Princess Celestia walked down her castle's hallway contentedly, sure that Twilight would have everything covered and that everything would be just fine.
Behind her, though, sprouted a tendril of black vine.
She froze, sensing something behind her. Whirling around, she blasted the vine with her magic.
It didn't seem to work. The thorny vine was still coming.
"Oh no you don't." Celestia glared at it and unleashed her full fury, burning the little thing to a crisp. She watched it for a moment, making sure it was dead, before turning back to return to Twilight's chamber. That had looked like a plunderseed vine, and if it was, the vile things would be more easily defeated if she had some help.
Celestia rushed back into Twilight's room. "Princess Twilight, you have to help!" The look on her face said it all.
"Some kind of monster invading? Need to blast it with magic?"
Celestia nodded. "It's plunderseed vines."
"No problem. Let's go."
Together, they rushed back out to where Celestia had been attacked, finding the withered vine still there.
"I see." Twilight's horn flared. "Now, we'll just do a quick tracing spell..." A tendril of light connected her to the vine, and her mind followed the route it had taken all the way from Canterlot Castle, through Ponyville, deep inside the Everfree Forest, and... "It's coming from some huge, glowing tree deep in the Everfree Forest, near the old castle."
Celestia nodded. "The Tree of Harmony. We must save it!"
At that moment, Princess Luna burst in through the door. She held a torn black vine in her teeth and spat it out onto the floor. "Sister! Plunderseed vines are attacking. They attempted to take me whilst I slept!"
"Already on it," Twilight said. "Come on, we've got to save the Tree of Harmony from them!"
With a multicolored flash, all three of them teleported there.
The tree was totally covered in gooey vines, and the first experimental blasts of magic were none too effective. The vines had an impressive resistance. Of course, they couldn't withstand the combined might of three princesses, though. Together, their magic quickly burned away the vines, following them all the way to their roots and completely exterminating them.
"Don't worry, ladies," Pinkie Pie proclaimed. "I've been keeping excellent score all day!" She referred to her complicated notes. "Hmm, move the decimal, carry the two, and..." She looked up. "Congratulations! Rainbow Dash is the most daring pony!"
"What?" Applejack almost squealed. "How you figure?"
"Well, when Rainbow Dash dared you to fly, you couldn't. Sorry, but that makes her technically the most daring pony."
Rainbow did a little loop in the air. "Woohoo! Technically daring is the best kind of daring!"
* * *
Rarity teleported herself into the old castle. She'd thought of asking Fluttershy for help, but of course she could easily do all the restoration work herself. She immediately spotted a pair of massive old tapestries that were in dire need of attention, so she teleported herself and them back to her shop to do the work. The rest could wait until these were finished.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the castle, Twilight Sparkle enjoyed plenty of peace and quiet in her reading time with very few distractions. Well, few distractions other than Spike exterminating star spiders with his fire breath.
* * *
Pinkie Pie had a wonderful time ringing the school bell all day.
"You heard her!" Twilight chided, "She says she works alone!"
Rainbow groaned at her. "How can we just stand by and do nothing? You know what's at stake here! Ahuizotl has sought control of the Tenochtitlan Basin since book three!"
"Hmm... you might be right." Twilight tapped her chin, going through all the arguments in her head. "And Ahuizotl is sort of a monster, isn't he?"
"So..." Rainbow was grinning now.
"So we blast him with the Elements of Harmony!" Pinkie blurted out.
They all nodded.
"Hold on, girls." Twilight prepared her magic. "We're teleporting."
Flash.
Ahuizotl looked up from petting his kitten, startled by the arrival of the six ponies. "Who are you?"
They didn't say anything. They just blasted him with rainbows.
* * *
Later that day, when Daring Do found her way to Ahuizotl's throne, she was more than a little surprised to find only a kitten there, next to a dark singed spot.
Diamond Tiara smiled at the Cutie Mark Crusaders after their performance. "Girls, we just wanted to say your act is quite impressive!"
"Wait... What?" Sweetie Belle looked to Apple Bloom.
But she only shrugged. "Um... Thanks?"
Silver Spoon circled around the other side. "Oh, but of course. As a matter of fact, we think you're very brave."
"Brave?" Scootaloo asked. "Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? It is to us. In fact, it's obvious to everypony. You're showing all three types of Ponyville ponies, yet you have a pegasus pony..." Both fillies joined in, "who can't even fly!"
"What in tarnation does that have to do with anything?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Don't worry about it," Scootaloo said. "Let me just..." She grunted and strained, flapping her wings very quickly... and she lifted off the ground, hovering nicely for a moment before buzzing around the field happily. "Yeah!" she shouted. "Look what I can do!"
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon slank away, quietly. What could they say to that?
Spike stared at them all. "You're the... the superheroes from my comic book! It somehow zapped us all in here!"
"So somepony zap us back out!" Rainbow demanded.
"Okay!" Twilight's horn flared, and they all popped back into the old castle's library, outside the book. Once they were all settled, she looked down at Spike. "We need to talk about your choice in literature."
Applejack pointed to her soon to be prize-winning apple. "Them vampire bats want to shrivel it up like a raisin!"
"Oh, I'm sure if we just let them know how special that particular apple is to you, they'll leave it alone."
Staring disbelievingly at Fluttershy, Applejack waved a hoof toward the bats. "Yeah... right. Be my guest."
Fluttershy trotted off to them, talking to them in the distance for a moment before happily trotting back.
"Well," Applejack prodded, "what'd they say?"
She smiled. "They'll be happy to leave your big apple alone, and I've gotten them to agree to leave your healthy trees alone and go share the west orchard with the regular fruit bats."
"Oh." Applejack blinked. "Alrightey then. You're sure they can be trusted?"
Fluttershy nodded. "They swore on bats' honor. And besides, if they misbehave, I can always come back with the stare."
"Huh... well... I guess that's settled." Applejack blushed slightly. "False alarm, everypony. Y'all can go home now."
Suri Polomare nearly swooned over Rarity's shimmering line. "Actually... just a touch of this fabric could be perfect with it. W— Oh, hey, would you mind terribly if I took a swatch?"
Rarity laughed a little to herself and waved her off with a hoof. "Once the contest is over, dear, I'll be glad to sell you as much as you'd like, but it wouldn't make sense to help out my competition, now would it?"
"Why didn't you tell me how amazing this is?! Genealogy is better than cotton candy on top of a fountain of chocolate!" Pinkie set the old book down with a thud. "You'll never believe who it says I'm related to!"
Before she could run away, Twilight froze her with a short burst of magic. "Hold it right there, Pinkie. Let me take a look."
Pinkie jittered in place as Twilight did just that.
"There." Twilight stabbed the book with her hoof, pulling Pinkie over. "You see way back on this step? I bet you thought it said 'Granny Pie', but even though it's a bit smudged, you can still see it says 'Country Pie'. Look at the number of letters."
Staring at it, Pinkie slouched. "Oh."
"Don't worry, Applejack is still your friend, and all her family members are your friends too. They don't have to be your family."
Pinkie smiled wide. "You mean, I can still help Applejack bake a pie?"
"You know," Fleetfoot said slyly, "you grew up in Cloudsdale."
"So that means you could fly with us." Spitfire grinned, full of confidence as usual.
Rainbow stared at them. "Fly?"
"Uh, we mean practice," Fleetfoot quickly added. "You could practice with us until Soarin's better."
"What do you say? Wanna be our third?" Spitfire looked at Rainbow expectantly.
Giving them an extravagant eye roll, Rainbow shook her head. "I'm flattered at the opportunity, and I'd love to do it ... if I weren't already committed to helping my friends."
Spitfire prodded her. "You're sure about that?"
Glancing over at her team, Rainbow saw Bulk Biceps busily flexing his muscles for Fluttershy. She smiled. "You do realize you're talking to the Element of Loyalty, right?" She hopped up in the air and did a little spin. "I'll fly with you someday, be sure of that, but not if it means betraying my friends." Giving Spitfire a challenging grin, she added, "And besides, it's not like you guys really need the practice, is it?"
But Rarity caught her with a touch of magic holding her tail. "Oh no you don't. Aren't you the one I heard not long ago bragging about being the Element of Loyalty?"
Rainbow glanced side to side awkwardly.
"So come, we'll all help Discord together, and we'll make sure Twilight and Cadance are not bothered on their special fun day." She glanced at their patient. "Now, Discord, whatever happens, we can't have you disturbing those two."
"Disturb them? I wouldn't dream of it. Not when I have three such dear friends of my own who have already offered to take care of me. And at such peril! This flu of mine is highly—" he sneezed violently, all over them "—contagious."
Applejack and Rarity both immediately turned blue and began sneezing.
"Oh no, I've gotten you both sick. Whomever shall I turn to now in my time of need?" Discord chuckled with malicious glee.
Rainbow flew right up into his face. "Not so fast, Discord. I still feel fine!"
"Are you..." Discord sneezed all over her again, then sniffled, rubbing his nose. "...Sure?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Staring at her, Discord cocked his head to the side. "But..."
"Duh." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I'm immune to the blue flu. I'm already blue! Now let's get you taken care of."
Rainbow laughed as Cheese Sandwich's song died down. "Yeah, you're pretty great, I've got to admit. But I did already sign up with Pinkie Pie."
"Oh come on." Cheese bounced up and down. "I'll give you a much better birthday bash!"
"No can do. Element of Loyalty and all." Rainbow flitted over to Pinkie. "But if you'd really like to help, you could always come help Pinkie and be her intern..."
Cheese tipped his hat – which had somehow appeared on his head – back and stared hard. "If that's the way it has to be."
Pinkie squinted back at him. "You know my internships are unpaid, right?"
Rarity shook her head. "It would take rearranging all the music, and we just don't have time. I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but I have no remedy for this situation."
"Of course!" Fluttershy said with a gasp. "A remedy! Follow me!"
* * *
Zecora stared into Big Mac's mouth, 'hmm'ing to herself. She looked back to the group. "I can heal this pony, that is certain. And I think it will be in time for the opening curtain."
Twilight stared at the huge crowd of little fillies and colts in her library, all clamoring for 'Twilight time'. If only there was more Twilight time to go around! ... But then it clicked. There could be more to go around.
In an instant, she teleported herself to the mirror pool, deep underground.
She took a deep breath before making the plunge. This was either going to solve all her problems or destroy Equestria.
"We just wanted to see if you thought the Breezies were ready to give it another try," Twilight said, standing in the door of Fluttershy's cottage.
"Has it been an hour already? Oh, my goodness! Time flies when you're making sure little creatures don't feel that you're abandoning them to the cruel world."
"But they're not going to a cruel world, right?" Twilight said. "They're going home."
Fluttershy nodded. "Oh, yes, that's right!"
The breezies cried out in protest.
"On second thought..." Fluttershy looked at them and winced. "I don't think they're quite ready for that."
"You know, Fluttershy, I could just teleport them to where they're going."
Fluttershy's eyes went wide. "Oh, right, of course!" She giggled. "Okay, go ahead. I'm sure they'll all be glad to be home safe and sound."
Applejack rushed down the dangerous path, hoping against hope that she'd get there in time to save Apple Bloom. That fool little filly hadn't even brought a chunk of ricotta!
Finally, deep in the Fire Swamp, she found her sister.
Apple Bloom was coming calmly down the path, hauling the pie cart behind her.
"Finally, sis, I've found ya! You're safe now!"
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "I was always safe. And I got the pie delivery done."
Applejack stared at her. "But... how'd you get past the chimera?"
"I just kicked it pretty hard. I think it might've died."
Staring blankly, Applejack couldn't process that. "Oh... huh. That's simple, I guess. Why'd I never think of that?"
"Maybe she was just acting a little 'off' because she was shy or somethin'," Applejack mused.
Rainbow nodded. "Right. I bet she just smiles and laughs internally, like how AJ cries internally."
Applejack nodded.
"Huh." Twilight rubbed her chin. "You're probably right. She doesn't seem very expressive, but that's nothing we can't overcome. And after all, any friend of Pinkie's is a friend of ours, no matter how weird."
Rarity hummed to herself as she checked her packages before taking them to Sapphire Shores. This was an important contract, and she knew better than to leave anything to chance.
The headdress was the last box, and she saw it as soon as the opened it and peeked inside. The main seam was completely gone!
Well, that was nothing a little emergency sewing couldn't fix, and she'd make it a double seam this time, just to be sure. Once again, hard work and prudence paid off.
The Apples watched the now-crutchless pony dance his way out of Flim and Flam's tent.
"Now how do ya like that?" Granny Smith grumbled.
"I don't." Applejack stared up at them. "There's somethin' funny about this whole thing."
"Darn tootin'!" Granny Smith spat on the floor. "Not like I'd give those ponies my business anywho. They've got some nerve showin' up here like this after what they tried to pull at our farm!"
Twilight thumped the huge book down. "This is the most complete—"
"And ginormous!" Rainbow added.
"—book on the history of the Wonderbolts."
"Okay, but how am I supposed to get what's in there into here?" Rainbow pointed at her head.
"Easy!" Twilight said. "Hold on, this may feel a little funny." Magic blasted from her horn, hitting the book and ricocheting into Rainbow's forehead.
"Ow!" When the glow faded, Rainbow rubbed the spot where the beam had hit. But then she froze. "Woah. I know it. I know it all!" Her eyes went wide. "Wow!"
Twilight grinned smugly at her.
"Hey!" Rainbow gave her a harsh look. "How come I know calculus and ancient Equish now?"
Turning her grin from smug to nonchalant, Twilight tried to look as innocent as she possibly could.
Rainbow gasped. "There it is! The first edition of Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue! It hasn't been traded yet!" She rushed up to the stallkeeper. "Lucky for you, because I've brought my most valuable possession to trade for it: My lucky horseshoe!"
She looked at it blankly. "I don't want it."
"What?"
"It's just a rusty old horseshoe. That's not worth anything to me."
Fluttershy thought for a moment. "What about a bear call?"
"A bear call? Now that's rare!" She shopkeeper held up her Daring Do book. "Let's trade!"
* * *
"Aha!" Rainbow darted up over the crowd. "There it is, a bird whistle!"
She and Fluttershy made their way over to the whistle stall. Fluttershy looked at it gleefully, but then cringed. "But I don't have anything left to trade for it."
Rainbow slapped her lucky horseshoe onto the table. "I'll trade you this for that bird whistle."
The old stallion stared at it. "It's just a rusty old horseshoe."
"It's a lucky horseshoe." Rainbow winked.
"Oh!" He smiled. "Well, in that case, you've got a deal!"
Rainbow and Fluttershy walked away happy. "So..." Rainbow nudged her friend. "I guess there's just one more trade to do."
Fluttershy smiled back at her and traded the Daring Do book for her bird whistle.
* * *
Rarity and Applejack stared at it. It was magnificent.
Never before had either of them seen such an elaborate and beautiful swing set. It glistened in the afternoon sun, sparkling as if taunting them.
Rarity was nearly drooling over it. "Sweetie Belle would love having that at her clubhouse! Just look at those jewel-encrusted supports!"
"And the slide looks like a heap of fun, too. I bet Apple Bloom'd be on there all day." Applejack nodded. "This is definitely something worth pooling our resources for."
* * *
Twilight winced at Pinkie's screeching salesponyship. She didn't want to bank on her reputation as a princess, not at all. She just came to give some books to ponies who would love them as much as she did.
She'd have to do something about it.
Smiling, she teleported a shiny red balloon right in front of Pinkie's face.
"Ooh!" Pinkie cried out, bouncing after it. "Come back, Mister Balloon!"
Twilight grinned. Discord's reformation may or may not have been as sincere as he made it out to be, but she could still learn friendship lessons from him. One of those lessons was how to temporarily distract inconvenient Pinkie Pies.
"And completely unusable," the puppeteer continued, lifting the handles. "Hmmm... Ugh! It doesn't travel!" He tried to squeeze himself inside it. "Oh, there's no room for my puppets!" Turning away in a huff, he made his puppets scowl at her. "It appears I won't have a traveling puppet theater to use after all."
"Nonsense." Rarity waved a hoof at him. "It's just a matter of a few last-minute alterations. Here..." She blasted it with her magic, reforming it in an instant into something far closer to what the puppeteer had wanted.
He turned around. "Aha! Now that's better! It travels, plenty of room for my puppets... but could you make it in blue?"
"I don't see why not." Rarity's horn glowed again.
Spike ignored the cheering crowd as he made his way to the torch, perfectly in control.
Right on cue, he flicked a spurt of green flame into it and lit it, providing the climax to the opening ceremonies. Miss Harshwhinny was right. Couldn't be simpler.
Twilight stared at the six-keyed chest. She still had no idea what was inside, or how to open it, but she was starting to think whatever was inside might be important to being able to defeat Tirek more easily.
Well, the only option left was one she hadn't dared take until now. She really didn't want to damage it, but it might be too important to leave closed.
She blasted the little box with her full power, cracking it open by brute force.
Using her awesome newfound rainbow power, Twilight Sparkle simply blasted Tirek into oblivion from where she stood, half a world away.
The distance didn't matter. This power was incredible, nearly unlimited. Tirek exploded into tiny shards that fizzled away under the rainbow's intense glow. His gathered magic, now freed from him, returned to the ponies he'd taken it from.
What next? She should bring Discord in to talk about his betrayal, but first she'd need a suitable place to do so. With this kind of power, it would be easy. She blasted the ground near Ponyville, building herself a bigger and better library/castle. That would do it. Nice. Her shelves at the library had been getting a little full. Now she'd have plenty of room.
With a casual flick of the power, she teleported there and teleported Discord in front of her. "Now, Discord, I think we have a few things to talk about."
