> Seven Elements of Harmony
>  by Razor Blade the Unicron
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> There are Some Elements... Seven, to Be Exact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	My name is Crystal. I live in Ponyville and do artwork for other ponies. Most think that I'm a simple Earth pony, but I'm not.
I'm a Changeling.
I was evicted from the colony by our queen because I was a girl. Cruel, huh? Now I know what you may be thinking: How does a Changeling survive with feeding off the love of others? I actually found out that friendship and kindness can be supplements for love, so I've been doing alright.
I turned myself into a pony of my own design. I gave myself a short green mane and tail. My coat is gray and I have a green swirl as a cutie mark. I chose to be an Earth pony because I love being strong and connected to nature.
Anyways, today is the Summer Sun Celebration! I was put in charge of making a beautiful banner for it, and I've spent all week making it! I'm bringing it to town hall when I hear a noise from the sky. I look up and see a chariot landing. A purple unicorn is sitting in it along with a baby dragon.
'Whoa! Who are they?'
I decide to bring my banner into town hall before going to meet the unicorn. I leave it neatly on a table so Rarity can hang it up later. I walk back outside, but the unicorn and dragon have already left.
'Oh, that's too bad...'
I walk back to my house/art studio, turn into a unicorn, and start working on a painting that Rainbow Dash asked for. I have just started when I hear a knock at my door. I quickly change back to an Earth pony before answering the door.
"Welcome to Crystal's Art Studio! What can I do for you?"
"Hello," say the unicorn I had seen earlier, "My name is Twilight Sparkle and I'm making sure that everything is all set for the Summer Sun Celebration. Did you finish the banner you had been making?"
"Yeah, I already brought it to town hall," I respond.
"Okay. Spike, check that off of the list,"	
"Got it Twilight!" says the dragon.
"Bye..." I say as she immediately turns around and leaves.
'Guess that's no new friend for me...'
"Hey, Crystal!" calls an upbeat voice.
"Hi, Pinkie Pie," I say calmly as the pink mare bounces up to me, "Do you need something?"
"I just wanted to give you an invitation for a 'Welcome to Ponyville!' part I'm planning for Twilight!"
"Thanks," I say dully.
I accept Pinkie's invitation and she bounces off to tell more ponies.
'Today is going to be the usual...'



"What? Those things are good!" says Pinkie before following her friends into the forest.
When Princess Celestia was supposed to come out, instead came Nightmare Moon! Twilight said she knew that she had been coming before returning to her library. I had watched from the window as Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had listened to  Twilight tell them about the Elements of Harmony, and now I was following them into the Everfree Forest.
'I don't know why I'm following them...' I think as they near a castle, 'Maybe I'm hoping I can help or something?'
I change into a pegasus and fly over the ruined castle. I look down and see Twilight and the other ponies picking up some stones and placing them around Twilight. Twilight tells them to leave and she closes her eyes and light up her horn. I land on the broken roof and watch as something steals the stones and Twilight vanishes with them.
"Twilight!" yell the other ponies when they came back in and saw her vanish.
"Look!" says Rarity and points to a glowing tower.
I fly up to the tower and look down from the ruined roof. I see Twilight try something before Nightmare Moon appears and destroys the stones.
"The Elements!" cries Twilight.
I realize that the stones were the Elements of Harmony Twilight had been talking about. How was Nightmare Moon going to be stopped now?
"The spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!" cries Twilight as the other ponies appear.
I watch as the shard circle the five other ponies after Twilight says what they did.
"The spark didn't work!" said Nightmare Moon, "The sixth Element isn't here!"
"But it did!" said Twilight, "When I realized that these are my friends!"
A stone appeared and floated above Twilight.
"What are you going to do now?' she asks Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon bursts into laughter, "You can't beat me!"
"What do you mean? Explain yourself!" yells Twilight angrily.
"You forgot about the seventh Element!"
"The... seventh Element?"
"Yes! And you don't have anypony left! So, goodbye to you!"
Nightmare Moon sends any shards of stone towards Twilight.
'No!' I think before I do something insane.
I switch back into and Earth pony and jumped in front of Twilight. I still don't know why I did it: but I did.
I must have been thinking that I had to do something. I was a worthless Changeling, and I had wanted to change that. I wanted to show that being good was better than hurting ponies. I wanted to do the right thing.
"What?!?" cry all the ponies when I jump in front of Twilight.
I close my eyes and prepare for the pain I was about to feel.
But it never came.
"Huh?" I ask as I open my eyes.
I look and see the shards spinning around me, like the other ponies.
"The seventh Element!" cries Twilight.
"No!" yells Nightmare Moon, "Impossible!"
The shards go into us (or something like that) and we float into the air. Nightmare Moon is engulfed in a rainbow that we are making.
"Nooooooo!!!!!" yells Nightmare Moon.
There's a bright flash of light and we are all lying on the ground.
"Oh!" says Fluttershy quietly, "It's beautiful, Rarity!"
"I know!" Rarity says, looking at her tail, "I'll never part with it again!"
"No, I meant your necklace. It looks just like you cutie mark,"
We all look down and see a necklace on us with our cutie mark. Twilight has a crown instead of a cutie mark.
"Gee, Twilight," says Applejack, "I thought you were just spouting a lot of hooey! But I reckon we really do represent the Elements of Friendship!"
"Indeed you do," says a regal voice.
The sun rises and Celestia appears. We all bow, but Twilight runs up to her.
"Princess Celestia!" says Twilight happily.
"Twilight Sparkle!" she responds happily, "My faithful student. I knew you could do it,"
"But, you told me that it was all an old pony-tale..."
"I told you that you needed to make some friends. Nothing more,"
"But my books said that there was only six Elements of Harmony, why is there seven?"
"What did you say?" asks Celestia, surprised.
"There's only six Elements of Harmony, so why are there seven?" Twilight points at me.
The other ponies gasp and I realize that I'm in Changeling form. I quickly switch back to being an Earth pony and try to look innocent.
"What did I do?" I ask innocently.
"May I see what you normal look like?" asks Princess Celestia.
With a sigh, I turn back into the Changeling I am and lower my head in shame.
"I'm a Changeling..." I say shamefully.
"Oh, my..." Celestia looks surprised, but then goes back to Twilight, "We will talk about this later, but first, I must see my sister!"
> Seven is a Lucky Number
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I laid quietly in my bed, staring at the ceiling. My room was medium sized, with a bed, dresser, desk, and art supplies scattered everywhere. My once-pale-green walls were covered in paint and artwork, and my white rug was covered in drops of paint. My desk had cups filled with colored pencils, while the drawers were filled with pastels, pens, and more art supplies. My dresser was small and squished into one of the corners of my room. It was filled with mostly smocks and a few scarves here and there. My bed, one the other hoof, was as neat as possible. I had added my own artwork to the dull white sheets, covering them with pictures of Ponyville and rainbows. The ceiling to my room was covered in murals and more pictures of Ponyville.
I gave a sigh as I tried to get comfortable in my bed. The events had had taken place only a few hours ago had me feeling very uncomfortable. It wasn't the fact that I was now a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony. It wasn't the fact that there were seven Elements of Harmony instead of the six that there was supposed to be. It wasn't even the fact that Nightmare Moon had come back and turned out to be Princess Celestia's sister, Princess Luna. What was making me uncomfortable was that other ponies now knew I was a Changeling. I had always striven to hide the fact that I was a Changeling, but in a single night, my secret was revealed to my new friends because of forces beyond my control.
I knew that each of them were all dying to ask me questions about Changelings, but I had heard Twilight tell the others not to ask me. I assumed that she was acting on Princess Celestia's orders, as she looked like she desperately wanted to ask me as well.
'At least I won't be feeling hungry any time soon...' I thought to myself with a small smile, 'All this friendship is filling me up nicely!'
I tried to drift off to sleep, but just gave up. I went downstairs to my art studio to work on the painting Rainbow Dash had asked me for a few days ago. My bedroom might have been messy, but my art studio was extra neat. My pencils were lined up by order of thickness as well as how dark they were. All of my paints and coloring tools were organized by type and color (down to the shade and hue). I had neat piles of paper, organized by texture and size. My canvases were also lined up by texture and size. My easel currently had a canvas on it with a sketch of Rainbow Dash flying in a Wonderbolt outfit.
'I'll just work on Rainbow's portrait to calm my nerves,'
When I make a piece of art, I change into a different pony forme depending on what I'm doing. When I'm doing the basic sketch, I turn into a unicorn and use my magic. When I'm adding the colors, I turn into an Earth pony and hold stuff with my mouth. When I add shadows, shading, and clean the piece up, I turn into a pegasus and hold the items I'm using with my wings. Before I was evicted, I just stayed as a Changeling and held everything in my hooves.
I didn't have to change what forme I was in, as I was already in my Earth pony forme. I grabbed my paint palette and a shade of blue that matched Rainbow's coat. I poured some of the blue on to my palette and dipped my brush into it lightly. I turned back towards the portrait and closed my eyes before I started to paint. I moved back and forth as I painted, completing each stroke with as much care as possible.
A few years ago, I had discovered that I painted better when I closed my eyes. This was during a blindfolded art contest that I was disqualified from because the judges thought I had cheated and not used the blindfold. I can only say that when I close my eyes and work on my art, I fall into a peaceful world of my own.
'Rainbow Dash is my friend, like Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. Friends are nice to have, they're much nicer than Changelings,'
I never liked being with other Changelings, and I never thought about the rest of my colony. I had cast away the memories of the cruelty and the harm we caused to others for so long, that I had started to forget what we did before I was evicted.
Queen Chrysalis never paid attention to her subjects, and I doubted that she did now, either. She had evicted me for multiple reasons, I remember, but the only one I could actually remember was because I was a girl Changeling and I wasn't the queen.
'Forget about them and focus on Rainbow's painting. Thinking of the past doesn't help,'
I opened my eyes and dipped my brush into a cup of water. I put the blue paints back and pulled out several red paints. Rainbow's mane and tail were going to take a bit longer than it would usually take to paint, as it had six colors as opposed to the average of two colors. I closed my eyes again as I painted the parts of Rainbow's mane that were supposed to be red. I decided that as soon as I finished Rainbow's mane, I would go back to bed.

Later

I smiled as I added the finishing touches to Rainbow's portrait. I had just completed Rainbow's shadow when I noticed what time it was.
'I've really been awake for that long? Wow, I must have gotten really caught up in my artwork!'
I pushed the painting over to the drying area and started to clean up. I put away my paints and pastels and placed my brushes in bowls of water. I then grabbed a sponge and started to scrub as much of the paint off of the floor as possible.
'I really should have done this in my room, like I do for most paintings!'
After a few minutes, I had managed to get the paint out. I put the sponge in the water with my brushes and looked around to make sure I had gotten everything. After double checking, I walked back upstairs to my room and turned back into my Earth pony forme. I went back over to my bed and laid down in it again. The smile on my face from finishing Rainbow's painting vanished as my worries came back.
'They know I'm a Changeling. Everypony is going to know that I'm a Changeling!'
However, my exhaustion overrode my fear, and I fell asleep.



"I just don't understand it!" said Twilight Sparkle to herself as she walked around the Golden Oak Library, "Why did none of my books say anything about a seventh Element of Harmony?"
Spike yawned and rolled over in his bed to look at Twilight. She had been thinking, talking, and researching for hours, and it was starting to annoying him. Especially since Twilight had woken him up from a nice nap.
"Twilight, I really think that you should get some sleep instead of overthinking this," he said.
"Spike! This is really important! Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna knew that there was a seventh Element of Harmony! Yet, somehow, Nightmare Moon did! Don't you see? It makes no sense!"
Twilight pulled books off the shelves and put books back on the shelves. She skimmed a few pages of some of the books, and then promptly put them right back on their shelves.
"Maybe it's because the number seven is considered lucky?" suggested Spike carelessly.	
"Lucky?" said Twilight, "That's a great idea! Now I'll just research the number seven and luck!"
Spike groaned as Twilight pulled out more books, paper, and quills. Hopefully, he'd fall asleep soon, as Twilight was likely to be up all night.
> Two Tickets, Seven Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It had been a few days since I had become a Bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony and got friends. We had all started to get to know each other better, specifically me, as I was the most unknown of the group. I soon learned the most basic facts about my friends: Rainbow Dash wanted to be a Wonderbolt, Applejack wanted to have a nice farm, Rarity wanted to be a famous clothing designer, Pinkie Pie just wanted to befriend ponies (no surprise there), Fluttershy just wanted everypony to be nice and caring (again, no surprise), and Twilight Sparkle was Princess Celestia's student, and would be sending her "friendship reports".
I had adjusted to being more open about myself, such as by being in Changeling forme more than I usually would be (as in I actually showed myself as a Changeling instead of staying how I normally would be). My friends never seemed to mind what I was, but I hoped that they wouldn't find out about the rest of my colony and start being mean to me.
I had just been taking a stroll (in my Earth pony forme), when I heard Rarity. I walked up to say hi to her, when I noticed that she was also with Twilight and Pinkie.
"Twilight," said Rarity, "I simply cannot believe you would invite Pinkie Pie so she can... party, and prevent me from meeting my true love! How could you? Hmph!"
I noticed Fluttershy's pet bunny run up to Spike and then run towards Fluttershy, who looked like she had just been walking by.
"Angel, these are perfect!" she said softly and happily.
"Uh, listen guys," said Twilight, oblivious to the fact that me and Fluttershy were nearby, "I haven't decided who to give the extra ticket to,"
"You haven't?" asked Rarity and Pinkie simultaneously.
'What are they talking about?' I thought.
"Um, excuse me, Twilight," piped up Fluttershy softly, "I would just like to ask, I mean, if it would be all right, if you haven't given it to someone else--"
"You?" asked Rarity in shock, "You want to go to the gala?"
'Are they talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?'
"Oh, no. I mean, yes, or, actually, kind of. You see, it's not so much The Grand Galloping Gala as it is the wondrous private gated garden that surrounds the dance. The flowers are said to be the most beautiful and fragrant in all of Equestria. For the night of the gala, and that night alone, would they all be in bloom... and that's just the flora! Don't get me started on the fauna. There's loons and toucans and bitterns, oh my! Hummingbirds that can really hum, and buzzards that can really buzz. White-blue jays, and red jays, and green jays, pink jays and pink flamingos!"
"Gee, Fluttershy," said Twilight awkwardly, "It sounds... beautiful...?"
"Are you guys talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?" I asked.
"Yeah!" said Pinkie, "Twilight has an extra ticket to the gala and doesn't know who she wants to invite!"
"I've always wanted to go to the gala!" I said, excited.
"Really?" asked Fluttershy, "I wouldn't expect you to be one for a large crowd,"
"Well, I actually just want to see all the beautiful art! The stained glass windows, the statues, the castle! They must all be so beautiful! And I would get to look at all of the wonderful, beautiful art all night, and maybe I could show off some of my artwork! And then I would be able to show ponies how amazing my art is, and they would say things like, 'That Crystal is such an amazing artist, I wouldn't be surprised if her artwork ended up in a museum!' It would be amazing!"
In my head, I also added on: And if anypony ever saw me as a Changeling, my artwork would make up for the fact that I am one!
"Wait just a minute!" said Rainbow, suddenly flying down.
"Rainbow Dash!" 	shouted Twilight angrily, "Were you following me?"
"No! I mean, yes. I mean, maybe! Look, it doesn't matter. I couldn't risk a goody-four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just anypony!"
"Wait just another minute!" said Applejack, suddenly trotting up to Rainbow.
"Applejack, were you following me too?" asked Twilight in an exasperated voice.
"No! I was followin' this one to make sure she didn't try any funny business. Still trying to take mah ticket,"
"Your ticket?" asked Rainbow.
"But Twilight's taking me!" said Pinkie.
All of us (except for Twilight) started arguing over who would get the ticket.
"QUIET!" yelled Twilight.
"And then I said, 'Oatmeal, are you craz--' oh," said Pinkie, still "arguing".
"Girls, there's no use in arguing," said Twilight, impatiently.
"But Twilight-" whined Rarity.
"This is my decision, and I'm gonna make it on my own, and I certainly can't think straight with all this noise...  not to mention hunger! Now go on, shoo,"
We all grumbled, wanting the ticket ourselves.
"And don't worry, I'll figure this out... somehow,"
Twilight (and Spike) walked off towards a restaurant to grab some lunch. As they walked off, I got an idea to give Twilight a present or something so she would want to give me the ticket! I just had to see all that beautiful art! I ran home quickly and started working on a present that Twilight would love.
During the next hour, I worked with some clay that I had left over from a sculpture I had made for Bon-Bon. Using my hooves, I formed it into the shape of a textbook and then changed into a unicorn so I could "bake" it with my magic. I switched to my pegasus forme and held my paint brush in my wing. I painted quicker than I normally would, but I was in a rush.
I finished in just under half an hour, so I rushed towards the Golden Oak Library. I noticed that Pinkie Pie was also heading towards the library, and it looked like Fluttershy was already there. I ran up to the door and opened it quickly.
"Hey Twilight! Look what I made for you!" I said as casually as possible.
"Not you too!" she said.
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently, "I just made you a book out of clay!"
"I'm not just going to give you the ticket." said Twilight.
I sighed as Twilight left the library with Spike. Outside I heard some voices and music.
"SURPRISE!"
"Twilight is my bestest friend!" sang Pinkie, "Whoopie! Whoopie!"
"Pinkie..." said Twilight.
"She's the cutest, smartest, all around best pony!"
"Pinkie."
"I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party!"
"Pinkie!"
"She'll give her extra ticket to the Gala to me!"
"PIIINKIIIE!!!"
"Yes, Twilight?" asked Pinkie normally.
"At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket."
I blushed with embarrassment, and noticed that Fluttershy did as well.
"Wait, what ticket? What gala?" asked a pony outside.
"Oh, you didn't know?" said Pinkie, "Twilight has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!"
"The Grand Galloping Gala?!?" asked the crowd outside.
I heard ponies shouting out favors, presents, anything. Had we really been doing that, too?
"What we gonna do?" asked Spike.
"We're... gonna... run!" yelled Twilight.
I heard Twilight run away with the crowd following after her. Then, Pinkie Pie came into the library with Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.
"Were we really doing that to Twilight, too?" asked Fluttershy.
"No!" said Rainbow, "Well, maybe..."
"I think we were doing the same thing that the ponies outside are doing." I said.
"It's no wonder that Twilight is so upset!" said Rarity.
"Yeah!" said Pinkie, "We were being somewhat-meanies!"
Suddenly, Twilight and Spike were inside of the library.
"Now quick, lock the doors!" said Twilight before turning around and seeing us, "Yaaaargh! I can't decide, I just can't decide. It's important to all of you and I just can't stand to disappoint any of you, and giving me gifts and doing me favors won't make any difference, because you're all my friends and I wanna make you all happy and I can't, I just can't!"
"Twilight, sugar," said Applejack guiltily, "I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you, and if it helps, I don't want the ticket anymore. You can give it to somepony else. I won't feel bad, I promise."
"Me too," added on Fluttershy, "I feel just awful that I made you feel so awful."
"And me too!" piped up Pinkie, "It's no fun upsetting your friends!"
"Twilight, it was unfair of me to try to force you as I did." said Rarity.
"Yeah," I said somewhat nervously, "We were acting all silly about a ticket..."
"Yes!" said Rainbow happily, "That means the ticket is mine! Ha ha, I got the ticket, I got the ticket-" Rainbow paused and looked at the five of us, realizing that we were glaring at her, "You know, I haven't perfected my signature moves for the Wonderbolts anyway. I don't need that ticket either."
"We all got so gun-ho about going to the gala that we couldn't see how un-gun-ho we were making you." said Applejack.
"We're sorry, Twilight." we all said guiltily.
Twilight Sparkle nodded in forgiveness and then said, "Spike, take down a note:" Spike pulled out some parchment and a quill, "Dear Princess Celestia, I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala."
"What?!?" we asked in shock over what Twilight had said.
"If my friends can't all go, I don't want to go either." declared Twilight.
"Twilight, you don't have to do that." said Applejack in complete surprise.
"Nope. I've made up my mind. Spike, you can send the letter now."
Spike opened up a window and blew on the scroll. It was covered in his dragon fire, and then magically flew away.
"Now you won't get to go to the gala either." said Fluttershy.
"It's okay, girls," said Twilight with complete honesty, "I couldn't possibly enjoy myself without my best friends there with me, so I would rather not go at all."
Ran went into a group hug and Spike started to make gagging noises out of disgust.
"Well wallop my withers, Spike," said Applejack, "Isn't that just like a boy? Can't handle the least bit of sentiment."
Spike breathed again and popped out a scroll.
"Whoa Nelly!" cried Applejack, ducking out of the way.
"A letter from the princess?" said Twilight happily, "That was fast!"
"My faithful student Twilight," read Spike, "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Spike pulled out seven ticket, "Seven tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!"
We all gasped in shock.
"Now we can all go!" exclaimed Twilight happily.
We cheered in happiness and celebrated a bit. Twilight's stomach rumbled and she laughed nervously.
"Allow us to treat you to dinner." said Rarity.
"What a great way to apologize!" said Rainbow Dash as we walked outside, each grabbing our ticket.
"And to celebrate!" added on Pinkie, "Come on everyone, the cupcakes are on me!"
"Does anypony know how these things are floating in front of us?" I asked as the ticket hovered in front of me.
> Opinions of More than Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ponyville isn't your typical pony town, is what I've learned over time. For one thing, most pony towns don't seem to be located next to a forest full of dangerous creatures and plants. Another thing, is that in most pony towns a zebra doesn't just randomly show up every once in a while and plan something or other. The strange thing is that none of the residents seem to know what a zebra is, and nopony ever talks to the zebra when she's outside.
I understand what she could be feeling from the residents, as I am a Changeling. I'm different, like she is, but I chose to conceal my differences, where as she doesn't seem to mind. I would have gladly talked to her, but I needed to blend in with the rest of Ponyville. So I did the same as the others: stay hidden in the nearest building when she comes by. I've always felt guilty about not trying to give her a chance, but I didn't risk standing out from the others.
So when I was outside (in pegasus forme) and Zecora (I honestly don't know how anypony got her name when nopony even goes near her) walked into town, I automatically went into the nearest building: Sugarcube Corner. Oddly enough, all of my friends (except for Twilight) also came in, as well as Applejack's little sister. Pinkie had already been inside, though, so many it wasn't that coincidental.
"Hey, guys," I said calmly, "What's up?"
"What's up is that she is here again!" said Rainbow, hovering in the air.
"What do you think she's up to?" asked Fluttershy nervously.
"Actually, it looks-" I started before I was interrupted by Pinkie Pie.
"Something evil!" she declared, "Because she's an evil enchantress!"
"Look!" said Rarity, "Twilight and Spike are outside!"
"She doesn't know 'bout Zecora, yet!" said Applejack.
"On it!" said Pinkie.
I rolled my eyes. Couldn't they see that Zecora was just planting something? And had they not figured out that she was a zebra? These ponies gave me a chance, even though they knew what I was. At least appearance wise...
"Psst!" hissed Pinkie from the door, "Twilight! Spike! Come here! Hurry! Before she gets you!"
Twilight lept inside to where we hiding in the dark and Pinkie pointed a flashlight at her.
"Who?!?" asked Spike, "The zombie pony?!?"
"Zombie pony?" asked Pinkie nervously.
"Spike!" said Twilight, "There are no zombie ponies! Pinkie, what are you doing here alone in the dark?"
"I'm not alone in the dark!" said Pinkie, turning on a small light.
Twilight gasped in shock when she saw us standing around her.
"Okay then," said Twilight, "What are are doing here in the dark?"
"We're hidin' from her!" said Applejack, pulling aside on of the curtains.
Zecora looked up from digging a hole as looked at (probably near) us. Automatically, everypony (except Twilight, Spike did, though) gasped in horror and hid from her vision. To be honest, I wasn't scared, but I was used to acting how the other ponies did when Zecora was around.
"Did you see her, Twilight?" asked Applejack's little sister, "Did you see... Zecora?"
"Apple Bloom!" revoked Applejack, "I told you to never say that name!"
"Well," said Twilight, "I saw her glance this way..."
"Glance evilly this way!" said Pinkie.
"And then you all flip out for some reason!" finished Twilight.
"No good reason?" asked Applejack in shock, "You call protectin' yer kin no good reason? Why, as soon as my sister saw Zecora ridin' into town, she started shakin' in her lil' horseshoes!"
"Did not!" said Apple Bloom.
"So I swept her up and brought her here!"
"I walked here myself!"
"For safe keepin'."
"Applejack, I'm not a baby! I can take care of myself!"
"Not from that creepy Zecora!"
"She's mysterious." said Fluttershy.
"Sinister!" said Rainbow.
"And spoooooky!" said Pinkie.
I felt inclined to facehoof, but resisted the urge. Twilight, however, just rolled her eyes and looked out the window again. Everypony but me crowded around the window, and gasped when Zecora pulled off her hood.
"Will you cut that out?" asked Twilight.
"Just look at those stripes!" said Rarity, appalled, "So garish!"
"She a zebra." I said blandly.
"A what?" asked everypony except for Twilight.
"A zebra," said Twilight, "And her stripes aren't a fashion choice Rarity, they're what she was born with."
Rarity fainted, and I again resisted the urge to facehoof.
"Born where?" asked Applejack, "I've never seen a pony like that in these parts, 'cept... her!"
Don't facehoof, I thought, my eye starting to twitch, Don't facehoof...
"Well, she's probably not from here," said Twilight, "And she's not a pony. My books say that zebras come from a faraway land. But I've never seen her in Ponyville. Where does she live?"
"That's just it," said Applejack ominously, "She lives in... the Everfree Forest!"
There was a loud clatter from pots and pans falling.
"Spike!" said Twilight.
"Sorry!" called Spike from the kitchen.
"The Everfree Forest just ain't natural!" said Applejack, "The plants grow..."
"Animals care for themselves..." said Fluttershy.
"And the cloud move..." said Rainbow Dash.
"All on their own!" said the three simultaneously.
Rarity fainted again.
Resist urge to facehoof...
"And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing her evil... stuff!" said Pinkie, "She's so evil, I even wrote a song about her!"
"Here we go..." said Rainbow in minor irritation.
"She's an evil enchantress
And she does evil dances
And if you look deep into her eyes
She'll put you in trances
Then what will she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo... Watch out!"
Resist urge to double facehoof...
"Wow. Catchy." said Twilight.
"It's a work in progress." said Pinkie proudly.
"Well, this is all a lot of gossip and rumors. Now tell me; what exactly have you seen Zecora do?"
"Well..." said Rainbow, "Once a month, she comes into Ponyville."
"Oooooh!" said Twilight sarcastically.
"Then," said Rarity, "She lurks by the stores."
"Oh, my!"
"And then," said Fluttershy, "She digs at the ground."
"Good gracious!" Twilight switched back to talking normally, "Okay, I'm sorry. But how is any of this bad? Maybe she comes to town to visit?"
"Yeah!" said Apple Bloom, "Maybe she's just tryin' to be neighborly."
"And maybe she's not lurking by the stores, maybe she's going to them, lurk free, to do some shopping?"
"Yeah!" I said, "Everypony likes to shop!" 
"You know what I think?" asked Apple Bloom, "I-"
"Apple Bloom!" revoked Applejack, "Hush and let the big ponies talk."
"I am a big pony!" said Apple Bloom under her breath.
"W-what about digging at the ground?" asked Rainbow, "You've got to admit that's weird."
"What if she's digging for innocent creatures?" asked Fluttershy.
Resist urge to double facehoof...
Pinkie started to sing "Evil Enchantress", again.
"I am sure there is an explanation for everything Zecora does!" said Twilight, "And if anypony here were actually brave enough to approach her, she would find out the truth!"
"Well, I'm brave enough," said Apple Bloom quietly, slipping away "I'm gonna find out myself."
I quickly slipped over to Apple Bloom and tapped her lightly. She looked at me in surprise, and I gave her a smile and nodded. The two of us walked outside while the others argued, and hid from Zecora's vision. She started to walk away, and we snuck after her, ninja-style. Zecora walked towards the Everfree Forest, and Apple Bloom I nodded as we followed her without being seen.
I felt a bit guilty for letting Apple Bloom sneak away, especially since I had just encouraged it, but Twilight was right. Somepony needed to be brave enough to understand who Zecora was, and who better than a misunderstood creature? Although, Applejack was going to kill me for letting Apple Bloom come with me.
Apple Bloom hesitated as we entered the Everfree, but I urged her onward. We dashed into the forest, as to not lose Zecora, and saw her walking past a patch of blue flowers.
"Apple Bloom!" called Applejack.
Zecora turned around to look at us, and Apple Bloom panicked.
"You get back here right now!" said Applejack from behind us. She was standing in the blue flowers with the others.
"Beware! Beware you ponyfolk!" said Zecora as it became misty, "Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"
"What does that even mean? I thought as Applejack ran over and picked up Apple Bloom.
"Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, ya hear?" called Applejack angrily.
The other ponies (besides Twilight and Fluttershy) called out in agreement, with Pinkie singing part of her song.
"Oh brother..." said Twilight.
"No kidding..." I muttered.
"Beware! Beware!" said Zecora as she vanished into the mist.
"Yeah!" said Rainbow, "Back at ya, Zecora! You and your lame curses are the ones who better beware!"
"And you!" said Applejack to Apple Bloom angrily, "Why couldn't you listen to your big sister?"
"I- I-" stuttered Apple Bloom.
"Applejack, don't get mad at Apple Bloom!" I said, "It was my fault. I encouraged her to come with me and follow Zecora!"
"What?!?" asked Applejack in shock, "Who know's what kind of nasty curse Zecora could have put on you?"
"Just like in my song!" said Pinkie, starting to sing again.
Twilight, on the other hoof, was looking at the others as if they were completely ridiculous.
"You guys!" she said, "There's no such thing as curses!"
"Well, that interesting hear coming from Miss Magicpants herself!" said Rainbow, flying through the flowers.
"My magic, real magic, comes from within. It's a skill you're born with. Curses are artificial, fake magic. It's conjured with potions and incantations; all smoke and mirrors meant to scare. But curses have no real power, they're just an old pony tale."
"Just you wait, Twilight," said Applejack as the others started to exit the forest, "You're gonna learn that some pony tales really are true."
Twilight looked confused for a moment, and then walked out of the forest after the others. I glanced back to where Zecora had been before flying out of the forest after the others. What had Zecora meant?





The next day, I decided to see what Twilight was doing, so I walked towards the library in Earth pony forme. I had to duck as Rainbow Dash when flying above me like crazy, and I wondered what trick she'd been trying to do. I also noticed Pinkie bouncing towards the library quickly, with Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, and who I think was Rarity, but couldn't tell because she was a mess.
I made it to the library after the others, as I had been walking at a casual pace. As soon as I walked in, my mouth dropped open in shock. Pinkie's tongue was sticking out, and was covered in blue dots. Twilight's horn was flopping around, and was covered in blue dots. Rarity's hair was an utter mess. Applejack was tiny. Rainbow Dash was flying around uncontrollably and upside down. But the weirdest thing of all was Fluttershy: she was talking in a deep voice!
"Crypthal!" spat Pinkie, how appeared to be unable to speak properly, "Phlid pthat enchpnatress splet plou?"
"What?" I asked, unable to understand what Pinkie was trying to say.
"What Pinkie was askin'," said Applejack in a high pitched voice, "Is if Zecora cursed you, too?"
"If Zecora what?"
"I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place!" said Rainbow, crashing into something else.
"It's not a curse!" said Twilight.
"I agree with Dash!" said Applejack, reverting her attention from me, "We'll go to Zecora and force her to remove this hex!"
"It's not a hex either!" said Twilight angrily.
"But did Zecora get you?" asked Rarity to me.
"Well, nothing;s felt different of looked different about me today..." I said, wondering if it really was Zecora who had done this to my friends. Wouldn't she have curses Apple Bloom and I, too?
The others started to argue about whether Zecora had cursed them or not, with Twilight saying that curses still weren't real.
"This is all my fault..." said Apple Bloom quietly, "If I hadn't followed Zecora in the first place, none of this would have happened..."
"Apple Bloom," I said to her softly, "It's not your fault. It's my fault. And you know what? Zecora seemed to know what was up, so maybe she can find a cure for the other's 'curses'."
"Are ya sayin' we should try going to Zecora, again?" asked Apple Bloom.
"Yes," I said confidentially, "We should definitely go to Zecora's."
As the others continued to argue, Apple Bloom and I snuck outside again (do my friends not have good peripheral vision?). As we headed towards the Everfree, Apple Bloom asked me something.
"Uh, Crystal?" she asked, "Why'd ya let me go out to follow Zecora earlier? Don't ya think she's evil, too? Like Applejack and the others?"
"I don't think she's evil," I said honestly, "It's just that the other ponies in Ponyville think that she is, so I've always pretended."
"But why would you pretend? Why not just say your opinion on the matter?"
"Because..." I trailed off, trying to ind a way to put it, "Because I guess I haven't been brave enough. I'm different from the other ponies. If fact, I'm not even a pony! But I've never wanted others to know that I'm different. My kind... aren't the nicest creatures. But my friends don't mind that I'm different, so I need to have courage and be myself. Thanks for asking, Apple Bloom."
Apple Bloom gave me a smile as we walked into the Everfree. As we walked a bit deeper, it turned out that Applejack had also come along. Guess it was a good thing that she became tiny...
"Stop right there!" said Applejack angrily, "Turn around right now, missy!"
"No." said Apple Bloom
"No?!?" asked Applejack in shock, "You can't ignore a direct order from your big sister!"
"Hehehe. Sorry, Applejack, but I'm the big sister now!" Apple Bloom placed Applejack on a branch and started to walk back towards me.
"Apple Bloom, you come back here right this instant!" yelled Applejack, "I'm gonna tell Big Macintosh on you! Crystal, you're settin' a bad example for my sister!" her voice became too quiet for us to hear.
"You know she's going to punish you, right?" I asked Apple Bloom as we walked.
"Yeah, but it was so worth it!" said Apple Bloom.
We both laughed and I noticed a strange looking tree coming up. It looked like it had been converted into a building, like the library, but with a much different vibe. It was more exotic and carefree, it made me feel... odd. I knew it had to be Zecora's place, who else would live in the Everfree?
"What do we do now?" whispered Apple Bloom nervously.
"We're going to be brave," I said, "We're just going to knock on her door, and ask her a few things."
"Are ya sure?"
"Definitely."
I walked right up to the door and paused. After a few moments, Apple Bloom walked up beside me and I knocked on the door. The door swung open to reveal Zecora, and I saw Apple Bloom tense up out of the corner of my eye.
"Er, you're Zecora, right?" I asked nervously.
"I am called Zecora, correct you see. Now, who are you, and who is she?" she asked, lightly gesturing towards me and Apple Bloom in that order.
"My name's Crystal and this is Apple Bloom. We just wanted to ask you a few things related to our friends."
"Ah yes, I remember the two of you. You followed me into the forest, though why I cannot assume. You said something about your friends? Is it about the jokes they must comprehend?"
"Jokes?" asked Apple Bloom, more nervously than I had been.
"Oh, so it was the blue flowers that did... stuff to them! That explains your warning!" I said in realization, "Yes, we're here to ask if you can make a cure for them!"
"A cure for poison joke I can create. But there are some ingredients I need to locate." said Zecora, sounding somewhat happy.
"We can help find the ingredients!" said Apple Bloom.
"Yeah!" I said in agreement, "What do you need?"





"Is this it?" asked Apple Bloom examining a plant.
"Well," I said, remembering how Zecora had described it, "Zecora said that this plant has 'leaves of four, no less no more' and that it was 'purple like the sky, deep as can be, though lovely as a butterfly, with the smell of an apple tree'. Does it smell like an apple tree?"
Apple Bloom leaned down towards the purple plant we were investigating and sniffed.
"Smells like the trees on the farm!" declared Apple Bloom, putting the plant into her bag, "Is that everythin'?"
"Yup! Let's get back to Zecora's so she can finish up that herbal mixture."
We walked back towards Zecora's place, making sure that we avoided all suspicious-looking plants. 
"Huh, that's odd..." I said as we approached Zecora's house.
"What?" asked Apple Bloom.
"I just felt like something ridiculous was about to happen, I have no idea why, though!"
We walked into Zecora's place and I announced, "Zecora! I think we got everything you asked for!"
"What in Ponyville is goin' on here?" asked Apple Bloom.
Zecora's place was a wreck. The rest of my friends were all glaring at Zecora, and I assumed that they had caused all the damaged.
Applejack gasped, "Apple Bloom! Crystal! You're okay!"
"Why wouldn't we be?" I asked.
"Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you up into soup!" said Twilight accusingly.
Zecora, Apple Bloom, and I all started laughing at this. Did Twilight really believe the other's nonsense about Zecora?
"Oh, Twilight," said Apple Bloom, "Did those silly fillies get in yer head? You know there's no such thing as a curse!"
"Apple Bloom, sweetie," said Twilight, "You can't just stand there and tell me this isn't a curse."
"Well," I said, walking past everypony to Zecora, "This isn't a curse."
"If you remember back," said Zecora, "The words I spoke were quite exact: Beware, beware you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"
"It was a warning," I said, "About that blue plant. It's called Poison Joke."
"That plant is much like poison oak, but its results are like a joke."
"What in the hay does that mean?" asked Applejack.
"It means this plant does not breed wrath. Instead, this plant just wants a laugh."
"Will somepony please talk normal?" asked Applejack, rather confused.
"I think," said Twilight, "what's she's saying is that when we ran in to 'save' Apple Bloom and Crystal, we all ran into the poison joke. All our problems are just little jokes it played on us!"
"Little jokes?!?" exclaimed Applejack, "Very funny!"
"Okay, fine!" said Rainbow, agreeing that Zecora hadn't cursed them, "But what about the cauldron?"
"And the chanting?" added on Fluttershy.
"And the creepy décor?" added on Rarity.
"Treasures of my native land where I from," said Zecora calmly, "This one speaks 'hello'," she gestured to one of the mask-thing, "And this 'welcome'." she gestured to another one.
"Not welcoming at all, if if you ask me..." mutter Rarity.
"The words I chanted were from olden times. Something you call a nursery rhyme."
"But the cauldron..." said Twilight, "The Apple Bloom and Crystal soup?"
"Lookie here, Twilight!" said Apple Bloom, showing Twilight the contents of the now knocked-over pot, "That pot of water wasn't for us, it was for all these herbal ingredients! The cure for poison joke is a simple, old-natural remedy. You just gotta take a bubble bath!"
"But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything!" Twilight was very surprised, "What book has this natural remedy?"
Zecora showed Twilight the book she had been using and said, "Here is the book, you see? Sad that you lack it in your library."
"Actually, I do have this book," admitted Twilight, "But I didn't look inside because the title was so... weird!" Twilight flipped the book open to see a small description, "Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super I...I... I'm so sorry Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I had bothered to look inside."
Zecora gave a small chuckle, "Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book."
Apple Bloom and I laughed a little bit, we couldn't help ourselves.
"Zecora?" asked Twilight, "Would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?"
"Mix it up I certainly will." said Zecora, "Yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville."
"But whenever Zecora comes to town," I said, "All the shops are 'mysteriously' closed!"
"Oh, well!" said Twilight, "I think we can help with that, now can't we, girls?"





"Look Rose!" cried out Daisy as we walked through town with Zecora, "How awful!"
"The wicked enchantress has cursed them all!" shouted Rose.
"The horror, the horror!" yelled Lily.
Ponies all around us were running to hide in a panic.
"Run, ponies!" yelled Daisy, "Run!"
Twilight walked right up to the flower shop and knocked on the door. Daisy opened the door a crack, and looked out nervously.
"Daisy, we need to talk."





Twilight ended up sending Princess Celestia a letter while Zecora finished mixing up a new batch of the herbal bath. She then brought it to the spa, and she, Apple Bloom, and I all added it into the hot tub.
"Miss Zecora," said Lotus Blossom, "I would love to get the recipe for this bath! It's simply luxurious!"
"Applejack!" cried out Apple Bloom suddenly, "Hey, where's Applejack?!?"
Everypony started to panic, and we all checked our hooves to make sure we hadn't crushed her.
"I'm right her, little sis!" called Applejack from a small tub of water that had placed on the ground for her to use, "I ain't tiny no more!"
"Oh!" said Rarity, examining her freshly restored look, "I have never felt so lovely in all my life!"
"Oh my gosh!" cried out Pinkie, "I never realized how horrible it is not to be able to talk. I mean, I love talking so much, and when I couldn't talk anymore, my tongue was all 'ehhhh'! It was the worst! Don't you agree, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy paused for a moment before responding in her normal voice, "Yes."
We all laughed a bit, and finished removing the effects of the poison joke. Zecora packed up her things real quick, and started heading back to her house as we dispersed back to our houses.
"From what I can tell you are not a pony," said Zecora just before I left, "But are neither a faker or a phony."
"Well..." I said anxiously, "I'm, uh, a Changeling..."
"I could tell when you were a pegasus then a unicorn, there is a clear difference between having wings and a horn."
"Actually, I usually stay as an Earth pony."
"Why? Do have reason to hide?"
"It's just that other ponies don't really see bug-ponies, and it might scare them. And... I've been too afraid."
"Courage is your greatest power, you followed me and showed a shower!"
"Really?"
"You did what other ponies feared to do, whether or not you were scared, too."
"Courage?..." I asked myself as Zecora walked into the Everfree, "I showed Courage..."
I walked towards my house with a small smile, before I tripped over a rock and ended up doing a double facehoof (with wings!) on the ground.
> Seven Stories of a Rainbow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Until I heard Rainbow Dash tell the Cutie Mark Crusaders her cutie mark story, I had never really considered why I had given my pony forme its cutie mark. I knew that I had to, as all ponies earned their cutie mark at a point in their lives, but I hadn't thought about why it was a green swirl since the day I chose it.
"And that, little ones, is how you earn a cutie mark." said Rainbow, finishing off her story.
"Whooooaaaa..." said the CMC in awe.
"Wait a second," said Fluttershy softly, "I heard that explosion. And I saw the rainbow, too. Rainbow Dash, if you hadn't scared the animals, I never would have learned I could communicate with them and gotten my cutie mark!"
"I heard that boom!" said Pinkie joyfully, "And right afterwards, there was this amazing rainbow that taught me to smile!"
When Ah got mah cutie mark," said Applejack, "Ah saw a rainbow that pointed me home! Ah bet it was yer sonic rainboom!"
"There was an explosion I could never explain when I got my cutie mark!" said Rarity.
"This is uncanny!" cried out Twilight, "If that explosion didn't happen when it did, I would have blown my entrance exam! Rainbow Dash, I think you helped me earn my cutie mark too!"
"Whoa!" said Rainbow in surprise.
"We all owe our cutie marks to you!" said Pinkie.
"Do you realize what this means?" asked Fluttershy, "All of us had a special connection before we even met."
"We've been BFFs forever and we didn't even know it!" said Rarity.
"What 'bout you, Crystal?" asked Applejack.
All eight ponies in the room turned towards me eagerly.
"We wanna hear your cutie mark story!" said Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
"So do we!" said Twilight.
"Well," I said, "I didn't really earn my cutie mark..."
"How can somepony somewhat earn their cutie mark?" asked Rainbow.
I gave a small smile, "I'll tell you. I was just a ling when I got my cutie mark. I-"
"What's a ling?" asked Rarity.
"It's like a foal, except instead of a pony, it's a Changeling."


...


An Earth pony filly with a gray coat and a black mane walked slowly through the desert, squinting to see through the swirling sand. She had been travelling for a several days, and was beginning to feel week with hunger.
"Please have more left in the crystal..."* she muttered fearfully, "Please..."*
She found minimal shelter from the blowing sand behind a large sand dune, and untied a necklace with a black crystal from around her neck. She examined it for a moment before retying the necklace around herself and sitting down with a dejected look on her face.
"It's empty..."* she felt her eyes fill up with tears that were not from the sand stinging her eyes, "It can't help feed me anymore..."*
Giving out a sigh, she dropped her disguise and became a Changeling. She was only a ling, but she was alone with no protection or safety.
"Why did I have to be so foolish? Everyling except for me did what they were supposed to do, but I didn't! I was supposed to change to look like all the other lings, but nope! I couldn't! So I got evicted!"*
She used to live in a hive with other Changelings. All of them lived under the rule of Queen Chrysalis, and everyling obeyed her rule. At a certain age, all lings would go through the process of becoming integrated into the true hive. When one became a part of the true hive, they got a job, a place to sleep, and changed appearance to match all of the other Changelings. However, when she had been put through the natural changing process, her forme remained unchanged, so she was banished.
Before being removed from the hive, Chrysalis had done several formalities. She had stated the reasons for her banishment, warned her of the dangers of ponies, and had given her a collecting crystal. Collecting crystals did just what the name implied: they collected love for a Changeling to feed on. Depending on how full it was, the crystal would change it's color. If it was empty, it would just be black and dull. If it was completely full, it would be a deep red. The less love, the paler the color until turning black from being empty. As soon as a collecting crystal turned black, it was useless, and could no gather any more love. She had been given a full one, and was told to use it sparingly.
And then she was thrown out. Never to return. She had cried for several hours, but then realized what she needed to do: everything possible to survive. Though she had no received her full education, she knew that Changelings could turn into ponies by seeing them and copying their formes. She also knew that ponies feared Changelings, and would try and attack them if they were found out. But she needed to find a pony town to obtain love. So she had began to travel through the desert to find a pony town.
After three days of travelling, she had found something of interest. It was a page from a book, partially buried in the sand. Though it looked old, it was in perfect condition, and written in Changelish, too. The page had a picture of pony (specifically an Earth pony filly) with a gray coat and a black mane. The pony was just on the page, and the caption underneath said "Basic Earth pony filly, important." So she had copied the pony's image, and had tucked the page into her mane.
She also had to take some of the love out of her crystal, as she had been extremely hungry. She had made sure that she only had a certain amount every day, and would make sure it would get filled up again when she reached a pony town.
"Ugh... I'm tired of walking!"* she stamped her hoof before looking up at the sky, "That's it! I'm flying!"*
She changed from an Earth pony to a pegasus, and took into the sky. The sand stung as it whipped by, but she ignored it as she flew free from the sandstorm. She began flying as fast as possible, even though it she was tired and weak. She needed love.
"Got to find a pony town... Can't run out of love..."*
After only a few minutes, she was flying as fast as she had been walking in the sandstorm. At least there wasn't anymore sand in her eyes.
"Ugh... Flying's tiring..."*
She looked off into the distance to see if there was any signs of a town, but instead saw something extremely odd. There was a large blast of colors coming towards her, like a rainbow. She had never seen one before, but knew what it was from a single picture in a book.
"A rainbow? Weird... Looks like it coming right at-"*
The odd rainbow came blasting through her and she went spiraling out of control. The green section of the rainbow had hit her, and she even saw her mane and tail change color. She looked around to see a green swirl forming around her, before there was a flash of light, and she found herself standing in the middle of a pony park. Quickly glancing around in confusion and worry, she saw pony fillies with "cutie marks" running around with smiles. She quickly changed so the green spiral was on her flank, and felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Excuse me, young filly," said a kind looking mare, "I haven't seen you around here before, are you lost?"
"Um... Yes..." she replied nervously.
"Where are your parents?"
"I don't know."
"You don't?!?"
"No."
"Oh, then come with me so we can try and find them, okay?"
"Okay."
"What's your name, by the way?"
She quickly glanced around before seeing the deep red crystal on her necklace.
"Crystal. I'm Crystal. I like green swirls."





"And that's how I got my cutie mark!" I finished.
"So you got your cutie mark after being hit by Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom?" asked Scootaloo excitedly.
"I guess that's what it was... So, yes!" I turned towards Rainbow Dash, "Next time, try not to hit me so hard!"
"Hey!" she retorted with no real effort.
"So all of us have a connection Rainbow's sonic rainboom!" said Twilight.
"We really have all been BFFs forever without knowing it!" said Rarity.
We then all shared a group hug. None of us could help it!
"I'm so glad we're friends!" said Fluttershy.
"I love you, guys!" said Pinkie.
"Awwww..." said Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
"Ewwww..." groaned Scootaloo, "Gimme a break. Come on, Crusaders! Maybe we just need to try zip lining again."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle grabbed Scootaloo and had a group hug, causing Scootaloo to sigh in irritation.
"Hey," said Fluttershy, "How about a song?"
Almost everypony gave their approval towards this.
"Definitely!" said Pinkie.
"Nooooo!!!!!!!" cried out Scootaloo in horror, "No more songs and mushiness!!!!!!!!!!"
> Untraceable Past of the Seventh Element
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Element Log (Per Request By Twilight) - Entry 1

	The Elements of Harmony: magical relics that have been used to stop many before, and more even now. Throughout all of history, there have been the six Elements: Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic (which was not always known to be Magic, but was known to exist with the other Elements). Every book that has information on the Elements of Harmony and says how many there are, would say that there were six Elements. No more, no less.
In the one thousand years that Nightmare Moon was sealed in the moon by the Elements of Harmony, they were no used in any way, and were kept safely in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Before Nightmare Moon, there were other enemies that had the Elements used on them, though to find who specifically had the Elements used on them is rather difficult.
My friend (though technically she hadn't become my friend yet), Twilight Sparkle, had been looking into the Elements of Harmony to stop Nightmare Moon, and had found out (as said in essentially all sources on them) that there were six Elements, the final one being unknown. After finding the six Elements and standing up to Nightmare Moon, everything was just as said in the books relating to the Elements: there were six Elements, five being the ones that were know, and the sixth one being the Element of Magic.
However, Nightmare Moon had spoke of a seventh Element that was needed to complete the Elements of Harmony, which had never been heard of before. There had never been a seventh Element in all of Equestrian history, nor had anypony even heard of a seventh one. Though this may have seemed like Nightmare Moon was trying a last-ditch attempt to stop the Elements from stopping her (specifically the Nightmare that was corrupting Princess Luna was trying to stop the Elements).
Strangely enough, though, she was right, and there was a seventh Element of Harmony that was needed to activate all of the other ones! The six Elements of Harmony that the ponies were using had been unable to active, and Nightmare Moon had decided to attack using fragments of stone (from the Elements of Harmony, which she had broke, but there's no need for specifics) that she flung at the ponies with the six Elements of Harmony (to specify, those ponies also became my friends; I had interacted with all of them {except for Twilight Sparkle} many times, but my shyness over who I was kept me from growing close to them).
I had been following my friends (to specify, again, they were not my friends yet) into the Everfree (where they had been looking for the Elements) as to see what they had been up to, and I ended up witnessing the events I have written about. So when Nightmare Moon attacked (rather lazily and foolishly, I might add) I decided to block the hits so my friends (perhaps I shouldn't refer to them as my friends yet; as in at this part where this is being written) wouldn't get hurt. As a Changeling, I would have my chitin to absorb some of the blow, but when sharp stones are coming towards you, they're going to hurt no matter what.
However, the shards that had been thrown towards me instead began to circle me, in the same manner as the other shards had been circling the other ponies. The Elements of Harmony then "activated" and Nightmare Moon was cleansed and became Princess Luna again. It had turned out that I was the seventh Element of Harmony, but what I was the Element of was unknown.
After extensive research with my friend Twilight (with my other friends assisting at times), we have found nothing relating to a seventh Element existing, let alone knowing what it represented. So unfortunately, I do not believe that this log I have written will contain anything useful other than memories. However, maybe we will found out what my Element represents at some point.





Element Log - Entry 2

I felt like we were looking at this all wrong. Twilight kept (and keeps) having us look through books involving the six Elements of Harmony, luck, and the number seven, but are we just overthinking this? I decided to ask the others what they did to "earn" their Elements, so I can try and figure out what I did!

Rainbow Dash (color coded for convenience)

Element: Loyalty
Description: Necklace, red lightning bolt
Action: Was Loyal to her friends, ignoring the "Shadowbolts's" offer to live her dream (sort of)

Applejack

Element: Honesty
Description: Necklace, orange apple (with green stem)
Action: Was Honest to Twilight in telling her that she would be safe

Pinkie Pie

Element: Laughter
Description: Necklace, blue balloon
Action: Laughed at "ghosties" that were scaring her and the others

Rarity

Element: Generosity
Description: Necklace, purple indigo gem (diamond)
Action: Was Generous and cut off her tail to give to a sea serpent to fix his mustache (what?)

Fluttershy

Element: Kindness
Description: Necklace, pink butterfly
Action: Was kind to a manticore that the others were attacking (it was angry) by stopping the fight and pulling a thorn from it's paw

Twilight Sparkle

Element: Magic (isn't that cheating or something?)
Description: Tiara, decorations, pink magenta star (six points)
Action: Realized that the others were her friends, causing the spark that made the sixth Element appear

Crystal (Me)

Element: ???
Description: Necklace, green swirl
Action: ???





Element Log - Entry Three

Okay, so maybe the other entry wasn't very helpful. I know what the others did to show that they represented the Elements, but I still don't know what I did. The only time I even interacted with the others was at the end when I blocked Nightmare Moon's attack.
Wait a second...
I'll finish this entry later. Maybe Twilight has a Flashback Spell!




Element Log - Entry Four

Thanks to that Flashback Spell, I finally have the answers I need!

Crystal (Me)

Description: Necklace, green swirl
Action: Jumped into protect ponies though scared
Element: Courage


> Discording Seven (Part One)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Waking up to a pink sticky cloud filled with chocolate milk isn't the best thing in the morning, though I think that Pinkie would disagree. It's also annoying when I had to eat said cloud to get rid of it and I was on a sugar high.
Wait, what? I thought in confusion, Why is there a cotton candy cloud with chocolate milk in my house? Did a spell of Twilight's go wrong or something?
I looked out my window to see even more pink clouds, raining chocolate milk. I saw a rainbow blur zoom by me towards Sweet Apple Acres, and had to blink a few times to become unstunned. I quickly jumped out the window and flew after Rainbow. Normally I'd don my pegasus form, but the chocolate rain would have been a nightmare on my fur, verses it just sliding off of my chitin.
What is going on here?
As I neared the farm, I saw that there was popcorn everywhere, giant apples randomly appearing on the trees and weighting them down, and animals with extremely long legs. Just as I landed, a large pink light covered the area, before vanishing.
"My fail-safe spell failed..." said Twilight, "What do we do?"
"Uh, give up?" said Spike.
"Spike," said Rarity, "Twilight will think up something."
"What's going on?" I asked, looking around at the complete chaos.
"Oh! Crystal!" said Twilight, just noticing me, "Is this craziness effecting your magic at all?"
"I don't think so, why?"
"Well, you do have different magic than the rest of us- Oh, that could work!"
"Huh?" I asked as Twilight suddenly teleported to my side, holding a book in her magic.
"Can you try casting this spell?" she asked, holding the book up to me.
"I usually only use levitation, but I'll try!"
My horn lit up in it's usual green, and I concentrated as hard as I possibly could. Suddenly, my horn stopped glowing, before lighting up again, but red instead of green.
"Twilight, I have a bit of a problem, here." I said as the glow on my horn continued to switch colors.
"It is effecting your magic!" said Twilight, "Here, let me try-"
Before Twilight could finish talking, a bolt of magic came out of my horn and blasted all of the pink clouds in the sky, causing them to all dissapear.
"Aw, mare!" said Pinkie, "I wanted more chocolate milk!"
"Um, was that supposed to happen?" I asked.
"No, but you did get rid of the clouds!" said Twilight, before the sky became filled with pink clouds again, "Never mind..."
"Twilight!" said Spike, "I got a letter from Princess Celestia! It says that she needs you guys in Canterlot immediately!"
"This much be related to all this chaos going on!" Twilight looked around before turning back towards us, "Come on, everypony! Let's hurry!"





We burst into Canterlot Castle to see Princess Celestia pacing nervously.
"Princess Celestia!" said Twilight, running up to her, "We came as fast as possible!"
"Thank you, Twilight. Thank you, all." said Celestia, trotting over to us.
"Is this about all of the craziness happening outside?" asked Twilight, "And why didn't my magic work? And why-"
"I know you have many questions, my student, but I need you all to follow me," Princess Celestia quickly led us into the throne room where there was large, stained-glass windows, "I've called you here for a matter of great importance. It seems an old foe of mine, someone I thought I had defeated long ago, has returned. His name is... Discord."
Fluttershy let out a small whimper of fear.
"Discord is the mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I saw how miserable life was for Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike, so after discovering the Elements of Harmony, we combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him to stone."
All six of them... I thought.
"That sounds like it was awesome!" said Rainbow.
"I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever, but since Luna and I are no longer connected to the Elements, the spell has been broken."
"No longer connected?" asked Twilight, "What does that mean?"
Princess Celestia paused into front of a door that had seven sections of different colors on it.
"This is Canterlot Tower, where the Elements are kept inside since all of you recovered them. I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord before he thrusts all of Equestria into eternal chaos."
"But why is?" asked Twilight.
"Hey!" said Pinkie, pointing to a large stain-glass window, "We're famous!"
The stain-glass window depicted the seven of us blasting Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony.
"You si- sorry, seven, showed the full potential of the Elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to beat a mighty foe. Although Luna and I once wielded the Elements, it is you who now control their power, and it is you who must defeat Discord!"
The seven of us looked at each other, and we all nodded.
"Princess Celestia, you can count on us!" said Twilight.
"Thank you all, greatly," she said, turning towards the door and inserting her horn into a small hole in the center. The door glowed, and opened to reveal a a golden chest that Princess Celestia picked up with her magic, "Have no fear, ponies. I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these!"
She opened the box, to reveal that there was nothing in it. Princess Celestia dropped the box in surprise, and we all let out a gasp.
"The Elements!" said Twilight in shock, "They're gone!"
"Discord must have taken them!" said Princess Celestia, "There's no other reasonable explanation!"
"Reasonable explanation?" asked a disembodied voice, "Of course you would want one of those, Celestia!"
"Discord! Show yourself!"
There was a flash of light on one of the many stained-glass windows, and an odd-shaped creature appeared. At the exact same time, Princess Celestia and Twilight both turned towards me and zapped me with their magic. I felt a tingling sensation, and then it faded away. Looking at myself, I saw that looked semi-transparent, and realized that they were trying to hide me from Discord.
"What's the matter?" said Discord, "Don't you miss me? I missed you. It's quiet boring  lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that, would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone!"
"Enough!" snapped Princess Celestia, "What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?"
"Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while."
"You'll never get away with this, Discord!"
"Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be, Celestia. It's really quite boring."
"Hey!" shouted Rainbow, "Nopony insults the Princess!"
"Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent."
"That's right! I'll always be loyal to the Princess!"
"We'll see about that."
"I can't believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window." said Rarity
"The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, if I'm not mistaken?"
"So you know who we are," said Applejack, "Big deal."
"Oh, I know much more than that, honest Applejack."
"You seem to know our strengths too." said Twilight.
"Yes, Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful and elusive element, magic. Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favorite of mine - laughter!" Discord let out a cackle, which caused Pinkie to giggle
"Laughter is really fun!" said Pinkie.
"Pinkie!" said Twilight, "Don't encourage him!"
"Stop stalling, Discord!" said Princess Celestia, "What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?"
"Oh, so boring, Celestia," said Discord, "Though, I do find it funny that you put a fake Element in the box, and even put a Changeling on the picture you made! A Changeling!" he let out another laugh, and I had restrain myself from jumping at him, "Fine, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way. To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began." Discord vanished in a fit of laughter.
"Can we go home now?" asked Fluttershy with a whimper.
"And how come Crystal is semitransparent?" asked Rarity.
"Discord believes that Crystal's Element is fake," said Princess Celestia, "So it is best that he doesn't discover Crystal exists. For now, you must find the Elements!"
"What do you reckon he meant?" asked Applejack, "Twists and turns and ending back where we started?"
"Twists and turns..." muttered Twilight, pacing around, "Twists and turns... Twists and turns! That's it! I bet Discord hid the Elements in the palace labyrinth!"
"Good luck, my little ponies," said Princess Celestia, "The fate of Equestria is in your hooves."
"Thanks, Princess. We won't let you down."





The labyrinth we stood in front of was extremely tall, and also very foreboding.
"D-do we have to go in there?" asked Fluttershy nervously.
"Don't worry!" said Rainbow, "Discord forgot that we can just fly in! I'll back in just a few seconds with the Elements!"
Rainbow was about to fly into the maze when her wings suddenly vanished. At the same time, Fluttershy's wings, Rarity's horn, and Twilight's horn all vanished. I quickly backed away from the rapidly growing invisible line that continued around the entire labyrinth. The four began panicking, and I realized that it had to be Discord. There was a puff of smoke, and out from it came none other than Discord. He looked just like the image in the stained-glass window, except less pointy.
"You–You should see the looks on your faces!" said Discord gleefully, "Priceless!" he burst into laughter.
"Give us our wings and horns back!" demanded Twilight angrily.
"You'll get them back in good time! I simply took them to ensure there's no cheating! You see, this is the first rule of our game: no flying, and no magic."
"The first rule?" asked Rainbow angrily.
"The second rule is everypony has to play or the game is over, and I win! Good luck, everypony!" Discord vanished in another puff of smoke.
We all stared blankly at the hedge maze looming in front of us until Twilight finally spoke.
"Okay..." she said nervously, "Crystal, you can come over here now."
"The invisibility spell will dissapear if I cross the line."
"What line?" asked Applejack.
"The line Discord must have drawn around the maze to remove any magic spells, along with our wings and horns," said Twilight, "But he left, so it's fine."
I cautiously walked across the line towards my friends, and I felt the spell wear off me as I crossed the line. The line vanished from my view, and I felt my wings and horn vanish.
"Whoa, it feels so weird to have holes in my legs and no wings and horn," I commented, "So, Twilight, what's the plan?"
"We need to find the Elements in the maze," said Twilight, "As long as we have each other, we can overcome Discord!"
"Yeah!" said Rainbow, "Like Twilight said, there's nothing we can't overcome if we all stick together!"
"All right, girls, let's do this!"
We all stood side-by-side and took a step into the maze. Suddenly, all around us came up hedges, separating us from each other.
"Is everypony okay?" called Twilight.
"Yes!" we all called.
"Stay calm, girls! Everypony head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there!"
"Moving out!" called Rainbow.
"See you in the center!" said Rarity
"Yee-haw!" said Applejack.
"See you guys there!" said Pinkie.
I heard the others gallop off, but I heard Fluttershy quivering from the hedge beside me.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" I called to her, "The faster you go, the sooner we meet up again!"
"Um, okay..." said Fluttershy extra nervously.
I heard Fluttershy's nervous footsteps before also taking off into the maze. There were so many twist and turns, that I wasn't even sure that I had left the start.
I hope Discord doesn't find me in here...
I ran into an area that was filled with buckets of paint and canvases everywhere. I heard Discord laughing from somewhere near me,
Aaaaand I jinxed it.
I started to back out of the area when a hedge abruptly popped up in the entrance and the exit, blocking me in the area.
"Wow!" came Discord's voice from behind me, "Just wow! I can't believe that you're an Element of Harmony! I should have know that Celestia wouldn't have placed a fake one in the box or a fake image on the wall, but you actually got me!"
I walked carefully into the enter of the of the area and stood firmly in place.
"Discord!" I said angrily, "What do you want?"
The paint floated up out of the buckets and began swirling around me. I could have sworn that I saw Discord's face somewhere in it, but I wasn't sure.
"Oh, nothing!" came his mocking voice, "I just wanted to see what you were up to!"
"You're just trying to make me cheat and lose the game!"
"So maybe I am, and maybe I'm not. How can you be sure?
"Go away, Discord!"
"Aw, you're such a brave little pony! Oh, my bad! I meant Changeling!"
"So what if I'm a Changeling?"
"You're a love leech!"
"I'm am not a leech!" I yelled angrily, "Nopony sees me that way!"
"Well, of course you aren't! You store your love, don't 'cha?"
The paint came closer to me in the shape of Discord and hooked a talon around the thin string around my neck. I completely froze as her pulled on the string, pulling a bright red gem out of my mane.
"Ooh! A collecting crystal, is this? Very special!"
"Don't touch that!" I snapped, taking a step back from the paint-Discord.
"But of course, you've so scared without it or your friends. What are you do to?"
"I'm not scared of you."
"Oh, but you're scared of not having you precious crystal, aren't you?"
I froze again as Discord toyed with my crystal and he suddenly looked deeply into my eyes.
"You maybe be brave, but not anymore! I think it's time that you should be fearful!" he pause for a moment, "But of course, I'll make sure you can keep your precious crystal. I'm not heartless!"
All of the art supplies vanished and I stood still. I didn't notice the gray tint that washed over me, and I didn't notice the yellow glow that magically reinforced the string around my neck, and then tucked my crystal back in my mane. The hedges blocking the entrance and exit then vanished, and Twilight and everypony except for Rainbow Dash walked up.
"Crystal!" cried out Twilight, causing me to flinch in surprise, "I'm so glad to see you, this maze is making everypony act so strangely!"
"What? It is? Am I acting strangely?" I asked in a panic.
"Huh?" asked Twilight.
"I didn't do anything!" I cried, lying down and putting my hooves over my eyes.
Twilight stared at me.
"Okay... We need to get to Discord!"
"DISCORD?!?" I cried out in fear, "NO NO NO!"
I turned away from Twilight and sprinted through the maze, Twilight and the other following me.
"Crystal!" yelled Twilight, "Crystal!"
> Discording Seven (Part Two)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I continued to run through the maze until I was suddenly tackled by Fluttershy and pinned down on the ground.
"Don't hurt me!" I cried out fearfully.
"Oops, my bad!" said Fluttershy sarcastically.
"Fluttershy!" yelled Twilight, catching up to us, "Stop scaring Crystal!"
"Fine!" she said, snapping her tail in Twilight's face, "But I'm only doing it so I can scare her again!"
"Ugh..." Twilight turned towards me and pulled me up, "Crystal, are you okay?"
"Eeek!" I started to run again, when I abruptly tripped over somepony's hoof.
"Wasn't me!" said Applejack.
"Let's just find Rainbow Dash!" snapped Twilight.
"Rainbow Dash is flying away and that not funny at all!" said Pinkie.
"She's what?"
We all looked up into the sky to Rainbow Dash flying away, just as Pinkie had said.
"Somepony broke the no wings and no magic rule!" came Discord's voice.
All of the hedges vanished, and our horns and wings reappeared. Discord also appeared in a flash of yellow light, and I started to run away again, when Twilight grabbed my tail with her magic to prevent me from going any further.
"Discord!" yelled Twilight, "What did you do with the Elements?"
"Oh, sweet Twilight, I never said that the Elements were hidden in the maze, now did I Though, I must say that your friends are looking quite lovely at this time!"
Twilight scowled as the four others were angry and made fun-of each other, she still won't let my tail go.
"Where are the Elements?" she asked, barely containing her pure rage.
"Why, back where you began, of course!" Discord snapped his talons and the sky was filled with pink clouds, "Now, while you figure that out, let's have a beautiful shower of chaos!"
The clouds all began to rain chocolate milk, and I cowered as it hit my chitin.
"Back where you began..." muttered Twilight, "Back where you began... Of course! The Elements must be in Ponyville! Come on, girls! To Ponyville to get the Elements!"
So, we were on our ways back towards Ponyville. Well, I was still trying to run away because everything was so terrifying, but Twilight kept a firm hold on me with her magic. We had to cross over soap roads, growing and shrinking hills, and it kept changing from day to night. We finally arrived at the Golden Oaks Library, where Twilight literally just threw me in through the door, and I crashed into Spike, who was asleep.
"Huh?" he asked, standing up from his bed, "Crystal? Why'd you crash into me?"
"Don't hurt me!" I cried out.
"Hurt you? I would never hurt you!"
There was a loud crash as Twilight shoved Rarity's boulder, Tom, into the library. I jumped in fright and quickly hid behind Pinkie Pie.
"Are you trying to laugh at me?" she snapped at me, "Because you'd better not!"
"Spike!" said Twilight, sounding exasperated, "Find the book on the Elements of Harmony!"
"Sure thing!" he said, climbing up one of the ladders, "But what's with the others?" They seem kinda... gray."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Here it is!" said Spike, holding out a book, "The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide!"
Fluttershy suddenly snatched the book out of Spike's claw, and flew just out of his reach.
"Fluttershy!" cried Twilight.
"Keep away!" sang Fluttershy in a nasty tone of voice.
She casually threw the book to Pinkie, causing me to jump out of the way and hide behind a book that was lying on the ground. Pinkie bounced the book to Applejack, who kicked in back to Fluttershy. Twilight tackled Fluttershy, and she dropped the book, causing Rarity to pick it up.
"Do you even know what you just stole?" asked Twilight, chasing her.
"No, but you want it, I want it!" said Rarity, tossing the book to Pinkie.
Pinkie tossed the book towards me, and I frantically kicked it out of my way. Twilight grabbed the book and landed next to Spike, holding the book like it was the most valuable thing in the world.
"This is my book!" she yelled as the others approached her, "And I'm going to read it!"
Twilight flipped open the book to a certain page and gasped in surprise.
"The Elements!" she said in surprise, "They're all here!"
She quickly lifted the Elements out of the book and starting putting them on us. I flinched and cowered again when Twilight came near me, but she still put my necklace on me.
"Spike, you'll have to Rainbow Dash."
"What?" asked Spike nervously, "But what if she find out that I've been impersonating her? That won't end well!"
"Everypony get outside!"
I instantly zipped outside, but Fluttershy stamped her hoof down on my tail before I could go any farther.
"How do you like that, you scaredy-cat?" she asked in the meanest voice possible.
"Watch out!" came Twilight's voice, "Here comes Tom!"
Rarity's boulder came flying out the window, landing hard on the ground. Twilight came out the same window, looking very irritated.
"Discord!" she yelled angrily, "Get out here!
Discord appeared, forming from some of the pink clouds. I tried to make another break for it, but Twilight grabbed my tail, again.
"Why, hello, dear Twilight!" said Discord, filing his talons with an apple, "Trying to use your Elements on me?"
"Alright, everypony in formation!" snapped Twilight. 
We all shifted into formation (except Twilight just pulled me there with her magic) and Twilight's horn starting glowing brightly.
"I can't wait to see this!" said Discord.
We all began to float into the air, when Twilight's magic cut off, and we all fell to the ground.
"Would you look at that!" said Discord mockingly, "Well done! Great job! You've turned me into stone with your little Elements!"
"What?" asked Twilight in shock, "The Elements didn't work?"
"Boo-boo!" taunted Fluttershy, "I'll just be leaving you now, loser!"
"I've got better friends back on the farm!" said Applejack. 
"And I need to get back to my boutique with Tom!" said Rarity.
"You'd better not be laughing at us!" snapped Pinkie.
They all took of their Elements, and threw them on the ground.
"Fine!" shouted Twilight as they walked away, "With friends like you, who needs..." Twilight's coat and mane took on a gray tinge, and she became very saddened, "Enemies..."
I stayed still on the ground for a bit longer before running off in a random direction in complete terror.





"Rainbow Dash!" I cried, flying up next to her in the sky, "Please help me!"
"No way!" she said, lying on. A comfy cloud, "Ponyville's your problem. I'm staying here in Cloudstale!"
"That's not what I meant! I meant for you to protect me!"
"Eh."
"I can just stay in Cloudstale with you!" I said nervously.
"Whatever." Rainbow rolled slightly to the side so there would be just enough space for me on the cloud.
I quickly laid down on the cloud, and closed my eyes. I quickly snapped them right back open when I heard a small noise, but it was just Rainbow shifting on the cloud. We both laid on the cloud for ages, until there were hoofsteps below us.
"Rainbow Dash!" yelled Twilight from the ground, "Come down here so you can use you Element to stop Discord!"
"That's nice!" replied Rainbow, getting more comfortable on the cloud.
"Ponyville needs you!"
"Ponyville is your problem! I'm staying here in Cloudstale!"
"How does she think that little cloud is Cloudstale?" asked Rarity.
"The same way Discord made you think that rock was a diamond!" said Applejack.
"I thought we agreed to never speak of that again!"
"Hey!" said Pinkie, "Crystal's up there, too!"
I froze and curled up as small as possible.
"Crystal!" called Twilight, "Please come down!"
"N-no!" I called back, "I'm staying in Cloudstale with Rainbow so nopony can hurt me or anything!"
"Please come down?" asked Fluttershy softly.
I curled up even smaller.
"Don't worry, girls," said Twilight, "I've got an idea."
I heard the four of them gallop off, but remained curled up. I heard an odd noise that nearly caused me to jump off the cloud, but I realized that it was just Rainbow snoring. I closed my eyes, and actually ended up falling asleep, only to be woken up by Fluttershy.
"Um, excuse me," said Fluttershy to me and Rainbow, "I was just wondering if I could tied you down against your will?"
"Yeah, no thanks!" said Rainbow, grabbing the cloud we were on and flying off, leaving me behind.
I was about to fly away when a rope suddenly looped around me and dragged me towards a balloon carrier that Fluttershy had a rope connected to.
"Crystal!" cried Twilight, as she pulled me into the basket with Pinkie and Rarity.
"Don't hurt me!" I cried, curling up again.
Twilight smiled and touched her glowing horn to me. I felt a surge of magic wash through me, and memories of me and my friends rushed in.
"Huh?" I asked, standing up in the basket, "Did I miss something?"
"Boo?" asked Pinkie.
I stared blankly at Pinkie.
"She's back!" said Twilight happily, "But now we need you and Fluttershy to catch up to Rainbow Dash to we can change her back to normal!"
"Oh, but I can't fly that fast!" said Fluttershy.
"Well, you two are the only fliers we have, so you have to do it!" said Twilight, tossing a rope up to the top of the balloon, "Ready, Applejack?"
"Ah'm ready!" called Applejack from the top of the balloon.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" I said, flying into the air next to her, "Let's get our Rainbow Dash back!"
We both took off towards Rainbow, who was lying still on her cloud. Fluttershy was flying slightly slower than me, but I could tell she was going as fast as she could. Just as we got near Rainbow, she took off again, and I buzzed my wings faster. After just a few seconds, I switched to pegasus forme (which is not easy in the air), as pegasi could fly faster than Changelings.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" I shouted, "We can catch her!"
"I can't do it!" cried Fluttershy, tears starting to form.
"I've seen you keep up with Rainbow before! You can do it now!"
We flew faster and faster, but Rainbow was ever-so-slowly gaining distance on us.
Fluttershy flies faster with Rainbow, right? I thought, So if she and Rainbow were chasing me, she could easily keep up!
"Twilight!" I yelled, "I have an idea on how to catch up with her!"
"Then do it!" she yelled back.
"Promise not to look into it!"
"Uh, okay!"
"Pinkie Promise!"
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
I nodded before doing something I had never actually done before. Sure, I had copied the image of the Earth pony filly when I was a ling, but that was just a drawing. I had never taken the forme of another pony before. But, today I needed to, so I turned into Rainbow Dash. Everypony looked at me in shock, but we needed to catch Rainbow now or never.
"Come on, Fluttershy!" I yelled in Rainbow's voice, "If we can't do this, Discord wins!"
Since I was Rainbow Dash at the moment, those two statements had a profound effect on Fluttershy, and she flew at double speed. I was barely keeping up, but still flying faster due to Rainbow being more aerodynamic. Rainbow looked back in surprise, but continued flying anyways. Applejack threw the rope she had towards Rainbow, and it caught her. Unfortunately, the rope hadn't been secured, so it wrapped around Rarity and Pinkie's hooves, yanking them out of the basket and behind Rainbow.
"Pinkie!" cried Rarity, "You were supposed to secure the rope!"
"Oops!" said Pinkie sheepishly.
With Rainbow now being slowed, and the balloon being much lighter, Fluttershy and I got closer and closer. Twilight tossed another rope up to Applejack.
"Last rope!" she called, "Make it count!"
Applejack threw the rope, and it caught Rainbow. The rope was secured, this time, and Rainbow Dash was slowed down so much that Fluttershy and I pulled the balloon down to the ground, pulling Rainbow with it. I quickly changed back to my Changeling forme, and hoped that nopony would become scared of me for changing into Rainbow.
"Hold her still..." said Twilight, approaching Rainbow as she bucked furiously to get the ropes off of her.
"Get away from me!" she snapped, "I don't need any of you! I'm fine in Cloudstale! Let me go!"
Twilight touched her horn to Rainbow, and she stopped struggling. The gray tinge she had washed away, and she looked much less aggressive.
"Ugh..." muttered Rainbow as Twilight removed the ropes from everypony, "What happened? Is Discord gone? Is Ponyville okay?"
"Rainbow's back!" sang Pinkie happily, and we all went into a group hug.
A stampede of long-legged bunny ran past us, along with several dancing buffalo.
"Okay, maybe it's too soon to celebrate," said Twilight, "Let's go stop Discord!"





We all walked triumphantly towards Discord, the Elements of Harmony shining brightly. He was sitting on a throne, drinking a glass filled with chocolate milk. He slurped up the glass, and then threw the chocolate milk behind him, causing an explosion.
"Would you look at that!" he said, enjoying every moment of the chaos happening, "The gang is back together!"
"You couldn't tear our friendship apart fer long!" said Applejack.
"Oh, Applejack!" said Discord, pulling us in by our Elements, "I'm the one who made you a liar! Do you ever learn?"
Twilight quickly teleported to the center of us, and formed a pink bubble of magic. She carefully lowered the bubble to the ground, turning some of the checkered, blue ground back into grass. Discord watched with interest.
"I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord!" said Twilight, "We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but it's not doubt worth fighting for!"
"Ugh! Gag!" said Discord, "Fine, go ahead, us you little Elements of Friendship and Happiness on me! Just make it quick! I'm missing some excellent chaos here!"
Discord leaned back in his throne as we all moved into formation.
"Alright, girls!" said Twilight, "Let's show him what friendship can really do!"
Twilight's horn began glowing, and a soft pink light surrounded all of us. Discord yawned in boredom, when our Elements began flashing out the shapes that they were towards Discord.
"Huh?" asked Discord, as he ducked out of the way of the small blasts, "What's this?"
Twilight opened her eyes, to show that they were glowing white.
"No!" said Discord, as we all floated into the air, a giant rainbow forming, "No!"
The rainbow arched up into the sky, and launched directly at Discord.
"NOOOO!!!" he cried as he turned to stone.
The arch that the rainbow was making split in two, make a sphere encompassing the entire town. There was a large flash of light, and we all landed safely on the ground to see that Ponyville was normal, again. The statue of Discord fell on to the ground with a slam, and I heard his voice in my head.
"Remember the gift I gave you!"
I glanced down at the string around my neck, and saw that it still had a slight golden shine.
Maybe... He wasn't all bad. I thought, glancing at the statue.





We were in Canterlot, at an awards ceremony for stopping Discord. We walked in as a group, a crowd of ponies watching us. I could have sworn I heard some muttering about "that bug with holes in its legs", but I ignored it and stood happily with my friends.
"Today, we are gathered her to celebrate the efforts of these seven friends, who ended Discord's rain of chaos!" said Princess Celestia.
The crowd cheered with glee, and Princess Celestia unveiled a new stain glass window depicting the seven of us defeating Discord. Confetti started raining down, and the crowd cheered even louder. It felt good to have protected Equestria for everypony.
"Crystal," whispered Princess Celestia, "What is that string around your neck?"
"My necklace." I responded, also whispering.
"It has traces of magic on it."
"Oh, Discord enchanted it."
"It did not return to normal when Discord's chaos magic was removed?"
"No, he made it so nopony else can untie it, and..."
"And?"
"And I'm glad he did it."
"You're glad?"
"Yes. It was when he was using his mind control to turn me into a coward. He said that he would let me keep my necklace, because he wasn't a monster."
"Interesting..."
I nodded and turned back to my friends, wondering how Princess Celestia had seen the shine of Discord's spell.
That's a question for another day. Right now, it's time to be happy with my friends!
> Less Than Seven Snipets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Zecora?" I asked, popping my head into her tree-house, "Are you here?"
"Indeed I am here, my dear Changeling friend," said Zecora, who was standing at a table filled with plants and herbs, "Is there something that makes your mind bend?"
"It's my cutie mark. I'd normally talk to my friends about this sort of thing, but I thought you would understand it better."
Zecora started to make some tea, and beckoned for me to come in.
"Come and tell me what it is that you find wrong, and please close the door so no monsters come along."
I shut the door behind me and stood at the table Zecora's was pouring tea at. I blew lightly on my tea to help is cool faster, and then turned to Zecora.
"Well, I thought I noticed it when I had turned into Rainbow Dash to help motivate Fluttershy, but I'd originally dismissed it. But I turned into her again to see if was right, and I was. It that... I keep my cutie mark when I change into other ponies."
"Your cutie mark is a simple green swirl, correct? Since you put it on, have you changed its effect?"
"No, I've always left it as a green swirl. I only made it into that because that was the first thing I thought of after being hit by Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom."
"Perhaps it was only the design that you chose. Maybe it is simply what the rainbow had imposed."
"You mean that this is really my cutie mark?"
"That is exactly what I am trying to say, you are a special Changeling starting even before that day."
I smiled at Zecora's word and had a sip of tea. Some things were too complicated for your best friends.





"A pet playdate?" I asked Pinkie, who had given me an invitation, "You mean we bring out pets so they can play with each other?"
"Yep!" said Pinkie, bouncing happily, "Unless you don't have a pet. Do you not have a pet?"
"No, I have a pet."
"Ooh! Who is your pet?"
"I'll go get her!"
I turned and went back into my house, walking up to my room. I had recently found her near the river, injured from something or other. I had brought her to Fluttershy so she could get better, and ended up keeping her as my pet when she healed.
"Inky!" I called as I entered my room, "Pinkie wants to meet you!"
I quickly picked her up and went back to Pinkie.
"Pinkie, this is Inky! She's a chameleon and can change colors!"
"Cool!" said Pinkie, looking closely as Inky changed from dark blue to green to match my mane, "You remind me of Gummy!"
"Your pet alligator?"
"Yep!"
"So, I'll definitely come the the pet playdate with Inky! Who else is coming?"
"Twilight is bringing Owlicious, Rarity is bringing Opal, Fluttershy is bringing Angel, Applejack is bringing Winona, and I'm bringing Gummy!"
"What about Rainbow?"
"She doesn't have a pet yet, so she's probably going to be napping!"
"Oh. Plus, if Rainbow had a pet, she would need one as 'cool' as her!"
Pinkie and I shared a laugh before she bounced off towards Sugarcube Corner.





"Uh, guys I have a question." I said as the train whooshed down the track.
"What is it?" asked Twilight.
"What's Hearth's Warming Eve?"
Everypony froze and stared at me.
"You don't know what Hearth's Warming Eve is?" asked Rarity.
"No, I've never even celebrated it!"
"Well, then we'll have to make this the best Hearth's Warming Eve ever!" said Rainbow.
"Yeah, but what is it?"
"Is celebrates love and friendship across Equestria!" said Pinkie.
"Love and friendship? That sounds like the best holiday ever!"
"It really is!" said Fluttershy.
"So, that's what the play is about?"
"It's about how Hearth's Warming came to be!" said Twilight, "And how the three pony tribes united to form Equestria!"
"In that case, I guess I can be every role!"
Everypony laughed at that, myself included.





I made sure to hold down the tree with my magic as the Flim-Flam brother's huge hose sucked all of the apples off of it. Most the leaves were also coming off, but my job was to keep them from uprooting any trees. I was currently in unicorn forme, as that's what Twilight had asked me to be.
Although... I thought, holding down another tree, Just a little shock couldn't hurt them...
Just as the two looked over to see how their hose was doing, I switched to my Changeling forme and gave them a grin showing my fangs. They were stunned for a moment, before continuing to yank apples off of the trees.
Oh mare... I really hope that Applejack's family wins this!





"Spike?" I asked, poking my head into the library, "Are you here?"
"I'm right here!" said Spike, running over to me, "Hey, Crystal! Do you need a book? A letter written? Twilight?"
"No, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Oh! What?"
"You know how you went with those teenager dragons so you could see what dragons are really like?"
"Yeah, I just got back from that a few days ago!"
"Well, if you wanted to see a dragon close-up without fear of being eaten, you could have just asked me."
"Huh?"
"Well... Not exactly, but I can give myself scales, a tail, horns, and dragon wings!"
"You can really do that?"
"Yeah! Watch!"
My horn lit up green, and I concentrated hard. It was rather easy to switch between my pony formes and my Changeling forme, especially considering that I was in Changeling forme most of the time, but doing another species was something I hadn't even attempted yet. I was quickly surrounded by a green glow, which then faded away.
"Whoa!" said Spike in surprise.
I had three horns on my head, one of them for magic and the others for... whatever it was dragons did with their horns. My wings were larger and felt much thicker. I had a long tail with spikes going up it all the way up to my mane. Instead of hooves, I had claws, and my chitin had become thick scales instead.
"See?" I asked, happy that I had managed to pull it off.
"Wow!" said Spike, "Crystal, I can't believe you turned into a dragon for me!"
"Now let's go to Sugarcube Corner and eat all of the sapphire cupcakes they have!"





"Did Gabby Gums say anything about me?" I asked nervously, grabbing the newspaper Twilight had with my magic.
"Well..." said Twilight, trailing off as I found the article that I was looking for.
The title of the article was Crystal Bugs Ponies. Everypony was completely silent.
"Okay, who is this Gabby Gums and when can I get my revenge on her for this terrible pun?"
> A Troublesome Wedding Planned by Seven (Part One)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I casually laid on my back and looked towards the sky. There were a few clouds floating around, and Pinkie and I were pointing out shapes that we saw.
"That one looks like a paintbrush!" I said.
"I see one that looks like a cupcake!" said Pinkie.
"All I see are stray clouds that I can get rid of!" said Rainbow, stretching her wings.
"Aw, but we're having so much fun!" I said.
"I'm just gonna do my job and clear the sky in less than ten seconds!"
"Not unless I do it first!" I switched from Changeling forme to my pegasus forme and flew into the air.
"Hey!"
Rainbow also flew into the air after me, just as I had bucked one of the clouds. We cleared away the clouds in just a few seconds, and grinned at each other.
"Guys!" called Twilight, "We're going to have a relaxing picnic, not a competition!"
"We weren't having a competition!" said Rainbow as we landed in the ground.
"It was a race!" I said, "Wait, that's a type of competition..."
Twilight rolled her eyes and gently placed a picnic basket in the center of the blanket, and everypony settled in.
"Twilight!" called Spike, running up to us, breathing heavily, "Letter for you!" he held out a scroll towards Twilight.
Twilight picked up the scroll with her magic, opened it, and began reading it.
"Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot. Wedding? I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music."
"Oh my goodness!" said Fluttershy, "What an honor!"
"Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception."
"Hip, hip, hooray!" cheered Pinkie.
"Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the reception."
"Well, color me pleased as punch!" said Applejack.
"Rainbow Dash," Rainbow yawned in boredom, "I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a Sonic Rainboom as the bride and groom complete their I do's."
"Awesome!" yelled Rainbow, looking a lot less bored.
"Rarity, you will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids."
"What?!?" cried Rarity, "Princess Celestia wants me to..." she trailed off in excitement, "...wedding dress? For a Canterlot wedding... I, ah, ooh, oooh!" Rarity fainted onto the picnic blanket.
"Crystal, you will be in charge of the decorations the ceremony.
"Yay!" I said happily.
"And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: Making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia." Twilight flipped the letter over and looked at the back of it in confusion, "But... I don't understand. Who's getting married?"
"Oh, wait!" said Spike, holding out another letter, "Uh, I was probably supposed to give you this one first."
"Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and-" Twilight let out a large gasp, "My brother?!?"
"Your brother's getting married?" asked Applejack, "Congratulations, Twilight! That's great news!"
"Yeah, great news..." said Twilight, sounding upset, "That I just got from a wedding invitation! Not from my brother, but from a piece of paper! Thanks a lot, Shining Armor. I mean, really, he couldn't tell me personally?" Twilight started mimicking what was presumably her brother's voice, "Hey, Twilight, just thought you should know I'm making a really big decision that changes everything. Oh, never mind, you'll hear about it when you get the invitation!" she switched back to talking normally, "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza? Who in the hoof is that?!?"
"Um, Twilight?" asked Fluttershy, "Are you okay?"
"Sorry, it's just that Shining Armor and I have always been so close. He's my BBBFF!"
We all stared at Twilight.
"Big Brother Best Friend Forever?"
"Ohhhhhh!"
"Before I came here and learned the importance of friendship, Shining Armor was the only pony I ever really accepted as a friend..."
"As one of your PFF's," said Applejack, as we all stared at her, "Pony Friends Forever..."
"Ohhhhhh!"
"I wanna tell you that I think your brother sounds like a real good guy!"
"He is pretty special," said Twilight, "I mean, they don't let just anypony be captain of the Royal Guard!"
"EEEEE!!!" cried out Rarity in excitement, "So let me get this straight: we're helping out with the wedding of not only a princess, but a captain of the Royal Guard?"
"I guess we are."
Rarity fainted, yet again.





"A Sonic Rainboom? At a wedding?" said Rainbow excitedly, "Can you say 'best wedding ever'?"
"Best wedding ever!" yelled Pinkie, just as the train went through a cave.
"So you all get to help with the big fancy wedding, but I'm the one who gets to host the bachelor party!" said Spike, "I have just one question: what's a bachelor party?"
We all giggled at that, except for Twilight, who was staring out the window.
"Why the long face, sugarcube?" asked Applejack.
"I'm just thinking about Shining Armor," said Twilight, "Ever since I moved to Ponyville, we've been seeing each other less and less. And now that he's starting a new family with this 'Princess Mi Amore Ca-whatshername', we'll probably never see each other."
"Come on, now. You're his sister. He'll always make time for you!"
"Couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was getting married..."
As we approached Canterlot, I noticed a shining pink bubble surrounding it. I could tell that it was a shield spell, and became very anxious as we approached it. Just as we started going through it, I suddenly yanked the emergency brake, which stopped the train just as the barrier came up to me.
"Huh?" asked Twilight, looking away from the window, "Why'd we stop?"
"I can't go through this!" I said, putting a hoof on the barrier.
"What?" asked everypony, walking over to the barrier.
Twilight walked right through the barrier to the other side of it with the others, and looked confused.
"But why can't you go through it?" she asked, "And how did you know you couldn't?"
"Instinct." I said, answering the second question.
"Excuse me," said a Royal Guard who had come on to the train, "Is something wrong?"
"Our friend Crystal can't pass through the barrier," said Twilight, "Do you know how she can get through it?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know."
"That's alright," I said, "I'll just wait outside while you guys go get somepony to let me in."
The others nodded, and I got off the train with the Royal Guard. There was one other Royal Guard standing next to the train tracks besides the one who had just come onto the train. The train continued going down the track, and I saw my friends watching me nervously out the window.
"Why is their a huge barrier round the city?" I asked the guard next to me.
"A threat was made against Canterlot," he said, "So the barrier is a safety measure."
"Oh."
"And, uh, I don't mean to be rude to one of the Elements of Harmony, but I would suggest that you try not to look as... menacing."
I realized that I was still in Changeling forme, and quickly changed to my unicorn forme.
"How's that?" I asked the surprised guard.
"Whoa..." he said in surprise.
A few minutes later, Twilight came back following Princess Celestia.
"You cannot get through the barrier?" asked Princess Celestia.
I placed my hoof up against the barrier to demonstrate, but quickly pulled it away when I felt a slight sting.
"No, I can't," I said, "But you can get me through, right?"
"Yes, of course me can get you through it," said Princess Celestia, "Twilight, if you please."
"Yes, Princess!" said Twilight, her horn lighting up.
Twilight opened up a small section of the barrier with her magic, and I quickly ran through it. I smiled with relief, and turned towards Princess Celestia.
"You two may go," she said, "I just need to look at something."
"Okay!" Twilight and I said at the same time.
We walked back towards Canterlot, and I thought I heard a small buzzing sound.
"That was a rather eventful morning, wasn't it?" asked Twilight.
"It sure was," I said, trying to ignore the buzzing sound, "It sure was."





I held two rolls of pink and blue streamers in my magic that I was hanging up in the room where the wedding ceremony would take place. I had just finished putting streamers around the room when I heard two coughs from behind me. I quickly turned around to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza standing behind me with an impatient look.
"Oh, hello Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" I said, bowing, "Did you want something, your majesty?"
She seemed to be quite happy about the way I had addressed her, and had the tiniest of smiles.
"I just came to check on the wedding decorations," she said, rather impatiently, "Why aren't they up yet?"
"I had..." for some reason, I didn't want to tell the Princess about the barrier preventing me from entering, "To talk with Princess Celestia about something, your highness."
"What did you talk with her about?" she asked, showing a bit of anger.
"Just about any magical side effects from Discord, Princess."
"Ah," she seemed to be annoyed by my answer, "Well, hurry up on the decorations. And make it more... royal."
"Sure thing, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" I said as she left.
I turned back around to the decorations and continued to put them up. The small buzzing noise was back again, but I dismissed it as some sort of bug or magic. Just one fly or something wasn't important.





"Bet I can guess what you're all thinking!" said Twilight as we ate, "Cadance is the absolute worst bride-to-be ever!"
"Who, me?" asked Spike, holding a small cake decoration of the Princess.
"Spike!" said Applejack, "That goes on the cake!"
"Uh, I knew that."
"Twilight, whatever are you talking about?" asked Rarity, "Cadance is an absolute gem!"
"Rarity, she was so demanding!" said Twilight, who was clearly getting annoyed.
"Well, of course she is! Why shouldn't she expect the very best on her wedding day?"
"Applejack, did you know that after she told you how much she just 'love-love-loved' your hors d'eouvres, she threw them in the trash?"
"Aw, she was probably just tryin' to spare my feelin's." said Applejack.
"No, she was just being fake and totally insincere!" Twilight was getting even more upset now.
"She, uh, did raise her voice at one of my birds during rehearsal." said Fluttershy.
"See? Rude!"
"But he was singing really off-key..."
"Pinkie Pie, you had to have noticed how Cadance treated..." Twilight faded off when she saw Pinkie and Spike playing with the decorations that were supposed to be on top of the cake, "Never mind. Rainbow Dash, you're with me, right?"
"Sorry, Twi," said Rainbow, stretching out her wings, "Been too busy prepping for my sonic rainboom to pay much attention to the bride's bad attitude."
"What about you, Crystal?" asked Twilight, sounding a bit desperate, "You could clearly see how rude and grumpy she was!"
"Really?" I asked, "She just seemed confused as to why the decorations weren't up yet."
Twilight let out a groan, and Rarity patted her lightly on the back.
"The Princess is about to get married," she said, "I'm sure any negative behavior she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves."
"And I'm sure it's the result of being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armor, let alone marry him!" said Twilight angrily.
"Think maybe you're bein' just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?" suggest Applejack.
"Uh-huh." we all said simultaneously.
"I am not being possessive!" cried Twilight, "And I am not taking it out on Cadance! You're all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!"
Twilight got up and walked off in frustration. I felt guilty for not supporting her, but Twilight was just suffering from some over-possessiveness and wedding-jitters. Spike suddenly breathed golden fire and delivered us a letter. We all waited a beat, before realizing that Twilight wasn't here to read it.
"I'll get it!" I said grabbing the letter in my magic and holding it up, "Dearest the Elements of Harmony, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's bridesmaids all had to leave on account of an important matter in their homes, and now she has no bridesmaids. I request that you six (as you, Twilight, are Shining Armour's best mare) step in to be her bridesmaids. Rarity, I hope you can do a few redesigns for you friends' dresses to make them look more like those of bridesmaids. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."
"We get to be the bridesmaids?" asked Rarity, excited before becoming a bit nervous, "Oh, but your dresses need to redesigned! Let's go try them on and I will make them even more beautiful!"
"Will mine be aerodynamic?" asked Rainbow, to which she got a look from all of us, "What? I need to be able to fly at all times!"





Twilight didn't take us becoming Princess Cadence's bridesmaids very well, but we still had to practice for the wedding. We all got in place (not wearing our actual outfits for the wedding, though) and we began. We got as far as the part with the ring, when we had to stop, as that was Twilight's responsibility.
"Hey..." said Shining Amour, "Has anypony seen Twilight?"
The doors burst open and Twilight ran in, furious.
"I'm here!" she declared angrily, "I'm not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!"
"I'm sorry," said Shining to all of us, "I don't know why she's acting like this."
"Maybe we should just ignore her." suggested Princess Cadence.
"You have to listen to me!" cried Twilight.
"Oh, goodness!" said Fluttershy, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" she snapped.
"Ya sure about that?" asked Applejack.
"I've got something to say!" she pointed at Cadence furiously, "She's evil!"
Shining Armour stood protectively in front of Princess Cadence, and we looked at Twilight with concern.
"She's been horrible to my friends, she's obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all loopy!"
"Why are you doing this to me?" asked Princess Cadence, holding back tears.
"Because you're evil!"
Princess Cadance cried and sprinted out of the room, but Twilight pressed on.
"Evil! And if I don't stop you, you're gonna ruin my brother's life!"
"You want to know why my eyes went all loopy?" interrupted Shining Armour, "Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell, I've been getting terrible migraines. Cadance hasn't been casting spells on me. She's been using her magic to heal me!"
Twilight took in a deep breath of shock and disbelief.
" And she actually decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty! And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends, it's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!"
"I was just trying to-" tried Twilight, but Shining continued
"She's been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that our big day be perfect! Something that obviously wasn't important to you!" Twilight gasped, Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride. And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all."
"C'mon, y'all," whispered Applejack as we all awkwardly exited, "Let's go check on the Princess."
We all left the room leaving Twilight standing behind in shock. We heard Princess Cadence crying, and all went over to comfort her.
"H-how could she accuse me of being e-e-evil?" asked Princess Cadence, who was sobbing.
"There, there," said Fluttershy, "I'm sure Twilight didn't really mean it."
"I-I'm going to talk with her," she said, drying her eyes, "Nopony e-else come, please."
Princess Cadence walked back into the room, closing the door behind her. I felt bad for her, and concern for Twilight. I thought that she was just nervous, not flat-out going nuts with jealousy! Princess Cadence came back in a few minutes, more tears in her eyes.
"S-she insisted that I was h-hurting her brother a-and then ran off!" she cried.
"She ran away?" asked Rainbow, flying into the air, "I'll make Twilight-"
"No," said Princess Celestia, "Twilight needs this time alone to think about her actions. Let's all take a break and then rehearse again."
We all nodded and walked off to get some snacks.





Nopony seen or heard of Twilight for the rest of the day, and all of tomorrow. The wedding still went on as planned, expect that Spike was now holding the rings for Princess Cadence and Shining Amour as opposed to Twilight. I could have sworn that I heard more buzzing during the beginning on the wedding, but ignored it.
"Princess Cadance and Shining Armor," said Princess Celestia, having finished her speech, "It is my great pleasure to pronounce you-"
"Stop!" yelled Twilight, running into the room.
We all groaned, annoyed that Twilight was trying to say that Princess Cadence was evil, again.
"Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?" asked Princess Cadence, beginning to cry again, "Why does she have to ruin my special day?"
"Because it's not your special day!" yelled an identical voice, "It's mine!"
Princess Cadence ran into the room, her coat and mane a mess. Everypony gasped, and I froze, realizing what the buzzing sounds were.
"What?" asked fake-Cadence, "But how did you escape my bridesmaids?"
"A bouquet." said Twilight.
"Hmph. Clever. But you're still too late!"
"I-I don't understand!" said Applejack, "How can there be two of 'em?"
"She's a Changeling!" said real-Cadence, causing all of my friends to glance at me, "She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them!"
Fake-Cadence smirked, and then was surrounded by an all-too-familiar-green light.
No, no, no, no! I thought, It's her!
"Right you are, Princess!" said Queen Chrysalis, everypony watching her with fear, "And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects. Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!"
"They'll never get the chance!" yelled Princess Cadence, "Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!"
"Oh, I doubt that," said Queen Chrysalis with a chuckle, "Isn't that right, dear?"
"Mm-hmm..." said Shining Armour, his eyes glowing green.
Princess Cadence's horn lit up blue, but Queen Chrysalis' horn lit up green in response.
"Ah, ah, ah!" she said, "Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?" Princess Cadence took a step back, "Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it!"
The buzzing! I thought, It's the other drones!
"He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now!" Twilight and Princess Cadence gasped, "And I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the Royal Guard!"
"Not my Shining Armor!" cried Princess Cadence.
"Soon, my changeling army will break through! First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!"
"No. You won't," said Princess Celestia steeping towards her, "You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!"
Princess Celestia flew at Queen Chrysalis, and their horns crashed together. They both struggled for a bit, before Queen Chrysalis manged to get her with a solid hit that caused her to go flying across the room and land on the ground.
"Princess Celestia!" cried Twilight, running over to her.
"Ah!" said Queen Chrysalis with glee, "Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought! Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!"
"The Elements of Harmony..." gasped Princess Celestia, majorly weakened, "You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen... Crystal should know their tactics..."
We all nodded at each other, though I noticed that my friends seemed a bit nervous near me. We all quickly removed the fancy dresses that we were wearing to run faster, and sprinted out of the castle as fast a possible.
"You can run, but you can't hide!" cackled Queen Chrysalis.
I glanced up at the barrier and saw was what looked like thousands of Changelings smashing at it. There were huge cracks forming, and the barrier was going to break soon.
"We need to hurry!" I cried, taking the lead.
"Crystal, are you one of them?" asked Twilight in disbelief.
"I might be a Changeling, but I'm not a love-stealing monster!"
That answer seemed to satisfy the others, and we hurried on as the barrier broke. Everything rumbled, so we all had to stand ground. The Changeling army began crashing down into the city, and we ran even faster.
"Hurry!" I urged, "They have power in numbers!"
We quickly ran up a set of stairs, only to be met by a mob of Changeling already there. We turned around, but there were even more behind us.
"Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way!" said Rainbow, just as one of the Changelings turned into her, "Wait, what?"
"They're Changelings, remember?" I yelled, a group of Changeling that looked like me mimicking what I said.
"Don't let them distract you!" said Twilight.
A fight then broke out between us and the Changeling army. I quickly yanked my necklace out of my mane, as it couldn't be copied like Applejack's hat. A large group of Changelings who had been heading towards Applejack instantly ran towards me, and I lit up my horn green. I wasn't using my magic to fight, but instead had my crystal surrounded in my magic and was using as much love and friendship as I could get out of it.
"Why are they all attacking Crystal?" I heard Applejack ask at one point, but I continued fighting. 
Within the mobs of Changelings, I could instantly detect my friends, so I would come to their aid whenever needed. With our power combined, we managed to fend off every single Changeling that had swarmed around us, and continued on towards the Elements.
"Wait, guys, hold up-" I started just as we ran to the top of the stairs where we were met with Changeling guarding the entrance, inside the chamber with the Elements, and coming up from behind and above.
"Uh oh." said Twilight as the swarm closed in on us.





We were brought back to the castle, with Rainbow and I being carried by three Changelings each. Several grasped at my necklace, but flinched back as yellow sparks jumped out at them from it. Discord had definitely kept his word.
"You do realize the reception's been cancelled, don't you?" asked Queen Chrysalis as the Changeling deposited us, "Go! Feed!"
The Changelings that had brought us in flew out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them.
"It's funny, really," said Queen Chrysalis, "Twilight here was suspicious of my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct!"
"Sorry, Twi," said Applejack, "We should've listened to you."
"It's not your fault," said Twilight, "She fooled everypony."
"But I feel really, really bad," I said, "How could I have not noticed?
"Now hang on just a minute," said Queen Chrysalis, approaching us, "What do we have here?"
She pushed the others back with her magic, and pulled we forward by my necklace. The bright red crystal glowed even brighter as she looked at me, a smirk appearing on her face. My friends watched nervously, and Princess Cadence watched in confusion.
"Well, well," she said, holding my crystal in her magic, "I'm surprised your here, my sweet Crystal. Love the new look. Though, regular looks best!"
Queen Chrysalis blasted me with her magic, and my unicorn forme faded away to my Changeling forme. I made a small signal to Twilight, who nervously went over to Princess Cadence while Chrysalis was distracted.
"I thought that you would have given up in the desert, and come back, begging to be accepted again," said Queen Chrysalis, "But you never came back, and I see why! You live with ponies and steal their love! No wonder your precious little crystal is still red!"
"They're my friends," I said, my fangs gnashing together, "I don't steal their love, they willing give me some from an everlasting supply."
"You can tell yourself that all you want, but you're still stealing it from them! They probably don't even know that you're a beautiful love leech!"
A love leech. Discord had used the exact same phrase. Queen Chrysalis and the other Changelings could be called that, but I wasn't one! I didn't notice my crystal blazing bright red, and Queen Chrysalis smirking.
"I am not a LOVE LEECH!" I yelled, throwing a red and green swirled beam of magic at Queen Chrysalis.
She casually lit up her, horn but my beam of magic swirled around her, and I jumped up and pinned her down.
"What?!?" she asked angrily, "I was going to absorb that for myself!"
"Quick!" cried Twilight to Shining Armour, who was freed from Queen Chrysalis, as was Princess Cadence, "Use your spell!"
Shining Armour's horn barely made a spark, and he sighed in exhaustion and frustration.
"I have no power..." he said.
"My love will give you strength!" cried Princess Cadence, pulling him close.
"That will never never work!" said Queen Chrysalis, "Now get off of me, you little drone!"
Princess Cadence's horn fizzled to life, and a small heart popped out. The heart swirled around her and Shining, and they were lifted into the air. Both looked surprised, but then closed their eyes as power surged around them
"WHAT?!?" cried Queen Chrysalis.
I started to smile as they moved into the shape of a heart, but my smile vanished instantly, and was replaced with a look of fear.
"Twilight!" I cried out as more power surged around Shining and Princess Cadence, "I'm a Changeling, too!"
"Oh!" cried Twilight, her eyes widening in realization.
My friends all quickly ran towards me, just as Shining and Princess Cadence let out a burst of magic that rapidly expanded, and pulled me with it. I went flying through the air, and crashed into another Changeling. Everything went dark, and the last thing I heard was my friends shouting my name.
"CRYSTAL!"
> The Lost Seventh's Friend (Part Two)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I opened my eyes to see something red around me. I stood up off of the ground to see that there was a red bubble of magic surrounding me, and holding me just above the ground. I glanced down at my crystal, which was glowing bright red, and gently tapped it with my hoof, causing the bubble to vanish. I then tucked my crystal back in my mane.
Well, at least I know that the barrier worked on the other Changelings, I thought, Now, where am I?
Glancing around, I saw sand, some cacti, and a couple of rocks here and there.
The desert. Of course.
I buzzed my wings to fly into the air to get a good look, but I barely started to gain height when I became too tired.
My magic must be nullified from the spell that Shining and Princess Cadence used, which is really annoying! How does a spell of love repel Changelings anyways? Shouldn't we just absorb all the love instead?
I shook my head in frustration.
That's not what I need to focus on, right now. I need to get back to my friends! They're probably looking for me, already!
I looked around again, chose a direction, and began to walk. This was eerily familiar to when I was kicked out of the Hive, but I knew that I had plenty of love and my friends were looking for me. I had just walked over a dune when I saw another Changeling lying in the sand, unconscious.
He must have been who I crashed into midair. Is he okay?
I carefully approached him, but he didn't stir. He seemed fine for the most part, except for medium-sized chip in one of his wings. This wasn't anything too major, as it was the Changeling equivalent to a pegasus injuring their wing. I started to walk away, but hesitated.
I can't just leave him here. That... would be wrong. But what do I do?
I walked back to the other Changeling, and gently placed him across my back. I carefully stretched out his chipped wing to make sure it stayed straight, and then continued walking. It felt a bit odd to be helping out someone who had just help in an attack against Canterlot, but I would have felt awful if I had just left him laying in the sand.
Maybe if I'm lucky, he'll be nice. Like that one ling I was hatched with. What was his name, again? I can't remember.
I wasn't sure how long or far I had walked, as everything I could see was sand, sand, and more sand. The sun continued to blaze brightly in the cloudless sky, and was very hot on my dark-colored chitin.
"Ouch..." muttered the Changeling I was carrying, causing me to freeze.
In an instant, I had pushed him off my back and had pinned him down. He stared up at me in surprise.
"You-" I started before he spoke.
"Crystal?"
I blinked in surprise, a name popping into my head.
"Thorax?"
"Crystal, it is you! I thought Queen Chrysalis got rid of you!"
"She did."
"Then how are you here?"
"The spell that repelled the army blasted me out, too," my eyes narrowed, and I glared at Thorax, "The army that you were a part of!"
"No! I didn't hurt anyone! I promise!"
"How am I supposed to believe you?"
"Because... you're my... friend."
"Then why didn't you say yes?"
"Huh?"
"When Queen Chrysalis said she was going to get rid of me, she asked if anyling had any objections! You didn't say anything! I know that you were there!"
"But, I-"
"You just stood there! You say you're my friend, but you couldn't even stand with me!" a single tear dripped down from my eye, "You- You probably wanted me gone!"
"I didn't want you gone!"
"Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I was scared!"
"Scared of what? That you would be kicked out, too?"
"I was scared of what was going to happen to you!"
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"I was too scared to even say anything because I thought Queen Chrysalis was going to..."
All traces of anger I had left in an instant.
"You thought that she was... Going to get rid of me. As in, get rid of me."
Thorax nodded nervously.
"When she walked you away to the throne room and then you vanished... I thought..."
"So... You've just been... Living in fear?"
"I thought that... If she got rid of you, she could easily get rid of me, too."
"Thorax... I'm sorry. Of course I should believe my best friend when he tells me something."
I quickly unpinned Thorax and helped him up. He slightly winced when stepping on one of his hooves.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine!" he said, unconvincingly, "No pain, no injuries!"
"What about the chip in your wing?"
Thorax glanced back at his wing with the chip in it, and then turned back to me.
"Okay, maybe I have a slight injury."
"You're limping and you're not even moving."
"Fiiiiiiine, I guess that maybe I'm hurt."
"No kidding."
Thorax rolled his eyes, before looking concerned.
"Do... Do I go back to the Hive now?" he asked.
"Of course not!" I said, "You can come back with me!"
"Back to where?"
"Ponyville, Canterlot, it doesn't matter! You don't have to go back to the Hive!"
"But... Ponies would never accept a Changeling. Especially not after what we did."
"They accepted me!"
"What?!?"
"Plus, you're my friend! And friendship is magic!"
"What kind of magic?"
"Friendship magic. Duh."
"That's a thing?"
"If love magic is a thing, then friendship magic is also a thing."
"I guess that makes sense..."
"Now, do you have any idea of where we are?"
"Uh..." Thorax glanced around quickly, "In the middle of a desert?"
"That's what I was afraid you were going to say! So, should we just walk in one direction and hope it's correct?"
"Are you sure that's the best idea?"
"Do you have any better ones?"
"Walking in one direction it is!"
We continued walking the direction I had chosen, but Thorax kept limping on one of his hooves. I eventually managed to convince him to let me carry him, as I had been doing that before.
"Why didn't you just leave me?" he asked at one point.
"It would have felt wrong. Plus, it's a good thing I didn't leave you! Who would have thought that I found the only Changeling in the Hive who was my friend?"
We both laughed, and I continued walking. After what felt like an eternity, I finally decided to switch to flying.
"I thought you told me that our magic was weakened!" said Thorax after I told him.
"I still have magic I can use!" I said.
"What magic?"
I pulled my crystal out my mane and held I up to him.
"Plenty of love to use." I said.
"Is this a collecting crystal?" he asked.
"Yep."
"Why did Queen Chrysalis give you this?"
"I have no idea, but I bet that she regrets it!"
I held my crystal in my hoof and concentrated on it. It soon began to glow red, and my wings also glowed red.
"Hold on!" I said, flying up into the air.
"Did I mention that I don't like heights?" asked Thorax.
"Well too bad for you!"
Soon, I was buzzing across the desert, but still didn't see anything besides desert.
"Ugh, how large is this desert?" I groaned.
"Hey, Crystal?" asked Thorax as I scanned the ground, "What's the name of those things that are made up of colors that pegasi make?"
"Rainbows. Why do you ask?"
"Because I think there's one coming towards us."
I quickly glanced up to see a rainbow blast coming towards us.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I said, "Who even came up with this idea?"
"Are you dodge it?" asked Thorax nervously.
"Nope, so hold on tight."
"Wait, why not?"
"Because my friends are idiot geniuses, and I love them for that."
The Sonic Rainboom came blasting through me and Thorax, and I went spiraling out of control. Thorax was desperately holding on to me, but I wasn't worried in the slightest. There was a flash of light, and I suddenly found myself lying down on a marble surface.
"CRYSTAL!" cried all of my friends (besides Rainbow, of course), running over to me.
"Hey, guys," I said, felling rather dizzy, "Did you miss me or something?"
"Crystal, watch out behind you!" cried Twilight, as they all screeched to a halt, "There's one of the Changelings that attacked Canterlot!"
I glanced behind me to see Thorax standing still in fear. I quickly got up and stood in front of him as Twilight's horn lit up.
"Don't hurt him!" I yelled.
"I'll get him!" yelled Rainbow from outside, as she came zooming in.
My crystal blazed bright red, again, and my horn lit up red. I quickly threw up a shield in front of Thorax, causing Rainbow to crash into it.
"Hey!" she said, "What gives?"
"I said don't hurt him!" I said as the shield vanished and my horn and crystal stopped glowing, "He's my friend!"
"What?!?" asked everypony in the room (being my friends, the three Princesses, and Spike).
"Everypony," I said, throwing my hoof around Thorax, "This is my friend Thorax. And no, he didn't attack any ponies during the invasion."
"Um... Hi?" said Thorax nervously.
"Hang on," said Princess Cadence, "How can we be sure that you're actually Crystal?"
"Changelings can't turn into other Changelings." said me and Thorax simultaneously.
"You still have to prove that yer Crystal so we can believe ya!" said Applejack.
"I guess that makes sense," I said, "Okay," I turned towards Rainbow, "I told you not to hit me so hard the next time you did a Sonic Rainboom."
"Okay, you're Crystal!" said Rainbow.
"How do you know that he didn't attack any ponies?" asked Princess Cadence instantly, pointing a hoof at Thorax.
"He told me!" I said.
"What if he's lying?"
"Thorax is my friend," I said firmly, "And I believe him. Can't you believe in me?"
"I believe you." said Twilight, walking up and standing beside me.
"Us, too!" said Rainbow, my friends joining me.
We all turned towards Princess Celestia, who looked happy.
"I guess that we now have two friendly Changelings," she said before turning towards Princess Cadence, "Do you agree?"
"I most certainly do." she said, now sounding very friendly.
"Now, I think that it's time to do this wedding over, again."





The wedding went off without a hitch. We were all still the bridesmaids (Princess Luna had gone down into the caves and found the original ones, but they were too scared to be the bridesmaids, again), and Twilight was still the best mare. Thorax actually got to be a part of it, and he and Spike held the rings (after I had to help him smooth a few things out with Shining Armour).
The party after the reception that Pinkie had planned was a ton of fun. We danced, ate food, and had tons of fun. The best part was when Twilight sang a song that we all danced to. Eventually, Shining and Princess Cadence both rolled away in a carriage with horseshoes's tied to the back of it.
"Catch!" called Princess Cadence as she threw her bouquet back.
"Mine!" yelled Rarity, pushing everypony out of the way to grab it.
I playful flew into the air and grabbed it before she could, much to Rarity's surprise. After staring at me for a moment, we both burst into laughter.
"Now this was a great wedding." said Twilight happily.
"Oh yeah?" said Spike, "Wait until you see the bachelor party I have planned!"
We all laughed at this, much to Spike's confusion. As fireworks began going off, I found Thorax standing in the edge of the crowd.
"Here," I said, giving him the flowers, "Thanks."
"What did I do?" he asked.
"Be my friend."
We both watched as a firework exploded into the shape of a heart. Everything was always great after a wedding.
> Seven Bazillion Crystals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight had sprung the news on us that for a test she had been given by Princess Celestia, we were going to the Crystal Empire. The train tracks had just recently been refurbished, but the ride was more bumpy than usual.
"Crystal Empire..." I muttered, "Crystal Empire... I've heard of that somewhere..."
"Hey, I just thought of something funny!" said Pinkie, "Crystal is going to the Crystal Empire!"
We all sighed at the bad joke, but Pinkie burst into laughter. Twilight was rather nervous, but seemed much more calm compared to when we had been going to Canterlot for her brother's wedding.
"Northern Equestria, Frozen Tundra!" called the conductor.
We got up and went to the door, which was a bit difficult to open due to the harsh winds.
"Ha!" said Rarity as we cautiously exited into the coldness, "And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves!"
"I didn't say a word!" said Spike, who was holding several bags that Rarity had brought.
"Twilight!" called an approaching figure in the snow.
"Shining Armor?" called back Twilight, squinting in the wind.
"Twily! You made it!" said Shining, giving Twilight a hug, "We'd better get moving. There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark."
"W-what kind of things?" asked Fluttershy
"Let's just say the Empire... isn't the only thing that's returned."
We started walking through the seemingly-endless snow, following Shining. At one point, I had to change into pegasus forme to stay warmer, as pegasi are more adapted to cold weather because they live in the sky.
"Something keeps trying to get in!" yelled Shining over the winds, "We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place!"
"But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire!" yelled back Twilight, "If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected!"
There was a nearby howl, and we all looked around nervously.
"Th-That's one of the things, isn't it?" asked Fluttershy.
"We have to get to the Crystal Empire!" said Shining, "Now!"
There was a growl, and a huge shadowy figure came up behind us. We all immediately took off running as fast as possible towards a blue light in the distance.
"Go, go!" cried Twilight as the shadow came closer.
"Almost there!" said Shining Armour, turning around towards the shadow, "Hurry!"
The blue light was a huge barrier, and unlike the pink one that had been around Canterlot, this one drew me in. we burst through the barrier, and I felt a wave of pure love wash over me and fill into my collecting crystal.
"Everypony okay?" asked Twilight, gasping for her breath.
"We're good!" I said, switching back to Changeling forme.
Shining Armour suddenly ran up behind us, and fell down. His horn was covered in black crystals, and seemed to be nullifying her magic.
"Oh, no!" said Twilight, running over to him, "Shining Armor, your horn!"
"I'm fine." he said, getting up.
"Sparkleriffic!" said Pinkie as we faced the Crystal Empire.
We all stared at the crystals that were glistening in the blue light of the surrounding barrier. Everything - and I mean everything - was made of (or looked like) crystals. The houses, the grass, and the giant castle standing in the center of everything. We walked through the crystal streets to the crystal castle, but we didn't see any ponies on our way there.
"It's gorgeous!" cried Rarity as we walked under the castle and towards the door, "Absolutely gorgeous! There are no words!"
"Focus, Rarity," said Applejack, "We're here to help Twilight, not admire the scenery."
"Eh," said Rainbow, "I don't see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me."
"Ah, uh, wha-?" stammered Rarity "Another old-! Have you lost your mind? Look at the magni-"
Applejack and Rainbow both laughed,to which Rarity gave a small smile.
"Very funny." she said.
We walked up a large staircase (well, Rainbow and I flew) until we finally made it to the throne room. Princess Cadence was sitting on the throne, her horn glowing blue, and looking exhausted.
"Cadance!" said Twilight happily, running up to her.
"Twilight!" said Cadence, running up to Twilight
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!" sang the two of them, "Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"
Princess Cadence's magic flickered, which caused the outside barrier to flicker.
"One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance." she said.
"Are you okay?" asked Twilight.
"Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light," said Shining, "That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra."
"It's alright Shining Armor," said Princess Cadence, taking a deep breath, "I'm fine."
"She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade... Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen."
"That's why we're here." said Twilight.
We all nodded in unison.
"Well," said Shining, "With Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies."
"Crystal Ponies?!?" asked Rarity in complete excitement, "There are Crystal Ponies?!?" we all stared at her, "Um, ahem. Please continue."
"But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without having to use Cadance's magic."
"A research paper!" cried Twilight in excitement.
"Huh?"
"That must be part of my test, to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!"
"Yeah, who doesn't?" asked Rainbow sarcastically.
"Oh-oh-oh!" cried Pinkie, "Lemme guess! Is it Spike? No no, Fluttershy! Crystal?"
"Don't worry, big brother," said Twilight, "I am really good at this sort of thing. Come on, girls, let's go talk with the Crystal Ponies!"
"Uh, Twilight?" I asked, "Can I stay with Princess Cadence?"
"How come?"
"Well, she's using her magic to spread love, right? I have plenty of love stored in my crystal that I can share."
"You can do what?"
"I can use the love in my crystal to help Princess Cadence with her spell since it spreads love."
Twilight glanced towards Princess Cadence, who nodded as her horn flickered again.
"Okay then," said Twilight, "Crystal, you stay here with Shining and Cadence to make sure that her spell doesn't fade, and the rest of us will go talk with the Crystal Ponies!"
We all nodded, and the others quickly ran outside. Shining looked at me nervously, and Princess Cadence smiled.
"It's very kind of you to share your love with me." she said.
"It's thanks to you that it's so full." I said.
"Cadence, are you sure?" asked Shining.
"Shining, you can go back to looking in the arctic," said Princess Cadence, "Crystal will make sure my spell holds strong."
I nodded with determination, and Shining nodded back nervously. He then walked out of the throne room, and headed down the large staircase. I pulled my crystal out of my mane, and went back to my Changeling forme.
"Your crystal is very lovely," said Princess Cadence, "Where did you get it?"
"Queen Chrysalis gave it to me before she kicked me out of the Hive," I said, "I still don't know why she gave it to me, though."
"Do you know where she got it?"
"I don't know, but I know that it's very rare and from a far-away kingdom. At least, that's what she told me."
"It stores love?"
"Yes, and if it runs out it turns black and doesn't work anymore."
"Well, then don't let it turn black just because you're helping me."
"No promises."
I held my crystal in my magic, and concentrated. The crystal began glowing red, and my magic switched to red. I let out a slow flow of magic that swirled around Princess Cadence before vanishing. Princess Cadence's magic took on a slight purple tint, before changing back to blue. She looked at bit less tired, and smiled at me.
"Thank you, Crystal." she said.
"It's no problem." I said.





Later, Twilight dashed into the throne room with Spike next to her, holding a book. I had just given Princess Cadence some more love from my crystal, but she still looked exhausted.
"We found something that can help!" said Twilight eagerly, "Spike, the book, please."
Spike went in front of Twilight, opened up the book he was holding, and held it up for Twilight.
"A 'Crystal Faire'!" said Twilight, "According to this book, it was established by their first queen and became their most important tradition. The Faire was held every year to 'renew the spirit of love and unity in the empire so they could protect it from harm'. The others and I could put it together. Everything we need to know is in the book!"
"That sounds pretty promising," I said, "I can't keep Princess Cadence supplied forever."
"We're get started right away!" said Twilight, "C'mon, Spike, we've got a Crystal Faire to put together!"
Spike closed the book, and he and Twilight ran out of the throne room.
"You guys can do it!" I called.
"Thanks, Crystal!" called back Twilight.
I looked at Princess Cadence nervously, before giving her more love from my crystal. It normally would be glowing a bright red, but instead it was just colored red. I ignored it; it was more important to keep everypony safe. Twilight came back in later, with Pinkie following her in a jester costume. Pinkie also had some sort of instrument that resembled a horn.
"The Faire is all set!" she said happily, "All that's needed is to invite everypony to it so we can renew their spirits! Cadence, do you think you can announce it?"
Cadence's horn flickered again, and I looked at her with concern.
"I can probably walk out on to the balcony so the Crystal Ponies can see me, but that's all," she said, "Crystal, why don't you announce that the Faire is set?"
"Sure thing!" I said confidently, "Just gimme a sec..." I changed to Earth pony forme and tucked my crystal away in my mane, "All set!"
We walked out on to the balcony, and Twilight went downstairs and outside. Pinkie blew an abysmal note on her horn, but it caught everypony's attention.
"Hear ye, hear-" I started before Pinkie blew another note.
"My bad!" said Pinkie, laughing nervously.
"Ahem," I said, turning back towards the balcony, "Hear ye, hear ye! Princess Cadance does cordially invite you to attend the Crystal Faire! There's plenty of food, drinks, crafts, games, entertainment, and more!"
There was a lot of chattering below as the Crystal Ponies walked to the Faire. I smiled, and Pinkie returned it before dashing outside. Princess Cadence smiled, but she gritted her teeth as her horn flickered, again. I led her inside, changed back to Changeling forme, and then gave her more love from my crystal.
"Come on, girls..." I muttered, "Lift those Crystal Ponies' spirits!"
I constantly kept walking out on to the balcony to see if everything was okay, before going back to Princess Cadence. At one point, Rainbow flew into the air, grabbed a flag, and then flew under the castle. Soon after, Twilight came running into the throne room, holding the book in her magic.
"We have a problem!" she said nervously.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's the Crystal Heart we set up! The book said that it was always at the Faire, but I didn't know it was an actual relic! And the book didn't mention anything about the Crystal Ponies powering the Heart!" she quickly flipped through the book, "Oh no... There was a page missing... How did I not notice?!"
"It's alright, Twilight." said Princess Cadence, just before fainting.
"Oh no!" I cried the magic on her horn flickered away, and the barrier broke away.
Twilight and I dashed out on to the balcony and saw something shadowy moving near the entrance.
"King Sombra!" I said, before dashing back towards Princess Cadence.
I quickly gave her a large amount of love from my crystal, which was now dark red. It wasn't too close to black yet, so I didn't worry. She got up shakily, and her horn lit up again. The barrier came back up, and the shadowy figure vanished out of sight.
"I hope Shining Armour is okay..." said Twilight nervously.
"He's fine," I said reassuringly, "But right now we need to find the Crystal Heart!"
"I'll find it!" said Twilight, "That must be how I pass Celestia's test!"
"I'll help!"
"No, you need to stay with Cadence and make sure her spell remains."
"You're right, but you need to hurry Twilight!"
"On it!" she said, dashing out of the throne room.
I looked at Princess Cadence nervously, as she wasn't looking good.
"Crystal..." she said, sounding exhausted, "We should stay on the balcony so you can watch for King Sombra..."
"Got it." I said, helping her to walk over to the balcony.
The barrier flickered again, so I gave Princess Cadence as much love from my crystal as possible without letting it turn completely black.
"Come on Twilight..."
I heard somepony run up the stairs, and heard Twilight talking with Spike.
She must be looking for the Crystal Heart in the castle. I thought, I guess it makes sense that King Sombra hid it where nopony would go.
Princess Cadence's horn flickered again, and I started to give her more love.
"Don't empty out your crystal," said Princess Cadence, "Twilight will find the Crystal Heart, soon."
"I hope you're right," I said as the barrier flickered again, and several of the crystals near the edge of the Empire became dark colored, "Because she needs to hurry!"
Many ponies were crowding under the castle, so I knew that must have been where the Crystal Heart that Twilight made was. Suddenly, the Crystal Ponies all gasped, and I realized that they had found that the Heart wasn't real. Princess Cadence's horn flickered again, before fainting, and her magic faded away, and the barrier broke down.
"Oh no!" I cried as the shadowy figure came close, changing crystals everywhere dark and spiked.
My friends quickly dashed up on to the balcony, looked very nervous.
"King Sombra's here!" I said, pointing at him.
They all gasped, and the dark crystals spread more as the Crystal Ponies panicked.
"My crystal slavessss..." said King Sombra ominously.
"Hey, guys!" called Spike from high above, "Whoa! Hey! Up here!"
"Spike?" asked Rarity, looking up.
"I got the Crystal Heart!"
"No!" yelled King Sombra angrily, a huge, dark crystal spike forming under him, "That is mine!"
I finally saw Spike, just as he tripped and dropped the Crystal Heart.
"Spikey-wikey!" cried Rarity.
I looked at Princess Cadence, who couldn't even get up.
"Guys, gets Princess Cadence up!" I yelled, switching to pegasus forme, "I'll get the Heart!"
"Crystal, wait!" yelled Applejack as I flew towards the Heart.
I pumped my wings as fast as possible, when an idea popped into my head,
Pegasi fly faster than Changelings, but I need to use my magic to stop Sombra! Okay, this is going to use the rest of the love in my crystal, but I need to get the Heart!
I quickly lit up my horn, and switched to a forme I had never taken: alicorn forme. I heard my friends gasp, but I was concentrating on getting to the Heart. Just as the Heart came in front of Sombra, I flew in front of it and threw up a shield with my love magic.
"Huh?" asked Sombra.
I caught the Heart and Spike on my back, and quickly gave him the Heart with my magic.
"Get the Heart to Princess Cadence!" I yelled, before throwing Spike towards the balcony with my magic.
"What do you think you're doing?" yelled Sombra.
I didn't respond, as I was using all my energy to hold him in place. The others had gotten Princess Cadence up, who had then flew up to grab Spike and the Crystal Heart. She landed on the ground, crushing the fake Heart, and holding up the real one.
"Behold! The Crystal Princess!" cried one of the Crystal Ponies.
"The Crystal Heart has returned," said Princess Cadence very seriously, Use the light and love within you to ensure that King Sombra does not."
She put the Heart in place underneath the castle, and the Crystal Ponies began bowing down.
"What?" asked Sombra, looking down, "No!"
My magic holding him back finally faded away, and I faded back to Changeling forme. I was barely staying airborne, and grinned at Sombra as the Heart began to glow.
"Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" cried Sombra as the Heart let out a magic wave of love and light.
My crystal filled up almost instantly from the magic, and I could finally stay airborne without worrying. I looked at myself and realized that I had taken on a crystaly glow or something, and a quick glance at my friends confirmed that it had happened to them, as well.
But where's Twilight?
I flew up to the top of the castle where Spike had been, and saw Twilight looking down from the top spire.
"Twilight!" I said happily flying up to her.
"Crystal!" she said happily.
"Looks like you and Spike found the Heart, huh?"
"Spike brought down." she said.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay. Want a lift down?"
Twilight smiled, and I brought her back down to the balcony, where we all shared a group hug. Shining Armour eventually returned, his horn no longer covered in the black crystals from Sombra. The "crystallyness" faded away as we left the Empire, but Twilight seemed very nervous about something else.
"It's just a test!" said Shining to Twilight, "Maybe she'll let you retake it."
"I don't think she's going to give me a new test..." said Twilight.
We boarded the train, and headed back towards Canterlot. Everypony except for Twilight was smiling and chatting happily.
"Crystal, I didn't know you could turn into an alicorn!" said Rainbow at one point, "It's so awesome!"
"Eh, I guess it is," I said, "I prefer flying and using magic as a Changeling."
"But then why did you turn into an alicorn?" asked Rarity.
"I get a power boost, but it really takes a toll on how much love is in my crystal. It would be empty right now if it hadn't been refilled by the Heart."
"It was still super duper amazing!" said Pinkie.
When we got back to Canterlot, Twilight went to the castle to talk with Princess Celestia. We waited nervously for her to return, but Spike was the most nervous. Soon, Twilight came back out and declared that she had passed. We all cheered happily for her, and returned to Ponyville. 
Adventures happen every day for us. I thought, looking out the window as we approached home.
> Sorting Seven Hundred Pinkie Pies and Tricking Trixie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I concentrated as I put my paint brush on the canvas. I carefully moved it across the top, causing perfect drops of paint to slip down to the bottom. I cleaned my brush and started on the next color when a shout outside made me lose concentration.
"FUN!" came Pinkie's voice from outside.
I was so surprised that my brush went flying across the canvas, ruining my work. I sighed in annoyance, walked downstairs, and went outside.
"Pinkie Pie!" I snapped, "Why did you..."
I trailed off, seeing tons of Pinkie Pies bouncing around Ponyville, all yelling "fun".
"FUN!"
"FUN!"
"FUN!"
"What?" I said, staring blankly at all the Pinkie Pies.
"FUN!" one popped up right in front of me.
"Get away from me!" I said pushing her away, "You're not even the real Pinkie Pie!"
"FUN!" she yelled, before bouncing away.
"Would the real Pinkie please tell me what happened?" I yelled.
"I'm the real Pinkie!" said one.
"No, I'm the real Pinkie!" cried another.
"I am!"
"No, I am!"
"I'm the real Pinkie Pie!"
"FUN!"
"Real Pinkie here!"
"FUN Pinkie is me!"
"I'm real!"
"Pinkie Pie of real-ness is me!"
"FUN!"
I stared at all of the Pinkies for one second, before running off towards the Golden Oaks Library. I tried to find the most Pinkie-free route possible, which was easier said than done.
"Crystal!" hissed a voice as I passed by a tree.
"Huh?" I asked, looking around.
"In here!" it was Rainbow, who was hiding under the tree.
I crawled under the tree to see my friends (minus Pinkie) and several animals hiding.
"Why are you guys all down here?" I asked.
"We're waiting out the Pinkie storm!" said Rainbow.
"You do realize that they're not leaving any time soon, right?"
"We're hopin' they get tired out." said Applejack.
"These things are clones, they won't get tired. Besides, as soon as we locate the real Pinkie, it'll be easy getting rid of the others."
"But how are we supposed to tell which one is the real Pinkie?" asked Rarity.
I grinned.
"Leave that to me..."





"There's a party happening right over here!" I cried out in Pinkie's voice.
"Fun?" asked one Pinkie standing next to me.
"Fun!" I said, nodding.
"FUN!"
A swarm of Pinkie Pies appeared in the area I was standing in. I quickly jumped on top of the highest item I could find, and got all of the Pinkies' attention.
"Look at me!" I called, before changing back to my Changeling forme, "What do you think of that?"
"Magical Pinkie!" cried out one standing in front.
"FUN!" shouted another.
"FUN FUN Pinkie!" yelled another.
"FUN FUN FUN!" yelled all of the Pinkies.
I rolled my eyes and simply started blasting the Pinkies that were intrigued/confused by my transformation with my magic, making them be covered in a green glow. The real Pinkie wouldn't have been shocked by me changing, so the process of elimination was pretty simple. While I marked the fake Pinkies, Twilight and the others were going to the library to find a spell that could get rid of them.
"Crystal?" asked one of the Pinkies, looking rather sad, "Are you trying to find the real Pinkie?"
I hopped down in front of the Pinkie and examined her.
"What, you don't think you're the real Pinkie?" I asked.
"Heck if I know," she said sadly, "I'm just as likely to be a big fakey like every other Pinkie."
"But that sounds like something the real Pinkie Pie would say right now."
"FUN!" yelled a Pinkie that I had already marked, which made the Pinkie I was talking to right now stare at her in confusion.
"What would the real Pinkie being doing right now?" I asked, "Would she be bouncing around and screaming 'fun' while everything around her got destroyed?"
As if to prove my point, there was a loud crash of something breaking.
"Well..." said the Pinkie, "I don't think so..."
"Would the real Pinkie become blind to everything happening? Would she just laugh as everything bad happened to those she cares about?"
"No!"
"What would the real Pinkie do right now?"
"She would not be having fun! She would be mad at the fake Pinkies for being so careless! She would find her friends and prove to them that's she's the real Pinkie, and would apologize for what she did!"
"So are you the real Pinkie?"
"Yes! I'm the real Pinkie Pie, and I'm going to make these Pinkies stop, and then I'll apologize to my friends!"
"Yep, you're definitely the real Pinkie."
"Attention all Pinkie Pies!" yelled Pinkie, "Stop bouncing around!"
"FUN!" they all yelled.
"I said stop!"
The Pinkies stopped bouncing and looked at the real Pinkie. I quickly glazed over all of them with my magic, just in case the real Pinkie got mixed up with all of them.
"Stop bouncing around!" yelled Pinkie, "Stop yelling 'fun'! And stop breaking stuff! Everypony just sit down!"
The Pinkies all quickly sat down in a grid, and faced towards me and Pinkie.
"Nice." I said.
"We found the spell!" said Twilight, running up to me with the others following her, "Have you found the real Pinkie Pie?"
"She's right next to you."
We all turned towards the real Pinkie, who gave an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry everypony," she said, "I just wanted to have fun with everypony at the same time, but instead I made a big mess. It's better to have great friends that I split my time between, instead of doing everything great at once, and ruining it all."
Twilight smiled and turned towards the Pinkie's I had marked. Her horn lit up, and she blasted all of them at the same time, causing them all to turn into pink wisps of magic that flew back towards wherever the Mirror Pool was. 
"Now, all that's left is to clean up the entirety of Ponyville!" said Twilight, making everypony groan.
"Don't worry," said Pinkie, "I'll do it! Maybe I'll even get some more of me to help!"
"NO!" we all cried.
"Just kidding!"








My friends (minus Twilight) and I were searching through the Golden Oaks Library for some book describing how Trixie was acting. Rarity gave a sigh as she flipped through books with her magic.
"This really doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere." she said.
Pinkie nodded sadly and made a moaning sound. How she was breathing without a mouth and a nose was beyond me.
"I hear you, Pinkie," said Applejack, "I can’t find anythin' that describes the kinda magic Trixie’s doin'!"
"There must be something!" said Spike, "Twilight has every magic book there is!"
"Um, I think I may have found something." said Fluttershy holding up a book.
"What did you find?" I asked, quickly running over to her while the others complained about Trixie.
"This sounds an awful lot like Trixie’s magic, and there’s a picture here of that necklace Trixie has. It’s called the Alicorn Amulet, and whoever wears it is blessed with untold powers."
"Hey guys!" I said, catching their attention, "Look what Fluttershy found! Mind if I borrow this?"
"No problem. 
Everypony clustered around me as I read from the book.
The necklace that Trixie has on is called the Alicorn Amulet, and whoever wears it is blessed with untold powers. However, it also corrupts the user, and only the pony that put it on can take it off. That means that Trixie is the only pony who can take the amulet off!"
"We need to get this information to Twilight," said Applejack, "She’ll know what to do."
"But if any of us try to leave," said Rarity, "Trixie’s magical force field will tell her!"
"I’ve got it!" said Rainbow, "Trying to sneak past the force field would be impossible without help.But I know who’s got the goods to get into the woods!"
"Who?" asked Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy and held her up triumphantly
"Whaaat?!?"
Fluttershy crashed to the ground and shivered under a pile of books.
"Uh, guys?" I said, "Maybe-"
"What do you say, Fluttershy?" asked Applejack, "Can you handle the mission?"
"No!" cried Fluttershy, "I’ll crack under the pressure! I’ll snap like a twig!"
"I think that-" I tried again, only to be interrupted by Rainbow.
"Perfect!" she said, "Fluttershy’ll sneak out of Ponyville and find Twilight!"
"Better idea," I interjected, "I'll sneak out and find Twilight."
"I like that idea!" said Fluttershy quickly.
"Then let's do it!" said Spike.
We all put our hooves (or claws in Spike's case) together and raised them into the air triumphantly.
"I know the perfect outfit you can wear!" said Rarity.
"Outfits later, sneaking out now." I said.
"It is never a bad time to make outfits!"
"Kinda is when you're dealing with someone who has been corrupted by dark magic."





Fluttershy had spoken with some of her animals friends, and they had hatched a plan to sneak me out of Ponyville. Her beaver friends brought a hollowed-out log to the barrier, which I hid inside of. They then kept hitting the barrier until Trixie showed up, and simply lifted up the barrier so they could leave.
"Thanks, guys," I said, popping out of my hiding place, "You've been a huge help."
The beavers simply picked up the log they had and walked off. I stared at them for a few seconds, before considering where to go.
Okay... If I was Twilight, what would I do? I'd find somepony to help me with strange and bizarre magic... Zecora!
I quickly dashed into the Everfree Forest, taking the oh-so-familiar path to Zecora's house. Surprisingly, I ran into no creatures, and got to Zecora's rather quickly. I knocked on the door, and Twilight opened it.
"Crystal!" she said happily, then nervously, "What are you doing here?"
"We found out something important that we needed to tell you!" I said, walking inside, "It's the amulet she's wearing."
"What about it?" asked Twilight, while Zecora made a third cup of tea for me.
"It's called the Alicorn Amulet, and whoever wears it gets untold powers. But it corrupts the user, and only the pony that can it off is Trixie!"
"The Alicorn Amulet! I can't believe I didn't recognize it! But how am I supposed to beat that Amulet? My magic’s not good enough!"
"Twilight Sparkle, much work have you done.," said Zecora, "You learned all of my lessons - all but one. If Trixie’s tricks have you in a fix, you must nix your magic and use the six."
"Nix your magic, use the six..." Twilight muttered to herself, "Nix your magic, use the six.... Use the six! That's it! Zecora, you're a genius!"
"I'm confused." I said.
Twilight quickly levitated over a quill and scroll, and started writing.
"Now we’ll need to get you back inside Ponyville, Crystal," she said, "I've got a plan."





I nervously paced around Carousel Boutique as we prepped everypony for Twilight's duel with Trixie. Applejack was painting Apple Bloom’s coat to match hers, while Rarity brushed Sweetie Belle’s purple-dyed mane into a duplicate of her own elegant curls. Meanwhile, Pinkie was hard at work with cans of paint to turn Granny Smith into an older version of Applejack. Fluttershy put on a wig that looked like Rainbow's mane.
"Why can't Crystal just transform into me?" asked Rainbow as Fluttershy put in pink contacts, "Trixie doesn't know she can, and she's done it before! It would be way easier than this!"
"Twilight needs me for a different part of the plan," I said, "Trixie is going to take Twilight's fake amulet for herself, but we still need her to take off the Alicorn Amulet. That's where I do my part!"
"I hope this crazy plan works," said Applejack, "Otherwise we'll all be in a heap o' trouble."
We put the finishing touches on everypony just as Trixie yelled outside.
"Attention my subjects!" she yelled, "You will all come to see the Great and Powerful Trixie's duel with the weak and insignificant Twilight Sparkle!"
"Come on, guys!" I said, "Everypony get into position!"
We hurried outside, and everypony got ready. Sweetie, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith all hid behind the large statue beside where the duel was occurring. Fluttershy was hiding in the crowd, ready to jump in behind Rainbow. Pinkie had the easiest job, as she just had to play some instruments, which she could already do. I hid behind the statue, ready to do my part.
"Let’s start with a simple age spell," said Trixie, "Shall we?"
"Let’s." said Twilight.
The duel began with Trixie using an age spell on Snips and Snails, which Twilight countered with her "age spell". Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith all did a great job of jumping in during the flashes of smoke, which greatly surprised Trixie.
"That’s- That's impossible!" cried Trixie.
"That's nothing!" said Twilight.
Twilight "duplicated" Rainbow, and Fluttershy made sure to mimic her perfectly. This shocked Trixie even more, and Twilight turned to Pinkie.
"Ever seen one pony play ten instruments?" asked Twilight.
Pinkie easily played the instruments, as it was something she could just do anyways. This still shocked Trixie, who couldn't believe her eyes.
"This just can’t be!" she cried.
"Well, Trixie, looks like my amulet is more powerful than yours!" said Twilight, as Trixie yanked it off of her neck, "Hey! Give it back!"
"With both of these amulets, I shall now rule all of Equestria!"
"Don't you want to rule Equestria with me?" I said, walking out from behind the statue.
"What?!?"
I tried my best not to grin at Trixie. I had transformed into her, and my necklace was hidden in her mane.
"Why don't you give me that old Alicorn Amulet," I said, "And you wear the greater and powerful-er one you took from Twilight Sparkle?"
"But of course!" said Trixie, turning to Twilight, "Looks like I can also do duplication spells! And now I will easily rule Equestria!"
She yanked off the Alicorn Amulet and put in around my neck. She then put on the amulet Twilight had been wearing, and let out an evil laugh. I changed to unicorn forme, and walked over to Twilight and the others while Trixie stared in surprise.
"WHAT?!?" she cried.
"We tricked you!" said Twilight, "And now you can't get the Alicorn Amulet any time soon!"
I smirked, but Trixie ran over and grabbed the Amulet with her magic.
"Give me that back!" she cried.
"Sorry!" I said, "I'm wearing it, so only I can take it off!"
"But... I..." she paused, and a look of realization passed over her, "I was mean and cruel... Why aren't you punishing me now?"
"You were being corrupted by the Amulet," said Twilight, "It wasn't your fault."
"But what about her?" she pointed at me, "She's wearing it right now!"
"I'm not doing anything with it, " I said, "Plus, this is just so we make sure nopony steals it until it gets hidden.
"... Oh..."
Twilight went on to explain to Trixie what Zecora had taught her, while Zecora and I returned to the Everfree Forest, and she took the Amulet. I was very relieved, as it had pretty terrifying to wear it.
"Thanks for your help stopping Trixie, Zecora." I said, as I started back to Ponyville.
"It was not any trouble my friend," she said, "I hope to soon see you again!"
"Me too! You know, as long as it isn't because of some major magical disaster happening. That would be very inconvenient."
> "Discord" Has Seven Letters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I love it when Princess Celestia comes to Ponyville!" declared Pinkie, holding up her hoof, "I got my hooves shined just like Rarity for the occasion!"
Pinkie's hoof sparkled from being so shiny, and Rarity looked into it.
"You like?" asked Pinkie.
"I certainly do!" said Rarity, looking at herself.
Rainbow and I both rolled our eyes.
"I’m surprised she’s not here yet." said Twilight, nervously pacing around.
"I wonder what’s taking so long." said Spike.
"And where are Applejack and Fluttershy?"
"Fluttershy’s helping Applejack with a flooding or something at Sweet Apple Acres," I said, "They'll be here soon."
"But I still don’t get why the Princess would be so late!" said Spike.
"She’s bringing an important visitor," pointed out Twilight, "That could be part of it." (Rainbow flies over to them.)
"A visitor who is important and slow!" groaned Rainbow.
"Maybe it’s somepony so terribly important," said Rarity, "They still had many more terribly important things to do before they got here."
Spike let out a gasp.
"Maybe the visitor has a deer antler, a goat leg, a bat wing, and a snake tail!" he said nervously.
"Yeah, right," said Twilight, "That’s Discord!"
"Why in the wide wide world of Equestria would Princess Celestia bring along someone like that?" asked Rarity.
"Maybe you should ask her!" said Spike, pointing at the chariot that had just landed.
In one of the chariots was Princess Celestia, and in the other was the statue that was Discord. We all gasped in surprise, and Twilight took in a deep breath as Princess Celestia got up and walked over to us.
"With all due respect, Princess Celestia," said Twilight, "HOW COULD YOU BRING DISCORD HERE?!? Ahem, your Majesty."
"I’m fully aware that the last time Discord was here he created serious havoc." said Princess Celestia calmly.
"If by 'serious havoc' you mean turning Ponyville into the chaos capital of the world!" cried Rainbow.
"And tricking us all into being the opposite of our true selves." added on Rarity.
"And making yummy, delicious chocolate milk rain all over the place without a single dollop of whipped cream to go with it anywhere in sight!" cried Pinkie, "Not a single dollop!"
"He wasn't all bad..." I mumbled to myself.
"I understand why you would have concerns," said Princess Celestia, "But I have use for Discord’s magic, if it can be reformed to serve good instead of evil. This is why I’ve brought Discord here: because I believe that you are the ponies who can help him do just that."
"This will never work!" cried Spike, 'This is a disaster! How will we ever control him? We’re doomed!"
"Need I remind you that you are the ponies who turned him back into stone like this in the first place?"
"Well..." said Twilight, "I suppose we can just use the Elements of Harmony against him again if he gets out of hoof..."
"Uh, w-we probably need a volunteer to run away from here right away to get them!" said Spike, "I’ll do it!"
"No need, Spike," said Princess Celestia, lifting up a box with her magic, "I have them right here," she opened the box to show all seven Elements, "And I’ve cast a spell so Discord can’t take them and hide them again."
We all gave a small sigh of relief.
"Now where is Fluttershy?" asked Princess Celestia, "I believe she may know best how to begin reforming Discord."
"Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow, "Really?"
"The Element of Kindness seems like the best idea for befriending an enemy."
"Alright, I'll go get her and Applejack real quick!" said Rainbow, flying off towards Sweet Apple Acres.
After what seemed like only a few seconds, Rainbow returned with Applejack and Fluttershy. Princess Celestia explained to Fluttershy the plan of reforming Discord.
"I realize that this is a tall order," said Princess Celestia, "But I wouldn’t ask if I weren’t confident you could get him to use magic obediently of his own free will."
"And…" said Fluttershy nervously, "You really think I’ll know best how to do that?"
"I do." said Princess Celestia, lifting up Fluttershy's chin.
"Just me? All alone with Discord?"
"No, I believe that Crystal will also be of great assistance."
Everypony turned towards me.
"Why me?" I asked.
"Because you, unlike the rest of your friends, were given kindness from Discord. If he has been kind to you before, he will most likely do it again." Princess Celestia flew back on to her chariot, "But now I must return to Canterlot for Equestria’s royal summit. You may release Discord when ready."
The chariot was towed away, leaving us, our Elements, and Discord's statue. My friends turned back towards me, looking curious.
"What was this 'kind thing' that Discord did?" asked Rainbow, "Or did he just hypnotize you into thinking he did something nice?"
"Rainbow, he only hypnotized me into being a coward," I said, "He just put a magic lock on my necklace," I pulled my crystal out of my mane and held it out, "See?"
Twilight picked up my necklace with her magic and tried to untie the knot on the back. The knot shimmered with yellow magic, and Twilight was unable to untie it.
"But Crystal," said Twilight nervously, "Can you untie it?"
"I've never taken this off since I got it," I said very seriously, "I don't plan on taking it off any time soon."
"Okay then, girls," said Twilight, "Guess it’s time to get started," she picked up the Elements with her magic and gave us each our corresponding one, "Let’s just hope this releasing spell works."
"Or let’s not!" suggest Spike nervously.
"We’d best keep our Elements on at all times until further notice, so Discord can't get his claws or paws on them without us knowing about it."
"Check!" we all said, nodding in agreement.
We all stood in a circle around Discord, and Twilight's horn lit up. Her Element began to emit a pink glow which washed over the area. We were lifted into the air one at a time as our Elements also began to glow their corresponding colors and let out their shapes. The colors swirled around us and formed a rainbow, which spun around Twilight and launched towards Discord. With a crack of stone, Discord was released, and let out a large yawn.
"Well, it’s about time somepony got me out of that prison block!" said Discord, "What a relief!" he snapped his paw and transformed a nearby squirrel to a brute.
"What do you think you’re doing?!?" yelled Twilight angrily.
"Why, stretching, of course! When you’re a creature of chaos, stone bodysuits aren’t your typical go-to fashion choice!" he snapped his talons and transformed a rabbit into a brute, too.
"Make that bunny cute again!" yelled Pinkie, "Now!"
"Oh, but he’s adorable the way he is!" said Discord, stroking its head and moving out of the way before it bit him, "You know what else is adorable? You ponies truly believe that you can reform me…" he looked over all of us and pointed at Fluttershy, "…and that you’re putting your faith in this one here to make it happen!"
"Crystal's helping, too..." whispered Fluttershy.
"Why of course I know that!" said Discord, appearing in front of me, "How could I forget my favorite Element of Harmony: the Element that doesn't actually exist!"
I glared at Discord and slapped his paw away as her reached for my Element.
"How did you know about that?" demanded Twilight.
"Being turned to stone doesn’t keep me from hearing every word Celestia says," said Discord bluntly before removing his eyes, tossing them on the ground, and appearing where they landed, "Although I admit, it makes rolling my eyes a challenge."
"Well, unless you want us to turn you back to stone, you’ll zap those animals back the way they were, pronto!"
"Oh, you wouldn’t dare turn me back to stone and risk disappointing your precious Princess!"
"Try us, Dip-cord!" yelled Rainbow, jumping into a fighting stance.
"You think you can treat poor defenseless animals like that and get away with it?" asked Fluttershy angrily, flying up to Discord.
You go, Fluttershy!"
"You best watch your step, buster, or I’ll give you…" Fluttershy opened her eyes wide and menacingly as possible, "…the Stare!"
"The Stare?" cried Discord mockingly, "Oh, no, please, not that! Anything but your disapproving eyeballs!"
Fluttershy glared at Discord, giving him the stare. He pretended to be falling for it, when he stopped and burst into laughter.
"You’re hilarious!" said Discord, much to Fluttershy's surprise.
"If it turns out we need to use our Elements against you," threatened Twilight, "I’m sure we can convince Princess Celestia it was for a good reason!"
"I suppose that’s correct," groaned Discord, snapping and returning the animals back to normal, "Are you happy now?" Twilight glared at him, "Well, it looks like I know where I’ll be crashing while I’m being 'reformed'," Discord grabbed Fluttershy, "At your place, dear Fluttershy!"
I flashed a look of concern towards Fluttershy, who shook her head confidentially.
"But Crystal will also be coming." she said.
"But of course!" said Discord, also grabbing me, "It'll be the two of you 'reforming' me!"
Both of us gulped nervously.





"He may be horrible," said Fluttershy, neatly putting away books, "But that doesn’t mean we have to act the same way. We should at least try to be hospitable."
"Definitely." I said.
"You don’t mind giving up your favorite spot on the couch, do you, Angel Bunny?" Fluttershy pointed to where Discord was currently lying down, which made Angel hop over and kick him; Fluttershy quickly grabbed Angel and held him away from Discord, "Oh, I’m sorry about Angel. Are you all right?"
"Oh, yes!" said Discord being so polite that even I found it suspicious, "Thank you, Fluttershy, for your concern. If only your pony friends could be as considerate."
"Hey!" I cried.
"Technically you're not a pony." he bluntly pointed out.
"Don’t listen to him, guys!" said Rainbow, angrily flying up to Discord, "He’s just trying to drive a wedge between us like he always does!"
"Now why in the world would I ever try to do a thing like that?" asked Discord, feigning innocence.
"So we can’t unite and use the Elements of Harmony against you, that’s why!"
"Why, I never thought of that!"
"You big liar!"
Discord instantly shrunk down to a smaller size.
"Look who's the lair now!" he said, "As you can see, I'm clearly not big!"
Discord changed back to normal size, accidentally shattering one of Fluttershy's lamps.
"Oops!" he said, snapping and turning it into a lamp that looked like himself, "There! All better."
"I can’t watch," said Applejack, exiting with Rarity and Rainbow.
"We’ll be outside!" said Rainbow, Spike following them.
"You sure you’re okay with this?" asked Twilight.
"I know it’s not gonna be easy," said Fluttershy, "But Princess Celestia is counting on us, right Crystal?" she turned around, and I nodded in agreement, and Fluttershy turned back towards Twilight, "And I think I actually know what to do."
"You do?"
Fluttershy leaned close to Twilight and whispered in her ear. I nudged Angel once more with my hoof before Fluttershy turned back around.
"You'd better watch that goat-legged step of yours, pal!" snapped Twilight.
In a quick flash of light, Discord had donned a light blue suit jacket, a white shirt, a matching top hat, and a monocle.
"What?" asked Discord in mock-shock, taking sip of tea, "Look at me. I’m practically reformed already."
Fluttershy and I both gave Twilight the best smiles possible, and she nervously exited.
"I'm going to grab something to eat, real quick," said Fluttershy, "Do either of you want anything?"
"Thank you for the offer, you sweet little Fluttershy," said Discord, ditching his outfit, "But I'm just fine!"
"I'm good." I said.
Fluttershy nodded before flying into the other room. Discord snapped his claws and a bowl appeared in front of him. He held out the bowl in front of me, and snapped his claws again.
"Want some?" he asked.
"Is that paper?" I asked.
"But of course!" I blinked as Discord took out a handful and ate it.
"... What's it taste like?"
"Whatever you want it to taste like, dear Crystal!"
I levitated out a single piece and took a bite. To my surprise, it tasted just like popcorn, and even felt like I was eating popcorn. Discord smiled as I levitated out more pieces, and ate them, too.
"Discord?" said Fluttershy, walking into the room, "There you are. Listen, Discord. I just want to make sure you know that if there’s anything I can do to…" she trailed off, seeing what Discord and I were eating, "Uh… Um… Are you eating… Paper?"
"It actually tastes good!" I said.
Fluttershy blinked, but then resumed talking.
"Well I’m just heading out," she said, walking over to the door, "So you just make yourself at home while I’m gone. Crystal, are you okay with that?"
"It's completely fine!" I said, "You just go run your errands."
Fluttershy nodded, before exiting her cottage and gently shutting the door behind her.
"Bye-bye, have a nice time!" called Discord, "Everything is fine here, bye-bye!"
"And it will stay that way." I said firmly.
"But of course! I'm just going to do one itsy-bitsy thing to make this feel more like home, since Fluttershy said that I could!"
"What?"
Discord snapped his talons, and there was a large rumbling. Fluttershy's cottage was abruptly yanked out of the ground, floated into the air and began to spin. I instantly flew into the air, so as the cottage turned, I wouldn't turn with it. In the middle of everything, Discord laid on couch which was floating in the air.
"What do you think?" asked Discord calmly, "Pretty homely, isn't it?"
"Depends on your opinion," I said, lighting up my horn and grabbing any items that were falling, "But I think I'll prevent anything from being broken, in case Fluttershy actually likes her stuff."
"Well if you think she likes her stuff, I suppose I'll just make it easier..."
Discord snapped his claws again and the items that had been falling returned to where they originally been, and stayed there even though the cottage was still spinning. The only thing that wasn't staying in place was Angel, who landed on my back, shivering with fear. I smiled, glad that something was getting through to Discord.
Fluttershy came back later, looking very surprised at the fact that her house was floating and spinning. Though, she was very glad that nothing had been broken, and was even happier that I had convinced him to do so.
"Do you know what that means?" she whispered, "We're getting through to him!"
"Of course we are!" I whispered back, "Discord isn't heartless, or anything like that!"
"You know," said Discord as we both flew over to him, "I think Princess Celestia was right when she singled you two out as the ones who could reform me! You’re off to such a good start, I’m seriously considering actually being reformed!"
"Fluttershy! Crystal!" came Twilight's voice from outside, "Girls, can you hear me?"
"Goodness!" said Fluttershy, "I hear Twilight!"
"We'll be right back." I said to Discord before flying outside with Fluttershy.
We landed on the ground in front of Spike and Twilight, who were both staring up at the cottage with looks of shock.
"We’ve come to get you away from Discord," declared Twilight, "He’s just terrible and, from the looks of it, completely out of control!"
"No, no," said Fluttershy, "We’re making great progress!"
"Seriously?" asked Spike and Twilight at the same time.
"We're earning his trust by giving him a little space to be himself."
"Hate to break it to you," said Spike, "But he used that 'space to be himself' to tear out all the reforming spells from the library!"
"Oh, so that's where he got the paper popcorn from!" I said.
"Paper popcorn?" asked Twilight.
"Yeah, it tasted really good!"
"WHAT?!? He ate them?!?"
"But we aren’t gonna need a spell. He’s already really considering being reformed. He even said so."
"And you believed him?"
"If we're going to be his friend," said Fluttershy, "We have to start by giving him the benefit of the doubt. Tell you what: bring everypony over for a dinner party this evening and I’ll bet his manners will have really improved by then." Fluttershy flew back up towards her cottage, and stopped at the door, "I’ll even get him to put the cottage back on the ground first." she flew inside.
"All right," said Twilight with a sigh, "Dinner it is. Crystal, are you sure that Discord is coming around?"
"Twi," I said, "All he's done is spin Fluttershy's cottage around in the air to make it feel more like home."
"He ate pages out of my books!"
"What were you going to do with a reforming spell, anyways? Force him to be reformed?"
"Well-"
"That would be no different than him hypnotizing us again."
I flew back up to the cottage and went inside, feeling like this dinner party was just the thing to show the others how far DIscord had already come.





Discord had set everything up himself, including the table, the seats, the food, and a chandelier hanging above the table. He had dressed up in a suit and tie, and had given himself a slightly curled black mustache. He even greeted the others as they came in.
"Our pony guests!" said Discord, snapping his claws so a red carpet appeared, "We’re so delighted that you’ve come. Please, do come in."
The six of them (since Spike had also come) looked nervously at each other, but both Fluttershy and I had on large s.miles
"See what a beautiful job he did helping?" I asked, "Discord set the entire table himself."
"May I take your hats, ladies?" asked Discord, reaching for Twilight's Element, before she quickly backed away.
"Hang on to your Elements, girls," whispered Twilight to the others, "It’s gonna be a bumpy night."
We all sat down at the table and took some food. Everypony kept glancing nervously at Discord, but Fluttershy and I both sat next to him with happy, confident looks.
"As you all know," said Fluttershy, "Princess Celestia hoped we’d help Discord use his magic for good instead of evil." Discord nodded just as Pinkie Pie took a huge bite out of her mashed potatoes, "Pinkie Pie, care for some gravy?"
"You bet!" said Pinkie happily.
"Allow me." said Discord.
In a flash of light, the gravy boat sprang to life, and panted like an eager dog. It scampered across the table to Pinkie on its stubby legs, and happily licked her face.
"Ooh, what a cute little gravy boat you are!" said Pinkie, "Yes, you are! Yes, you are!" it poured some gravy on to her food and ran back over to the center of the table."
"That’s one creepy little gravy boat, if you ask me!" said Rainbow.
"Oh, come on now, Dashie!" said Fluttershy, "You’re not even giving this a chance."
The gravy boat ran over to Rainbow and poured some gravy on to her, causing her to fly into the air.
"Hey!" she cried, "That’s hot!"
Discord laughed sheepishly before both I shot him a look.
"Oh, why I'm so sorry." he said to Rainbow.
"You did that on purpose!" yelled Rainbow
"Well, I don’t know about that! Mistakes happen. Oh, look, everypony! Dancing candles!"
Three of the candles on the table began hopping around on the able, until Rainbow flew over and blew them out.
"I’m not falling for that!" said landed on the table, "Discord’s just trying to distract us from-" the candles floated up into the air and started bonking Rainbow, "Hey! Knock it off! I suppose that’s another mistake?"
"I think you just made them mad." I pointed out.
"There’s something fishy going on..." said Twilight
A fish-shaped container floated over to her and spit tomato sauce out at her her face, knocking her backwards. It quickly turned towards Spike and spit tomato sauce at him, before hopping over towards Rarity.
"Discord!" said Fluttershy crossly.
"Well," he said, "It’s hardly my fault if the soup tureen finds the term 'something fishy” to be offensive."
"Not the dress!" cried Rarity as the fish-container sprayed sauce at her.
"That tureen’s only doin’ what you’re makin’ it do!" cried Applejack.
"Let’s not jump to any conclusions!" I said.
"Can’t you see what he’s doing?" said Rainbow, pushing away the candles bonking her, "He’s playing innocent with you two so you’ll never agree to use the Elements of Harmony against him!"
"Oh, well, that’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?" asked Discord.
"You see what I’m saying, right?"
"You know what I see?" I asked, "I see that Discord’s far from perfect. But I also see none of you giving him a chance!"
Everypony (except Fluttershy) stared at me in surprise.
"What’s gotten into you, Crystal?" asked Rainbow, "Why are you cutting him so much slack?"
I put my hoof around Discord's shoulder.
"Because that’s what friends do."
Discord looked genuinely surprised at my declaration, and stared at me in surprise.
"We’re friends?" he asked.
"Of course we're friends!" I said.
"Oh... Well, I’ve… Never really had a friend before."
"Well, now you do." 
Angel suddenly hopped up on to the table, with a frantic look on his face.
"Oh, what is it, Angel?" asked Fluttershy, listening carefully to him, "Oh! Flooding at Sweet Apple Acres?"
"And we all know who’s behind that now, don’t we?" said Rainbow, pointing at Discord.
"You have no proof!" I said.
"Oh, give it a rest!" Rainbow and the others all stared leaving for Sweet Apple Acres, "What do you think of your 'friend' now, Crystal?"
Fluttershy looked at me nervously, but I kept a look of confidence. Even if Discord had caused the flood, surely he would undo it.





"I’ve never seen the floodin’ this bad!" cried Applejack, "They’ve built dams around here before, but never like this!"
Three beaver dams had been constructed to block the stream and a couple of side drainage ditches. The three beavers had even put up frameworks to help with the build, and were still at work touching up weak spots and bringing in more logs.
"What’s goin’ on?" asked Applejack as Fluttershy talked to the shouting beavers.
"Such language!" she cried in surprise, before flying back over to the dry spot where everypony was standing, "It’s no use. They won’t listen to a word I say."
"You see Discord’s behind all this, right?" said Rainbow.
"Oh, of course I do! Do you think I’m a silly gullible fool?"
"We've just been trying to gain his friendship any way we can," I said, flying next to Fluttershy, "So he’d come to trust and listen to us."
"Hey there, Crystal!" yelled Discord, who was currently water skiing, "You want a turn? The water’s great!"
"Time to see if it worked." I mumbled, flying over to Discord.
"Crystal! Oh, there you are. A sight for sore eyes."
"As you can see," I said, pointing towards the dams, "There’s a big mess down here at Sweet Apple Acres."
"Oh, yes. Awful business, that."
"It is awful. This is Applejack’s home, and it’s being destroyed by innocent creatures who would never be acting this way if it weren’t for your reckless behavior. You need to fix this."
"Well, yes, uh, very well, I will fix it. I only ask one thing in return."
I smiled, "Yes?"
"I ask that you never use your Element of Harmony against me," everypony gasped in surprise, "As a sign of our friendship."
I looked over towards the others, who all shook their heads. I looked down at my Element, up at Discord, and then pulled my Element off and tossed it over to Twilight.
"I will never use my Element of Harmony against you." I said confidentially, "As a sign of our friendship."
Everypony gasped in surprise, and Discord grinned.
"Excellent!" he said, snapping his talons, "There!"
All of the water had been frozen solid, and the trees had snow on top of them. My face fell, and I looked at Discord, who was ice skating.
"Much better!" he said, "I do prefer ice skating to water skiing, don’t you?"
"Discord!" I flew over to him, "That’s not fixing it!"
"What’s wrong, pal?"
"Don’t call me your pal!"
"Oh, come skating with me, and we’ll let bygones be bygones."
Discord held out some skates towards me, with a smile on his face. Spike slid over as I landed on the ice, and held up my Element.
"Here you go, Crystal!" he said, "Game on!"
"He fixes this or he goes back to being stone!" called Twilight as I looked between the skates and my Element, "Princess Celestia will understand!"
I looked towards my friends, who all nodded, and then towards Discord, who had on an honest smile.
"I made a promise not to use my Element against him," I said, "And I’m going to keep it."
Spike sagged as Discord grinned, and I took the skates my magic. My friends gasped in surprise, and Discord draped a paw over my shoulders with a triumphant laugh.
"You see?" he said joyfully, "She wants to have fun with me because we’re friends. She can’t use the Elements against me because we’re friends. I’m free forever!"
I frowned and dropped the skates from my magic. I pulled my crystal out from my mane and held it towards Discord, who looked at it with confusion.
"You want my friendship?" I said, "Here. It's all you'll ever get from me."
Discord slowly reached over and held my crystal in his paw. He looked at me for a moment before dropping it and turning away.
"Who cares?" he said, "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want! I’m Discord, the master of chaos! You think you can boss Discord around? You think I’m just going to turn all this back because you say so? Because if I don’t, I’ll lose the one friend I ever had?"
Discord froze, and I started walking away from him towards my friends.
"Well played, Crystal," he said, "Well played."
A wave of white light washed over the orchard, and all of Sweet Apple Acres restored to how it had been before. The beavers ran off into the woods, and I hovered in the air for a moment before my friends all ran over and cheered. I turned towards Discord with a smile, and he nervously flew over.
"I liked it better my way," he said, "But… I guess when you’re friends, you can’t always have things exactly your way all the time, now can you?"
I smiled and threw my hooves around Discord, surprising him, before he hugged me back
> Switch of Seven Marks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I woke up abruptly to Angel Bunny jumping on me angrily, and pushing me out of bed. I crashed on to the floor, just missing the three pillows I had set up.
"Angel!" I cried out, "Do you really have to do this every morning?"
Angel responded by throwing a book a me, which I caught with my magic before it hit me. I placed the book on my bed and flew into the main room, where there was animals running around everywhere. I took in a deep breath, and started trying to calm the animals down.
"Guys, can you stop?" I asked, though not really trying, "If you need something, just tell me instead of running around and screaming!"
Angel hopped in and shoved a book in my face, which I grabbed with my magic and threw across the room.
"Angel, stop it!" I snapped.
There was a knock on the door, so I flew over and opened it. Outside was Spike and Twilight, who both looked very concerned.
"Hey, Twilight," I said, "Do you-"
A loud crash sounded behind me, and I quickly dashed back in to see that Angel was smacking a pot and a wooden spoon together. I yanked the spoon away from him with my magic, and threw it out the window.
"Crystal," said Twilight, opening the door, "What is going on in here?"
"None of the animals in here will listen to me!" I said, quickly grabbing Angel with my magic and putting him in a nearby bird cage.
"But why would they?" Twilight's voice was filled with worry.
"It's got to be my destiny!" I pointed at my cutie mark of three pink butterflies, "And it's what my cutie mark is telling me!"
"Not you, too!"
"Huh?"
"Just... Where is Fluttershy?"
"Sugarcube Corner, of course! She's throwing a party for somepony!"
"And where is Pinkie?"
"Dealing with the weather."
"Rainbow Dash?"
"Carousel Boutique."
"Rarity?"
"Sweet Apple Acres."
"Applejack?"
"Twilight, you should already know this! She's at her artist studio!"
"So it happened to you, too... See you later, Crystal. We need to go to Sugarcube Corner."
"Bye..."
Twilight exited and shut the door lightly behind her. I sighed and sat down on the ground as animals ran around me. There was a crash from in the kitchen, but I simply ignored it and stayed in one spot. Angel got out of the bird cage I had shoved him in, picked up the book I had threw, and pushed it in my face again.
"Stop it!"
I grabbed the book and threw it behind me. I heard a crash as it hit some pots and pans, and cringed for letting my anger get to me. I heard an angry squeak from behind me, and saw a squirrel run in with a small bump on its head.
"Sorry!" I snapped as he squirrel squeaked angrily at me, "Ugh, it's not my fault that you didn't move out of the way!"
The squirrel looked at me me in fury, and then squeaked to the other animals. The majority stopped running around, and seemed to be listening to what the squirrel was saying. Then, all of the animals turned towards me with angry looks on their faces.
"What? What'd I do?"
They all began to approach me, and I nervously backed away. I was back into a corner, and the squirrel let out a loud squeak. In what felt like an instant, I was trapped in a black cauldron, and the animals were parading around me holding forks, spoons, and other things.
"Hey! Let me out!"
The response was all of the animals yelling at me. Angel jumped around so much that he slammed into the front door, but I didn't really notice.
"Help!" I cried.
"Crystal?" asked Twilight, the door slowly swinging open.
"I'm in here!"
The door swung open to reveal Fluttershy; Spike, who was holding a large box; and Twilight, who was wearing her Element of Harmony.
"The animals have all gone crazy!" I cried.
"Hurry, Twilight!" said Fluttershy, "Can’t you do some sort of spell to get her out?"
"No," said Twilight, shaking her head, "Fluttershy, you’re the only one who can help. Crystal needs you!"
Fluttershy hesitated, before stepping forward towards the angry animals.
"Um… Hello?" she said, sounding very unsure, "Little… Woodland creatures? I know that you’re all very upset and feel like giving Crystal a hard time, but we’d all really appreciate it if you’d calm down and, um, maybe… Rest for a bit?"
Several of the animals became to calm down, and turned towards Fluttershy, who smiled happily.
"Oh! Uh… look!" she quickly picked up some bowls and dumped some food into them, "Here’s some nice juicy leaves for you to munch on."
All of rabbits, including Angel, ran over to the bowl and began to dig in.
"And some crunchy-munchy acorns too," she spread some out and the squirrels and mice all ran over, as the other animals began to calm down, "Uh, wouldn’t you like to take a break and have a little snack?"
The rest of the animals quickly ditched whatever they were holding, and ran over to eat. Fluttershy smiled, again.
"Aww, look at that I guess you were all just cranky because you were hungry."
Angel turned away from the other animals, and hoped into Fluttershy's hooves.
"Oh, you are very welcome, little friends," a bear that was near her quickly wrapped her up in a hug, "Goodness!" a faint pink glow began to shine around Fluttershy, "It’s like I can understand them!"
Spike lifted up the chest, and flipped it's lid open; Twilight levitated Fluttershy's Element out. lid flipping open.
"I… I feel strange," said Fluttershy, as Twilight brought her Element closer to her neck, "Like…Like this is what I’m meant to do! Like this is who I am!" Twilight put Fluttershy's Element on her, "My destiny!" 
The pink light around her flared up, and her Element's jewel glowed blinding white. Images flashed across Fluttershy's pupils at breakneck speed, and she fell on to the floor.
"What… What happened?" she asked.
"Fluttershy, look!" cried Twilight, "Your cutie mark!"
Fluttershy's cutie mark was three butterflies, just like mine. Her Element was now pink instead of blue.
"It worked!" said Twilight, happily jumping into the air, "It worked! Oh, I’m so happy you’re back to normal! Now we need your help!"
Music started up, and I rolled my eyes.
"I can't even remember the last time we sang a song!" I said, though Twilight and Fluttershy didn't seem to hear.

A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help them see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend

"Um, hello?" I said, "Friend trapped inside, remember?"
Twilight and Fluttershy quickly came over and untied me, much to my relief. We quickly hurried to Applejack's artist studio, were she was sitting miserably at an easel covered in brown paint.

Applejack needs your help
She’s trying hard, doing what she can
Would you try, just give it a chance?

I walked over to Applejack and ripped the top page off of the easel, and picked up several paint brushes with my magic. It all felt so natural.

You might find that you’ll start to understand

I dipped the brushes into some paint, and they began to fly across the easel. I smiled, and picked up two more brushes, one in my wing, and one in my mouth.

A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help you see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need

Twilight put my Element of Harmony around my neck just as I finished painting my, and all of my friend's cutie marks. I suddenly remembered everything that had happened with me and my friends, and fell on to the ground.
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend

"Uh, what just happened?" I asked standing up, my cutie mark shining brightly.
"There’s no time to explain," said Twilight, "But we need your help. Rarity's about to lose Sweet Apple Acres!"
"Say no more!"
We all turned towards a confused-looking Applejack, and all ran to Sweet Apple Acres, which was in terrible condition.

Rarity is in trouble
We need to get there by her side
We can try to do what we can now

We all ran over to Rarity, who was trying desperately to hold up a rain gutter, which Applejack quickly pushed up into place.

Or together we can be her guide
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help them see

An orange glow surrounded Applejack as she was surrounded by her family members. Twilight quickly pulled out her Element, and lievitated it over to her.

A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend

"Yee-ha!" cried Applejack as she cutie mark reappeared, "Now that’s more like it! What’s next?"
In what felt like an instant, we had everypony's cutie marks returned to normal. Pinkie had managed to get all of the town ponies to join in as we walked triumphantly through the streets.

A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help them see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light 
To see the light
That shines 
That shines

Twilight lifted all six of us into the air with her magic, where we all joined together in a group hug.

From a true, true friend!

"Wait a second!" cried out Twilight, setting us all back on the ground, "That’s it! I understand now! I know how to fix the spell!"
We all glanced at each other in confusion, before following Twilight towards the Golden Oaks Library.
"What spell?" I asked.
"The spell that changed the Elements of Harmony and your cutie marks!" she said with excitement, "I know how to finish it!"
We walked into the library, and Twilight grabbed a quill with her magic. She also grabbed a journal, and we all stood around her in a circle as she wrote.

"From all of us together, 
Together we are friends.
With the marks of our destinies made one,
There is magic without end."

Just as Twilight placed the period at the end of the sentence, and a few sparks shot out from where the period was. Twilight smiled and closed the book, as we all smiled. Suddenly, magic gathered in Twilight's Element, and generate a pulse of white light. Our Elements all lit up, and blasted beams of magic at Twilight in their respective colors. Twilight became surrounded by a white orb of magic, as our Elements blasted magic at her. There was a giant flash of light, and then everything stopped.
We all opened our eyes to see a smoking, scorched patch on the floor in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark, and all gasped in surprise.
"Twilight!" cried Pinkie.
"What happened?" cried Rainbow.
"Where did she go?" cried Rarity.
"Spike!" I called to the drake standing stunned in the corner, "We need to send a letter to Princess Celestia!"
"On it!" he said, snapping out of his daze and grabbing a quill and parchment, "What do we tell her?"
"Uh... Dear Princess Celestia, Twilight just finished an incomplete spell that originally made all of our cutie marks swap, which caused our Elements to blast her with magic. Now she's missing, and we have no idea what just happened. Please help! Sincerely, the Elements of Harmony. Okay, send it!"
Spike breathed on the scroll, and it vanished. A few moments later, we got a reply, which I instantly grabbed with my magic and red out loud.
"To thy Elements of Harmony, there is no need to panic. Twilight Sparkle is not gone, and my sister is with her right now. She will return soon, but do not be surprise if she looks a tad different. Sincerely, Princess Luna..."
We all glanced at each other, with mixed looks of worry and shock.
"I'm scared..." said Fluttershy.
"All of us are," said Applejack, "Ah hope Twilight's okay..."





We all remained in the library for a few hours. Nopony wanted to leave, on the chance that Twilight would reappear at any second. We had taken off our Elements, and placed them back in the case Twilight kept them in, with her Element being noticeably absent.
"Look!" cried Rainbow, pointing up at the night sky, "It's her cutie mark!"
We all dashed outside as a giant star that perfectly resembled Twilight's cutie mark floated down towards the ground. We shielded our eyes as there was a glare of light.
"Twilight?" asked Applejack, "Is that you?"
Twilight was standing, sagging slightly. She stood to her full height, and then spread out a large pair of wings. We all gasped in shock, but Twilight looked even more surprised at her new wings.
"Ah’ve… Ah’ve never seen anythin' like it!" said Applejack, walking over to her. (Rainbow flies over.)
"Hah!" said Rainbow, carefully holding Twilight's wings, "Twilight’s got wings! Awesome! A new flying buddy!"
"Why, you’ve become an alicorn!" said Rarity in surprise, "I didn’t even know that was possible."
"Alicorn party!!!" cried Pinkie, throwing some confetti into the air.
"Wow," said Fluttershy, "You look just like a princess!"
"That’s because she is a princess," said Princess Celestia, landing silently behind us.
"Huh?" we asked at the same time.
"Hold on a second!" said Pinkie.
She grabbed a glass of water, quickly drank it down, and then did a spit take.
"A… A princess?" asked Twilight in complete shock.
"Since you’ve come to Ponyville you’ve displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and, of course, the leadership of a true princess."
"But… Does this mean I won’t be your student anymore?"
"Not in the same way as before. I’ll still be here to help and guide you, but we’re all your students now too," Princess Celestia bowed down to Twilight, "You are an inspiration to us all, Twilight."
We all bowed to Twilight one at a time, before standing back up straight, again.
"Wh-what do I do now?" asked Twilight, starting to panic, "Is there a book about being a princess I should read?"
Princess Celestia gave a small laugh, "There will be time for all of that later."
Twilight's worry faded away to a relieved smile. We all looked at Twilight, all of us smiling brightly at Equestria's newest Princess.
> Note of Cancellation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I quietly marked this story as "Cancelled" a few months ago without saying why. So now I will provide an explanation as to why:

I hate writing this story now.

With this being my third ever story on this site, as well as my first non-oneshot, there are plenty of flaws to be seen. And by this point, I hate the very concept for this story, and even my execution of the story.

So apologizes to those who enjoyed the stories of Crystal and her friends, they have come to an end. If someone would like to continue writing this, I would be perfectly fine with that.

- Razor