

“I'm sorry if this is all a bit overwhelming for you. I know that Pinkie does these crazy things, but she always means well. In fact, I was actually the one who thought of throwing parties like this to welcome newcomers to our town. I thought that they'd enjoy having the chance to introduce themselves to everypony and-”

“Omigosh, it's party time!”

Before anypony could say another word, Sonata had zipped to the tables, where she was busy eating as many treats as she could.

“Oh wow, these cookies are delicious! Ooh, is that kettle corn? Ah, jelly beans!”

Sugar watched in amazement as Sonata wolfed down a variety of sugary snacks. Spike walked up to her, followed closely by Fluttershy.

“Yeah, that's Sonata. You never know what she's gonna do next.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy, grimacing as Sonata ate. “I hope she doesn't get a tummy ache.”

“Well, maybe she's like Pinkie,” said Sugar. “I mean, she eats like this every day and she's never had problems before.”

As they discussed the matter amongst themselves, Sonata had encountered a slight problem.

“Are you kidding me?! No tacos?! This is an outrage! No party should ever be without tacos! And besides, what's the point of having a hot sauce bottle if there aren't any tacos?!”

She grabbed the bottle, glaring at it as if it were the sole cause of her current predicament. However, as quickly as her anger had come, it dissipated.

“Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers!”

She then grabbed a nearby cupcake and poured a generous amount of sauce onto it. Once this was done, she tossed it into the air and swallowed it in one gulp.

“Eh, not tacos, but it'll do for now.”

“Whoa! That was hardcore!”

Sonata turned her head in the direction of the voice. To her surprise, she saw two of the ponies she'd met earlier: Night Glider and Tennis Match.

“Hey Glides! Hey Tennis! What brings you here?”

“We heard Pinkie was holding a welcome party,” explained Tennis. “We wanted to check it out, since Pinkie always throws the best parties. Although I gotta admit I wasn't expecting you to be the guest of honor!”

“In hindsight, it probably should have been obvious,” said Glides. “I mean, it was a welcoming party, and you're the newest pony in town. Of course she was going to throw you a party sooner or later!”

“And did you seriously just eat a cupcake covered in hot sauce?” Tennis asked in awe. “Do you have any idea how awesome that is?”

“Eh, it was just a cupcake,” said Sonata. “You know what's really awesome? Tacos!”

“Oh, yes. You should have seen her when she met Pinkie earlier today. They got into a crazy argument about whether or not tacos were better than cupcakes!”

The three mares turned to see Sugar walking towards them, with Fluttershy and Spike in tow.

“You're kidding!” Glides said in amazement. “Nopony ever argues with Pinkie Pie over cupcakes! Well, at least not without eventually giving up!”

“Well, she's nuts!” said Sonata. “Cupcakes are great, but no food is better than tacos!”

The other ponies exchanged glances with each other, wondering just what exactly was going through Sonata's mind.

“Well, I guess tacos are... nice,” Fluttershy said finally.

“They're certainly snack-worthy,” added Tennis.

“I like tacos,” said Glides. “Back when I was younger, my brother and I would go out every Tuesday for tacos. Mostly just because they were cheaper on Tuesdays, but it was nice. We still do whenever we get the chance to meet up.”

Sonata grinned as the ponies around her talked. While it had been difficult, it seemed that she'd finally found ponies who could potentially become her friends. Now all she needed was to get to know them a bit better, and she might just be able to use the element. Nothing could possibly ruin this-

“Stop right there!”

Sonata turned around at the sound of the voice. To her surprise, she saw the same purple unicorn who she'd met upon reaching Ponyville staring at her. What surprised Sonata the most, however, was the strange goggles she was wearing over her eyes; they had all sorts of devices attached to them, and the blue lenses were glowing with some form of magic.

“Um, hello?” Sonata began uncertainly.

“Aren't you that weird unicorn from before?” asked Spike.

“You've met Amethyst Star?” Sugar Belle asked in surprise.

“Wow, I hope she didn't get to her already,” muttered Glides. “She is so weird.”

“Don't say that!” said Fluttershy. “Amethyst may be a bit strange, but that's no reason to-”

“Stop fooling around, faker! I have you now!”

For a moment, the entire library went silent. Even the music had stopped, interrupted by Pinkie's dragging of the needle across the current record. Everypony in the building was staring either at Amethyst, who was glaring at her target, or Sonata, whose eye was twitching at the angry unicorn's accusation.

“Forget what I said,” Fluttershy whispered quickly. “ She is weird.”

“Yeah, that's right,” said Amethyst. “I don't know if you've come to invade, infiltrate, or what, but I will not allow you to fulfill any of your nefarious plans! So you can consider this your first and only warning: leave now or you will-”

Amethyst was then interrupted when Glides landed right in front of her.

“Hey! Stop that! You're scaring her!”

Glides then gestured towards Sonata, who was cowering under the table. Her eyes were open wide, and tears were gathering beneath them. Amethyst was surprised by her reaction, but quickly composed herself.

“Well, there's always the possibility that she's just using her physical appearance to make us sympathize with her, just so she can-”

“Oh, will you shut it already?!”

Amethyst was taken by surprise when Spike leapt up to face her.

“Will you stop getting into Sonata's face like that?! She's not evil! I've lived with her my whole life, and in all the time I've known her, she's never intentionally hurt anypony!”

Spike paused to think about how much emphasis could be placed on the word “intentionally.” Before he could say anything else, however, several more ponies jumped in to defend Sonata.

“What is wrong with you?!” yelled Sugar. "You think it's funny to walk in to a party and accuse somepony of being a monster?! Well it's not!"

“Yeah!” said Tennis. “And besides, this is supposed to be Sonata's party! She's supposed to be enjoying it, not cowering under the table in terror!”

“So stop ruining her fun and go away!” said Fluttershy. She then quickly added “I mean, if you don't mind.”

Amethyst gritted her teeth as the four mares and one dragon glared at her. She then turned around and began to walk away.

“Fine. I'll leave. Just don't come crying to me when she starts to take over the world!”

As she walked out the door, the music resumed, and ponies began to party once again, although this time they were murmuring amongst themselves about Amethyst's strange outburst. Spike was particularly irritated by the recent turn of events.

“Gee, what's her problem, anyway?”

“Beats me,” said Sugar. “She's always going on about shadow organizations and alien races threatening our lives. Most of us don't listen anymore, 'cause she's loco in the coco.”

She quickly turned to Tennis and said, “Don't tell your sister I said that.”

“What she doesn't know won't hurt her.”

“But yes," said Fluttershy. "She is quite strange.”

“Totally,” said Glides. “Are you okay, Sonata?”

Glides waited for a moment, only to be met with silence. Confused, she and the others looked under the table, only to find that nopony was there.

“Where did she go?” asked Tennis.





Eight hours later, Spike tapped the wood bedframe one more time.

“Come on, Sonata. Amethyst Star’s been gone for hours!”

“And how do you know she won’t be back?!” a voice yelled from beneath the bed. “She’s probably waiting for me just outside the library! Then, the moment I walk out, she’s gonna jump me and take me to her underground lab where she’ll do awful experiments on me!”

Spike groaned as the other four mares entered the library.

“Still not coming out?” asked Glides.

“She thinks Amethyst is gonna drag her underground and do experiments on her,” said Spike.

“Aw, that’s silly!” said Sugar. “Amethyst may be crazy, but she’s not a mad scientist!”

“Actually,  she sort of is,” said Tennis. “Either that or she has one working for her to produce all those crazy gizmos.”

“But she’d never try to experiment on anypony!” said Fluttershy. “I mean… probably!”

“Not helping!” Sonata said from under the bed.

“Come on, Sonata!” said Spike. “You can’t hide under the bed forever! And besides, Luna told you that you have to make friends, otherwise Hel-”

Before Spike could continue, Sonata had jumped out from beneath the bed and wrapped her forelegs around him, with one hoof particularly tight around his mouth.

“You’re right, Spike! Princess Luna told me to make friends and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!”

She then gave a quick smile to the four mares who had gathered in her room. They in turn stared at her for a moment, slightly confused.

“So… Luna sent you here to make friends?” asked Tennis.

“But why?” asked Glides. “Don’t you have any friends in Canterlot?”

“Nah,” said Spike. “She’s afraid that everypony else will hate her when she-”

“SPIKE!!!”

“Oops,” Spike said as he grew red.

“Wow,” said Sugar. “That’s so sad! I mean, I can’t imagine what it’s not like to not have any friends!”

“Well,” said Fluttershy, “I used to be all alone when I was a filly at school. It was really sad. But then I met this really nice filly named Rainbow Dash, and she’s been my best friend ever since! I mean, I still have trouble talking to ponies sometimes, but having friends is never bad!”

“Yeah!” said Glides. “And what makes you think that ponies would hate you anyway?”

Sonata bit her lip. Even if the ponies around her seemed friendly enough, she was still hesitant to tell them about her true self.

“Well, it’s sort of a long story,” she said. “And I don’t know if we have that much time for it.”

“Aw, come on!” said Glides. “We’ve got plenty of time for a story!”

“Except that the Summer Sun Celebration is about to start!” said Sugar. “We need to get going right now so we don’t miss anything!”

“Eh, we can bear to miss a few minutes of that,” said Tennis.

Everypony stared at her as if she’d just suggested that they go out and blow up a hospital.

“What?” she asked. “I saw Luna raise the sun when I was in Manehattan a few years back.”

“Yeah, but the rest of us might not have been so lucky!” Fluttershy protested.

“Eh, it’s kind of overrated,” said Tennis. “What makes you think that this Summer Sun Celebration is gonna be any more exciting than that one?”

It was at that moment, as if destiny had a sick sense of humor, that the night sky outside suddenly turned bright. But it wasn’t merely as bright as a summer day; it seemed far more radiant, and much harsher than usual. In addition, the cool air coming in from the window turned hot, as if it were not a window but the door to an oven that had been opened.

Even though only Sonata and Spike knew exactly what was going on, everypony could tell that something was very wrong.

“Oh my gosh, Tennis!” yelled Sugar. “You jinxed it!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault the sun decided to go crazy today!” said Tennis. “Hey, Sonata, could you go ask the princess what’s going on?”

“Oh no,” said Sonata. “Oh no no no no NO!”

The blue mare galloped out of the room as fast as she could, followed closely by Spike. 

“Just one ‘no’ would have sufficed, you know!” Tennis Match yelled after her as the four mares ran out of the library, hot on Sonata’s tail.
> Chapter 5: Return of a Tyrant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonata struggled not to panic as she looked up into the sky. The sun was hanging above the sky like normal, but it was unlike anything she had seen in her life; unlike other times, when the sun's rays had been warm and kind, it now radiated infernal heat, and it had expanded to encompass half the sky. It was also much redder than usual. All around her, ponies had walked out of their houses, a clear look of confusion and fear on their faces.

“No,” said Sonata. “Why?! I haven’t been able to make any friends yet!”

“Sonata?” asked Glides. “What's wrong?”

Before anypony could say anything else, the sun above them began to flare. To everpony's horror, it ejected a huge mass of plasma, which proceeded to fall towards the ground.

“The horror! The horror!” screamed three random mares with flower cutie marks.

“The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” a young orange pegasus yelled.

“The sun is falling on top of us!” screamed Fluttershy.

“Hey everypony!” shouted a voice which Sonata swore was Pinkie Pie. “Come panic with me!”

As ponies ran screaming in circles, the mass of plasma kept falling towards them. As it fell, however, it seemed to slow down. In addition, it became more distinct; at first it was simply a formless blob, but it slowly grew a pair of wings, four legs, and a distinct head. Slowly, the new limbs expanded outwards, growing longer and thinner, while the horn began to grow a long, sharp horn.

As the figure began to change, ponies stopped running and looked up, curious as to why it was changing. Finally, as it approached the ground, it slowed to a halt, and the fiery surface was dispelled, leaving behind the pitch black body of an alicorn. But instead of dissipating, the fire flowed to the pony's head and bottom, forming a blazing mane and tail.

For a moment, the mare stood still, her eyes closed as everypony stared in terror. Then, her eyes opened, revealing her glowing red eyes and draconic slits.

“Hello, my little ponies. It has been far too long, has it not?”

For a moment, there was silence. The many ponies were staring at the dark, fiery alicorn in abject terror. As they kept staring, the mare gave them a faux-offended look.

“Oh, don’t give me those looks. Surely you know who I am?”

“I know!” said Sugar Belle. “You're some kind of evil sun pony who wants to eat our cutie marks, right?”

The mare glared at her, then created a fireball and flung it in Sugar's general direction, causing her and several other ponies to run away screaming.

“So,” the mare said, her voice laced with rage, “you have all forgotten.”

She then landed in front of a group of ponies and glared at them.

“Do you not remember me?! Has the memory of my reign vanished so easily?!”

Nopony spoke. They were far too terrified to speak.

All except one.

“I do!” yelled Sonata.

The made then vanished in a blazing fireball and reappeared just a few inches away from her.

“Really? Then, pray tell, who am I?”

Sonata shuddered as the infernal mare glared at her, but she managed to retain her composure just long enough to answer.

“Y-you're Hellfire Sun!”

Several ponies gasped in shock, but Hellfire Sun chuckled.

“So, it seems somepony does remember me. But do you know why I’m here?”

This time, Sonata shrunk away, too terrified to speak. Her pupils had shrunken down to pinpricks, and her whole body was shaking. Hellfire Sun rolled her eyes, and then flew up into the sky.

“You may not remember, my little ponies, that a thousand years ago, your beloved Princess Luna fell from grace, consumed by jealousy and resentment. I then came to her, offering her all she wanted in my infinite kindness. For a while, I believed she had accepted my offer, but then, she did the unthinkable and rejected the kindness I had offered her.”

As she spoke, her mane flared up, letting out a terrible wave of heat. Ponies all around ran for cover as she began to scream.

“I offered her everything she ever wanted, and she not only rejected me, but she locked me within the sun for a thousand years!”

As she hung in the air, her anger slowly was replace with something far more ominous; laughter, but not the joyful laughter that Sonata was familiar with. It was a laugh of madness.

“She will pay! She will watch as her precious Equestria burns! THE SUN SHALL BURN IT ALL!!!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!”

The voice caused Hellfire Sun to snap out of her maniacal laughter. Looking down, she noticed a lone purple unicorn pointing a strange metal device at her. Sonata looked as well, and quickly recognized her as Amethyst Star.

“Hellfire Sun, or whatever your name is,” she said. “I’m not going to allow you to hurt anypony! So give up now before I have to stop you!”

Unimpressed, Hellfire Sun gave Amethyst a faux-scared look.

“Oh dear. Some little unicorn thinks she can stop me. Whatever shall I do?”

She then cackled mockingly, causing Amethyst to grit her teeth.

“So, you don’t think I’ve got what it takes?!” she yelled as she aimed her weapon. “Well let’s see who gets the last laugh!”

The weapon began to glow with a blue light as Amethyst pointed it at the mad alicorn, and then fired a beam of blue energy at her. As it hit Hellfire Sun, she did nothing to stop it; she merely watched with mild curiosity, then annoyance, as the energy caused her body to be covered in a thick layer of ice. She kept still, however, even as the ice expanded to cover her whole body.

“Ha! How's that feel, evil wannabe overlord?!”

All around her, ponies cheered. However, cheers turned to shock and horror as the ice burst into flames and melted away, revealing Hellfire Sun to be completely unharmed.

“Is that the best you can do?”

Almost immediately, everypony began to scream and run away, except for Amethyst, whose face showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, she simply seemed rather disappointed.

“Huh. I guess I should have known it wouldn't be so easy.”

“Yes, you should have,” Hellfire Sun deadpanned. “How unfortunate that you won't live to learn from that mistake!”

As she finished, her horn began to glow with dark energy as she pointed it right towards Amethyst.

“ENJOY THE LAST FEW MOMENTS OF YOUR PITIFUL LITTLE LIFE!!!”

A terrible black ray sped towards Amethyst. Before it could reach her, however, she was tackled out of the way by another pony. The area where she had standing just seconds ago was engulfed by darkness before it exploded, leaving behind a large smoking crater.

Amethyst gasped as she turned back towards the crater, more annoyed that she’d been pushed away than grateful that she hadn’t been vaporized. She then looked at the pony who had pushed her out of the way, and was shocked to see Sonata next to her.

“Amy! Why didn’t you dodge?!”

“Okay, three things,” Amethyst said as she gritted her teeth. “First off, I had a plan, which I could have carried out if you hadn’t pushed me. Second, you pushed me! And finally, my name is Amethyst Star, not Amy!”

“Yeah, but Amethyst Star is kind of a mouthful,” said Sonata. “Amy is easier to say!”

Hellfire Sun’s eyes twitched as she watched the two ponies below her arguing.

“It might be easier to say,” said Amethyst. “But my name is Amethyst Star, not Amy!”

“Well, of course it’s not your real name!” said Sonata. “It’s just a nickname!”

“I don’t want a nickname!” yelled Amethyst. “And I don’t even like you!”

“Well, maybe you would like me if you didn’t spend so much time-”

“ENOUGH!!!”

The two bickering ponies immediately shut their mouths and turned their gazes towards Hellfire Sun.

“I’m not going to give up on my plans to destroy all of Equestria just because of a pair of fillies are bickering over somepony’s name! In fact, I’m just going to have to burn your precious little village down first! And I’ll start by killing you two!”

Sonata’s eyes widened as Hellfire Sun’s horn began to glow with heat. But her fear was briefly replaced by surprise when Fluttershy flew between them, holding her hooves out in defiance.

“No!” she yelled out. “I won’t let you hurt them!”

The fiery alicorn briefly powered her horn down at the mare’s words.

“Really?” she asked. “Are you truly willing to let yourself be killed for their sake?”

Fluttershy briefly shivered at the idea of being killed by the evil mare; of never again being held in Big Macintosh’s hooves, or singing with her bird choirs, or taking care of her adorable little animals.

However, she took a deep breath and held her ground.

“You stay away from them.”

Hellfire Sun stared at the yellow pegasus, unable to understand why she was so willing to die for another’s sake. Her bewilderment only grew as a baby dragon, a dark blue pegasus, a pink unicorn, and a peach-colored earth pony joined them.

“We’re not going to let you hurt anypony else, Hellfire Sun!” yelled the blue pegasus.

The evil mare was silent for a brief moment as she regarded the six ponies and their little dragon standing together. Then, she began to laugh as she gathered a huge ball of fire at the tip of her horn.

“Did you really think that I’d be intimidated by your willingness to die together?! Ha! Such heroic nonsense!”

She then flung the fireball straight towards the ponies. She could hear a number of ponies screaming in the background, but she paid them no notice. All she cared about was ending the miserable little ponies who had dared to stand up to her. But before the fireball could reach them, something amazing happened.

A huge dome of blue energy surrounded the group, protecting them as the fireball exploded around them. Hellfire Sun watched in shock as the smoke dissipated, leaving behind six unscathed mares and one baby dragon. However, her shock quickly gave way to anger as she realized who had made the dome appear.

“So… you’ve finally decided to show yourself, Princess.”

There was a flash of light, and a dark blue alicorn appeared in front of the group. Sonata gasped as she looked up to see her.

“Princess! What are you doing here?!”

Luna did not reply; instead, she looked up towards Hellfire Sun.

“Do not think for one second that you will succeed,” she said. “I was able to defeat you once, and I can do so again! You will not harm Equestria, or any of my little ponies!”

As Luna spoke, she took a defiant stance, and her horn began to glow with blue magic. Hellfire Sun did not back down, however; instead, she smirked at Luna.

“Well, if you believe yourself to be capable of besting me, then be my guest. However, you no doubt remember that the last time we fought, I was able to defeat you quite easily. And you don't seem to be carrying the Elements of Harmony either, so that takes out the possibility of using those either. So how exactly do you plan to fight me?”

Luna did not say anything, but kept channeling magic into her horn. As she did, Hellfire Sun began to charge her own magic, preparing to strike back. Finally, Luna’s horn gave off a blinding flash of light.

“So be it!” yelled Hellfire Sun. “Prepare to burn!”

She then fired her dark magic directly towards Luna. However, before the magic could reach her, she vanished into thin air, along with the six ponies and dragon. The area where they had been standing just seconds ago was vaporized, leaving behind a smoking crater.

Hellfire Sun gaped at the crater, dumbfounded by her enemy's disappearance. The ponies beneath her also stared at the crater, fearing the worst.

However, they were quickly broken out of their trance when the fiery alicorn screamed in rage.

“I WILL MOUNT YOUR HEAD ABOVE THE THRONE WHEN I AM THROUGH WITH YOU!!!”





Sonata yelped as she fell onto the floor. Taking a moment to gather her bearings, she looked around to try to identify her location.

“Wow,” she said. “This place is kinda neat! A bit weird, but neat!”

All around her, there were several colorful striped masks, as well as a large number of steaming pots containing a variety of colorful liquids. The walls were covered with shelves, each of which held pots, books, or vials containing all sorts of exotic plants. However, what intrigued her the most was the strange individual who was talking to Princess Luna.

“Oh Princess! This situation is most dire! It seems as if the sky is on fire!”

Sonata looked at the mare; she had the build of an earth pony, but her mane was much straighter than normal, and her body was covered in stripes. She was wearing a number of golden rings around her legs, neck, and ears, and her tail had very little hair, except for the tip.

“I am keenly aware of our current situation, Zecora,” said Luna. “You know as well as I do what’s at stake, and why I must ask that you inform these subjects of mine while I go-”

“Wait just one moment, Princess,” Sonata interrupted. “You know this pony?”

“Technically, she is a zebra,” said Luna. “But yes. She is an old friend of mine.”

“You must be Sonata, Luna’s student,” said Zecora. “I only wish we could have met when danger was not imminent.”

“Indeed,” said Luna. “Zecora is one of the few who knows as much about the Elements of Harmony as I do. That is why I have brought you and the others here, Sonata.”

At the mention of the other ponies, Sonata realized that she had yet to hear them say anything since they had been warped into the hut. She turned around and saw that the mares were all huddled in the back of the hut, while Fluttershy was clutching Spike tightly.

“What’s wrong, girls?”

“What's wrong?!” said Glides. “You’re talking to Zecora!”

“She’s weird!” said Tennis. “She comes into town once a month, and she just paws at the ground!”

“Plus, she lives in the Everfree forest!” said Sugar. “Everypony knows that place is unnatural!”

“She’s scary!” squeaked Fluttershy.

“Enough!” said Princess Luna, causing them to stand up in shock. “This sort of behavior is unacceptable! Zecora is one of my most trustworthy friends, and I do not approve of anypony who would refuse to accept her based on trivial differences! And even if that were to be ignored, you should not be so concerned about being stuck with the wrong sort of pony when the world is about to burn around you!”

Sugar, Tennis, Glides, and Fluttershy looked down in embarrassment.

“We’re sorry,” Fluttershy said quickly.

“Good,” Spike said as he caught his breath. “I didn’t want you to crush my windpipe while using me as your teddy bear.”

“I’m sorry!” she said again.

Luna smiled in approval. She then nodded as Glides, Sugar, and Tennis each gave their own apology. Then, her gaze fell on Amethyst Star, who was still staring at Zecora skeptically. Sonata noticed this too, and walked up to her.

“Aw, come on, Amy. If Princess Luna says she’s cool, you can definitely trust her, right?”

Sonata reached out with her hoof to pat Amethyst on the back. However, the purple unicorn slapped it away.

“I’ll trust her when I know she’s honest,” she said. “And my name is Amethyst Star.”

She glared as Sonata backed away. However, as she looked away from the blue earth pony, she looked directly into Luna’s eyes.

“Is there a problem, my little pony?”

Even though Amethyst had spent many years training herself not to feel fear or nervousness, even she would feel a chill crawl down her spine at the anger in Princess Luna’s eyes.

“N-none at all, your highness.”

“Good,” Luna said sternly. “I would hate for there to be trouble involving my prized student or my friend.”

The blue alicorn then began to walk towards the door.

“I must go now. I cannot stand idly by while Hellfire Sun lets the sun’s rays burn Equestria down. Zecora will explain what must be done. Good luck.”

With that, she ran outside and spread out her wings.
> Chapter 6: Storytime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the six mares watched Luna fly away, Zecora pulled out several cups and a jug of liquid.

“Before we start, I suggest a drink, for this heat makes it hard to think.”

“Don’t mind if I do!” Tennis said as she grabbed a cup and started drinking. Sonata and Glides quickly followed suit, and Sugar and Fluttershy joined after that. Unsurprisingly, Amethyst seemed reluctant to join in. After a while, though, she too grabbed a cup, though she pulled out her glowing stick and passed it over the liquid inside.

“So, what exactly did the princess mean by ‘what must be done?’” asked Glides.

“Yeah,” said Sugar. “I mean, we’re just ponies. What are we supposed to do?”

“Your worries are understandable, yes,” said Zecora. “But listen and we will make progress.”

“Oh wow!” said Sonata as she finished her drink. “This is some great fruit punch! I’m not so good at making it, though. I always add too much grape juice.”

Zecora chuckled lightly, and then began to speak once more.

“Gather around, you pony folk, for what I tell you is no joke. Centuries ago, when Equestria had just begun, It was not Princess Luna who would raise the sun. She ruled with her sister, Princess Celestia, who was considered the greatest throughout all Equestria.”

“Whoa, whoa,” said Tennis. “Princess Luna had a sister?”

“Yeah, she did,” said Sonata. “It was a really long time ago, though.”

Zecora nodded and continued her story.

“The rays of the sun were welcomed by all, for without it, cold and darkness would fall. However, ponies slept through the night, for the dark gave even the bravest a fright. And so Princess Celestia was beloved by many, but Princess Luna’s admirers were few, if any. Princess Luna was thus left with nopony to care, and jealousy and resentment took over the poor mare.”

Five of the six ponies gasped in shock; the idea of their beloved ruler becoming wicked was a terrifying idea.

“The wickedness of her thoughts attracted darkness to her soon, and one fateful night, she refused to lower the moon. Her sister tried to reason with her, but it was too late; she had become a nightmare. Her power was great and her wrath was infernal, and so she vowed to bring nighttime eternal!”

“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad,” said Glides. “I mean, right now the sun is threatening to burn up all of Equestria. The moon would never do that, right?”

“No,” said Amethyst. “However, without sunlight, all plant life would eventually wither and die, and without them, all animals would eventually starve to death.”

There was a collective shudder all around the table.

“That is indeed, a fate most grim,” said Zecora. “Our chances of survival would be very slim.”

“But if Luna was the one who went evil, then why is she the one ruling over us now, and not her sister?” asked Sugar.

“An important question, if I do say so, but the answer is a secret few of us know. When Celestia fought, she never dared to hurt the one for whom she most cared. And so she chose to bear the sin that Luna had long held within. She took the evil in Luna’s soul and left her spirit pure and whole. But once this selfless act was done, Celestia became… Hellfire Sun.”

As she reached the climax of her story, Zecora filled her cup once more, and drank the contents down. Once this was done, she began to speak once more.

“With her magic alone, Luna could not win, for Hellfire Sun had the vast power of her kin. And so she called upon a greater power, one that could light up her darkest hour. She brought forth the greatest magic of all, the Elements of Harmony, with which she stood tall.”

“Elements of Harmony?”

Sonata looked around to see the other five staring at Zecora in confusion.

“The Elements could defeat villains that nothing else could, for they are the embodiment of all that is good; generosity, for those who could give it all away, loyalty, for those who always vowed to stay. Kindness, for those who never sought strife, honesty, for those who sought the truth in life. Laughter, an undervalued virtue today, for those who gave joy and reasons to play. And these five powers gather around magic, and thus bring an end to all that is tragic. Hellfire was sealed within the sun, and thus the battle was finally won. Thanks to the Elements, Luna prevailed, and ever since then, peace has been held.”

As Zecora came to the end of her tale, she looked around to see how the ponies around her were reacting to the information. Sugar had a contemplative look on her face, as did Amethyst. Glides and Tennis, on the other hoof, seemed to have been fired up by Zecora’s tale. Finally, Sonata and Fluttershy seemed apprehensive.

“So, Luna used the Elements to defeat Hellfire Sun in the past, right?” Sugar asked finally.

“Okay, so she can use them again to save us all!” said Tennis.

Sonata cringed. The fact that Luna couldn’t use the elements was now more urgent than ever before. However, she was worried about how the others would react to the news, so she kept her mouth shut, hoping that somepony would come up with a different objection.

As usual, that pony was Amethyst.

“Just one problem. When Luna flew out, she didn’t seem to be carrying anything with her. I mean, we don’t know what the elements look like, but I think we’d know if she had them.”

The other ponies looked at each other with worried looks.

“Well, maybe she’s gonna go find them?” said Fluttershy.

“Seriously?” said Tennis. “She’s busy fighting against Hellfire Sun! There’s no way she’s gonna be able to get the elements!”

“Well, you know what that means!” said Glides. “We have to go find them ourselves!”

The other ponies, with the exception of Sonata, looked at her incredulously.

“What?!” said Fluttershy.

“Are you crazy?!” said Sugar.

“Hellfire’s out there fighting Luna!” said Tennis. “We can’t just walk out going to look for some magic evil zappers!”

“And even if we were to do that, we would have no idea where to start,” Amethyst pointed out. “Unless any of you know where the Elements are located.”

“If I may be allowed to speak, I may tell you the place to seek.”

Everypony turned towards Zecora, who was now sipping from her cup once more.

“You do?!” Sonata said. “Where?!”

“The castle within the Forest of Everfree. At least, that’s what Luna told me.”

There was a collective gasp.

“We can’t go into the Everfree forest!” said Sugar.

“It’s not natural!” said Tennis.

“And it’s full of monsters!” added Fluttershy. “I don’t want to go!”

“Yeah, well, tough luck,” said Glides. “Have you looked out the window?”

The ponies all took a look out Zecora’s window. To their shock, they were indeed within the Everfree forest.

“Oh,” said Sonata, hoping the others would take her suggestion. “I guess we might as well go look for the elements, since we’re already here and whatnot!”

“NO!” yelled Fluttershy. “It’s too dangerous! We need to get back to Ponyville!”

“Yeah, but that’s where Hellfire Sun and Luna are fighting,” said Sugar. “I get the feeling that it’s not exactly going to be the best place to be at the moment.”

“I think that we should consider the fact that the sun is a lot brighter than usual right now,” said Amethyst. “Therefore, most of the beasts that usually abound in the Everfree forest are probably going to be hiding, since they prefer to be left in darkness.”

“So, it’s a lot safer than usual,” said Sonata. “So we’re probably not gonna be eaten by any horrible monsters!”

“Sounds good to me!” said Glides. “Now let’s get going!”

“Count me in,” said Tennis Match. “It’s pretty much that or wait for Hellfire Sun to burn down Equestria.”

“Well, if you’re going, I guess I’ll go too,” said Sugar. “I don’t want you girls to get in trouble.”

Sonata grinned at the three who had already decided to follow her. However, she then noticed the other two, one of whom looked doubtful, and the other utterly terrified.

“What about you?” she asked.

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

“All right, I’ll go with you guys,” she said. “But only because I want to keep Equestria intact.”

Sonata flinched at her tone.

“Well, that’s fine too, I guess. What about you, Fluttershy?”

The yellow pegasus squeaked in response. As everypony lay eyes on her, she tried to say something, but no words came out of her mouth. Finally, she sighed and hung her head.

“Okay, I’ll go with you.”

Zecora smiled at the six mares.

“It seems you are all ready for your quest. I encourage you all to do your best.”

“Can do!” said Sonata. “Come on Spike!”

Sonata waited for the young dragon to hop onto her back. However, a moment passed without him doing so.

“Spike? Where are you?”

“Um, I don’t think he’s in any condition to make the trip.”

Sonata turned towards Fluttershy, who was pointing her hoof under the table. She then looked down, and was surprised to see him sound asleep.

“Aw, Spikey,” she said. “You’ve spent a really long time awake, haven’t you?”

“You know what you have to do,” said Zecora. “but in the meantime, I shall watch him for you.”

“Thanks, Zecora!” said Sonata. “Alright, girls! Let’s go save the world!”

The small group began to make their way into the forest. However, as Sonata approached the door, she held a hoof on her shoulder. She turned backwards, and cringed at the sight of Amethyst.

“I don’t care if you’re Princess Luna’s student or not,” she warned. “If you try any funny business, you are going to be in some serious trouble.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Sonata. “I won’t be a problem at all! For realzies!”

“You’d better not.”

Sonata kept smiling as Amethyst walked out the door. Once she was certain nopony was watching, however, she grimaced.

Jeez, this pony has issues, she thought to herself. I hope she doesn’t cause too much trouble.

And I really hope she doesn’t figure out my real identity.
> Chapter 7: You Look Familiar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Under normal conditions, the Everfree forest would be so dark that ponies would struggle to see more than a few feet in front of them, even in broad daylight. The predators which inhabited the forest, on the other hoof, found it to be an ideal place to snatch unsuspecting prey. It was just one of the many reasons why ponies avoided the place like the plague.

The fact that the forest was now as bright as an average day in Ponyville was not a good sign.

“Oh wow, it’s hot,” said Sugar.

“No, really?” Glides asked sarcastically.

“Not that I’m complaining, but shouldn’t it be harder to see?” asked Sonata.

“The sun’s radiance has increased massively,” said Amethyst. “If anything, we should be surprised that the leaves above us haven’t burned to a crisp yet.”

“Oh, my,” said Fluttershy. “The poor little animals! They’re going to be so stressed out by all the changes!”

“And all this sunlight is gonna give us skin cancer,” said Tennis. “Seriously, what’s this mare’s problem?”

“She’s crazy,” agreed Glides. “I really hope Luna can handle her. I mean, I know she’s a princess who can raise the sun and moon, but-”

Glides was interrupted as six creatures jumped down from a nearby tree. They were pony-like in shape, though their bodies were covered in a black insectoid exoskeleton, and their eyes were featureless blue orbs. In addition, their mouths were lined with razor sharp teeth, and their legs were full of holes. Although she had never seen them in the flesh, Sonata had read about them in the past and recognized them instantly.

“Changelings!” she yelled out.

“Watch out!” said Amethyst. “They’re shapeshifters! They could turn into any of us!”

“They could turn into any of us!” one of the changelings repeated. However, when everypony turned to see it, they realized that it had turned into a duplicate of Amethyst. As they looked around, they realized that the other changelings had changed to look like Tennis, Sugar, Fluttershy, Sonata, and Glides.

“Whoa!” said Glides. “That is sweet!”

“It won’t be once they lock you up in a cocoon and drain your life!” yelled Amethyst.

“Oh, don’t worry,” her copy said with an ominous smile on its face. “You won’t even notice after the first few-”

Before the duplicate could go any further, Amethyst lunged at it, tackling it into the ground and smacking her hooves into its chest. At the same time, four of the other ponies began to brawl with their own duplicates, punching and kicking wherever they could. One of the six, however, was not so willing to fight.

“Oh my goodness,” said Fluttershy. “I can’t fight! I’m not strong enough to not get hurt! And then I’ll get really badly hurt and maybe even die, and I’ll never get to see Big Mac, or Apple Bloom, or Rainbow Dash, or-”

“Aw, don’t worry about that.”

Fluttershy squeaked as she noticed her duplicate standing mere inches from her with a terrifying smirk on her face.

“You don’t have to worry about your friends,” the changeling said. “We’ll make sure to keep you right next to each other.”

“NO!”

Fluttershy opened her eyes wide and stared into the changeling’s eyes.

“You will not harm my friends or my family!”

The changeling tried to move, but was stuck in place as Fluttershy stared into its eyes. Meanwhile, not too far away, Sonata was trapped in her duplicate’s front hooves. As she struggled to slip out of her grasp, the changeling simply held on tighter, laughing at her futile attempts to escape.

However, while it had managed to keep both of her front hooves restrained, it had no way of knowing what she was truly capable of.

Sonata opened her mouth and began to sing. It was a soft, peaceful melody that Luna had sung to her whenever she had nightmares. At first the changeling simply looked at her in confusion. Then, for reasons beyond its comprehension, it slowly released its grip on her. The blue earth pony smirked and bucked as hard as she could, sending the changeling wilhelm screaming into a nearby tree.

While this was going on, Tennis and Sugar were fighting back-to-back, struggling to maintain an advantage over their opponents.

“Okay,” Sugar said as she tossed a cupcake from her mane. “I don’t want to be mean, but you guys are really getting on my nerves!”

“Yeah! We’re trying to save the world right now, so there’s no reason for you to-”

Tennis stopped talking as she noticed something sticking out of Sugar’s mane.

“Wait a second. Is that…”

Before Sugar could object, Tennis stuck her hoof into the frizzy purple mane and pulled out an object. As it came out, the peach mare smiled excitedly.

“My first tennis racket! I’ve been looking for this for weeks!”

She then looked at Sugar curiously.

“How the hay did it end up there?”

“I dunno,” said Sugar. “I have a lot of things in my mane.”

Before Tennis could comment further, her duplicate lunged at her, baring its changeling teeth. But now the athletic mare was ready; quick as a flash, she raised her racket as she held it in her tail, and slammed it into her duplicate’s face with enough force to send it flying into the same tree as Sonata’s duplicate.

“Wow!” said Sugar. “That was so cool!”

“I know,” Tennis said casually as she slammed her racket into Sugar’s double. “Of course, I’d never be this cool without my trusty tennis racket.”

The double of Sugar landed right next to the other two. Then, Glides landed next to them, slamming her own double against the ground. Amethyst then walked up to them, dragging her own duplicate, who had been tied up with some sort of rope, and laying it next to the others. Finally, Fluttershy’s duplicate backed into the others as it cowered under the pink-maned mare’s gaze. As the six changelings sat together, their disguises vanished, leaving them in their true forms.

“Well, we’re done here,” said Glides. “Let’s go!”

“Not so fast.”

Everypony turned towards Amethyst, who was glaring at the changeling who had been impersonating Fluttershy, and seemed to be the only one in any condition to speak.

“Why were you attacking us?! I know you don't like ponies, but I doubt you're dumb enough to violate the Pony-Changeling peace treaty.”

“These things have a peace treaty with us?” said Glides.

“One which you all broke!” Fluttershy’s counterpart growled, pointing an accusing hoof at the group

“In case you haven't noticed, you're the ones who attacked us!” Amethyst yelled out.

“And who made the sun so bright?! We have no power over it! This is a hostile act by ponykind!”

“What?!” said Amethyst. “No! It's not like that! Ponies aren't the aggressors here!”

“To be fair, though, Hellfire Sun is the one causing this,” said Sonata. “So technically-”

“Don't help them!”

Sonata shut her mouth.

“Alright. Now, can any of you explain why you attacked us?”

As Amethyst waited for a response, Sonata began to observe the changelings once again. She couldn't put her hoof on it, but something about them just felt off. Everything about them looked normal, though; the black exoskeleton, the featureless eyes, the holes in their legs-

The holes in their legs.

Immediately, Sonata reached out to the changeling and grabbed its leg, causing the other ponies to gasp in shock.

“What are you doing?!” yelled Glides.

“They're gonna bite your hoof off!” said Sugar.

“Oh dear!” said Fluttershy.

Sonata ignored them and kept examining the holes in the changeling's leg. Everypony kept watching, hoping it wouldn't attack her.

“When was the last time you fed?”

The others looked at her in confusion.

“Fed?” said Sugar. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Amethyst looked at the hoof Sonata was holding, and quickly understood.

“Changelings usually don't have holes in their legs. Those only appear when they're starving. Changelings with holes in their legs are desperate to feed, but even then they're unlikely to attack ponies.”

“Attack ponies?!” the other four said in shock.

“You mean... They eat us?” Fluttershy asked in terror.

“No,” said Amethyst. “They feed on love.”

The ponies stared at her in confusion.

“Love?” said Glides. “How does that work?”

“Well, all emotions create their own unique magical energy, which together form a spectrum of emotion,” explained Sonata. “Over time, some creatures have naturally evolved to feed on certain wavelengths of the emotional spectrum, including the changelings.”

“Huh,” said Amethyst. “I didn't expect you to know so much about emotional energy.”

You have no idea, Sonata thought to herself. “Yes, well Princess Luna has taught me a lot of stuff.”

“Okay,” said Tennis. “So, what does that tell us about these guys?”

“It means we are hungry!” the lead changeling said, causing the six mares to jump in surprise. “And your princess has sent the sun to burn us! Therefore we have every right to attack you!”

The ponies stared at the changelings, taking their current condition in; they looked tired, sick, and not as threatening as they had before. In fact they were starting to feel sorry for them.

“Is there anything we can do for them?” whispered Glides.

Amethyst stared at her incredulously. But before she could say anything, Sonata spoke up.

“Well, usually they would feed either by taking the form of somepony you loved, or by standing in the vicinity of ponies and absorbing the residual energy. However, if an object is tied to strong emotions and memories, it can also be a source of love energy, although feeding on the energy of non-living objects tends to destroy them.”

“Okay,” said Sugar. “So we need to find somepony who we really love, or get something that reminds us of somepony close to us. Doesn't sound too hard!”

“And you're actually going to do this?”

Everypony turned towards Amethyst, who was staring skeptically at them.

“Well, why shouldn't we?” said Fluttershy. “It's the right thing to do!”

“Why?! They attacked us!”

“They thought we were attacking them,” Sugar pointed out.

“And how do we know they weren't lying?!”

As Amethyst continued to argue with the others, Tennis quietly observed the changelings. She felt terrible knowing that they were starving, and that there was no way that she could help them.

Unless...

She looked at the racket she held in her tail. She had so many memories with it; the day her father had given it to her for her birthday, the day she scored for the first time, the day she got her cutie mark, the day she entered her first tournament...

And then she knew what she needed to do.

“Um, changelings?”

The lead changeling glared at her.

“What do you want?”

For a moment, Tennis hesitated. But the sight of the sickly changelings steeled up her resolve.

“I just... wanted you to have this.” She slowly lay the racket next to the insectoid creatures. Their leader gave it a quizzical look, then leaned forward to sniff it. As it did, it began to smile.

“So much love energy!”

At the sound of the voice, the other ponies stopped arguing and turned back towards the changelings. To their amazement, and Amethyst's horror, they saw them pointing their horns at the tennis racket as some sort of violet mist flowed from it into them. As it did, the racket slowly began to deteriorate, as if it were being exposed to several years’ worth of decay.

“What are they doing?” asked Fluttershy.

“They're feeding!” said Amethyst. “We need to get away!”

“No!”

The ponies turned towards Tennis in surprise.

“Are you crazy?!” yelled Amethyst. “They attacked us!”

“They need our help,” said Tennis. “We shouldn’t deny them just because they attacked us.”

As she watched the changelings feed on the energy in her racket, the holes in their legs were slowly filled in, and they began to perk up. Finally, the energy stopped flowing from the now broken and decayed racket, and the insect like creatures stood up tall and proud.

“Thank you, oh noble and honorable pony!” the leader said. “What is your name?”

“Uh, Tennis Match,” she said, somewhat taken aback by the changeling’s reaction.

“Oh noble and honorable Tennis Match! We shall always remember this generous act!”

The six changelings then saluted her in unison. The peach mare slowly returned the gesture, smiling awkwardly as she did. The changelings nodded, then addressed the rest of the ponies.

“We believed that you had violated the treaty by increasing the heat of the sun in an attempt to burn us to death. This, along with our desperate need for sustenance, led us to attack you. We were wrong, and thus it was our side that broke the treaty. But we are only six changelings, and our actions do not reflect on the general populace of our race. So we shall willfully submit to you and allow justice to be served.”

The six mares watched in shock as the changelings kneeled down in surrender. They then looked at each other, trying to figure out how to react to the sudden turn of events. Finally, Sonata spoke up.

“Um… we’re kind of busy trying to save the world. So, if you promise never to attack any more innocent ponies, we’ll let you go.”

The six changelings looked up, a confused yet happy look on their face.

“We do not understand why you are doing this, ponies. But we are eternally grateful.”

With that, the changelings flew off, leaving the ponies behind to contemplate what had just happened.

“So,” Sugar began. “We just got attacked by changelings, then they almost starved, then Tennis saved them, and now they’ve gone off.”

“I think that’s about it,” said Glides.

“Wow, Luna’s not gonna be happy when she hears about this,” said Sonata. “I mean, this is really gonna mess things up with her and Queen Chrysalis. Not to mention how-”

Any words Sonata had been planning to say died in her throat as she noticed Tennis holding the remains of her racket. She was gently cradling it in her front hooves, and she was clearly struggling to hold back tears.

“Tennis?” she asked in concern. “Are you okay?”

The peach mare slowly lay her tennis racket down. She then smiled as she turned towards the others.

“It’s okay,” she said. “They needed it more than I did.”

The others looked at her, amazed at how willing she had been to give up something that meant so much to her.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” she asked. “We still have to find those elements, right?”

“Oh yeah!” said Sonata. “Let’s go!”

With that, the small group began to walk once again. As they did, however, Sonata noticed that one of their members seemed to trail behind the rest. Slowly, she let the others overtake her and let the last one come near.

“Hey, Amy, are you alright?”

The purple unicorn looked up in surprise. She then glared at Sonata.

“My name is Amethyst. And I am perfectly fine.”

She then walked off, now keeping pace with the others. Sonata frowned at this, and then began to hurry up as well.
> Chapter 8: Cut Off One Head, Two More Shall Take Its Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, how much longer until we get to the castle?” asked Sugar.

“I hope it’s not too long,” whispered Fluttershy. “This forest is so creepy!”

“About half an hour,” said Glides. “I’m pretty sure I could get there on my own if I tried, though.”

“And you’d be leaving us all behind,” Amethyst pointed out. “You need to stick with us.”

“You’d probably go after the elements by yourself too if you were capable of doing so,” Tennis muttered.

“Girls, let’s not get angry at each other,” said Sonata. “After all, we still need to find the elements, so we should at least try to be buddies until then, right?”

Internally, she cringed at what she had just said. Luna had told her she needed to make friends, not pretend to make friends. Still, if there was even the slightest possibility that it would be enough to power the elements, it might just be worth it.

“Whatever,” said Amethyst. “Let’s just get the elements.”

Sonata sighed. Even though she had relatively little experience with friendship, she could tell that Amethyst was a difficult pony to deal with.

As the group walked, the trees began to thin out slightly as they approached a swamp. The light from the sun above them was getting much harsher as the amount of leafy cover above them thinned out.

“Wow,” said Sugar. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the animals around here are gonna like the sun getting all mean and hot like that.”

“Of course not,” said Fluttershy. “They’re accustomed to much darker conditions, and this is likely to be a big shock to them. And while most of them will be trying to hide away to escape the unexpected conditions, they are likely to be more hostile if we accidentally uncover them.”

“Well, we’d better not bump into any of those animals,” said Glides. “Those changelings were annoying enough.”

“Eh, they weren't so bad,” said Tennis. “I mean, they did eat my tennis racket, but they would probably have died without it, so it was for the best.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” said Amethyst. “I still don’t understand why you’d be so willing to give up such a prized artifact to them after they attacked us like that.”

Tennis stopped in her tracks. She then narrowed her eyes as she looked back towards Amethyst.

“Did you not hear what Sonata said?” she asked. “They were starving! I had to help them!”

“And the fact that they were starving simply absolves them  of any guilt for attacking us?” asked Amethyst.

“No, but think of it from their point of view!” said Tennis. “For all they knew, they’d never get another chance to feed again! They had to feed some way!”

As the two ponies argued, Fluttershy’s ears began to pick up something. At first she said nothing, as she was unsure of exactly what it was. However, as the sound slowly became louder, she turned in the direction of the swamp, hoping that it wasn't what she thought it was.

“Well, they could have tried a more diplomatic solution!” said Amethyst. “They're pretty smart, so they could figure something out, right?”

“Maybe they had tried other things!” said Tennis. “Maybe they were out of options and had to resort to attacking us!”

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she realized exactly what was lurking in the water. She gasped as the surface began to bubble, and something began to emerge.

“Um, girls?” she said quietly.

“And besides, they left as soon as they were fed,” said Tennis, unaware of Fluttershy's warning. “If they were really as hostile as you say they are, would they have left that quickly?”

“Girls!”

“I... guess not,” said Amethyst, now sounding less certain. “But can you seriously-”

“GIRLS!!!”

The two ponies immediately stopped talking and looked at Fluttershy.

“What's up, Fluttershy?” said Tennis.

“Oh, nothing,” Fluttershy said nervously. “It's just that your argument is kind of really loud and I think you just WOKE HIM UP!!!”

She pointed a shaky hoof upwards. The other five ponies looked up and all felt the same sinking feeling. Before them stood a massive yellow beast with red spines. It had a long tail and two short legs. But what was truly terrifying were the four snakelike heads protruding from its body.

“Big monster alert!” yelled Sugar.

“It's a hydra!” yelled Sonata. “A real one!”

“I don't care what it is, I say we RUN!” Glides yelled, speeding off

The five ponies followed suit, speeding off as fast as their hooves could carry them, with the hydra in hot pursuit. In spite of its short legs, it was surprisingly fast, easily keeping up with the group. Fluttershy and Glides had jumped into the sky in order to put some distance between themselves and beast, while the others were still struggling to get away.

“Oh come on!” yelled Tennis. “You’re freaking huge! How are six little ponies supposed to fill you up?!”

“It’s probably more angry than hungry right now!” yelled Amethyst. “I say we put some extra distance between us!”

With that, her horn began to glow. She then stopped, turned around, and pulled a device resembling a crossbow from beneath her cape. As quickly as she could, she fired it at the hydra’s heads, releasing a large net which tangled itself into the beast’s faces.

For a moment, it seemed surprised at the presence of the net. However, after a moment, it began to roar and shake its head, trying desperately to remove the object. Satisfied with her work, Amethyst sped off to catch up with the group.

“Wow! That was so cool, Amy!” Sonata said in awe.

“I told you, my name is Amethyst!” the purple unicorn yelled angrily. “And besides, we still need to get away from that thing! So I would really appreciate it if you-”

Whatever the purple unicorn was going to say was interrupted, as the ground beneath them collapsed unexpectedly, causing the four grounded ponies to fall into a hole. Fortunately, Sugar and Amethyst were able to use their magic to slow their descent, so none of them got hurt, even though they all landed in a huge pile at the bottom.

“Ah!” Sonata yelped as somepony landed on top of her. “What just happened?”

“What do you think happened?!” yelled Amethyst. “We fell into a sinkhole!”

“Well, that’s not good,” said Sugar. “How fast can we get out of here?”

Amethyst quickly took a look at the surrounding rock, and prodded it with her hoof. It easily crumbled with the touch of her hoof, causing her to frown.

“The rock here is unstable,” she said. “Climbing up will take time.”

“Really?” said Tennis. “Because I’m guessing that time is one thing we really don’t have right now!”

As she said this, Amethyst and the others looked upwards. Their eyes immediately widened at the sight of the hydra, which had gotten free of the net and was now glaring menacingly at the trapped little morsels.

“Um, that thing has four heads, right?” said Sonata.

“Yeah, I think so,” said Sugar.

“And there are four of us here, right?”

“Yeah,” said Tennis. “One little bite-sized treat for each head.”

“We noticed that!” yelled Amethyst. “Now please calm down! We can figure out a solution if we stay calm and-”

She barely had time to jump as one head lunged towards her and clamped its jaws shut. The other heads shot out towards the other three ponies in a similar manner, each coming very close to their respective prey.

“I don’t think we have much time to figure anything out!” Tennis yelled as she tossed a couple of rocks at the hydra, which only made it angry. 

Sugar was having slightly better luck as she reached into her mane and pulled out a variety of baked goods, which at least managed to distract the hydra. Amethyst had summoned up a magic shield which she had enhanced with one of her devices, although the hydra’s relentless attacking was slowly cracking it. 

Finally, Sonata had begun to sing, which had the effect of confusing the hydra enough for her to dodge it, although she was finding it hard to keep it up.

In its relentless pursuit of the ponies trapped below, the beast had completely forgotten about the two pegasi of the group. They were currently flying right above it, watching as it attempted to devour their companions.

“This is bad!” said Fluttershy. “We need to get them out of here!”

“But how?” asked Glides. “There are two of us, and four of them! We could only get two of them at a time, but then the hydra would have two heads for each of them! And what if the hydra notices us trying to get in there? It’s going to try to attack us!”

Fluttershy bit her lip. If they did not act soon, her friends would be killed. But there was no way to get them out while the hydra was still attacking them.

For a moment, she felt herself quivering with fear. She wanted to run as fast as she could, to never have to deal with terrible monsters ever again, to snuggle in the safety of her beloved Big Mac’s arms.

But then she looked at the ponies in the hole, desperately dodging the monster’s hungry jaws. If she left, she would be abandoning her.

That’s not what Rainbow Dash would do, Fluttershy thought to herself. Even if a monster were to attack me, she’d never leave me behind! She’d fight it even if she didn’t think she had a chance! She’d protect me to the bitter end!

The yellow pegasus closed her eyes, remembering everything her old friend had taught her. She then opened them again and looked down at the hydra.

“Nopony gets left behind!”

Glides turned towards Fluttershy, and was shocked to see a fire in her eyes that they’d never believe could have come from her.

“Glides, get them out of there.”

Before the dark blue mare could say anything, Fluttershy dove towards the beast’s tail and slammed against it at an incredible speed. All four heads immediately screamed and looked upwards at the source of their agony.

“I don’t care how hungry you are, or how much the sun is hurting you! YOU! DO! NOT! HURT! MY! FRIENDS!!!”

None of the four heads paid any attention, simply roaring and chasing after the annoying yellow treat that had dared to attack them. However, the treat in question proved to be a much trickier opponent than they could have predicted, flying up and down and in circles to effortlessly dodge each of the hydra’s attacks. 

At one point, the hydra seemed to have gained the upper claw, cornering the puny creature between its four heads. However, just as they all lunged towards her, she managed to fly out of reach, causing the four heads to smash into each other.

Glides watched in awe as Fluttershy fought the hydra. As much as she wanted to help, she knew she had a job to do. So she quickly flew into the hole, landing right next to Tennis.

“Night Glider express, going up!”

The white-maned mare wrapped her hooves around the peach mare, then flew out as fast as she could. As soon as she landed, she placed Tennis on the ground, then immediately flew back in. She then pulled Sugar out, then Sonata, and finally Amethyst.

“Where’s Fluttershy?!” Sugar asked.

“She’s busy!” Glides yelled. “Run!”

The four ponies didn’t need to be told twice. They immediately ran towards the heavy tree cover, where they were finally able to hide. Meanwhile, Glides flew in the opposite direction, towards the hydra and the pony it was chasing.

“Fluttershy! Let’s get out of here!”

The pink-maned pegasus dodged the beast’s heads one last time, then flew off in the direction of the trees. Glides quickly followed her, leaving the hydra far behind. As they got farther away, it seemed to tire out, and simply roared out in anger. As it gave up, Fluttershy and Glides smiled at each other and gave each other a hoof-bump.

“We did it!” said Fluttershy.

The two pegasi flew past the trees and landed next to the rest of the group. The six mares cheered and hugged each other. However, Amethyst and Sonata quickly broke off and moved backwards, causing the rest of the group to look at them with concern.

“What's wrong?” asked Tennis. “Aren't you two happy that we escaped?”

Sonata didn't answer. She wasn't quite comfortable with being in such close proximity to anypony except Princess Luna, especially since they had only just met. She looked at Amethyst, and noticed that she seemed to be quite uncomfortable with the situation as well.

“I... don't understand,” said Amethyst. “You shouldn’t have been so worried about us. I mean, we’ve only known each other for a few hours. Why would you risk your life to save us?”

“Why not?” asked Fluttershy. “What kind of pony would I be if I just left somepony behind?”

“But you could have gotten killed!” said Amethyst. “If you hadn’t been able to dodge it, you'd be hydra chow!”

“I know,” Fluttershy said as she lay a hoof on Amethyst's shoulder. “But if I hadn't stayed behind, you would be the one who'd be eaten, and we couldn't have that happen either, could we?”

The purple-maned unicorn looked at her uncertainly, then began to smile. It was a nervous one, but it was a start.

“What about you, Sonata?” Fluttershy asked. “Why are you so worried?”

The blue mare looked up to see the others looking at her expectantly. She grimaced for a moment as she thought as hard as she could in hopes of finding a satisfactory answer.

“It’s… not important,” she said finally. “Come on, we need to find the elements.

She then began to walk away, leaving the others to stare at her in confusion. For a moment, none of them spoke. However, after a moment, Glides spoke up.

“Um, Sonata?”

She looked back at the white-maned mare.

“Ya-huh?”

Glides nonchalantly pointed in the opposite direction from where Sonata had been walking.

“The castle is that way.”

Sonata’s eyes widened for a moment. She then grinned sheepishly.

“My bad!”

She quickly began walking in the right direction, trying hard to hide the blush on her face. The other ponies sighed and followed her.
> Chapter 8.5: Meanwhile, Back With Luna...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Luna looked towards the dark alicorn flying above her as she struggled to keep her shield from collapsing under Hellfire Sun’s powerful blasts of dark magic. While she had managed to lure her away from any populated areas, she had tired herself out quite sooner than she expected, while her foe seemed to be relatively unaffected.

“I won’t let you harm my subjects!” she yelled. “You have no place here!”

“Oh, please,” Hellfire Sun said mockingly. “If you truly believed that I have no place here, then why did you call upon me for help?”

Luna shuddered. As hard as she was trying to ignore the dark mare’s words, it was very hard to not feel some guilt for what had happened all those centuries ago. As her will faltered, cracks began to form in her shield.

“I could have given you everything you ever wanted! But you rejected me, and then banished me to the sun for a thousand years!”

Luna yelled out in pain as her shield exploded into a million tiny fragments. She flapped her wings furiously, barely managing to keep herself aloft.

“You think you can take everything away from me?!” Hellfire Sun yelled. “I SHALL BURN EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR!!!”

The blazing mare laughed as she gathered energy into her horn, ready to unleash her deadliest attack yet. Before she could do anything, however, she felt something smash itself into her.

“Agh!”

Luna gasped; she could clearly see a familiar streak of lightning clouds following the object. She then noticed four more streaks flying directly towards her. They then stopped right in front of her, revealing them to be pegasi dressed in black and purple jumpsuits.

“Princess!” one of them said. “We saw that the sun was rising earlier and hotter than usual. We went out to investigate, and we saw you fighting somepony! What is going on?!”

The blue alicorn recognized the stallion as the leader of the Shadowbolts, codenamed Skywalker.

“Commander! You must leave now! You do not stand a chance against her!”

“With all due respect, Princess, you hardly seem to be able to fight her either,” said Skywalker. “And besides, we have all sworn an oath to serve you until the end, no matter what.”

“What about the other guards?” Luna asked.

“They’re not as fast as us,” said Skywalker. “And many of them are busy calming the populace. Some of them may arrive, but it will be a while. Until then, we’re here to help.”

Luna sighed. She knew that there was no way to dissuade the Shadowbolts, and especially Skywalker.

“Just don’t die,” she said as her horn began to glow once more.

Skywalker nodded, and then looked towards the sky to see the one mare who was now dodging Hellfire Sun’s magic. He then turned to address his fellow Shadowbolts.

“All right. Blaze can only dodge that mare for so long before she gets herself killed. Muffins, I want you and Descent to get her out of trouble. Nova, you and I are going to guard Luna. Now let’s go!”

The other Shadowbolts nodded, and the group then flew off towards the shadowy mare. Immediately, two of them split off and headed off in the direction of Luna, white the other two sped towards their reckless companion.

“What’s wrong, ugly?!” Blaze yelled as she dodged Hellfire Sun’s blasts. “You know I’m right here! Are you blind or something?!”

“I WILL MAKE A LANTERN OUT OF YOUR SKULL!!!”

“You can try!” Blaze yelled. However, to her surprise, one of the blasts veered dangerously close to her head, burning a few of the hairs of her mane.

“YOU SHALL PAY, YOU INFERIOR BEASTS!!!”

The black alicorn then opened her mouth, revealing an ominous red glow. Blaze’s eyes widened as a huge ball of fire headed straight towards her. However, before it could hit her, she was pushed away by two of her teammates.

“Whoa! That was so cool!”

“You call that cool?!” yelled one of her companions. “If we hadn’t gotten you out of there, you’d be barbecue!”

“What’s barbecue?” asked the other pegasus. “Is that some sort of griffon thing?”

“Shut up, Muffins!” Blaze yelled. “I could have totally gotten out of there if you and Descent hadn’t pushed me out of there!”

“Well forgive me for not believing you,” said Descent. “But right now we’re trying to save Equestria, not show off!”

“Whatever,” said Blaze. “I’m off!”

And with that, she flew off towards Hellfire Sun, causing Descent to groan.

“Why does she always do this?!” he yelled angrily before he and Muffins flying off towards her.

“Back for more?” the black alicorn said. To her surprise, the other two pegasi joined their companion and flew straight for her. In response, she unleashed another blast of dark magic, only for the pegasi to scatter.

“Catch us if you can!”

The three pegasi began to circle Hellfire Sun, changing direction each time she attempted to fire. She in turn tried to focus on a single target, but their movements made it hard for her to focus on any one target.

“Gotcha!” Muffins yelled as she slammed into the blazing mare. She then flew off once again, before slamming into her a second time. Hellfire Sun screamed and let out a blast of fire from her mouth, only for the speedy pegasus to dodge once more.

“You think you can mock me, fool?!” the angry alicorn yelled. To her surprise, she was then hit by a blast of blue magic.

“Perhaps you should focus on your real opponent!” Luna called out in response. For a moment, she grinned as she shot another load of magic straight towards her. However, as Hellfire Sun took the hit, her mane began to grow in size and brightness.

“THIS ENDS NOW!!!”

She opened her mouth and got ready to unleash a huge burst of flame. Luna’s eyes went wide, and she turned her gaze towards the three Shadowbolts still circling the madmare.

“Get out of there!”

Time seemed to move in slow motion as a massive fireball spread from the enraged alicorn’s mouth. Descent and Muffins seemed to realize the danger just in time, and flew away as quickly as they could. While Descent managed to escape the blaze, Muffins was not so fortunate; a rogue blaze managed to reach her face.

“AGH!”

Temporarily thrown off by the surprise attack, she spiraled out of control. Her teammate quickly flew in her direction, grabbing her just in time to stabilize her.

“Are you okay?” Descent asked quickly, before checking over her. Overall, she seemed to be in good condition; even though the left side of her suit’s face had been burned off, the fur underneath seemed to be relatively unharmed. On the other hoof, there was a disturbingly large amount of smoke coming out from around her left eye. However, before anything could be said, they heard a scream coming from above him. He looked upwards, and gasped in shock.

Perhaps Blaze had been unable to fly fast enough to escape. Perhaps she’d gotten too confident. Whatever the case, she’d taken the full force of the attack.

“BLAZE!!!”

Descent flew upwards, hoping to catch her before she hit the ground. Fortunately, this proved to be unnecessary, as Nova and Skywalker got to her before he did.

“Nova! Take her! I’ll distract the sun demon!”

As Skywalker flew off, Nova brought the injured pegasus down. Descent shuddered as he looked over her; most of her suit had been burned to ashes, and the fur beneath had been incinerated as well. Her entire right side, including both her right legs and her right wing, had suffered from severe, potentially fatal burns.

“She needs medical attention, fast!” said Nova. “Descent, can you get her out of here?”

“Wait! Let me do it!”

Nova jerked her head towards Muffins in surprise. She then gasped as she saw her face; her left eye seemed to be flickering between its normal appearance and a strange metal orb glowing with red light.

“Muffins! Your eye-”

“Got damaged when that psycho tried to kill me,” the mare concluded. “I know, Nova. I’m not blind… yet.”

She chuckled nervously at her own joke, then gently placed the injured mare on her back. As she began to fly back towards Canterlot, Nova couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“Can you imagine what it’s like having those weird eye things?” she asked Descent.

“Not really,” said Descent. “It’s kind of hard when you’re being chased by a crazy fire alicorn of doom!”

Brought back to the present by her teammate’s jab, Nova flew upwards to regroup with Skywalker.

“What’s the status?” she said.

“This mare is tough like you wouldn’t believe,” said Skywalker. He then flew towards Hellfire Sun, who was blasting Luna with dark magic. The blue alicorn was doing her best, but her own spells were having little effect, and her shields were full of cracks.

“Well, what do we do?” asked Descent. “What can we do?”

Skywalker grimaced. For as long as he had been in the Shadowbolts, he had been used to fighting all sorts of threats. Dragons, ursas, and even rogue changelings were just some of the many threats he'd become used to fighting. However, never in all those years had he even imagined fighting a being so powerful that even Princess Luna struggled against it. And that wasn't even taking into consideration the fact that it had seemingly hijacked the sun and was now making it unbearably hot all around Equestria.

But that wouldn't stop the Shadowbolts. Nothing would.

“We keep fighting,” Skywalker said finally. “It's what we always do.”

With a look of grim determination, the three pegasi flew off to rejoin the fight.
> Chapter 9: Bear-y Dangerous
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the small group of ponies moved through the forest, Glides told the others how Fluttershy had faced the Hydra. Sonata was clearly incredibly fascinated, while the others were simply listening politely. Amethyst, however, was looking downwards, evidently lost in thought.

“And then she went whooshing down and stomped that lizard’s tail!”

“Wow!” said Sonata. “Fluttershy! You’re really brave!”

The yellow mare blushed at the compliment.

“Thanks, Sonata. But I was just doing my duty.”

“Well, it wasn’t technically your duty,” said Amethyst as she turned towards Fluttershy. “You could have left us to die and saved yourself.”

“But it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do, would it?”

Amethyst said nothing, but merely looked away

“Should I… have left you with the hydra?”

“No!” Amethyst said quickly. “I’m glad you saved me! It’s just… I’m not used to talking to ponies as selfless as you.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

“What… does that mean?”

“Nothing,” Amethyst said quickly. “I mean, it’s just- wait!”

The group stopped as they noticed her horn glowing ominously. In response, she pulled out her metal wand and pointed it at the large patch of vegetation lying in front of them.

“There’s an ursa minor sleeping right ahead,” she said.

Fluttershy gasped in amazement, but everypony else simply looked at Amethyst in confusion.

“An ursa-your-what-now?” asked Sugar.

“I think ursa is ancient Equestrian for bear,” said Glides.

“Not just any bear,” said Fluttershy. “An ursa minor is a bear made of stars!”

“They tend to be at least the size of a large house,” said Amethyst. “And they spend most of their time asleep. If you wake them up, they get really angry.”

So, let me get this straight,” said Tennis, trying hard to sound calm. “We’re facing a bear big enough to swallow a pony whole, which gets really cranky when they wake up?”

“Is there anything else we ought to know?” asked Glides, nervousness slipping into her voice despite her efforts.

“Well,” said Fluttershy, “It’s still a baby!”

Four sets of pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

“It’s… still a baby?” Sugar said, her voice full of terror.

“Yes,” said Fluttershy. “It’s humongous, but still a baby. Nature is so fascinating!”

The rest of the group stared at her incredulously. They wanted to say something, but nothing could quite express their inability to comprehend Fluttershy’s fascination with a creature that was big enough to swallow a pony whole.

Finally, Amethyst spoke.

“Anyway, the adult is known as an ursa major. If they catch you messing with their baby, you won’t live long enough to regret it. So if you don’t want to get eaten, you should probably follow my lead.”

The others grimaced, but nodded. Satisfied, Amethyst slowly moved forwards, towards a thick wall of trees.

“Since the vegetation seems so much thicker here, it would probably provide much more shade, even in such intense sunlight. Therefore, it seems unlikely that the ursa has awakened, even with the current weather situation.”

Slowly, she pulled a few vines out of the way and vanished into darkness. The others looked at each other hesitantly, worrying about what to do.

“Well, I suppose we should follow her in,” said Sonata. Hesitantly, she lifted the vine out of the way and walked through.

Once inside, she noticed that it was rather dark; not quite as dark as night, but it was still hard to see. She also noticed the slight glimmer of starlight; upon further inspection, she realized it was coming from the body of a huge creature. She shuddered as she looked up, noting that it was even bigger than she had imagined. Its whole body was covered in twinkling stars, some of which formed the distinctive constellation of Ursa Minor. Even more distressing were the huge claws that were just barely poking out of its paws. There was a look of contentment on its face, but even this did not reassure Sonata.

“So, this is what we have to deal with,” she whispered.

“Yes,” Amethyst replied, just barely loud enough for Sonata to hear. “This is our sleeping beauty.”

“It’s so cute!” whispered a third voice. Sonata and Amethyst turned to see who it was, and saw Fluttershy observing the beast. They then saw Glides and Tennis enter the clearing as well. Finally, Sugar made her way inside.

“You know,” said Glides, “It is kind of cute when it’s sleeping like that.”

“Seriously?” asked Tennis. “I would not call that cute at all!”

“Well, we're all set,” said Amethyst. “Now, be very quiet and follow me.”

Slowly, she moved around the giant bear, being very careful not to let her hoofsteps make any noise. The other ponies did the same, slowly and quietly moving their hooves. Meanwhile, the ursa occasionally moved, but did not awaken. At one point, it gave out a huge yawn, displaying its huge, sharp teeth.

“That thing is really not reassuring me,” whispered Glides. “Can we hurry up?”

“Yeah, for realzies!” whimpered Sonata.

“Calm down,” said Amethyst. “We’ll be there before you know it.”

“That big bear is still kind of worrying me,” whispered Sugar.

“Will you calm down?!” Amethyst hissed. “That bear might hear you! Just stay quiet, follow my lead, and nothing bad will-”

It was at that exact moment that Amethyst’s hoof fell into a small hole in the ground.

“Ah!” she yelped, causing the ursa to stir. The other ponies stood still, hoping that it wouldn’t wake up.

“Did you have to do that, Amy?!” Sonata whispered. “Everypony knows that you’re not supposed to say that nothing can-”

“That rule is stupid!” Amethyst hissed. “And besides, I can get my hoof out of this hole just as soon as I-AGH!”

She jerked her hoof out of the ground in pain, causing the others to look at her in concern. She then glanced towards the hole, where a fluffy white rabbit was blowing its tongue at her.

“That thing bit me!”

Before anypony could react, however, they heard a growl coming from behind them. Both the ursa’s eyes were wide open, and it was glaring at the six ponies angrily.

“Um, hello?” Sonata said nervously. “Could you, um, maybe not attack us?”

In response, the Ursa roared.

“Okay, probably not,” she said.

Most of the others backed away in horror as the ursa approached them, enraged by its interrupted rest. Even Fluttershy seemed worried by the huge beast approaching them. Glides, however, was staring at it with a pensive look.

“I think he’s cranky.”

“Oh, really?!” Amethyst yelled. “Wow, I never noticed!”

“For realzies?” said Sonata. “Because I’m pretty sure he woke up because you yelled out when that rabbit bit you.”

“IT’S CALLED SARCASM, YOU NINNYHEAD!!!”

Glides, however, paid them no heed. Instead, she flew straight towards the ursa’s head.

“GLIDES!!!” yelled Sonata.

The giant star bear roared and tried to catch the pegasus in its jaws. However, she easily dodged it and landed right behind the beast’s ears. It attempted to swipe its claws at her, but she managed to evade the attacks once again.

“What are you doing?!” yelled Amethyst. “It’s going to kill you!”

“No, he’s not,” said Glides. “After all, he’s just a baby.”

The pegasus then began to rub her hooves against the ursa’s ear. To everypony’s surprise, it almost immediately stopped roaring.

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Glides. “You don’t have to smash anything just because we woke you up, right?”

As Glides continued to pat the ursa, the other five ponies stared in shock.

“What is she doing?!” whispered Tennis.

“Well, I think she’s trying to calm it down,” said Fluttershy. “And… I think it might be working!”

The group was then surprised once more when Glides began to sing.

“Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head,
“Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed...”

The five ponies stood listening to the lullaby, simultaneously shocked and amazed. Meanwhile, the ursa’s eyelids began to droop.

“Drifting off to sleep, leave another day behind you,
“Drifting off to sleep, let the joyous dreamland find you.
“Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head,
“Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed.”

Soon, the once-fierce beast began to roll up into a ball of twinkling star-fur. Glides kept singing her lullaby until it has completely fallen asleep.

“GLIDES!!!”

The white-maned pegasus suddenly found herself tackled to the ground by her friends. She struggled to breathe as they continued to hug her while rambling about how amazing she had been!

“Girls!” she gasped. “Calm down! The ursa's sleeping!”

The others quickly quieted down and backed away from her, giving her room to breathe and collect herself.

“How did you know that was going to work?” Amethyst whispered in awe.

“Big or not, it's still just a little kid,” explained Glides. “Just like my little sister. Believe me, she taught me a lot about how to deal with little kids.”

Everypony stared at Glides, amazed by what she had said. After a while, Sugar decided to interrupt.

“Um, not to be rude, but we’re still inside that thing’s home. Shouldn’t we be going somewhere where we aren’t going to wake it up?”

Nopony said anything, but there was a silent agreement among them that this was the best course of action. And so they quietly walked around the bear, making sure to check for any holes that they could possibly fall into. Finally, they made it to a small hole at the edge of the thicket where light was pouring in.

“I think that’s the exit!” said Sugar.

Sonata poked at the hole, and then pulled a few vines out of the way.

“Everypony out!”

The opening was just wide enough for a pony to squeeze through. Amethyst went first, using her magic to widen the hole by a slight amount. Glides was next, followed by Sugar, Tennis, and Fluttershy. Finally, Sugar and Amethyst used their magic to hold the hole open while Sonata slided out.

As soon as she had gotten out, the other five smiled at her. They then gathered together in a group hug.

Sonata had never been in a true group hug before. She had been hugged by Luna and Spike, yes, but it had always been more Luna hugging the two of them rather than them all hugging each other. And before she had met Luna, she had never received hugs from her sisters. And yet now, being hugged by the five ponies who had joined her, she felt unbelievably happy to be with her friends.

Friends…

She remembered what Luna had told her. And for the first time, she felt a glimmer of hope that she might be able to wield the Elements of Harmony after all.

“Okay everypony! We still have to find the elements, so let's get moving!”

The group immediately broke off the hug, and then they all began to walk once more. As they did, however, Amethyst said something completely unexpected.

“Hey, Sonata... I'm sorry.”

The blue earth pony stopped in her tracks.

“Sorry? For what?”

“Well, when you came to Ponyville, my instruments picked up on your magic signature, and I noticed that it didn't match up to that of a normal earth pony. That may not have been so bad, except that my first instinct was to suspect you of being some sort of monster pony who was here to brainwash us into slavery, or something.”

Internally, Sonata began to cringe.

“The point is,” Amethyst continued, “I jumped to conclusions. I should have considered that you weren't a threat to anypony, even if you weren't a normal pony. So... I'm sorry.”

Sonata looked downwards for a moment, not quite sure how to answer to that. Her sisters had never felt the need to apologize for anything; if anything, they had been most likely to blame her for anything that happened. In addition, Luna had never done anything that would warrant an apology, and Spike had simply been too young to really need to apologize.

“Um… okay?” she said.

“You accept my apology?”

“Well, yeah, that,” said Sonata.

The two mares smiled at each other, glad to finally be on even terms. The moment was interrupted, however, when Sugar decided to ask a rather pertinent question.

“So, exactly what is up with you and those weird gizmos?”

Amethyst blinked in surprise. For a moment, her eyes seemed unfocused, and she was silent. However, a smile slowly formed on her face as she looked at her friends.

“It’s kind of a secret, but… I guess I can share it with you.”
> Chapter 10: Confessions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, where do I start?”

The six ponies were sitting in a circle around each other, and five of them were looking at Amethyst. She was looking nervous, but willing to speak.

“Well, you have all those weird devices,” said Tennis. “And you said that they told you something about Sonata’s magic or something like that.”

“Actually, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” said Amethyst. “You see, I’m actually a member of the time police.”

“Time police?” asked Fluttershy. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We’re tasked with chasing time-traveling criminals.”

The others stared at Amethyst with a mix of shock and doubt. They then looked at each other, before turning back to the pink unicorn. They all seemed to wish to talk, but nopony seemed to know how to react.

Finally, Sonata said the only thing she could have said in the face of such a revelation.

“For realzies?”

Amethyst sighed.

“Yes, for ‘realzies.’ My father is one too. We travel through time, investigating cases of ponies interfering with the flow of time, trying to change history, and stuff like that.”

The other ponies looked at her, trying to figure out if she was being serious or messing around with them.

“Okay,” Glides said finally. “So, what does have to do with the weird gadgets and whatnot?”

Amethyst smiled and pulled out a few of her gadgets.

“These allow me to tell if a pony is hiding something,” she explained, pointing at the metal wand. “This one’s my sonic screwdriver. It gives me alerts if it detects unusual magic signatures, and, if there’s a match in the database, it informs me of what type it is. It also has plenty of other functions, including opening doors, setting off other devices, and analyzing ambient magic and energy, although it doesn’t work on wood.”

The others nodded in understanding. Amethyst smiled in satisfaction, then pointed to her magic mirror.

“If I come across somepony who I find suspicious, I use the Reveal Mirror. It can analyze magic more thoroughly than the screwdriver, and it can show me how much magic a pony has. In addition, if somepony is hiding behind an illusion, or if they’re a shapeshifter, it can reveal their true form.”

Unnoticed by anypony, Sonata swallowed hard.

“So, yeah. I’m a time cop, and I’ve dealt with a lot of dangerous creatures. A lot of times, they seemed trustworthy, or even friendly. But whenever they thought they’d gained my trust, it was always the same story: they were nothing more than lying, manipulative jerks.”

“So, is that why you never talk to anypony?” asked Glides.

“And why you always seem so grouchy?” Sugar added.

“And why you didn’t like me?” Sonata said quietly, though the others still heard her.

Amethyst sighed as she remembered her latest predicament.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “I’m just not that good at trusting ponies. And I saw that you had an unusual magic signature, and I immediately thought that it had to do with some sort of evil plot to take over the world.”

Sonata stared at Amethyst in amazement. She could hardly believe that she’d just shared so many details of something so very private.

She then thought about her own life; how almost nopony else knew what she truly was. She then thought about how she was scared to tell everypony, out of fear that they’d reject her. She then thought about how these five ponies had been so friendly with her, even though they knew so little about her.

Finally, she made a decision.

“Well, even if you did think that, you still deserve to know the truth.”

Immediately, everypony’s heads turned towards Sonata. Amethyst looked particularly surprised by her statement.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

Sonata sighed as she prepared to tell her story.

“Well, the thing is, my magic signo-whatsitcalled isn’t normal because I’m not a normal pony. In fact, I’m technically not even a pony.”

The other five looked at her in confusion.

Sonata took a deep breath. “The truth is, I was originally a creature called a siren. That’s basically a sort of equinoid fish creature with hypnotic powers that feeds on negative emotions.”

“You mean like... the changelings?” asked Tennis.

“Something like that,” said Sonata. “Except we’re kind of the opposite of changelings, because while they feed on love, we fed on hate and conflict.”

The other ponies looked understandably worried at this revelation, but didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, my sisters and I had magic voices, which we could use for various purposes. However, the thing we were most adept with was our ability to hypnotize ponies. We could make them do whatever we wanted, though we mostly made them fight each other so we could feed on their negative emotions”

“Wow,” said Glides. “That’s messed up.”

“I know,” said Sonata, her voice dipping. “At the time, I never really thought about how we were hurting everypony we encountered. All I knew was that we had to feed, and that was how we did it. But my sisters weren’t like that.”

Sonata sighed as she remembered her life.

“Adagio was the oldest of us, and so she was sort of the leader. She was always the one who had the big plans, and she was the most skilled with her music. Aria was the middle sister, and she was a big meanie. She didn't like anyone, and she went with Adagio because she liked to mess with ponies. I was the youngest one. I didn't have any plans, and I didn't really have a problem with anypony. I just went along with my sisters because I believed in them, and because Adagio was great at obtaining emotional energy for us to feed on.”

“Well, even if you were doing bad things, it's nice that you and your sisters got along,” chirped Fluttershy nervously, eliciting a sigh from Sonata.

“Yeah, I thought so too. Anyway, Adagio eventually came up with a plan to have everypony under our control. I didn't really understand it, but Adagio promised we'd never go hungry again, so I just kinda went along with it.”

“Did your plan fail?” asked Sugar. “Because we aren't being lorded over by a bunch of singing seaponies.”

“Sugar!” Glides hissed angrily. “Don't interrupt Sonata's story!”

“Nah, it's okay,” Sonata said quickly. “And yeah, the plan didn't quite go as expected. Some clever unicorn figured out a way to banish us to another dimension, and stripped us of most of our power in the process.”

“Is that why you look like a normal earth pony?” asked Tennis.

“I don't know,” said Sonata. “When we arrived in that other dimension, we weren't sirens or ponies, but some sort of weird, bipedal ape creatures.”

The other ponies looked at her with an incredulous look on their faces.

“I know,” said Sonata. “It was really weird. But even if we weren't sirens anymore, we soon realized that we each had a magic pendant which contained a small amount of our power within.”

“Huh,” said Amethyst. “That sounds a lot like the cursed amulets I have to deal with on a regular basis.”

“I guess you could say that,” said Sonata. “Of course, even with our pendants, we couldn't control others like we could before. All we could do was induce anger and give suggestions, though that was all we needed to feed. Of course, we never really felt full, and the dimension where we were trapped never felt like home.”

Sonata paused, noting that the other ponies actually seemed to be sorry for her. She wasn't even sure why; hadn't they heard her talk about how she and her sisters had tried to take over Equestria?

“But that wasn’t the worst part. Before all this, we had always had each other’s backs. Yeah, we argued every now and then, but we always managed to resolve our differences eventually. All for tacos, and tacos for all, you know?”

“Actually,” said Amethyst, “It’s-”

“But after we were banished,” said Sonata, oblivious to the interruption, “things… changed.”





While it was not unusual for fights to break out at the bar, it seemed unusually violent tonight. Indeed, at first glance one might think that every single person in the establishment was either arguing or brawling with each other. However, closer inspection revealed three young ladies who were singing at a booth in the corner. They had all covered their heads up with their hoodies, and they were each holding a glowing red gem while they sang. Their voice was mysterious and beautiful, and yet somehow unnerving.

After a few minutes, the singing died down, and the three girls stopped to look down at their gems. One of them scowled and removed her hood, revealing her purple skin and hair.

“Seriously?!” the girl said. “We did all that singing and all we have to show for it are leftovers?!”

“This world does not have magic, Aria,” said a second one as she removed her own hood, showing off her huge orange hairdo. “We can gather energy, but it will be harder, and it won’t be quite as plentiful as in Equestria.”

“I know that, Adagio!” Aria replied in annoyance. “But we wouldn’t have to struggle like this if it hadn’t been for your brilliant plan!”

Adagio clenched her teeth, trying hard to suppress her anger, a task made much harder by the third girl’s comment.

“You think it was brilliant?! Because I thought it was total failure!”

“YOU are a total failure!” Aria retorted.

“Wha- I’m not a failure! I’m a-”

“WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP?!!”

The two immediately stopped their argument and turned to Adagio, who seemed to be one comment away from losing control entirely.

“Now that I have your attention, I’d like to point out that we’re working with very little right now, and so we need to be smart about how we collect and use energy. As long as you two follow my lead, we’ll be able to survive and eventually-”

“Oh, don’t give me that,” Aria growled. We wouldn’t even be in this situation if it weren’t for your leadership! How is this going to be any different?!”

“There are lots of reasons!” Adagio countered. “For one thing, that accursed unicorn isn’t here to banish us again!”

“Oh, sure,” said Aria, rolling her eyes. “Blame it on the unicorn.”

“Um, girls?” Sonata asked nervously. “Should we be arguing like this?”

“Don’t play innocent, Sonata!” yelled Aria. “You’ve never done anything that could help us in any of our plans!”

“But I-”

“Never even tried to create any plans! You just followed us around like a mangy dog!”

Sonata shrunk back at her sister’s voice, earning her a condescending smirk from Aria.





“It only got worse from there,” said Sonata.

The other mares stared in shock as the blue mare closed her eyes, evidently trying to hold back tears.

“A few months after we arrived in the other world, Adagio found a girl who she thought was also from Equestria.”

“Hold up just a second,” said Amethyst. “You mean somepony else got banished to that dimension too?”

“I don't know, said Sonata. “Adagio thought she might have gone there voluntarily. Whatever it was, my sister decided that the mystery girl was the key to getting back to Equestria, so she made a plan to capture her.”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that it was an epic fail,” said Tennis.

“Nah, it was just a fail,” Sonata said, a feeble attempt at bringing a small amount of humor into her story. “But what happened later... was horrible.”





“I can’t believe you two messed up our one chance to get back to Equestria!”

The three former sirens were standing in a dark alleyway, hoping that law enforcement wouldn’t be able to spot them. Adagio and Aria were currently glaring at each other, while Sonata was looking at them both fearfully.

“Oh, sure, it’s our fault that your brilliant plan failed!” yelled Aria. “And besides, if you want to blame anyone, blame Sonata!”

“WHAT?!”

“I told you that this wasn’t the time for tacos!” yelled Aria. “But noooo, you just had to get a taco, didn’t you?!”

“I said I’m sorry!” said Sonata. “I was just so hungry, I couldn’t resist!”

“I always knew you were the worst, but this proves it beyond any doubt!”

“No! I’m not the worst! You a-”

“YOU BOTH ARE!!!”

The two immediately stopped their arguing and turned towards Adagio, whose face bore an expression of pure rage.

“Listen, Sonata! If you had simply followed the plan, we’d be able to trap this girl, figure out where her Equestrian magic was coming from, and we’d finally be able to end our banishment! Instead, you deviated from the plan, and destroyed any chance we had of ever getting back to Equestria!”

Her angry rant earned a scared whimper from Sonata and a smug grin from Aria. But before the purple girl could savor her victory, Adagio grabbed her pendant and pulled her in closer.

“As for you, Aria, you seem to have nothing better to do than to whine about every little problem that we encounter, and question every single decision I make! If you had spent half of that time getting Sonata to stick to the plan, we might have been able to pull it off!”

“Seriously?!” yelled Aria as she pushed Adagio away. “You’re blaming me for Sonata’s failure?!”

“Well, you’re always blaming me for your failures, so why not?”

“At least my failures aren’t caused by a huge brain-sucking hair monster!”

At this, Adagio screamed in rage and lunged at Aria, knocking her to the ground. The purple siren barely had time to recover before her sister began to attack her, grabbing her right pigtail with one hand while punching her in the face with the other. Before she could do too much damage, however, Aria grabbed her hair and pulled her down, slamming her face against the ground. She then lifted herself off the ground and tried to pull her sister up by the hair, only to get punched in the face once more.

Sonata could only watch in horror as her sisters brutally fought each other. Her eyes began to water as she tried to intervene.

“Girls! Please stop it!”

Without any warning, both Adagio and Aria slammed their fists into Sonata’s face, causing her to recoil. They then glared at each other before resuming their fight.

The blue siren stood still for a moment, her mind busy processing what had just happened. Then, the dam broke.

“Fine!” she yelled, tears streaming down her eyes. “I don’t want you either! In fact, I don’t even want to be a siren anymore!”

She then grabbed her pendant and tore it off her neck. The two fighting sisters paused and watched in horror as she threw it onto the ground, shattering it.

“See?! I’m not your sister anymore! I’m just... whatever those weird bald monkeys are!

She then ran out of the alley, her vision blurry from the tears in her eyes. She didn’t know where she was running to, or even where she wanted to go. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be near the other two ever again.





“And after that… I managed to find a way back into Equestria. Then Princess Luna took me in as her student, and that was that.

As Sonata finished her tale, her fellow ponies stared at her in shock. None of them seemed to be able to say anything, so Sonata continued to speak.

“I still don’t understand why it all had to end like that. I mean, we were family! Family doesn’t fight like that! Family sticks together!”

Sonata didn’t even bother to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes.

“I just wanted for us to stay! I didn’t care if we were taking over the world, or just hanging out with each other! We were supposed to do it together!”

After this, Sonata continued to cry, her hooves becoming wet with tears. She didn’t even care about the fact that the others were watching her cry her heart out; All she knew was that her family had fallen apart, and she’d been powerless to stop it.

Gradually, she realized that she was being held by somepony. Slowly she opened, her eyes, and was shocked to see that Glides was now hugging her tightly.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“I think you need somepony to hug you.” she whispered quietly.

Sonata opened her mouth to speak, only for the words to fade when Amethyst joined the hug.

“I’m sorry about your family.”

Sonata had no idea what to say; she just watched with wide eyes as Tennis, Fluttershy, and Sugar all joined the hug.

“But...I’m a siren! I’m an emotion-eating, anger-inducing, hypno-singing sea monster!”

To her surprise, Amethyst chuckled.

“I suppose it’s true you’re not a normal pony, Sonata. But nopony- or siren- should have to watch their family tear itself apart. And in all the time I’ve been with you, I haven’t found any evidence that you’ve been trying to brainwash us, or deceiving us, or trying to mislead us.”

“Of course she’s not trying to be mean to us!” said Sugar. “I mean, what did you think one singing sea monster was going to do? Maybe she could brainwash a school, but she’d be totally unable to do much else!”

Immediately, everypony burst into laughter. For a moment, all their problems seemed far away, and the sorrow that had been gathering in Sonata’s heart was dispelled.

“Thank you, everypony. I… never thought anypony would ever accept me.”

“Oh, come on, Sonata. What are friends for?”

Sonata blinked.

“You think I’m a friend, Amethyst?”

The purple-maned unicorn smiled at her.

“Please… just call me Amy.”

Sonata grinned, while everypony else stared in shock.

“I thought you hated that name!” said Sugar.

She shrugged “Eh, it’s grown on me.”

Sonata could hardly believe it. Just a few hours ago, Amethyst had disliked her intensely. However, she now considered her a friend. And as she looked around, she realized that each of them, who she’d only known for a few hours, were now smiling at her in the same way.

“Everypony… thank you.”

The other ponies smiled.

“You’re welcome,” said Glides. “And remember that we’ll always be here for you when somepony wants to bully you. So don’t let them get to you, because we’ll always be right here for you.”

Sonata smiled, moved by the support her friends were showing. In all her years living as a pony, she had never believed that such a thing would be possible. She’d always believed she’d be shunned for her past. But here she was, with five great new friends who had accepted her for who she was.

She then turned her head in the direction of the old castle with newfound determination in her eyes.

“Come on everypony! We still have to save Equestria!”

Her friends cheered, and together, they began to race towards the castle.
> Chapter 11: Canine... Comedy?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the six ponies marched through the woods, the tall spires of the Castle of the Two Sisters were slowly starting to come into view. As they saw it, they were filled with excitement.

“Girls!” said Sonata. “There’s the castle!”

“Wow!” said Fluttershy. “It’s so big!”

“We’ll get to see it up close really soon!” said Amy. “Now let’s get going!”

It was at that moment that the ground beneath them exploded. The six ponies screamed as a number of large figures burst from beneath the ground. There were a total of nine, and their front paws were bursting with muscles. They were each wearing a collar containing several gemstones, as well as a dirty vest. Their heads varied somewhat in shape, but they were all recognizably canine.

“Ooh!” the largest one said. “Ponies! Ponies find gems! Ponies work in mines to get gems!”

“Diamond Dogs!” yelled Amy. “They’re greedy hoarders who take enslave ponies to mine for gems!”

“Hey!” said Sugar. “That’s really rude!”

“We no rude!” the leader said. “Ponies have lots of gems, but ponies never share gems! We just want fair share!”

“Fair share?!” yelled Tennis. “What have you ever done to deserve any gems?!”

“We no talk with bossy ponies!” yelled the leader. “We take ponies now!”

The dogs slowly began to walk towards the ponies, who readied themselves for a fight. However, Sonata didn’t know if they were capable of taking them on; they were outnumbered, and the diamond dogs, while lacking in brainpower, made up for it in brute strength. True, the ponies had magic and wings on their side, and Sonata might be able to use her voice on one or two, but she wasn’t sure if they had a chance.

“So, you want to take us prisoner?” Sonata yelled, hoping to sound at least somewhat intimidating. Her hopes were quickly dashed as the dogs laughed.

“Pony sound stupid,” said the leader. “Pony should run away!”

“Are you gonna steal our cutie marks?”

Immediately, everypony and dog turned towards Sugar Belle, who had her hoof pointed upwards.

“Why would they want our cutie marks?” asked Glides.

“And how would they even get them off?” asked Tennis.

“Ponies dumb!” the leader of the dogs barked. “We no care about butt marks! We only want work ponies!”

“Oh,” said Sugar. “That’s good. I was worried for a moment.”

The dogs stared at her blankly, while the ponies looked at her uncertainly.

“What you talking about, pony?”

Sugar grinned and reached into her mane.

“Oh, nothing. Just something that happened a long time ago. But compared to that, this will be no biggie.”

Before anyone could react, she threw a barrage of cupcakes out of her mane. The dogs had no time to dodge as the confections flew into their faces, covering their faces with frosting and crumbs.

“Ah!”

“My eyes!”

“Pony attack!”

Sugar smiled as she pulled out a bunch of pies and flung them towards the ground, where they landed perfectly upright. The dogs, blinded by the bits of cupcake in their eyes, failed to see where they were going and stepped right into the pies. They then slipped onto the ground, falling face-first into the remaining pies.

For a moment, the five ponies stared in amazement at Sugar’s unbelievable feat. They then looked at the Diamond Dogs, who lay covered in bits of pie and cupcake.

Then, laughter filled the forest.

“Oh my gosh!” said Sonata. “That was awesome!”

“I know!” said Tennis. “I had no idea you could do that!”

“Well, I’ve learned a lot about baked goods,” said Sugar. “It’s my special talent, after all.”

“That’s really impressive,” said Amy. “I mean, it doesn’t surprise me that you’re able to make great baked goods, but being able to use them like that is really impressive!”

“PONIES NOT MAKE FUN OF DIAMOND DOGS ANYMORE!!!”

The six ponies turned to see the dogs lunging towards them angrily. Before they could reach their target, however, Sugar reached into her mane and pulled out a huge, ten-layered cake out of her mane.

“Come and get it!”

She then tossed it at the dogs as they flew towards her. The dogs had a split second to panic before they slammed into the cake. Each dog was now trapped between two layers of cake. squirming as they tried to escape their unexpected predicament.

The ground beneath them then collapsed, sending them screaming back down into the tunnels below.

“And that’s how the cookie crumbles!” said Sugar. “Or, cake, I guess.”

For a moment, nopony spoke. Then, Fluttershy began to giggle. Sonata was next, and soon the entire group was laughing hysterically.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Sugar. “We still have to get the elements!”

Sonata gasped.

“Ohmygosh! You’re right! We have to beat Hellfire Sun! Come on everypony!”

The other five ponies nodded, and together they set off towards the castle.
> Chapter 12: The Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At long last, the group had finally arrived at the Castle of the Two Sisters. As the group stood just outside, they paused for a moment, nopony wanting to be the first one in. Even Sonata, who had spent so many years living in Canterlot Castle, couldn’t help but feel intimidated by the dark and foreboding nature of the castle.

“Um… it’s really different from Canterlot,” she said finally.

“Yeah, more like a haunted mansion,” said Tennis. “Really haunted.”

“It’s really scary,” Fluttershy squeaked, looking up at the tall, crumbling spires.

“It’s just a castle that’s been unused for hundreds of years,” said Amy. “There’s nothing living in there that could be dangerous.”

Everypony stared at her incredulously, then pointed at the forest surroundings.

“I mean, not any more dangerous than what we’ve already faced,” she said, her face glowing slightly pink.

Sonata turned around to look at her friends, then looked back at the castle.

“Well… I guess somepony has to go first,” she said finally.

She took a deep breath, and began to walk into the castle.

Her eyes then widened as an invisible force tossed her out, causing her to crash into the other five.

For a moment, there were only groans of pain. Then, Sonata began to speak.

“Canterlot Castle wasn’t this rude, either.”

Slowly, the group began to pull themselves back up. Tennis and Glides got up first, grimacing as they rubbed themselves. Then, they helped pull Sonata and Amethyst up. Finally, Sugar and Fluttershy managed to get up.

“That wasn’t something that a normal castle does, right?” asked Sugar.

“If I had to guess, the castle has been enchanted to keep intruders out,” said Amy. “It makes sense, too. After all, if the princess wanted to protect the most powerful form of magic in the world, it wouldn’t be enough to just place them in an eldritch location where few would ever dare to enter. There would always be ponies too brave or foolish to be intimidated by the forest.”

“So, she’s made it so we can’t enter the castle?” asked Glides.

“That’s not good,” said Sugar. “How are we supposed to get the elements now?”

Amy didn’t answer, but merely pointed her sonic screwdriver at the castle. She frowned as the gadget glowed, then put it away.

“Well, that’s weird.”

“What is?” asked Sonata.

“The shield is extremely strong,” said Amy. “However, it also seems to be enchanted to allow a certain magic signature to pass through.”

“What kind of magic signature?”

The words had barely left Sonata’s mouth when her whole body began to glow with a light blue aura. She then gasped in shock as a white aura surrounded Amy, while a yellow one surrounded Tennis. Glides was surrounded by a dark blue aura, while Sugar’s was purple, and Fluttershy’s was pink.

The six ponies then gasped in awe as they were lifted off the ground and slowly pulled into the castle. To their surprise, it was nowhere near as dark inside as they had imagined, as the intense sunlight was pouring through the many cracks in the ceiling.

“Is anypony else confused by all this?” asked Sugar.

“I think we all are,” said Glides.

Finally, the magic dissipated, lasting just long enough to gently deposit the six ponies on the floor. As they got up, they all looked at each other with confused looks.

“Did we… have the right magic?” Fluttershy asked.

Unable to answer the yellow pegasus's question, Sonata contented herself with staring at the vast interior of the castle.

“It’s so big,”

The other ponies didn’t argue, and followed her as she walked through the halls. There was no doubt that the castle was huge, possibly even bigger than Canterlot Castle. Along the way there were several stained glass windows depicting Princess Luna, along with a different alicorn who could only be Princess Celestia. There were also several impressive tapestries, each with its own story to tell. Even the fact that the walls and columns were crumbling in several areas did not diminish its amazing architecture.

“Impressive,” said Amy. “The castle has been constructed so well that the structure is still remarkably intact, even after a thousand years of disuse.”

“Wow,” said Sonata. “It’s hard to believe… after all this time.”

The blue earth pony’s thoughts went back to the time before she’d been banished. How she’d seen the Everfree Castle in all its glory, back when she and her sisters had-

She snapped herself out. The last thing she wanted to think about at the moment was her sisters.

“Hey,” Tennis said suddenly. “What’s that?”

Sonata looked at the spot where the peach mare was pointing. She immediately noticed five strange circular stones sitting on a raised platform.

“Do you think those are the elements?” asked Fluttershy.

Sonata felt her heart racing as she began to run towards the stones. As soon as she reached them, she bent down to examine them. She turned each one over in her hooves, trying to determine if they truly were what she sought.

“So,” Glides said as she landed next to her. “Are these the elements?”

Sonata frowned as the others reached them.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, there are the five stones here, and Zecora mentioned five elements. But these just look like rocks.”

“Well, they’re definitely weird rocks,” said Sugar. “I mean, don’t you think they look like they were carved out by somepony?”

“So, somepony carved out a bunch of rocks and now they’re going to help save Equestria?” said Tennis.

As the six discussed what to do next, nopony noticed a shadowy essence crawling along the side of the room.

“Let me think,” said Sonata. “Did Zecora say anything else?”

“Well,” said Fluttershy, “She said that the five elements gathered around magic. What do you think that means?”

“Maybe we need to apply some magic to them?” Amy suggested.

“I think there’s more than that,” said Sonata. “When Luna talked about them, she said that there were six elements, not five.”

“What?!”

“That’s not all,” said Sonata. “She also said that the elements needed… friendship.”

For a few moments, nopony spoke. They simply exchanged glances, trying to figure out what was wrong with the elements.

“These element things are so weird,” said Tennis.

“What exactly did Luna have in mind?” asked Glides.

“I don’t know,” said Sonata. “But Luna told me that the elements needed friendship, so I’m thinking that if we work together, we can figure it out!”

The other five mares looked at each other in confusion, before looking towards her with determination. She in turn smiled.

“All righty! Let’s get these rocks working and save Equestri-”

Before she could say any more, a great pillar of fire erupted in front of them. Yelling out in shock, the six ponies tried to back away, only for another one to erupt behind them. The two pillars were then joined by four more, trapping the ponies in a ring of fire.

“What do we do now?!” yelled Fluttershy.

Sonata wanted to speak, but she had no idea what to do. All she could do was watch as the flames burst higher and higher into the air.

The six pillars then collapsed in on them, and the world went dark.
> Chapter 13: The Heat Is On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonata groaned as she pushed herself up. She could feel that her body was still intact, so everything was good there. In addition, she could feel the ground beneath her, as well as a strange wave of heat coming from a location not too far away.

Somehow, the heat filled her with dread.

“Ugh. Where am I-”

Sonata stopped and gasped at what lay before her.

There, sitting upon the throne, was Hellfire Sun herself. Her coat was darker than a moonless night, while her mane and tail were burning intensely. Her whole body seemed to be covered with cracks, from which heat seemed to be leaking out, and her glowing red eyes were punctuated by the draconic slits which were her pupils. Even the red and black sun on her flank seemed to be radiating heat. Finally, her hooves seemed to be made out of molten rock, which was slowly flowing onto the ground.

But what truly filled Sonata with terror was the object floating in her magic just a few feet away. It was Princess Luna, beaten and unconscious. Her body was wrapped in chains, and her mane was no longer flowing in the air.

“I see you like my new trophy, my little ponies.”

The fiery alicorn smirked as she brought Luna closer to herself. “Oh, my little princess, you fought very valiantly, but alas, your time as ruler has come to an end.”

“You let the princess go now!”

Sonata turned around, and noticed her friends looking at Hellfire Sun with a variety of expressions; Glides and Amy were glaring at her, while Sugar and Tennis seemed rather uneasy. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was clearly terrified, though she also seemed to be making a conscious effort not to hide behind any point.

Hellfire Sun did not seem to be worried, however. She slowly and calmly turned her head away from Princess Luna to face the group, then, after scanning each of their faces, let out a loud, mirthless laugh.

“Oh, please. Do you honestly think you’re scaring me with this pathetic little display?”

The blue earth pony felt a shiver crawl up her spine. Her eyes darted around as she tried to find the five stone from earlier.

“Looking for these?”

Sonata looked upwards, and her heart sank as Hellfire Sun lifted the stones for all to see.

“I must admit, I'm rather impressed by what you've done here, my little ponies. Admittedly, I was so busy fighting your beloved Princess Luna that I didn't have time to notice what you were doing, but that doesn't change the fact that you rushed into a forest full of danger in order to search for the magic amulets you needed to stop me.”

“Well, in fairness,” said Sonata, “it wasn't that bad, because most of the creatures in there are nocturnal, so they were freaked out by the sun going crazy and never came out.”

For a moment, Hellfire Sun stared incredulously at her. After a moment, however, she managed to compose herself.

“Well, it matters not. I have the elements, and you are powerless to stop me.”

The blazing mare then stepped up from her throne, causing the six smaller ponies to recoil in fear.

“But even if your pathetic little attempt to thwart me has ended in failure, I still admire your determination. And so I feel that I should make a proposal for you.”

Sonata eyed the stones floating in her magical grasp, hoping for a chance to grab them.

“If you join me, I shall spare you and your precious little town. I shall also grant you power, wealth, and anything else that you desire.”

“What about Luna?” asked Sonata.

Hellfire Sun's mane flared out as her eyes narrowed.

“She banished me to the sun for one thousand years!” she yelled angrily. “She deserves no mercy!”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sonata could see Glides inching towards a fallen brick.

“But isn't she your sister?” she said, hoping the dark mare was still focused on her. “She told me that you once ruled together! Isn't that how it's supposed to be?! Sisters, living together in harmony?!” She was instantly reminded of her own siblings, but she shoved away her memories to focus on the task at hand.

For a moment, the fiery alicorn stood still, as though she was pondering Sonata's words. The blue mare held her breath, wondering if her words were having an effect.

To her dismay, Hellfire Sun began to laugh.

“Oh, you are such a naive little mare,” she said. “Princess Luna did indeed have a sister, known as Celestia. However, the ponies of Equestria loved and appreciated her far more than her younger sister, and so young Luna was sad and lonely. I came to her, offering her my friendship, as well as the power to make everypony adore her. At first I believed that she would accept me, but eventually she rejected me and all of my gifts!”

Sonata held her breath, hoping that Glides could reach the brick before she was noticed.

“Celestia, on the other hoof, was willing to take me under her wing when her sister rejected me. But then your precious moon princess became jealous, and so she used the Elements of Harmony to lock us within the sun so she could take everything she wanted for herself! And that's why we shall destroy everything she loves!”

“Not today!”

Hellfire Sun barely had any warning before the brick hit her in the face, causing her to drop the stones. Amy reacted quickly, grabbing them and pulling them over to Sonata.

“All right! What do we do now?!”

Sonata grimaced. She still wasn't sure how to activate their power, and the dark alicorn was already recovering from Glides' attack.

“You little brat!” She spat, then composed herself once again. “Impressive, You distracted me while your cronies prepared their attacks. Most astute.”

“Did she just call us cronies?” Sugar asked. “She's really rude!”

“You dare insult me?!” the blazing alicorn snarled.

“It’s not an insult,” said Sugar. “It’s just that you seem to have a huge stick up your plot.”

At this, Hellfire Sun’s eyes widened in rage, and she opened her mouth to unleash a huge blast of fire. Before it could reach anypony, Amy summoned up a huge magic shield.

“Sonata! If you're going to do anything, you'd better do it now!”

The blue mare stared down at the stones. She had an idea, but she wasn't sure if it would work. However, she couldn't see any alternatives.

She began to sing, using her voice to infuse magic into the stones. Slowly, they began to glow and lift off the ground.

“Is it working?” asked Fluttershy.

“I don’t know,” said Sugar. “But something’s happening!”

At that moment, they heard a loud crash, like glass being shattered. Sonata’s music came to an abrupt stop as she saw Amy lying on the ground, while the remains of her shield dissolved into thin air. On the other side of the room, Hellfire Sun’s horn was shining with red energy.

“IT ENDS NOW!!!”

The enraged alicorn began to rush towards the six mares, creating fiery holes wherever her hooves touched the ground. At the same time, her mane began to grow in size, and the heat it was radiating became more intense.

Sonata dived towards Amy, pushing her out of the way. The others quickly joined her, jumping out of the way just as the fiery mare reached the spot where the stones were charging up. To her shock, the stones began to float around her, glowing in different colors.

“What?! No! This can't be happening!”

The six mares grinned as they watched the stones glow brighter. However, their smiles vanished instantly when the light suddenly disappeared and the stones fell to the ground.

“No...” Sonata said quietly. Hellfire Sun, on the other hoof, cackled madly and slammed her hooves against the ground, creating a wave of fiery energy that shattered the five stones and threw the six mares several feet backwards.

“A noble attempt, my little ponies,” the dark alicorn said. “But alas, it has all been in vain. Soon, everything that you hold dear will be reduced to ash!”

Hellfire Sun burst into maniacal laughter, filling Sonata's heart with dread. But as she turned her head, she saw her friends lying on the floor.

My friends, she thought. I just met them today, and yet they're already so important to me! I can't let them down, no matter what!

“Don't tell me you still want to fight,” Hellfire Sun said. “Those amulets were the only thing you could possibly have used to stop me, and now they have no magic left!”

It was those words that triggered a distant memory that had been hiding at the bottom of Sonata's memory; something her mentor had told her on the night they first met.

True magic does not need any amulets to work, for it comes from the heart.

At that moment, something sparked deep within Sonata.

“You're wrong!”

Hellfire Sun stopped laughing and looked at Sonata with a scowl on her face.

“And why, pray tell, am I wrong?”

Sonata smirked in understanding.

“It doesn’t matter whether you destroyed those rocks, because the magic of the Elements of Harmony was within us the whole time!”

The other five mares looked upwards, surprised by the blue mare's statement. Their surprise only grew, however, when they began to float in the air.

“Tennis Match, who gave up her greatest treasure to help the ailing changelings, represents the Element of... Generosity!”

The turquoise-maned mare grinned as several shards of rock began to float around her, glowing with yellow energy. Hellfire Sun, on the other hoof, was staring with her mouth wide open.

“Fluttershy,” Sonata continued, “who put the safety of her friends above her own, represents the Element of... Loyalty!”

A smile formed on the yellow pegasus' mouth as shards glowing with a pink aura surrounded her. Meanwhile, Hellfire Sun's pupils were shrinking rapidly.

“Night Glider, who offered gentle and tender care to the fierce ursa minor, represents the Element of... Kindness!”

As dark blue shards surrounded Glides, Sonata smirked at Hellfire Sun's growing fear.

“Amethyst Star, who gave me the courage to tell the truth about my past, represents the Element of... Honesty!”

“You can call me Amy,” the pink unicorn said as she was surrounded by white shards.

“Sugar Belle, who confounded the Diamond Dogs with her skilled use of comedy, represents the Element of... Laughter!”

The frizzy-maned unicorn grinned as purple shards floated around her.

For a moment, Hellfire Sun stared at the six mares in shock. However, she then smiled smugly.

“Only five Elements? You've still failed! Without the last element, you can't do anything! And do you really think that an earth pony can wield the element of magic?!”

Aw, I thought it was tacos, Sonata thought to herself. However, she simply grinned at the fiery mare.

“You're wrong, Hellfire Sun. All ponies have magic. Regardless of whether we're unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, or former sirens. And I have the greatest magic of all on my side!”

She turned towards her five friends with a smile on her face.

“Before today, I was always worried about making friends. I was always scared that other ponies would reject me because of what I was. But when I met you, I understood that you saw me for who I was. And even more important, I understood the true meaning of friendship.”

She looked around to admire the various reactions of her friends; Tennis Match and Sugar were grinning excitedly, while Amy, Glides, and Fluttershy were fighting back tears. She then turned towards Hellfire Sun, who looked absolutely terrified.

“Friendship is giving up things to ponies who need them more. Friendship is staying by their side no matter what. Friendship is being compassionate to those who are troubled. Friendship is entrusting others with your greatest secrets. Friendship is finding ways to put smiles on the faces of others.”

As Sonata spoke, bright blue lights appeared over her head, revealing a sixth stone. The blue pony grinned as she felt an incredible power fill her body.

“FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!”

Energy began to flow from each of the six mares and joined together above them in the colors of the rainbow. The fiery mare could only scream as the magic of the Elements of Harmony headed straight for her.

For a few seconds, the entire room was bathed in a white light as the magic flowed from the six ponies to their target. And yet, as quickly as it had started, it was over.

Sonata groaned as she looked upwards. The lights outside the windows had dimmed considerably, and the light shining from them now felt warm and gentle.

“What happened?” she asked, raising a hoof to her head. To her surprise, it touched something that wasn’t there before. She grabbed the object and pulled it down towards her face. It was a golden tiara which had a couple of small blue gems lining the sides. At the top, there lay a large pink gemstone shaped like a heart with a blue musical note-shaped gem wedged into it.

“It’s just like my cutie mark,” she said quietly.

“Whoa! Yours is so cool!”

Sonata turned around at the sound of Glides’ voice, and saw that each of her friends was now wearing a golden necklace, each with a gemstone matching their cutie mark. Tennis had a yellow tennis ball, Fluttershy had a pink butterfly, Glides had a dark blue moon with two feathers made of gold surrounding it, Amy had a white diamond, and Sugar had a purple cupcake.

“Yours look great too!” said Sonata.

“Yeah, but yours is a crown!” said Tennis. “It’s like you’re a princess or something!”

The six mares laughed for a moment.

“Wait!”

Everypony turned towards Sugar. who was poking at her mane.

“What’s wrong?” asked Fluttershy.

“Something’s stuck in there,” said Sugar. “I mean, things get lost in there all the time, but-”

To everypony’s shock, a very recognizable object suddenly fell out of her mane.

“MY TENNIS RACKET!!!”

Tennis dived for the racket, and then hugged it as if her life depended on it.

“I’m never going to lose you again!” she said, tears streaming out of her eyes.

Everypony stared at the peach mare, bemused by the unexpected turn of events.

“Well, I guess that’s one thing to be happy about,” said Glides.

“I suppose so,” said Amy. “Anyway are these the Elements of Harmony?”

“Yes, and no.”

The six mares turned, and were amazed to see Princess Luna, restored to full health, walking slowly towards them.

“Princess Luna!” Sonata yelled, running up to her and hugging her tightly. The blue alicorn was briefly surprised by this gesture, but she quickly smiled and hugged her back.

“I knew you could do it, Sonata,” she said happily. “You’ve saved Equestria, and more importantly, you’ve finally broken out of your shell.”

Sonata grinned and broke the embrace. She then began to point at her friends.

“Princess, I want you to meet my friends: Amethyst Star, Sugar Belle, Night Glider, Tennis Match, and Fluttershy.”

The five mares seemed slightly nervous about meeting face-to-face with their ruler, but they still waved, and then took a quick bow. Luna smiled warmly as she watched them.

“Please, there is no need for formalities. We are all friends here, are we not?”

“Yeah! You can totally be cool when you hang around with Luna!”

Sonata’s friends looked up, quite surprised by how casually their princess was acting.

“Well, if you insist,” Amy said uncertainly. “But what did you mean when you answered my question?”

Luna smiled and rolled her eyes playfully before answering.

“Oh, well it’s nothing important… except for the fact that, while the Elements of Harmony have a great deal of magic, they are useless without ponies who can embody the virtues they represent.”

Seeing the confusion on the element bearers’ faces, she continued.

“You see, the elements are more than just magic; they represent the ideals and virtues that all good ponies should strive for. Generosity, loyalty, kindness, honesty, and laughter are what give meaning to life. And most importantly, they hold the key to the greatest magic of all: the magic of friendship.”

Sonata looked off into the distance for a moment, allowing her mentor’s words to sink in. There was a time, long ago, when she would never have appreciated any of the virtues embodied by the elements. Now, however, she understood why they were so important: not only because they had saved Equestria, but because they had allowed her to open her heart to other ponies for the first time in as long as she could remember.

“Wow! That is so cheesy!”

Sonata was pulled out of her thoughts by the voice. She turned to see that everypony else was now glaring at Tennis.

“What?” she asked. “It is!”

“Perhaps,” said Luna. “But you cannot deny that the six of you have forged a very strong bond.”

The blue alicorn then turned around.

“And speaking of strong bonds…”

She began to walk towards a figure that was lying in the middle of a ring of ash and soot. As it began to stir, the ponies realized that it was an alicorn; it had a white body and a pink mane. But what shocked them the most was her cutie mark; it was a sun not unlike the one that had adorned the flank of Hellfire Sun, though this one was not glowing, and it was colored orange and yellow.

“Is that really her?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “She looks so different!”

“I think she is,” said Amy. “She’s in the same spot, and she has the same cutie mark.”

*For extra feels you may listen to this music while reading*

The alicorn groaned as she lifted her head. Her eyes slowly opened, and then widened when she lay eyes on Luna.

“Hello Celestia,” Luna began as her eyes began to fill with tears. “It has been too long…”

She then did something completely unexpected; she fell to her knees and began to hug the white alicorn.

“I’m so sorry! I… it was all my fault! None of this would ever have happened if I hadn’t been so selfish, ignorant, and-”

Before Luna could say anything else, her sister lifted her hoof to her lips, silencing her. Luna looked at Celestia, noticing that her eyes were also full of tears.

“No, sister. The blame falls solely on my shoulders. I had always known how much it hurt you to see your beautiful nights ignored while my days were loved by everypony. And I also know how much you longed to be appreciated like I was. And yet I ignored the signs in my foolish belief that you could deal with your problems on your own. I could have used my great wisdom to help you find your way. But my naive belief that everything can simply fall into place if you simply let others figure out what to do prevented me from doing anything until it was too late.”

As Celestia finished, Luna stared at her in shock.

“But… I accepted the help of a dark entity! With its power, I would have doomed all of Equestria! I deserved whatever fate the elements had in store for me!”

“No, sister,” said Celestia. “You only accepted the help of the nightmare because it offered you the one thing you needed the most: friendship.”

“Even if that is true, you didn’t have to let it possess you,” said Luna. “You could simply have banished me, imprisoning the nightmare along with me! You could have been the one to rule Equestria for a thousand years! Why did you give up a thousand years of your own life to save me?”

Celestia lifted a hoof and gently stroked Luna’s mane.

“Oh, Luna. What kind of big sister would I be if I wasn't willing to give up everything to save you?”

At this, Luna threw her hooves around Celestia and hugged her as tears flowed freely from her eyes. Celestia did the same, embracing her sister for the first time in a thousand years as she shed tears of her own.

“I love you,” Luna said tearfully.

“I love you too, little sister,” Celestia replied.

As the two alicorns hugged, Sonata could feel a few tears leaking out of her eyes. As she looked around, she saw that each of her five friends were also fighting to keep their own tears in.

“They really are sisters,” said Glides. “They may get into fights once in awhile, but they always forgive each other in the end.”

Sonata smiled at her friend’s comment, though her smile quickly faded away.

I just wish my sisters could forgive each other too.
> Chapter 14: Celebration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everypony had come to the center of the town, where lively music was being played. All around there were tables full of food and drinks, and dozens of balloons floated through the buildings. Meanwhile, cannons full of confetti and streamers were being shot at regular intervals, occasionally covering somepony unfortunate enough to be nearby. Finally, in the center of it all, six mares were being admired by everypony else.

“You went into the Everfree forest?!”

“Did you get attacked by any monsters?”

“How did you beat that demon pony?”

Sonata groaned as the wave of questions kept coming.

“Now everypony’s gonna want to know more about me,” she said.

“Hey, it will be all right,” said Glides. “They’re not gonna kick you out even if you are a singing sea monster.”

“Can we talk about it later?” asked Fluttershy. “The mayor’s about to speak!”

The six mares looked up as the mayor, a brown earth pony with an hourglass on his flank, walked up to address the crowd.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts! It is my great honor to welcome our wise and benevolent ruler, Princess Luna!”

The crowd cheered and stomped as the dark blue alicorn emerged from the town hall. These were quickly joined by whispers of surprise when she was joined by a second alicorn; one slightly bigger than her who had a white coat and a solid pink mane.

“My little ponies! Today is a most wonderful occasion! Although the beginning of this day may have brought you dread, this marks the beginning of a new age! For today, my sister has returned!”

As she finished, she gestured towards Celestia, who smiled nervously at the ponies stared at her.

“I believe that my sister has a few words of inspiration to share with us.”

She then nodded at her sister, who walked up to the stage and cleared her throat.

“She’s gonna say something!” said Sugar. “I’ll bet it’s going to be something amazingly smart, friendly, and full of-”

“CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA!!!”

Everypony covered their ears at the incredibly loud voice.

“FOR TOO LONG THOU HATH BEEN UNABLE TO APPRECIATE THY PRINCESS OF THE SUN, AND WE HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF THY LOVE!!! BUT TODAY THAT ENDS, FOR WE HAVE RETURNED TO-”

Before Celestia could continue, Luna stuck her hoof onto her lips.

“Sister, the Royal Canterlot Voice has been obsolete for centuries.”

The white alicorn blinked in surprise, then looked towards her subjects. They had all taken a few steps back in shock, and many of them were now giving her odd looks.

“Oh,” she said as her cheeks turned crimson. “Forgive me, my little ponies. It has been so long, and I was not aware that certain customs were no longer used.”

Luna patted her on the shoulder. She then turned to address her subjects.

“What my sister means to say is that she has been locked away for a very long time, and so she is a stranger in an unfamiliar world. However, with time, as well as your support, I am confident that she will become a worthy and valued ruler as she was a thousand years ago.”

She then looked directly at the element bearers.

“This, of course, would not be possible without six brave mares who underwent a perilous journey through a treacherous forest to recover the legendary Elements of Harmony. They are truly our greatest heroes, and so it is only natural that we should recognize them. So please, give a round of applause for Amethyst Star, Sugar Belle, Night Glider, Tennis Match, Fluttershy, and Sonata Dusk!”

The six mares gasped as everypony began to face them and applaud. Tennis, Sugar, and Glides seemed to be taking it in stride, smiling and waving at the cheering ponies around them. On the other hoof, Fluttershy, Amy, and Sonata seemed quite nervous.

“How long until it's over?” Sonata asked.

“Don’t worry, Sonata,” said Glides. “These ponies really like having you around! You're going to get along with everypony in town!”

The blue-maned pony tried to smile. However, the dark-blue pony's words lingered in her mind.

Everypony in town.





“I can't believe you took on that big scary mare!”

Glides chuckled and sipped on a cup of punch as her little sister chattered excitedly.

“Oh, it wasn't that big a deal, Nightshade.”

“Yeah it was! You're a hero now! Can you imagine how the Shadowbolts are gonna react?”

On the outside, Glides managed to keep her calm demeanor. On the inside, however, she began to giggle excitedly.

“Oh, I'm certain they're going to be impressed by that,” she said. “But they're also gonna want me to be able to go really fast, you know?”

“Aw, that's a piece of cake!” said Nightshade. “You're the fastest pegasus in Equestria, aren't you?”

Glides smiled. She was certain that there was one or two pegasi out there who were faster than her, but she simply couldn't tell her sister that she was wrong.

“Well, I guess I am,” she said as she ruffled the purple filly’s mane. “But there are a lot of fast pegasi in the Shadowbolts, so who knows.”

As Nightshade giggled, Glides’ mind traveled to the friendships she’d made earlier. She then wondered about her little sister.

“You know, I wasn’t alone when I went to find the elements. My friends helped a lot with that.”

“Really?” said Nightshade. “That sounds so cool!”

“Well, having friends with you makes any challenge a lot easier. And you can have all sorts of fun adventures with them!”

At this, the little filly frowned and looked away, causing Glides to raise an eyebrow.

“Shadey? Is something wrong?”

For a moment, Nightshade didn’t speak. However, she kept turning back to glance at her flank. Then, she looked back towards her sister.

“All the other foals at school have their cutie marks already, and they don’t want to be friends with… a blank flank.”

At this, Glides frowned as she remembered her own school experiences, particularly those dealing with her own cutie mark. She then looked at her sister, who was looking downwards with a sad expression.

“Hey,” she said finally. Just because you don’t have your cutie mark yet doesn’t mean you’re not special. I’m sure you’re gonna have it really soon. And even if you don’t have it, you’re gonna find friends who’ll accept you for who you are, cutie mark or not.”

As she said this, she pulled her little sister into her arms and hugged her tightly. It took a few moments, but Nightshade slowly began to smile again.





Amy grinned as she thought about the past few hours. So much had happened that she was having trouble accepting that it was all real. It wasn’t just that she and her friends had managed to save Equestria. The fact that she even had friends was something amazing to her.

She chuckled to herself as she grabbed one of Sugar Belle’s best muffins. She had always known her to be a great baker, but now that she could consider her a friend, her pastries somehow looked even more appetizing than ever.

“MUFFINS!!!”

Hearing the voice, the pink mare quickly jumped out of the way, just in time to avoid being crushed by a flying gray projectile. Amy’s seat then vanished in a huge cloud of dust and splinters.

Amy rolled her eyes, and cleared the dust with her magic. As she did so, she saw a gray mare with a blond mane happily eating a plateful of muffins.

“You know, I was going to eat at least one of those.”

The mare stopped eating momentarily and turned towards Amy. Upon seeing her, a huge smile formed on her face.

“Amethyst!” she said, leaping up and hugging her. Amy simply chuckled and hugged her back.

“Hey, mom.”

Derpy let go of her daughter and smiled at her.

“I heard that somepony became a hero!” she said excitedly. “So you’d better tell me everything!”

“Oh, it wasn’t that big,” Amy said as she began to blush. “I mean, I had plenty of-”

She suddenly noticed that something didn’t look right about her mother; her left eye was covered with an eyepatch, and the area around it seemed to be a slightly darker gray than the rest of her coat.

“Mom? What happened to your eye?”

Derpy grimaced as she thought about what had happened to her fellow Shadowbolt.

“I-it’s nothing to worry about, dea-”

“Mom, what happened?!”

Derpy cringed. She didn’t want to have to burden her daughter with any details, but she also knew that Amy hated being lied to.

“We were fighting Hellfire Sun, and she burned my eye.”

Amy stared at her in shock. She wanted to shout at her mother for being foolish enough to pick a fight with a godlike entity that could throw fireballs as hot as the sun. However, she would never do anything to draw too much attention to her mother’s great secret. So she instead pulled Derpy as close to herself as she could.

“Are you crazy?!” she said, her voice quiet yet angry. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“I know!” said Derpy, her teammate’s close encounter with death still weighing heavily on her mind. “But I’m a Shadowbolt! This is what we do! You, on the other hoof, have no business running off into the Everfree Forest to find a way to beat that sun monster!”

Amy bit her lip. On one hoof, she hadn’t simply run off into the forest to find the Elements of Harmony. On the other, she knew that her mother had a point.

“Sorry, mom,” she said. “It’s just that I worry about you. I mean, you go out everyday in that uniform. Most of the time you just go on patrol or do air shows, but sometimes you have to do stuff like fighting monsters or… evil ponies. And every time you do something like that, I worry that you’re going to get hurt, or even die.”

Amy looked away, not daring to see how her mother reacted. To her surprise, however, Derpy placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Amethyst… you know how tough I am. I’ve never let anything get in my way. Not bullies, not monsters, not even a broken eye.”

To emphasize this last point, Derpy pointed at her eyepatch, causing a smile to briefly appear on her daughter’s face.

“I know how to handle myself. And even if I didn’t, I’d never let myself get killed. After all, I have a family. I can’t just leave them without a mother, can I?”

Amy smiled and wrapped her arms around Derpy. The gray mare chuckled as returned the embrace.

“So, why don’t you tell me about your new friends, Amethyst?”





Tennis munched on a cupcake as she sat at a table next to her sister and cousin.

“Tennis, you're a hero! You saved Equestria!” the little pink filly said in awe.

“Oh, it wasn't just me, Diamond,” said Tennis. “If it wasn't for Sonata, none of us would have known what to do. And of course, we all helped save Equestria together.”

“Well, that's amazing,” said Coco. “You should introduce them all to me sometime. I could probably make some inspiring dresses for them to wear.”

"What, like Gala dresses?" Tennis chuckled. "What are the odds of us getting invited to a fancy fru-fru party?"

Diamond Tiara giggled at the thought of Tennis being forced to wear a fancy dress.

“You should do that anyway! It would be so funny!”

“I’ll wear a dress when your mother becomes nice,” Tennis said in a deadpan voice.

“Is that meant to be an insult, Tennis Match?”

Immediately, all three ponies went silent. Diamond’s eyes widened in fear as she turned around, her eyes immediately meeting those of her mother, Spoiled Rich.

“Oh! Hello mother!” she said nervously. “Don’t mind me! I’m just-”

“Spending time with your cousins,” Spoiled Rich said. “Cousins who have no sense of sophistication or standing in Equestrian Society.”

“For your information, I just saved Equestria!” Tennis yelled. “And Coco has a very sophisticated and fancy boutique!”

Spoiled Rich then shifted her harsh gaze unto Tennis, who immediately cringed.

“Being a hero is irrelevant if you waste your days playing that foalish little sport of yours. And your sister was only able to get to where she is now because of the help of my husband. If either of you were left to your own devices, you’d be on the street within a month!”

The angry mare then turned her muzzle skyward and began to walk off.

“Come along, Diamond Tiara. We must make sure your image doesn’t get sullied by your dealings with… commoners.”

“But mother-”

“I said… come along.”

The pink filly winced in fear, but nevertheless joined her mother. As the two walked off, Coco and Tennis gave each other worried looks.

“Oh my,” said Coco. “Poor Diamond. Can you imagine having to follow every rule that mare sets?”

“Sheesh,” said Tennis. “She reminds me of your old boss.”

“If only we could do something to help her,” said Coco.

Tennis sighed. More than anything, she wanted to see little Diamond be happy.

But how could she do that?





Sonata sighed as she watched the ponies partying around her. She knew that she should be feeling happy. After all, she had found friends, saved Equestria, and reunited Luna with her long-lost sister.

So why didn’t she?

Hoping to cheer herself up, she began to make her way towards the dessert table. However, before she could get anywhere, she ended up colliding with somepony.

“Ow!”

The blue earth pony rubbed her head as she got to her hooves. She turned to the pony who had so rudely bumped into her, but before she berate him, she noticed who it was.

“Dusk Shine?!”

Meanwhile, the lavender stallion was having an internal freakout.

Oh my gosh. She’s not just Luna’s student now! She’s a national hero now. She’s saved all of Equestria! She’s-

No! Focus, Dusk! She’s just a normal mare. A mare who has a lot of achievements, but just a mare. Stay calm, focus, and-

“Sonata! I can’t believe you’re a hero now!”

Damn it!

“I know! I can’t believe it either!”

Dusk blinked.

Roll with it, he thought to himself.

“So, what are you doing here?” Sonata asked.

“Oh, I’m just here to, um, clean up the mess Hellfire Sun made,” said Dusk.

“Oh, yeah,” said Sonata. “Of course you did.”

Once again, neither pony spoke.

“Uh, I have to go… clean up more of the mess,” said Dusk.

“Yeah!” said Sonata. “And I have to go see my friends. For, you know, hero reasons.”

The two ponies looked away, their faces growing pink.

“Well,” said Sonata, “I… IreallyenjoyedtalkingtoyoubutIknowyouhavetogosoI’llbeonmywaysobye!”

And with that, the blue mare turned around and began to walk as fast as she could, her face growing redder by the second.





“I can’t believe you went into that forest all by yourself!”

Fluttershy could barely breathe as the orange, yellow-maned mare held her tightly.

“You could have been eaten by a monster! Or gotten killed by that demon pony in the sky! Do you even realize how many things live in that forest?!”

The mare continued to squeeze Fluttershy’s body.  Fortunately, Big Mac lay his hoof on her before she could tighten her grip any further.

“Ma, quit stranglin’ ma fiancee.”

“Yeah!” the little yellow filly next to him said. “If ya strangle her, ah won’t have a big sister anymore!”

The mare rolled her eyes as she softened her grip on Fluttershy, allowing her to breathe at last.

“I’m so sorry for making you worry, Miss Blossom! But I didn’t go alone! After all, my friends needed me, and I couldn’t ever let them go in alone!”

“Well, you should have told them to get out!” said Orange Blossom. “There’s no reason for anypony to go into that death trap!”

“Honey, stop worryin’ so much,” a red, green-maned stallion said as he approached her from behind. “Ya know Flutters ain’t gonna get eaten by no monsters! Especially with that freaky stare of hers!”

Orange Blossom sighed as she let Fluttershy go.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy. You know how much I worry that something will happen to you or somepony else. Ever since little Jackie left I’ve always-”

“I know, Miss Blossom,” Fluttershy said as she placed her hoof on Orange Blossom’s shoulder. “But I’m really sure Jackie is doing just fine. After all, she’s living with your sister, right?”

“That’s true,” said an elderly voice. “She might not write too often, but that just means that she’s real happy with her life!”

Slowly, a smile formed on Blossom’s face.

“I guess you’re right. Jackie is probably doing just fine, and I’m overreacting.”

“Oh, don’t feel sorry,” Fluttershy said as she placed her hoof on Blossom’s shoulder. “It’s only natural to feel worried when somepony you care about is in a dangerous situation.”

“Yeah!” said Apple Bloom. “But there ain’t no reason to worry about Fluttershy! She’s the coolest, bravest, and most dependable big sister ever!”

At this, the yellow pegasus’ cheeks began to turn pink.

“Oh, thank you, Apple Bloom. But I’m not that special.”

“Aw, of course you are! After all, how many ponies would go runnin’ into the Everfree Forest to save Equestria?”

“Fluttershy went into the Everfree Forest?!” Granny Smith yelled.





Sugar grinned happily as everypony around her danced and played around the town square. Even though the beginning of the day had been so terrifying, it had all worked out in the end.

Also, everypony was enjoying her treats. Especially her muffins.

“Hey Sugary!”

Her smiled fell slightly, but she nevertheless kept it on her face as Pinkie Pie bounced up to her.

“Hi, Pinkie. Everypony is really enjoying the party you set up.”

“Yeperooni!” said Pinkie. “But what everypony is really enjoying is how you and your friends all got together to save Equestria from Black Snooty!”

“Actually,” said Sugar, “her name was Hellfire Sun.”

Pinkie ignored this comment, and continued to speak.

“Anyway, you’ve come far, Sugar. You’ve learned all my great recipes, my tricks for dealing with baddies, and all about your party pony mane. But your quest to become a true party pony has only begun.”

Sugar grimaced. She could tell where this was going.

“Remember, my dear pupil,” Pinkie said in her best impression of Starswirl The Bearded. “You still have much to learn. You know not of the exact ratios of streamers to cupcakes, or the order of colors of balloons, or the secrets of frosting. Yea, you still know not your own Sugar-Sense.”

“Sugar-what?”

“And as a true party pony, it is my duty to show you what it truly means to be a party pony. As my master taught me, I shall teach you.”

“You taught yourself,” Sugar pointed out.

“And then, one day, you too shall throw parties for everypony in Ponyville!”

And with that, Pinkie grinned as widely as she could and threw her hooves into the air, tossing out a large number of streamers. Sugar, for her part, simply groaned and grabbed a muffin from a nearby platter.





“The mayor is your father?!”

Amy nodded as her friends gasped.

“Yup. I mean, he's spent a lot of time as a time agent, and so he's decided to settle down.” She took a sip of punch before continuing. “At least, that's what he's been telling us. Personally, I think he's still working for the agency.”

The others looked around, each unsure of how to react.

“So,” Glides said finally. “Is there anything else we should know about your family?”

Amy opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a grayish purple unicorn filly ran up and hugged her.

“Little sis! Daddy said you went into the Everfree forest to save the princess!”

Amy chuckled and stroked the filly's mane.

“Don't worry, big sis. No scary forest is going to hurt me! You know how awesome I am!”

“Wait,” said Sugar. “Amy, shouldn't you be the big sister?”

“Nope,” said Amy. “I'm the younger sister, and she's the older one.”

“How-”

“Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.”

Everypony stared at her in confusion.

“Well, I have to say that this has been the most eventful Summer Sun Celebration in centuries,” said a voice, causing everypony to look up to see Princess Luna. To everypony's surprise, she was carrying Spike on her back.

“Sonata! Is it true? Did you manage to stop Hellfire Sun? That is so cool! You're like a superhero or something!”

“Thanks, Spike! But I couldn't have done it without my friends!”

Spike looked at the five mares who were sitting with Sonata, and then jumped off Luna's back.

“Hey, girls! And...”

Spike's eyes narrowed as his gaze fell on Amy.

“Hey.”

Sonata grinned. “Don't worry about Amy, Spike! She's really nice once you get to know her!”

The little dragon raised his eyebrow for a moment, before shrugging and waving at Amy. “If Sonata says you're all right, I guess you're good.”

Luna smiled as she watched her student and her friends laugh together.

“I am very proud of you, Sonata. You have come a long way since I first took you under my wing, and I know that you still have many great things ahead of you. The greatest difference is that from now on, you shall do so with the help of your friends.”

Sonata began to consider what Luna was saying.

“But how? If I go back to Canterlot when all this is done... I won't be able to see them anymore.”

She turned to look at her friends, who were all looking back at her, visibly saddened by the news. She then felt her mentor's hoof resting on her shoulder.

“And who said that you have to go back to Canterlot?”

Sonata's eyes widened.

“You mean... I could stay here?”

Luna smiled gently.

“I believe it would help you greatly, Sonata. After all, there is no greater magic than friendship, and you could learn a great deal from your friends if you chose to stay with them.”

Sonata thought about what Luna was saying for a moment. She knew she still had plenty to learn, and she didn't know how much she could learn without her teacher to guide her. On the other hoof, she didn't want to leave her friends. And if what Luna was saying was true, then she would learn just as much, if not more, by staying with them.

Finally she made her choice.

“I want to stay in Ponyville.”

Sonata was then taken by surprise when her friends threw themselves onto her cheering as they hugged her tightly. However, it was quickly replaced by pure happiness.

“Very well,” said Luna. “Spike, take a letter: I hereby decree that Sonata Dusk shall remain in Ponyville to continue her studies, especially in the area of the Magic of Friendship.”

Once Spike had written all this down, he too giggled and ran up to join the group hug. As he did, Sonata smiled and shed a few tears.

It had taken a long time, but she'd finally found a place where she belonged.